Advent

In this season of advent, we’ve been reading Douglas Wilson’s new book, God Rest Ye Merry, for family devotions. I love how he writes! His writing style is so crisp! He has a way of cutting right to the heart of the matter in three words or less, but never without thought behind each and every word. Here’s an excerpt:

“The one who spoke the galaxies into existence at the beginning of all things took on human flesh and consented to have his diapers changed. But He did not do this in order to demonstarte how low He could stoop, as though that stooping were arbitrary or aimless. Rather, he ordained that stooping this low would be the means by which He overcame the world. And He ordained that stooping in this way would be the means by which his disciples followed Him into the kinghdom.” – Douglas Wilson

Leaf Raking

Walter, Felicity, Mr. Theo Elbow Patches, and Melissa came over for an afternoon of leaf raking recently.

Leaf raking, leaf pile play, and a little photo shoot took place.

Oh my!  Are they cute, or what?

Thanksgiving Day

I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving Day! There is SO much to be thankful for this year…and always! We began our day by going to Thanksgiving worship service. Then…let the feasting begin!

Colette did most of the turkey basting this year. We purchased an all-natural turkey from that nice new grocery store I told you about. Our experience with all-natural birds is that they tend to be a bit drier than the conventional kind. So I made a compound butter by mixing chopped parsley, rosemary, and thyme, crushed fennel seeds, and some salt with the butter. Then I smeared that between the skin and the breast of the turkey. And we stuffed the cavity with more of the herbs. It did turn out pretty moist, and very freshly flavorful!

Our sweet doggies, for whom we are very grateful. They never strayed too far from the kitchen all day. Hmm…wonder why?

The Thanksgiving table set with our new table runner and my grandmother’s early American-patterned dishes.

I took some time in the midst of cooking to play a few rounds of Jenga with Max.

 My sweet family! So thankful for them!

Thanksgiving Eve

“…It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens…”

from Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (1863)

Like so many American woman, past and present Colette and I spent the day preparing food for Thanksgiving Day. I love the continuity of this holiday through generations of Americans. I love preparing food for the day, knowing that our Pilgrim mothers prepared food too…and every generation since. A day set apart to thank God for His many blessings and enjoy the bounty from His hands.

Here’s my apple pie, piled high with Winesaps, ready to go into the oven. It’s especially for Max, who doesn’t like pumpkin.

Colette’s Rosemary Olive Oil Sourdough Bread cubed, dried, and ready for stuffing.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Beauty

Daughter.  Granddaughter.  Beautiful.

Candle Dipping Day

Recently we had some friends over for a day of making beeswax candles. Fun, fun!

We set up outside, using the burner on the grill as our heat source for melting the wax. It was damp chilly that day, but we had hot cider to warm us! We talked about how this would be much warmer if we did it in a big kettle over an open fire. We really must get set up to do that someday!

Starting the dipping.

One dipping done!

Many more dippings to go!

Getting thicker!

Trimming the ends.

Finished.

A good day’s work! I’m looking forward to burning these all winter!

A Busy Week

It’s been a busy week around here…two days of campaign work, errands upon errands, and on and on. AND our first snow of the season! That was a welcome, calming respite in this busy week!

Halloween

We waited unitl Halloween day to carve jack-o-lanterns this year, because Felicity would be over with the kids, and we figured that Theo might find the specatcle interesting. And he did! He kept pointing to the pumpkins on the table and exclaiming, “Bampas!”, which translated means “pumpkins”.

But when it came time to clean the pumpkin out, he wasn’t too sure about that. He waved his hands over the pumpkin pulp accumulating in the black trash bag and said, with great concern in his voice, “No, no. No, no,” as he seemed quite certain that the pumpkin ought to remain intact. Finally, he ventured to touch it and then proceeded to put it back in the pumpkin! As fast as Colette could scoop it out, he was putting it back in! Too cute!

Autumn Front Doors in New England

Need a little inspiration for your front door or porch this autumn?  Check out the beauties that caught my eye here in New England!

Autumn Scenes in New England

All this autumn I’ve been snapping pictures of pretty autumn scenes here in New England. Most of these beautiful leaves had turned to a burnished copper color before Hurricane Sandy. And during Sandy, most were ripped from their branches and are now plastered to the streets and thick in the forests. But it was so pretty while it lasted! Enjoy!