To the Future

Looking Forward

This promises to be an exciting week of sunshine, appointments, a concert, and a flight to a far away place.  I'm thankful for new beginnings.

I've been thinking about this song (the link tells the history) lyrics by Edward Hopper:

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

Jesus, Savior, pilot me

Over life’s tempestuous sea;

Unknown waves before me roll,

Hiding rock, and treach’rous shoal;

Chart and compass came from Thee;

Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

As a mother stills her child,

Thou canst hush the ocean wild;

Boist’rous waves obey Thy will

When Thou say’st to them, “Be still;”

Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea,

Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

When at last I near the shore,

And the fearful breakers roar

’Twixt me and the peaceful rest,

Then, while leaning on Thy breast,

May I hear Thee say to me,

“Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

Sad Day

Not too long ago, this home sold.  One of the first things the new owner did was cut down the tree.  They must not have seen it in fall. 

Covered Wagons and Log Cabins

On Saturday, at our church primary activity, we'll be celebrating Pioneer Day.  We're making covered wagons and log cabins.  And we're making butter.  I'm in charge of helping with the food activities, so I thought I should try it out to make sure everything works.

The materials needed for the covered wagons are in this "Friend" magazine under "For Little Friends" and "Marshmallow covered wagon."  I cut the caramel in half because it seemed a better size.  Also, you can buy giant marshmallows, but they are twice as expensive and may be too big for the cracker.  If we were going to make a smaller quantity I would have tried it.  Maybe.  The effect might be cooler.  I just used my standard milk and powdered sugar glue mixture to hold things together.

The log cabins that I found on line require milk cartons as a base.  I'm sure that would be a lot easier and look better than what I did.  The roof and waffle pretzels were an afterthought.  Hopefully the children will come up with better ideas.  I will probably also make chocolate glue for a different effect.

My son wanted rootbeer barrels.  After we bought them, I realized they might be cute on the covered wagons.  It's on the side in this picture, but I moved it to the back of the wagon.  It looks kinda cute there.

Zucchini Problem

My zucchini plants are not producing zucchini.  Unfulfilled expectations are discouraging.  I know it's not a fertilization problem. I have evidence of bee visits. 

The flowers are pretty anyway.  I saw a recipe for stuffed flowers.  Maybe I'll try it.

Exercise Helps

Sometimes, invigorating my body awakens my spirit.  Biking up and down hills and finding beautiful things in beautiful places can do that for me.  I saw four young turkeys as I was flying down the road to the lake park.  They took off into the trees before I had a chance to take a picture.  They were fascinating.

The lake park is under construction right now.  It feels like my life is under construction too.  While waiting for positive potential changes, it can be messy and difficult to be patient. 

I am amazed at how well they are anchoring things.  No chance even a very large person or a hurricane will tip this bench over.

I could have ridden past, but I decided to stop at the area where they launch boats.  It was peaceful there in that boat-free moment.

The ducks were fun to watch, the flowers were gorgeous, the bees made me think about being busy.

Then I saw two of these gliding in and out of the water.  What are they?  They look like long, skinny rats and swim like tiny otters.  Ferrets?  Watching them was amazing.

Noticing Things

We saw this brave little bunny on our walk this morning.  It let me get about 10 feet away from it before it scampered off into the bushes.

These cornflowers (aka hurtsickle) in someone's lawn look kinda cute.  They're usually tall and right by the sides of roads.

And here are a few more potential found letters. 

I'm not sure I'm going to use them all and some need cropping.

I like this little tractor.  Roger noticed if you turn it sideways it would make a nice lowercase letter B.  Hmm. I don't know if I should do that. 

Tractors are around because they are fixing up Oneida Shores Lake Park.  They're making a big new playground and new parking lots.  It's going to be very nice.

