Iowa Blessings

Today was the day we finally got ourselves dug out from the last round of snowstorms. It would have been yesterday but the tractor did not wish to cooperate at all.

After a summer of very little rain, it seems we can once again get some form of precipitation. The schools in the area are hoping to get back to classes tomorrow after having a longer than expected Christmas break. I suspect the kids and teachers are ready to be back…maybe not quite as ready as the parents?

Snow is a lot of work, but there is a unique beauty about the pristine whiteness of a new snowfall. It is kind of fun to see the yard before anyone has disturbed that beautiful blanket of white. The muffled quiet and the muted stillness of a world that has had to slow down to the pace of nature is a wonder to be enjoyed.

Life slows down after a snowfall. Things don’t seem as urgent…projects that have been put aside, once again get taken out to be worked on. It is the best time to work on craft projects that have gotten shoved aside for the holidays.

It is a forced slowdown when you live on a gravel road. You really can’t get anywhere until the county has come down your road to give you access to the main roads and sometimes that is kind of a blessing. Appointments get rescheduled and suddenly your day is open to catch up on all the things you always wanted to have time to do.

I do have to admit….I don’t get to those things as fast as I maybe should…I, perhaps, spend to much time enjoying the beauty of the snow before it gets disturbed by the road crew and the tractor that clears the yard. And I am okay with that….sometimes it is good to just be still and take it all in. It is good to enjoy the gift of the day that God has given.

My prayer is that you too get a “slow” day. A day that you are able to sit and enjoy…a day to watch the birds, to see the sun glitter off the new fallen snow and a day to just “be still and know” Psalm 46:10.

To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake
it is necessary to stand out in the cold
~anonymous

Pretty as a Postcard

We woke up, this morning, to a world encased in white. The trees hung heavy with the snow that had fallen during the night and a beautiful layer of glistening white coated everything in sight.

I went to let the chickens out of their coop, but soon realized I would have to shovel some trails this morning so they would not have to walk through snow that was too deep for them.

They cheered me on in the shoveling process….at least I choose to take their chatter as cheering and not complaining that I was taking to long!

It took a bit of doing to shovel, as the snow was a heavy snow. I told my husband that it was great snow for making snowmen and it was too bad the grandkids were not around. Maybe we should have just gone ahead and made one ourselves.

I am not totally sure how much snow we received, but it was very welcome this year. After the dry spring, summer and fall that we had, any moisture is great to see.

After letting the girls out, I spent some time just standing out in the cold, marveling at the beauty that came from that layer of snow. The sky was still gray and hazy….a wintry gray that is pretty in it’s own way.

I love the fact that each season has it’s own beauty…it’s own stamp on our world. There is a child like wonder that comes with a snowfall. The brown grass of fall and the leafless trees are decked in an entire new wardrobe. Buildings take on a magical look….like something out of a snow globe.

The first snowfall is a gentle reminder that slowing down to just stand and marvel is a wonderful thing to do. It is a reminder that the simple things in life are truly a gift. It reminds me to look around and remember what is truly important in this life….faith, family, friends….relationships.

May you be blessed with a “snowfall” that lets you slow down in the busyness of this season!

“When I no longer thrill
to the first snowfall of the season,
I’ll know I am growing old.”
Lady Bird Johnson

Dads

Yes….I realize Father’s Day is over and that I missed it by one day. But I kind of feel like we should maybe celebrate dads more than just one day…at least the good ones.

I decided I would give a quick shout out to the dads in my life. My dad was a great example of what a dad and husband should be like. Once he became a grandpa he excelled at that job also. His grandkids love him dearly. He taught me what men should act like and how men should treat others…with respect and integrity. It never mattered to my dad (and still doesn’t) what someone possesed or what someone looked like….you treated them all with respect.

Because of my dad; I knew what to look for in husband material. My farmer husband was and is a great dad. He attended his son’s events…from cross country races, to band and music concerts, to programs at school and church and everything in between. He taught our sons how to hunt, how to treat others fairly and how to generally grow up to be men of character.

This man I call husband, might not be perfect (okay….he isn’t, but neither am I so it works out well) but he is perfect for me and perfect for our family. He also has jumped into the role of Grandpa and has excelled at it.

