Curtis' time at medical school has been great in so many ways, and one of those ways has been the increased number of opportunities to have people over.

Already we've shared a lot of enjoyable times with his fellow students (which reminds me that another one is coming over tonight, and it's just about time to make the enchiladas). We all love hearing their interesting stories about med school experiences, and learning about fascinatingly different cultures. Some of the best times have been when we all cook together -- these students are great cooks!

Makes for a crowded kitchen, but lots of fun...

One of these guys is from Malta, and it was so fascinating to hear about the culture from someone who actually grew up where Paul was shipwrecked. 

Stirring the curry...

Here we are, all gathered around the table (Mums was away on a ministry trip). Dinner was amazing -- we had spicy Indian curry over rice, Indian-spiced roasted vegetables, Naan, salad with tasty dressing, and homemade pie & ice cream for dessert. Yum!

Maine Trip

Last week we went to Maine for a few days to work on our property. It is very isolated, and sooooo peaceful, with the birds, squirrels, and porcupines to keep us company. It was a grand time of working from dawn to dusk, clearing brush, felling trees, hauling logs, and making a road. As you can see, the way into our property could use a road maintenance crew:

There is an ancient wagon road, but also a lot of grass and logs -- hence the clearing job. Here is the view from our shoreline, when the tide is very low:

Our home away from home! Nights spent here are wonderfully comfortable, as long as it isn't raining... :)

Just one of the many log piles we collected

Ike chopping down a small tree

More brush hauling!

Evening approaching

Is anything not made better with coffee?

Ibs makes scrumptious guacamole. Somehow she managed to make it for our campfire-dinner, in the dark, without running water, normal utensils, normal spice collection, etc. And it was delicious.

Relaxing around the campfire

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork"

Chinese food

We set a lot of goals this year, and one of mine was to learn how to make good Chinese food. We're all adventurous eaters, and love trying new things, which has really come in handy on the mission field. I'll spare you the gory details of some of the things we've had to eat... :)

So the family was very positive about my cooking goal, and I've already made a bunch of interesting Chinese dishes. Happily, I found a great online resource for recipes, and all of the ones I've tried have been really good. One of our favourites so far is Kung Pao Chicken, which is what I made last night.

Here is the photo from the website. If you want the recipe, go to http://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-kung-pao-chicken/2/. 

(I followed her recipe pretty closely, except that I tripled it and added bell pepper.)

Enjoy!

Mother's Day

"Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.... Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."

Mums, you are that woman. We are privileged beyond measure to have you as our mother, and I love you more than words can say.

Happy Mother's Day!

The catching of a tiger beetle

Spring arrived a couple of weeks ago, and with it, the arrival of bug season. This morning somebody spotted a tiger beetle, so Ike grabbed the net and there was a wild chase...

Trying to get the wily beetle from the net into a bag

 Victory!

 The tiger beetle, ready to go into the freezer

 Just a tiny part of Ike's impressive collection

Pictures from this week

 Ike, late last night, studying for this morning's biology test (he got a 94.6)

This afternoon's walk in the woods. It looks like Papa found a muddy spot here...

 

 This dog tends to follow us on our woods-walks, maybe because he gets a lot of petting...

A sign of spring! The first fiddle-heads I've seen this year.

Curtis and I

Curtis and I last summer

A new bird

This fat bird showed up here this morning, and started off by showing his true colours -- a nasty penchant for kicking innocent munchers away from the bird feeder. He swooped in without notice and startled a small chickadee into doing a back-flip off the perch, then proceeded to sit calmly for about fifteen minutes, eating seed after seed. 

We looked him up, and it turns out he's a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Now he has taken to coming every day at lunchtime, and sitting for long periods of time just staring in the window. Other birds don't dare touch the food when he is around, except for the Hairy Woodpecker, which gave old Grosbeak a run for his money the other day.