Tradition!

Thanksgiving Day is usually spent at Andy's brother Dan's house in Pennsylvania.  It's tradition!  Now that our girls are married with families of their own, they aren't always able to join us.  However, this year Christy and Amy were able to celebrate with their in-laws on a different day, so we enjoyed their company with us.  We had 8 grandchildren to play with.  Andy (the kids' Poppop) and Dan ( the kids' great uncle) were good at getting the kids wound up and excited.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this day.  I forgot my camera and Christy's camera needed the battery recharged.

The next day, Friday, all our girls with their families came down to our house.  Christy and Amy arrived a little after 12:00 noon, but Dawn waited till Kira had taken her nap before she and Tommy came over.  Again, we had lots to eat.  I had a cheese spread for a plate of crackers, a variety of fruit and cookies.  Dawn brought a veggie tray and Christy brought ingredients to make green smoothies and mocha lattes.

When everyone got here, we all got back in our cars to head on over to Smithville Park for our holiday hike - it's tradition.  While there, we took family pictures - another tradition!  I'm so excited about the pictures, they turned out great.  Of course, when you have a good photographer, a good camera and good subjects, how can you go wrong!

What fun to be together.

When we got back to the house we had panzarottis for dinner - it's becoming a tradition!  Then it was game time and planning for Christmas, the next time we'll all be together.

Guess who's 1

It's hard to believe the baby is already 1 year old.  How time flies, they say!  Andy and I went up to see C & C and kids on Tuesday to celebrate baby Claire.

Trip to See Amy, Etc.

'Tis the season:  Ricky's away a lot hunting and Amy's at home all weekend alone.  Well, if you don't count the 3 kids and all the dogs, she's alone!  But in our conversation last week, she expressed a desire for me to come up and help her sort through the kids' clothes because they were still pulling shorts and tank tops out of their drawers and wearing them.  The weather is definitely not summer-like any more, but she was putting off that chore because organization is not something she enjoys.  And since I do, would I mind coming up and helping her.  Well, off I went but when I got there, I didn't do anything to help her.  I sat on the floor in the kids' rooms, playing with them and giving her an opportunity for adult conversation while she worked.  We had a great time and she was able to accomplish all she wanted by lunch time.

When that job was done, we went out for lunch, then drove to Reading to a children's consignment shop.  She bought all the kids' clothes for the winter, so they now have what they need to stay warm and look good!

Chase was really happy with this reversible camo vest.

And Joanna loved this cowgirl shirt.  She says she's going to be a cowgirl when she grows up!

 Being silly!

Andy was busy all day with Nativity set-up but he did get home before me.  The next day was Sunday and it was the week we had our older singles group over.  It was salad night.  Several others made salads and I made an orzo pasta salad, cottage cheese jello salad and pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  Yum - they were good!

It was a beautiful fall day today, kind of chilly, but the sun was shining.  Because the weather was so nice, we decided to go for a hike.  We went to Smithville Park and walked on the path through the woods.  It was so invigorating and restorative.  There's nothing like a walk out in nature to soothe the soul!

I didn't take these pictures but this is exactly what it looked like today as we walked through the woods.

 We saw 4 herons on the lake.  Below is a green heron, but we also saw some great blue herons.

The Worst Storm Ever

It's almost amusing how much hype a storm can get.  Granted, it was a huge one that caused major damage all up and down the east coast and many people are still without power 5 days later.  Some of the terms used by the media were "the perfect storm," "super storm," "storm of the century," and even "Frankenstorm."  It's very sad how some people are suffering with lost houses and conveniences.

I almost feel guilty that we escaped what a lot of others are going through.  The winds were certainly strong and trees were swaying, but none of them were uprooted on our property.  We only lost some branches.  From inside our house, the wind sounded like a blizzard.  (We were thankful we didn't have to shovel any snow!)  But the house was sound and snug, the windows didn't even rattle.  We never lost any power for which we were very thankful.

Tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes all are such visual displays of God's power and might.  And think about how Jesus was able to calm the storm with just a command.  Even the waves and winds obey Him. 

We're very grateful for God's grace and mercy toward us.

