Blueberries, Baby Oaks, and Beets

Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. ~Lou Erickson

I never should bring my husband with me to a nursery. I planned to get a few organic herbs and tomato plants on Saturday, but he eyed the blueberry bushes. The greenhouse employee assured us that blueberries need at least three bushes with at least one being a different variety. If we had not read some on blueberries previously, it could have sounded like a lame sales pitch. After spending over twice what I had planned, we now have a three blueberries bushes all of differing variety. Today my husband had to take out two large woody bushes and move a scotch broom to place the blueberry bushes in the best setting for them...so he has paid for them in labor. With a daughter who loves blueberries in her morning smoothie and the price of organic blueberries being so high, I suppose those bushes could pay for themselves within the year, but that depends on how many the birds leave us.

Which brings up the subject of the baby oaks. Not only are our outdoor cats, the mitten kittens, doing a wonderful job catching mice, but they also are doing a very good job of keeping the squirrels at bay--too very good a job and when I write they, I mean mostly Sharii, the tom. I have watched, with fascination, Sharii wind his way up a tree mirroring a squirrel, who worked hard at staying on the opposite side of the trunk, wondering just how high the cat would go after his prize. Because of his prowess, acorns from autumn and winter were not cleaned up by the squirrels, so we have baby oak trees all over our yard and in the gardens. Most of the garden soil is loose, so they come up pretty easily, but the yard is more work. I have been plucking out baby oaks all week, particularly the last three days as we are preparing our front gardens. The good news is that I am fairly confident that my feline tuxedo twins will also keep squirrels from the peach tree, so we may actually get peaches this year. I am hoping they will do the same for the blueberry bushes with the birds.

As to the beets, I had some vegetables actually mature during the winter because it was so mild. We had a few hard freezes but they did not last long and I did not pull out all the root vegetables last fall, because some did not do well in the warmer autumn. After my daughter, pestered me about pulling some of the beets, my husband cooked them up for dinner. She was not as enthusiastic about the taste, but they were actually quite good.

You may remember that my husband was in the UK last week. He came home Friday and was given Monday and Tuesday off this week. We went to a sunrise Resurrection Day service with two other small churches, one Lutheran and the other Seventh Day Baptist, and also had breakfast at the Lutheran church. Later we went on to our own church to have our service and a dedication of the three crosses that are now permanently erected in front of our church in hopes that people passing will now recognize the house as a church.

We did not color eggs, hunt eggs, or do anything "Easter," except have some candy. (Chocolate is a necessity that does not require a holiday to be enjoyed though.) The Princess did not even ask if we would do those things this year. The boy next door thought it was awful, but she is growing up, becoming more aware of spiritual matters, and I think she is ready to completely shun the pagan-based traditions. Next year I am hoping we will try to have the Passover Seder.

Tomorrow we have the horse barn and a 4-H meeting in the evening. My husband was going with us, but he decided that he needs to burn all oak leaves and acorns we cleared from the gardens. He also needs to get more mulch...lots more mulch.

~ My Lord, as tired as I am, I am so very thankful that we did so much today. There was a time I thought I would not be able to do such laborious work as gardening with my back and yet I have had no back pain at all these last few days. Thank you so much, my Lord ~

Generosity of Friends

We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.
~Mother Teresa

My husband is returning home today after being gone twelve days straight, including the last two weekends...yes, that means we were not together to celebrate Resurrection Day. It was quite a downer for all of us. He was stuck at a hotel all day, while I tried to do the usual things with the Princess. We went to our sunrise service and then afterward I was just planning on going home and...well, I was not sure what we were going to do from there.

Bare with me as I do a flash backwards...that is, more backwards than Resurrection Day. The weekend before, our church did an egg hunt on Saturday. We planned to be there and I had plenty of time to prepare lunch...until someone pulled up into the driveway: the mother of one of the Princess' new friends in our neighborhood. This friend wanted to play with the Princess, of course, and I asked if she could join us for the church egg hunt. Unfortunately, the mother and I talked a bit too long, as I am well too known to do, and then I hurriedly had to make a lunch for the two girls. Now if you really knew my daughter, you would know that eating fast is not her thing with the exception of mac-n-cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hotdogs, which can disappear in lightning speed by comparison (although it is probably just normal speed in reality). So, we left the half-eaten sandwiches took a cut-up apple with us to eat on the way.

I silently groaned when we arrived because, instead of doing a craft as was done in the past, the church had cupcakes, cake, chips, and sodas for the children before the egg hunt. Then these sugar-charged children were expected to quiet down for a short Bible story about the resurrection...while on this carbohydrate high...I will just let you imagine how that went for yourself. Finally released, the children wildly scattered. Eggs awaited the little ones in the front and others in the back for older ones. The flurry ended in just five minutes. The captured eggs were feverishly opened to find the treasures of candy, but no chocolate or nuts, and little gifts. Then they did a tossing game with raw eggs which was rather messy.

