What Do We Get? Rosemary!

Posted on March 28, 2014March 31, 2014 by Katharine

When we are at home,we can do all sorts of things we always wished we could.

I often use my home time to tend, grow, and spread my herbal landscaping plants. A wonderful feeling rises up within me when I stir the earth, something like being in Eden, in my imagination.

Of all the herbs I tend, of all the herbs I have ever tended, rosemary is one of the easiest. You can find seed for it, but starting rosemary from seed is really rather difficult for the novice grower.

I like to begin with a scion. (Pronounced: sigh un, by those who sell cars or write dictionaries, or sky un, by plant people.) A scion is merely a small branch broken off. With the rosemary plant, the best way is to find a woody (not new or green) sprig and break it off backward, causing a bit of bark, called a heel, to peel along with it.

Actually, to be sure of success, perhaps more like six scions would be better. But if you do not already have a rosemary bush, you can have really good success also, by buying a packet of fresh sprigs often available at a grocery. If they look limp, wait for a fresh delivery to buy them. These will be clipped, and not have the heel, but I’ve gotten them to grow, before, using this method.

Strip the leaves (needles) from the lower half of the sprigs and insert them all, stripped end down, into a pot of good soil. Dampen well with warm water and enclose the entire pot and all the contents in a clear plastic bag and tie shut, creating a little greenhouse. Place in a temperate area with good light, but not direct sun, and then wait.

After about 3 weeks, check to see if roots are forming. If so, you may set the plant(s) out where you want them to grow, permanently. That must be a sunny place; on the east or south side of a building is good. If the scions have not developed roots by six weeks, probably they will also be showing some signs of decay and will need to be tossed out. Too bad, but hey, try, try again!

Once you have a rosemary plant up and growing, do not worry about it much. If the weather is really hot and dry it will need irrigation. Otherwise, remember that these plants grow wild from Europe to Australia, so yours will likely be a tough one.

Mine has withstood lots of cold and lots of drought, just fine, not to mention kitties playing tag in the lower branches. So fun to cuddle them all perfumed!

Something about owning a rosemary bush makes a person feel like experimenting with Italian cooking, too, so you’ll be glad tomorrow is another at-home day!

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Hooray! My post with a brand new rosemary recipe on it just appeared at Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Taste Arkansas blogsite! Run on over there and see what I’ve been inventing to DO with all these branches! Thanks!

Homemaking, Winter, Womanhood

Well, the Coons Got Us Again.

Posted on March 25, 2014December 20, 2016 by Katharine

As a counselor and a retired professional mom, I must say:

Coon! Raccoons are incorrigible wasters, ruiners of all things good, heartless beasts that care neither about boundaries nor animal rights. Their ability and seeming desire to inflict gross horror is limitless.

As people who tend six hens, our job was keeping them safe at night in their own warm place during the past winter, and one we did not mind at all. In fact, I found myself enjoying the challenge and making sure my hennies had fun treats to ease their trials during the cold. I carried all sorts of tidbits down the hill to them, through all sorts of weather, and thawed their water tank I-don’t-know-how-many times, even adding sugar to it, to assure meeting their energy needs. I literally had one of them eating from my hand.

And that one is among the five survivors, I’m glad to say.

We lost one, in a most horrific way, which I will not detail here.

Chicken coop, Sabine Farms, Marshall, Texas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And I had nearly to rebuild our chicken coop and to visit them often, really often. Hourly. And they were terrified, of course, and were slow to re-learn their trust of me.

Today, though, when they hear my footsteps approaching their little home, although they still grow very still, as if trying to be unnoticeable, if I call out to them, they answer me with seeming great excitement.

And another one is learning to eat from my hand.

That feels good.

Inspiring, Wisdom, Womanhood

Overheard: He’s Gonna Getcha.

Posted on March 20, 2014September 11, 2014 by Katharine

I hear a lot of great stuff where I go to church, and the idea of sharing it thrills me.

Then I get nervous.

Maybe you wouldn’t like it as I do. Maybe you would resent it. Maybe you would click off. Maybe you would unsubscribe.

But then I back away and realize some of it really is excellent and who knows but that you might just love it as I do.

