a spirit of simplicity

  ~ ~ ~ Abby and Hopie go to the beach. On Saturday my granddaughter, Abigail, asked if she could come to her Hopie's house all by herself. Of course, I said I would love that! Her older brother, Verne, wanted to go to a friend's house and her younger sister, Natalie, is too young to be away from mum for an overnighter. So...it was me and Abigail for the weekend. She wanted to stay 2 nights! I think she may have been slightly motivated by the need for some alone time and Natalie's late night crying. ~ We cooked homemade cornmeal waffles together for breakfast. When your grandmother is a Montessori teacher you learn to cut your waffles up by yourself. You can see the concentration on her face.  I didn't help at all! Verne's first day of Kindergarten! I drove up in the morning to watch him get on the bus! He loves it! On Monday morning Abigail and I drove back up to her house. My daughter, Hannah, came over with delicious donuts and Bonnie made a breakfast of bacon, s

 ~ ~ ~ A bit of reading material.  I've been collecting books again... I've almost finished Think Indigenous.  My daughter bought it as a gift for me but decided to read it first. She loved it so much it took her a bit to part with it. I am loving it as much as she did and have put it down almost all the way through  because I don't want it to be over.  Macro tex

  A basket from the farmer's market. When I was a child my mum always had a fruit basket on the kitchen table.  Fruit was always an option if we were hungry at any time during the day. I had the same when my children were young and I noticed while visiting my daughter last week that she had a basket of apples on her table for her children. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree... I tend to put a basket of vegetables on the table as well.  Root veggies mostly since they don't need to be refrigerated.  I think that they look beautiful and why should fruit have all the fun! My favourite part is that everything (even the basket) came from the local farmer's market. It's so important to support local farmers. Healthy food - healthy planet - healthy us nature notes Image-in-ing

  ~ ~ ~ a farmer's market lunch ~ I've been thinking about the coming Autumnal Equinox. Intentionally,  I seek the rhythm of the earth and its seasons.  My inner clock places summer's end as the final part of the year  and Autumn as the fresh start. The end of the harvest season and the time for deliberate, inner reflection. I tend to make any resolutions with the beginning of Autumn rather than the traditional New Year.  This year I have promised myself to eat healthier. For me that means food that is fresh and mostly in-season.  Fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains,  along with a splattering of fish and a bit of meat here and there.  I am bound and determined to stay away from white sugar, white flour and refined foods... ~ ~ ~ I have also begun to choose a theme for the season. Summer was/is my season for adventure and Autumn will be my season for self-care.  Stolen sweets are always sweeter, stolen kisses much completer, stolen lo

  ~ ~ ~ t The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul;  he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,  I will fear no evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:  and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23 KJV ~ ~ ~ I have been attending a Methodist church in town.  Last week the 23rd Psalm was read from the King James Bible. I love reading from the King James. Something about how the scriptures flow is so moving to me. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ scripture and a snapshot You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

  ~ ~ ~ August always makes me think of Sunflowers! I purchased a bundle of them for the kitchen table and every time I come home they make me smile.  ~ Road trip My daughter texted me at work on Tuesday and jokingly said I should leave work and  come to her house so she could get a bit of time away from the children. I texted back to say I couldn't leave work but would be there as soon as I got out. ~ Abby had a new Barbie doll from the dollar store. She held it up next to her and said, "We match! We're both wearing dresses!" ~ Natalie is eating her pasta while sitting in the wooden high chair that my mum painted long ago. That would have made her so happy! ~ RAIN! We have been in the second to worst drought conditions and the temperatures have been very high. There has been all kinds of brush fires in surrounding towns. Some of them have been fairly large. Finally, it rained! It was not near enough but it was something.  The temperatures have started to go down as w

~ ~ ~ t For thus said the Lord God, the holy one of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling. Isaiah 30:15 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Recently I spent some time with my grandchildren. Verne is the older brother, Abigail is the middle sister, and Natalie is the youngest sister. While we were at the playground Abigail told me that Verne was a superhero and she was a princess. When my step-sons were young we used to play the game Risk. I only played it one time before noticing that the entire game was made up of conquering other places. There was no strategy for quietly moving into a place and then living in peace.  These are the things that came into my mind as I read this verse from Isaiah. When I was in high school one of my assignments for an earth science course was to study a very small  section of the woods for an extended period of time.  The goal was that by the end of the semester you would have gat

