Fishing Stories to Remember

 

When I was a girl and fell in love with fishing, I was taught by rules:

  Things must go a certain way, certain hours must be observed, silence is best...

 Then came my children. 

 Funny, as I am a mix of a free-spirited type and a girl who loves the order rules bring. I took them to our cabin in the woods for a week, near the end of summer, just a few weeks prior to now.

 I brought them to a store to get fishing supplies and gave them a general run down on the how-to, then I parked a chair on the quiet sandy shore and let them do as they felt best. (either great parenting or crazy, still not sure which).  

Their father was hundreds of miles away, as I lived out this week in the wilderness with 5 of my brood that wasn't committed to work related things.  We were in heaven and the fish played along.  At one point I did ask a man to help identify the fish they caught, now even forgetting what he said.  He encouraged them in their fish adventure and never once laughed at their "how-to."  He offered a few stringing pointers, bragged on their mad skills and went back to watching his 2 year old son who kept trying to run away.

My fourteen year old son, King Meemer, was the brains behind their fishing. 

 He thinks outside the box and soon had everybody fishing as he saw best.

Fishing 101- walk up to your armpits floating your tackle box, bait, and such on your boogie board. Convince your fifteen year old sister and your 13 year old brother that this is just a normal afternoon of fishing.  (Here again, I was told get your bum out of bed bright and early and/ or wait until dinner time to attempt fish catching.)


Laughing as they caught more fish than I ever did.
  AND they loved it.

Their youngest sister who is part fish herself,
 opted to swim and fish on more of a part-time commitment.  She is my social butterfly and always has an eye out for someone to make friends with.  Fish just don't make that great of a friend for her 8 year old self I guess.

Yes, they were fishing out of the swim area, at their mum's request.
they fished for HOURS!! One time their tackle floated away and another time I found it floating up to the beach.  Guess they had the tackle with a homing device back to the shore...
the 'come to Mama type' tackle.

Who knew!

Day after day they would spend the hours trying to capture all of the lake fishies.  I wish I got a picture of the crowd they began to draw. Men and women, young and old wanted in on their fishing adventure.  Quite honestly, I am quite surprised that after 8 days the newspaper reporter didn't show up to question what it was they were doing out to their eyeballs at Hall's Lake everyday.

Did I mention that their was little "quietness" to their fishing antics?  Perhaps the fish here were starving, or just mesmerized by such fishing tactics, that they happily took the bait.  (which was a whole bunch of stuff I never would have even considered as bait.  My rule book said catch night crawlers with a flashlight, avoid glass worms, and or use those ever available rubbery worm. If desperate try the spray that is supposed to lure the fish to the bait.)

The brains behind the fishing has a tender heart and really didn't want to eat any of their catch. He talked all of them into letting each fish to swim back to freedom.  Even though their mother told them she would teach them the 'how-to' of eating their catch. No takers.

Maybe next year they will change their mind, perhaps larger fish will look more like dinner to my ever surprising children.  Guess we will have to wait and see, as it is too cold now to venture up to your neck in the lake.

Kids they sure are a lot of fun!

Extension Homeschool class (high school)

My seventeen year old daughter decided to tag along with her eldest sister to a cake decorating class.  She has been practicing with frosting, fondant and gum paste in these two 4 week sessions. They found the classes at our local fabric craft center. I think this one was her first with just frosting, she has made several over these past few weeks. 

 

They both enjoyed trying new things in the decorating cakes world.  And it was super nice to have my married daughter make an effort to spend time with her younger sister.  Mentoring is huge, never mind friendship between sisters!

We are proud of her and happy to help her make way for another frosting design session.

Hard work, but somebody has to eat the cake.

 

 

The Moose!

The Moose

One day I was driving along with my husband on a weekend getaway in New Hampshire, and low and behold there is a moose munching away in a field alongside the road. I was so excited I nearly jumped out of the car.  All weekend I had been asking where were all the animals, we had ventured off snowmobiling and hadn't seen nary a creature.  Just a minute before I had asked God, 'Why no animals?' and bam,

 'moose to order!'

 Now I know a few things about moose, one being to stay away from them. However, I needed to get a picture of her (him?) while the getting was good.  How often does one see a moose?  I needed proof and a little time to use my new camera on the capture of proof, that we had seen this grass munching, frozen faced moose.

Many cars passed us in our 15 minutes of trying to get close enough to said moose, without becoming an aggravation to it or accidentally freezing to death.  My brave husband got out of the car with me and we slowly crept down a ramp to a ledge that would get me close enough to pop off a few pictures.Yeah, that is love.  No one else seemed to care about us or this moose, they just flew by, as we nearly froze to death trying to get her to smile 

(I mean not kill us).

The moose immediately popped up from eating and gave me the eye.  She was a good 50 feet from us, but she was letting me know that she saw us and we better not try anything.   We definitely didn't try anything, but she wasn't convinced.  She couldn't take her eyes off of me, I felt loved.

