Thank-you For The Blood, Sweat and Tears....

This is a picture of my father in Korea, 1958. I have pictures of him in uniform, all spic and span and looking every bit as proud as he felt wearing his U.S. Army uniform . This photo just struck me though. War is dirty, bloody, bone- wearying, lonely, scary, and even tedious. There is always the practical aspect of war...when not in battle the equipment needs to be taken care of, repaired, serviced. Battle, or warfare is noisy, bloody, scary...I am sure anyone who has fought in a war has much more they could say about war, but most veterans I know , including my father , father-in-law, son , brother-in-law ,nephews , friends, choose not to talk about it much. "We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."Cynthia Ozick One of the rare discussions I once had with my father about war has always stuck with me. My father did two tours of duty in Korea, and two tours of duty in Vietnam. He said when he held a dying man in his arms he could see the life leaving , and the spark of life was in his eyes, and then it was not. "In war there are no unwounded soldiers." Jose' Narosky This is my son David , reading a local newspaper I sent him. He is shown here in Iraq in the first of his two tours there, with his U.S.M.C. tank crew. They got mighty dirty and tired. Not too much boredom though, things were pretty lively for them ( unfortunately). Since our son was very little he desired a military career. I always marveled at this though because as a little boy he once commented.."Mom, the soldiers on one side are fighting for their country, and the soldiers on the other side are fighting for theirs'...each one thinks they are right.."The most persistent sound which reverberates through men's history is the beating of war drums." A. Koestler We were talking on the phone 2 days ago and he told me he could sleep anywhere when he was tired. He said he slept through mortars and fire-fights. One night he was dreaming he was home with us and in his dream I was in the kitchen cooking and complaining of the mortaring going on around the house. Then one of his fellow Marines came in, a little bloody ( nothing serious) and woke him up because they WERE under fire! "Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul." Michel de Montaigne

There is so much I would, or could say..and so much more I cannot begin to know or understand enough to say well. There is so much to cry about, and pray about, and be angry about..but today I want to say THANK-YOU!

To all of you veterans of all wars, thank-you for your service and sacrifice."Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." G.K. Chesterton

"When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? " George Canning

To see my tribute to family veterans click here*.

Torque On The Table

This is my ram, Torque,shortly after a shearing when he was young and still behaving himself. Torque was thus named because of the shape and location of his two lower horns which fit the definition of the word 'Torque' perfectly :"natural ring or collar, as on the neck" Funk & Wagnall's Dictionary. Torque became downright dangerous ( click here* to read of his demise) and was dispatched shortly after shearing almost 2 years ago. I kept all Torque's wool separate so I could spin him up! This wool is a charcoal gray, which is Torque's white wool and black wool washed and then carded ( combed) together into wool batts, ready for me to spin.

Look at how much 2 ply hand~spun wool his fleece provided!

I began weaving a table~runner of Torque's wool as soon as I set the ply on the last skein of his yarn. I used some hand~spun wool of a different color and sheep for the accent stripes in my table~runner.

Look~ I finished the table-runner, finally! It is long enough to hang over the ends of our table even with the table extension put in. I could not help but thoroughly enjoy singing this little verse I made up while I spun and wove Torque's wool........

Torque on the table,

Torque on the wall,

Torque in the stew pot,

Torque enough for all! See, there are 4 skeins of 2-ply wool left over!

Be Still My Soul

"Come to Me ( Jesus ), all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you , and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my load is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Sweet Pear & Apple Salad~Jamie Oliver Friday

This is a delicious and EASY salad to make. Perfect for an autumn side dish, or in my case, dinner. This is the time of year to use very available fresh apples and pears, and we have a lot of apples from our orchard and that 1 perfect pear! This is the only pear to stay til fruition on our small espalier pear tree, and it looked perfect. Well, when it finished ripening inside it proved to taste perfect too. I decided to use it in a Jamie Oliver recipe and I am glad I did. So here is the recipe for Sweet Pear & Apple Salad With Bitter Endive & Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing~ whew, a long title. You will need:

• 4 heads of endive ( a mixture of red and white if possible ) *at $4.99 a pound I decided to choose a different type of endive, a curly leaf endive that was $1.99 per pound, cheaper,more befitting my budget and I mixed it with red lettuce from our garden~k.b.
• 2 good eating apples ( I have a whole tree full to choose from right outside~ k.b.)
• 2 pears ( or 1 perfect pear?k.b.)
• a handful of fresh soft herbs ( chervil, tarragon, parsley-use any one) torn or roughly chopped

• DRESSING:2 ounces strong blue cheese
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche ( or sour cream mixed with whole cream k.b.)
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling
• 4 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 6 Tablespoons water

"This is an adaptation of an old-school French endive salad. Belgian endive is quite a bitter leaf, and to contrast the bitterness I've used the sweetness of the fruit, the twang of the vinegar and the creamy silkiness of the cheese. I think it is important to make this with good quality apples and blue cheese." J. Oliver "Separate the leaves from the endive ( *let me say here, if you can get good endive reasonably priced it is so worth it and the curly leafed was not what Jamie used, but it was very , very good) then wash and spin them dry. Core your apples and slice them into matchsticks. Core the pears and slice into eighths and if they're a little under-ripe, grill them in a screaming hot griddle pan until lightly charred. If they're perfectly ripe, just place in a large bowl with the apple and most of the herbs." To make your dressing place all your dressing ingredients in a blender and blend for just 15 seconds until smooth. Taste to make sure you've got a little extra acidity in there to cut through the bitterness of the leaves, and season if necessary. Pour three-quarters of the dressing over the salad and toss-I usually dress the salad lightly using the tips of my fingers. Divide them between 4 plates and finish with a little extra virgin olive oil. Lovely with some walnuts crumbled over." J. Oliver I very much liked this salad, it was easy to make and I was able to use fruit from our orchard. I will make this recipe again, and next time I think I will sprinkle walnuts over it. I did not use all of our precious pear in the recipe, I put slices of the pear on the side because the pear was perfectly ripe and in no need of anything to embellish it, just someone to appreciate how very good a perfect pear can taste!