My husband left a few days later in the week to work in Orlando. While he was there, his father went into the hospital. His blood pressure was doing some odd things since his pacemaker was changed out. Being that my husband was only a little over an hour away, he spent an extra day in Florida to visit his parents but is traveling home today and expected to arrive tonight about the time of our 4-H meeting, so we might not see him until later.

If you had not noticed I flashed forward to today, so now, if I have not lost you yet, I am going to flash back to the day before Resurrection Day. That day, the Princess and I colored eggs. This was particularly difficult for us as this was one of the things of which my husband usually takes charge, but we had a very good time and made some beautiful eggs. My daughter has become quite adept at doing creative things and I enjoyed it more than I expected.

While at services on Resurrection Sunday, the pastor's wife, taking pity on us and I probably looked pitiful, asked if we would join them and their family for dinner after church. With both the Princess and I feeling pretty lonely and, after having a tough week with her because of it, I was very thankful for the invitation to be with other adults, but there could have been a bit of a snag. My next door neighbor, since her grandchild was walking, has always invited the Princess to an egg hunt at her place, but I had not heard from her. I felt it was breaking with etiquette to call her asking if the Princess was invited to her egg hunt this year, and if it had not been a tradition for the last five years I would not have been so bold. However, as gracious as she is generous, my neighbor assured me that she had meant to call me earlier, but got busy with making dinner and, of course, the Princess was invited to the egg hunt, which would be after dinner in the early afternoon.

Perfect! I turned to the Princess and said, "You are truly blessed!" The Lord had worked it all out so that we could go to the Pastor's dinner and our neighbor's egg hunt. And both we did!

Our neighbor does not put candy in her eggs; she puts money in them. The Princess came away with just under $20, which we split up as we usually do money gifts and allowance: twenty percent goes towards tithing and the remaining eighty percent is split into savings and spending money.

~ Thank you, my Lord, for the generosity of our friends and for providing all that we need. ~

Resurrection Day

A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn? -Hugh Mackay

This quote has meant a great deal to me since I now have a friend, Ganeida, living in Australia. Although I knew the southern hemisphere has opposing seasons to the northern hemisphere, I do not believe that I really thought about how Christmas is a summer holiday and Easter a fall one for them.

In many ways, I think Easter has become too lighthearted of a celebration. Why did Christians ever begin to call it "Easter" rather than Resurrection Day? Perhaps that is why the movie The Passion of the Christ was so moving; It made all that is Easter quite real rather than just a day of festivities. I think sometimes we try to shelter children too much against what my Lord suffered. Perhaps they would view Easter quite differently if we called it Resurrection Day and they did not have a bunny and eggs and candy. The early Christians did not have these traditions associated with the Lord's death and resurrection. Perhaps it should be a more reflective, even melancholy day.

In truth, I am more guilty than most. My daughter was in two egg hunts. One at our church that I described in my previous post and another yesterday. Our next door neighbor has been inviting the Princess over for an elaborate Easter egg hunt with her grandson, four years younger than my daughter, after church services for the last several years. One of the family dresses in the bunny suit and the eggs are not filled with candy, they are filled with money. She is such a generous person and it is very sweet of her. I gave her a plate of my Easter cookies this year, but it is nothing in comparison to what she gives my daughter. This year she received over $10 and two movie tickets with no restrictions!

I will continue to teach my daughter about the true and serious meaning of Resurrection Day, but I also have a philosophy about people, which I believe follows in the spirit of what Paul wrote, so I allow people to be generous with what they have from wherever they are on their own spiritual journey and be graciously accepting. I hope that my daughter learns to be more gracious than I.

On the serious side, the Princess played "Give Me Oil in My Lamp" on the electric keyboard during the offertory. She played it flawlessly and with a peppy beat. It seemed appropriate since my Lord promised to return after His resurrection, we should be ever prepared in our hearts for the moment, keeping oil in our lamps.

My Lord, there are no words that suffice for the sacrifice You made. Please let the children see You as much greater than the bunnies, eggs, and candy so common in our traditions. Let Easter in my home be remembered as Your Resurrection Day and that we are well prepared for Your return.

Saturated Through to Saturday

To show a child what once delighted you, to find the child's delight added to your own - this is happiness. ~Joseph Priestley

I don't know where to begin! Two weeks ago my husband was working in Orlando, Florida and things were rather complicated, so he offered to stay over last weekend to visit his parents saving the company some money instead of flying him back and forth. During the time he was there, his father ended up being admitted into the hospital, thankfully it was mostly as a precaution and he was there only a few days.

