This Vintage Chica

a woodsy kind of pick-me-up

I am flying solo again here.  And to be quite honest, I was a bit down.  I have done this a million and one times now, but it still seems to catch me off guard.  Not that I can't do bedtime and dinner by myself.  I can.  But every time he leaves, it just reminds me how much more fun things are with him around.  I tend to be the taskmaster, the "do-er".  And he balances me out, reminding me to have a little fun now and then.  Everything is more fun with him around.  Heck, cleaning the garage can feel like a birthday party with him leading the charge.

We missed him the minute he was not here for breakfast.  And the day got worse from there...boys arguing despite my turning on the TV,  whining at every my every suggestion, the day was misty and cold and all I wanted to do was curl up in the quiet.  Maybe sit a spellwith the new flickr group Amanda and Stef have started.  However, despite it all, we put on our rain jackets and went for a walk in the woods.

We were treated to the most amazing display of shelf fungus (bracket fungus) we've ever seen.  The orange and yellow specimen above is called sulfur shelf fungus or "chicken of the woods" and is edible if you are ever stranded in the woods.  Luckily we brought trail mix and apples.

 

 

There has been a lot of talk about paths lately.  Which has me thinking about the paths we have chosen for our family.  But even more about the paths we have chosen NOT to take.  Especially with regards to educating them.  More on that once I snap out of my funk.  Maybe we need to go take another walk.

Much love to you all.

these are a few of my favorite things

Just bit of photo inspiration for you this morning. I love this mosaic so much I put it on the desktop of my laptop.

Much to do this morning...as always. Dropping Wyatt of at pre-school - its firetruck day! Wooohooo! And then to Zane's class to help his teacher for a bit. Then off to a MOPS steering meeting at the church. Hope your Wednesday is full of beauty in amongst the busyness of the everyday.

 

*** Please click the mosaic image to view links to the individual photos for credits ***

giving autumn a little taste test

We do taste tests a lot around here.  It seems to be a good way for the boys to try different things that they otherwise would not try.  We have learned to not only pecans, but peanuts and almonds by placing them all in separate bowls and doing a taste test.  We have learned to eat rye bread and sourdough bread by taste testing several different kinds.  This week our taste test was with apples.  Not that we needed any help eating apples.  We're pretty proficient apple eaters around here, but it is just that time of year that has me missing the apples we picked in WI.

I did some research to find the closest place we could buy pick your own apples from this helpful site.  But we have a busy schedule for the next few weekends making a road trip impossible.  Luckily our local farm stand had Virginia and North Carolina apples available.  So we bought three of each kind of local apple they had.

We ended up with the following kinds of apples:

• Ozark Gold
• Stayman
• Gala
• Rome
• York

• Granny Smith

We were all surprised by what we learned.  I love a good yellow apple and so does Zane as yellow is still, and always will be, his favorite color.  And the Ozark Gold apples looked very pretty on the outside, but were pretty sour when we bit into them.  However, the Stayman apple was new to me and was recommended by the lady at the fruit stand.  But it was neither shiny or brightly colored and the boys (and I) didn't think much of it.  But the Stayman ended up being one of the best tasting of our test group.

The boys made graphs and noted their score for each of the apples.

The winners were the Granny Smith which scored a 4 out of 4, the Gala which scored a 4 out of 4 and the Stayman which scored a 3.5 out of 4!

I guess this goes to show you can't judge an apple by its cover.  So what is your favorite variety of apple?  Happy Tuesday all!

autumn busyness at the farm

 

For our forefathers back in the day, autumn was a very, very busy time I imagine.  The days would have been filled with harvesting the last of the crops for the farm animals, canning and preserving what was left in the garden and chopping wood for cooking and warmth through the winter.

 

We don't live on a farm now of course, we are city folk (unfortunately).  But you can still feel the busyness - the hustle and bustle of getting as much out of the last few warm sunny days before the cold rains begin here (snow in other parts of the country).  This week has been no exception here with three field trips to two different farms and an apple picking excursion.  And the fall festival at their school is tonight.

 

Oh and those of you with chickens...please know how hard it was for both Wyatt and I to leave these sweet birds.  I swear we'll have chickens someday.  (When is S scheduled for deployment again? As I deviously rub my hands together and laugh.)

I will be looking forward to a much more quiet weekend where I can get to some preparations of my own.  Happy weekend everyone!  Im off to bake a cake for the cake walk tonight.

crochet: skinny scarf

There hasn't been much sewing or crafting around these parts lately.  I am still in survival mode with all of the 1st grade homework each afternoon.  But call it carry over from living up North for two years, but crocheting in the Fall a habit now.  The mornings start to feel a bit more crisp and cool and the hooks come out from their summer hibernation.

My friend Kari called last Thursday afternoon and said that she wanted to learn to crochet.  It was perfect timing as I had just stocked up on some new colors of yarn to make some long skinny scarfs.  Here in Virginia it doesn't get THAT cold.  Not like it did in Wisconsin at least.  So we wear scarves here as more of a winter accessory.  Like if we wear scarves and pretend that it gets cold enough to snow that the cold nasty rain will magically change to fluffy white.  Which it rarely does.  But skinny scarves are fun nevertheless.

So that evening, while drinking a glass (or two or three) of wine each Kari learned how to chain and then make the turn to start single crocheting her way to a scarf or blanket, or whatever she decides to make of the green yarn she took home.  And I was able to make a new skinny scarf.

Now, you see that mess behind me?  Yes, look behind the pretty scarf?  That blur of unorganized-ness.  Yes.  That is the next crafty project on my list.

Wishing you all a great Monday!