This is what I saw when I walked into my bedroom this morning...
Is that not totally beautiful?! I think I have a pretty nice view. :)
I love Fall!
View Outside My Window
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
[yours truly at 3]
I was a little girl,
Alone in my little world,
Who dreamed of a little home for me
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my house guests bark and leaves,
And laughed in my pretty bed of green.
I had a dream...
(Priscilla Ahn)
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Happy October 4th! I hope you are feeling good, warm, happy, cheerful, fabulous, chipper, and awesome...
I'm feeling blue. There is a sad piece of news on my mind today, which makes it a little more difficult to feel the above emotions, which means that I'd better set to work thinking about something else. Like what I'm grateful for. And what I'm excited about. And what I like about life (wow, this list is going to be long).
So here goes...
...It's apple season in Vermont, which means that approximately every other tree across the state is loaded down with a kazillion tart little numbers. Most of them are wild and free for the taking. This puts me in mind of sauce, cider, juice, pie, dumplings, salad, canning, baking, and generally living in the kitchen.
...An old friend from the Magdalen Islands called and left a message on Papa's phone. He wanted to know when we were coming home, and would we get to go ice skating together this winter? It made me miss him, miss the Islands, miss ice skating, miss hearing archaic French, and pretty much want to hit the road this afternoon.
...Playing Bach's Arioso on the cello is WAY more fun than I'd ever imagined!
...The temps here have finally reached freezing, so we picked all of the remaining tomatoes and are going to make them into a huge luscious salsa. I love fresh salsa. #countrylife
...Yesterday morning someone looked out the window and noticed that there was a mother deer in our backyard, and a baby deer nursing. Totally, totally cute. (to whom it may concern, regarding the venison: also yum. But I'm focusing on the cute today. Please bear with me. :)
...A local couple is moving and they gave us a brand new salad spinner. It completely made my day! I've been wanting one of those handy contraptions for eons! Salad ahoy!
...Farmer Ryan gave us a bunch of extra scallions. I've eaten more scallions this week than in the last five years combined. They have been tasty, tasty, TASTY! I've been putting them on everything, and then some.
...Curtis arrives home in 2 days, 19 hours, and a negligible number of minutes. I'm going to hug him for a week.
...A dear friend just got engaged!!!!!!!!!! And another dear friend out in California is getting married today!!!!!!!!! Now that is exciting news!!!!
Okay, I'm going to stop this list now, because otherwise I'll keep going for an hour. I feel way better! Way, way better! Now it's time to go make dinner. We'll have burritos, and since it's Sunday, everyone will pitch in and help. I'm going to saute andouille sausage and Ibs will make her famous guacamole... and maybe, just maybe, the guys will make stuffed peppers. Please, please, please, don't get me going about their stuffed peppers. Those little items are like a million bucks in a bite - too tasty for words. Think savory, spicy, melty, cheesy, rice-y, sausage-y, peppery, I'd better stop. Oooooh yeah I'd better stop. I hope the guys make them for dinner.
Happy start-of-a-new-week, folks!
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
[searching for shells in Florida]
If
you are young and single, you have probably thought about the person you might
marry someday.
Some
singles make lists of what they're looking for. Others don't. Some think about
their future spouse often, and pray for him or her. Others hardly think of them
at all, and only awaken to the idea of a "future spouse" when someone
amazing walks into their life.
But there is one constant: everyone
has an idea, however undefined, of qualities or a list of qualities they will
value in a future spouse.
“I want him to be the spiritual
leader.” “I want her to like kids.” “I hope he has a sense of humor.”
Regardless
of whether or not you’ve made a “list,” or if you will ever actually get
married, there are some items that will be important to you if/when that person
does come onto the scene.
Are
you helping prepare your single siblings to be their best in marriage?
How are you
helping your brother to control his temper?
How are you
helping your sister to resolve conflict with other siblings?
When
tensions arise in your family, do you encourage everyone to work them out, or
are you tempted to just push them under the rug and move on with life? (not
recommended!)
These
skills, and so many more, will be invaluable in a marriage someday.
I’m not
advocating suddenly becoming a giant chisel in your siblings’ lives to bash off
rough edges. :) But
I am suggesting that you have a
privilege (may I say a duty?) to speak encouragement into the lives of your
family members, to prayerfully help guide them in a positive direction, to
support them in their goals.
Marriage
prep starts now!
Let’s set up the next generation of
marriages for success, before they’ve even begun.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Here's a little glimpse of where we were last week... Mums & Ibs & I are on a mini-circuit at the moment, and last week we took a couple of days to visit Curtis in Florida. He's on a surgery rotation there right now, and we are totally missing him!
More coming soon here. I promise. :)
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Sunday was warm and bright. The drive down to Sacramento was beautiful, and I discovered that taking pictures with Mums' phone can become quite addicting...
We stopped halfway down the mountain to put our feet in a
little stream, a stream that runs cold and clear down from the lake above, and
it was so pleasant to feel the hot sand beneath our toes, and to hear the water gurgling over the rocks on its way toward Bridal Veil
Falls. There were families gathered for picnics, mostly Mexican families with adorable
brown-eyed little children and a babbling Spanglish that I love.
We were up and about at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, sad to be leaving, but excited about a day of flying, and happily stocked up on wonderful memories. I told myself I wouldn't cry when we left. Ha!
Anyway (two thousand tissues later), it sure was fun to be on a plane again! I never get tired of flying, or at least I haven't yet and I don't plan on it anytime soon. :) A plane experience is even more amazing when you get to enjoy (1) incredible views, (2) Starbucks coffee, (3) Lindt & Sprungli dark chocolate, and (4) a good book (Currently in the middle of "You & Me Forever" by Francis Chan). I took a break from reading and taking pictures to play a game on that little airplane screen thingy... it was something with a caveman trying to get away from a lava flow. Sadly, somewhere in between reading the instructions too fast and being distracted by the view out my window, the poor caveman lost. But at least I won a crossword puzzle!
Here (above) is a picture I quickly snapped as we were leaving. Please disregard the horizon line. Let's assume it was meant to be at that angle. Or maybe it was something about the plane being on an angle. Yeah, that was probably it. :)
By the time we were over Vermont, it was too dark to see
anything but the faraway fluffy whiteness of the clouds below us, and it was totally fascinating because there was a lightning storm going on in the clouds. As we descended into Burlington, we came down right through the
storm, and I kept my face pressed to the window, watching. Lightning kept flashing brightly all around us, and the plane bucketed up and down and all
around. Quite the experience! I like turbulence, and I like
storms, and I’ve never had the two together before.
And then we were home... to hugs and talking and the best family in the world!
It was a good trip, a wonderful trip, and I am grateful for
every experience. Next year, Lord-willing, I hope to be at Tahoe again! Til
then, I am thankful for the memories, thankful for the friendships, and happy
with the knowledge that there are many locations in this country that are
awesome. I love this country.
With much appreciation for the wonderful people & places
in my life,
Emily Anneliese
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