Purging on my Day Off

Goodbye papers!

I had the day off work today but the kids still had school. I love these extra little days. After getting everyone off to school I tackled a big job: cleaning the boys' room. I don't usually clean their room, I consider this their job. However, since they've both been working and Nolan has play and band practice, football games and competitions, I've been giving them a little slack. Needless to say their room (which is small for two large teen age boys) was DUSTY! I also wanted to change to the winter sheets and blankets. 

The one nice thing about living in about 1,000 square feet of house is that it forces us to be picky about what we keep and is easy to clean. So even cleaning the bedroom of two teenage boys took under an hour. It sure made me feel better once it was done.

That's the thing I know about me: I feel deep contentment when my house is clean and clutter free.

Not everyone is like me, I get it. Nor does my house look like a magazine. It certainly looks lived in and could use a paint job in several rooms. Our kitchen is small and thus always has food-in-progress and drying dishes (no dishwasher here) on the counter. 

Mike is in the process of moving his music students to a new location (out of our living room!) which has gotten me thinking about our living space again. We've lived with an upright bass in the dining room, amplifiers in the living room and students and parents coming and going throughout the evenings most nights. It has been a blessing to have Mike's business be so fruitful but an adjustment to our living schedule.

In November I'll be able to sit on my couch whenever I want to. 

This fact as well as my ongoing pursuit to minimize the "things" I own in addition to my aforementioned day off work led me to do a little purging.

I recently read a book about minimalist living. I can't now remember the name of the book but it was very interesting. The author talked about their shift from living in a home to a one bedroom apartment with their two young children and the amount of "stuff" they purged. I went online and saw photos of their home. I don't like to judge another person's choices but in my mind I kept thinking I could not live like her family. It was not the lack of possessions they owned that bothered me. It was the fact that there was not one photograph of the children or family in the home. The apartment looked like the timeshare we used one summer. Furnished but void of personality.

I do not wish to live that way.

And that's ok. We all have to find our way in this world. Some people love to collect things. Some enjoy looking through old photos in albums. Others get out their children's papers periodically. 

So today I decided to clean out the closet. We don't really have an attic that is usable in this house so our storage tends to be in the basement and the shelves in our bedroom closet. I have gone through the boxes on these shelves many times. Each time I get rid of a little more. Since I've been doing a lot of self reflection about what is important in our lives on my own and with Mike I've been wanting to go through the closet.

Today was the day.

I had three objectives: Purge my fabric to one box, decide if any of the boys homeschool portfolios needed to be saved and go through the artwork box.

The fabric box was easy. I made a trip to Lancaster Creative Reuse with a little less than half my stash. I then tackled some homeschool books I've been saving. I realized that while the books I saved were really good ones, they are not ones my boys will need in the future and they are too advanced for the preschoolers I work with. I decided to see if the elementary teachers at my school can use them. If not, I'll donate them to the library. 

I then tackled the art box. 

Fortunately the boys were coming home at the time I was going through the box. Mike was also around so we all had a grand old time looking at all of the artwork and crafts the boys made since preschool! I even found a pasta necklace. We saved the most important works and were able to get rid of the rest after having a good laugh at much of it!

After tackling the art (which was really the hardest) I went through the box of homeschool portfolios. There was little that was hard to get rid of. I again saved a few things that showed the boys personalities or growth and pitched the rest. I think the thing I had difficulty with was the realization that I was "throwing out" my hard work. Of course this isn't true. All of the hours I spent with the boys during our homeschool years have contributed to something much better than papers and music and artwork. I have my fantastic men to remind me of those days. I don't need the binders full of math and english work.

So my shelves are a little emptier and my heart is full of memories. I wonder what I'll tackle tomorrow?

Time and What To Do With It

Above you can see Chloe's favorite method of rehydration: drinking from a flower vase. I suppose she likes flavored water or something. We get no end of satisfaction out of her antics and super cuteness so I thought I'd share the photo with you. Just because.

Now back to my regularly scheduled programing. I have been thinking lately about time management. I don't especially like calling it time management because that makes it sound too formal and dull. Really I've been thinking about the time we are all given. Each of us has 24 hours every day. Nothing is going to change that. At different times in my life those 24 hours have been too long and at other times, too short. 

I'm in the '24 hours is too short' phase right now. 