We have three sons who have become dads. Our middle son just celebrated his first Father’s Day this year. It has been a blessing watching these three men with their children. They are dads who are “hands on”….They change diapers, take their kids to parks, take them to taekwando lessons, attend programs, take time off work to tend sick kids and so many other “dad” tasks.

They are men who climb 14ers in Colorado, run marathons, fix motorcycles, love fishing and boating and build legos but still have time for those who are important in their lives.

It has been a joy to watch those three boys in the photo turn into men of integrity and men who love their families. I can only hope they realize what they mean to me. I can only hope all those dads in my life know what they mean to me. My life has been richer for knowing these dads. I am thinking I should probably tell them to make sure they know this fact!

My hope is that you have all been blessed knowing at least one good “dad” in your life. If you haven’t…rest assured there are good dads out there…..and if you have sons….you get the chance to raise them to be good dads.

“I believe that what we become
depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments,
when they aren’t trying to teach us.
We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.”
― Umberto Eco

Outfox the Fox

Mom Fox

My girls are not happy with me. I don’t blame them for feeling that way as I am never happy when I am cooped up either.

A little back history as to why they are stuck in the chicken coop/run these last days…..

A while back we noticed a fox hanging around our place. My husband was pretty excited as the last years fox have been very scarce in our area. Coyotes had moved in and the fox population had moved out.

This particular fox seemed to have taken a fancy to the old schoolhouse that is on our acreage. We would see her darting under the building at random times of the day. Last week my husband came to the house to let me know he had seen her with fox pups.

To be honest I was not sure how I felt about a den of foxes right on our yard. My thoughts were that my chicken flock was going to be rapidly disappearing. For a bit, Mom Fox seemed to ignore the girls. In fact the girls would fearlessly run as a group toward the fox! (There has got to be a lesson in stupidity in there somewhere!) Mom Fox would look startled and head under the schoolhouse.

This past week the dynamic changed….Mom Fox found out that a chicken is a very tasty meal. My husband thought I would want the fox family cleared out;…..but I am torn. I want my girls safe….but I also really enjoy watching this fox family. (That is when I can catch a glimpse of them).

At this point in time the girls are stuck in their chicken coop/run area while we try figure out how to keep them safe, let them roam a bit and still have the fun of watching the family of foxes grow up.

My hope is that when we get busy mowing lawn and doing the busy outdoor work of summer, that the Mom Fox will decide it is no longer safe and move her family elsewhere…like far enough away that she won’t come back hunting a chicken dinner.

I am not sure how this will all turn out…..but I have always been an optomist and really don’t feel like changing that veiwpoint any time soon. I have a feeling there are lessons to be learned, while we wait for the fox family to move on. Lessons in patience, lessons in enjoying what is put before us even though it comes at a price.

I am not sure if we will be outfoxing the fox or just out-lasting the fox…..either way…it should prove interesting.

“With foxes we must play the fox.” 
– Thomas Fuller

Projects and Ponderings

The “after” photo of the desk

The last weeks have seemed to be the time to catch up on projects that have been waiting a long time. I am wondering how many craft rooms are being slowly emptied of the stored up paper, fabric, paint etc.

I know that I am slowly….really slowly….getting a few of those things done. I have had a desk sitting in my back hallway for a long time. It came from my in-laws and was set in place with intentions to paint it. Somehow those intentions did not transform into doing…..until now.

The paint had been purchased months ago for this project and with the warmer weather I encouraged my husband to help me haul it into the garage so I could start working on it. I also discovered I had some TSP hanging out in my storage closet to use to dull the finish so I could paint without to much sanding.

This was not the first refinishing project I have ever done, but I did learn some new things along the way. I learned to read the paint can when it says “do not paint in the sun on a warm day”. The paint on my drawers is not as nice and smooth as I would have liked it to be…..next time I will read before painting!

As I worked on the desk I had time to think. Working on the desk took some time but I knew that the effort would be worth it. The prep work was not as fun as the painting and I think that might be true of a lot of things.

Prep work is rather tedious and dirty. Sanding is not my favorite thing but then again being “sanded” in life by my Maker is not my favorite thing either!  It is good to remind myself, when being “prepped and sanded”, that the end result will be worth it.