So here goes: something I heard a year ago, posted once, but just wanted to share again. Enjoy.

The Arkansas Gospel

Let me make this clear.

You don’t go to Heaven because God loves you, nor because you love Him.

You don’t go to Heaven because you amend your sinful ways or clean up your act.

Turning over a new leaf is rehabilitation, but it is not salvation.

Education is not the answer.

Reformation is not the answer.

Legislation is not the answer.

Jesus is the answer.

We go to Heaven because Jesus saves us through His work on the Cross.

Don’t be separated from God any longer.

Give your sinful life to Jesus at the Cross, bury it in baptism, and be born again of the Spirit of God.

That is how you enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

That reminded me of a story I heard once:
“He IS Out to Get You!”

A woman was driving alone, one night, on a long trip. Having just left a convenience store and taken the on ramp back to the Interstate, she felt not so lonely because some guy had held the door for her as he’d left the store. She noticed he also on-ramped when she did—a friendly face for the journey.

As she traveled, though, she thought she noticed his car following her too close. When she increased her speed a bit to make some distance, his car also increased its speed.

Tensing, and persuading herself it was coincidence, she began weaving through traffic, checking her rear view mirror.

That car followed her every move.

She upped her speed to 80, which she usually never did, and the car was still right behind her.

She could think of nothing to do but exit again, where there was civilization, and force that driver to change plans.

It was a long five miles to the exit.

Carefully, she scooted through traffic into the right lane at the last minute, without signaling, almost missed the exit, and looked up to realize that car loomed closer than ever.

There was no choice, now, but to tear into a gas station parking area, laying on the horn, screech to a stop, throw open the door, and, in desperation, flee into the building, sobbing.

Simultaneously, the driver of the other car also slammed on his brakes, and threw open his door with an angry grimace, running directly to her car, tore open the back door, and grabbed a ski-masked man from the floorboard, beating him until he collapsed.

And you don’t know it, but you’ve got trouble in your back seat.

And God is following you.

And He will never give up, so you might as well.

Guestpost at Tiffany’s!

My friend, Tiffany’s blog site, that is!

We’ve “known” each other a long time, but never met. She loves on new-born babies as they enter this harsh world, with total gentleness, I’m sure breaking the shock for the little ones she holds so dear.

She loves on grown ups the same way.

Which explains why she would be so kind as to invite me to guest post at her place.

Run on over to her lovely, quiet, gentle place and read what she asked me to write.

Give her lots of blog love for being so kind to me.

⭐ And comment!

Home School, Inspiring, Photos, Pre-schoolers, Sayings, Wisdom

What a Rush!

Posted on March 14, 2014March 14, 2014 by Katharine

3/14/14 – Reposting this to honor the man.

This is not about speed.

It’s about that rush I get when I teach.

Sometimes I say my bones are aching and it helps if I teach. Ever feel that way?

I think it’s maybe being part of the Creation process. When I see the lightbulb coming on in someone else’s understanding, it moves me, thrills me to the bone.

I love teaching, helping understanding to exist where it never did before. It’s not exactly creating, but like a potter with clay, I can mold someone’s mind to fit around new material, new cognizance, or even completely new thoughts that no one has ever realized before.

Research also thrills me. Discovering small things about big events or important people makes me want to teach some more. For instance: Did you know that as a child, Albert Einstein absolutely loved Euclid’s geometry and called it “that holy little algebra book” or that at age 5, he wondered what frozen light would look like? Who ever thinks of THE genius as a small child with wonderment inside his soul? Or that some adult fed him books over most children’s heads, just for the joy of watching that light come on?

See, I just taught you something and opened your thinking more. What a rush!

Sometimes I tutor. One young girl is learning so much about writing, she has developed an enjoyment for the writing process. Seeing the difference in her output this year gives me such excitement. I think of the joy she will bring to her family as her skills increase and she cements them through practice.

I tutor a couple of legal immigrants in their new language, English, and we have fun exchanging culture, too. I explained our local phrase regarding appetites for all foods, as we say, “eat everything that is not nailed to the table.” They laughed enormously at that and now use the saying (in their own language, which is fine with me.) Then they confessed their tiredness of pizza and their longing for cultural dishes they cannot yet prepare. I taught them to say, “I am tired of pizza, but it is better than nothing,” and as they remember their old country and having nothing to eat, they sober and regain resolve to find a way to afford gas for their stove.