My husband and I recently watched Ken Burn's Thomas Jefferson. We truly enjoyed it. I really love Ken Burns. What a gift of historical story telling he has.  Throughout the documentary an instrumental version of this song was playing in the background. It took me a little bit to remember what song it was as I hummed along with it.  It is an old Irish hymn and it is one of my very favourites.  I find it so beautiful and inspiring. Is there a song that is beautiful and inspiring to you? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  ~ ~ ~ Over the weekend I was at an old fashioned fireman's muster with my grandchildren. My grandson loves to participate and this is the first year that he has been old enough to sit atop the hand tub! He's trying to be cool up there but as you can see he's pretty excited! ~ This muster was up in Wales, Maine which is a two and a half hours drive. My son-in-law's sister lives in that area and she graciously invited people to pitch a tent in her big yard! Abigail and I slept in my tent. Little Natalie came in to visit and do some colouring with us. We thought she might sleep in there with us but in the end she wanted her mama  so she slept in their family tent. ~ I had some trouble with my new mac book computer. Apparently Apple has made it very difficult to reset your password if you forget it. I had to wait for a day I could leave work early and drive to the Apple store... which is in an inconvenient location... At first they said I would have to make the first avai

  ~ ~ ~ Instilling a love of nature in my grandchildren. The full sturgeon moon as seen from my tent on Saturday night. My three year old granddaughter was sleeping next to me and it was mostly cloud cover but... at one point in the night I woke to moonlight shining down upon us while we slept. Before I could find my phone to take a picture it was slipping behind cloud cover. I woke again a few hours later hoping to see some shooting stars from the Persied meteor showers but all I saw were two bright stars peeping through clouds cover. In the morning Abigail snuggled into her blankets as the temps were down into the high 50s. Sweetest little thing ever! She and her sister love to colour so I chose colours that were in the scenery outside of our tent. Green grass and trees, blue sky, purple liatris, yellow goldenrod, brown trees... Little Natalie chose to sleep in the tent with her mama and big brother, Verne, wanted to sleep in the family tent with his air mattress but Abigail said she

  ~ ~ ~ t He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you,  if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,  you will say to the mountain, 'move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ scripture and a snapshot You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

  ~ ~ ~ Saturday I went to an old fashioned firemen's muster with my grandchildren, daughter, and son-in-law. It was great fun! The fire department of their town was there selling hamburgers and hotdogs! Verne looks very handsome sitting on top of the hand tub pump. There are several events each summer and each team creates a ribbon for each event.  Folks pin their ribbons to their shirts or shorts. Little Natalie opted for wearing nothing but her diaper as the temperatures were almost blistering hot so she is trying, unsuccessfully, to pin her ribbon on herself.  On Saturday night Verne, Abby and I had a sleepover in in my tent in the back yard! When it got dark enough Verne and I watched the fireflies with our heads down by the screen doors! Abigail fell asleep before the fireflies came out but she woke up early enough to do some coloring! Natalie is still too little to sleep out in the tent but we found a spot where her blankets will fit when she gets old enough. ~ For truly I t

  ~ ~ ~ I spent the night in my new tent with my grandchildren. We slept under the most beautiful big, old pine tree in their back garden. We call it a Tamarack pine but I'm not sure if that is what it really is.  Verne, who is 5, watched fireflies with our heads down near the screen doors before falling asleep. He thought it was just about the coolest thing he had ever done  and I think it was just about the coolest thing I've ever done as well.  Abby fell asleep before the dragonflies came out but she woke early enough to color some pictures  under the blankets.  In the morning we emptied the tent of sippy cups, crayons, tiny lanterns, and picture books.  We folded up our quilts and packed up the car. Daddy brought us coffee and donuts from Dunkin Donuts and I headed back home. Children learn so much from being out in the natural world.  It doesn't have to be a hike into the great wilderness. Sometimes an overnight in the backyard is a wonderful adventure... maybe even th

