Red Fish, Blue Fish

Have I mentioned that I love reading? Always have and hopefully always will. Historical fiction is my favorite, but I do enjoy reading a variety of different genres.

So...apparently my niece loves to read as well. I found this out when I went down for a few days last month to help watch the kid while the rest of the family worked on my sister & bro-in-law's new house.

She was constantly asking to be read to. Thankfully she is not into chapter books yet and has a good collection of board books to keep the reader entertained. As you can see from the photo above, size doesn't matter.


Rumor has it my sister has taken to hiding certain books. Considering she is a teacher and most teachers encourage reading, the situation must be pretty desperate. But I enjoyed it while I was there!

Great Garden Gatherings

As summer is winding down, my food processor and I are gearing up. My teeny, tiny garden has been producing amazing amounts of tomatoes, along with awesome eggplant and new this year: beans! I am so excited. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of watching tiny plants grow into something that is able to be put on the table as food. It takes work (even in a small garden), but fun because of the visible progress it makes.

I've been freezing stuff from my garden as well as zucchini from my mom's garden. Not only have I had enough to freeze, but also enough to give away. Part of the joy in having a garden is in being able to bless others with the bounty.

Someday, after my garage falls down and I have to rebuild it, I'll move it forward so I can have a bigger garden behind it. My brother suggested building raised beds...so now I'm drooling over it.

So yesterday I made tomato sauce for the first time. Considering my Italian background, it is probably a disgrace to only be making sauce for the first time at my age. But it was sooo easy and tasted so good, I'm sure I'll be making for a long time to come. The fun part is that you can make it different every time, depending on what you have in your fridge. It was pretty exciting.

The Rustling Begins....

At approximately 9:20 for the past couple of nights the rustling has begun as the nightly snacks of potato chips and ice cream appear from their various locations. The clan has gathered at my sister's new house for a week long work-a-thon. Thankfully there is enough space that we are not tripping over each other. It has been quite enjoyable: staining the house, turning a barn into a garage, watching the kid, cooking, cleaning and cleaning out brush and trees. It is very satisfying doing jobs where you can see immediate results.

Grill Fail #2

So grilling is not my greatest skill that I've ever tried to develop. The first time my brother and I broke out the charcoal grill this year, we forgot to pile the charcoal into a pyramid before trying to light the stack. We did not get a roaring fire. In fact, it took forever to cook the meat. Today was try #2. I remembered to stack the bricks and then proceeded to go through almost a whole box of matches trying to start the fire. At which point my brother came out and doused the whole thing with lighter fluid (note: the bricks came with fluid already on them). It burned for awhile, I went inside to prep the meat and veggies. My brother turned away from the fire and it promptly went out. A few more matches later we gave up and went to plan B: fry pans.

I'm sure the little old lady next door got a kick watching us out her window. I'm also thinking there is something wrong with our charcoal and perhaps buying a new bag would be a wise idea. It was from last year...and did sit out in the rotting garage all winter and spring. Maybe it got wet. Very possible since every time I mow I have to pick up pieces of rotting wood that have come off of the garage. But that's for another post...

Change is the Only Constant......

excepting the Lord of course: He never changes. Good thing, I mean, who wants to put their trust in a God who constantly changes? As I was helping friends pack for a cross country move, I couldn't help but think, here we go again--things are changing. Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not greet change with excitement. I can say that the Lord is fully in control and knows exactly what He is doing, even if I can't grasp it. Besides, He knows what is best for each one of us and who would want anything less than that? But is doesn't always make it easier to deal with at first hearing of the change to come. I think it is more comforting after the news has had time to sink in and the Lord has been at work in the receiver's heart. After all, it is exciting to see where the Lord takes people and how He uses them.

On a less spiritual level, I've finally gotten to the point where I am ready to change & reorganize some of Grandma's things. I'm trying to downsize and declutter, as well as finally go through the rest of my stuff from the apartment that hasn't been dealt with. One of those things is the living room. Grandma's dvd player is starting to go, so tonight I finally got out my tv and dvd player to switch it out with Grandma's. Moving forward! Being a person who doesn't even watch tv, it will be nice to have my small tv replacing a rather large one. For your perusing pleasure, the before and after shots:


Before

(The lovely tv stand was made by my brother-in-law.)
















After!


(Big sigh of relief)

Minimalist Camping, Part 3

So I was figuring out what to write tonight and thought I would post my final blog about our camping trip. The whole trip came about due to a Cirque du Solei show my brother wanted to see, so one of our days we spent the day in Hartford.

We went up early in order to visit the Mark Twain house. The house was fascinating with all of its architectural details on both the outside and inside. I am intrigued by Twain's desire to "keep up with the Jones-es"--no expense was spared, and in fact, I guess the house went way over budget when it was built. According to the PBS documentary I watched on him, he really thought that a lavish house and being wealthy could keep his family from harm. What a sad awakening for him it must've been when tragedy struck and he lost all of his money. A good reminder that our hope and trust should not be in earthly possessions.

Built in 1874, Twain let the architect have his way, with the stipulation that it be a red house. We had expected to be able to roam the house at our own pace, but they only did house tours. It was neat hearing the descriptions as we were going through--we certainly learned more than if we had roamed by ourselves.




As we were getting ready to leave and head over for the Cirque show, we started looking at one of the exhibits they had in the museum: the Hartford circus fire that took place during the 40s. This wasn't the most encouraging thing to read about as we were presently headed over to watch a circus show. But thankfully all went well....






The infamous Cirque du Solei tent, an impressive set up which houses an even more impressive show.








The next day we took one more trip down to the beach and then started our trek back home. All in all a great trip, with only a few minor misadventures. :-)

Thankful Thursday

Some days are great, others are...well...better left untold. Today was one of them. As I was driving home from a rehearsal tonight and thinking about what I would blog, Thankful Thursday popped into my head. So here we go:

1) I am thankful that our God is greater than my shortcomings and tendencies toward sin, that His blood covers my sins and that in the midst of my inadequacies He is still at work within me.

2) I am thankful that each day is a brand new start with a clean slate.

3) I am thankful for the friend who randomly gave me a gift today.

4) I am thankful that in the midst of sorrow we can take comfort in the fact that the Lord has a good plan, even if we don't understand it or can't see how it will work out. He holds the universe in the palm on His hand and that includes the circumstances in my life.

5) I am thankful that I can sleep in tomorrow, seeing as I'm staying up late to write this blog.