so... this thing happened yesterday

My baby girl got married!

A lovely, busy week

It has been a wonderful week, full of fun and family and all kinds or goodness!

Justine and I had a girls weekend.  Friday night we wandered into town to attend ArtsFest, a free music and art festival.  We got to see the Indigo Girls in concert.

 Sorry, it isn't the best photo but there is only so much you can do with a phone!
Saturday morning we went to Mount Vernon to attend the Chocolate Stroll.  We did the 5k race.

 I placed second in my age category!  But before you get too excited, there were only three in my age category!

And here is my darling daughter and I, enjoying some time together.

And finally, in honor of my birthday, Justine made a fabulous cake!

I hope you all had a wonderful week as well!!

Happy Day!!

Spring has sprung!  The peas and potatoes are up, some trees are starting to bloom and we got good news today!

V does NOT have lymphoma!  Woo Hoo!!!  They are still trying to figure out exactly what he DOES have- most likely something bacterial, but it is not cancer.  I have never been so glad that he has an infection!

It will take a few more days for them to finish the culture and figure out how to treat it.  But, for now, we are celebrating.

Champagne and strawberries all around!

and maybe I can finally get a decent night of sleep....

Finally!

The Winter Solstice is behind us!  Finally the days will start getting longer.  I, for one, can't wait!  This dark time of year is always so hard for me.  But, we have been working to fill it with love and light.
My darling baby girl came home from college this week.  She managed to fly in between storm systems.  Whew!
We have had ice, we have had snow.  We've had cold weather with colder to come in the next few days.  But, it's winter so what else should I expect.
We had a gathering of friends last night.  Sadly, because of illness and the impending snow storm, we had fewer than we had hoped, but we still had a lovely time during the longest night of the year.   We sent most everyone home early when it started snowing because the roads were quickly becoming treacherous.  But still, we had a great time.
This morning, it is a winter wonderland out there. It looks like we got about 6 inches.  But the sun is shining this morning so soon it will be time to dig out.

But for right now... it's quiet.  There is hardly any traffic on the highway outside and every one is still asleep.
I think I'll go get a cup of coffee and enjoy the peace and quiet....

Whatever holidays you celebrate, may they be filled with love, light and joy.

A new beginning?

Wow.  I have been really bad at this, haven't I?  I was gently reminded by my sister that I haven't posted in a while.  My bad.  Time just seems to get away from me these days.  But, now that school is back in session and things will be settling down into routine again, I'll really, really try to be better.

To catch up, I'll share a few photos.  We've been having quite the social life here this summer- much different from our norm.  We've hosted several gatherings of friends in recent weeks as well as all the usual 'stuff' that happens.

 I've been canning.  Raspberry jam and red currant jelly are here.  I've also done tomatoes, sauce and enchilada sauce.  And...  I invested in 7 dozen Tattler reusable lids!  Justine and I went to Kalona to pick up a few things at Stringtown (the Amish bulk food store) and they had Tattlers for $7.56/dozen.  Having recently purchased regular lids (for $2.39/dozen!!!) I got a dozen to see how I liked them.  LOVED THEM!  So I made another run down and picked up another 6 dozen boxes.  That price is cheaper than I can get them online and no shipping!

 The hens have been providing us with lovely eggs.  Now three of the new four ladies are laying.  Only Tabitha hasn't started yet.  But she is looking all nicely red in the comb and wattles now so hopefully soon.   Above is an egg and cheese Frittata.  With local cheese from Kalona, everything was from within 30 miles- mostly from our backyard.  Mmm...

 One of the social gatherings.  We hosted a meteor watching party during the Perseid meteor shower.  While we waited for it to get late enough, the youth sat around and did dramatic readings:  Classical Shakespeare done as a valley girl and a play written by one of Justine's friends- you know, the usual stuff.  We also hosted a series of Dungeons and Dragon adventures this summer with V as the DM.  Epic adventures were had!

 V has finished his office in the basement.  Since this photo was taken the room has been painted and trim installed.  The first finished room in the basement! Woot! Next, we move on to Justine's room since she is off at college again- they left yesterday :(      All drywall is up, we just need to do the finish sanding and paint.  But, we've been waiting for Justine to leave so we can take everything out of her room and then play musical belongings as we move from room to room while we work.

