gratitude challenge day 4

Today I am thankful for family. Those that live immediately within the walls of this home, and those who are related by blood and those who are not but are family just the same. Thankful the lessons learned and passed on from generation to generation, for the wonderful things we learn together and the strength and love that surrounds us in hard times. So thankful for family.

Family day at Popham Beach!

Our yearly hike

I've mentioned here before that we take a yearly hike to the top of this hill to get some pictures of the foliage and of course my beautiful children, this year despite all it's obstacles was not exception. The bonus was that Ron felt well enough to come along too! First up was Andrew, looking back at the other photos on here makes me want to cry, he's growing up so quickly but he's turning into a fine young man.

Next up was Faith, no longer a child, a  beautiful young lady on the inside and out. She's come a long way from an itty bitty preemie... Poor girl, 4th bout of poison ivy this year!

 Then came Ron's turn. I'm so thankful to have this picture of him
                                                    

 I wanted a couple shots of each of us with the kids and love how these came out.

But this is my favorite shot!

 Well, this might be a second favorite, if I'm being honest.


We all had a nice time and enjoyed the view of Mt. Washington, the delightful fall foliage and the time spent together in the company of loved ones. I have no idea why God has chosen to bless me with such a wonderful family, but I am eternally thankful.

a great day!

My peaceful happy family

My Children

Thanksgiving with my family

Today was perfectly delightful and I'm so thankful for it! I had thanksgiving with my family. My sister said to me the other day that she gets irritated when she cannot spend holidays with her family. I told her that even though I was not going to be there that she would be with her family. I don't think she liked that but the truth is the truth. Let me explain. Yesterday the kids and I prepared some of the food and today I finished up the rest of it. We started by ironing the table cloth that belonged to Meme' my great-great grandmother. It was just recently handed down to me by my grandmother and there were some creases that just didn't want to come out so I didn't force the issue. It was nice to have Meme' at our table. Then we cooked the turnip, I called my mother-in-law to see if there was a specific way that she cooked it as hers always tastes so delicious! I was glad she could be at Thanksgiving too! The squash that I picked with my sister and her children this fall, was cooked next, I cooked it in the microwave as my grandmother once suggested and seeing as it's her favorite vegetable I knew she'd know how to cook it the best way. It was nice to see them too. I made a personal favorite of mine; a summer squash casserole, and put it in a casserole dish that a neighbor of my mother and dear friend of mine gave to me as a birthday gift one year. I was so pleased that she stopped in as well. My children decided they wanted to help prepare the fiesta; we call it that because it is a celebration instead of just a plain ole' boring dinner. They decided they'd like to make the pies. Faith won a ribbon for her apple pie baking ability, so she made that, using one grandmothers recipe for the crust and an other's for the filling. I was so happy both of my grandmothers were able to come, one traveled for a very long time to make it. Speaking of grandmothers, Ron's father's mother was able to make it too, and she was very pleased I used her potholders to remove some of the pans from the stove and oven. Andrew decided he was up for the pumpkin pie. I don't know where the recipe came from, I just know that it's the one I've used since Faith was knee-high to a grasshopper, I know this because one year she was helping make the pies and scribbled all over the recipe card. Her artwork still gets me, straight in the heart.

I made some dinner rolls and a loaf of bread, I remember Thanksgiving as a child and mom had to have the corner piece because of the crust; in fact, after a while she started using a small little pan that was the perfect size for 4 rolls, all corners! Perfect! Mom hasn't been here for a while; she's been so busy, so it was nice to see her as well. Dad of course made it too with Mom, and thoroughly enjoyed the boiled onions and Faith's apple pie.

Today, I cooked the vegetable lasagna, Andrew's alternate request for Thanksgiving. The Tofurkey was sold out. Ron's meal was a roasted chicken; a broiler that I'd raised this summer, since the alternate turkey I had as insurance croaked mysteriously this summer, but as he's the only one who eats it, he was ok that. We had potato prepared three different ways, Andrew wanted latkes, Faith wanted mashed potato and Ron and I wanted to have them oven roasted like when we shared Thanksgiving with our neighbors at the US Air Force Academy. Rebecca was the first one who made them like that and it's a rare treat to make them that way, because it's not exactly healthy, but oh so delicious! I haven't seen them in years, so to have them here to share our meal was delightful. Ron's sister likes the homemade stuffing I've made for some Thanksgiving dinners we've shared, but it makes so much I don't generally make it unless we have a big dinner. My English friend prepared the best stuffing ever, it was sage and onion stuffing, cooked then baked in the oven in oil, so it makes a nice crispy crust on the outside of a really delicious stuffing ball. She was here today too, but didn't bring my favorite stuffing, but I was just happy to see her so it didn't matter that didn't bring the stuffing. I made a simple stuffing that was similar to both guests likes.