Many of us are. I realize there are tons of blog posts and ezine and magazine articles about how to manage one's time so why bother writing about it? Well, I write not so much for anyone who may be reading but for myself. I'm always happy to hear that my musings are helpful or entertaining to others but the reality is that I blog to keep a little journal of my thoughts and actions. So today I want to do a little soul searching about my time and what to do with it. Bear with me.

We often quote the Bible, "To everything there is a season." I think it is so often quoted because it is true. The problem is that we forget the notion in our thirst to do everything. In some ways this age of technology is to blame. In an instant we see what everyone else is doing and we want to do the same. We forget that our lives are all different (thankfully) and that we each have different needs, skills, opportunities and commitments. 

For instance, I think it would be great fun to be an all-dressed-up-in-historical-time- period-garb-tour guide at one of our many local historical sites. I had to realize, however, that this is not the time for me to take on such a volunteer opportunity. I have too many commitments to my family and my job. I can see a time in perhaps 5 more years where this would be doable. 

I also have learned over time that I have a different threshold for busy-ness than many other people. I do not thrive being on overdrive. I thrive on slow and steady. I really am mostly an introvert and although I get energy from being out and about, I need time at home in the quiet. So I am learning to say no, even to good opportunities. I have to be picky about my service to others, to the activities my family attends and even to my job options. I feel fortunate that my whole family is wired somewhat similarly. We do not do well if we are over-involved. 

So I've been taking a look at what I have time for right now. I know that my time to be busy with my boys is fleeting. They are both in high school and both working. Neither drives. So we ferry them to activities and work. We help with marching band and the plays and musicals, we drive to youth group and host Homecoming dinners. Sometimes we do these things by foregoing something that one of us would like to do. We know the time is short and there will be time for ourselves in the near future. 

So what about me? I'm making decisions about my time. I love my job and am thankful to have it. I am also incredibly thankful to be starting a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at St. Mary's. Both of these things take up quite a bit of my time and energy. So I am focusing on these things. Of course the house and garden need attention as well. Meals need planned and cooked, weeds need pulled, the garden needs put to bed for the winter, the bathroom needs cleaned. It is important to me to keep these things in order, so I vow to spend more time on them.

What I have also decided is that there are things that I enjoy but I am happy to put on the back burner for the time being. Sewing is one of them. Sewing used to fill a great deal of my time. To do it well, it really does take time. Of course I continue to sew for the plays and musicals Nolan is in but other than that I have decided to put the sewing aside for right now. I'm also saying 'no' to most other activities that come along that interrupt the flow of our family life. Saying 'no' doesn't come easy to me. I'm really a 'yes' girl. Shhh....don't tell too many people. 

So today, a day off from work and school for us all, I am off to cut my men's hair, clean up the house, work on my classroom and get outside in my garden. I hope you have a peaceful day yourself. 

Easy Roasted Tomato Sauce

 I love growing tomatoes in my garden. Nolan and I especially love a variety called Oxheart. As you can see from the photos, these tomatoes tend to be large! They also are slow growing and ripen late in the season. This is why I now have an abundance of tomatoes sitting in the sunroom. I've been making roasted tomato sauce with these because it is so EASY! I know there are lots of recipes floating around the web for this type of sauce but I thought I'd share my method. 

 Generally people roast a less juicy tomato like a Roma, but I think a juicy tomato works well for this sauce. You just have to roast it a little (or a lot) longer! Step one: wash your tomatoes. Since my tomatoes came from our backyard garden, I know the only thing that needs washed off is a little dirt.

 You'll need a cutting board, sharp knife, pan to roast the tomatoes (it must have sides or you'll have a grand mess) olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and any herb you prefer.

 Cut out the stem end and any bruised or "nasty" parts of the tomato. No need to peel it. Once you have all the bad sections in the compost, cut the tomato into cubes.

 Fill the tray making sure the tomatoes aren't overlapping too much. Drizzle with olive oil (I always say more is better than less), add salt and pepper to your liking (see note on olive oil) and toss to coat.

 Roast at 400F. for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your tomato type and how many you're roasting. You can see from my pan on the right, I roasted a little too long. No worries, it all came out wonderfully anyway! Check the tomatoes every 20 minutes or so and give them a stir. Let them cool a little once done.

 Today I used bottled garlic and oregano from our garden. Generally I like to roast whole garlic cloves with the tomatoes. Unfortunately I didn't have any so I went with the bottled. 

