Chickens

I took a lot of pictures of chickens on our vacation. We happened to be in their environment on several occassions, and I felt drawn to the beautiful pictures I saw.

I also realized that my fantasy of being a farmer's wife would never, never come true. Michael is allergic to farms! Yes, the allergies come on fast and furious when around barns and beasts. Oh well, guess we'll have to stick to our current profession. :)

So check out this hair-do!!! How would you like to have one of these! Apparently these hens aren't good for eating or eggs, but they are "nice additions" to the flock:

If you don't go for the hair-do, perhaps you'd rather have a nice outfit like this guy. He came slowly strutting up the hill to check us out and then, easily spooked, took off down the hill as fast as his feathery legs could carry him!

This is what I call a very handsome chicken indeed!

Another color scheme to add variety:
Today I was contemplating on what a simple life the chickens seem to have:

But then, I'm not sure I'd want to sit in a nest most of the day (especially looking as grouchy as this lady):

And I'm quite sure I wouldn't want to push one of these out everyday!

But a nice stroll in the countryside would be nice:

And, finally, the chicken version of a Hollywood Blonde:

The flowers have arrived and are soaking in their water bath, eagerly awaiting their moment of glory at the wedding. I'm off tomorrow morning to help do the arranging! I'll have plenty of pictures to share come Monday!

Andrew's Birthday

It's about time that I posted on Andrew's birthday as it has already been nearly 10 days since the event!

Andrew's birthday was the last day of our vacation. We celebrated at home Saturday evening with cupcakes and family presents:


Andrew has been wanting a doctor kit and jacket. Actually, Andrew got a real stethoscope, blood pressure monitor, and thermometer, along with real band-aids and bandages. He was pretty happy!

Sunday afternoon we congregated at my parents' house for cake and more presents:

Andrew requested "cheesecake" so I decided to try Lovella's recipe. It was a success!

We had chocolate sauce and rasberry compote to go on top:

And there were goody bags for all the children:

Michael showing Andrew how to make BIG bubbles with the new bubble wand:

Andrew gives it a try:

Everyone gets in on the present-opening:

And then it was time to relax a bit:

Andrew really enjoyed his birthday weekend, ending with breakfast with Daddy on Monday morning. We love you Andrew!

Weekend in Review

Somehow, with the start of school, it seems that there is no time to blog anymore. Maybe part of the problem is the amount of pictures I want to upload and the time it takes to do so.

Fall is slowly beginning to show its beautiful face around here. The temperature has finally dropped back down to the 70's and low 80's with even cooler temps in the evenings and mornings. Right now there are huge, puffy white clouds rolling over head against a background of September blue.

I did have two opportunities in recent days to take a walk through the woods. The trail is flanked by a beautiful show of yellows and purple. Together, these colors make an outstanding combination --so much better in real life than when brought inside.



With all my talk of no time, somehow I did find time to make or finish two bags last week! I felt that urge to do so -- something inside of my crying out to be creative. Creativity refreshes me.

I've been wanting to try this recipe for sometime. It is a Potato-Summer Squash Torte and I highly recommend it.

Sunday I was home with a sick child and 3 possibly-sick children. I wanted a nice Sunday dinner. I did not feel like cooking a nice Sunday dinner. So many times I mentally slump over at the thought of beginning the preparations, and carrying through with, a big dinner. However, I am usually very grateful that I plunged in. This Sunday I was very grateful.

We had the potato and summer squash torte (which was really very easy, just a bunch of chopping), tilapia with an oriental sauce, and a fresh salad with a made up ranch dressing.

Proper Sunday dinner means dessert, in one form or another. This week it was baked peaches with a bit of leftover toffee sauce spooned over at the end of baking.

In case you're wondering, it didn't take long for the house to get back to normal after the festivities last week. :)

Andrew begins soccer (football) tonight. I am anticipating wedding flowers for Thursday and Friday, trying hard to get my head around just what we'll be doing. And of course I'm looking forward to Stephanie's wedding on Saturday. In the mean time, I must get back to work..... :)

A Jane Austen Shower

Last night we had 20 ladies here for a shower in honor of our friend Stephanie who is to be married in just 10 days time!

The theme for the shower was Jane Austen. Stephanie has a literature major and loves books, so I thought something along that line would be just the thing.