 V celebrated another birthday.  Justine did a wonderful job with the lettering on his cake.  The Reading Lines logo completed in frosting.

 And of course, there was the obligatory slicing of watermelon with a katana.  Doesn't everyone do that?  This was one of two melons we picked up at the farmer's market. Justine starts it off

 And V slices off a bit to eat.  We did have something on the ground to catch them as they fell.  It's a messy way to slice it but well worth it just for the fun factor.

I had the day off yesterday.  This was my project. Our trusty dining room chairs had these old, fake-leather seats that recently started disintegrating (I'm sure the cats didn't help that at all!).  So I spent the day recovering them with a lovely, sturdy fabric.  Looks much better, I think.
I'm taking a few days off while V takes Justine back to college and I'm enjoying my alone time again. Of course, I've got the boys with me this weekend but I've still got plenty planned.

I really need to figure out a good blogging schedule so I can keep up to date here.
Sorry again for the long delay.  I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth... much.

Too steamy for garden party!

We hosted our tea this afternoon.  And a steamy steampunk party it was!  In fact, too steamy to comfortably be outside playing croquet.  But we had a lovely time anyway.  A few photos before I go clean up.

Still here

I'm still here.  I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... much.

I'm recovering from a bout of bronchitis that knocked me flat for about 5 days.  I knew I was coming down with something on Friday last week but we still went out to dinner and a concert for our 27th anniversary anyway.  Not a great idea.  I spent the rest of the night coughing and by Saturday morning was feverish and felt like I'd been run down by a 16 wheeler.  I spent the entire holiday weekend down and out.  I missed work on Tuesday and when I went in on Wednesday my co-workers sent me home.  But I'm feeling much better now.

In homesteady news, I did manage to get the little chicks (or as V calls them- the Debutantes) moved out to the coop with the rest of the flock on Monday but left them in the kennel for 'introductions'.  Today, they were released.  So far so good.  Abby, our dominant hen has been picking on them a bit- but not too severely (at least no blood!) and River (the bottom of the pecking order) also took a few swipes at them.  Mostly, the rest of the hens seem to be ignoring them.  I can live with that.  I was worried about integrating them into the flock.

And we had a birthday here.  My middle child is now 16!  How did that happen?

Justine made his cake.  Shaped like a fez.  It was awesome.  Aren't big sisters great?!

I've gotten my little tomatoes replanted (as many as I had replacements for) and put extra chicken wire cages around them for protection. A few are still little stumps and I'm not sure they will recover.  We'll see. I desperately need to get the rest of my garden in but the weather has not cooperated. We had close to 4 inches of rain over the weekend and storms keep coming through on a pretty regular basis.  We've had the sirens go off several times this week and had 70+ mph winds.  Nothing like the folks in Oklahoma!
I'm hoping that tomorrow it will be dry enough to get a few things done.  We agreed to help my friend Jim with his garden by tilling up a patch for him but it has been too wet.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon.

Later this coming week, after the boys are out of school we're hoping to head down to my parent's farm.  They have had bad weather there as well and have 3 trees down that we're going to help them remove.

What a crazy spring it has been.  I hope you are all safe!

Surprise!

We managed to pull off a surprise party for Mom's 82nd birthday today.  It was awesome.  One sister drove in from Colorado and they had the hard part:  how to get my parents to my brother's home 70 miles away.  They succeeded. I took the day off so I picked up my other sister from the airport this afternoon, prepared food and we all met together at my brother's house.  He recently had knee surgery and isn't traveling very well yet so it was easier for him to host even though I was cooking.
It was a glorious success.  The look on Mom's face when she realized all of us were there was absolutely priceless. We see each other but it seems difficult to get us all in the same place at the same time.

Here's the whole gang!  A grand time was had by all!

Happy 2013

The New Year slipped in quietly around here... about the time the One Ring was destroyed.  We had family movie night with The Return of the King.  We went to see The Hobbit on Friday and watched the other two movies over the weekend.  I can't think of a better way to finish the year than in the company of those you love.
I still need to get myself together and post a few of the goals for the new year.  But a quick preview: they involve a lot of pushing myself to new limits.