 Dump all the ingredients into a blender. I don't measure the garlic or herbs, I just add until I think it looks good (or I run out of something!) Blend for a few seconds to puree. 

 There you have it: Delicious roasted tomato sauce. We like this sauce for our spaghetti squash because it really sticks. I'm putting these in the freezer for a later date. I still have a table full of tomatoes that I'm letting ripen a little longer. I bet I have enough for another 4-6 pints of sauce. Yum!

Now....who wants to do the dishes?

The Fall Garden

Mike and I spent some time in the back yard/garden recently. Things had gotten....well...out of control. In the spring when everything is a blank slate and looks so empty I have a tendency to over-plant. 'Look at all this space behind the herbs,' I think to myself. I should plant some squash there. The squash seed is so small. At the time, I forget how sprawling everything becomes. 

So this year, I had to walk tenderly between the tomato, squash and watermelon vines. It was well worth the effort since we love each of these harvests. 

It is now time to think of fall. School is in session, and, to be honest, I waited a little longer than I should have to plant a few things for fall. I really don't know if these seeds will make it to harvest but it was worth a try.

We've had such a strange summer in terms of weather. Hotter and wetter than normal in July, cooler and dryer than normal in August. My onions rotted due to the rain in July. My butternut and spaghetti squash are slow to ripen due to the coolness of August. 

I've had such a strange summer in other ways as well. 

We're all re-acclimating to fall. To school. To lessons. To our schedule.

Just as I hope my fall crop will germinate, we are slowly putting down roots and sending up shoots in this new phase of life. Each fall seems to be a time of death and a time of new growth. 

Just like in the garden.

My Men

Men. I live in a house of them. I grew up in a house of them. I'm not much of a girly-girl myself except that I do love the womanly arts. 

I find myself in the last years of pre-adulthood motherhood. It is a strange place to find myself. 

So I continue to buy longer pants (for they just keep GROWING.). 

We discuss ethics in this world of cyberspace and all (and I mean ALL) things at our fingertips. I think I have pretty good boys.

I continue to try to figure out how to help them become quality people. To make good husbands (if that is their path) or just good citizens within this crazy world.

Each and every day is a new challenge and a new joy.

Working on 21

There's been an article going around facebook that is supposed to be written by a newly divorced man talking to men about how they should be treating their wives. I've only seen women sharing the post and, to be honest, I doubt that it was really written by said man. I'm not saying that it's a bad article. Not at all. What I think we need to remember is that marriage is a two way street. It takes two to tango and all of that. 

It got me thinking about my own marriage and my husband. We'll be married for 21 years this December. I can barely realize that I'm over 21 myself, let alone that my marriage will be this old! Time does march on. So I got to thinking about all the reasons I love being married to Mike. I think when we focus on the positives (because we all know there are negatives) we can keep this marriage thing going.....and keep it going passionately! 

So here are a few of the things I love about my husband. There are lots more, but for time's sake, I kept it to the things I could think of within a few minutes.

• Always calm. My husband gets calmer the moment anyone around him gets more agitated. Since I'm easily agitated, this comes in handy.
• Talented. Most people think Mike's musical prowess is the thing that first attracted me to him. Not so. However, having an uber-talented musician as a husband makes me strive to ensure he uses these gifts to their fullest. 
• Always positive. Mike is such a quiet person (until you really know him) but he really has kept a positive spin on our family life. Especially with our children. Having a child with a major disability has been a very hard life lesson for me. Mike's perspective on it has always been positive. Very Montessori, in fact. He is the Ying to my Yang.
• Space giving. Especially when the kids were young and I was a stay-at-home-mom-who-needed-time-to-herself. Mike was always more than happy to let me leave the second he came home from a hard day at work so I could unwind at Barnes and Noble or Borders with a cup of coffee until the kids were bathed and bedded. He was always chipper when I arrived home and always awake to spend a little time with me.
• A Listener. I guess this is the thing I first fell for. Mike is such an introvert and quiet thinker that he is happy to let the other person spout off! Although I'm not really an extrovert, I'm more-so than he. I need to talk to process and my husband is always available to listen. 
• Puts our marriage ahead of our children. When our kids were little I was a little bit miffed by this. Now that they are almost adults, I appreciate this about him. He has always known that we would need to have a relationship in the years after our boys were adults. He was always a loving father but never put their needs completely above those of our marriage.
• A loving father. When we were dating, I knew I could not marry someone who had an aversion or an indifference to children. I watched carefully how he interacted with my nieces and nephews. He was, of course, wonderful with them. He is sometimes so child-like himself that he has no qualms interacting with children and teens wherever their development happens to lie. He's so much better at it than me, to be honest!
• He does the dishes and the laundry and the grocery shopping and makes dinner. He never EVER complained when he came home and I DIDN'T do the dishes or the laundry (or when supper wasn't ready). He doesn't put the dishes where they belong, my clothes aren't always folded or put where I like them and I'm not always thrilled with his dinner plan. Do I tell him this? NO! (ok, not usually). How nice is it to have dinner planned after a day at work? It is nice! I'm thankful for what is done, not ungrateful for how it is done. 
• He's happy to let me do my thing. He didn't blink an eye when I quit my job and started a new career path despite the fact that it would put us in a financial bind. He is always supportive of my endeavors. He doesn't need us to always do the same things. We give each other space but continue to enjoy the time we have together (even if that time is together but doing our separate thing). 
• Every morning before we wake up he turns to put his arm around me. We aren't really awake. We know we should be getting up but we aren't. His first thought: me. Love that.
• Did I mention he's just so damn sexy with that upright bass? Sorry for the expletives but....well, he is.

