Note to Alexis

Fidget made a new friend over the summer. She lives down the block and has been over frequently swimming and playing all kinds of fun yard games. Recently Fidget has had a burden for this little girl's soul. She has been praying about telling her about Jesus. The other day she couldn't wait to give Alexis a little note when she came to play. They went swimming, so I got to read the note, below. Later Fidget told me she'd written a devotional about Jesus' life for Alexis to read every night at bedtime.

Spelling notwithstanding, it humbles me that God would do so much in a girl this young; my girl, a kid I don't deserve. It is tempting to kick myself because I see how Fidget loves God, and I didn't become a Christian til I was 22. But it was all in God's plan. And now we are praying Alexis sees she is in God's plan too.

Shaker Pickles

We got some beautiful cucumbers at the farmers' market two Saturdays ago and made these bread and butter pickles. They sit out on the counter and are ready after a week. We had some of the most simple and delicious sandwiches imaginable last Sunday after church, with these pickles. The best part is that they are sliced much thinner than store-bought pickles. Thanks to Mumsy and sister in law Traci for sharing their recipe and wisdom.

Shaker Pickles

4 sliced onions
sliced cucumbers to fill a gallon jar
3 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups vinegar
1/3 cup salt
1 1/2 tsp powdered alum
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp turmeric

Mix onions with cucumbers and place in gallon jar. Mix remaining ingredients well and pour over jar contents. Cover and shake vigorously. Shake once daily for 6 days, and they will be ready to eat on day 7. After they are ready you can put them in smaller jars and keep them in the refrigerator. You can also blanch carrots or cauliflower and add.

Friendship Cookies

What's better than cookies from a friend? The latest craze around here is making these delectable treats from the  King Arthur Flour website. My dear friend from grade school, Fidget's Auntie Moke, sent the recipe. If only she was here to make them with us. Here's the recipe for Cape Cod Soft Molasses Cookies from King Arthur. Fidget took some to Olympics camp this morning. Try them-you won't be sorry!

Cookies for Everyone!

Happy Sabbath Day! A day to worship, to relax, to work on a few porch ceiling boards, and often a day to fool around with a new recipe. My friend Delicioso just sent me these adorable chocolate dipped shortbread 'tea bag' cookies. Need I say more? Sure, they're for tea lovers, but really these cookies would cheer anyone. This has got to be on my next tea party menu! Thanks, dear friend! xoxo






And thanks to Emmaline Bride. The recipe is there. Go for it!

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.

Monday: The Bluebird of Happiness

Today I sketched a blue bird from a postcard a pen friend in Finland sent. The weather is gorgeous and there's nothing I'd rather do than listen to Fidget playing in the yard while I paint.

Ahh, back to the desk. It's been a couple of weeks since our move. I finally have most things unpacked and put away so that I have a little time to catch up on my Bible reading and correspondence in the mornings. Yesterday I had just started to write when I needed to go downstairs and it was at least an hour before I came back. When I returned the desk was bathed in a dreamy golden light from the one open window blind. That moment said to me, I'm home. God doesn't always bring us back to the same place. But He does promise that even with the good things He gives us here, we aren't ever really home. All the good things are just whispers of the joy yet to come. This week I got word that my Grandma Wretha had died in central Florida. It was sad for the few people who still know her. Since she was about ready to have her 103rd birthday, there weren't many of her contemporaries left. But it gave me pause to think about how joyful our reunion will be, and how glorious her days are now, worshiping at the throne. Until I can do that, I am thankful for the good things God gives me here.

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.

Peace of Mind

Fidget and I are back from our quick trip to the Lowcountry. It was so refreshing to be out there with the oaks and the moss,

taking in all those open vistas, remembering good times and hoping to move back one day.

There's a lushness to the land that is seductive. It's so open, so unspoiled. 

 

 I can breathe out here!

In addition to virgin vistas we got to visit with friends and stay with family and loved ones. They took us to a fabulous aquarium where we enjoyed fish as well as birds.

