made by Rosie

Here's Fidget's busy work for a day's recuperation. I also baked cookies for her to ice, but those were not as successful. They were about as soft as ceramic tiles. So that wasn't a recipe to repeat.

We missed a couple days' schoolwork, a day of karate, and I was glad that her fever was gone by mid-morning today; that she showed an intetest in making a doll, and I encouraged her as her stitches improved with close attention. This precious doll with her hand-embroidered eyes& lashes, was her great gift to me after a day spent happily cutting and sewing snippets together.

I still have the Matrida painting to finish, fabric for renewing the sofas, and a surprise to finish for a young bride. Plenty to keep me busy, and many contemplative moments.

The more I struggle with a painful jaw condition this winter, the more my ears hurt and the more I value silence. Not only my own, but heart's silence as well. I find with joy that God does speak, if I will but listen. In silence is beauty.

The Shop is Open!

Last week was a great week. I was sick, so it wasn't such a fun week, but I finally published the summer edition of the family newsletter, The Current. And then I did what seemed the impossible dream, I opened an Etsy shop! Here are a few items to give you a feel for the flavor of it. Take a look and let me know what you think. I have called it JewelofBayshore and will hope to put a link to it on the sidebar.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/jewelofbayshore

Jelly Doughnuts!

 

The Pres is off today, persevering on our front porch project. 

It was the perfect day to get up and make jelly doughnuts.

I have no idea where I got this recipe 20 years ago. Now that I remember how delicious they are I'll make them more often. But it takes almost 3 hours and makes about 20 doughnuts at a time, so it's not something for every day unless you've got a bigger family than ours. You want to share these with some special people.

After their second rising, they get deep fried for about 2 minutes.

After draining them on paper towels they get rolled in sugar.

 It is tempting to eat them just like this. 

But don't skip the jelly step.

 Even if, like me, you make a botch of the jelly part. It would be nice to have a pastry bag or an injector to get the jelly in without making a mess, but who minds a little bit of jelly on the sides?

Even Fidget, the notorious jelly-hater, liked the one I gave her with raspberry preserves in it. But her favorite one had honey inside instead. 

 Jelly Doughnuts

with apologies to whoever developed this delicious recipe. If I knew your name I'd put it here.

makes 14-18 

1 pkg yeast

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup room temperature butter

3 TB sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk, scalded

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups flour (it took me 3 1/2 cups so don't be alarmed if it takes you that much too)

jelly- I used Polaner All Fruit Raspberry seedless, Market Pantry Blackberry Seedless jam and Smucker's Orchard's Finest Northewest Triple Berry Preserves

sugar

frying oil

In a large bowl combine yeast, 1 tsp sugar and water. Let stand  until foamy, 5-10 minutes. In a small bowl combine butter, 3 TB sugar, salt and milk; cool to room temperature. Stir milk mix into yeast mix. Add eggs and 1 3/4 cup flour; beat vigorously. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Turn dough out and knead 8-10 minutes. Clean and grease bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn to grease all sides. Cover and let rise til double, about an hour. Place parchment paper on cookie sheets. Punch dough down, roll out to 1/2" thick. Cut dough with a floured 2 1/2" biscuit cutter. Place dough circles on the baking sheets. Cover and let rise til double, less than an hour this time. Fry risen circles of dough at 350 in a deep fryer approximately 2 minutes or until brown. Fry 5 at a time. Once drained onto paper towels, roll doughnuts in sugar. Then cut a deep slice in the doughnuts and fill with 2 tsp jelly. Enjoy!

For more inspiration visit the fabulous showcase of yeast breads and sweet goodies at Yeast Spotting's blog,  www.wildyeastblog.com

Freedom to...

Sometimes there is not a whole lot going on here. Well, there is baking of course, and home schooling, and getting to karate on time. But what I am dwelling on at the moment isn't those things, it's Scripture, and my life's goal is to dwell on scripture all the time, what pastor Tim Keller calls the game of minutes; trying to think about the things of God as much of the day as possible.

God's word is so deep and richly fulfilling, I encourage you to read it today. Not all at once, :) but even a small portion can feed you for the entire day. My favorite verse from yesterday is Psalm 119:32 which says, "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." What a beautiful picture. Freedom! What could you do if your heart was set free?

Golden

Savoring these days. Fidget will soon be 9 and the Pres is always off on another trip. These are the golden moments.

Surf Days

I know I haven't made many posts lately but we're out in the yard and the shed, working on porch ceiling boards and swimming with Fidget. We've made such good progress that we've allowed ourselves some time off. What a blessing to live in a free country.  And God is so good to give us this time together as a family. These memories get us through the times apart. 

Surf's up!

Appetizers in Abundance

We're already one week past our family's 3rd Annual Appetizer Weekend. What fun we had! That week I'd spent a lot of time in the kitchen making brownies ( here's the recipe from the Hershey's website), blondies and breads. Several friends earned their black belts in karate so I made them goodies to celebrate.

One of the moms gave me a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Even after a week these were still so pretty and cheerful in the dining room. I wish I'd gotten a picture with all the roses in it when they first arrived. 

