Spot of Calm and Reflection

(above: Front porch of The home of Frank and Judy, where we are meeting this month to fellowship.)

I was reflecting this week on how I have been able to settle down a bit and rest in this "calm after the storm" in our personal life. Everyone I know has had at least one stormy episode in their life that has had them in turmoil, grief...doubting themselves and many other things in their lives. Yet, though the times may be chaotic, tragic, or depressing...somehow if we persevere, things take on a new perspective and for most of us, they get better, or we learn to cope.

(Bench overlooking the river just outside the home of Frank and Judy)

God knows all along the circumstances and issues troubling us. He knows the beginning, the middle and the end, yes...the END of them! The word of note here is the "end" of them. For all troubling and distressing problems do come to an end. Remember that!

(Frank and Judy's woodland garden with peaceful sitting area)

God knew from the beginning of time exactly what we would be like and what our lives would hold...for He created us from the beginning. Nothing that has happened, or will happen is a surprise to Him, yet I admit I have been guilty of forgetting this and behaving on the ignorance of thinking He was not knowing my trouble and hearts' distress enough to care....that is so very wrong of me .

( Backyard with camp fire area of Frank and Judy's log cabin at river's edge)

As I was reflecting on the calm in our lives right now, I was reminded of the great distress and sorrow so very recently. Although many people who loved us assured us these bad times were for but a moment, it did not feel so temporary. I am hoping I remember this during our next trials..for rest assured, there will always be more trials for each and every one of us until we pass on into eternity, and that no matter what there is always joy in the moment, appreciation for the many blessings here and now, and hope, real and true hope! "Behold, we count those blessed who endured . You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful". James 5:11 Please know I do not consider any of my trials and tribulations to come anywhere near those of the faith who have endured beyond what many would think themselves able to endure...but that the trials we must all endure are hard for us personally, and that if you are able to look beyond the temporal and see there IS a God who is really and truly in control, then our perspective does indeed lift to Him...and He will be our comfort and salvation....

Spot on A Great New Cook Book and Cooks

This is my birthday present from my daughter and her family and I love, love, love it! I thoroughly enjoy Jamie Oliver's cooking show on the Food Network, but as it is now on very early in the morning I do not get a chance to see it. Our daughter's family DVR's it and we watch it together at a more ( to my way of thinking ) reasonable hour. Even better, I usually have a grandchild or two in my lap as we watch Jamie..oh joy! My husband is the "foodie" in the family and I thoroughly enjoy doing the table setting,being the go-for, and clean-up help when he prepares delicious meals , quite often, for friends and family. After all, my reward is that I get to eat fine food and drink fine wine and visit with people we love. Such a small price ...but I digress. My daughter asked what I wanted for my birthday and I suggested maybe a DVD of Jamie Oliver, not realizing he had a cookbook published. What a cookbook! It surpasses his show. It shows pictures of his gardens, him hunting, cooking outdoors, and much more...all done very practically too. As the wife of a hunter, it is refreshing to have a healthy view of such a much-maligned endeavor. Well prepared game of any sort is a rare thing now-a-days. I cannot say enough in favor of this cook book, and I will be reading it from cover to cover...and I have only read one other cookbook that way...might write about it later. All this to say that my husband suggested I cook through this book and blog about it like the movie "Julie, Julia". Nope, not going to do that, but I have decided I will blog every Friday starting next week about recipes from Jamie's book, and cook my way through it. Jamie's book is orderd seasonally and I will prepare his recipes accordingly. I will start with Autumn recipes and hopefully my husband will give me a LOT of help and we will have opportunities to share these meals with friends and family . I have been very, very busy preserving the harvest and bounty of the garden my husband so lovingly prepared, planted and tended. All he asks is that I do not let the fruit and vegetables go to waste. Until this year , my poor husband's labors have oft been wasted or ended up as chicken food because I am at the fairs from mid- August til the end of September and when home am too exhausted to do much canning, freezing, etc. Then I am ashamed for the waste and sad for my husband's hard work for naught. No more! I have canned pickles, jams, and tomorrow will can Tomato Jam, a recipe I found on this wonderful blog: One Perfect Bite* ( click here). I am excited about trying this jam out on broiled French Bread with a dollop of goat cheese on top. Another book my daughter and her family have ordered for me is by Nigella Lawson*( click here). I have seen a few of her shows ( Nigella Bites) on the Food Network, but she, too, is now on way too early for me. There is just something so pleasant about a woman who loves to cook AND eat too! I watched her prepare a few egg dishes awhile ago and thought I could get excited about cooking like that. Can't wait for my new cook book by her! Meanwhile, because I have been busy canning produce I have been making easy breezy dinners. That is O.K. with my husband because he has been coming home from work and straight-way working on finishing his new Honey house / pump house. It is looking good and we have been needing a new pump-house and water pump for a long time. It has room for all my husbands' bee-keeping equipment, and also has been prepared for extracting and storing honey. Yay! Dinner tonight was sliced ripe tomatoes, with baked chicken, toast and FETA PEPPER DIP , thanks to Noble Pig *( click here)! It is good, try it, you'll like it! "Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labors in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward." Ecclesiastes 5:18

