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The Doldrums

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Katharine

What Do We Do?

We’re sailing along just fine when we come to the place of great heat and no breeze.

We row and row and it’s just killing us and we cannot find any solution to that sluggish funk. Our get up and go has got up and gone.

Well, we have choices.

We can just wait. Eventually, within the Doldrums, a breeze will come, will shift, will carry us out. It can take a long time, though, and we can lose much productivity that way, can die of thirst and starvation.

We can pray. When God sends a breeze, it is His Holy Spirit. He understands. He fills us but we leak. His supply is never-ending. No prob.

We can find like-minded people who don’t mind standing next to us and shedding some of their sparkle on us. That is the hard one. People don’t stand beside people, anymore. They sit before computers. Computers don’t hug. Don’t sparkle. Don’t pray. So, the computer dependent people don’t either.

I know, I know, Paul sent out handkerchiefs, so you could send me an email.

But I need a handkerchief. I need to hold in my hand something you have held in your hand. I need to feel the warmth of your skin as you embrace me. I need to feel your breath blowing through my hair as you hold me and pray for me. I need you, physically present, if only in a physical letter.

Don’t bludgeon me with bits and bites.

Bless me.

Or we can do all three. We can wait upon the Lord and renew our strength. We can pray for new inspiration. We can call upon our friends, our fellow travelers, to stand by us.

Isn’t that how it is? Isn’t that how it was meant to be?

Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Photos, Who's the mom here?, Wives, Womanhood

MONDAY! Whew!

Posted on August 8, 2011August 8, 2011 by Katharine

care to share a cup — Care to Share a Cup?

I just finished the most wonderful week, followed by an amazing weekend, and how exhausted I am! Does that ever happen to you?

A new friend visited me for a whole week. She stayed in our guest house and helped me with cooking and canning. One night I spent the night with her. What fun to talk like college girls until 2 in the morning! I say “like college girls” but really, we shared from the Word and from our lives like NO college girls I ever knew. I may be a bit too old for such a schedule, but it probably was for only one time, and was over too soon.

After lunch with an old friend that Friday, I caught up on shopping, found a new purse on back-to-school sale. No more BTS for me, but the sales are still a great idea.

Then it was off to our son’s house visiting with him and his lovely family, lunching on burgers and outstanding carrot cake, teasing and loving grandchildren, playing games; lengthening and strengthening the bonds we built in our son’s childhood.

Came home to view a large column of smoke rising from the woods about 4 miles from our house. Fire’s out, now, thank the Lord.

Then came Sunday, the day when we rest only from our own stuff, but highly concentrate on the Lord’s work . . . How I love the little church that has tripled in attendance since having a pastor, for a change! And how I love the one-hour drive to it, when I share my husband and he shares me with: NO ONE. Our talks have been so good.

That was yesterday, and we had a lovely visitor to grace our home for the afternoon. Made nachos and just relaxed together. So good.

Now it is just me, just this home. Such peace. Bed made. Laundry started. Cats fed. Chickens out. Headed for 105 degrees IN THE SHADE (that’s right at 40 C), today, down from the recent 110-ish week, with humidity from a brief rain last night. Air conditioner, set on 80, has run several times, already, this morning. Garden dead and tilled in. Jars of food all rinsed and stored in the basement.

Pear harvest waiting to be pear butter.

Second cup of coffee sitting at ready.

Join me! Bring your best knife and I’ll share some pear butter with you–it’ll be fun!

Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures: Mountains

Posted on August 7, 2011August 7, 2011 by Katharine

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore. Psalm 125:2

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

. . . if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2b

Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken

Posted on July 29, 2011July 30, 2011 by Katharine

Broken things lead to other broken things. They can be like dominos. An exploding lightbulb can knock over a fragile vase. A broken tree can break another tree as it falls:

broken tree breaking tree — Broken Tree Breaking Tree

These trees, near our chicken house, are probably going to fall onto the chicken yard fence and break it, too. Ever try to bend or move a tree? Think of the extreme power in a falling tree that it can bend, and even break, a tree near it.

When we humans break, we need to be careful how we fall. We have the above type of power over our fellow man, sometimes.

But look at this:

This poor old tree, though obviously having seen better days, someone has mended in hopes it will last a bit longer. I like its pluck. See how it seems to be trying to dance with the grasses?

May we all try to copy it!