We told her she was lovely and thanked her for the photo shoot before carefully climbing back up to the car.  My hands were frozen and I was sure that fur must be the way to go, as my new friend wasn't even shivering.  

She is pretty cute isn't she?

and speaking of cute and lovely...

If you have another second~ pop on over

 and sign up for my giveway!

 

Bits of Our Home and Life

Hope

 

 

Tobin James in a mood

Stringing popcorn for our tree

Christmas 2015: 'the tree that wouldn't die'

(we just took it down this past Saturday.  it was put up the day after Thanksgiving...it was still drinking water and not dropping needles)

 

tree type:  Concolor Fir 

Princess Mercy about to sing her solo

 

Prince Bonkie Singing worship

 

 A midwinter eve on our deck

In charge of  microphones

 

 The birthday girl

A visit in the barn from Nagybaba

a birthday girl

A youth leader inspiring others to dress-up for the occasion

hanging out at her sister's house

my son-in-love

my baby #1

Okay, this kind of catches us up into the New Year.  Now if only I can keep in the groove.  

Next post will be a cd giveaway...so if you have little people in your life, you might just want to keep checking in so you can be the lucky winner!

And p.s.- another courtship is well underway.  

We love you Adam!

A Day for Love

Lazy Summer Days

Another beautiful day.  Summer sure goes faster than winter I find. 

 Today is rather muggy, but the kids have been outside most of the day playing wiffle ball.  I have heard yelling, talking and laughter all afternoon.  It is now just post a simple dinner, they are back outside making the most of these lazy summer days.

Oh if only we could bottle it and save it up for the cold days to come.

Hope you are well and that your part of the world is finding spots of rest amongst the busyness of life.

Pickling!

I have jumped on the fermenting bandwagon!  In my fridge you will find kefir, homemade ginger soda, pickles and sauerkraut!  I have been at it for several months now and the only complaint is that there seems to be a lot less space in our refrigerators for groceries.  We are all enjoying trying new foods (and drinks) ...LOVE THE KEFIR!

my beautiful crock I found at an antique store for $60!

The first batch of pickles in our new 6 gallon crock was the best so far.  Batch two was too salty and batch three which I tried to make from a Hungarian recipe I found online that used only salt was a miserable fail.  It seems that the only salt recipe made my cucumbers literally disintegrate after 3 days in the giant crock.  Thankfully I only lost about 12 cucumbers and my time.  

watermelon pickles (we didn't love these!)

I remember a trip to Maine when I was a wee lass and stopping to visit some friends.  They had a huge old farm house that was L shaped (it attached to the barn to help with the long cold Maine winters).  On the porch was an old well used crock and the ancient man my father was visiting reached in and handed us a half sour pickle.  He apologized that they weren't really ready yet, but in my 10 year old mind I thought it was the most wonderful pickle I ever ate.

So when I saw the fermenting bandwagon begin on Pinterest, I gladly jumped on gathering recipes and ideas to begin my own little adventure!

The old ways take patience and a little know-how, but the result it well worth the time and wait.  

I hope to master half-sour garlicky pickles soon. 

 My family is waiting patiently for the victory!

 

Good Clean Fun

A simple joy.  Good clean fun on a warm summer morning. 

 

 I find that simple things bring the greatest joy to my heart these days.  

How about you?

Perspective

Just another spring day at our house:

My baby asked what she could do, as she had run out of ideas for the day.   I told her she could clean the windows to the porch.  She immediately ran to go get the tools needed. 

I sat down, first time all day and looked up to see her going at it very focused.  I stopped trying to suck up the quiet moment and thanked her for doing the windows for me.

She answered, "Oh, it is okay Mama.  This is my second favorite thing to do."  She set about still very focused on finding every fingerprint.

I asked curiously what was her first?  

"It's riding my scooter, but this is the next thing I love doing in the spring."

Oh my.  TOO sweet.  

Hope your day had a touch of sweet joy too!

On Giving

Proverbs 19:17 (Easy to Read Version)

Giving help to the poor is like loaning money to the Lord. 

He will pay you back for your kindness.

I remind myself again and again that we can never out-give the Lord.  Here He is asking us; or reminding us, that all He is asking of us is kindness.  Kindness is just another name for mercy; which is another name for love. Kindness works like cash in the Kingdom.  We give it and it goes into our heavenly account. 

 As we do it, the Lord sees it and counts it as reaching out to help Him.  Remember what He said about that...

Jesus

I have been asking God to help me be kind to those who have less; there are so many who are hurting all around us.  Each week He has given me the energy to rise early on Saturday, to reach out his heart to the poor.  He goes ahead of me, bringing them and then gives me the words and the strength to begin to love them. I am amazed at how often they are flipping it and being 'KIND' to me. 

