Halloween Pizza

Halloween greetings! It is our family's tradition to have pizza and watch a movie on Halloween as we wait for trick-or-treaters. Fidget's not interested in trick or treating which is just as well for us, and because it isn't a very big holiday for me I often forget about the pizza. I end up buying a frozen cardboard one or calling a delivery place. This time Fidget and I thought ahead. 

My birthday is the week before Halloween so I grew up having Halloween parties and loving Halloween. I never thought it was scary and enjoyed all the candy I could get. But once I became a Christian, the excitement of Halloween was drained. By then I was 22 anyway, long done with dressing up to scour the neighborhood for goodies. So it's kind of sweet to see Fig cling to a tradition like this one. Several years ago we had a neighbor hang some gruesome decorations at his house and I thought any pleasant associations Fig had with the holiday were gone. But, the pizza one she hangs onto.

I fibbed a little when I said we planned ahead. We got some ingredients for it, pepperoni and mushrooms and mozzarella, but I didn't have a recipe here til about 4pm when I hit the King Arthur Flour blog. It takes about 3 hours but the deliciousness makes it well worth it. Maybe next year I'll have the recipe at hand and start thinking about it before 4pm.

Here's King Arthur's fabulous pizza recipe.

Enjoy! Happy Halloween!

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?

Days of Small, Beautiful Things

Hello long lost friends! Festive fall greetings to you at long last. It's good to be back. I have been hampered by computer glitches here, making doing anything online sort of trying, and at times impossible. The Pres has done some traveling, Fidget has gotten sick, better, sick, then better again, and we have taken lots of time off to do fun things like frolic at the zoo and aquarium. Fidget made fast friends with the tiger at the zoo, who she calls Boots after the one in a favorite book, Tiger, Tiger by Lynne Reid Banks.I have to wonder: what does that tiger think, so close to her face on the other side of that thick glass? Does he just see a meal, or is he having the same spiritual experience that she is?

Besides making friends with tigers we've also made some friends at our new church's ladies' Bible study and a MomsNext group. We've tried a home schooling co-op and between the two of us Fidget and I have gotten 25 pen pals from International Pen Friends. In between all that I made a long-overdue family newsletter and started taking karate lessons with Fidget. Wow! Sounds like we're keeping busy. 

In addition to that I am still working my way through socks for my brothers in law for Christmas. Somehow I haven't gotten much done lately...I wonder why. Heh heh.

I wish I had some fantastic progress to show in some area. I admit though, lately unless it's about choosing knitting sock colors, I haven't had any thoughts about art. All that stuff I might be involved in at another house is pretty much out of my mind. I haven't had any deep revelations either. I have been trying to honestly assess, as the Bible study works through the book of James, if my faith has works or what it looks like to outsiders. I can't honestly say. But I can say I trust Jesus to do His will in me and work what is pleasing to Him. If this is my desire, I know I am praying in His will and He will answer.

Recently I was reminded of the verse which says 'Who has despised the day of small things?' (Zechariah 4:10) I love this verse. It reminds me that in all these little things, God is doing His will, His beautiful, perfect and all-encompassing will, in my life. So though I may not have socks to show for my time, I've got tigers to visit, pen pals to write, and karate chops to practice, my family to love and care for, and this precious daughter to teach. I don't have to wonder at the sense of it. God is in it all.

Lap of Luxury

Here are a few things going on at the new place. First, the Ada Cowl from Mollie Makes Magazine. I love this yarn (M235 Wine Splash) so much that I made 2 cowls and 2 baby sweaters from it this summer. I brought this cowl project on our camping trip and finished just as we moved in at the end of the trip.

 

It's going to be a Christmas present.

 

These socks are for a little girl in California, the first daughter of a friend of mine who I last saw several years ago. She turns 4 in October. I was going to make some for Fidget as well but haven't done it yet. Still plenty of time until Christmas. 
 

These socks are from the basic pattern taught at the knit shop where I took a class with Christmas money over a year ago. Since then I've made a bunch of socks for nearly all the adults in the family. For my brothers in law I'm doing short manly socks in a luxurious yarn. This one was called denim but was a close out so it isn't available anymore. I got it because it reminded me of camouflage. 
 