  So I have this thing with cookbooks. I know that I can get all this information on line  but I just love the old books.  I just picked up a new one at the second hand shop. It's an awful pretty blue and it's filled with Greek recipes! I'm looking forward to trying some of them.  ~ I have a new macbook.  I love it and I'm sure I'll love it even more when I figure the darn thing out! ~ My husband and I were set to go visit my sister and her husband at the end of June. Unfortunately, he went into kidney failure and was hospitalized for 4 days.  They sent him home just before Independence Day and he was still saying that he felt dizzy. He had to go for some lab work before seeing his doctor for a follow up appointment and just as I got home from work the lab called and told him to get to the hospital right away. So...off he went for another 5 days! They finally have it under control. They took him off of some of his medications and lowered the dose on a few others. It

  ~ ~ ~ t This is my commandant: love one another as I love you. John 15:12 My mother left me many gifts. Though she’s been gone just over a year now I still stumble upon ordinary and unforgettable things when I am moving through my day.  Searching unsuccessfully for my old apple pie recipe I finally turned to my mum’s old Fanny Farmer cook book. It’s a bit tattered and I don’t open it very often because my hands have reached the age where I can tell just how much to put where just by the feel of things. The cover of the book fell open and I glanced down to see the handwriting of one of my my mother’s dearest an oldest friends. It was dated August of 1977. I can’t remember what was happening at that time or why Nancy would have gifted my mum this book back then. Perhaps we had just moved… It made me pause to think about how many women’s life long friendships the Fanny Farmer cook book has seen. How many women making apple pie or creamed asparagus to bring to a friend in need? My mother

  Today is the first day of the Marblehead Festival of Arts! The little harbour town that I live in has been having a festival of arts every Fourth of July since 1966! It lasts for 5 days, this year it runs from 1 July through 4 July. There are all kinds of artwork displayed in churches and antique buildings, there is music daily in Crocker park, and on the Fourth there is a beautiful harbour illumination and fireworks!  I happened to notice a sweet little mama robin and her baby in a nest just under the stairway as I looked out the guest room window into the back garden. As I watched them the mama flew away and came back with a treat for her little one.  Joe and I treated ourselves to lobster rolls on Tuesday evening.  They were made my very favourite way, warm with nothing but butter and a little bit of seasonings. So delicious!  Fort Sewell  is located just up the street from me and was recently renovated. The held a celebration for the town which included the Glover Regiment lighti

So much has happened! I hardly know how to begin my story. It may be best if I start where I am and ramble my way in a sort of backwards direction.  Perhaps you might like a cup of tea? We have pie. If we are to begin where we are then it is just here at the edge of the harbour in our quiet little town  At the very beginning of the Fourth of July. Of an evening Joe and I strolled down to the town landing to watch the world for a little while. This young man was cleaning out the bait in his traps and tossing treats out to the seagulls who were quite courteous and patient which is very unlike their normally greedy and loud behavior.  As you can see the harbour is full in high summer.  I’ve heard it said that in mid July, if you had a mind to, you could jump across the harbour, from boat to boat and never get your feet wet. Joe and I are quite content to sit on a bench by the water and enjoy the gloaming. It sure is pretty at this time of year.  Tomorrow I shall endeavor to tell you more

  Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter, Bonnie. She brings me so much joy. My first snow day of the year! I work at a Montessori school and we are getting our first big snow storm of the year so.... SNOW DAY!!  I made my own hummus last weekend. It was delicious. I added a little bit of turmeric along with the chickpeas, lemon, tahini, and garlic.  I plan on eating a more plant based diet this year. It's only been a week and I'm already feeling better. I did eat two slices of mushroom pizza last night and ended up having heartburn so it will be a good long time before I eat dairy again.  Each month one of our families brings in a bouquet of flowers.  We cut most of the stems off and place them on a tray which we place on the children's table.  We place another tray with a very small pitcher and a few very small bud vases.  The child fills up the pitcher using water from the bathroom sink, brings it back to the table and pours the water in a bud vase of their choosing. Th