Froggie Fall?

This little frog was clinging to the netting on our big 10 X 20 awning. I think there must be many flies and bugs to fill him up, and then some, because there is always a very large garter snake close by too. He probably enjoys a few big slugs in between snacks of bugs and frogs.

Here are the Queen Elizabeth roses ( see those two pathetic pink blooms?) that I need to prune back but restrain myself because they are home to.....

...these frogs! Click onto this picture and it will enlarge and show you two little green frogs clinging to each other and this rose.

Here is another picture of the three frogs...I wrote an earlier post showing these three frogs clinging to one rose. That rose dropped its' bottom petal leaving only 2 frogs clinging to it, but they all seem to stay together, even if it means they dwell on neighboring roses. I have been checking these frogs on and off for several days and they are always there on the bush, close together. Amazing! To think they live on a rose, a bloom that is so temporary...and yet , as I observe the bush, the blooms seem to attract bees, flies, spiders, and frogs. So apparently there is a whole 'nother world here and the food chain in action is demonstrated by the hour....wonder where the little frogs will be living tomorrow?

There are always many frogs here on Cedar Pond, but this year there seem to be so many more. It seems we are heading into a Froggy Fall, wonder what that says about the coming Autumn and Winter?

Spot on Little Spotted Sheep

A lady asked me if I could make spotted sheep, and could they be a little bigger than my "Wee Little Sheep". I was excited to try my hand at a new way to make the sheep, and spot them. I just needed a whole day to work on the little sheep, and finally, a perfect day! A rainy day that was also a day we were able to stay home and had no other obligations. (You have no idea how rare that is for us!) JOY! I fed my animals, had a cup or 3 of coffee and began to work on my idea. I think these little spotted sheep are pretty cute. Their wool is 100% Jacob Sheep wool, and they are 7" from front to back, and 6" high. So they are spotted and double the size of my Wee Little Sheep. I like the raffia around their neck,it looks like hay, and if you are around real sheep much you know there is always hay or grass stuck in their wool....

I am thinking I need to make some more spotted sheep, they make me smile.

I wonder if we, the Sheep of God's pasture, with our spots, cause Him to smile at us....I know He must have a sense of humor, He DID create me..."A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance." Proverbs 15:13 "Laughter does not mean you are ignoring pain, living in denial, or just not aware of the troubles around you..For me, laughter is how we take a much-needed break from the heartache, such that when we turn to face it again, it has by some miracle grown smaller in size and intensity, if not disappeared altogether." Liz Curtis Higgs (Only Angels Can Wing It)

You May Pass Frogs Looking For Roses!

"We may pass violets looking for roses..." Or you may pass frogs looking for roses! ( see the little green frog clinging to the lower petal?)

Look,not one, or two, but THREE frogs in the rose!These two frogs are snuggled into the upper petals. How did three frogs come to gather in one rose?

"How cunningly nature hides every wrinkle of her in conceivable antiquity under roses and violets, and morning dew." Ralph Waldo Emerson

And here is another sitting on the outer sill of the big picture window. At dusk I often see three or more of these little green frogs climbing the window trying to snatch bugs attracted to the lights inside the house.~It isn't easy being green on a white window sill. See the little frog peeking out of the petal on the left?It had stuck its' head out further , but when I approached with the camera it ducked back in. "One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today." ( and the frogs in them ) Dale Carnegie

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, enjoy the roses and the frogs!

A New Year For Me!