There are so many more reasons. Some are big, some are small. We will be married 21 years in December. It seems like such a short time until I count the years. In other ways I can't really remember life without him. I think we have always been like this. 

Have these 21 years always been easy? No. But sometimes, yes. 

I am so looking forward to the next 21 years. Sometimes I feel guilty for imagining life together without the kids and their activities and needs. Other times I can't wait. For if we can enjoy ourselves without our children it means we have raised them well. To hold on to them, and be unable to focus on our marriage is unhealthy, I think. 

Take some time today to think about why you love your spouse. Ignore the things that bug you and focus on the good parts of your marriage. Talk to each other tonight after the kids go to bed (YES - make them go to be early enough so you can do this without falling asleep). Enjoy each other's company. Remember why you are good together.

Late Summer

I just wanted to check in here to let you know what I've been up to. I spent so much of the summer trying to make my school a go only to have it fizz out for now. I'm at peace with that and have moved on to some other projects. I have had a job interview at a local Montessori school and am pretty sure of a part time position there. I'm focusing on building the Atrium for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at our parish. It is a lot of work but coming together nicely. In addition, my good friend Amy has asked if I would do some sewing for her shop, Fresh Vintage by Amy. I've been working on buntings and doll making.

Last week we went on a little vacation to Cape Henlopen. We love to camp and the boys love the beach so Cape Henlopen is the perfect vacation spot (especially since we are ALWYAS on a budget). We stayed a bit longer than usual and I forgot my bathing suit! It was very relaxing and fun. I had a great time with my camera (400+ photos) and reading without feeling guilty and sitting by the fire. The weather wasn't great for the beach (which is why is wasn't too terrible that I forgot to pack my suit) and we went mini golfing one day. We also went on a terribly buggy hike one day which adds to our fun-after-the-fact-story-telling-adventure. We had the same experience last year. 

We've got about two weeks left to the summer. I always feel bitter-sweet about this time of year. The boys are getting so grown up and summer is such a change of pace from the rest of the year. I feel I haven't enjoyed a summer for about 3 years. I'm hopeful that next year (which is the last summer before Nathan graduates) will be a summer without any craziness! I'm settling into the idea of working part-time as a Monessorian, working part-time as a crafter and having time to spend on my family as they are finishing up their childhoods!

I hope your summer is winding down nicely and giving you some time to relax and reflect. Have a blessed evening.

Read Aloud

My boys are teenagers. 14 (actually a few months from 15) and 16. Yet I do something with them that I have done since before they were born. I read aloud to them. Nolan has always adored books. Nathan does not like novels quite so much. It is difficult to find a book that they will both enjoy. Nathan has a fascination with time travel, so now that they are both teens, I have started reading The Time Traveler's Wife. There are still a few steamy sections that I modify (the joy of the read aloud) but all in all this is one of my favorite books. I'm looking forward to discussing it with the boys as we read through it.

We have been watching Heroes on Netflix for the last month or so. The boys are SO interested in the characters and what will happen next! It is so lovely to find something that we all enjoy and that gets my Nathan to TALK! Go with what they love, that's my mantra.

I'm hoping to get in a chapter of the book before the boys want to watch Heroes. Aren't we quite the exciting family? LOL.

