Thanksgiving Week Daybook

Outside my back door window.....I can just see our young chickens who are big enough to be out and about now.  Aidan helped Papa fix up the old chicken run for them.  He turned to Ed and said "Papa, I want our chickens to be happy."

I am thinking about the wonder of these words that were said as part of the The Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens  this past Sunday -

Receive the sign of the cross on your forehead.
It is Christ himself who now strengthens you with this sign of his love. Learn to know and follow him.
Receive the sign of the cross on your ears, that you may hear the voice of the Lord.
Receive the sign of the cross on your eyes,that you may see the glory of God.
Receive the sign of the cross on your lips, that you may respond to the word of God.
Receive the sign of the cross over your heart, that Christ may dwell there by faith.
Receive the sign of the cross on your shoulders, that you may bear the gentle yoke of Christ.
Receive the sign of the cross on your hands, that Christ may be known in the work which you do.
Receive the sign of the cross on your feet, that you may walk in the way of Christ.

I am thankful for....so many things but I have been thinking lately of all the things I do appreciate about our parish - it is all too easy to see the things one doesn't like or would like to see change...but what a gift to count the blessings.

From the learning rooms....Thanksgiving fun this week...and we'll be happy to have Papa home with us for a few extra days.

I am wearing...a black corduroy skirt that is now covered with every bit of fuzz from the house. 

I am creating....order out of last week's crafting chaos.  Was it worth it?  Hmmm...no comment.  Here's a few pics of my table -

My table

Felted mice and knitted kittens

Rose hip elf

Wax and Beeswax Ornaments



Current read aloud....still reading "Princess and the Goblin" but I wanted to share this from Chapter 12

"Mrs. Peterson was such a nice good mother!  All mothers are nice and good more or less, but Mrs. Peterson was nice and good all more and no less.  She made and kept a little heaven in that poor cottage on the high hillside - for her husband and son to go home to out of the low and rather deary earth in which they worked.  I doubt if the princess was very much happier even in the arms of her huge great-grandmother than Peter and Curdie were in the arms of Mrs. Peterson.  True, her hands were hard and chapped and large, but it was with work for them; and therefore, in the sight of the angels, her hands were so much the more beautiful."

I am hoping...the little maple leaf butter pats we made for Thanksgiving will come out of their molds easily.

I am listening to.....a froggy, throaty sounding voice coming from older son.  Oh dear.

One of my favorite things....The Splendid Table

Around the house.... fixing up the Festival Table for Thanksgiving.

Living the liturgical year....Viva Christos Rey!  

One more picture to share....

It's a big world out there!

Add your Daybook at The Simple Woman's Daybook

Hannah and Katie both sing in the Children's Choir of Sussex County.  Here is a video of one of the songs they performed as part of the Lord & Taylor "Share the Joy" event.  It was actually really amazing - Lord & Taylor commisioned a piece by Fransico Nunez and Jim Papoulis especially for this event, the song "Share the Joy" was sung by at least 40 choirs at their stores this past Monday evening. 

You can see more choirs at the Lord & Taylor website.

Above the girls' Concert Choir is singing "Living in a Holy City".  On the Lord & Taylor website they have this video labeled with a different choir but that's our choir!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all at SouleMama.

A Thanksgiving Tea

Last year at about this time our very loosely formed "Keeper's At Home" group had a Thanksgiving Tea.  I made up a song booklet and everyone brought a dessert to share.  The brothers of the girls were also invited and we had one very talented friend who could accompany us on the piano.  I found a copy of the song booklet and thought I would share some of the songs we sang together last year.  Our group hasn't been meeting this year - and I do miss this gathering of friends.

Simple Gifts (this video is amazing!)


Servant Song

All Who Hunger, Gather Gladly

All who hunger, gather gladly, holy manna is our bread.
Come from wilderness and wandering.
Here in truth, we will be fed.
You that yearn for days of fullness, all around us is our food.
Taste and see the grace eternal.  Taste and see the God is good.

All who hunger, never strangers; seeker, be a welcome guest.
Come from restlessness and roaming.
Here in joy we keep the feast.
We that once were lost and scattered, in communion as love have stood.
Taste and see the grace eternal.  Taste and see that God is good.