My wish for myself and for all of you:

May 2013 be the year when you finally become who you wish to be.

Happy New Year!

Preparing for the feast

We're hosting Thanksgiving this year.  V and I and the two boys will be joined by my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and three of our friends. We will have 11 around the table tomorrow.  Justine is staying in Pennsylvania with V's sister.  Evidently she baked a pecan pie today for her contribution to the feast out there (I must have trained her well...)
I'm feeling good. The turkey is thawed in the fridge, the pumpkin spice bundt cake is baked, vegetables are chopped... even the good china has been pulled from the boxes in the hall closet!
I've got my plan of action for tomorrow morning. V and the boys spent the day cleaning today while I was at work so just a few more things need to be finished.

But before I go to make apple tarts for tomorrow I have one wish for all of you here in the US who celebrate with us:

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  In the midst of all the preparations, be sure to think of all we have to be thankful for.

Happy Summer!

It is the Summer Solstice today.  Welcome Summer!  Even though it feels like you have been here for a while.  Our temps are back into the low 90's today (that's 33 C) and it has remained windy for the past several days.  The combination of heat and wind has been brutal on the garden and on my fairly recently planted lilacs.  I went out and gave the bushes a good drink as well as all my hanging baskets.  We're forecast to (hopefully) get some rain this evening.  Maybe I'll run out and water the garden some just to help insure that it will rain.

I was back at work (my paying job) today and boy, it was busy! And being shorted staffed, it doesn't show signs of letting up for the next month or so. I'm definitely earning my paycheck.

V took a break from wall reconstruction today (outside stuff is done but insulation and drywall is not) to do some work for his paying job.  Of course, being self employed has it's bonuses, he can structure his day how he wants, but there are still deadlines to meet for his clients.

Now, I'll leave you with a few photos of summer here:

 A deer grazes in the wetland- which isn't very wet this year.

 A raccoon tumbles out of the willow trees.

 Franz Joseph- our Hungarian Wax replacement for Eric the jalapeno is blooming

 Even though we only had a brief shower last week, we had a lovely rainbow.

 Strawberry jam glows in the sunlight

 The catbird is singing on the line.

And the evenings are made for sitting on the deck and enjoying life.

Have a blessed summer!

Catching up (photo heavy)

Things have been hectic recently.  Life, garden and family have conspired to keep me from posting.  But I thought I'd try to play catch up.  As I mentioned briefly last post, we spent the weekend at my parent's. All my siblings and all but one nephew and a niece and her husband were able to make it at some point during the weekend.
Here are some photo highlights:

We started the weekend Friday night at my brother's house with a barbeque while people arrived from all over the country. The weather was almost perfect.
Saturday, we reconvened at my parent's home.

We had show and tell.  Dad gave a demonstration and tutorial on his gas to propane conversion on the riding mower.

Games were played and there was much laughter.

In the evening, we all went out to dinner at the old school.  This is the original school (built in 1927) where Dad and all 4 of us children went to school.  Dad graduated from here and we went to school K-6 after the school district consolidated and this became only an elementary school.
We had an Italian dinner that my brother won as at auction last year at the Mennonite Relief sale.

The food was fabulous and prepared and served by ladies my sisters and I went to school with.

The building was purchased in the early '90's by a gentleman and his wife and they have been slowly remodeling and converting it to other uses.  We had dinner in their living room which was my former 5th grade classroom.  They have done a fabulous job on the parts that have been remodeled.

They even used some of the slate from the classroom blackboards as countertops in the kitchen.

After dinner, we got the tour.  The building now houses, not only their living quarters but another rental apartment, a preschool, a law office and an athletic club.

The old cafeteria is now the weight room. Above is the kitchen and lunch counter.  The room seems so, so much smaller than I remember it as a child.

 We also got to see some of the parts that haven't been remodeled yet.  Above is my 4th grade classroom.  The one with the REALLY COOL fire escape.

 The fire escape slide from the third floor.  I remember getting to go down this during a fire drill- it was AWESOME!!
After dinner, we all collapsed into a food coma because we had eaten so much.
Sunday, brought more fun and exploration.  My brother brought his geiger counter and the nephews had fun checking out the uranium vase.