When I envisioned, as I sanded, what my desk would end up looking like It was good to remember that He has a picture in His mind of what He wants my life to look like!

I also wondered if the last few weeks have been some prepping and sanding for all of us? I kind of hope so….I hope that when this virus settles down we will come out better people than when it all started.

May you be blessed in this season of change.  May you have time to think some deep thoughts, be kind to those around you, share a smile with someone (even if it is from 6 ft. away). And may we all end up much better for having been “sanded”.

And once the storm is over,
you won’t remember how you made it through,
how you managed to survive.
You won’t even be sure,
whether the storm is really over.
But one thing is certain.
When you come out of the storm,
you won’t be the same person who walked in.
That’s what this storm’s all about.

Haruki Murakami

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tangled

It is already December 13 and the tree is finally up and it actually is totally decorated…..except for the candy canes that will get put on at the last minute. For some reason Christmas decorating at our home seems to take a while to wind up and get started.

I am thinking it is because I kind of hate to take down the fall decorations and give in to the fact that it is the winter season. But…..the day arrived and my husband retrieved the totes that held the tree and all that is needed to make our house festive and lit for the holiday.

As I took the strands of lights out of the freezer bags I had stored them in; my husband started laughing. He thought my balls of light strands resembled something from the movie Christmas Vacation. Since he was right on that thought, I let him share in the joy of untangling those strands of lights.

My Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas holiday seem to tangle all through each other and this year has been no exception. As I was making Christmas cookies I was also finishing up baking out my pumpkins from the garden.

I can probably justify the pumpkin baking as I do make a pumpkin pie for dessert for Christmas dinner. We have some die-hard pumpkin pie lovers at our house that day.

There is something wonderful about the tangling of seasons and holidays. It seems to reflect the tangling of life and the tangling of days. At least my days and my life sometimes resemble that strand of lights that come out of the bag as a ball.

It takes patience to unsnarl that strand of lights. It takes a gentle touch and a sense of calm. There is a lot to be learned when untangling strands of Christmas lights. Things like handling life with patience.  Treating others with a gentle touch.  Remaining calm when faced with situations that look impossible to straighten out.

Let’s take time this holiday season to deal gently with those around us…..you never know what they are dealing with or how snarled their life is. Let’s be patient and calm when the world seems to be going to fast and seems cruel…..let’s untangle those strands and let our lights shine.

 

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a man
by the way he handles these three things:
a rainy holiday,
lost luggage,
and tangled Christmas tree lights.
~Anonymous 52-year-old,
quoted in H. Jackson Brown, Jr.,
Live and Learn and Pass It On, 1991

 

 

 

 

Canning For The Year

This has been a wonderful busy fall season. It is amazing what a difference one year has made. Those of you who know me, know that I spent last fall recovering from a bout of West Nile.  I was so grateful this year to be busy with canning, spending time with family and friends and just celebrating how good life is.

For me one of the great things of life, especially the fall, is the canning season. Years ago my grandma canned every bit of produce she could get her hands on. She instilled in me a love of seeing the produce come out of the garden, journey through the canning/preservation process and end up on the pantry shelves.

Sometimes Fall can feel like an ending to a season. I am not sure why, but canning does not feel like giving up on a past season. Canning feels like preparing for a fresh start. Lining shelves with the summer’s bounty is strangely fulfilling and highly addictive.

What starts out as just doing some batches of peaches, applesauce and pizza sauce turns into a hunt for a new recipe to try….a new way to try preserve the produce.  Canning is kind of like putting Summer in a jar and opening it to enjoy on those cold winter days.

For me…..canning is hope….hope that you are prepared….hope that you are ready for what comes…..and the hope that by the time your jars run out, you also run out of cold winter days.

Seeing the shelves lined with filled jars gives such a feeling of contentment. I may be weird in that thought but I am okay with that. I love going into my pantry and just standing there looking at those filled jars.

I tried a new recipe this year. We had such an abundance of watermelon that we could not keep up eating them. We gave melons away, I juiced a couple melons and they still kept producing. Even the chickens got to eat watermelon!

So this year I made watermelon jelly. It is so pretty in the jars and really tastes like watermelon in a jar!  I am so excited that in the middle of a cold dreary winter day I can open a jar and feel like summer is not so far away.