Found Alphabet

Another exhibit we saw at the Everson Museum was the A.B. Seek exhibit.  I really like this idea.  You take pictures of objects that make letters of the alphabet and display them in an accordian book.  I've decided it will be a fun project to do with my kids even though they may be a bit old for this.  I have a couple of rules I want to follow.  1) The object has to be outside.  2) It has to be a found or discovered letter rather than a created or intentional one.  I was going to say it has to be something natural, but I've changed my mind.  Manmade things will be included.

Here are a few letters pictures I took to give you an idea:

Museum Pieces

I feel like I resemble these sculptures outside the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse.  Funny how inspiring sculptures can be.

Fortunately, Vivian and I had fun seeing the Maxfield Parrish exhibit inside the museum.  I like Parrish's artwork very much.  This is one of my favorites.

Enjoying the Walk

Roger noticed one of the bunnies; I noticed the other.  Certainly, the "children" were at play before we arrived.  Then they held very very still.

I like this heron weather vane down the road.  It's on top of a home right by the lake.  There are many herons around here.  They fly so gracefully.

"The sun is coming up over the mountains fast," he said.

"We don't have mountains here," I said.  "Those are clouds."

"The mountains of clouds are moving fast," he said.

C Food

"The C food is ready," I announced at dinnertime. 

Some of my children don't prefer seafood.  Nobody came running. 

Figuring out what to make for dinner is often the hardest part. I knew I wanted corn, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. I realized I had a "C" theme going.  Despite the rolling eyeballs of my twenty-year-old, I kept at it.  I decided we'd also have crackers, carrots, celery, and chicken.  I put one drop of blue food coloring (no salt) in the water to make "sea water."  I happened to have cute little sea-themed napkins for everybody.  And of course, there was chocolate for dessert.  I'm easily entertained. 

Hot!

It's hot here in New York.   My kids are outside having a water fight.  I'm inside feeling thankful for air conditioning.  I hope you are staying cool and comfortable wherever you are.

Wild Blackberries

My husband and I were walking up this road in the park by the lake this morning.

"Does it annoy you that I stop and take pictures sometimes?" I asked him.

"A little," he said.

But he doesn't complain.  He supports me.  I like that about him.

I like paying attention when I walk.  Today, it paid off.  I saw these. 

I've lived in this area for five years and never noticed these until today.  They are up and down the side of the road.  I picked a handful.  We ate them on our way home.

After breakfast, my son and I rode our bikes back to pick more.

"This is fun," he kept saying.

And it was.  Despite biting mosquitoes, prickly bushes, the growing heat of the day, and worries about poison ivy, we picked and picked until we filled our sandwich bags.  Then we walked our bikes up the hill to the gate and flew down the hill to home.

At home, we washed, dried, and shared the berries.  We prepared some to freeze. 

They are tiny and have big seeds, but they are delicious.

While we were riding home I asked my son, "Will you remember picking blackberries when you grow up?"

"No," he said.

"Will you remember riding bikes with me?"

"Yes," he said.

I hope he'll remember both.

Zakim Bridge

I like this bridge.  It's in Boston.  I took the picture while we were driving under it.  I wonder if you can see the bug splats on the windshield.

Me in ME

Ever since high school, I've wanted to go to Maine.  Today, I did. 

Heather

I let our heather grow wild and untrimmed.  Today, when I was outside playing with my kids, I noticed it is nearly in full bloom.  I didn't notice the beetles until I got closer.

Ever since we lived in England, I've loved heather.  A heath full of them is breathtaking.  When we drove down through some of the hills of Scotland, entire valleys were full of variations of the purple and pink blossoms. This is a twenty-year-old, blurry picture of our oldest daughter sitting next to some heather above the Dunwich Cliffs near where we lived in Suffolk, England.  I need to scan in a better version of it.  It was taken in pre-digital-camera days and even the original is blurry. 

My Grandmother Laura's parents were both born in Scotland.  She came to visit us when we lived in England and drove with us on a trip up there.  It was an awesome experience to be there with her, to see where her parents lived in Hopeman, and to meet some of her cousins who were still alive. 

At Grandma's funeral, there were many little heather plants just like the heather in my yard.  It makes me happy because it reminds me of her and our time in England.