Quilt Unveiled....finally

The quilt measures about 72x60 inches

A close up of the leaf appliqué block.

The organic line quilting.

The shirting backing reminded me of our sleeping bags growing up. 

I am finally able to show you this quilt. I made it for my niece, Allison, and her finance, Jason, who are getting married in August. The bridal shower is today. This quilt took me many, many hours and much thought. I like all of my quilts to say something about the receiver. In this case, Allison and Jason. Both are outdoor people. They will be camping in the jungle for part of their honeymoon! So I decided on an earthy quilt for them to snuggle under on those cold nights and to picnic on top of during the summer. 


The leaf blocks were taken from a quilting book by Elizabeth Hartman called The Practical Guide to Patchwork. In the book the instructions say to iron-on the leaves and then machine appliqué over them. I just can't reconcile iron-on appliqué and soft quilty love for some reason. So....I spent many, many, many hours hand appliquéing the leaves onto the blocks. 


After making quite a few blocks, I decided it needed something more than the quilt in the book had, so I added the patchwork blocks. I wanted the quilt to be large enough for a picnic and for two to snuggle under on cold winter nights. I chose to use batik fabrics for two reasons. The first is practical: they don't fray so much when hand appliquéing. The second is that both Allison and Jason spent time overseas during college. They both have a love of all things international. Allison also likes purple. I find this color challenging when looking at fabric to be used by men and women. Batiks solved this dilemma. I guess that's really THREE reasons.


I always wait to choose my backing fabric until the top is finished. In this case I found this fabric that just screamed 'sleeping bag' to me. At first I was skeptical that it would work for this quilt but the more I thought about it, the more perfect it seemed. What says 'outdoors' more than sleeping bags?


Finally, the quilting. I pondered this for a long time, too. I bet most people don't realize how much thought goes into a quilt! I love the organic line quilting because it reminds me of the journey of each persons life. Married couples embark on very special journeys that take them places they never imagined. I prayed for Allison and Jason while quilting. I prayed that their journey will be one of fruitful living. I know they both have a passion for Our Lord and I pray that they use that passion for His Glory. I know they will. 
  

A Mother's Rule of Life

After I got over my initial unwillingness to put aside my sewing and concentrate on my faith I started thinking about St. Benedict and his Rule. That thought led me to a book on my bookshelf: A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. I pulled it off my shelf and re-read it.


I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of this book. Holly tells her own story and how she finally created her own Rule, just like every religious order does, for organizing all the parts of her day. We have things pretty well under control at our house. My boys are teenagers and have had their own chores for years. They help out with anything we ask. Mike and I share the other household needs and we live fairly simply. So setting up the kind of system Holly talks about isn't something I need.


Yet I found this book to be incredibly insightful. I wanted some help determining how to order my days so that I put my faith study and prayer at the center but didn't ignore my husband, my children or my home. 


Holly orders the married vocation into 5 P's.

1. Prayer
2. Person
3. Partner
4. Parent
5. Provider

They are ordered by importance. At first I wasn't sure I agreed that Person should be second but then I realized that if I don't take care of me, I am unable to give to my partner and be a good parent.

I have noticed that I am an all or nothing type of gal. Once I get something in my head I focus completely on it, often to the detriment of other things. While I believe that simplifying life helps us focus on the 5 P's mentioned above, being obsessed with one area is almost never a good idea. By taking a close look at each of the P's in my life and giving time to all of them I find I am more balanced and living my vocation to the Glory of God.

Here are some of my notes:

1. Prayer: I definitely need to set aside a scheduled time during my day for prayer, scripture and faith study. If I don't it doesn't happen. The same can be said for Confession, Adoration and Daily Mass. For this month before school begins I have been led to focus on this area. I am attending daily Mass, studying the Gospel of John and reading up on the saints. In addition I am praying fervently for those who have asked and for some others. I am a morning person so I tend to do this after the kids leave for school and prior to lunch. Once school starts I plan to download the Divine Office and Daily Readings onto my ipod so I can listen during the drive. I also have a few spiritual books on my iPod. Once I start my job I'll have to rethink my schedule again. The important thing is for me to remember that I NEED a schedule so I don't get off track!

