Church Retreat

A Beautiful Fall weekend for our church retreat. A nip in the air, the leaves turning and falling, lost of frisbee, time at the campfire and general spiritually uplifting activities. This was our meeting room and here the teenage girls were involved in some sort of craft activity.

It was a great weekend, just not long enough. Going "away" to a place separate from your normal routine really helps. We had plenty of time to chat with one another, play board games and outside games, meet in small groups and discuss mission, and hang around the campfire long after the s'mores were history.

I brought a banner activity. I had been stalled out in getting the banner for the new children's wing finished, so I brought it and invited everyone to help make flowers and leaves for the tree. It is splendid, its is fantastical, and it is done. Hooray, we will dedicate it this Sunday. (one more obligation done that was weighing me down)

probably the most enjoyable time was just spent hanging out and chatting. We are very multi generational in our church, the youth and children are comfortable with the adults and vice versa. At meals only the youngest of children are sitting with their parents, all others have found a seat with other adults and youth and are busy chatting away. For some of our newer members they can't get over this aspect of our church. Often newcomers have a hard time figuring out which child goes with which parent as the kids and youth sit with various adults in worship and hang out with many other different folk throughout the church events.

DH and I realized this weekend that we are now"old", we were some of the folks who were the repository of church history and told the tales about the folks who have gone on ahead. It is a weird feeling. I often don't feel my age, and then something will come along to remind me just how many years I have actually traveled on this earth.

So now we are home, I have wash and errands to do that didn't get done over the weekend. And I am still saucing the tomatoes. I have just a few more to harvest, waiting till the last possible minute, but that minute is coming soon, it was only 38* this morning.

Saucy

I am saucing and pureeing, straining, canning and some freezing. Hurry, hurry, hurry, the hard freeze is coming, they tell us the first one may be Thursday of next week.

Wish I had a whole weekend to put up the produce, but it is church retreat weekend and we are spending our time with our wonderful church friends out at a gorgeous retreat center. Best of all ... I do not have to cook anything all weekend. How I love NMK (not my kitchen) food, actually the part I love is the not cleaning up.

So I have tomatoes, and tomatoes, and then some more tomatoes to cook up. I am cutting up and blanching the pumpkin and the butternut squash. I need to dry some herbs, we have a wild riot of mint, thyme, rosemary and sage, and maybe something else. I am sad to report that the onions did not do what they were supposed to, that is grow. I am confused about how to grow onions I think. My daughter Kendra is very sad as I had specifically planted those onions for her.

I am actually looking forward to putting the garden to bed, digging in some compost that has been fermenting all summer and covering the lot with wood chips, just waiting again for Spring. I have great hopes of basically doubling my garden and being able to plant some potatoes, strawberries, and beans.

Time to get ready forth great retreat. Hope to return on Sunday refreshed, recharged and re-created.

back on track

What a beautiful morning! Cool, crisp, I can feel Autumn right around the corner. Walked to work today, something I was doing regularly in the early Summer, but by July had had to stop because of excessive heat, humidity and bad air. I am hoping to get my schedule set so that I can do this most days. The barrier, besides weather, is that I have to pick up my daughter at school and so I have to walk home to get the car and then get her, so it is 20 minutes walking home and then 20 minutes by car downtown to the school. So it is a scheduling balancing act.

My tomatoes are getting red again which is nice. And the pumpkins are orange and getting plump.

Things could be worse. But still I am battling tiredness and a little depression.

2nd trip to the Fair

Just got back from our 2nd trip to the State Fair. This time it was just in and out for Kendra's performance. I still had to buy some German Roasted Nuts though, the one fair food I can't do without.

Well we are canning/freezing here, lots of tomatoes, at least a surprising amount form my little tiny garden. I only planted four plants and I must harvest 4-7 tomatoes a day and that has been going on for weeks now. I never have too many of the cherry tomatoes, again I only planted 4 plants, because even though there may be 50-70 to harvest, I eat most of them before I make it inside. So the kids are getting a little tired of tomato in everything, but I am not. I eat them like apples, warmed by the sun, yummm.

My onions seem to be doing okay, I have never planted onions before so I don't really know, but they look okay. The volunteer pumpkin plant has about 4 big pumpkins on the vine and several smaller ones. I am taking off new blooms now so that these ones can grow. And the herbs are also running riot and giving us lots of fresh taste for all the culinary creations that my DH loves to concoct.

I have all sorts of plans for a bigger garden next year, right now my plot is only 4 x 12, with actually 3x 10 of usable space, but I want to dig up more of the yard and put in potatoes and some strawberries next year. We will see how adventuresome I am feeling come Spring.

So many projects, so little time and energy.

Garden dinner

Tonight we had a substantial salad based on my garden offerings. Too bad the tomatoes are not in yet although they are coming right along. It is so great to be able to feed the family at least in part with what I have grown with my own two hands. I had not gardened in so long I had forgotten the true joy of growing and harvesting food.

I wish I had more space to grow things. Living in the city on a small lot with tall trees and houses all around I have only a small patch of my yard that gets enough sun. I plan on making as much use of that patch as I can.

Wish you all could have had a bite of my salad, fresh lettuce, spinach leaves, onions, sage, rosemary and mint all just picked five minutes before.

Achoo!

I have been in the throes of a sneezing, wheezing, eyes running, nose dripping allergy attack for several days now. It always happens in the Spring just as the last of the trees are blooming. Often it coincides with Easter and I am a mess for Easter Sunday and can't even help hide or find the Easter eggs. This year with Easter so early that was fine. But the last few days have been a bit brutal. With more cold weather and rain coming in for the next few days I am hoping a lot of the pollen will be tamped down and I can go out side again. My bulb gardens are in full flower and I have to view them from the window, sniff, sniff, achoo!

Well, I got the job, we finalize paperwork and details on Tuesday. I am not sure why I am not more excited. I think I just don't do change all that well, even when I initiate it and will benefit from the change. I am looking forward to getting to work, I have lots of ideas. It will also be so nice to have some co-workers again. Since we no longer home school, my social life has become smaller.

Kendra is having a birthday sleepover and the girls just got back from seeing "Horton hears a Who", their very own choice of movie. Maybe next post i will put up some pictures of her room. She has a fantastically funny decorating sense. It is odd, but it works. She is so her own person, no following the crowd for her.

Since I took the anti-histamine to stop sneezing long enough to get anything done, I am now so sleepy that I can't keep my head up and I think I am off to bed, hoping to get to sleep before the sneezing starts again.

Out in the Garden

What a glorious day, actually another one since yesterday was glorious as well. The trees are all flowering, we have Bradford pears, red buds, dogwoods and magnolia trees all gloriously in bloom up and down the streets. On Sunday Dancing Baby Girl got all excited when we drove down one street because we were in a white tunnel of Bradford Pear blossoms.

I am so proud of myself, I have persevered and gotten my project from idea to reality. I made myself a raised bed garden in the back yard. I used all materials we already had. It took a lot of work but it is ready for transplanting the seedlings.

Now will actually come the hard part, trying to keep the rabbits and squirrels from destroying my hard work. Anyone have any words of wisdom. I am currently threatening to keep the dog outside all summer to guard my plants. But as that is not realistic what are some other methods I could employ? I don't mind sharing but these critters are ravenous and will eat the seedlings before they even produce.

On another note I haven't heard anything on the job front. It is making me a little nervous. We need me to have this job or a job, but this is the one I want. I am trying not to get all anxious about it and just let life flow. I have never been very good at that.