A Picnic in the Park

When my cousin arrived a week an a half ago, we mutually decided that regardless of the weather it was absolutely necessary to have a picnic. Originally it was supposed to be raining all week, so we figured we'd just have a picnic on the kitchen floor. But Wednesday arrived without rain, though it was very overcast, and the three of us older girls decided to pack a picnic lunch and take my little sisters to the park.

Our menu consisted of:

• Cucumber Creamcheese Sandwiches

• Peanutbutter and Jam Sandwiches (for the younger girls since they don't care for cucumber sandwiches)

• Sausage

• Cheese (from my uncle's dairy farm in Wisconsin)

• Hot tea

• Sun Chips

• Guacamole Tortilla Chips

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
  

The five of us girls trapised down the street in jeans, warm sweaters, and hats. Some of the hats were on the summery side, but they fit with the picnic theme so they were allowed. As we walked down the street we chattered away. We had to keep our mouths moving to keep from getting too cold, even though there wasn't rain the temperature was rather low.

After finishing our feast, we decided to pick up our picnic and take a walk through the park. There was a nice trail just on the edge of the woods. We followed it enjoying the peace of the park on a February afternoon, and it lead us to the Japansese Garden. There wasn't a whole lot growing in the garden in mid February, but there were a few snow drops in bloom, and daffodil shoots coming out of the ground, both signs that spring is on the way.

Following our walk through the park, we decided to swing, in my opinion there are few activities that are better than swinging. I love the feeling of flying which swinging provides. While my cousin and I swang, the little girls rode the wheel in the park, the older of the two girls spinning the younger around till she was dizzy, and then switching places.

On the way back to the house we sang as many rounds as we could remember, that would be two Jubilate Deo, and Siahamba. The latter being a song that my sister and I learned during our choir years. We all had a lovely time and agreed that our time was too short. The only reason we left was cause we couln't keep ourselves warm any longer.

Signs of Spring

The Miniature Irises in our front yard










The first Daffodil










The first signs of Irises while we were still at the hotel










The snow drips in the Japanese Garden at the park










The Pansies from the hotel

A New Era of Life Begins

Last weekend saw the first of 27 weddings on my Mama's side of the family. My cousin, just turned 21 made the most beautiful bride, and the wedding was really amazing. I have to admit though, it felt like we were all dressed up to play a fancy version of the weddings that we have held since us girls were all really little. When four of us girls were all very young we would get all dressed up and walk up my grandparents driveway playing make-believe weddings, and in a way this wedding felt like a continuation of that make-believe game.

It would appear that this wedding has opened up the flood gates of cousins weddings, just this past week the oldest girl cousin became engaged, and by next January we should be attending her wedding.What a special memories these coming years will bring.

The God Moment

There are times in a persons life when the smallest happenings are like miracles. After spending the day on Tuesday unpacking boxes in the kitchen, we left to make one last run to the hotel to grab the rest of our belongings from our rooms and while we were out Mama stopped at the store to pick up some food items that we need for this weekend. She decided to grab some bread for breakfast the next morning, we knew we had a long day of unpacking ahead of us and figured toast would make a really easy breakfast. What was forgotten was the fact that no one had as of yet unpacked the toaster. Now if we had gotten a considerable way into the unpacking process and there were only say two or three boxes left to unpack, this wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but no there were probably 10 boxes still unpacked in our kitchen, and we had no idea which one of the boxes had the toaster in it. Feeling slightly foiled, Mama decided she wasn't going to worry about the toaster, we could eat the bread cold, or find something else to eat for breakfast, pretty much we decided we would deal with breakfast when breakfast came. But after a little while of deciding this she just couldn't stand it and had to try looking through just a few of the boxes to see if the toaster was perhaps stuck on the top of a box. Mama started looking at the labels on the boxes, trying to guess which box the toaster could be in and low and behold, the packers had labeled one of the boxes Toaster and . . . I can't remember what the rest of the label was, what matters is that it was labeled with 'toaster,' this was one of the few boxes that listed an indivisual item on the outside of the box. It was what around our house we have termed a 'God Moment.'

Farewell Hotel, Hello Rental

We've had a busy couple of days around here. In the past week we have successfully packed up all the belongings in our two hotel rooms (there was a lot of stuff) and moved it all into the rental. On Monday the semis arrived with all the belongings that for the past two months have been residing in storage, and our house at the moment looks as if it has just been invaded by a box brigade. We have been spending our days unpacking box, after box, after box, after box. But we are in a house, and that is a really great thing. Our first night in the house was Tuesday night, and I can't tell you how wonderful it was to wake up in my own bed, in a house that had all my belongings in it and realize that I didn't have to take an elevator down stairs to get breakfast.

Moving in has been much more work than I had expected. Because this is still a temporary home and is much smaller than our previous home we aren't able to keep all our belongings with us. We are having to sort and repack as we unpack so even though we are making headway unpacking, the pile of boxes never seems to get any smaller. We are making progress though, we have two bedrooms completely unpacked, and our goal for today is to have the kitchen finished, and start in on the living room. We are motivated to get things done since we are expecting out of town company tomorrow night.

The big highlight of the week was all sitting down around our table for dinner last night. We had spaghetti, french bread, and a fresh salad. It was a wonderful meal.

The Invasion of the Boxes

The Fruit Juice Connoisseur

The youngest enjoying the last drops of Cranraspberry juice
straight from the jug.
What a treat!