My husband then flew to Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday and was planning on coming home early Friday, but plans were changed again and he instead drove to Columbus, Ohio on Friday and was planning to fly home that evening. Still another change, he would not be back until Saturday morning, and this caused a bit of a quandary about picking him up at the airport.

Now most weeks, this would not be a problem, but this weekend was Easter.

The week before I had purchased about eighty plastic eggs and filled them with candy. On Tuesday evening, we dropped off about fifty of them at the 4-H Horse and Pony Club meeting place so they would be used for the Spring Fling: 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. was spoken for in our Saturday schedule.

Also, on our schedule for Saturday, was an hour event for children at our church with a story, craft, and egg hunt from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. a bit of a conflict in time there, but we planned to leave the Spring Fling early. I dropped off about thirty eggs at the pastor's home on the preceding Thursday morning at the beginning of our usual errands for that day.

In the meantime, I tried to shop to get some of those special things that magically show up on Easter morning even though the Princess was with me the entire time. Usually, my husband and I play tag team between the responsibilities of taking the child and the holiday shopping, but he had, inconveniently, not been home for two weeks.

I really don't know what I was thinking, perhaps I just look for ways to complicate my life...? I decided to add making cookies when I saw a sweet cookie cutter set with a lamb, bunny, chick, flower, and butterfly earlier in the week while out shopping for the candy to put in the eggs. I decided to make these cookies on Friday, but I also decided that we needed to do a bit of shopping that day. When we came home and had put everything away, I was finally ready to make the cookies that we would bring for the adults at the church and for our neighbor on Easter. It was then that I finally looked at the place where I had left out two sticks of butter to soften to realize they were not there. No wonder, Hanah, our German Shepherd dog (GSD) looked so guilty when we walked in the door. Normally, I would have put the butter in a safer place before we left, but I had completely forgotten about it. Odd thing, I did not find any of the wrapping or even a greasy spot anywhere. At least, she cleaned up everything well.

So, then I needed to wait a bit for the next two sticks of butter to soften. We were doing tender butter cookies as a cut out, which requires the dough to be rolled out between wax paper sheets and then placed in a freezer for about 15 minutes, before the cut out process. This way they hold their shape making them look quite uniformed and they are easier to move to a cookie sheet without tearing and then there is the icing, a high gloss that takes a few hours to completely set. We started before my daughter went to bed, so she could do all the cut out part, which requires to knead the remaining together, rolling out again, and then refreezing. She was in bed while they were baking. After they cooled, I did the icing which used about twice the milk and corn syrup suggested, but they looked very professional and tasted great. The recipes I used are here: Pope's Valentine Cookies and Sugar Cookie Icing. (It takes about 1½ of the icing recipe to do a batch of the cookies and they all fit on two large baking sheets as these cookies do not puff much.)

The unfortunate part is the length of time it took me to make these particularly tasty morsels. Besides cleaning up from the baking, I had two other things I really wanted to clean up before I went to bed for the night, so in FlyLady style, I set a timer for fifteen minutes and went for it. It was then just after 1:00 a.m., but I was not able to just sleep right away, so I read a bit. Right now I am in the middle of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, a book I had read when I was a young teenager that I have been wanting to read again for years, particularly after my aunt gave me my grandfather's set of first editions--the same set I read those many years ago.

Of course, it was obvious on Saturday morning that I had not gotten enough sleep. With bags under my eyes, I woke a bit later than I hoped and we hurried out the door after 8:00 a.m. We—mostly me, that is, because the Princess was off doing what I would have been doing if I were her—helped set up for the Spring Fling. The Princess was hanging out, as much as she could, with the horses. Later she did help with the egg hunt inside the store where we were located.

I wish—I so do wish, considering what I had chosen to wear—I could write about how lovely the day was with a warm sun and a gentle cool breeze. It was supposed to be nice just like that, but the weather predictions had changed, I was just too busy to think to check. It was windy and cold and cloudy. Fortunately, the cold does miraculous things with making bags under the eyes disappear. Unfortunately, for a woman with a light sweater over a short sleeve shirt, there was no sunshine showing through at all. Still shivering two hours later, I called my husband to see if he was on the ground yet, in hopes that he would be my knight in shining armor by stopping at home to pick up warm jackets for the Princess and me. Since we had plans when his plane was due to arrive, he arranged to rent a car for the weekend, as he rents cars for work so often that there are weekend discounts and other perks. Not only had his flight arrived, but he was at the office; sadly, I would endure yet another hour.

The turn-out was not what we had hoped at the Spring Fling, but that gave me more opportunity to talk with one woman, Melanie, who was doing face painting, even though she had the busiest booth later on. The Princess was her first customer getting a unicorn on the cheek and then later on we went for scrolls on the other side. Melanie shared how she recently started and the cost involved. She is also a homeschooling mother and was hoping to do face painting as a means to get debt free (another Dave Ramsey fan) and pay for homeschool curriculum. We had many other things in common as well.