On to appetizer weekend!It was our annual family party and I had such a good time planning for it. Here's what I made:  Friday night we had Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps, Rotel cheese dip and chips, mini crab cakes and broccoli and cauliflower in dip. 
Saturday breakfast was French toast dipping sticks and syrup and strawberries.
At lunch I made Asiago cheese dip and glazed chicken wings, and Fidget's friend Sky came to sample the goodies.

Sunday at lunch we had a few spring rolls and steamed dumplings. Sunday night we had potato skins, more spring rolls and everything else that was left over. Somewhere in there I also made bacon crescents for the first time, which were a bit hit. They were tiny fiddly things made out of refrigerated crescent rolls smeared with a creamy spread made with fresh-cooked bacon. Somehow I never found time for the avacado-stuffed cherry tomatoes, spinach-parmesan dip, or the sweet fruity dip I was going to make. But the list gets more ambitious every year.

It is such a joy to plan this special weekend celebrating my family every year. God is good to us to give us loving family relationships. No matter what our struggles or differences we can celebrate the family God gave us.

Exciting Summer Plans

Gracious, it's been over a month! We had a few weeks of sickness here in April. It was a busy month still, as I tested for my green belt- and passed. Yay! I'm in Fidget's class now and we're having so much fun. If I'd known karate was this much fun I would have started it sooner!

Looks like summer's almost here already. I've been working on some knitting and painting and have plans for opening an etsy shop in late August! I want to thank all my pen pals for participating in my one-for-one offer: If they send me a pretty postcard, I paint a picture of it and send it to them. Then my hope is to paint another and offer it at the etsy shop. So far they're such fun I've had a hard time not sending them off the minute they're painted. Here's another peek at my sketchbook and some new work.

The cool weather we've had lately is just gorgeous and our yard has gotten considerably better-looking than the sad and neglected state in which we found it upon move-in. Fidget and I have started running 2 miles in the mornings and are enjoying seeing all the new birds and squirrels in the neighborhood.

Fidget has exciting summer plans as well. After all, art and playing are great but her mind wants more work to do! So she is taking beginning Latin from a dear friend this summer. After the first class this week, she wanted to play Latin teacher when her friend came over later that day. So it looks like this class is a good fit for her. She is also planning to attend a Latin summer camp and a karate Olympics camp.

There have been sad and alarming things all over in the past month and this is something I want to address. Because just last fall God brought me out of a season of fear. I can testify that the past weeks God has been faithful to be my strength and my shield, a peaceful force to my soul that overcame any anxiety. 

I want to encourage you that no matter what you face personally, no matter what our country faces, God will always be enough. He is trustworthy, He is faithful. It is faith in Him that allows us to have joy even when things are sad. We know He will redeem everything bad one day. I hope you can see and appreciate that He gives us many great blessings here, but I also pray you say with me 'Come, Lord Jesus. Come!'

A Day to Relax

It was a lazy day for me and Fidget, really welcome after the school week hit its zenith in the karate belt test yesterday. Today we took it easy, had some friends over, and just played. For the kids, it was being inside and out, eating popcorn and playing ninjas among other things. For the moms, it was having tea, talking about art and baking yeast breads. Breads are one of my all-time favorite things to make. There's an entrancing mystery about the life of yeast that pulls me in several times a week, just to work with it, knead dough, and get a whiff of that heady yeasty aroma. Today my friend Kim and I made two batches of regular white bread with wheat germ, and some adorable peanut butter turtle rolls. They are all gone but one, and Fidget has dibs on it for breakfast.

This week has been so blissfully full of art. Fidget and I have a karate belt test tomorrow, but after that, I'll be back to painting, and she'll be back to using the quill pen she made from a peacock feather.

Sunday Workshop

Blessings

Birthday blessings to the Pres this week, and some current projects, which I hope will bless their recipients. This is the day the Lord has made. Enjoy!

latest little lovely

Here's a just-finished project: fingerless gloves for a friend's little girl. It's a sweet and soft Cashmere blend called Cash Vero. We're moving back to River's Edge next week but we are keeping busy with our schooling, pen pals and karate. Wishing you daily joys and reminders of God's loving presence.

Optimism

Lots of great things are going on at the Train Central workshop. Yes, we're into the grey days of winter. But the thing about being a believer is that the Lord gives our spirits great buoyancy, no matter what is going on in the world, in our hearts, or in our schedules. So, we carry on. As the Bible says, we are not consumed. Instead, we knit :).

Here are two gifts completed this week.

Some luscious, just-arrived bulky soft 

Italian wools for winter projects.

 

 

Some wool that's been on the back burner that I am using for new socks to wear with jeans through the long grey winter months. 

I love the variations on blue.

But we have to keep our strength up. Here's Fidget about to gobble
 one of Sunday's hand made  pizzas.We made 3: pepperoni and mushroom; pineapple and Canadian bacon; and just cheese.
 