And though it is a small spark, I love seeing that light.

The most exciting teaching I do is from the Bible. So much light there. So many people don’t get it, cannot see it. Or don’t want to.

But when I see that light come on, what a rush!

Believe it or not!, Home School, Inspiring

Romeikes are in. Yes.

Posted on March 4, 2014March 4, 2014 by Katharine

Tell us about a situation where you’d hoped against all hope, where the odds were completely stacked against you, yet you triumphed. Be sure to describe your situation in full detail. Tell us all about your triumph in all its glory.

Okay, WordPress, you asked for it!

The Romeike family has faced nothing but opposition and hindrance and persecution for many years. Why? Because they care about their children and had the misfortune of being born in the land of Hitler.

I’m telling it like it is, here, in all its glory, as requested, I cannot believe this was the daily prompt for today. Perfect! Pardon me if I emote. Or not. I don’t care. “And you can rattle me, shake me, smell my breath and make me roll up both of my sleeves. I’m clean. I’ve got nothin’ to hide.” –Nancy Higgenbaum.

Anyway, they were threatened, harassed, etc., just as if they were living in the land of Hitler.

So they sought refuge in the land of the free and the home of the brave and were granted permission through all the legal channels we require to live here.

GET THIS: THEY WERE LEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

After setting up housekeeping and actually finding gainful employment, THEY WERE DENIED.

Yes, I’m shouting part of the time = All its glory.

Okay, so they’re here, LEARNING ENGLISH, employed, doing everything right, being good, minding their own business, when…

BAM

Permission denied. Just like that.

While every Tomas, Ricardo, and Enrique who wants to teem over here and pander drogues is welcome, welcome, welcome…

The Romeikes were denied.

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association fought and fought and fought in courts to get them permission to live here. They are brilliant lawyers and know exactly what they were doing.

And lost. And lost. And lost.

And that is precisely why they won. Because they knew the Lord holds the king’s heart in His hand and turns it whatever way He wants.

And He wanted them to stay.

But He also wanted it to look like He had something to do with it.

So He waited. And waited. And waited.

He owns time, did you know that?

And now, after every cotton pickin’ avenue has been exhausted.

The Romeikes are in.

Just like that.

And I’m not done.

All its glory, remember?

Okay, so…

The story goes that Abraham’s wife was barren, which means physically unable to get pregnant, and in their culture that was more than just never having babies to cuddle; it was grounds for divorce.

But, the Lord promised Abraham children, so, to make a long story short, eventually He gave Abraham’s wife one child, a son they named Isaac.

Then God told Abraham to take Isaac up to a mountain in the same area as Mt. Moriah, and to sacrifice Isaac on top of the mountain He would show him.

I believe it was the mountain they would later name Golgotha, the place of the skull, because that’s what it looked like, a human skull.

And so, ever obedient, Abraham did what God said, but at the last moment, God told him not to.

Go ahead, you can laugh.

But…

Many centuries later, God sacrificed His OWN Son on Golgotha, as Abraham prophesied. (Genesis 22:8)

All its glory, remember?

So, the reinstatement of the Romeikes, today, after being hopelessly denied, yesterday, is a picture of salvation.

And the Holy Scripture tells us to: Stand back and see the salvation of God.

And for those who have eyes to see, that is what we are seeing today.

And this is the end of this post.

But not the end.

Not by a long shot.

Connect, Photos

Do You Have Silver Ties?

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Katharine

An old friend and I have recently resumed our friendship, due to our moving very close to each other. We consider it a Providential thing.

I was enchanted with this property of ours, especially the many springs on it, one of which was dammed up to cause this very beautiful pond:

My friend moved to her place partly because of the amazingly beautiful creek running through the lower half of it:

Recently, though, we learned that my tiny tributaries, including the run-off from my pond, all flow into her creek via this very small rivulet:

The End.

I hope you enjoyed these three shots of the silver thread that connects two friends.