All who hunger, sing together, Jesus Christ is living bread.
Come from loneliness and longing.
Here, in peace, we have been led.
Blest are those who from this table live their lives in gratitude.
Taste and see the grace eternal. Taste and see that God is good.

Over the River and Through the Woods

For the Beauty of the Earth
          
We Gather Together

When I First Came to this Land

Let All Things Now Living

America the Beautiful

More Thanksgiving hymns here.

A November Daybook

Outside my window...it is a grey Monday morning.

I am thinking....about tuning up our daily schedule to better fit the fall/winter chores in - raking leaves, gathering kindling, bringing in wood, etc..

I am thankful for....a parish community that sings..even when there is no one to play the music.

From the learning rooms....back to some form drawing this week to help my 11 year old son with his allergy to writing.  We're using "The Write Appoach" - Book 1,  form drawing for better handwriting by Joen Gladich and Paula A. Sassi.

From the seasonal kitchen....Ed found a farm in New York that may be our new source for meat products.  The farm is not organic but they had all the right anwsers to Ed's questions.  He brought home some samples for us to try - a little bacon, some sausage.

I am wearing...my jammies, still...we are all a little slow on Monday mornings.

I am creating...chaos in our house by being too much in handwork mode.....over the weekend we made beeswax ornaments - angels and hearts.  The craft fair is this Saturday, I hope we have enough little items by then to make a good showing.

Current read aloud with the boys...we continue with "The Princess  and the Goblin".  Princess Irene and Curdie the miner's son have met.  Curdie has also stumbled across a possible plot that could threaten the Princess!  And....Curdie has also discovered that goblins have no toes and very tender feet....

I am hoping....the girls sing well this afternoon with their choir.  From their website:

•Concert Choir has been invited to perform a newly commissioned piece by New York composer, Jim Papoulis at the Lord & Taylor store in the Rockaway Mall. As part of the store’s celebration, The Gift of Sharing, selected children’s choirs will be performing this piece on November 15 at Lord & Taylor stores throughout the United States. The concert is at 5 pm.


I am hearing...very strange noises... from the pipes? from the refrigerator?  Ed and I are not quite sure...

One of my favorite things...a full wood hoop.

Around the house...well, right now as I mentioned above...a bit too much chaos.

Living the liturgical year....we are still enjoying the stories from one of my favorite books on the saints..."Saints....Adventures in Courage" by Mary O'Neill, illustrated by Alex Ross.  This volume includes both St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Elizabeth of Hungary whose memorials are this week.

A picture to share....one of the illustrations from the book above.  Why are all my favorite books out of print?  This is St. Colman from Ireland, he has the most serene look on his face - just beautiful.

Quick tabletop luminaries for Martinmas

These photos won't be the greatest quality, hubby took the last functioning camera in the house so I took some quick shots from my phone.

We had pressed some leaves for an going botany study with the two boys.  

First the boys took our collected leaves and sorted them by shape.  Above is some of the leftovers we had after the boys picked the leaves they wanted for the luminaries.  We had two varieties of oak, beech, three varieties of maple, aspen, tulip leaves and a few others that remain a mystery.  Christian matched the leaves using Trees Fandex Family Field Guide.  

I took some old flannel fabric to protect my ironing board and set out a sheet of wax paper.  The boys arranged their chosen leaves on the wax paper.

Another sheet of wax paper of the same length is placed on top of the leaves.  I placed another cloth over the wax paper and then ironed.  Aidan enjoyed helping with this task although he was disappointed that we didn't use the steam.  I used the highest setting with the steam option shut off.  I love the little wrinkles in the wax paper after ironing the layers together.   Don't worry about getting a totally smooth surface -  the wrinkles add a nice texture.

Trim the edges, bend the wax paper into a cylinder shape and glue the seam by overlapping the ends by about an inch.  I gathered a few things to put a small tealight candle on and fitted each luminary to the plate - we had two terra cotta pot saucers and then I used a couple of old teacup saucers.  I like the luminary that fits on the inside of the terra cotta saucer best - next time I would trim and glue the luminaries to fit that size.