As the time for the fiesta meal approached Faith offered to come help if I needed it, I had her do a few things, ans was glad to have her help. I had her go check on the animals and collect eggs if there were any. She came bolting back into the house and said the alpacas were headed down the road! I was in the final stages of preparing the meal, so I shouted "Go get a grain bucket and shake it and they'll come back. Andrew go help! I cannot go right this second." Faith headed to the barn and Andrew headed out after the boys. Then it occurred to me that if we had a few burned things that that would be better than lost animals or an injury to a passerby because of the animals. (Ron was in the living room so if it got really bad he could have handled any kitchen disaster.) So since I had a bag of beet pulp in the house; because I have to soak it for Garlic, I grabbed a scoop and bucket and out the door I flew. I sprinted out the driveway and down our road. It had snowed a bit and it was cold, I'm running down the road in my crocks and t-shirt shaking a grain bucket, ugh what a sight! I kept running until I hit the second road and finally saw the boys, they were not too far ahead of me now and Andrew was finally on their heels, er hooves rather. Faith had made it to the barn and was bringing up the rear. A few cars had stopped or pulled over. Andrew had finally caught their attention and they decided that he is generally associated with food and opted to follow him. After following him a bit they heard me shaking the grain bucket and started running back up the road towards me. We were quite a herd I'm sure and a couple passersby had some very quizzical looks on their faces. As we turned onto our road a woman who lives up the road a bit and also owns alpacas stopped to help prevent them from heading back onto the other road. We got them closer to home and she figured it was all under control and headed home. Dakota, (our llama and apparent ringleader in all this) decided that the house across the street from ours looked mighty inviting so instead of turning into our driveway, he plowed through the cedar trees bordering their property and when in to visit. They were not home, so he allowed himself to be caught and led back home with the other boys bringing up the rear. Andrew did a great job of staying behind them and using his body to work pressure points on the alpacas, he really did listen to the old cowboy who taught him to rope, work and cut cattle! We got them home and back into the barn and settled and went into the house to finish up fiesta preparations, albeit we were all winded from a quarter mile sprint after the alpacas!

We finished the prep and sat down to a delicious meal and I had a glass of wine in a glass that I bought in New York when I went to visit my best friend from high school. We've both been really busy raising our families, living our lives and living 5 states apart that we don't get to see each other very often, but I was so delighted she stopped in today as well. I knew my sister would stop in to make sure that we had the correct cranberry sauce, she did and we were ok; I told Faith that it had to be Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce as according to Aunt Jenny anything else is a waste of money. I turned the tv off; we'd been watching a sappy Christmas movie and knitting before lunch, and turned on a CD of Christmas music by Anne Murray, one that Ron's oldest daughter Erika gave me for Christmas one year. Though she's now grown and gone, out making her own way in the world I'm glad that even with her busy schedule she managed to visit today too. We talked about things we were thankful for and when we were nearing the point of being stuffed Ron looked around at all the dishes of food and mentioned that lots of them looked nearly full! Well that was about the time his dad arrived. At that point I said to Ron well, like your dad says, "Too much is just right."

After we were full Ron headed to bed with a headache and the kids and I cleared the table, and set out the pies. You know something funny, with all the guests we had around our table we only cleared off four plates. We had a wonderful time today and it's fine that not everybody was able to make it this year for Thanksgiving, we enjoyed those who shared our meal and missed those who couldn't make it, besides there is always another meal.

thicker than water

They say that blood is thicker than water and generally that is in reference to family, well it's something that I never really 'got.' I know it's supposed to be a good thing generally, but to me it seems to imply that family can only be blood, but blood is very sticky and thick. Water on the other hand, is clear and free flowing, going easily in the path of least resistance. Now that to me makes more sense in describing family. Water has a great ability to cover. It's free flowing. Spreads easily. Does not a family who cannot have a blood child love an adopted child as much as a family by birth? Do they not consider them family? Isn't a family blessed with the ability to foster children able to love those children as their own? What about blended families? Love happens in those and is it just as fierce a love as blood relations. What about extended families as in in-laws, out-laws, and friends that are as close as family. I love my parents and sisters as well as Ron's parents and siblings, I've got friends whom I love, yet they are not my blood, but they are my family. Maybe I was blessed with ability to love like water, maybe it's a choice, maybe it's something else, I don't know. But whatever it is, I'm thankful that I have such wonderful people in my life to love.

two of my biggest blessings

You'll have to forgive me if I seem a bit nostalgic or weepy, this Gratitude Challenge had reminded me of so many many things I'm thankful for.

