Summer Show and Tell :)

I love awakening in the night to see the moon through the branches and leaves of the trees around our home.  One night this past week the moon looked like a wondrous blossom decorating the sky while bending to bask the earth in its glow...until the sun took over lighting the cultivated and wild blossoms on earth during the day.

Saturday, my youngest daughter invited her aunt and cousin over for an intro to spinning fiber workshop.  We had a homemade drop spindle made from a dowel, cup hook, rubber grommet, and two CDs for them to try out, and my daughter's Ashford Elizabeth spinning wheel, also. My daughter had two different rovings for them to spin: some white Merino wool, and some Navajo-Churro wool from a zoo sheep named Titan :) 

Today my oldest daughter and her husband and their girls came in from walking around the ponds with a bucket with some of the first ripe blackberries of the 2013 season!  Woohoo!  So then I went out to follow in their footsteps, and while I was at it I went down to the brook and tried to record its sights and sounds for you to enjoy.  While I was sitting still I heard five or six different bird voices ... chirps, cackles, chortles, chuckles, but voices I was sad to realize that I could not identify as specific bird types.  I also heard jets, small planes and cars pass over and by.  Insects whined and buzzed by, two  garter snakes slithered by and two birds and two butterflies landed near me but fluttered away before I could take photos of them. We will see if I succeed in getting Blogger to broadcast the bubbling brook :)

Mmmmm, the blackberries are yummy!  What is ripe and yummy around you?

Gracie xx

Do You See What I See?

Thank you for visiting me!  I appreciate you so much, and love when you comment
and we get to have a bit of a conversation!  Today my oldest son sent
me an email from NY and reported he has been reading some
of the blog.  He said "some of Dad's techiness rubbed off on you":)
"Dad would be proud."
He went on to type that he misses Dad and the guidance he offered.
Precious words.
This Tuesday it will be three years since Louis died.
I have been wondering lately if all my mourning tears have been invested,
but during the last few days I know they have not been.
WOW!
on Pandora the lyrics being sung as I type

"God be with you till we meet again;
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again...
Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus' feet...
God be with you till we meet again;
Neath His wings protecting hide you;
Daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.....

I just Googled to find the lyrics so that I could
type them accurately
www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/gbewiyou.htm
Words by Jeremiah E. Rankin
based on the etymology of "good-bye,"
which is "God be with you."

***AWESOME***

This last few days a blogging friend and I have been typing
 back and forth about the significance of feathers in our lives.
She has been finding feathers on her recent walks which has made her
feel reassured that an important "good-bye" in her life was going to be ok.
I told her that her posts reminded me of  two passages that liken the Love of God
to a mother hen hugging her chicks with her feathery wings.

Hearing the above lyrics now is so comforting for me...
a heavenly, holy, hug...

Do you feel it?
***LOVE***





This was our front manmade pond created to prevent flooding
during  major winter storms like we had this past winter.

Now during our dry days this is our front pond.
The back shadow is hiding a bit of water with some
stalwart lilly pads.

In this dry season in the tangle of weeds
there are some thorns.

But if you are careful you can find something good.

 Wild blackberries are ripening!
Mmmmmmm good!

Following are some more reasons I found to feel cheerful
this week, and that I recorded in my journal,
thanks to Kate's Challenge :)

This actually was based on what I read Saturday morning, but I had neglected
to record anything cheering on Wednesday :( and so went back and put it in for
the 15th.
During that quiet time on the 18th I was listening to Pandora again and the lyrics
of a song "with everything we will shout for Your glory."  Then I read, "The moving wings of
the cherubim sounded like the voice of God."
Again I thought of the mother hen image and then was so excited
because outside I saw a huge bird take off from the front pond.
***GLORY***

Wondering how you are, and sending you hugs,
Gracie xxx

A Taste of Fall

Welcome!

 I'm glad you stopped by to check in to see what I'm doing and I hope you will leave a comment about what you are doing!   I have been enjoying seeing how other blogging folks are sharing their autumn adventures, and many have inspired my appreciation of all that is around me at this time of year. 

Alicia shared some recipes she  found for chicken stew and I decided to give them a try.  Even though I am not fond of cooking, I really enjoyed tweaking the recipes to conform to the ingredients I had on hand.  Instead of sweet potato biscuits I made pumpkin biscuits. I used freeze dried parsley instead of fresh, and half and half instead of heavy cream.  I used boneless chicken breasts that I sauteed in one tablespoon of butter and a little olive oil. I did not add any pearl onions, just sauteed a large chopped onion in olive oil.  I did not blanch the chopped carrot, I just added it to the sauteed chicken at the end of its cooking time.

I can imagine that had I followed the recipes more closely the flavors of the chicken stew and biscuits would have been different, however, thankfully, my family raved about my tweaked versions of the recipes. [Whew!]

Then because I had to open a large can of pumpkin and did not use it all for the biscuits,  I made the Bisquick recipe for Impossible Pumpkin Pie which is a family favorite. [I tweaked that recipe too, and used twice as much cinnamon and ginger as called for.]

My oldest daughter had defrosted a bag of blackberries that  needed to be used,  so I also put together a blackberry crisp that  tasted good...but not crisp...hmmmm 

Alicia and Julie and Teresa have all been posting beautiful pictures on their blogs and they inspired me to at least

                       try to capture some of the wonderful colors around my neck of the woods to share, also.

The  geraniums are still blossoming beautifully but the  new little bush seems a bit sad.

                           Some  wild blackberries are hidden along the creek here among plenty of dandelions!

And here and there among the evergreen trees are bursts of yellow and orange and red leaves.

Blackberries from Around the Ponds

As summer is winding down, our wild blackberry crop is revving up to juicy ripeness.  So far my youngest daughter has plucked enough blackberries to make two large rectangular blackberry cobblers for her fellow co-workers, nurses on night shift at the hospital.  From her report, she has succeeded in boosting morale by doing so.  (:

My oldest daughter made a large cobbler for the whole family to enjoy at home.  We are debating, but we think we favor her blackberry crisp recipe over her cobbler recipe.



The girls made 12+ jars of jam last year.  Some of the jars made it to grateful friends locally and family out of state.  The girls are gearing up to repeat their jamming production this coming week.

Meanwhile, even the little grand girls have been out berry picking handfuls to munch as well as a few for their buckets  for me to put on my cereal in the morning.  Also, we noticed several cars stopping at the hedge across the street so that the car occupants [all women  so far] could  help themselves to the wild blackberries growing among the rhododendron bushes.

... yummy and practical traditions!