With the recent time change...it is so dark...so early....these bring a bit of cheer and beauty.

yarn along

Hosted by Ginny at Small Things

One of the items Katie and I are stitching for an upcoming craft fair is kittens!  But this mama cat and her babies are destined for California as a present for my niece.  I am just deciding whether to put faces on them or not.  I think they are sweet just as they are.

The pattern I am using is from The Children's Year.  I was given this book by neighbor when my oldest was just about 15 months old.  It has inspired me to create many things for my children over the years.  The link shows a book that looks a little different than mine but hopefully the content is similar.

The book I am reading in my sparse spare moments is Aurlia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet.  I actually think it has turned out to be the perfect book for this time of year when the splendor of October colors has faded to the browns and greys of November.  I am not too far along but it is an enjoyable read.

My first daybook!

Outside my window...it is a clear crisp November afternoon.  I think the days have past when a small fire in the woodstove in the morning will suffice.  Time to keep the wood hoop filled and have plenty of kindling on hand.

I am thinking...about our nation's Veterans.  Our Columbiette group had a small ceremony to place flags for the Veterans from the families of our parish.  So beautiful seeing all those flags lining the drive to the church.

I am thankful for...our parish priest, Fr. Wayne.  He enters the hospital this Tuesday and will have a heart valve replacement on Wednesday.  Please pray for him and his recovery.  It would be wonderful if he were back with us by Christmas.

From the learning rooms..we'll be picking up vinegar to start a biology lab this week.

From the seasonal kitchen...a rediscovered favorite.  I used to make vegetable pancakes quite often years ago.  Not sure why I ever stopped.  While holding a head of red cabbage last week - I remembered them.  I have used our Sunday's at the Moosewood Restaurant cookbook so much it is in pieces and tatters.  The page that feature the pancake recipe was of course, missing.  Thankfully, I found the recipe online.

I am wearing...comfy knit shirt and brown pants.

I am creating...lots of little items for a craft fair coming up on November 20th.  It will be my first time selling my handwork.  This is my small effort to both declutter the craft supplies and help my daughter earn some spending money for a trip to England and France with her youth orchestra this summer.

Current read aloud with the boys...a favorite....The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald.  We have a beautiful copy of this book illustrated by Nick Walton.

I am hoping...for some sunshine this week.

I am hearing...my 14 year old daughter sing along with Pandora.

Around the house...clothes sorting...this is the latest in the year that I have taken on the task of getting the warm winter things down from the attic.

One of my favorite things...homemade hot cocoa

Living the liturgical year.....still working on prayer angels for the month of All Souls.  We'll be making leaf lanterns for Martinmas later this week.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing....

Our gracious host....The Simple Woman's Daybook

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Visit SouleMama for more moments.

All Saint's Day

I always think of this song on All Saint's Day.....



Enjoy!

Halloween Fun!

Who needs haunted houses when you have a dad who calls his 14 year old daughter to the door and scares the life out her with this beast...

This is a beautiful 15lb striped bass that Ed brought home for dinner.  It is not so beautiful when you don't expect to find its gaping mouth greeting you at the door.

Here is as about as gruesome as we get on Halloween -

The stomach contents of the bass. 

 We were all pretty amazed at how many little sand eels this fish ate! 

Blech.

We are usually much more into cute on Halloween.....

I really hated to admit it but Aidan was a very cute Wizard and he will not be happy that I said so!

Our handsome Robin Hood. 

The ever adventurous Pipi Longstocking.

A mischievous cat. 

 There was a great debate over who was cuter - Hannah or Mewster.   Mewster is the perfect looking Halloween cat who needs no costume.

The original mischievous cat!

Thanks to a well stocked dress up box and bits and pieces from Halloween's past - the only thing we bought new this year was a black shirt for Hannah's cat.  We were also grateful for the loan of the Wizard hat.

Halloween 2010



New baby chicks! 

We've been pretty busy.  Life is full of comings and goings so it seems a little crazy to bring keeping chickens back into the mix of daily life.  But when the girls were younger they had the experience of marveling at wee baby chicks and I wanted that experience for Christian and Aidan too. 

Isn't she sweet? 

It was just wonderful to get the call from Ed that the post office had called his cell phone to let us know that the chicks had arrived.  The boys and I eagerly jumped in the car and took the drive to the post office.  We were all smiles as we asked about the "peeping package" that was waiting for us.

