Party Time!!

 Saturday was party time at our house.  Celebrating Grace's 28th Birthday!

This year there have been some amazing workings of providence for Tim and Grace as an opportunity came up for them to live in the apartment of Banbury Cross Tec. where I work, and Faith and I both volunteer.  It is wonderful to have them closer, and is such a perfect situation for them, being able to have their very own home and getting to work for their rent!  (plus Grace is happy to live on a horse farm :)

We were super happy that Aunt Carmen and Uncle Tim were able to drop by for dinner (they just happened to be driving by at the right time!!).

Shine (Grace's dog) joined us for the party... and used her brown eyes to their fullest potential, attempting to beg tidbits off anyone who would look at her.

Grace opted out of the traditional cake, and asked for a large chocolate chunk cookie pizza, to be cut into wedges and served with Ice cream.  (not a bad choice :)

We are so grateful for what God has done in Grace's life recently, and pray that He will continue to bless and guide this beautiful, talented, hard working, artistic, lady for many years to come!!

{we love you "Tookie"!}

Julian was super happy to be able to see his Uncle Dewey again and followed him around like a shadow. 

We finished the night by watching Grace's all time favorite movie ever... "The Black Stallion".

So the party ended.

~Chs

He came

It is rather ridiculous really, how worked up grown, rational thinking, (at least most of the time) mature adults can get over the arrival of a bird.  A bird, who is so full of himself it is surprising he stays on the branch he had selected to settle himself upon while he announces vociferously of his advent. But worked up we were, voices escalated, shouts were heard, feet pounded, cameras were fumbled for, all to try to capture a look at the little black bird perched on the top most branch of our Maple Tree.

Yes, the Red-Wing Blackbird does cause quite the stir at our house upon our first sighting of him. But while we do love the birds themselves, with their gaudy yet cheerful red and yellow epaulets, and their raucous but harmonious Oak-a-lee, the real reason for our excitement is what the bird means to us.  The Harbinger of Spring they have been called, more so then the Robin who tends to be more fickle and will sometimes be spotted in the middle of winter, for once the you hear the call of the Red-Wing Blackbird you know that Spring cannot be to far in the distance.  Therefore it has become an event at our house which is noted and recorded for further years.

In other news... the daffodils are popping up!!

~Chs

Making the Best of It!

When the weather outside is frightful, and there is no fire inside that is delightful, and outside is covered with snow..... Instead of sitting around and complaining, make the best of it! 

We have been scraping the deck off as much as possible, and since we have run out of places to dump it, have, rather on accident, made a sledding hill.  It has been there off and on during the winter, and we have quite ignored it... being rather tired of winter and snow and all.

But one afternoon we decided to take advantage of the sledding hill, and make the best of it!

Our Mountain out front is shrinking now; at it's peak it was taller than Josiah!!

This past week we took a journey over to Port Huron, to see the ice on the lake while it is still there.  We stopped at Aunt Myrt's house to help her with a few things and have a delightful lunch with her, before meeting Aunt Carmen at Lighthouse park right where the river flows out of the lake.

It was an immense expanse of white grandeur.

We climbed out a little on to the icy piles, but some of the "adults" were a little nervous about us falling into pitfalls and such, so we came back to shore and surveyed the landscape from its safety.

The wind was rather cutting out there by the lake and after a good long look about, we trudged back to our vehicles and headed down river to see if there was any more ice to see.  There wasn't... but there were ducks!!

And they were adorable!

It was a lovely day, and we did enjoy the beauty despite of the cold, and have decided as long as this winter lasts to make the best of it!

~Chs

Josiah's "Cattle"

This is one of Josiah's many (close to a dozen) "cattle" that feed at the "compost" pile out back. :) 

{Taming our wildlife}

Wednesday Wisdom

The Man with the Hoe

For centuries the waves of greed and fierce ambition

Have beat, and broke about him,

Engulfing countless millions of his fellow men;

Yet, steadfast and serene amid the howling storm he stands.

He stands

And leans upon his hoe.

Contentment shining in his ruddy face,
The marks of intellect upon his brow,
A living monument to truth and honesty,
At peace with God and all mankind.

And as he leans, he reads
In tender plant and ripening grain;
In mountain and in valley,
In sunshine and in shower,
The wondrous story of creation:
Within his heart, a promise and a prayer.

"What," indeed, "to him is Plato?"
Who revels daily in the grandest work of all-
The glorious book of nature,
Written by the hand of God.
"And what to him the reaches of the peaks of song?"
He has heard the soughing breeze
Make melody among the swaying boughs;
He has listened to the song of rippling brook,
The chorus of the forest choirs has charmed his ear.
But, sweetest, softest, tenderest of all,
A symphony of heaven-
He has heard his baby's joyous coo.