We've already been at our small apartment for 2 of our 6 months' lease. I've come without my mixer, my sewing machine, most of my pots and pans, and all my art supplies. The nice side effect of living small is that I have plenty of time and attention for home schooling with few distractions. But another lovely thing is that I have time for creative writing. Yes, my big, hand-crafted desk is packed away in storage in Rhode Island, but I find my lap desk is all I need. In fact, it's the lap of luxury on a night when Fidget is sick in bed. It's quiet here if you don't count the trains going by, and after awhile they just add to the ambiance. 

Inspiration is good!

School Days and Treasured Friends

It's the last day of the second week of school. We are having such a good time. It beats last year by miles. This year we went back to My Father's World and chose their Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum. God has been working an excitement in Fidget and me about people all over the world and how the Gospel is for them as well as us. I love that the curriculum is all about this.

Here is an Inuit- inspired carving, a dove out of Ivory... soap, that is. Fidget made it last week. The first two weeks of the curriculum were introductory, and didn't direct us to study any particular countries, so she and I did a little research and study on our own. We looked at Botswana (setting of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith- these are grown up books but so charming, I have been reading them to Fidget the past few months), India, and North American Indians, particularly Seminoles, who came from Creeks, who we are ancestors of; and including the Inuits of the far North and their amazing carvings.

I love how there is time to follow our interests and study other things in this curriculum. It is Charlotte Mason-inspired, that is, scheduled studying in the morning, leaving the afternoons free. We don't always finish by lunch, but we're not in a hurry either, and we have been running first thing in the morning. Fidget earns a dollar a mile. It's gotten expensive lately, but that's a good thing.

After all our diligence these 2 weeks, it was lovely to get a call that a friend wanted to bring her kids to visit us in our tiny train-rattled apartment. She said she didn't mind any of the inconveniences, including what turned out to be an hour drive just to get to us.

I made these peanut butter cookies for their arrival. Fidget, who hates jelly no matter what, did not like these with the blackberry jam. But I left the jam off some and she didn't want to stop eating those. 

Ahh, tea and cookies with a friend. A perfect way to end the week.
It is such a blessing to have a friend dear enough, who loves you enough to go way out of their way for you. A good friend is a treasure to keep.

Home, for now

Hello again from Virginia! Our family has had a whirlwind move and long camping trip. We're settled back in our tiny 1-bedroom apartment and starting home school this morning. Here are a few scenes from our camping trip, our first down the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We also stopped in SC with sisters in law and their families which included lots of heavenly cousin-time for Fidget.  Above is the quick ferry we took to get to Okracoke Island. 

One of the wild horses on Okracoke, which have been penned up to protect them.

More of Okracoke. It wasn't our only stop, but for some reason we took lots of pictures there. The beach was pretty but we got a lot of bites on the Outer Banks. We found camping much less buggy in SC.

Myrtle Beach was our favorite. There was plenty of wind for kites, and waves for Fidget to practice surfing on her new soft board. 

Here we were at Hunting Island, SC, where we stayed a couple of nights and even got to see old friends and check on our house, Acorn Hollow. The major problem there was an overgrown jungle of garden, but we got a yard man named Moses and a tree team right to work and left the place looking lots better. 

Unfortunately, Fig kept getting a rash on her legs and hips, no matter whether she wore board shorts, regular shorts, or a swim suit. It's just as well summer's ending, she's about had it with the beach for now.

That's not to say she wouldn't like to swim all day. She just turned 8 and we had a week of celebrating. We took her to Water Country USA in Williamsburg, and a local water park twice, as well as Chuck E Cheese and a hibachi restaurant she loves.

We have had such a wonderful family-time summer. God is good. 

And now, we turn our attention to schooling. Today we start My Father's World's Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum. We are very excited about other countries lately. I signed Fidget up for International Pen Friends so we can wait to see what the mail will bring every day. Of course we can't wait for mail any day, no matter what. The beginning of the school year is a time for a small amount of trepidation on my part but God assures me in my reading that His plans will not be thwarted. I can rest in that. And as I tackle a schedule, biting off small pieces at a time, knowing He is a God is order, not of disorder, I know everything will be fine.