The boys are so gentle with the chicks and the older girls are of course delighted with them too.  We initially had them set up in the house with a heat lamp where we could keep an eye on them.  Out of the 25 chicks only one did not do well and had died within a day or two.  But happily all the others look well and are already feathering out nicely.

What began as the sweet trilling sound of baby birds soon became much louder - especially at night - with the flapping of wings and very loud chirping!  They have now been moved to a bigger bin with hay in the outdoor shed.  They still  have their heat lamp and seem quite cozy.  It won't be too long before they are moved to the coop. 

The boys will be responsible for the bulk of their care - Aidan and I go up together in the morning to add or change the hay, change their water and give them fresh food.  Christian goes up in the evening to give them fresh food and water.  The boys are excited and willing to do their tasks right now - we'll see what happens when the temperatures start dropping!

We are looking forward to our own fresh eggs again this Spring!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

First Fire - not quite yet.

For many, many years now we have heralded the first day of Autumn by kindling the first fire of the season in our wood stove.  We have done this for about the past 12 years now and believe me there were years when it was tough to hold out until that first day of Autumn came round on the calendar.  Early September mornings can have quite a nip in the air to them, as memory serves.  But that has not been the case for years...more often the weather is still very warm and only the smallest ceremonial type fire is lit to make sure all is well.

Despite the calendar, this year our annual "Blessing of the Hearth" will have to wait.  Not only is it really warm...too warm to think of lighting even a small fire....80 something degree hot... there is this other small matter....

See the problem?  This past summer the big project was sprucing up the woodstove area......

                                                                              Before

                                                                                After

Isn't that looking so much better?  There is still the trim to do and of course we need an adapter to make up for the gap between the pipe and the chimney.  If we can swing it we might even be purchasing a new wood stove to take advantage of the tax credit that runs out after this year.  We love our little Jotul wood stove but it is a bit too small for our home.   A little tip - when shopping for a wood stove make sure you ask whether the heating space per square foot is based on *open* space or *partitioned* space.  Our stove would be just the right size if we had no interior walls!

I just hope that everything will be place before it does get really cold!

September is here again.

For the past 5 years or so we have gone camping the last two weeks of August.  It is always a wonderful trip but I am invariably shocked by that first glance of the calendar when we get back and I see it will be September...ummm......in two days???  My fuzzy beach brain starts to turn its wheels amid the leftover grit of sand that pours from every person and article of clothing that comes into the house.  September...September....Oh....September!!  SCHOOL days...right...we've got to start something that at least resembles something school-like, right?   Well...it's not Labor Day yet.  So we wait until after Labor Day weekend which gives me time to begin the mountains of laundry and the unpacking and deal with all the other ramifications of an extended camping trip. 

Ok we'll start Tuesday, Sept 7th...but that is Katie's Birthday!!  Start school on Katie's Birthday? No I couldn't do it; especially since there won't be any real presents to open as every penny Ed and I can scrape together is going to pay for Katie's trip to England with the Youth Orchestra this summer.  Her birthday request - a ride to daily Mass - that I can do.

Wednesday?  Well sure but we have a scheduled violin lesson in the morning and Choir starts in the afternoon.....Thursday?  YES....we start Thursday!  Well...sort of... I mean we are trying to clean up the house so Katie can have a friend over for a sleepover this weekend...I have an appointment Friday....I at least clean and arrange the Festival Table which displays new treasures from Cape Cod as well as some old favorites in honor of The Nativity of Blessed Virgin under one of my favorite Marion titles - Star of the Ocean.

This is our homeschool life in September....the activities that have been left off for the summer creep back into the schedule.  We are still outside everyday basking in the waning days of summer.  We are reading our latest read aloud, Swallowdale - a great fit for this last month of summer.  The calendar is already filling up and by the next Monday the math books are out once again....

A Seaweed Sunday

Can you tell we've had a bit of trouble with weeds in the lake this year?  Generally the weeds are kept down by lowering the lake in the winter to allow cold temperatures to kill off some of the weeds.   We have all kinds of theories as to why the weed growth is so bad this year -

Very warm temperatures?
Too little rain?
Muskrats nibbling the weeds so more float to the top?
Some combination?