"Slave to the wheel of labor?"
God gave him labor that he might have rest;
Hate, that he might know love;
Winter, that he might see the beauties of the spring.
God gave him life, but lest he tire, he sends him gentle death.
He lives and moves, and reigns a King,
And in yon vine-clad cottage sits enthroned
His royal consort and his queen.

This "is the thing God made, and gave
To have dominion over land and sea."

And he who breathes foul anarchy upon that brain
To wither it;
Who plants the germ of envy in that heart
To blacken it;
Who fans the flame of discontent
"Into a fierce and roaring sea of flame
Till earth is strewn with wrecks of homes
And whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world-"
How will the future reckon with that man
After the silence of a century?
                                      -American Agriculturist.

-John Baer's Agricultural Almanac - 1901

Monday Meditations: Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on they side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

  Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know 

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,

And all is darkened in the vale of tears, 

Then shalt thou better know his love, his heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay 

From his own fullness all he takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, 

All safe and blessed we shall beet at last.

Amen.

Here on the Farm

I have just recently realized that I have failed to mention some of the more mundane, everyday parts of life here on this farm on the blog.  So I have decided to introduce you to our flock of chickens.... our THREE flocks of chickens.

First there is "the big coop". This is our original coop, the one that was here when we bought the house, and as for the chickens, this would be our multi breed mixed flock.

We have everything from, Orpingtons (both Buff and White), Australorps (the black chicken in front), Easter Eggers, Silver-laced Wyandottes, plus a few Partridge Rocks, some Silver Giants and a Black Star.

And the names they have are fascinating as well. There's Amelia Earhart, Brigitta, Ophelia, Cheep-cheep, and then there's Sissy, Sassy, and Sunny, and Flossy and Bossy.  Not to mention Gertrude, Winona, Opal, and Matilda.  And that's not all of them. :)

All these (and more) charming ladies are headed up by our magnificent Buff Rooster, Meriwether Lewis!

Then there is the back coop, which is technically the "Rock" coop. (Not as in the music, as in the breed of chicken ;) ) 

Here dear Sphinx, one of our original chickens, resides along with some Blue Rocks.

The Rooster here is William Bradford.  (hmmm.. I guess we like historical names for our roosters huh?)

Bradford rules over a small group of 4 ladies, including Sphinx.

The other 3 are Midnight, Blue Moon, and Brooke.

The last of the coops (the little coop) hold the "frenchies" and a couple friends.

90% of the chickens in this coop are French Copper Marans, so we had fun naming them.  Marguerite, Clairette, Babette, Cosette.....

And for the rooster...

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, or Marquis de Lafayette, or really for short, just Lafayette. :)

So, yes we definitely have fun naming our animals (and I didn't even begin on the ducks!!). How about all of you?  Any fun/interesting names of your pets or farm animals?

~Chs

In Honor of Washington

Our dear Martha Washington geranium has been around for years, and normally blooms in January in the house.   But this year we thought that dear Martha was done, January came and passed and no blooms were to be found.  But sure enough just this past week a cluster of buds were spotted on the end of a branch, and today just in time for Mr. Washington's birthday, Martha Washington bloomed.

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to that appellation."

~George Washington

~Chs

Also in remembrance of our precious never-to-be-forgotten Grandma Burke, who passed away last year.  She shared her birthday with George Washington.

A Fresh Coat

 Our house is currently "on the market" and this is some more of the behind story of how it got there.

{the ghostly kitchen}

Our kitchen ceiling was in desperate need of a coat of paint. 

In fact you could write a story based on our kitchen ceiling.  There was the spot ("s", there are multiple ones) where someone forgot to put the lid on the blender before flipping the switch, then there is the notorious apple sauce, which boils like a volcanic marsh.  Oh, and all that funny smeary stuff over in the dining room, yeah... that would be when a certain someone was running across the kitchen with a jar of shortening and lost her grip, resulting in the jar hitting the ground and a fountain of grease shooting up onto the ceiling.  And of course all the spots where various insects were executed and smeared about. Yup.. lots of stories.

So "the boys" attacked it one morning, and now it is a beautiful clean white... for the moment. :)

Another project was our girl's room.  We had decided to attempt to paint it without removing the furniture - just shove everything to one side of the room, paint, shove back, and paint the other side.

We were told to choose a neutral color, so "lilting laughter" was our selection. A nondescript creamy peachy paint.

While Faith was painting our bedroom, we were spread out around the rest of the house doing touch-ups. 

Of course we discovered after a few tries that the paint we had bought for moldings was a different color then what the people before us had used. Making just "touch ups" impossible. Just a little bit frustrating.

So now our house is in tip top shape (at least as much as it can be) and with it's fresh coat is ready for anyone who would like to come look at it!

~Chs

On Our Knees in Wonder

  

"They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we recover from the wonder of it?" - Jeanette Winterson

~Chs