Watermelon Jelly
Yield: Makes five half pints

Ingredients: 
5 cups white sugar
5 tablespoons powdered pectin
6 cups pureed watermelon (remove any seeds prior to pureeing)
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice

Instructions:
Whisk together sugar and powdered pectin until they are fully integrated. Combine watermelon puree, sugar/pectin and lemon juice in a large, non-reactive pot.
Bring to a boil and let cook until the temperature of the nascent jelly reaches 220 degrees. This can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes, depending on the width of your pot, the heat of your stove and even the weather you’re having. Check set using saucer test before removing it from the heat, to ensure that it will set.
Remove from the heat and pour into prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.
When time is up, remove from canner and let jars cool. When they’re cool enough to handle, remove rings and test seals. You can eat immediately or store unopened jars in a cool, dark place for up to a year.
Notes:
*This jelly can take up to one week to set. Please give it time.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and here is the link:
https://foodinjars.com/recipe/watermelon-jelly-recipe/
My notes: 
I used the low sugar pectin so it would set up better. Also, make sure to boil till you reach the correct temp as this also helps with setting this jelly.
Do NOT omit the lemon juice or use fresh lemon juice.
this is needed to properly acidify the watermelon for safe canning.
I wait 24 hours before removing the rings.

 

I love having full shelves, but I also love to gift some of the bounty to my children and others. It is fun “shopping” my shelves and filling boxes to send home with them.

I love the fact that, for me, those jars speak of faithfulness. The faithfulness of my Creator in providing for every need. They are more than just food….they are a visual reminder.  Those jars are a way to connect with those that I love and a connection to those who have gone before.

Food is our common ground,
a universal experience.
James Beard 
Read more: http://www.searchquotes.com/search/Food_Preservation/#ixzz63Pz248Hn

Days That Are Keepers

Some days just start out good and just keep rolling along that way. The weather today is beautiful….sunny, dry and the tinge of fall in the air.

It is really a perfect day to turn 62. Yep…I just told you my age because I really don’t care!  I know they say a lady never tells her age, but this lady does, because to me…it is just a number.

On my way to town this morning the sky was so pretty. The clouds against the blue of the sky and the sun shining through. The sight of it made me  a bit late for meeting one of my sisters. I just had to stop and take a picture because beauty like that does not last all day.

My sister took me to Le Meilleur this morning for the most amazing pastry. It was a cinnamon roll made from a croissant. Our tea was the perfect beverage to go with it.

Le Meilleur is a small bakery in our small town. Unfortunately it is moving to the south of us; to the town where my sister lives.

I am glad it is not going far as I would miss this fun meeting place! The fact they have delicious pastries is a huge bonus as well.

 

 

The day just kept getting better. Once I returned home a package arrived in the mail for me.

I had totally forgotten that I had put my name in a drawing at the Veteran’s Booth at the Clay County Fair a few weeks ago.

Today, I found they had drawn my name and I had won a beautiful stitched American flag!  I was thrilled and it was even better that it arrived on my birthday.  I have not yet mentioned to my husband that I just may need a flagpole to fly this flag.

I did have to take some ribbing from my husband this morning. I showed him a birthday wish a friend had sent on Facebook. The post included fireworks. My husband commented that of course there were fireworks. With that many candles any cake would blow up!

He also reminded me I am now eligible for Social Security.  I reminded him that I had finally caught up with his age! (I am also kind of hoping I am like a fine wine and just getting better with age.)  That may or may not be true, but I kind of like the logic.

One thing I have learned in my 62 years is to make sure to live while you are alive. Maybe I have learned more than one thing….I also know that it is good to find joy in a  sky filled with beautiful clouds and streaming sunlight.

I know that each day is a gift because I am not assured of the next. I have learned that life is good…if you let it be…attitude counts for a lot and there are good people everywhere.

I pray that when I am all done with my birthdays and have reached the end of my days…that I am greeted with the phrase, “well done…good and faithful servant.” And I pray that when my friends and family think of me….it brings a huge grin to their face and maybe leaves them wondering….just a bit.