Home Sweet Home

I am so thankful this place found me. A place where I am home. A place that felt like home the first time I visited the property. A place my children can run and play and grow, and be healthy and happy. A place I can raise my family. A very private place and quiet place. There have been lots of places where I really enjoyed living, and a few not so much, but none quite like where I am now, my place called home.

grown-up chat

Every week while my children are at AWANAS I get to sit with one of my favorite people and have mostly uninterrupted grown-up chat and it is wonderful! This lady is my mother's sister and someone I've really enjoyed getting to know on an adult level over the years and we have some wonderful conversations. We call it therapy. :-) I'm not one for sitting on my duff doing nothing so I'll bring along a sock I'm knitting on or something to keep my hands busy while I run my mouth and she'll bring a crochet project to work on. In fact she taught me a couple crochet stitches! It's a wonderful break from the farm and kids and life really, and it's so nice to be silly, and giggle and tell stories, she's got some hilarious car stories let me tell you. We've both laughed so hard we had tears running down our faces! We've shared struggles and hardships and encouraged each other too. I look forward to our 'therapy sessions' each week and miss them in the summer when the AWANA club isn't meeting. My kids are going to age out of the group shortly but when that happens I'll have to find another way to continue therapy. We live over two hours apart so this is kind of a meet in the middle place. So tonight I'm thankful for my Aunt, her willingness to listen, (she's a great listener!) helpful wisdom and encouragement, love, all the great stories, and her friendship.

the rest of the pictures

Yesterday we took the goats on a walk into the woods, well the purpose was to go to the top of the hill and take the annual fall pictures. Having the goats along made for some interesting pictures and much needed cropping. While I was setting the self timer on the camera, Katie (the goat) was certain we wanted her to be in the picture and would wait just off camera until just before the picture was taken and walked in. Ugh! Oh well, memories!
Just last year this was Andrew, I don't think he's changed that much, but he certainly doesn't look like my baby anymore...

And beautiful Faith, oddly enough looks older last year, I think it's the hair. Too quickly they grow up!

Good friends, I'm so proud of how well they get along!

Andrew and Buckley

My budding artiste!

And all of us together in the one picture I could crop the goats out of!

what a gift!

My husband has an Aunt who is a quilting extraordinaire, seriously, she makes beautiful quilts. She has a fabric stash and quilting room that would make most quilters drool, cabinets lined with fabric, and color coordinated. Oh to have a room like that!

Well, now I do! She knows that I enjoy quilting and decided my sister-in-law and I would be the recipients of a recent purge! There is nearly 70 pounds of fabric on the table and I had to take a picture because it was so beautiful! I'm itching to start about a thousand projects with it but need to finish up some other projects I'm currently working on first. I know my husband would appreciate that. Besides, having all that fabric, which looks like my own personal fabric store, makes me a little giddy! My sister does not get it, she thinks it's beautiful all right but it's not her thing. Mom on the other hand totally gets it! She's a fellow quilter and appreciates what a wonderful gift this is. It's getting to be that time of year when I start thinking about Christmas giving and am pretty sure there is a major quilting bee in our future. Last year we pulled off three quilts in the fall and the fall before was a huge undertaking for my Grandmother's bed. We made a Christmas quilt, (she LOVES Christmas) it was a ton of work and lots of pieces and a very happy Grandmother. I wonder what is in store this year.... I know one thing, I cannot wait to start!

Thank you so much Aunt Judy, what a blessing you've given me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

a fish tale

This weekend we had a nice family reunion at my sister-in-laws camp. It was a perfect opportunity for Andrew to go fishing with his cousin. They were just out "trollin' " and Andrew had a bite on his line and pulled this puppy out of the water! He was told by his fishing guru cousin; who has caught many fish, that it was the biggest sunfish he'd ever seen! Of course Andrew's chest was puffed out WAY beyond anything I'd ever seen! He had a great time and truly has a big fish tale to tell!

headed out

I'm headed outside with a pillow, blanket, flashlight and my babies to watch the meteor shower.* Does it get any better than that?