Believe it or not!, Photos

RAIN, RAIN, COME AGAIN!

Posted on July 29, 2011July 28, 2011 by Katharine

We Got Rain!

Yes, a few days ago, we got rain! It was only 3/8 inch but it was so wonderful, we sat on our front porch and got wet watching it. Then, only two days later, we received that much, again, putting us at 3/4 inch. Not much, but we were silly with excitement.

Then, of course, I just had to photograph it and see what would show up.

In the camera viewfinder, the drops did not look as if they would show, but here they are:

showers of blessing — Click on photo for zoom to see details.

I took MANY shots, but I know although I could look at many more, you might prefer just one. I chose to show how big the drops were and how steam was rising as the water landed on our hot, hot world. Also a view of our parched grass appears here, and dead trees in our neighbor’s pasture. Please ignore the weeds in the patio: it’s been over 100 degrees every day (around 40 C) and the soil has been too hard.

And, yes, even then, while it was raining, the sun was still trying its best to shine through.

I felt a bit silly, like a little girl, taking pictures of rain, but I could not stop myself. I was so happy for it. Since then I have visited with several friends, and guess what: In almost every family I know, someone was photographing this very rain. HA!

Just had to share that fact with you so you could better understand how much we lacked rain and how universally happier everyone is, these days.

Going off to mow a bit, now. 🙂

Photos

Weekly Photo Challenge: Colorful

Posted on July 23, 2011July 22, 2011 by Katharine

YELLOW IS A COLOR!

daylily and lantana — Daylily and Lantana

With our still ongoing drought, these amazing souls are doing their best to bring us “colorful” although they never receive the benefits of irrigation like their veggie neighbors do. Good job, guys. But…

…several gorgeous others dropped in to give us a really good show. This one was terribly camera shy. The red wasps were NOT. I had to work quickly, dodge a bit, and get back into the house, pronto. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how many flashes of “colorful” they were willing to add to our fun, here:

I have no idea what kind of butterflies these are, except I know they are the faithful kind; they come to my lantana beds every year. Some new ones showed up this year, though:

I followed this one around a bit, and am so glad because…

…we get a glimpse of blue and red undies! Can you see it? If you click on the photo, it will zoom in for you. And, oh, look! Here is the shyest of them all:

It probably thinks it is hidden–I took several of this one zipping out of the shot.

The wasps are noticing things. Gotta run!

See ya!

Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Homemaking, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Womanhood

You CAN Can – Help!

Posted on July 21, 2011November 25, 2013 by Katharine

Canning, Gardening, and Kids – Oh, MY!

Since we’ve been on the subject of canning all week, let’s talk about canning and children.

Children who are old enough ought to help. Little ones ought to stay away. Too much is going on for you to trust yourself to watch them carefully. All that blanching and lugging jars adds a safety factor with which they are too young to cooperate, and one act of confusion or disobedience could be disastrous.

So draw a line and make it stick. This is a time when high chairs, play pens, door gates, etc., are proper for the safety of precious little ones.

Let me tell you how we enlisted our children’s help in the garden when the days were blistering hot. We woke them at daylight, and had them dress quickly and go directly to the garden with us. Everyone had an assignment, only 30 – 45 minutes worth of work.

Each one managed his own row, which he kept weeded and proudly displayed to guests. Really, the garden looked good.

The youngest one’s work was to play nearby without walking on garden plants or eating dirt.

Then it was back to the house for our reward. On these days we would have treat-type breakfasts such as cantaloupe and ice-cream, oatmeal raisin cookies, fruit juice popsicles, strawberries on cereal, frozen chocolate-dipped bananas, cheesecake with blackberry sauce—whatever they considered rare and delightful. They loved it! They knew how hot the world would be by 10:00, and they seemed to appreciate my organizing things this way.

Then if we HAD to work in the heat, we would take quart jars of ice water with us and drink straight from the jar. They loved this, too. When such hot work was done, their daddy would throw them squealing into our large stock tank (which was kept for the children, only, and was un-licked-upon by any livestock) and they had water play in their work clothes.

These types of rewards were the heartbeat of our children’s summer gardening memories. They are adults, now, and still remember it with smiles, still do gardening, themselves.

Sometimes they fussed a little or grew competitive, but often the sweet sounds coming from the early morning garden rivaled those of the birds.

Tomorrow: recipes for the surplus!