On Wallin Pond

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30

Happy Mother's Day to my dear Mother

and Mother-in-law

and to each of my delightful daughters.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Hmmm, something doesn't sound right about that rhyme. But that's the way it's been this spring.

Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans. ~Marcelene Cox

That quote expresses how I feel when it rains. I admit I don't like gray, gloomy days, but I still always have an ahhh feeling that comes over me when it rains. I am relieved that the gardens and grass are being watered. It must be the farmer in me.

Or how about this quote?
God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

I was intending to get a lot of gardening done on Saturday. I really need to get out there and dig around, pulling weeds, and mulching, but it rained. So I cleaned bathrooms, did laundry and even did my ironing! So thanks to the rain, I have a clean house and clean clothes.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow - our day off. I wonder if I can talk Andy into going shopping. Don't you think he'd enjoy that! We want to get a glider for our front porch, and what better day to go than when you can't work outside.

Speaking of the front porch...we bought and planted some bushes in between rain showers. We got 2 Pieris Japonicus plants. There are a couple of those at the church and I love their colors. They keep their leaves all winter, develop lots of white flowers in the early spring and their new growth comes in red. Another name for them is the Lily of the Valley Bush. We also put in some variegated green and yellow leaved euonymus plants. And we finally were able to plant the Beauty Berry bushes Christian had got for us in the fall. They made it through the winter and I'm excited to have them leaf out and bloom. They have bright purple berries in the fall that look like Skittles on a stick.

Without bushes

and with the bushes

Speaking of lily of the valley. Mine are blooming and look so cute and shy peeking up out of their leaves. I got these lilies from my grandma many years ago, moving them with me from Pennsauken to our current house. I must have dug them up from her garden at least 20 some years ago. I love them because of their fragrance and delicate beauty and they remind me of my Grandma.

My dogwood trees are in full bloom,
as well as the American redbud trees.

Our young lady missionary friend is still with us in our upstairs apartment, and last night another guest arrived. The son of our good friends who are missionaries in Brazil needed a room for the summer because he got a job close by. He is on summer break from college so he will be staying in our attic room. Andy's mom and dad spent some time this winter finishing it off and making it cozy.

He ate dinner with us tonight and was very appreciative of a home cooked meal. He said he was pretty tired of college cafeteria food. So it will be fun to have him here for 3 months.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Mini vacation

I always have mixed feelings about going away, even for a much needed break. First of all, there's the stress of getting ready to go: making sure everything is covered for the time we're gone. Then there's the stress of getting caught up when we get back. But time away from the routine is very necessary for body, soul and spirit.

It feels like we've been non-stop busy since September with Andy doing extra work for Nativity, then Christmas, then the Easter drama. So when Amy invited us to join her and her family for a couple of days in Ricketts Glen, we thought it would be a good idea. And it was!

We left after church on Sunday and drove the 160 miles to north central Pa. Ricky and Amy were already there. We ate a salmon and rice dinner that I had made up ahead of time, along with blueberry oatmeal bread and some cookies.

On Monday, Ricky got up very early (like 3:30 am) to go turkey hunting. He came back around 8:00 to get Amy, then the two of them went out while Andy and I stayed back at the cabin to watch the kids. Andy and I had taken our bikes along, so he hooked up Amy's bike trailer to his bike and took Chase for a ride, while I put Amy's Ergo on and hiked behind Andy with Joanna on my back. (good exercise)

When they got back we had our lunch, then put the kids down for naps. After they woke up, we all went on a hike together down by some falls.

Amy and her little papoose!

How old was this tree?

What a nice family!

On Tuesday morning, Andy got up with Ricky (early again - 3:30 am) to go turkey hunting. This time they had luck and Ricky was able to get one which we had for lunch. The mighty hunters returned with lunch for the family.

On Monday evening we all loaded up and drove down to a track that had go-carts. Joanna had fallen asleep on the ride there, so I stayed with her while Amy, Ricky, Chase and Andy got into the cars and rode around the track a number of times. They had a lot of fun.

The weather was so nice while we were there - both days - just like summer. We rode our bikes to the lake and enjoyed the serenity of the water and peacefulness of the day.

Throwing rocks into the water

It was so much fun to be with the kids for the 2 1/2 straight days. Joanna is such a doll. When we ate our meals, she liked to crawl around under the table, probably picking up our crumbs like a little puppy. Every once in a while, she'd look up at us with her cute little face!

It's good to be back, but the time away was a nice break.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

On Tuesday, Christy had an appointment with Patrick and asked if I could babysit the other kids. Well, Christy, twist my arm!!! The appointment was at 1:00, so I used the morning to make a cheesecake. We had another staff birthday this week and her favorite cake is cheesecake. It turned out very tasty, especially with the strawberry sauce I made. We didn't eat it all up at the party and were able to bring some home to enjoy again!

Anyway, when I got to Christy's, the kids and I had lunch. I can't really say I made it for them since Grace is pretty self-sufficient - the beginnings of a little homemaker. She scrambled eggs for everyone while I made toast.

It was such a nice day that I didn't read very many books, which is usually our favorite thing to do. When Asher woke up from his nap, we all went outside and played on the trampoline.

We also played for a while in their "fort" which is actually an empty shed (a nice shed). Christy put their play kitchen and fake food in there for them and they had fun making me"tea" and "treats."

Aren't they beautiful children! Notice the aprons on the girls! Too cute!

While I was gone, Andy worked on the front porch and when the inspector came on Wednesday, we passed! Yeah! All done. Next week we're hoping to get some bushes and mulch and finish it off.

I scrubbed the screens for our kitchen window and put them in. It's getting warmer and we'll probably soon want to open the windows for some nice spring air. After we put them in, though, a goldfinch came to our bird feeder. I took a picture but it's not as good as the pictures I took this winter without the screens. I was so happy to see the goldfinch I had to take the picture, screen and all.

I have a very busy weekend coming up. More on that later.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Tuesday is normally Andy's day off but he had some outside work he wanted to do and because it was going to rain on Tuesday, he decided to work then and take off near the end of the week. Thursday and Friday ended up being beautiful spring days and he was able to accomplish a lot.

Several weeks ago, he had called the township building inspector to come inspect the front porch, and believe it or not, he failed us because the steps were more than 3/8 inch different in their heights. Well, that was not Andy's fault because he didn't do the concrete work. But he had to fix it if he wanted to pass a final inspection. So he worked at making the one step higher so that they were equal in height. After all, we wouldn't want any of our friends (or the UPS man) to come over and trip and fall on our uneven steps.

He also did the parging work on the concrete walls under the siding on the front of the house and around the porch. Doesn't it look nice?

I hope we pass the building inspection, then we can finally finish the landscaping and walkway.

On Saturday morning, Andy organized a bike ride with about 6 other people, going about 30 miles on south Jersey back country roads. I did laundry and some grocery shopping. Then around 11:00 we left for another birthday party. Aiden turned 6 years old on Friday. It was fun being with the kids again.

Asher is getting around pretty good.