How often do we not step out because we feel like we have nothing to give.  I think most of us equate giving with dollar and cents signs, instead of acts of love and kindness. Many times, I am giving more from my heart than from my purse, but the Word says that the Lord sees this kindness and sets aside a reward for us.  How often does the enemy come to us and tell us we aren't doing enough for God.  Right here we can claim it isn't how much we are "doing", but how much we are being who we were made to be.

Be Kind.

It's not that hard.  Let the love flow and God will move to do His part!  

Do You Have A Bible?

Do you have a Bible?  What is it doing right now?  When was the last time you read it?  

I love the Word of God (the Bible) and challenge you to read it!  If you've never taken it off the shelf, well it is due time to dust it off and crack it open.  

If you are new to Bible reading, I suggest you begin in the Gospels.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are called the Gospels.  Gospel means Good News.  (Aren't you sick of bad news.  There is always plenty of bad news, honestly it abounds in and around us now).  The Good News is about Jesus.  These books in particular are about Jesus' life, the miracles He did, His death (on a cross for payment for our sins) and His resurrection!!  If you've read them before, read them again...the Word of God is active and alive and continues to speak to us.

This past month God has allowed me to lead 9 people into relationship with Him.  Most of those 9 told me they owned a Bible.  Some told me they carried it with them each day.  All told me that didn't know how to read it.  All of them didn't know that there was only one way into a relationship with God and that was through Jesus.  But they all repented of their sins, asked Jesus to their Savior and Lord and now are setting about to reading their Bible everyday. God is so good! I love this new door God has opened to me in serving the homeless, the poor and drug addicts each Saturday. We are seeing lives dramatically changed and transformed by the gospel!

The Bible isn't just a book.  It is a love letter given to us by God.  He used various men to write it, but it was inspired by Him!  As a Christian, it is our instruction manual in how to live as a follower of Christ.

  If we aren't in it, then how can we follow Him?

Hope this has stirred something in you.  The Word of God is a powerful thing.  Get it in you and not only is it life changing, but power filling for your daily walk with Him.

I would love to hear what in the Bible you are reading now.  Also if you need some help, just drop me a comment or a private email (see the sidebar) and I would LOVE to help you.

Be the Light!

Today as I was praying for a homeless man I have become friends with,

 this phrase 

"Plug in and be the light" crossed my heart.

I ran home and kinda like how it speaks of how

 we as Christians are to live before this world.

 Hoping to be light.  For real!

The Boy and the Grapes

I asked for grapes.  He climbed the vines and brought home enough to make 20 quarts of grape juice.

Any day now we will crack a jar open and have our first taste of wild fox grape grape juice.

He got a lot of exercise, I bought a ton of sugar, we dug out the canning jars from the barn and readied them for beautiful grapes.  

Will share our opening event...it should be soon!!

A Love Note

Quite often I think of something that would be interesting to share, but life jumps in the way and perhaps lack of motivation, somehow my thoughts never quite land as I would like here.  Really I blame my Kindle that my husband bought me two years ago...seems she keeps me from the computer where I use to blog regularly. That and my Pinterest addiction.

Summer is officially here and hopefully more time for this mama to share her thoughts with you.  

At the moment I am up to my neck in yard work.  We hit a streak of rain and I kind of stopped gardening stuff to maintain house stuff.  Throw in having the last three rooms of our first floor wood floors being refinished, well you have another reason no blogging occurred.  Hmm.  

The floors look amazing and we are currently on the search for some larger area carpets.  I searched several non-carpeting stores with no luck (Home Depot, HomeGoods...).  

Well actually I thought I had some, but then after we carted home three new rugs, we quickly decided they were totally not the right size or color and had to be returned.  So back they went and the search for a 5 by 7 rug and a 10 by 12 rug and then an 8  by 10 rug are in order.  Hmm, and a runner to go along the hallway with that 5 by 7 rug.  

I really would love to find wool rugs, as I find them to hold up under our "destructive" living ways so much better.  Also dark and lots of colors seem to hide so much of life that occurs here.  Now you'd think I was asking for the moon, really.  It just isn't that easy. 

 My Knight is telling me to try some online carpet sites, but this little housewife is a tad leery.  I have the same problem with ordering books (curriculum for our home school) without first fingering through them, sniffing their pages (okay, maybe only the old ones I buy) and seeing if it will work for us.  The thought of not touching a rug or feeling the density of the pile just sends shiver-me-timbers down my spine.  But post this posting, I am going to see what my dear Knight has bookmarked for me to peruse.  

He says that the shipping is free, as is the returns on these sites he has found.  I just imagine me carting all these rugs back to the post office (which is near Timbuktu in correlation to our home) and trying to jam them back into some cardboard tube.  Did I mention that I can't fold sheets?  Well, maybe the flat ones, but never the fitted. (and yes, I did bookmark on Pinterest what the secret to folding them is, but honestly, it still, no matter how I try to tilt my head and figure out what all those steps mean, doesn't quite happen as the picture shows.)

