Happy Thanksgiving 2017

A very blessed Thanksgiving, dear readers.  I hope you have a wonderful day in special thanks to our Lord for His goodness.  We will be celebrating Thanksgiving across the pond, just like we used to.

Husband even took us to a farm to get a lovely organic, free range turkey.  We all got to meet the turkeys, who were quite noisy.  The girls had pretty, inquisitive eyes, but the males, everyone thought were quite ugly.  I thought they still looked grand with their big feathers all puffed out.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so we will just have to remember the flock of black turkeys in our mind's eye.  But they looked much like this:  (this is a male)

Now we must get on to food preparation.  Have a blessed day!

Green and Chickens

We have been in full swing with school lessons, feeling the chill of the new autumn air.  The week before last, the chill just swept in, shocking us a bit with the sudden cold weather.  To my pleasant surprise, the outdoors remains mostly green.  The grass is still as green as ever, not the drab, dead brown of our previous desert home.  The leaves began turning awhile ago: beautiful shades of gold and red, but many of the trees are bare now, except for the bright green moss that grows on many trees.  I am enjoying our new home.

A few weeks ago, Husband took us on a trip to get chickens.  He built a remarkable chicken coop out of old scraps of wood, furniture, and other materials.  He even made it so that our chickens can free range all over our whole garden, eating lots of bugs and vegetation.  With every opportunity he gets, he looks for ways to improve on their diet and their environment.  Because of their age and the cold weather, the hens are not yet laying, but hopefully they will be soon.  Each of our children has named a chicken.  The little hens often follow us around the garden and like it better when we are outside with them.

Husband has also ordered a lovely turkey straight from a farm, for we will be celebrating Thanksgiving here, as we would in America.  We have invited a few people to join our family, so we may have an even fuller house again.  There is much to do to prepare, though I have already planned most of the dishes we will serve.  I've been able to order a big roasting pan for the turkey and a pie pan for pumpkin pie.  A thoughtful neighbor even stopped by with a homegrown pumpkin for us a few days ago, which we will use for homemade pumpkin puree.  I love homemade baked goods with pumpkin in them--pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies...

Rainy Days

Last week was quite a sunny week.  We hardly had any rain.  The wet ground finally had a chance to dry out a bit, and there was less mud to go around.  But the past few days have brought more rain and wet to us again.  I suppose that is why it is so green here (smiles).   Over the weekend, the cold weather came in suddenly, making us quite aware that winter is on its way.

Sometimes, in the late afternoon and early evening, the sun looks so amazing.  We have seen it in the sky as a huge ball of fire--but the sun is so bright and fire-y that it looks almost red.  I took some photos, but they don't do it justice.

Over the weekend I made my first blackberry and apple crumble at my husband's request.  He took one bite and started with his Mmm-Mmmmmm!'s, and exclaimed that is was so very good.  And yesterday was a very busy day, and dinner was late, but thankfully delicious.  I made a new recipe of a "potato" soup, but it really doesn't have any potatoes in it.  Instead it is made with cauliflower and radishes, and everyone loved it.

I am thankful to the Lord to have a big old farmhouse to be sheltered in from the elements.  We don't get too cold, but sometimes I have to send one child to find another child amongst the many rooms.  Our neighbours have told us that our house must be around four hundred years old.  This makes our house quite interesting, and I wish I could find out more about the history of it.  There are many doors in our home that have been closed off and are no longer usable.  There are many old locks with old keys to go along with them.

There is the sound of little pitter-patter feet.   Little Ones are waiting for their school lessons, so I must attend to my motherly duties.

Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Autumn Beaches

This week my husband took us to the beach for a treat.  He even booked part of a day off of work to take us there.  Where we used to live, there were no beaches, so our children had never been to see the ocean or experienced the sandy sea shore.

It was lovely--since it was quite cool, there were no nearly naked people on the shore.  We even went with our coats on (but eventually took them off as we got warmer).  There were several people walking up and down the beach, many with dogs.  One friendly pooch, which I can only describe as cute, short, and chubby, ran up to us for a pet.  The owners said she was a French Bulldog.

The children eventually waded in the water, abandoning socks and shoes, rolling up trousers and leggings a bit.  Some collected shells for decorations at home.  My husband and I sat back on the rocks for a while and watched our children playing.

After a time on the beach, we went walking for awhile up on the dunes.  They were really pretty and fun to go on.  My husband had to help us up some very steep areas.  He had lots of fun running down a very steep hill, which several of the children followed him down.  The rest of us took an easier route, as we were hoping not to fall straight down (smiles).

Today there is much to do to catch up.  Laundry, as usual, as well as teaching all of the little ones their lessons.  For dinner, we will have cheesy sausage balls, homemade macaroni and cheese, and green beans.  Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Mother's Apron

Mother needs another apron.  I had a few at our old house, but I got rid of some when we moved because they were getting ragged and old.  I had even won of those aprons in a giveaway several years ago.  That apron was very long, with a lovely cream ruffle at the bottom.  The children called it my "pregnancy apron" because it is the only apron that was big enough to accommodate my growing belly when I was with child.  However, it had gotten a bit of an odor that wouldn't come out in the washing, so I got rid of that one.  I packed another apron in our crate.  It is somewhat pretty with floral and pink, but it's just a bit silly as it says, "Queen of the Kitchen".

My great aunt had sewn me a lovely apron that had a bit of ruffles.  It had a pocket on the front where I would stick little things like notes from the children that they would give me when I was going about housework.  It was golden yellow with a tiny floral print, and accents of red.  When we moved, I accidentally left it behind hanging up on our kitchen, as if waiting for me to put it on in preparation for the next meal.  My great aunt had also sewn aprons for each of the girls.  Thankfully most of those were brought over, but we may have left one or two behind.

An apron is like a housewife's uniform.  I automatically put it on whenever I cook, as it keeps the splatters and stains off of my clothes.  The little children would love to snuggle up and hide under Mother's Apron. Especially when they were shy, it provided a little place for them to peek out from.  I like to have at least two aprons so that when one gets dirty, I can have it in the wash and wear my other apron.

So hopefully sometime soon I will be able to get another apron or two.  I have seen one or two in the superstores here, but they are not very pretty.  If I had a sewing machine, fabric, time, and know-how, I would make one myself (smiles).