Slowing Down for Saturday...

So, how did you spend your beautiful Saturday? Two dear friends called, so Mother and I decided to join them for a lunch and then a drive-about through Amish country. Before I go further, I want to say that all my photos are taken from a distance and without views of faces. I wouldn't ever want to intrude on their lives or hurt their feelings. They are very dear to our family as most of you remember from a post I wrote about their attendance at my dad's visitation... Our Gentle Friends.
Today the Amish were out and about. They weren't in the fields as usual....
Gardens were lush... and the fields looked to be in great shape...
But so many carriages were out and about on the road. We saw one with the cutest little Amish feet (little boy) hanging out the window... But that's a shot for my memory-camera, not my real one.

The creeks were out and we drove through shallow standing water...


The colored clothes were on the porch AWAY from the bright sunlight... This woman had an enormous washing!
Don't you wonder how many people live in this giant home? We bought Washington sweet cherries, apricots, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, some sweet dills and some bread and butter pickles... I think we also got some rhubarb jam.. What a great day to slow down and inhale God's goodness... Hugs to all!

Good news

CLEAR SKIES

Today they repeated the man hunt (see yesterday's post)---- about seven miles from here, and the patrol called to let us know that they have him in custody!! He was under some brush in a cornfield. Mom can sleep tonight.

Not the typical Midwestern Day here today...

Our morning began calmly enough. Mom and I were sitting in the living room discussing whether or not I should keep my shop in town. Suddenly, a Highway Patrol Car rolled down our driveway with lights flashing. I can tell you that isn't something anyone can see without a pit in the stomach.
Suddenly several cars moved in, and patrolmen with rifles, the K-9 Unit dogs, and ATV's moved into the area. A man wanted in Georgia, Louisiana State, and now here was running through our bean field and into the woods about an eighth of a mile in front of our house.
Helicopters and airplanes flew overhead all day, but the intense heat here defeated the infrared detectors, and they failed to find him.
The dogs did a lot of barking, and the choppers dived deep in close to the treetops...
The perimeter of the farm was pretty nearly solidly partitioned off with patrol cars and vehicles.
My mom's cat didn't like this at all... especially the K-9 unit. I had made a slow cooker of Great Northerns and some cornbread at 2 a.m. this morning before any of this began... It came in handy for the neighbors who came to watch. I am taking the first watch, and Mom will probably get up at 4 a.m.... The Patrol is still prowling around the area, but the manhunt was called off unsuccessfully.

Drama

Treating Ourselves. . . kindly

It's twilight, and the locusts sing me once again into that nighttime freedom I crave from morning until now. This envelope of darkness brings with it some soothing caress of sacred pardon. I am free at night and I have always been. During the day I often balk head to head against some kind of obstacle. My immobility, my single status, my financial strictures... all these play into my daily world, and I am fighting off frustrations, guilt, tears of regret and irritability... I chafe at living here at Mom's and I ache for something I cannot name.

And then she comes... twilight... And I'm here with myself, my forever truest ally, my own advocate in the darkness. I become the woman I search for every single day, the one I've pawed through the throngs to find since I've been a little child. Evening brings smiles of the soul; it gives me the peace of heart that soothes my cares. I begin to be good to myself again. We watch tv if we've taped something lovely. Tonight I have a brand new book, Eat, Pray, Love, that I will read as I snuggle in my comfortable bed with the Northern Nights sleeptop that I paid too much for.... I will fluff out the down coverlet, light some candles, and see what all the fuss has been over this book. I recall the disdain I felt for anyone who would give so much time to finding herself... but that was before I lost MYself... I get it now.

Another favorite way to spend an evening is with a Bible Study. I love this one by Kelly Minter, and of course, my very favorites are by Beth Moore..

So.....What do you do that is truly kind for youself? Be a dear and leave me a comment that describes your acts of friendship toward your own spirit.

KItty cat Tails...