With the bad weather, I've had some extra time for reading.  I just finished H.M. Stanley's book, How I Found Livingstone.

 
What a great account of Stanley's adventure through east Africa looking for the doctor.  His descriptions of the countryside were picturesque, his depictions of the people were interesting and realistic, and I was especially fascinated by his description of the effects of malaria.  I just have to include that here:

"The first evil results experienced from the presence of malaria are confined bowels and an oppressive languor, excessive drowsiness, and a constant disposition to yawn.  The tongue assumes a yellowish, sickly hue colored almost to blackness; even the teeth become yellow and are coated with an offensive matter.  The eyes of the patient sparkle lustrously and become suffused with water.  These are sure symptoms of the incipient fever which shortly will rage through the system.

Sometimes this fever is preceded by a violent shaking fit during which period blankets may be heaped on the patient's form, with but little amelioration of the deadly chill he feels.   It is then succeeded by an unusually severe headache with excessive pains about the loins and spinal column, which presently will spread over the shoulder-blades, and running up the neck, find a final lodgement in the back and front of the head.  Usually, however, the fever is not preceded by a chill, but after languor and torpitude have seized him, with excessive heat and throbbing temples, the loin and spinal column ache and raging thirst soon possesses him.  The brain becomes crowded with strange fancies which sometimes assume most hideous shapes. Before the darkened vision of the suffering man float in a seething atmosphere, figures of created and uncreated reptiles which are metamorphosed every instant into stranger shapes and designs, growing every moment more confused, more complicated, more hideous and terrible.  Unable to bear longer the distracting scene, he makes an effort and opens his eyes and dissolves the delirious dream, only, however, to glide again unconsciously into another dream-land where another unreal inferno is dioramically revealed and new agonies suffered.  Oh!  the many many hours that I have groaned under the terrible incubi which the fits of real delirium evoke.  Oh!  the racking anguish of body that a traveller in Africa must undergo!  Oh! the spite, the fretfulness, the vexation which the horrible phantasmagoria of diabolisms induce!  The utmost patience fails to appease, the most industrious attendance fails to gratify, the deepest humility displeases.  During these terrible transitions, which induce fierce distraction, Job himself would become irritable, insanely furious and choleric.  A man in such a state regards himself as the focus of all miseries.  When recovered, he feels chastened, becomes urbane and ludicrously amiable, he conjures up fictitious delights from all things which, but yesterday, possessed for him such awful portentous aspects."

What a picture he paints.  It's amazing he made it and lived to tell the tale of his adventure.

Under the Weather

The sea air on Tuesday helped me to feel better that day but the rest of the week saw me getting progressively worse.  Thursday and Friday had me going into fits of coughing at times. Happily, I was able to get good sleep at night, thanks to Nyquill!

A bright spot in all this was a dinner date with Dawn and family on Thursday night.  I had bought a stromboli by Baker's Boli at a Farmer's Market I had gone to with Dawn about a month ago.  It was so delicious and Andy and I enjoyed it so much that I told Dawn if they came over for dinner, I would buy a couple of the strombolis to serve them.  How could they resist a free dinner!  I also served broccoli soup, a copy cat recipe of Panera Bread.

Tommy had fun playing with my iphone and we all had fun dressing Kira up.

She also likes to play with all Grammy's toys.

 

Don't they look like they're hatching up some trouble???

 

I had planned to spend the day with Amy and kids on Saturday but decided I just wasn't feeling up to it.  Ricky was away all weekend hunting, and Andy was busy all day Saturday with a Nativity workday.  But I was feeling so lethargic and having random coughing fits so I needed to stay close to my bed and avoid contaminating my loved ones.  I'm hoping I'm on my way toward feeling better soon.

I guess we're in for a gigantic storm.  The sky was red this morning...sailors' warning!

Look at all those wires that could possibly come down and all those trees that could fall on them.  Yikes.  I really don't want to lose power.  But I suppose I'll survive.  We are being warned that this is a humdinger of a storm.  My flesh and my heart may fail,but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  Psalm 73:26

It should be an adventure!