Third Time's a Charm

I have always wanted to make a jelly roll, something about the spirals in a cake fascinated me and I was determined to learn how to do it. My brother and I made an attempt about a year ago and were less than satisfied with the product. After the first failure I wasn't so sure I needed to learn how to make a jelly roll, until we came to the hotel and the only way to get a cake was to make a cake that could be made in a cookie sheet. Then of course, it became very important to me to learn how to make jelly rolls. The first attempt was a tasty disaster, when I went to roll up the cake it went into crumbles, but the crumbs were very good topped with whipping cream so I forgave the recipe. The third time worked like a charm, so I'm providing you all with the recipe.

Chocolate Mint Jelly Roll
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. cocoa (unsweetened)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla

Filling:
1 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
10 drops green food coloring (I omitted this when I made the cake)

Whipped to soft peaks.

Chocolate Glaze
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 tbsp. butter
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line jelly roll pan, 15 1/2 X 10 1/2 X 1 inch, with aluminum foil or waxed paper; grease. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In small mixer bowl beat eggs about 5 minutes or until very thick and lemon colored. Pour eggs into large mixer bowl; gradually beat in granulated sugar. On low speed, blend in water and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until batter is smooth. Pour into pan, spreading batter to corners.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes (underbake just a little) or until wooden toothpick inserted comes out blean. Loosen cake from edges of pan; invert on towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. (use sifter.) Carefully remove foil; trim off stiff edges if necessary.

While hot, roll cake and towel from narrow ends. A flour sack towel is best for this. Cool on wire rack. Unroll cake; remove towel. Spread whipped mint filling over cake. Roll up.

Chocolate Glaze: Melt 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate and 3 tablespoons butter over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in about 2 tablespoon hot water, one teaspoon at a time, until glaze is of proper cinsistency.

Spread glaze over length and sides of roll. Refrigerate 3 hours. To serve, slice cake 3/4 inch thick. If desired, garnish each serving with a sprig of mint and a maraschino cherry.

A Touch of Spring Time

Over the weekend I attended the bridal shower of my cousin. The hostess had purchased lots of tulips to decorate with, so when we left the party, she sent all the little girls home with a tulip to keep. One of ours made it back to the hotel and has graced our kitchen counter for almost a week now. I have a great affection for spring blooming bulbs so having the tulip on our counter is almost like having a piece of the spring inside my home.

The Big Event!

It is tradition that every February, after Mama has filed her tax return, the entire family is taken to borders and alotted a certain amount which they are allowed to spend on the book/s of their choice. This is a greatly anticipated event, and all the children in the family were going stir-crazy as they waited for the designated time to arrive.

At 6 o'clock we headed down to the hotel lobby, ate dinner, which the hotel kindly provides four days out of the week, and we headed out the hotel doors and towards the van. Dad climbed into the car, pushed the key into the ignition, and off we went.

By 6:30 p.m. all eight of the family members were dispersed among the different rows of book. Some in the childrens section, some in literature, cooking, gardening, knitting, sci-fi, fantasy, Christian ficition, and the list goes on. An hour and a half later we were all out of the store, proudly admiring and showing off our new books to one another. You can view a complete list of the nineteen books and one CD acquired here

Coming Home

Home is really improtant to me, I am realizing more and more how much I need to feel secure, to know that I have a place to go. Because of this, the past few months of hotel life have been a real challenge to me. But today I had the wonderful feeling of being home, the sensation passed over me for a brief moment, it didn't stay for very long, it was as if a great wave washed over me and then receded, leaving my spirit in this quiet. This evening I've been reveling in that wave, it meant a great deal to me. For 5 seconds this afternoon I had come home, and I had a peace in my heart for the rest of the day because of that. This memory of coming home will be treasured as a gift from the great "I Am."

Inspite of feeling unsettled while living in a hotel and moving into a rental and eventually moving into Our Home, I am beginning to realize that 'home' isn't so much a place as it is embracing where you are with all the strength which the Lord affords us. Home isn't a house and a garden, it takes a lot for me to say that because gardening is really important to me. But that isn't what makes a place home. Home is having my family around me, making card castles with my little sisters, baking deserts for the chocolate lovers in the home (we have quite a few of those around), or just spending a quiet moment praying and reading the word of God. I still don't have the sense of security that I so greatly desire, but in the scope of life, that's not what's important. I still haven't set roots into this new land, I can't quite say this is my home, though I need to be able to do that, but I have my family and they are the heart of home, I can feel safe knowing that Mama and Daddy are only 7 hotel rooms away, that they are going to provide the security that I need. But most importantly I can be home in my Savior, I can be home because my home is where Christ leads me, and I must be willing to follow that lead. The essence of home is not where you are but who you are sharing the place with.

A Book I Really Enjoyed

Gardening has become a beloved passtime over the past three years. When the weather or living conditions don't accomodate this passtime, I spend the time I would otherwise have used to garden in reading garden books. A friend gave me the book "Tasha Tudor's Garden" as a farewell gift when my family moved. It has been a great source of enjoyment to me over the past two months. I am now brimming with all sorts of new ideas for when I have a bit of land all my own in which I can garden.

One of the best parts of this book are the full page color photographs and the Tasha Tudor paintings that have been incorporated into its pages. I have enjoyed reading Tasha illustrated books, and now I can see where her inspiration for all the flowers she paints has come from. Tasha's garden is brim full with almost every bloom you could imagine, it is very inspiring to an amateure gardener like myself. I can hardly wait for spring to come, I'm going to have a grand time of it planting flowers and vegetables etc., though I'm afraid my gardens will have to be limited to containers as yard space is going to be limited. This will give me a chance to explore the world of container gardening, something that I haven't had the joy of doing previously.