 

And in the end,
it’s not the years in your life that count.
It’s the life in your years.
-Abraham Lincoln

 

Porch Conversations

It has been a bit since I posted. For some reason life just got in the way of writing anything. Somewhere between gardening, canning, sitting with a family member in the hospital, birthday parties, baking cakes for birthday parties, family reunions, picking beans, canning again, splitting wood and pressing apples for cider…..a post just never got written.

The other morning my husband and I had a chance to sit a bit and reflect on the busyness of the past weeks. We were starting our day, sitting on the porch, having our first of the morning cups of coffee and tea.

It was beautiful…a bit chilly for this time of year. It was quiet with only the migrating blackbirds to disturb the peace. It was the kind of morning where porch conversations take place….those conversations where everything gets discussed.

The past weeks were rehashed and relived. Some we laughed about and thought we should do again. Some we decided we really didn’t want to repeat. Porch conversation meander (at least ours seem to). They seem to take their sweet time and sometimes end up in places you had no idea they would go.

We pondered on contentment. We wondered why it seems some people never are content; and how those people always seem to want more. For the life of us, we cannot understand that thought.  I am kind of grateful we don’t understand that concept.

It was decided that, perhaps, we viewed life more as a cross country race than a sprint. When our sons were in cross country we noticed that winning was important…but even more important was beating your own time….running your own race…but running it better than the race before.

We kind of liked that thought. The thought of living life; to live it better than the day before was kind of good. It seems to be a way to live without competing against everyone else and without comparing yourself to others.

Living life by just trying to do your own stuff better, really frees a person up from wanting what everyone else has or wanting more than everyone else has. Maybe time on a porch just makes for being content. Maybe it is the slower pace that sitting on a porch seems to bring.

There is just something about sitting on a porch, starting your day with a good cup of tea/coffee and connecting with someone you love; that lends itself to a very content state of mind. Whatever it is….I am all for it.

May you have time to sit with a loved one this weekend. May your conversations meander and bring a smile to your face…..and if you can do this on a porch….may it bring a sense of contentment and a feeling that all is right with your world.

 

 “Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want
but the realization of how much you already have.”
Anonymous

 

 

 

 

 

Two Sides to Freedom

Tonight as I went out to lock the girls in for the night I was not prepared for the beautiful orange of the western sky as it peeked between the evergreen boughs. The night was quiet with a light breeze gently moving the leaves of the flowering crab tree. It was the perfect ending to some very busy days.

The last weeks have been very busy. I have a feeling we are trying to catch up and stay ahead of things between the heavy rainstorms that we have been given. The lawn seems to be growing faster than we can get it mowed. And the weeds in the fields and garden have been doing the same.

Arnold’s Park

In between all the day to day house/farm stuff, we had the 4th of July holiday thrown in. I really love that holiday because we spend it at my sister’s place at the lake. Family and friends gather for a day of fun, food, boat rides and game playing. Stories are traded, babies are held, recipes are traded and the day ends with the traditional firework display.

As I sat there and watched those fireworks I noticed the flag flying proudly at Arnold’s Park. It did make me pause and realize what this celebration was really all about…the birth of our nation and the sacrifice it took to make it through all the labor pains of that birth.

It made me think of the blood that was shed and is still being shed so that freedoms can be protected. I am so grateful for those that are willing to make that sacrifice for us. I am grateful for those who leave their families for months at a time so I can spend a holiday with mine.

We were concerned about the weather as storms were predicted to roll in during the day….fortunately they were wrong this time. We were able to take a walk along the lake the next morning and enjoy the quiet of the lake after the very people-filled day before.

 

It was kind of amazing how quiet the water was that morning. The day before it was choppy due to all the boats and jet skis that were zipping around. It was a great reminder that there are usually two sides to most things in life…you just have to open your eyes to both of them.

In the space of 24 hours we saw both sides of the lake…the busy and the quiet. We were able to see a dazzling fireworks display and enjoy the freedom of that while reflecting on the sacrifice it takes to keep those freedoms.

I will always be grateful for those freedoms and that sacrifice. When I am privileged to stand in my backyard, inhaling the fragrance of blooming lilies, feeling the light breeze whisper past my cheek and see the sky on fire with brilliant shades of orange; I will give thanks to those who have paid the ultimate price. I will remember the two sides that are freedom.

 

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must,
like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Thomas Paine