Perhaps this will go differently than I am painting it for you, guess we will see.

How are you doing?  Are you up to your neck in projects?

I always imagine summer to be filled with lazy days and reading tons of books that don't seem to manage my attention any other season.  

The littlest Princess has a stack of laundry that looks more like a mountain than a mere load to be put away.  So I am off to do that first. Did I mention that Princess Mercy loves to wear all her clothes and that she had on 4 different outfits just today.  She is very passionate about dressing and what she should be seen in at any given moment. (sounds like a photo shoot opportunity and a blog post!!)  I am sure someday it will bring a huge smile to my face, but for tonight I am not quite dancing at the thought of getting it folded and put away.

Princess Mercy did say she would help me, in that cute 6 year old voice.  She said, "Mama I am going to put my pajamas on and then we can get to work."  As I finished drying the dinner dishes with the older girls, I saw her in a 5th outfit (that wasn't pj's) and saw her slip quickly out the front door to the soccer field that is our front yard at the moment.  It's World Cup time and the children here are out trying their skills in between popping on the tellie to see who won, who lost and who perhaps will be the ultimate winner of it all.

Okay, I let her slip past, because I was avoiding it too.  But now I must tend to it, or it just might ruin my hope of reading my library book tomorrow.

 I am  also trying to read a book called The Spiritual Man by

Watchman Nee.  Not a particularly light read, but one that I am currently fascinated by in learning about soul and Spirit. He uses the word, "soulish" which I had never heard termed before.  Interesting and amazing how God works it in after He has opened it to you.

Love to YOU...hope you'll drop me a line or two back...I could use a few love notes!

Thoughts on Peace and an Announcement

 This is a picture of our kitchen 

(which currently is in process of being rejuvenated.

  We are having the kitchen floors refinished! 

Which comes with much noise, dust and drastic living environment sacrifices. 

 We are banned from the kitchen, pantry and laundry area for the next week.  

Conditions are cramped,

 but the spirit is joyful,

 as with God all things are indeed possible!)

 I share this picture today, as our home is a place of great 'peace'.  Peace doesn't come easily or cheaply.  I find having it be a place of peace and refuge (from the world) comes at the price of making Jesus Lord of each day. 
 It is a commitment that takes sacrifice and commitment.

Lyndon B. Johnson

The Vantage Point:  Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969.

No man should think peace comes easily.  Peace does not come by merely wanting it, or shouting for it, or marching down Main Street for it.  Peace is built brick by brick, mortared by the stubborn effort and the total energy and imagination of able and dedicated men.  And it is built in the living faith that, in the end, man can and will master his own destiny.

 A little announcement:  (a review I will be doing)

 Recently I was given the opportunity to try out an educational program for 6 weeks, in exchange for an honest review.  It couldn't have come at a better time, as my kindergartener, Princess Mercy, has zipped through this year's curriculum and now has extra time during our school day.  I am eager to plug her into this learning program and then share with you my viewpoint on it.  The program looks very promising in regards to valuable learning opportunities.

Plus I love the opportunity to review products!!  Bring it on!!

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students. I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program. If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.

Making the Injera Batter

What to do on another cold and blustery New England winter day?  Jack up the pellet stove so the house is super warm and throw caution to the wind, that's what I say!

This was our Ethiopian daughter's first time helping to mix up the injera batter.  We added in some more teff (Ethiopian flour), to feed our batter and our little Princess Mercy went to town.  She sang her way through over 30 minutes of rubbing her hands over the lumps to be sure the injera would be perfect when we later poured it onto our mitad  (flat pan, which is electric, that we cook injera here in the States.)

 Usually we use a super large restaurant stainless steel bowl to work our dough, but Mama ain't no dummy and figured this would be the easiest way around not having to have a major clean-up job.

deep concentration

But

She was fully enjoying her little Ethiopian self!

Not the typical way to make injera, but I keep finding more and more that we really aren't typical.

Injera is like a sour dough bread/ pancake.  It's texture when cooked is soft and spongy.  It is used to hold all the yummy Ethiopian foods...plate, injera and the pile on all the Ethiopian dishes that you can. No utensils needed, you take small pieces of the injera and scoop up bite size pieces with it. 

 If you haven't eaten Ethiopian you are missing out.  It is delicious.  I only wish I didn't wait so long to discover it.  Find an Ethiopian restaurant in your area and give it a try- your tummy will be so happy you did. We cook it quite often, a pure labor of love, as it takes a whole day or two to prepare all the food items we all want to eat.

I will have to show you what it looks like once it is all cooked up.  Today is just a little show of the prep work.

Oh happy days!  Childhood is so short.