School of the Woods

Do you read older books?  Yes, they are sometimes more challenging and not usually a quick read, but so worth the effort.  A mother sometimes needs to read something deeper, so I recently picked up my late grandfather's copy of School of the Woods by William Long.  Grandpa loved books and passed along several favorite ones to me, his book loving granddaughter.

First thing one notices when looking through this treasure is the beautiful sketches of animals in nature.  Mr. Long describes how animal mothers train their children in addition to their God given instinct. He gives all the animals he describes native names because they are more descriptive of the animal.

I do hope that I persevere.  I've read the first few chapters.  I will take my time and little by little, I hope to finish before winter. 

Late Summer Thoughts

This was a challenging summer.  The drought and heat took it's toll on all of us.  We were reminded that we are pretty much helpless without rain.  There is nothing we can do except pray and wait.  Thankfully, we got over an inch of rain this past weekend.  We are still many inches in deficit, unfortunately.  But, cooler weather and rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. 

Challenging is not always bad.  As my pastor says,"Life is hard, and hard is not bad. It's just hard."  I think part of the challenge was wanting to be carefree like the summers of my childhood.  That just isn't possible anymore.  I need to be OK with that.  Life is hard.  Hard is not bad.  It's hard. 

It wasn't a bad summer, really.  We got to do many things we enjoy.  We just didn't do as much as we planned.  All is not lost.  We have plenty of warm weather ahead of us.  Plenty of time to swim, camp, hike, grill outside, and general outside time.  Another great thing is that the bugs didn't bother us as much as usual, either, this summer. 

I suppose we are all a little wiser for this summer.  I certainly appreciate rain more than I ever imagined.  I recall being disappointed in rainy camping trips last summer. 

We learned how to keep plants alive, how to cool the house on a budget, how to rejoice over volunteer flowers when the seeds you carefully planted did not germinate.  We enjoyed a handful of green beans and a dozen cherry tomatoes!  We decided that farm markets were great, but not always in the budget. 

I think the best thing about this summer will turn out to be its end!  I am really looking forward to fall.  Perhaps healing rains will come.  Certainly the cooler air cannot stay away forever.  We hope to do a little fall camping, too.

Wandering Around a Pond

Took a lovely walk around a favorite pond, again.   I hope you will enjoy these simple pictures taken with an inexpensive camera phone.  They sure bring joy to my heart, so I thought I should share them here. 

Things That Made Me Smile This Weekend

Pictures from Spring Mill State Park located in Mitchell, IN

First Fruits!

A harvest of sorts awaits us....

82 days after planting, the cherry tomato is going to give us a little taste!  The package said 70 days to maturation.  With this extreme heat and drought, I am happy to get anything at this point.

Our little sunflower bloomed yesterday, too!  I always feel so happy when I look at a sunflower.  And this one is kind of special, as it was a volunteer!  It's like a gift from above, encouraging me along my way.

This summer has been a hard one. I am deeply affected by the drought and heatwave.  I feel utterly helpless and dependent on my Father in Heaven for relief.  Yet, He doesn't chose to send relief to us.  So, I wait and hope....  and smile at this gift. 

A Day For Little Projects

Oh, these hot summer days!  What are they good for?  Being confined inside, day after day, wanting to be productive, but feeling the lure of idleness, I struggle to overcome the gravity of the couch and a good book! 

However, today, for some reason, seemed like a good day for getting little projects done.  The kind of little things that are too little to write down on a list, because the time it would take to write them down, you could finish them!

Things like...

• take down the birthday banner
• put away the cake plate
• hunt for pencils in the couch (a favorite past time)
• clean out my "office in a bag"
• find a recipe for dinner
• put away folding table and chairs
• find cord to portable fan
• make ice cubes
• sweep off back door mat 
• wipe down my laptop 

Nothing very glamorous or too difficult.  I could leave them undone another day and no one would really notice.  Yet,  they are little things that, if done, will make the house a nicer place to be, even if just for me.  And that makes me rather content. 

Why I Made Bread During a Heatwave

Because, I went over budget for the birthday party, that's why!  It seems that I have a difficult time with budgeting for gatherings.  My usual method is to buy what I need with the regular grocery money (that only goes so far during a good week) and let my magical thinking process take over. 

Here's how it works.  I know that there is a celebration coming up.  I am already scrimping to get by, so I just decide to not think too much about it.  I delude myself into thinking the regular grocery money will cover all our regular needs in addition to the food, gifts, and supplies needed for 2 parties as well.  Then, I find myself rather discouraged when the items I bought exceed the resources available. 

I know the solution is to think farther in advance and to find ways to buy things or save a little money ahead of the need.  I know this.  But, I seem to be unable to put this plan into action, mostly because we are usually doing our best to stay close to budget with no extra to save. 

So, this is why I had to make bread today, during a heatwave!  I usually buy our bread from a local bakery that makes its bread from 5 ingredients, one being freshly ground flour.  It's pricey, but worth it to me, because I have one child who is a poor eater and he will eat this bread.  But he will also eat my bread.  I don't normally bake bread in the summer because it really heats up the house.  And right now, we're in a heat wave.  But you do what you have to do when you are out of bread and out of money to get more! 

The bottom line is that I need to budget better for these things.  They are not a surprise.  My children have regular birthdays.  I need to sit down and start planning right now for the next event coming up.  And I need to keep making bread in the summer!  It tastes great and is so much cheaper!