*Now that's what I call family entertainment! Heavenly!

daytripping

Yesterday my sister called on her way to the beach and asked me if I wanted to come along. I thought about it for a moment and figured that since I didn't have anything that was due that particular day and we've been working really hard this summer I could take a day and go along, after the chores were done. Well, it was a perfect beach day, not too hot, nice breeze, sunny and the beach wasn't crowded with obnoxious people! Yeah! Swimming off the coast of Maine is an experience one doesn't easily forget, or do too often! If you look at the pictures and see chunks of ice don't worry, that's normal. I kid, of course, but the color is icy blue for a reason. When you go to the beach; in Maine at least; it's more for the beauty and serenity that it offers. Seldom will you find adults in the water, as often times their bodies are still trying to thaw from their childhood dip in the pond! Seriously, the water is mind numbingly cold, one wave up around your ankles and your doing lamas breathing and hopping up and down like a lunatic! Despite the freezing temperatures we had a beautiful day! I took lots of pictures as usual, my sister forgot her camera as usual and Mom was surrounded by lots of grandchildren, as usual!

Thanks for the invite, it was a very welcome break from the farm.

This is the epitome of the Maine coastline, rugged rocks, sandy beaches, pine trees and icey blue water.

A place we popped off the beaten path for a bit of exploring and yes, more picture taking!

doing a happy dance! hoping to make it rain! lol!

My latest acquisition! I'm SO happy to have this rain barrel, you have no idea! My sister-in-law and her husband, besides being such caring wonderful people are creative and industrious! They are always building things, like a beautiful home, a cozy camp, pretty much anything those two can build and I SO admire that. They built this rain barrel too! The red thing on the bottom is to hook up my hose to! It's got window screening over the top to keep the leaves and bugs out. Now I've got the difficult task of finding the perfect, most useful place for it, as there are many!

Thank you guys so much for this, it will most certainly be well used!

mustering chutzpah

Ugh! Today is a day that I will never forget, though at least one part I sincerely wish I could. If they can come up with an easy button, why can't they come up with a do over button? The kids headed out to the barn to do morning chores a minute or two before I did this morning because a friend had called and I was on the phone trying to help her with a question she was having. They came back into the house with a chicken, one of the laying hens that were hatched out this spring, it had to be a hen, couldn't have been a rooster! Ugh! Well suffice it to say I was pretty certain, like 99.9998% sure it's neck was broken, it's neck had been stuck in the chicken coop door and the rest of the details are a mystery. So here I was trying to remain calm and not vomit because of the circumstances that were inevitable were swirling around in my brain, this was not going to be a good day. I called Ron at work and told him about the hen and what was coming, ugh! was all I could think. We talked about which way would be the fastest and least painful, after all it was clear that she was in pain and it tore me up to see it. I got off the phone with him and took the hen outside and placed her on a hardwood stump that we got last year when we took care of the huge dead hemlock in the backyard. I had Andrew head into the garage to get my axe. She really seemed to be at peace in the sunshine. She just laid there on the stump in the sunshine with her eyes closed, Andrew handed my the axe and headed inside with Faith. I took a measurement of where I needed to land the axe and placed it in the grass. I headed inside too. I loaded the rifle, just in case I missed and there was another situation I needed to suddenly deal with took a few long inhalations of lavender to calm my nerves. I had never done anything like what I was about to do and never in a million years did I ever think I would be able to! I'm a vegetarian for crying out loud!! I'm also a caretaker of creation and this poor helpless creature I'd been entrusted to care for was in pain and there was nothing I could do for her expect to end her pain. So I took another few whiffs of the lavender and headed back out to the stump. She opened her eyes for a minute to see what had changed then quickly closed them and went back to peacefully laying there. I propped the rifle up within easy reach and picked up the axe and thanked her for her life and thanked her for eating lots of bugs for us. Took another measurement of where it needed to be placed and with one swift motion it was all over. I will spare you all the gory details but it's not something I ever care to do again. I'm just glad I was able to muster up the chutzpah to get the job done. I've only ever killed bugs; like mosquitoes or black flies, or mice; once I ran over a garden snake with the lawnmower because I was terrified of snakes and was sure it was after me! (I shudder to think of it!) I have never taken a life like this; I am ok with doing it because I know she is out of pain but I feel so bad that it had to happen. I'm not one to panic in situations like this; pretty level headed but I've wondered in the past level headed to what point? It there a point when level headedness goes out the window? It was nice to realize that when I wasn't sure this was something I'd ever be able to to I was! I was able to reach way down in a place I didn't know I had and do what needed to be done, I know that I got that strength from my Father and I am grateful!