Or maybe it is some kind of cycle - when my husband and I first drove back and saw the little lake - which was very near the little house we were about to buy - we thought eeww - no one could possibly swim in THAT!  The little body of water was choked with large mats of weeds.  But we quickly found out that the lake is generally very clear and great to swim in.

We use the lake a lot and don't mind giving it a little extra TLC this year.  You wouldn't believe the amount of weeds being taken out of that lake right now - and not just by us - other neighbors are taking turns on weed patrol as well.

The photos are from a Sunday a few weeks ago when we were all actually home - together - for the whole day!  Late in the afternoon the whole family launched kayaks and armed themselves with rakes.  I took charge of the wheelbarrow and transported barrels-full of weeds to a near by spot where we dump leaves.  Everyone helped - willingly even - and had fun!  Strange way to spend a Sunday afternoon but somehow it worked.

We are home now and getting back into the swing of things but I hope to continue to journal the rest of our Florida trip.  We have one camera that is currently missing - and Hannah took her camera with her to a friend's house this evening...so I'll be adding pictures as I find them!

Island on the road....Day 4

Easter Sunday!

Yes, the tell tale red egg that signifies a visit from the Easter hare was spotted quickly as two boys emerged from the camper -

The red egg!

Hmmm...I think all that's missing is the Wolf suit

.

We had a nice breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, citrus fruit, bacon, and toasted crossiants.  This camping toaster is actually one of our favorite pieces of camping equipment.  It was a gift from my sister-in-law and family and I have to admit that we were skeptical at first but it works great!  One of the great things about camping is that you can bring special little items that can make a meal feel homey - like my sicilian orange spread. Yum!

I was a little worried about Easter clothes being presentable for Mass.  I had ironed everything, placed the clothes on hangers and then carefully spread them out on the beds of the pop-up under the bedding.  Once we arrived I could hang them up and I think we all managed to look pretty well for campers.

Easter 2010

Mass was beautiful at the Cathedral Basilica of St.Augustine.  After Mass the children all enjoyed their first ice-cream cone after our traditional lenten sugar fast.  And later that afternoon....we were on the beach!   The only thing that didn't get planned out so well was Easter dinner - hot dogs over the campfire.  Oh well, there were no complaints.

Island on the road....Day 3

Saturday was the last stretch of driving through North Carolina, South Carolina, and a bit of Georgia before we reached sunny Florida!  We were very grateful that the weather was pleasant and the children all traveled very well.  I passed the time getting ready for Easter morning in a pop-up camper.  I wasn't sure your typical Easter baskets would travel very well so instead I printed out some paper baskets from The Toymaker

I printed a bunny basket for each child.  For the girls I chose the pretty little egg basket from the same page and for the boys I picked put the Chocolate truck.  I printed them before we left, along with tape, scissors, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, and thread.  When I had all the baskets cut out I started making butterflies.

We rolled into the campground around 7:00pm.  We are pretty good at setting camp up quickly and we were all settled by bedtime.  The children were tired from traveling and went to sleep quickly.  I set up a little corner of the camper for Easter morning.

A surprise waiting for the children

But I know the big question on Aidan's mind as he difted off to sleep...would the Easter Hare find us in Florida??  We'll see!

Island on the road.....Day 2

Most of Friday was spent driving through Virginia.  As we got closer  to the mountains we appreciated the scenary as we've been watching the Waltons on DVD's from Netflix.  Hmm....we all wondered where Walton's mountain might have been.  We expected to get to Grandpa's house around 2:00pm.  But the GPS seems to calculate the arrival time based on the posted speed limits of the roads being traveled.  We all wondered how on earth these twisty curvy roads could be traveled at 55 mph by any vehicle let alone one pulling a pop-up camper.

As we watched the GPS add more and more minutes to our destination time we did enjoy the land of Christmas trees!  The boys were busy imagining which hills would be best to sleigh ride on.

Finally we get to Grandpa's!  We haven't seen Grandpa in over five years.  In honor of Good Friday we had a fish and chips dinner with hush puppies.   The beautiful smokey mountains were in the backdrop. 

We went to sleep to the sounds of peeping frogs and a babbling brook.  We were up the next morning and on the road again but we were all very happy that we got at least a brief visit with Grandpa.