{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ October 18, 2015

Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for {phfr} . . .

{Pretty}

Autumn sunlight is different than that of any other season.  Is it the angle of the sun or the clarity of the air or . . . ?  I don't know, but I'm thankful for it.

{Happy}

I'm (slowly) working on a quilt for Hannah, but I took a little time this weekend to make a fabric pumpkin.  I used scraps of fabric and a leftover piece of ribbon from another project.  Even though I'm not an expert seamstress, sewing makes me happy.

I think I should have stuffed it more.  Ah, well, next time . . .

{Real}

Dave pulled everything out of the garden on Saturday.  It was our worst. garden. ever.  It had three strikes against it:

1)  It was the first year in this location and the soil was not great.

2)  It rained and rained at the beginning of the summer and then got very dry.

3)  With Dave's broken wrist, we couldn't get the fence up and the deer and rabbits thought we had planted them their own personal salad bar.

Here's the grand total of our harvest:

Peppers--0

Tomatoes-- 4 (from 12 plants!)

Cucumbers--lots (at least these were successful)

Carrots--1 lb. or so

Green beans--5 freezer bags (so not too bad)

Field pumpkins--0

Butternut squashes--0

Mini gourds and pumpkins--0 (though the volunteers in the compost pile made up for it)

Spinach-- enough for a couple small salads

Dave will work on the soil this winter and hopefully we'll have better luck next year!

{Funny}

Dave's favorite method of washing carrots is to run them through the washing machine!

And here you see the sum total of our carrot harvest.

Of course, he had to vacuum it out with the shop vac afterward . . .

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ October 11, 2015

Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter, as usual . . .

{Pretty}

I love the angles of the autumn sun.  This is a little corner of our bedroom~

I love these plates.  I have a large collection of blue and white transferware, and these are some of my very favorites.  We've never actually eaten from them, though most of my collection is in actual use daily,  But I knew when I saw them that I'd be displaying them, not eating from them.  They are Spode and feature scenes from Colonial Williamsburg, one of my favorite places to visit.  Part of the fun of collecting these dishes is the hunt.  Whenever possible, we stop at antique shops and thrift stores to search.  Yes, I've found brand-spanking-new Spode plates at Goodwill for $2 each.  One day not long after Christmas seven or eight years ago, I stumbled upon these and grabbed them, even though at $18 each they were over my normal limit ($15 for a dinner plate), but I had Christmas money newly in my possession and . . . it was a matching set of three!  And Spode!  And Williamsburg!  I've never once regretted buying them nor spending almost my entire Christmas stash on them.

{Happy}

Such a gorgeous day yesterday!  Dave and I headed to Rockbridge State Park for a walk.  The leaves are turning, though without their usual brilliance because of an almost total lack of rain for the past two months.

But I forgot my camera and had to use Dave's phone, alas.

These next two pictures are of old logging/access roads.  We walked the first one a good distance.  Dave says that when he was young and there was less shepherding of people in the park, trying to keep them on certain paths and keep cars out, his parents actually drove the family car on it!  It seemed more like a wide path than a road to me, but they lived to tell the tale. So did the car.

This one particularly looks like something out of Middle Earth.  It makes me think of the path the hobbits took to Bree.

{Funny}

Sweet Arane with her sunglasses on upside down.  I love how children are so unself-conscious!

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{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ October 4, 2015

It's October and today I'm wearing a sweater and boots for the first time this fall.  There's an extra blanket on the bed and I'm thinking about new soup recipes.  By the end of the month the last vestiges of Indian summer will have disappeared and we will be prepared for the cold winter months.  It sounds very appealing right now though I know in February I will feel like it's always winter and never Christmas.  But at this moment, I'm looking forward to it!

{Pretty}

The distilled, mellow, autumn sunshine makes our front "yard" more beautiful than ever.

{Happy}

Yesterday, Dave and I drove to Village Lutheran Church in Ladue, MO, to hear Craig Parton speak on "Christianity for the Academic and the Artist," a topic of keen interest to us.  Craig is a lawyer and apologist and serves as the US director of the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism, and Human Rights.  He's an excellent speaker and thinker with many insights into bringing the gospel to people of various stripes.  Afterward, there was an exhibit of liturgical art by the talented Kelly Schumacher.  Thomas Winter, violinist, provided music. We had dinner with my mother on the way home.  Such a lovely day!

There was a good crowd.

Signing the books Dave bought

  

If you live within shooting distance of St. Louis, I urge you to check out Village Lutheran's on-going lecture series, which focuses on issues relating to the intersection of Christianity and culture.  This is the first one Dave and I attended and we thought it was well worth the drive. We are already planning to attend the one in April.  

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