Andrew and Daddy

Andrew went next. He got to go to three places -- the library, the creamery and Starbucks. Andrew took the pictures in this post himself!!! (Except for the last one) I was very impressed. Farms have a special place in my heart, and for some reason, cows do too. Therefore, I LOVED this picture of the cow!

Ah, lovely barns!

And these chickens are adorable too
This is definately a great Christmas picture -- the colors are perfect! Even the back end of the van looks as if it could actually be part of the artistic arrangment

My happy boys

Holiday with Dad

Michael is using up his extra vacation time and so we have two weeks with Daddy off of work! The kids love Daddy's holidays because it means they get to do even more with him. Yesterday, Michael took each of the big kids on their own outing. James went to the racecar museum.

James decided this was a big, gold teacup!

Happy Boy!

Happy Daddy and Boy

Comfort Ye My People

Last night Michael and I enjoyed a beautiful performance of Handel's oratorio, the Messiah. This was an early Christmas gift from my sister to Michael, and it was a well-chosen one!

The location for this performance was a church downtown, built in the style of so many of the churches in Europe. The aisles were lined with candles, and votives flickered on windows and pillars, adding ambience to the setting. A Baroque orchestra added to the whole historic feel.

This oratorio is made up of 54 sections of Scripture. In all the years of listening to this on CD, I never realized it was pure Scripture until I heard it live for the first time a few years ago.

It is a very uplifting and emotionally rejuventing thing to sit back and hear the whole story of salvation sung. A few excerpts:

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,

Come unto Him, all ye that labour...and He will give you rest.

He was despised and rejected of men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows!

Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.

The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord,

and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.

I know that my Redeemer liveth,

But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain...to receive power,

and riches, and wisdome, and strength, and honour, and glory and blessing.

Those of you familiar with this work will no doubt hear the music of these words in your head as you read them.

This was a fitting way to put some things in perspective and begin the holiday season, which for me begins today -- December 1st! I've got to go get the kids to open their advent calendars now.

Recycle, Reuse, Reinvent

The title of this post is supposed to make you sympathetic to the following request, before you even read it. :)

I'm trying to collect some old 100% wool sweaters, vests, etc. to "felt" and then turn into creative things. I happened to think that some of you just might have some old, possibly ratty, maybe ugly or out of style sweaters hanging around that you are anxious to clear out of your closets before Christmas arrives. If any of you (in my area) do happen to have some such things, I would be happy to relieve you of them so I can recycle, reuse, and reinvent with them. :)

One of the blogs I enjoy finding inspiration from is: http://blog.betzwhite.com/ . This site will give you an idea of some things that can be created from old wool items. Of course now you may find yourself wanting to hang onto those old garments, and create yourself.

And just in case you are worrying: No, I'm not implying that I have ever seen any of you wearing ugly or out of style sweaters!

Somebody Loves Grandpas Yogurt

Yes, my Dad makes yogurt. This is a new hobby of is, and we all love the results. Dad's yogurt comes out way better than mine.
Dad's is nice and thick like pudding, just perfect for spreading all over everything. My yogurt seems to jell, but it's never as thick.
And the amazing thing is, Dad does this on a little camp stove! His kitchen is in the process of being remodelled, so Dad stands over his little campstove, heating two gallons of milk at once! One week Dad made me some super yogurt out of cream. It was really thick! It seemed to be just like the creme fraiche we got in Scotland.

Once I feel up to making yogurt again, I'll have to follow Dad's very scientific procedure, and maybe mine will turn out better too. In the mean time, we'll just keep enjoying "Grandpa's Yogurt" whenever it makes its appearance.

Thanksgiving in Pictures

My sister and brother-in-law hosted 19 of us for Thanksgiving on Thursday. It was a very special time in which we shared lots of great conversation, delicious food, tears of thankfulness, and even a few birthdays and an anniversary.
Here is a view of the pies, looking into the are where the tables were set up:

The tables were beautiful, and each person had a specialized name place created just for them

There were lots of appetizers to choose from:
Flowers were everywhere, thanks to Mom

The little Indians had their own table all to themselves

Here is a view of most of the feast. There were a few more dishes not shown on a lower table:

The highlight of the feast was Christine's smoked turkey breasts (which I somehow just deleted!). These are done on the grill and taste amazing!


One little, two little, three little Indians
And here is the whole family together. Christina's in-laws, and several other close friends were present, but we didn't get a picture of the whole group

Mom and Dad celebrated their 38th anniversary on Thanksgiving Day!
And here we are:
We saved dessert for later in the evening and had a special time of sharing what we were thankful for just before digging in.

This was an apple/rasberry pie that sounded delicious!

The pies were so pretty!
A Maple-Pecan tart that looked like it would melt in your mouth:
And the pumpkin cheesecake which is becoming more popular than pumpkin pie!
And here are the three cooks: Christina, Christine, and Emily. Thank you for a wonderful feast and a very special day together!

Remembering Helen

We arrived home from a very special Thanksgiving to find news that my dear friend, Helen, had passed away. I am relieved that Helen is out of her suffering, but I also will miss her very much.

Helen lived in Scotland and that is where I met her, through our church there. We soon became fast friends and the children and I spent many happy afternoons in her sitting room, visiting and drinking lots of tea. We always celebrated birthdays together. Here is a picture from Helen's birthday, a few months before we left Scotland:

For Andrew's last birthday in Scotland, Helen insisted on providing the cake since I was so busy with other things. She ordered a cake from her favorite bakery and it came complete with a car on top for Andrew. He loved it!

I always loved Helen's house. It was here that she spent most of her childhood, and all of her adult years. It was filled with family furniture and mementos. There was a walled garden out back, with plenty of large heather bushes, and, in the spring, beautiful bulbs in bloom.

Helen is the one who introduced me to the BBC Good Food magazine. Each month she would pass on to me her copy, which I always read through and saved. (I have a huge pile in my closet that I brought back with me). That magazine played a major role in my cooking development. Helen's cooking specialties were soups and chutneys. Our visits always included some sort of conversation about cooking.

Other favorite memories of Helen were the times I left the children at home and met up with Helen downtown. We started with a nice long cup of tea and a scone at the Goldroom and ended with a walk up into town -- sometimes stopping at a charity shop to see what treasure we might find, but always ending up at Donnie's for one or two groceries, and most often a sack of raisins and grapes for the children.

Saying goodbye to Helen was one of the things I dreaded most about leaving Scotland. Somehow I figured I might not see her again on this earth. We said goodbye, but we kept in touch, and spoke on the phone each week until Helen went into hospital.

A friendship like this is a special gift from God. One never knows when a "Helen" might be waiting just around the corner -- someone you meet for the first time and have no idea how special they will become. I thank the Lord for Helen and the blessing she was to our lives.

All the days ordained for me were written in Your book,

before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16