Change of Plans

Our plans are not God’s plans. This was abundantly clear last Friday. Technohubby took the day off to go skiing with the kids. I spent my usual quiet Friday sewing. About 1:00 p.m. the phone rang.  Technohubby had had a skiing accident.  A fall.  A ski that didn't release.  Ski patrol.  A tobaggon ride down the hill.  An ambulance ride to the hospital.  The diagnosis...a broken hip.  Surgery.  A hospital stay.  Crutches...for the next three months.

Life is moving pretty slowly now.  Yet the days are exhaustingly full.  The prognosis is good for a full recovery.  Praise God!

One loyal dog just wants to be close to his master, anyway he can.



Developing Eating Habits

Theo, my grandson, has learned to be quite proficient at putting Cheerios in his mouth. And the dog? Well, it didn’t take her long to learn where the best place to lie is.

Summer in Winter

Last summer I visited a local farm that does u-pick flowers (see this posting).  I bought an armload of flowers for a mere $12, and they’ve been hanging in the laundry/sewing room drying. I’ve been waiting for a snowy day to arrange them in vases. But alas, so little snow this winter. And it’s already February, so I decided that I just ought to get busy with the flowers. Today was the day!

I gathered various vases and vessels and all the flowers (just a few shown here).



What fun I had! I got six arrangments for my $12 investment and the beauty of bringing a touch of summer to our winter. This one is sitting in the sunny kitchen windowsill to cheer me as I work.

And the kitchen table got an arrangement made in a redware crock from Old Sturbridge Village.



A small bouquet in a silver basket sits on the laundry/sewing room windowsill.



And in our master bath, this bright little spot of color.



And Colette even had some fun putting together this pretty arrangement for her room.



Excellent flowers for dried arrangements include:

- globe amaranth

- statice

- blue salvia (looks like lavender)

- straw flowers

- cock’s comb

I’m definitely going flower gathering again this summer!

Spud Launcher Project

First came the mathematical calculations. Then came a trip to Home Depot. Then Technohubby and Max put in many nights’ work in the basement. They’ve been building a potato cannon! Today was launch day!

I’m not sure exactly how it works, but I know it involves shoving a potato from the pantry into part of the cannon.

A long piece of wood plays the role of a ramrod.

Another part of it is filled with air from the air compressor. Valves are involved.

The inventors!

I wish I could’ve photographed it shooting. I wish I could’ve videotaped it and shared it with you. But that spud blasted out so quickly that I never even saw it happen. Technohubby managed to track the potato as it went up, uP, UP! Impressive! I fear for unsuspecting squirrels in the forest. But the guys are immensely pleased!

Winter Home Atmosphere

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,

for the touch of a friendly hand and for

a talk beside the fire;

It is the time for home.”

-Edith Stilwell, British poet

I’ve had this quote sitting at my place at the table for about a week now…just thinking about it. It’s prompted a lot of thinking about the atmosphere of our home. Naturally, I hope our home is filled with the presence of Christ, and His love and presence can be felt by those who live here and those who visit. But I was thinking about the atmosphere we create…the tangibles that create beauty and make home feel like home. And then I was thinking about how, for me, that atmosphere is entwined with the seasons of the year. So, I put pen to paper in an attempt to sort out my thoughts. I found that, in my mind, each season has an atmosphere all its own, and that that atmosphere spills over to: the kitchen, touches of beauty and comfort, and our activities. Here is how I thought about this winter:



Winter

Quiet. Home. Peace. Rest. Togetherness.

The Kitchen:

-soup

-hot cocoa with whipped cream on cold nights

-oatmeal

-crockpot

-warm, comfort food

-eating last summer’s preserved food from the freezer, pantry shelves, and basement

-cinnamon rolls

-maple syrup

Touches of Beauty and Comfort:

-candles

-cozy quilts

-duvets

-indoors together

-flannel sheets

Activities:

-garden planning

-arranging dried flowers (picked fresh last summer) in vases

-knitting

-afternoon walks

-reading

-family fun