2. Person: Taking care of self is so important to our vocation as mothers! This is easier now that my boys are older and self-sufficient. I'm trying to be mindful of my eating and exercising habits and to make sure I'm getting enough sleep. Socialization and recreation are also important points in maintaining our personhood. For me that means getting together with some good friends every so often and reading and sewing. Yup, you heard me...sewing! I just have to be mindful that I am taking only a small portion of my time to these goals, not the majority of my day! Holly also talks about the importance of taking stock of our own spiritual, mental and emotional health to see if there are any underlying difficulties. 

3. Partner: Mike and I will be married for 20 years in December. We know each other pretty well. We work together really well and tend to be like minded about parenting and household decisions. In the book, Holly reminds us that love is not something you seek for yourself but something you concern yourself with giving. Love is a decision, not a feeling. Love is constantly coming up in my Bible reading, my reading about the saints and in my prayers. Without it we cannot be living a Christian life. It seems to be the thing that is so often missing when I hear Christians talking! But I'm not here to judge anyone but myself so I'm working on being loving, thinking loving, acting loving and speaking loving at all times. I'm also trying to take time in the day to be available to Mike. We planned a date night for this week but I also am trying to give him my full attention when we are talking.

4. Parent: There are two things that I'm really working on here. One is to be available to the boys when they are home. I try to put away my reading and my projects or work when they come home from school. I sometimes have a hard time spending the hours it can take to get homework finished and I have not been a loving parent much of this school year. I'm trying to remember to dedicate this time out of love of Jesus and my boys so that I do a better job. The second thing I'd like to see change is to have the boys look more to their own spiritual life. When we homeschooled it was so easy to have prayer and Bible Study. It has really gone by the wayside. I'm still pondering how to incorporate family prayer without it being a burden. My first goal is just to pray for my boys and to ask for guidence in this area. I know that often just seeing me be a good example can lead the way.

5. Provider: This includes your job if you have one but also taking care of the home. Again, this isn't something that I need a lot of help with at this time. We all do our bit to keep the house in order. I will be sitting down with the boys to talk about the extra help I will need from them over the summer. My boys have always been willing to do what is asked of them and so I'm not expecting too much trouble here. I am blessed that my husband works from home and so is able to help out much more than he was when he was working. Again, once I start my job in the fall, this area will have to be tweaked.

I've written all of this out for my own reference. I'm sure it wasn't the best reading for anyone else. One thing I'd like to comment on is something Holly focused on in the book. This idea of a rule, of getting things in order is about more than a schedule. It's about deciding to change, to use your will and your reason for the love of God in all the small things you do every day instead of acting purely because of your feelings. Remember how I said I didn't WANT to change? Well, luckily my will won out over my feelings in that case. 

"The fulfillment of our Mother's Rule in fidelity to God's designs for us as women, wives, and mothers is an act of love for God. But it must become more than an act of the will; it must develop into a movement of the heart. God is not satisfied with a mere external observance. He wants our hearts as well, and over time, we need to see the obedience of our relationship with God transform into the love necessary for intimacy with Him." (page 185)

This change from wants to will to heart doesn't happen over night. It does, however, mean that I have to start somewhere. It also means I need to be kind to myself and not expect to be perfect. Thank goodness for God's Grace!

Sunday

It's Sunday morning and the troops are just starting to rise and shine. We've got a busy day today. Mass, an afternoon choir concert, musical practice and quite a bit of homework. Not to mention the list of household chores that I'd like to get accomplished. And I really should pay a visit to my parents. I found my mom the most wonderful present yesterday while thrifting. I want to do a whole post about it if I can. You'll just have to remain on pins and needles until I get to it. Today. If. There. Is. Time.


I'm sharing photos of my sewing buddy. Chloe isn't a lap cat. She's the first cat we've ever owned (and she's the 7th) that wasn't. She makes up for it in a myriad of ways. You turn away and then look back and she's sprawled out on her back, belly in the air. She lets you rub that soft, soft belly. She does this really funny stretching thing with her neck. She'll stand on two feet, front paws on a wall and then crane her neck all around in a circle like she's trying to get in the whole view. So funny.


Well, I could tell you a million more reasons why she's the best cat in the world. I don't want to sound too much like a crazy cat lady, though. Or maybe it's too late.

Beautiful Day for a Hike

The creek bed along our hike. It was a beautiful day.

Nathan poses for a shot. He received a hair cut after this hike!

Nolan always has to find a way to get to the middle of the creek.

A very rare shot of me, taken by Nolan.

Finally something that sparked Nathan's interest: A wooly bear caterpillar. 