I wish I could find homes for these beautiful kittens. I have been trying, even got accused of being a Used Car Salesman in another life... So far, one little baby has found a wonderful home and has been named Cali Jane and toted off in a My Little Pony carrier... How cute!!! I am thinking positive... Any second now, I'll get some calls.... I hate mean tomcats. If he didn't exist here, they could roam about and have such fun in the country...

I'm with Paula Deen... Nothing beats cooking when it's rainy or snowy... Today, I'll take the rain. This shot is from an earlier spring meal in the slow cooker, but it bears a mighty resemblance to our recent feast...
I love coffee.... today's flavor is raspberry/chocolate. Mmmmm..
Mom's oatmeal-raisin cookies are seriously NOT on my diet, but they are kinda special. Also not on my diet is the new cake of choice to bake. It has three ingredients: cake mix, pie filling, and two eggs. That's it. I love chocolate, cherry pie filling cake... It's a black forest without any of the trouble. I made a summery orange, peach pie filling cake that was fresh and wonderful. I have two more to try in upcoming weeks: carrot, raisin or apple pie filling---- and lemon, blueberry pie filling... The cakes need no icing, but you can if you choose. I just dust a pretty sprinkle of powdered sugar over top and serve with whipped cream... it has a moist, almost quick bread consistency. I think baking it in loaf pans would work... It's a very thick batter with no moisture but it isn't dry at all...

Have a fun week. Stay dry and cool (or warm).... and enjoy yourselves.

Early Morning Weathering...

I cannot imagine anything more beautiful than weather through the windows... I love to watch the sunset, the sunrise, the snows... the winds and the rains, as well... all through the panes of the windows. It is on these mornings and late into the night that even Mom's house feels comforting, inviting, and homelike to me. I am linking to Cielo's Show off your Cottage Monday because due to the rains and the beauty through the windows, it seemed for about an hour.... as if this house were MY cottage... for just a little while....As soon as I decided to go to sleep this morning after my post and my slow cooker loading.... the storms unleashed. Weatherbug foretold of high winds, hail, hard rain--- but not tornado activity. I thought about sleeping through it because there is not much more delicious than beef and onions cooking, gray dawn, and rain pelting the windows.... However, I knew Mom was up and didn't know whether the storm was severe or not. Our window stripping is metal, and it was wailing... So I got up a while and decided to take pictures through the dining room window. As morning arrived, the storm pelted "our" house....I began to hear desperate little mews... Our mama cat had kittens a couple of weeks ago, and we hadn't found them yet. She isn't the sharpest Mama Cat in the world, and she has given birth both times just out in the open. These six (two black, two calico, and two yellow) were nestled under a fern leaf, but the onslaught of rain was really making them sit up and scream. After the storms, I got them rounded up and they are now in a large wire pen/cage with their Mama... They are safe, I hope, on the back porch, and I have a fervent plea in to Facebook Friends to try to give them away. All this because we have one or even two tomcats who killed our last litter of three and have designs on this bunch as well.The skies grew lighter and lighter as the storm finally came to a stop....
You'll never guess what setting I used on my camera to get these pictures.... Are you trying to guess? I used the aquarium setting!!!!! Isn't that great? It was raining that hard.... We have a heat index advisory tomorrow... Wonderful news. Take care. I will give kittens to all who leave comments! hahaha.. Not really. I love comments, BUT if you are in the tri-state region and would like a kitten, I will deliver or meet you half-way!.......

Changing it up...

"Dawn: When men of reason go to bed." - Ambrose Bierce
a little post and link to Words to Live by Sunday by Tracey at Notes from a Cottage Industry.
Whew@ It's about time for the world to get up, but I'm saying goodnight after I do this post. I see lightning and I hear that promise of thunder... plus I also hear my alarm on my phone telling me to get up and do the vegetables for the slow cooker. Ha@! I fooled it this time. I was up there about an hour and a half ago... Loveliest lunch in the world for a summery stormy Sunday... roast beef, carrots, and potatoes... a few onions and a couple ribs of celery.... Add some whole wheat biscuits, a nice lettuce salad, maybe my son's favorite broccoli, and we're done.

