Wednesday, September 29, 2010



It's Fall.

Everything says so: the trees, the changeable weather, the golden hued sunlight, the wheat and corn all brown and rustly. The garden vegetables are long past their prime and our store room is filling up with squash and dry beans while the jars of tomato sauce and jam look pretty all lined up. Today has been a beautifully sunny day so we trimmed the school day to do some yard clean up and outdoor work. We transplanted trees, mowed the grass, raked up leftovers from the woodpiles that are being moved indoors--some to our indoors, some to another's indoors. The children have harvested their giant pumpkins and are setting them up in a display. With only half the afternoon gone we can already feel the air cooling into evening and it adds urgency to the tasks.


Soon winter will come. Then our biggest jobs will be keeping the wood area in the furnace room and the bird feeders near the shed filled. For now, we will enjoy the transition time from summer's heat to winter's coziness in front of the woodstove. We'll enjoy the warmth on days when it's available and adjust to the incoming cold on the wet and rainy days.

It's Fall. And I get to eat soup.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday evening, I should be making supper. Well, I am making supper but I have stalled. My body aches and I am tired. Tired of the aching, the lack of enthusiasm for cooking and finding food that nourishes richly both the body and the eyes. Tired of noise but unhappy with silence. Today has been a good day so I am not pleased with my reactions now.

My heart aches too these days. It is not easy to say goodbye. I cry easily and pray frequently.

And now I will get back to making supper. Life continues and there are joys to match the sorrow.


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Thursday, September 16, 2010

It's a little late here and I've enjoyed these last two hours. For our homeschool group's meeting tomorrow I have been choosing hymns, folksongs and poems. It's been a lot of fun listening and reading. Yay to Youtube!

The final choices are:
Sur le Pont D'Avignon
Log Driver's Waltz
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Praise To The Lord, The Almighty, The Lord of Creation
poetry by Carl Sandburg:
from "The People, Yes" (A father sees a son nearing manhood.)
Soup
Little Girl, Be Careful What You Say

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Thursday, September 09, 2010


Our house when it was still a school. At least we think that's the case. There isn't much different about our current house. Makes us realize why the windows are so drafty--they're 70 years old. We saw this photo on a little placard at the local elementary school as part of a display of schools in the area. This year another elementary school is being combined with the first and they took down the photo. We were gutted as we'd not thought to take a picture of the photo. (We meet for church in the school.) What a gift to hear my Mom casually say that she'd taken a picture of it. We don't have the fence around the property or the bell in the tower although the tower is still there and one or two metal fence posts got left behind. The great big maple behind the house is actually two maples. One is left to us, the second having fallen down the day before we took possession.

It's fun to look at this piece of history. Odd though to realize the connection we have with what feels completely disconnected from us.


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