The men enjoying the wooly bear at the lookout.

It was a wonderful few hours out of doors. We realize we need more of this in our busy lives. Of course, it helps when the weather cooperates, which is hasn't much this fall. Happy Tuesday. I'm off to work.

Harvest Days

 In the past few years I've taken my camera to fewer and fewer places. I'm not exactly sure why. One of the reasons may be that my boys don't really prefer to have their photo taken and when I do take some shots of them, them tend to look glum. It hasn't made for the most enjoyable photography so I guess I just stopped trying. Of course, then we need pictures for something and can't find any recent ones. So, I'm trying to be more thoughtful about these teenage years.


Yesterday we went to Landis Valley Harvest Days. Landis Valley is a wonderful hands on history museum that is less than 5 miles from our house. The boys pass by every day on the school bus but I think we've only been there one other time. They do have a children's museum called Hands on House which we frequented many, many times when the boys were young. It was a gorgeous, sunny, fall day and Mike and I were determined to get outside as a family. Harvest Days seems a perfect opportunity.

The shoe maker stand was unmanned when we stopped by. I wish we could have learned about this trade. You can see a few of the tools and the start of some shoes in this photo. There were lots of little tools that we had questions about. 

 This was one of my favorite exhibits: dying. The brown scarf was dyed using different types of mushrooms and the blue was dyed with indigo. Apparently, to dye with indigo one thing that has to happen is for the oxygen to be taken out of the dye bath. They told me the chemical they use to do that (which I can't remember). I asked how this was done originally and was told "little boys urine." I'm not joking! We had a good time wondering how they determined this method. When the yarn or fabric comes out of the dye bath it is actually green. It turns blue when it re-oxidizes. Pretty wild, huh?

 Here she is stirring the pot of red that had some wool yarn being dyed. It takes only a few minutes in the dye bath. She informed us that it is better to dye something several times to get a darker color than to leave it in too long.

 I was really surprised at how vibrant the colors were. I didn't realize how brightly things would dye using these methods. Goes to show you how little I know!

 Of course, the amount of time that it takes to make the dye and to get the colors you want is unbelievable. We take so much for granted.

 The boys had wandered off during my extended visit with the dye ladies. I guess I can't blame them. They are standing next to the spring house, A.K.A. old fashioned refrigerator.

 Here was another amazing craftsman. He was making hickory brooms. They are made from one log. To make a large broom takes about 80 hours. I asked who would have made these and he said it was often the job of the children. Making brooms isn't difficult once you know how to handle a knife and it was a job that was preferred to being out in the fields because it wasn't nearly as labor intensive.

 Here is Nolan checking out the finished products. I'm not sure I'd like a round broom myself but it was fascinating to hear about how they were made.

 Nolan checks out the PA Dutch kitchen. I didn't think to take a photo of the outdoor bake oven and the bread and cookies that we tasted. The museum has summer and winter institutes where you can learn more about the arts like hearth baking and fraktur painting. I think I may check into taking one of the classes.

 Nathan agrees to pose for a shot in front of the hearth.

 This man was showing us the labor intensive method of making linen thread out of flax. Here is the second step, breaking apart the flax stems (?) to get at the fibers inside. The first step was getting all of the seed pods off the flax. These pods were opened to reveal the flax seeds. The seeds were used to replant the next years harvest, for linseed oil and for eating.

 Here he's showing the fibers within the flax.

 There were several more steps that included some really medieval looking tools! There were many steps to getting the fibers out of the flax. After that they would be spun into thread which could then be woven into linen to make a shirt. It required quite a huge field of flax to make a shirt. No wonder old houses have such little or non existent closets. If it took that long to make the fabric, who would want a lot of clothes!

 This was a plant in one of the gardens we walked through. I don't know what it is called but I like the way it looks. It was interesting to note that the gardens were all raised beds. Even back then they knew that it was better to grow things in soil that isn't compacted.

 Of course I had to include a shot of the quilt in the frame. There were women quilting in another area but they weren't very friendly. One of the women was making beautiful cathedral window blocks, though.

 Here was another garden we walked through. Landis Valley has a heirloom seed project that I wanted to find more about. I'd like to use heirloom varieties in my garden next year if I can.

 The blacksmith is always fun to watch. We weren't clear about what he was making.

And finally at the end of the day we found the musicians. This man with the waxed mustache was playing all my favorite songs. I wanted to jump in and sing along.