My husband finally arrived...with our jackets! My hero! We had not seen him for two weeks and almost all that time we had been keeping a secret. The Princess had lost her top front tooth and he noticed right away. Now, with Daddy in tow, the Princess had some fun jumping in the inflatable and riding Red. I had asked her to wait until he got there so he could see her doing those things.

I enjoy encouraging an artist to be creative, so I decided to have Melanie paint my face as well, before we left when she was not busy. I told her to pick a design that she had been wanting to try, after all it washes off with soap and water. She was tickled saying she would do it for free, but all the money she took in went to the club so I paid. I am thinking that I could do face painting for the upcoming rummage sale at the church with proceeds going to the building fund. The church also does a booth in the fall at a park and other church activities. I have been very excited about the idea ever since! I am sure that the Princess would not mind me practicing on her.

We left the Spring Fling at 1:30 p.m. to get to the church for the activities there. The Princess rode with Daddy—and what a ride! He rented a convertible, so he turned the heat on full and had the top down. She was thrilled! As I said, there are cool perks when you rent cars often. It cost us less for the two days than it would cost others to rent a less flashy car for one day.

At the church, fourteen children, not counting the teens who were helping out, made a craft and hunted eggs. While the children were crafting a bunny on a popsicle stick, I passed around cookies to the parents. The Princess collected many eggs, all with candy, of course.

Afterward, my husband decided to try to fit in a haircut taking the Princess with him. That gave me some time to finally shop alone without the child, if you know what I mean, being that Easter was the next day. Then I spent some time watching the season finale of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" online that had been preempted due to the tornado warnings in the area the night before. When my husband arrived home, he began his laundry as work would be sending him to New York on Monday.

We all were so tired that we decided to go out for dinner, so we all had sushi with the Princess and I still adorned with painted faces. Then it was bath and bed. All in all a very good day filled with horses, art, and whimsy—such are some of my child's delights and they are still mine as well.

Thank you, my Lord, for giving me the chances You provide to share my delights with my child, who finds them them delightful as well.

Giving Just to Give

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else. -Peyton Conway March

Giving tangible things to others is something that is not so easy for me to do. I could blame much of my childhood, but there comes a time when one must take responsibility for oneself and I am long past that time. Oddly, my daughter is a giver of anything and everything! Perhaps the Lord planned that I should learn from her.

For every monthly meeting, the 4H Horse and Pony Club has some charity project and all of them are good ones, so yesterday in the afternoon I went to a dollar store purchasing items to make Easter baskets for a local children's home. I was thinking the 4H meeting that night would be short with all the work involved to fill the baskets. I was wrong. The meeting was longer than usual. First, there were the typical club meeting formalities, then the candidates made their campaign pleas for next month's election. Once those were done, it was time for presentations.

These presentations are commonly done at every meeting by different children and expected of the older members. Most are short. Then there are those exceptions.... One teenager read a personal narrative, written for an English class assignment, about her injured horse's health deteriorating for a week before the decision to have her put down. It was a heart wrenching story, not at all boring, and she read it loud enough to hear her clearly. She told of her dilemma of what to do with the body of her dear friend, because the boarding facility did not do burials on the property. She found a nearby crematory for animals and decided to keep the ashes with her in a box, altogether fifty pounds. As the guest speaker, the funeral director spoke more about their cremation services for animals.

The subject at the meeting really touched me. About a month ago, I had been in Ohio staying with my aunt for my mother's funeral and her 35 year old horse went down the day before we planned to leave. This was not just any horse to me. I learned what little I know about horses the two years I lived with my aunt's family and he was special to me. I believe I was the first one to lay over his back as he was gently broke in. So, it was both a relief knowing he was no longer suffering and saddening that he passed on naturally during the night before we left that day. The frozen ground made the idea of burying him nearly unthinkable, but a neighboring farmer had the right equipment and the horse was buried the next day, thankfully. (They have such a wonderful neighbor; he plowed their long driveway nearly every day as the snow drifted over it while we were there.)

Back to the 4H Meeting, the club is a large group with over fifty members. Although not all of them where there, nearly one hundred baskets sat in preparation for accepting treats and toys and gifts. The meeting was longer than normal, but it did come to its end. Then the frenzy began! It was not organized in the most efficient way, but the baskets were filled and then wrapped in cellophane bags. My Princess went through the line four times with all the enthusiasm of a child waiting in line at an amusement park. It was encouraging to see how joyfully willing all the 4H children were to work and help.

Giving just to give. It did bring joy to my heart for the few dollars I spent to give to children I will not even know.

Thank you, my Lord, for giving to us so that we may give to others and for the desire to do so.