Father Daughter Bonding - again

I'll be willing to bet my Dad never thought he'd be spending a Sunday afternoon target shooting with his three daughters.

100 bales in several more to go!

What to do for a birthday for a kid that has nearly everything, like so many American kids do?? Hummm...... Ding! (that's the sound of my brain coming up with a great idea!) I'll invite him down for a day on the farm! My nephew; whom you may have read about here, is like so many American kids that have more than everything they want and are nearly impossible to do anything for on special occasions, like birthdays. Well they don't call me Twistie for nothing! I printed up a flyer inviting him down in the summer for a day on the farm; the flyer said it entitled him to do farm things, like poop scoop, feed the animals, collect the eggs, lug water, stack hay, you know things the kids and I do everyday! You should have seen his face it was like I'd given him the moon! I had sort of planned to have him down at this time of year to really give him a whack at farm/country life by having him help with the hay. I've recently heard of "haycations" but thought I'd test the waters to see if it actually worked! ha ha! The hay was to arrive yesterday and I could use all the help I could get, as Garlic smashed my foot when I was picking out his feet the other night, due to his lack of balance, and I've got a pretty good idea I've got a broken bone or two in there. When the hay needs to be done it waits for no one, smashed foot or not. We had a dicey afternoon weather wise yesterday and it did not arrive, but was taken undercover, rain and hay do not mix well when you're looking at long term storage.... So the hay guy called and said it would be delivered in the morning. I was not about to let these kids be bored, so I came up with a new plan on the fly.

We pulled the garlic... Andrew lugged it to the porch...

We hung it up to dry...

We threw down the rest of last years hay to make room for this years hay...

They jumped into the hay which was stacked nearly to the top of the ladder... and did the evening barn chores. This was from 4 pm on. Three very tired children went to bed and slept as well as you can with the heat and a wiggly and notoriously gassy dog that they wanted to sleep with them not to mention the excitement of company! I'd have taken a picture but left the camera in the barn and was not about to limp back to the barn to get it. Though it was a great photo op!

Breakfast - fresh fruit and cereal! Isn't the fruit pretty?

The hay arrives and the heat does too, it's over 90 degrees and I've got 100 bales of hay to stack. Note, I do not have an elevator, yet, so each bale is lifted off and thrown overhead into the loft then stacked. It's hot, sweaty, scratchy, hard work but it smells SO good, not as good as second crop, which will come on another sweltering day in August but hay smells good and what a good job to have done. I'm so impressed with these kids, words cannot accurately describe how proud I am of them for their willingness to pitch in and help and only one or two complaints, and justified at that, it WAS hot!

That's a lot of hay, yet not even half of what I need for the year.

*My nephew thought this would make a good family picture so I let him take it. A hard working family!

Water break...

The hay is all unloaded and stacked in the barn in just shy of two hours!! We kicked butt and took names! I think that was the fastest unload in my history, I couldn't have done it without the help of my kids and my nephew. This is the From the Country Farm Hay Crew 2010 gulping down an ice cold root beer after a hard days work had been completed.

They told me it was the best root beer they'd ever tasted!

Seeing as how the hay essentially flew off the wagon and it was over 90 degrees and part of the overnight trip to the farm deal I took the kids to the lake to cool off. I was impressed, nobody drown from exhaustion! I was not however impressed with the language of the people around us or the couple having a fight at the picnic table not 15 feet from us. Talk about a way to ruin a trip to the beach! Needless to say, we didn't stay long.

One night ended up turning into two nights because of the hay and tomorrows plans, which is no big deal, he's having a good time as are Faith and Andrew and when I drop him off tomorrow and his mom tucks him in bed it'll be like "Good Night Son, see you next Tuesday!"
So what did I give my nephew for his birthday? Hopefully a lifetime of fond memories. (and maybe a good night's sleep.)

to the lake!!

Another first for Faith and Andrew! Their grandfather took them tubing for the first time ever! They were a little freaked out but had SO much fun.