These are my coming home pictures as a newborn. I was premature, and came home 22 days after I was born. Here my mother and father cradle me. All 6 pounds of me, in their arms. I wish my mother and father were alive so I could hug them, say " I love you" and let them know I understand how hardship and tragedy can change a person. I would love to let them know , as a daughter, how much I appreciate the sacrifices they made for me and my sisters, and how we now understand decisions that were made for us with the best and most loving intentions. I wish we had even an inkling of the future to have been able to hold firm our parents and stay the coming chaos with the love and certainty that "this too will pass". I love my Mother and Father and thank God for having chosen them to be my parents. I wish I could go back into the past to when they were alive, and at the same time been aware of the future , so I could have at least said the most important things to them....but I cannot.

My Father and myself ( at 2 years of age)

I do remember good times, happy times! My father( a soldier , and veteran of 2 tours in Korea AND 2 tours in Vietnam ) loved to play his guitar and have us little girls sing along. He took us fishing and camping. He taught us pinochle, rummy, and also how to be honorable. To respect our elders, our country...and our parents and grandparents , BECAUSE they were our parents and grandparents. My sisters ( Joni , above ) and Karen ( below) treated me to lunch at the local Ram restaurant on the Pt. Defiance waterfront. We had a delicious lunch , made even better by the fun time we had being together. Thank-you Karen and Joni. Our baby sister Tricia lives far away on the East Coast...and she sent me a lovely gift and her well-wishes. Thank-you sisters, very much. I love you. (my sisters are holding up little rocks that say "sisters' ) So on my birthday I reflect on how blessed I am. I have a husband who loves me very much, 3 grown children , 2 with spouses who are like my own children....8 grandchildren, sisters I love very much and am still able to connect with , and enjoy. Friends who bless my life beyond measure. Abundant food, a wonderful home, and Jesus. Everything else is just frosting on the birthday cake! Happy birthday to my Mother and Father, and I love the rest of you, dearly.

Lacamas Community Fair

Lacamas Community Fair is our local fair, and is a family tradition. Our children were showing rabbits here 20 years ago, then as they grew and were more involved in 4H they showed dairy goats, sheep, chickens, and entered baked goods, art, produce....and also helped put on the fairs,judging activities, setting up, cleaning up. For many years our summer revolved around fairs. Starting with the Pierce County Fair, then 2 or 3 weeks later the Lacamas Community Fair, and in September, 3 weeks of the Puyallup Fair, our State Fair. Our kids would show open classes, 4H and FFA animal and judging competitions, and volunteer in various needed positions at the fair. After the Puyallup Fair we were exhausted, and then after a short break, we would begin the planning for the next year's 4H and FFA projects. The theme for Lacamas Community Fair is "You Have To Bee Here" and ths picture above is the quilt block competition . I like this bee square that looks pretty cheery on the walls of Lacamas Hall.

I was one of the volunteer spinners on Sunday. I love to spin wool at the fairs and events. I meet so many interesting people and they in turn are introduced to spinning wheels and fiber art. ( I spin bare-footed)

I do not get around the fair to see what is going on when I am spinning , but did manage to see the horse costume contest. I love these quirky contests where the kids get to costume themselves and their animals. Isn't this pair of bees cute?

And this black fairy with her blue dragon?

Of course there are the usual guy hang- outs, or should I say "manly-man" hang-outs ? Tractors and classic cars, my youngest grandson Little J headed for this exhibit right away. Look at these purses. They are made of plastic shopping bags! Aren't they nice? Who knew you could take those junky plastic bags and make them attractive and more useful?

Later another spinner and her knitting friend joined me. I had a wonderful time, met more interesting people, and got a lot of yarn spun up while doing this. Our daughter and her family were there and 2 of our grandchildren entered a few things in the fair. To see another take on Lacamas Fair check out her blog, A.Joy At Home.

"In the fall of 1929, at a meeting of the Lacamas Community Club, a few members brought samples of fruit and vegetables , which they arranged on a long table. Those were lean years and everyone depended upon the produce from their gardens to supplement the small incomes of the Depression days. That was the beginning of the Lacamas Community Fair, which, with the exception of the war years, has been an annual event ever since.

No admission has ever been charged. In fact, it was once said that "you don't spend a dime at the Lacamas Community Fair except to eat." The expense of the fair has been defrayed by local activities and support of local businesses, merchants and individuals." Lacamas Fair Book