What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Hot Pizza : May 27






Homemade pizza nights...home canned sauce, homemade mozzarella, freshly ground wheat berries stretched into dough.  It sounds impressive but it never seems impressive when the making of two pies every Friday night in a 500 degree oven is warming the house up in winter.

But homemade pizza night is pretty impressive indeed when done on a blazing 94 degree day.

It is when my skin has a layer of sweat shimmer, the homemade butter is a puddle on the counter, the kids are all begging for freeze pops and I am getting the oven (and kitchen) to smokin' hot when I think....

"Wow.   I am making homemade pizza tonight!  Buying a pizza would have been so much more fun.  But I did it anyway because I've got gumption! "

I give myself a little mental pat on the back and then, I melt into a puddle.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Blossoms, Mine : May 26



The very first Hopestead bouquet, gathered just outside my door.  Goodbye winter grocery store flowers and hello my very own yard lovelies... how I have missed thee.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

In the Living Room : May 25




A buck hunt in the living room.  

With camo, lilac leaves, gun, rattlers and of course, plenty of sound effects.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Budding : May 24

As I work to get in the vegetable gardens and weed the ridiculously overrun perennial asparagus and strawberry patches, I thought I would give you a few glimpses of my flower circle...


















As you can see, everything is in bud, so swollen and ready to burst into color.  It is time again for my morning and evening jaunts around the flower circle to see what has popped.  

And when I do, these are always at my feet:

A New Recreation : May 23







 The neighbors to our left are very kind. They bring the children bags of licorice sometimes and let Judah come calling (almost every day).  They let the children enjoy their woodland swamp frog pond and most recently, passed along a bow to the children which has provided plenty of entertainment around here.  

Particularly for a certain boy who is getting pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.

Weekending : May 22










For your information: I noticed that Judah was bringing his bike to the garden while looking through the camera.  I heard him shout "Hey Mama!  Watch this!" and I just *knew* he was planning on dirtbiking through the garden walkways.  I caught him just in time to end that before it began.  BOYS.




















The moon was gorgeous last night.  Just like the sun the other day, but a bit more muted.  I was playing with exposure out of my bedroom window last night, trying to photograph it, when I heard the terrifying scream of a mountain lion somewhere close by.  Too close for comfort.  Three times I heard that piercing scream and boy, did it give me the shivers.  That is a frightful sound if I've ever heard one.

I spent the weekend outside every possible second.  When the motivation strikes, you have to go with it.  The garden was tilled and the next day I went to the cheapest greenhouse around here and got tomato and pepper plants. (No.  I didn't start seeds and No.  I don't want to talk about it.)  I went into greenhouse/planting mode when I got there and became a little overzealous in my plant nabbing.  When I came home and started planting them, I realized I had overshot the tomatoes by about 40 plants.  143 tomato plants at last count.  I was *planning* on downsizing to 100 tomato plants this year but... yeah.  Too late.  Hello roadside stand!

While I planted green things in the garden, the baby laid on the porch and between planting/weeding/mowing/etc. I laid with her.  Birds were flying.  Leaves were bursting.  Buds were swelling.  Rain was pattering.  It was bliss.

Putting the plants in this year was one of the most pleasant 'putting in' years I've ever had.  It was overcast and gray and a soft, misty rain would begin and end every hour or so- not enough to stop my work but enough to keep me cool and content.  This is the first year, I think ever, that I did not get a major sunburn or need to take sweaty breaks in the tree shadows every couple hours.

Seeds are still left to plant and that is a big job in itself (and one I hope to finish in the next two days- before the rains come again!) but the garden is starting to look all clean and bright and hopeful.

And that leaves me feeling the same way about things.