[Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ Oct. 27, 2013

Happy Reformation Sunday!  I'm joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}.

{Pretty}

Last fall, Hannah planted a leftover, bedraggled mum in her garden.  This spring it came back and grew and grew, and now it is a two-foot-high sunburst of color.

Turnips are the only things left in our gardens.  The rest succumbed to frost this past week.  I can't say I'm very sorry because I was weary with trying to keep up with it.  In fact, I haven't been doing a very good job of it the past couple weeks.  We are learning to like turnips because they are low-carb.  They don't have much to recommend them in and of themselves, but they are the easiest things in the world to grow, and if you cube them, coat them in oil, sprinkle them with garlic, oregano, and parmesan cheese, and roast them, they are quite good.  You can't even tell they are turnips!

{Happy}

A new stove hood that works!  Yippee!  The light is brighter and~ joy of joys!~ the fan works!  Thanks go to my wonderful husband for installing it.

There is a little cornfield across the street at the back of our yard.  It's fun to mark the seasons by the activity in the field.  Last week was harvest time.

I realized not long ago that except for the meat, everything we were having for dinner was prepared by our own hands~ sweet potatoes, green beans, and applesauce.  Okay, the apples for the applesauce actually came from a friend, but we picked them and processed them.  Does that count?

This is sugar hand scrub.  Elizabeth gave me some for Christmas and when it ran out, I made more.  It is the best stuff for getting off garden dirt that has been ground into your palms and around and under your fingernails.  Fill a jar with sugar and then put in as much Dawn with Olay as you can.  That's it!  Then just scoop some out, add a little water, wash, and rinse.  Just don't do like I did and use a jar that you can't actually reach down to the bottom. . .

{Real}

The tomatoes this year were disappointing.  Because of the cool, wet spring, they were late getting started, and then mid-summer they developed some sort of fungus (so we've been told) that caused about 2/3 of them to rot on the vine.  Everyone around here had that problem.  We got 15 to 20 jars of sauce and a couple dozen small jars of juice, but we will have to buy tomato sauce this year eventually.  This is what's left after Dave pulled the plants up yesterday.  They look good, but trust me, you don't want to eat them.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ October 13, 2013

Last week, we met our older daughter and her family for a quick getaway at about the halfway point between us, which happens to be the Cincinnati area.  We visited the Creation Museum and the Newport Aquarium (and had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, The Claddagh).  It made for a busy time, but it was lots of fun, especially since Arane is in what I call the "Wonder Age," the years between about one and seven when children are exploring the wide world, and small things, such as fuzzy catepillars and dandelions and snowflakes, still cause them to marvel.  I think it's my favorite time of childhood.  I strive to maintain a sense of wonder as I grow older because there is so much in the world that is "wonder"ful!

{Pretty}

My pretty grandbaby with her pretty mama.  At the Creation Museum.

And with her pretty aunt.  (Also at the Creation Museum.)

{Happy}

Grandpa's walking stick was a source of great fun!

Aunt Hannah was happy to take her little niece to look at the displays.

Very happy just hanging with Daddy.

{Funny}

Some sort of funny breed of chicken at the petting zoo.

{Real}

Arane wasn't too sure about the goats.

She was even less sure when Daddy took her inside the pen!

Join Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {phfr}!