Garden Tour 2013

I like to take photos every year to document our garden and flowers. 

Just to see what it looks like from year to year.

Join me on the tour...

Window boxes on the deck were an addition this year.

I have enjoyed gardening more than ever this year.

I guess it's 'growing' on me.

The martin houses are an addition as well.

A hobby of the hubby.

My husband's pride and joy. He adores this tree.

The smell reminds him of when he lived in Kentucky.

Knock out roses are great.

They are so giving- they bloom all summer.

Thanks for joining me on the tour.

I wish we could sit down together with a glass of sweet tea.

Blessings,

Hope

A Visitor

I had a tiny visitor the last few days. He had chubby cheeks, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He is a giggle box and loves his aunt Hope. He told me so.

Caleb Paul | Best cheeks ever for pinching.

Not only was Caleb here, his mother happened to come along, too.

Come see me again, I'll give you candy when you are old enough.

Shhhhh... don't tell your mom,

Aunt Hope

Thankful

No it's not Thanksgiving... but I am very thankful today. I'm thankful for my husband and family. 

My cousin, Michael, and his wife, Lynette, recently had a full-term, stillborn baby boy. They have two, precious girls and this was their first boy. My heart aches for them.

Why is it that we hold the ones we love a little more dear when we are faced with death? How can we so quickly forget how fragile life really is?

I'm asking myself these questions.

We get caught up in life, our own lives, not looking at the big picture. Small, trivial matters take over things that we should be doing to build our heavenly home. You can borrow money, but you can't borrow time. So today, I challenge you to enjoy the stage of life you are in- not wishing for this or that. Make the most of what the Lord has given you. Be content.

   

Here is a small glimpse into the mound of things I am thankful for. I snapped these photos when I spent a day at home with my family on Saturday.

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, 

do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks to God the Father through him."

- Colossians 3:17

I'm thankful for you, too,

Hope

Chickens

I have wanted chickens since we got married. I kept asking for portable chicken coop that we could pull around our field. Josh decided to make a coop for me underneath our barn lean to. A dandy idea indeed. We bought 5 hens on Saturday and put them in their new home. We were hoping to let them roam free through the day but Duke, our dog, and Louise, Mom's dog, seem a little too interested in the chickens. Not sure how we are going to solve that problem.

Meet the girls, Henny, Penny, Hilda, Ethel, and Jane. I just made those names up. ha.

 They wouldn't cooperate for a group photo.

Their cozy home with an automatic door to the left of the big door.

Josh trying to make the dogs understand that chickens are not to eat or chase.

Hilda was a free range chicken before she came to stay with us.

She really enjoys any of the outdoors she can see.

 

The best part. Fresh eggs, five everyday.

The chicken lady,

Hope

CCA Seniors

I took photos of our church school seniors this evening. It was a lovely evening. Hanging out with seniors made me feel young again.

A cute but very annoying intruder, that would not go away.

 Little burger messed up a perfectly good photo. Gazing into the blue.

Congratulations seniors!

Hope

Boys and Blooms

I had been wanting to catch the local orchard in full bloom for a few years now and this year I finally remembered.

Girls in pink flowing dresses would have been lovely- but I will take little boys
with mischievous grins any day. I Love my nephews. If you haven't noticed:)

 

 

If these photos seem effortless to you- looks can be deceiving. There were marshmallow peeps for bribing, and very, very silly songs sang to make these boys stand still, and look at the camera.

Hi, Faith and Charity, I hope you are having fun in Indiana without me.

Love to all,

Aunt Hope

Slugs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails...

...that's what little boys are made of. 

I wished for a niece but I am pretty

smitten by my four nephews.

Here are a few photos of my little,

nephew Caleb. He is growing like a weed.

 Sweet, sweet baby.

6 weeks old and needs to see the barber.

His mother claims she won't cut his hair until

he is one. Looks like he will be sporting piggy tails.

Norman Rockwell worthy.

These two are quite the pair.

A happy Auntie,

Hope

Pig Meetn'

We had a butchering day with my family yesterday. I vividly remember

butcher day as a child. I always wanted to take off school for butcher day. One day mom asked if I would rather go somewhere to stay or come with them to butchering day. I told her I'd rather come to the 'pig meetn' with them.
For years it was called the 'pig meetn'.

The older I got I did all I could to miss the 'pig meetn'. The strong smell and cutting up raw meat wasn't a real draw for me. What teenager doesn't

have more important things to do, ha. Now that I'm married I decided I'd participate in 'pig meetn' again so I could reap the benefits of fresh sausage, pon hoss and spending a day with the family. I guess that means I'm growing up.

I will step you through the process with photos. But please don't go by this to butcher a pig. I'm green behind the ears at this. I may have missed some important photos.

The pig was slaughtered by a local man and came to us in halves ready to butcher. Start cutting out the parts of the meat you want to keep- roasts, ribs, bacon and such.

Cut the fat off the meat pieces. Put the red meat in one pan and the fat in another. The red meat is used for sausage and the fat is used to make lard.

Trim the bones down as close as you can and throw them in a pot of boiling water too cook down for meat puddin which is made into pon hoss.

Once you pick the meat off the bones you cooked, run the cooked meat through a sausage grinder to make it fine. Brown the meat in the kettle and remove some meat puddin if you like. As a child I remember eating the meat puddin on cooked hominy with apple butter. Then add the broth that was made when you cooked the meat off the bones. Pour in corn meal, salt and pepper. Stir for 30 minutes with automatic paint stirrer. Of course it was new and just used for butchering. Then pour into loaf pans, once set, slice and fry on a hot griddle until crisp on both sides. We grew up putting King Syrup on our pon hoss, my husband puts mustard on his. What do you put on yours?

In another kettle add the fat you cut off the meat and cook it down until the liquid reaches 375 degrees. Then pour it into jars and once it's cooled you have lard. Some folks use a lard press to press more lard out of the cooked fat but we didn't.

The Grandma's reminiscing on how much work it was to butcher back in their day before freezers. They had to can a lot of the meat after they butchered. 

Mom and Dad butchered the day before so Mom was the cook and babysitter.

What a lovely day with family.

 I'm glad I was a part of the 'pig meetn' this year.

Blessings,

Hope