Sea Air Therapy

I was so tired and feeling worn down on Monday.  I kept wishing I could leave work early to go home and take a nap.  But I just kept doing the next thing, even getting my normal Tuesday cleaning done when I got home from work.  However, as I sat next to Andy on the couch after dinner, he remarked that I felt hot.  He insisted that I take my temperature so I did, and it registered at 99.9 degrees.  Not that bad, but enough for him to say I was sick.  Boo!  So I took some advil and went to bed early.

The weather forecast had called for a warm sunny day at the shore for Tuesday and because of that, we had planned to go.  I felt good enough, and besides which, sitting on the beach in the sun sounded therapeutic for what ailed me.

 

Dawn & Kira joined us.  Kira livened up the party, making up for my lack of liveliness.  

 
There wasn't a lot of room on my chair for 2 people, but I selfishly refused to move off it, even for one of my favorite people.

 

 

The sun was warm and the breeze was cool.  I was refreshed and revitalized.  The sun was out all morning, but by noon, clouds were rolling in.  That was the signal to leave.  That quickly, it became completely overcast and we even had a few sprinkles of rain on the way home.

If I had gone to the doctor, I'm sure the shore would have been just what he would have ordered for me.  There's nothing like a little sea air to revive the soul, not to mention the body.

The beach was deserted - it was just us.  But who would have expected 74 degree weather on October 23?

I was reading in Psalm 23 this morning about how the Good Shepherd leads us by still waters and restores our soul.  Well, my soul was restored by the ceaseless motion of the ocean.

Things don't always turn out the way you think they will.  After enjoying the apple festival several weeks ago, Dawn suggested we check out the Cranberry Festival on Saturday.  That sounded like a lot of fun.  I had visions of red cranberries floating on the surface of the bogs in south Jersey.

The weather was supposed to be a beautiful fall day so off we went.

Well, our idea of a cranberry festival and what it really was were two different realities.  We got there around 10:00 am and were amazed at how many cars were already there.  As we got walking toward the festival, we had sinking feelings that this was not what we were expecting.  There were many booths and food stations set up - it was more like a giant flea market.  And the people - there were thousands of them. 

Before going to the festival on Saturday, we had seen that there would be real wolves there.  That sounded interesting.  But again, the reality was a little less than our expectations.  There was a 10' x 10' wire cage with 3 wolves in it.  For $10 you could go in the cage and get your picture taken with the wolves.  They seemed pretty tame, but we were not tempted!

Needless to say, we didn't stay long.  But since it was such a nice day, we drove home the long way, enjoying the beautiful fall colors through the Pine Barrens and blueberry fields.

Earlier in the week, I had contacted Christy and Amy and invited them to join us for a field trip to the cranberry bogs.  I had taken them there when I was home schooling them many years ago!  Amy had told me from the beginning she wouldn't be coming down and Christy decided Friday night, her Saturday was too busy to try to fit in a trip to south Jersey.  After we saw what the Festival was like, I was so glad they decided not to come down. 

Well, you win some, you lose some. 

Last night we had our singles group over again.  I made a curry dinner.  I did not take any pictures this time, but it turned out really good and everyone was very kind and complementary.  (I even got asked to share the recipe, which is a good indication of their sincerity!)  We're very happy with the way our group is developing and are enjoying their company.  They obviously love being with us, too, because we actually had to ask them to leave last night (at 9:30pm).  I am shot today...feel like I've been run over by the proverbial Mack truck!  I could use a day off - maybe tomorrow!

Recipe for Chicken Curry
4 pound stewing chicken
6 cups hot water
2 chopped onions
1 bay leaf
salt

Simmer preceding ingredients in large pan until chicken is tender, approx. 3 hours.  Save broth.

Melt together 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup flour.  Stir in chopped onion and celery.  Add 2 cups milk, 2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 3 teaspoons powdered curry. Add chicken.

Pour over rice.  Top with hard boiled eggs, peanuts, olives, cheese, tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, coconut, chutney, raisins, pineapple - any combination of these items.

This is a good recipe to serve company because it makes a lot.  I can't say exactly how many it serves, though.  The recipe is very old and that minor detail is not included.

We had 16 for dinner last night.  I tripled the recipe and have a lot left over.