This barn owl was a favorite. 

And the South has a charm unlike any other place. 

 

We had a leisurely time, learned some history, and Fidget had fun playing with all her cousins. I had time for knitting and Fidget ran some track and cross country with the kids. She even got to dress up as a cheetah at a Halloween party.

We didn't get any tourist trap souvenirs. But what we did come home with were 3 prize feathers courtesy of Romeo, one of our friend Linda's peacocks. 
 

So, now it's back to the tracks. The wind is whipping and rain is falling. But God's peace is with us as are sweet memories of our week at home.

Autumn Treats

Lately we've enjoyed a bunch of festivals. That means lots of ice cream, a dream for Fidget since we took her off of dairy awhile back to help tame her itching and coughs.

We've also been traveling in the Land of Cotton. Here's a cotton gin we passed. Fidget was playing with toys in the back seat and was not impressed when I remarked on it, but I had to go back and take a photo. The sight of all that cotton was breathtaking to me. It made me reflect on the hard work on which our country was founded. There's a purity and dignity, an inherent value to working the land.  I just had to stop and admire the fruits of all that labor.

Back to our travels. This week we're in South Carolina, where we spent time at a fun farm on a hot dusty day. This hill has two slides built into it. Fig and her cousins were the only kids there and they had a ball shooting down through the hill's two tunnel slides.

This place had a giant trampoline, swings, duck races, things to climb on, a corn maze and a pumpkin patch.

 Meanwhile, I've been making lots of progress on my brother in law's Christmas socks. He is stationed far away at the moment so when I get them finished I may send them early. Don't they remind you of Polish pottery?

Here's a little wash cloth I made from leftovers for a little guy's baby sweater. Since I had more of this luscious yarn I thought I'd bring him a little something else from it when I visit this week.

So our travels continue. We've only done math once this week, but who's counting?

Last Days in Newport

Ahh, the carefree days of summer are here. Carefree for just a little bit, that is, until we move next week. It is with joy and many fond memories that we leave our home of the past year, Harbor View. We will miss the sunset walks at the water's edge, Fidget's home made swing in the yard, the friends we've met, and the places we love here.

But you can't wish yourself somewhere. Even if we stayed, many of our friends are moving on as well. This is why we send out a newsletter every few months. Keeping in touch makes it bearable. 

We have rented a tiny loft down in southeastern Virginia and the Pres and I are trying to figure out what we'll need and how we'll get it there by July 2. In January our renters will be gone and we'll be able to move the bulk of our goods from storage to our lovely old home in Portsmouth. 

But for now there are teas parties and circuses on the lawn, last play dates and goodbyes with friends. We are so very thankful for our time here. God has blessed us greatly. 

If you are among those dear to us who we are leaving behind, do not fret. A newsletter will be coming out in the next few days with our new address and more info on what we've been up to and what we expect to do next. You remain in our hearts. God has encouraged us with your friendship, and you with ours, we hope. We do not plan to lose you!

Rosy Hedges and Rosy Outlook

Update on my Pink Hedges socks, from Jane Cochran's pattern Jane's Hedgerow Socks available on Knitter's Review. I finished these last night and will be blocking today to send them out shortly after. Unfortunately I cannot give such an optimistic update of the Pres' Father's Day socks.

Here is as far as I got before I tried it on myself to try estimating how long to make the foot. The sad news is it barely fit my foot. I guess the nylon in the yarn is making it tighter than normal yarn. I discovered this two days ago and have not known what to do. I considered making the pair and giving them to someone small. But I picked this yarn for the Pres and think he would get a lot of use out of socks from it because of the muted masculine colors. So this morning I decided to frog it, that is, take it all apart, and start over with larger needles. There's no way I'll finish by Father's Day but at least I will still get to give him a thoughtful present fairly soon. 


Yesterday I had a knit and bake day with dear friends from Bible study. I will miss them when we move but am so happy I get to store up memories of sweet fellowship before we go. God is so good.