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

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Angel Wings


I finished another Angel Wings Pinafore I had been working on for Ineke.  In a beautiful periwinkle cotton, which brings out the blue in her eyes.  

I decided to shorten it, making it shirt length instead of dress length.  In truth, for her leg rolls.  I love her chubby leg rolls and how they look in little bloomers.  The girl has got some thighs on her!!! 


Taking pictures of the girl is getting a bit more challenging these days because her newest trick is... she crawls!  

I leave her for ONE day to take photos at a wedding, I come home and she is crawling! 

Stinker!



Just a couple weeks ago, I could sit her in a spot and there she would stay.  Then, all of a sudden, she realized she had knees and how they worked.  Now, there is no telling where she will end up when I plunk her down.

And the photos wind up more like this:



Given her new talent, a shirt is more fitting for her than a pesky pinafore that hangs down, getting in the way of her travels.



I love the buttons in the back- they add just the right bit of rainbow.


I crocheted another Angel Wings pinafore (what can I say?  I love this pattern!), this time for a sweet spring Song.  Her Mama's favorite color is green, her eyes are blue and she was born right when the gray spring rains coaxed the moss yellow new grasses to turn emerald with age.  The yarn I used was made for her.


I decided to enclose the pinafore to make it an actual dress.  Cadence was a teensie girl when I began, so I made a teensie dress and then, for various reasons, I didn't get the finished outfit to her Mama for another month or so.

And in terms of newborns- a month is a big deal.   So hers has turned into a tunic/shirt as well.


These pictures don't do any justice to the whole ensemble.  But these do.


As for now- I am finished the hat piece for the *second* butternut squash pixie bonnet.  As opposed to the newborn one of before, this one will definitely fit Ineke this fall/winter.  I am working on the neckband now and then I will be done.  Again- totally ready to move on from the color of butternut squash.  I want to relish in the colors of pink cosmos, of orange nasturnium, of yellow outhouse bush and red hibiscus.  I want the colors of summer to linger long.

I'm reading The Farmer's Kitchen Handbook by Marie Lawrence.  I believe if I were to ever write a cookbook (and I have thought about it often) I would want it to be like a lot like this one.  Not one filled with recipes you make occasionally and using expensive ingredients but organized in such a way as to use what is available to you throughout the garden year.  With anecdotes and large, beautiful pictures.  With humble, yet reliable food that you want to make (and eat) again and again.  That is the type of cookbook I want to write.  And this one comes pretty close.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Watermelon Baby


What does one do with a watermelon slice?


Is it to play guitar?


Is it to serve drinks?


If only it wasn't so hard to hold onto!

~

I wonder if it is edible?  Maybe the green part? 


Hmmmmm.....

Yes.  It's edible.  DEFINITELY edible!





Unless, of course, one gets a seed.  

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Around Hopestead

The main garden two weeks ago

The main garden on Saturday



































Thanks, all, for your many well wishes for my surprise appendectomy.  Indeed, I am back up and running now and feeling quite well.  I am surprised how little I was on the computer while semi-laid up and supposed to be resting.  That would have seemed a perfect time for blogging but, as is evidenced by the lack of noise on this blog, you and I both know that didn't happen.  The porch, you see, was calling to me.  I would sit out there among the birds and flowers and the breezes (we don't have air-conditioning, you know) and I would convalesce.  The porch is the best place to keep an eye out for children as these days they don't stay in the house for very many minutes of the day and when they are out, they scatter to the four winds.  I am pretty sure I did nothing of substance for a good three days except crochet oodles of dishclothes for the kind people who brought us snacks, meals or flowers.  I used up plenty of cotton yarn remnants!  The porch was a perfect place to rest all except for one bit...

The children wave at every car that passes by, which means the cars have begun to look around for us as they pass, which means everyone who passes by always looks up onto the porch to see if there is anyone there.  This is a bit embarrassing for a girl laid up for a day or two- out in the open.  I did wonder about the people passing by the house- what they must have thought of me sitting out on the porch when they went past in the morning and when I was still there again in the afternoon.   A road crew was working our road on one of those days, the men driving back and forth, back and forth, all day long.  They waved every time they passed and I did too... but inwardly I groaned and thought how it must look to them- a girl sitting on the porch and doing nothing every time they passed by.  I felt I should paint a sign in big bold letters I AM NOT LAZY, I AM CONVALESCING.  

The garden has gone crazy- but in a good way.  The children and I are keeping on top of the weeds and garden chores better this year than ever (45 minutes right after breakfast and chores) and they look beautiful.  The first picture with little baby tomato bushes, taken a few weeks ago, look nothing like that now.  The tomato plants have reached the top of the wire fencing at this point and Matt got to taste the first ripe tomato just this week...a little orange cherry.  I am so looking forward to those first delicious bites of garden tomato- and judging by all the little green orbs dangling down, it shouldn't be long.  Along with the lone tomato, we've harvested quite a few zucchini, a few hot peppers, garlic scapes, radishes, kale, swiss chard, chamomile flowers, basil, dill, yarrow and beet greens.

A little tidbit- if you procrastinate long enough on thinning the beets- you'll get baby beets to eat with supper instead of just greens.  Pairing those delicious baby beets with homemade feta.  Nuthin' betta.

My flower circle is looking pretty sad right now- many of the flowers bloomed prematurely due to the heat and the plants look haggard and old because of the lack of rain.  Rain, or lack thereof, seems to be a topic of discussion around here lately.  Drought is whispered.  Heads shake, and people have begun checking their well levels and springs.  I know of a couple of families that had to move in with relatives because their wells have run dry.  I haven't watered the gardens or flower circles because people and animals are a priority here- but everyday I wonder how much longer we have until rain.  A cow drinks a lot of water.  Four cows drink even more.  And cooking, drinking, washing, and laundry for a family of seven takes a fair amount of water too.  So the flower circle stays parched and I (and our neighbors) pray for rain.

I have a ton of photos on my camera~ I hope to be a more regular visitor to my own blog in these coming weeks.  A watermelon eating baby, summer swims, blooms and blossoms in every room and the delicious feasts of summer.  Lots of beauty these days, lots of abundant living.  It's so, so good.