The yellow green color in the vase is due to the use of uranium in the glass.  And, yes, it is radioactive.  Fortunately, you would have to sit it with in your lap for an extended period of time for it to be a problem.
One of my nieces was there with her husband.  This was his first trip to the midwest so we took him out exploring on the farm.  Crawling around in the barn we made many discoveries.

We spied baby swallows up in the rafters.  I love how its eyes seem to glow.
We made it home safely last evening and collapsed. V had baked birthday brownies for me since he didn't think we would appreciate cake after all the food we had been having all weekend.
Today after dinner, we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and V declared "mandatory outdoor frolic time".

 The sand riding arena makes a fabulous venue for a mean frisbee battle.

But sometimes a search is necessary in the creek when a frisbee goes over the fence.
Now, after a busy weekend, a long day at work and an hour of frisbee, I'm tired.
But, I think I'm finally caught up- at least with family stuff.  I've still got garden updates and other stuff to report on but hopefully now life will slow down a bit so I can catch my breath.

Back from a wild weekend

We spent the weekend at the home farm with my parents and family.  All my siblings and most of the nieces and nephews were able to be there for the weekend.  Sadly, V didn't go as he was feeling ill all day  Saturday and wasn't up for it.  Not only did we celebrate all getting together but Friday was the birthday of one of my nephews and today was my birthday.  What a better way to turn 50 than surrounded by family.
More later.  Sleeping on a hide-a-bed right under a chiming clock all night was not very restful and I've got a full 6 day work week ahead of me.

But here's the whole crew.

Thatsssss a very nice cake you've got there...

...shame if someone blows out the candles before you do.

My darling middle child is now15!!

Happy Birthday Boo!


And hopefully those familiar with Minecraft will recognize the creeper cake. Justine helped with the decoration.   I15 was thrilled.

Class of 2012

Graduation is over.  Hooray!  Congrats to all the class of 2012.  May you have bright futures.

Proud Daddy and daughter.  Now on to the next chapter.....

A video

Roger recorded part of Justine's recital on Saturday.  My camera battery was low and wasn't letting me shoot video so I'm glad we got part of this.  I thought I'd share:

You can see just how messy the shop is!

A few photos of the weekend

Whew!  I'm through the busy part of the weekend.  Hoorah!  Now, we've got another grad party to go to this afternoon and then I can start focusing on other things.  But I thought I'd share a few photos from the weekend.

Here, Justine and Mom display the afghan/bedspread that Mom crocheted for Justine for a graduation present.  My Mom has made a bedspread for everyone as they graduate.  We still use the one she made for me on our bed in the winter.  She has already started working on I14's.  The graduate gets to select colors and pattern.  What a wonderful, thoughtful gift.

The senior recital went well.  Of all things, they had the recital in the pole barn- partly because V and Justine did a violin, electric guitar duet (Ashokan Farewell) and because the acoustics are actually pretty good.

 There was quite a crowd gathered for the recital. People came and went throughout the afternoon, a few timed their visit to be present for the announced recital at 2:30.

 Above, my parents, brother and SIL chat during the party.

 Justine and friends gather to watch a slideshow of photos.

And finally, everyone went home... until later!

A select group of friends reconvened in the evening for a birthday party.  Of course, they congregated in the kitchen around the island.  And, yes, we resorted to plastic cups and paper plates. you can slap my hand now but I was NOT going to do that many dishes.

And finally, this morning:

The graduates got a blessing on their future endeavors in church.

This afternoon, I have been blanching and freezing extra veggies.  I knew ahead of time that I would have extras and had already planned what to do with them.  I think I mentioned that I made sure to not get anything for the party that we would not eat ourselves.  Of course, when I managed to pick up a 5lb bag of prewashed, cut up cauliflower at the Outlet for $1 I was seeing cauliflower soup in the fall....

Now, it's off to Ashley's grad party.  I'm feeling much more rested after 10 solid hours of sleep last night but I'm still feeling a bit worn thin.  But later...  the rest of the garden planting is calling to me!