Punch was served as people arrived (in my latest find from Thrifty Threads!):

Our opening activity was a matching game. Upon arrival, people were asked to choose a card with a name/book title from Austen's works on it. Once we were all seated I passed around a basket of presents wrapped in white tissue paper and each one tagged with a quote or character description. We took turns reading the quotes and then matching the gift with the person holding the correct card.

I forgot to take a picture of all the little gifts neatly wrapped in their tissue paper -- but here is a mishmash picture from my desk before the wrapping took place. The gifts served as favors and were meant to evoke the feeling of Austen England.


Thanks to my mom's arranging and my friend's flower garden, we had lovely flowers all over. Plenty of candles were lit to give the atmosphere of 200 years ago.

Before we dove into the food, we had three ladies share readings from books of their own choosing. Our first reading was from Laura Ingalls Wilder about a Butter Churn -- very amusing and yet filled with truth about marriage. Then we had a challenging piece from Edith Schaeffer on caring for husbands/family members during sickness and how that is not time lost but is part of growing and nurturing that relationship. We ended with 3 very funny pieces about Book Lice, Queen and Worker Bees, and Henry V (Shakespeare)! I couldn't have thought of better readings myself!

In keeping with our theme we had food that would have been served in Jane Austen times:

Jellys, especially Blancmange, were popular back then. We had a more modern version with Watermellon Jelly:

A few boiled puddings were a must! (Confession: I couldn't bear the thought of boiling a few puds for 4 hours on the stove top in this heat. So, I stooped to using the microwave. Fortunately, I have a microwaveable pudding bowl which I bought and never used. It came in handy! Within 20 minutes I had two puddings nicely cooked!) Here we have Plum Pudding (or Christmas Pudding to be more precise):

Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce:

Rustic Apple Tart (what a lovely smell to have at this time of year -- the first apples melting into the crust with plenty of brown sugar, lemon juice and butter):
Another friend brought the fruit bowl and it was arranged just how I imagined something in the Austen time period to be! And, just the fruits they ate back then too!
Sticky Toffee Pudding was a new discovery for many:

Pavlova also graced the table:

Another jelly -- this time in the form of Coffee Cream. It was very, very good! We also had a cheese tray and some chocolate-covered cranberries.

The table, with its many candles and flowers, looked lovely in the evening hours:

And of course we had tea! Jane Austen wouldn't really have had afternoon tea -- she would have drunk hers in the evening, so we were very accurate on this bit!

The evening ended with lots of presents for the Bride-to-Be:

It was such a fun time, and we are all so happy for Stephanie and excited to attend her wedding next weekend!

In case you are interested, I do plan to post recipes on the recipe blog sometime soon. And, I thought perhaps a few of you might be interested in some of the books I used to get ideas for the shower:

Tea with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson

Jane Austen for Dummies by Joan Klingel ray

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool

So You Think You Know Jane Austen? by Sutherland & Le Faye

Jane Austen and Food by Maggie Lane

Jane Austen in Style by Susan Watkins

Jane Austen's World by Maggie Lane

Flowers of the Field

"Consider the lilies of the field,

how they grow:

they neither toil nor spin,

yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,

which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,

Will he not much more clothe you?

Therefore do not be anxious saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink?

your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these thigns shall be added to you."

Matthew 6:28-33

Back from Vacation

September has begun, a new school year has started, a fresh week is here, the next season of the year around the corner: our vacation is over. We were blessed to have had a wonderful time!

Michael posted a schedule on the fridge at the beginning of the week so we could all look forward to our planned activities. A few trips to the pool were included:

A highlight for many of us was our daytrip to a local living history museum. The children just ate it up! (Yes, my boys went in full cowboy costume!)

Michael, Emily and I got to go out for dinner one evening at a cafe just on the water. We pretended we were in Maine. The smell of seafood and the water made it almost believable!

We found a tank museum in the area and had fun looking around. It is a private collection and the tanks all work!

Another afternoon found us at the local creamery, watching the cows being milked.

And of course enjoying some of their ice-cream:

Not to mention all the beautiful flowers!

Towards the end of the week we picniced downtown and rented a paddle-boat which thrilled the children!
And so we have many happy memories of our week off and feel a bit re-charged for all that is ahead. Wedding season begin! There are 3 weddings in the next 6 weeks!