May the glory of the passing away
of autumn
lie about us
fresh gold
for a time.
And when the dark comes, and
the cold,
May we remember how today we
stand in glory
how we walk in bounty,
heaped upon the earth’s dark carpet,
how we move knee deep in
abundance,
flung against night’s winter
curtain.
We are thankful for it’s coming,
and for its passing.
Let it be.
- Barbara J. Pescan
One of the things we gave my Grandma for her 88th Birthday was a “trip down memory lane.” This meant that we made a route of all the places where she lived and went to school, the place where she met my Grandpa, the churches she attended…
So we drove past houses and parks, now razed areas, subdivisions where fields were once plowed. In some cases I was surprised at how much has remained, how vivid the stories, how fresh some memories felt. And would you believe that everyone on our trip, even the guest of honor, heard at least one new story.
Just before dusk we came to this small church, which was the Covenant Church when my grandparents were young. It was on a hayride sponsored by this church’s “young people society” where my grandparents found themselves holdinging hands at the end of a game. The rest, as you might guess, is the history of my family…
There is nothing like house guests to motivate a good house cleaning. – Q.B. Roop
Well more than house cleaning, our upcoming visitors have motivated a great many projects around here. From hanging pictures and hooks, to installing railings, trim, and even kitchen faucet…we have been happily busy. We might even sew some curtains by Wednesday. I think we need visitors more often!!
Oh, and I have heard your requests for updated house pictures. I will gladly oblige… once we’ve cleaned up from our many projects!
We are back to the season of comfort food: warming casseroles, thick soups, crusty breads, biscotti of course… And what to make when meal planning forgot to go shopping? Baked macaroni and cheese, of course.
Ryan made this variety with a few happy extras, namely the colorful bonus of a red pepper. It was a very welcomed addition that both girls also tolerated.
I could describe the “recipe.” it goes something like this: cook salted pasta and sauté chopped onions with garlic. Also sauté a thinly chopped red pepper, but don’t let it get too soft. Mix in cheese until it looks cheesy enough and add a couple splashes of milk for creaminess’ sake. If you’re not starving ir happen to already have the oven on, bake it at a high temp for a few minutes to give a crusty top. Yeah, I’m probably never going to be asked to write recipes in a helpful form. :) But enjoy it all the same!
In old Burton’s time, men made books as apothecaries made their medicines- by pouring out of one bottle into another…If books have not entirely ceased to be drugs in the market, as publishers sometimes complain, it is not because they are still compounded after the old recipes, for every apothecary – I mean ever bookmaker – is supplied with the essences and flavors and tinctures of his own. – R.H. Stoddard, preface to Familiar Quotations, published June 20, 1883
Ah yes, one of the dear old friends now taken from a box to find a new home within ours. I greatly enjoy reading through these old excerpts from poems and essays…what was once familiar is hardly that any more. It is indeed a slow read, but one I enjoy to return to from time to time. Happy reading!
