Renaissance life in a post-modern world
Posted in Recipes on Oct 31st, 2008
In preparation for feasting on Thanksgiving Day, I like to work with recipes throughout October and November. I enjoy experimenting with new, creative stuffing recipes and delicious desserts.
I alleviate the risk of a holiday disaster by first preparing and serving these dishes in a less stressful atmosphere.
I can rest easy, knowing that my newest creations [...]
Posted in Recipes on Oct 30th, 2008
I do strive to create a lovely atmosphere in our home. My hope is that our lives are generally peaceful, beautiful and orderly. However, I often have to face the fact that I am fighting entropy. We live in a fallen world, so sometimes life gets a bit ugly. This was the case in our home this [...]
Posted in Cleaning and Organizing on Oct 29th, 2008
I love to experience clean laundry. . . warm, soft, freshly-scented cotton folded and stacked in lovely piles. I enjoy separating my children’s and my husbands better attire and carefully hanging it up to dry, knowing this helps alleviate the wear caused by the dryer. I relish the aroma of gently scented soaps mingled with softeners and [...]
Posted in Gardening on Oct 28th, 2008
My husband is a gentleman farmer and maintains a hobby farm. This manifests itself by the way he carries himself on our land (it’s only 20 acres, but it’s his). He wears rough-and-tumble farm clothes and drives his tractor around the land tilling dirt, pulling up trees and moving rocks. He loves his chainsaw.
Practically speaking, my [...]
Posted in Education on Oct 22nd, 2008
We have been home-educating our children for over 15 years. I am fairly traditional and somewhat boring in my curriculum choices. Early on I found myself overwhelmed with options and alternatives. Frankly, it was paralyzing. I waded through the available curriculum, found what works for our family and now I rarely change our methods. (The exception to this is [...]
Posted in Recipes on Oct 20th, 2008
Baking is such a natural activity this time of year. As the weather turns cooler, I enjoy making and serving traditional quick breads.
Now, I personally think the entire concept of “quick” breads is ironic. Yes, I understand they utilize chemical leavens like baking soda and baking powder instead of yeast. However, my experience has been [...]
Posted in Recipes on Oct 18th, 2008
Fall is in full swing here in the midwest. The air is sometimes more than crisp. The harvesters are toiling through exhausted corn fields. The motif decorating porches and store fronts is all about hay and pumpkins. And our world is colored with the vivid reds, oranges, yellows and golds of the season that make those [...]
Posted in Family and Children on Oct 17th, 2008
Children have fabulous imaginations. Their little minds are always working overtime as creative juices billow forth with new and fantastic ideas as they enliven the world around them.
My young children may be left alone playing for only a few moments and yet create blanket hide-aways, intricate “school rooms”, restaurants complete with lovely menus, and trains ready to [...]
Posted in Family and Children on Oct 14th, 2008
I have this awful habit of scheduling airplane flights that depart at the crack of dawn. This is complicated by the fact that ten or eleven of us travel together (always!). Then, throw into the mix the fact that my absolutely wonderful husband is usually not himself and becomes quite uptight when we are traveling via [...]
Posted in Recipes on Oct 13th, 2008
I am continuing to harvest a bountiful crop of herbs. “Bountiful” is a relative term here as my garden sits in diminutive pots on my patio. The harvest, however small, has allowed me to enjoy cooking with fresh aromatic plants throughout the summer and into the fall.
I relish unleashing the rich verdure as the herbs are chopped, crushed [...]