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This was a busy weekend for me because I got the wild notion to switch things up in my little room/home away from home... here at Mom's. I ripped down the deep burgundy satin curtains that we'd bought when I moved over here, and I replaced them with the lacy ones Mom had bought in Hannibal at Hickory Stick. I'm loving the light, which is a switch for me. However, all that light brought an awesome Aha@ factor to me. This room was cluttered, dusty, and not all that cute. Sometimes the lovely darkness muffled the clutter to me, but rays of sunshine do not lie! I have been digging and cleaning, pitching and putting... Right now it is beginning to look better, but believe me, it really looked worse for a while! I'll share some pictures after it's totally done or a little further along.

Enya just popped on my Bose wakeup call.. It IS late. I have to get some sleep. My son and his lady love are coming for this so-called feast today. I will soon hear Mom as she gets up and thinks I'm a lazy so and so to still be in bed. Ah... the tale of the Ladyhawke without all the romance.. I used to watch that movie and just cry... I watched a great movie the other night called Actually, Maybe. I thought it was so cute. That little girl is adorable... Hugs and nitey night... or morny morn....

Cloche Party Friday

I am participating in TWO parties today. Garden Tour with Tracey and this! Cloche Party with Marty at A Stroll Through Life
Time for tea with little Miss Muffet....

On the wall behind this cloche of mother and daughter piano players is a favorite photo of my dad with all his insulators.
Springtime found me capturing this wee birdie in a tiny cloche....
A salute to the Red, White, and Blue....

Go see all the beautiful cloches at the party! Have fun!

Garden Tour 2010 of Meadow Lane...

Welcome to our Yard and flowers... This is a new hydrangea bush... We're pretty happy with its progress.

The growing season began with my mom in the hospital for a few days... I am a teacher and not particular gifted with the green thumb and gift of gardening that nature gave my grandmothers and my mother... For this excuse and that one, I offer up the notion that whatever we have IS our garden...Our garden is rather wild, a bit of a dream, and a little breath of color and life that is much appreciated. I would say it has potential and may take off in another year. I just love Tracey's blog and wanted to participate with our natural flora.... So welcome to Garden Tour 2010... We have loved our lilies this summer, though... After this, they grew even more spectacular until the big storm in June that dropped a tree right on the bed... Something in that storm didn't love our flowers or our panorama of bloom and blossom!Riots of color... Flowers in summer have no reserve of spirit and beauty.
Lilies of the field.....
But I will say that flowers like these are finicky and ask constantly for another drink. Patriotic colors and beauty in a basket...
These three photos are the last ones taken of our large pine tree that Mom and Dad had planted when it was only 6 inches high. The storm took the tree, and Mom cried... It is something different than a garden to love the trees, but trees of any kind are such magnificent creatures.

The same view after the storm...
Welcome Summer by Valerie Par Hill... on my doorway.
A peek at our spring hydrangeas and something magnificent in pink... I am not sure what it is... rhododendron, I believe....
When we lost most of these big locusts in that same storm, it was my turn to cry my eyes out. I happen to love these 100-year-old hollow trees with the fragrant blooms... I will miss them so much next spring.


This white lilac hides (or tries to hide) Mom's gas tank. It was planted to honor my sweet aunt who loved white lilacs by her brother, my daddy...
Our beautiful redbud, another victim of the storm. I hope we will have at least about a fourth of it left and it won't all die... 3/4 is "gone with the wind."
I'm stretching back, back, back... to early spring... Nothing says that winter is almost over like a burst of yellow forsythia.
Valerie Par Hill, a seller on QVC, gets us ready for the growing season... Don't you just love this wreath?
I am linking to Tracey's blog for the garden Tour!!!!! Pop over and see all the beautiful posts on Friday.