Miss Marple's At It Again!

My friend Kathleen crocheted me 5, yes FIVE little bears using some of my hand-spun Jacob Sheep wool. Do you see 5 bears here? I had a lot of work to get done today and as I was breezing through the house I spotted a ribbon on the dining room floor. It is the ribbon laying aside the bowl of bears. What the...? There is a white bear missing. No one home but me and...hey! MISS MARPLE!!!!! I looked everywhere for the bear but could not find it. I looked under all the furniture , in baskets of wool and yarn and no little bear. I did find some other things Miss Marple has hidden away. I found one of my felted balls and the big plastic spider under our bed. She carried the ball upstairs!I also found a missing sock she had hidden too, and a lot of dust bunnies. No bear. So later on this evening I decided to sweep and dust mop and lo, there it was! It was wrapped in the folds of a tablecloth , and although I had looked there, it must have been folded away very well but the little stinker Miss Marple had obviously come back for her prey and uncovered it for there was a little white leg sticking out as a give-away. I propped it up here in the spot I found it for you to see. Then as I was putting away the dust mop... ....Miss Marple was back, in a flash! I snapped her picture and rescued the only slightly damaged bear.So~ my yarn, my wee little sheep, wool felted balls, plastic bugs and teddy bears are not safe with her around. But neither is vermin, so I'll keep her.

Besides, I love her.

The Blessings Of A Good Dog Or Two

"Any woman who does not thoroughly enjoy tramping across the country on a clear frosty morning with a good gun and a pair of dogs does not know how to enjoy life." Annie Oakley

The top photo is of me and 2 of my beloved Labrador Retrievers.These two are sisters. They are from different litters though and the dog in the first photo, the one trying to climb into my lap, is Willow. She is 2 years older than Beatrix who is behaving herself at my feet. Do you know how hard it is to get a good photo of yourself with your dogs? My daughter was patient, and the dogs were both so excited to see the children, run around, try to get in my lap...and I love them. The sisters are perfect companions around here on Cedar Pond. They are from the last 2 litters of purebred Labrador Retrievers we bred. I miss having puppies around, but not too much. It is hard work to properly raise and socialize puppies. Then there is the emotional toll of selling them, and there is ALWAYS one puppy that steals my heart and I miss forever more (* Peppi). I do have two little heart- breakers here in the photos...although my husband did mention to me they both seem to be in need of a reduction in the amount of food they are eating, and looking at these photos I agree!

The Annie Oakley quote above is so true, although I do not trek with a gun, I do love to take long walks on frosty days, well, any days, with my husband ~ and my dogs at my side. I love to take the dogs camping with us, and we have taken at least one dog on many a trip and been very happy we did. "We give them the love we can spare. In return dogs have given us their absolute all. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made." Roger Caras

"The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master." Ben Hur Lampman

Missing Little "T"

This Autumn tableau is in our sun room on top of the bottom half of an antique Kitchen Queen. Little 'T', our youngest grand-daughter kept suggesting I re- decorate it with the Christmas village and lights she remembers from her visit here last Christmas . She did enjoy standing in front of this display quite often though. There is a little fairy in a nest in a leaf bowl on the far left of the display. "T" seemed especially delighted at this.

The tiny bears and Miss Mouse joined our granddaughters for tea one day last week.

Little "T" and her cousins KN and MN who live very close to me, all had a tea party. The menu was cupcakes, brownies, cheese,crackers, cucumbers and ranch dressing...oh, potato chips too. ( Hey, I am a Grandma, not the one in charge of good nutrition) There were 2 tea pots, one held hot chocolate, the other peppermint tea. Of course, you HAVE to have marshmallows for the hot chocolate, so each granddaughter got their own bowl of marshmallows to add to her hot chocolate.

The granddaughters all dressed up for tea and brought their own dolls along. I had a good time with these precious little girls, and I hope they did too. Little "T" then went home with her cousins to spend the night with them. She was so happy and excited.

Little "T" with her Poppa. I do believe he is one of her favorite people. She often calls our home and when I answer the phone her first question is " can I talk to Poppa?".When I explain to her he is at work she asks when he will be home and then the conversation is pretty much over...after all, I am NOT Poppa. During her days here we had a wonderful time together, but every day she would ask where her Poppa was and when he would be home. Every hour or so the question would pop up. When Poppa did finally come home she would run to him and leap into his arms, follow him around talking to him and asking him a LOT of questions. My Husband definitely has a little buddy in Little "T" ! Little "T" went home today and I miss her. Waking up with her in the house is like waking up to perpetual sunshine. What a wonderful blessing she is. I have put all the toys away, cleaned up the spare bedroom she slept in, and looked at the photos I took of her during her visit several times. The blessing of this week- long visit is one I dared not ever hope we could have and just look at how my expectations and prayers were met and dealt beyond what I could have hoped.