 School work continues. And somehow, even next to the train tracks, with grey weather outside, it is encouraging. Math work is being understood, Fig's love of Greek mythology continues, and we get to be together all day long. Here's what we're reading these days. 

 God is good!

Christmas

Christmas has come to Train Central! And the gym downstairs is finally ready too, just in time. We aren't giving a lot of gifts this year because we don't want more stuff to move to River's Edge Bungalow in February. I always need more stationery and ink, so this is my perennial Christmas list. But what I really need, and what I want to be a giver of, is grace. Grace when I'm doing wrong. Grace when I'm bumbling. Grace when I am proud of myself if I'm doing well. Grace when I don't even know I need it. Grace for everything big and small. And fortunately, Jesus, the ultimate giver of grace, has come and showered us with grace by the sprinkling of His blood. In this season, I marvel anew that He would come to be born a baby, to die for me. But better yet, He's promised to come again.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,' for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'" Rev.21:3-5

Wishing you a truly Merry Christmas. No matter what is going on in your heart and life, the joy Jesus gives can be yours. May His joy be in our hearts all year long, until He comes again.

Knitting: the Good, and the Bad & Ugly

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

I'm still knitting, even if I haven't talked much about it lately. I'll never have anywhere near the amount of knitted presents to give this year as I did last year, but I'm all right with that. Since Christmas means celebrating Jesus, not knitting, I am putting less and less emphasis on gifts. The more sorrow and suffering I see in the world, the more my eyes are on Jesus, the Hope of Christmas, and the less important presents tend to be. But, since we still do want to give gifts that show people we love them, here's what I've been working on for our brother in law who is serving a year's deployment in Korea.

 
It's the 'good' of my recent work. The body of the socks is in this yarn, below, Opal Rainforest VIII, color: Mr Breakdance. Fun, right? Looks more like Mr Blue Jeans to me.

The remainder, the heels and toes, is in Berroco Comfort Sock, color 1810. I like that it looks sort of camouflage. I started calling the socks Polish Pottery because of all the pretty flecks and variations. Now for the bad and ugly.

 
I'm not sure the picture does justice to how bad it really looks. Recently I've gotten a couple of books on circular knitting and instructions on toe-up socks. I used what I had extra in my yarn box for this project, discontinued Mission Falls wool. I didn't have enough for two socks, so they were probably doomed from the start. But I was concentrating on the instructions. I didn't worry about how bulky and ugly the sock was getting, I was trying the stranded-work ( using two colors at once). To top it off, the leg opening is tight, so there is no one on earth who will want to wear it. But, for now I'm going to keep it in my knitting box to remember my first toe-up project.

  
Here's some more delightful yarn I got from ebay last week. This variation of, Opal is color 6231, Mrs Flamenco. Don't you love the names they come up with? And, there's more yarn on the way! I may not have time to use it before Christmas but if Jesus tarries, this one will still make lovely birthday socks for the niece who loves purple, come spring.

Though I usually grouch at stores bringing Christmas things out too early, I cheered as we went by our town workers assembling a giant lighted tree this morning. With news of our country in peril and war around the world, more than ever I feel need of the Hope of Christmas. Bring those trees and lights out, I say. I need reminding: this world is not our home. Jesus has come and will come again. In the meantime, I'm working on gifts, and just maybe I can get a few more done by Christmas. 

Veterans' Day

It was a glorious weekend for us. The Pres got home from his trip and had four days off. Especially after receiving him home safely it was a sobering time to observe Veterans' Day, knowing there are multitudes of faithful Americans who have given their lives for our freedom.

 We went to the aquarium twice this weekend. The first time we saw the ocean life building. The second time we got to see the new exhibit about the giant extinct shark Megalodon as well as the Marsh Pavilion.

The weather was gorgeous and warm for November. Along the nature walk we took advantage of the several boardwalks along Owls Creek, and an observation tower.

Fig didn't stick around long enough to see much through these viewers but the Pres spotted a kingfisher as it swooped down on a fish and brought it back to a tree to eat it.

I had felt troubled this week but still at peace. It was so good for the soul to get out into God's creation and feel Him near, and know He is faithful, no matter what is going on in politics. Our land is beautiful, we are blessed, and there is still hope for the people of God. 
 

 

It was a triumph to remain at peace in the past week, after struggling a couple of years with anxiety. Lately I have been comforted by Bible reading, God's closeness in prayer, and the counsel of good friends.

 
If there's one thing we know, it's that the enemy wants to rob us of our joy. But it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. And we know the end of the story: Jesus wins.

So we enjoyed our freedom, taking in the sunshine, watching a red tail hawk devouring a squirrel;

following the juvenile otter all around his tank;

and a screech owl hidden in a bush in the outdoor aviary was fascinating to watch.

Here was a quiet tank with a few little fish and hermit crabs. It was meditative to watch them go about their watery day.

We love the harbor seals. You can lose yourself in just enjoying these animals frolic. Fig chased them up and down the tank.

Living free, enjoying simple pleasures with family, I feel more than ever how short our time here on earth is and how precious these times are. I never want to take them for granted. God is good.