Mountain Musings

Watermelon Quilt Giveaway

Wendy, over at Sewing in the Wendy City, is giving away a Watermelon Quilt table topper! Head over to her blog and enter to win. Her contest closes tonight, and she'll draw the winner on June 1st.

Click on the link above to see the full-sized quilt.

~Deb

Last Week's Adventures ~ Part 4

As Mom said in her post on Tuesday, on Memorial Day we went geocaching! This was a first for the Girotti family, although we have talked about doing it before. Now that we have a GPS, there was no reason we couldn't try it, so....WE DID! :)

If you aren't familiar with geocaching, here's a short blurb about it from the website.

Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache. 

On Sunday night, Dad gave me the task of figuring out what caches we would look for and how to enter them in our GPS. I typed in our zip code, and there were hundreds of caches in our area to choose from!  They all have ratings for both terrain difficulty and difficulty of finding, as well as an indication of the general size of the container.

I picked out 6 different caches, entered the co-ordinates into our GPS, and unfortunately did not bother deciphering the extra encrypted clues on each one. (They were supposedly rated EASY on the difficulty scale...who needs clues when it will obviously be easy to find???)

The next morning we got going, headed to the first on the list - a mere mile or so down the road. Each cache is named, and from the name we already knew where it would be...in a nearby church's cemetery. We all piled out of the car, eager to find our first cache. Walking through the gravestones, the GPS showed that we were getting closer and closer to the end point. The computerized voice announced that we had arrived when we reached the grave of someone called Nichols.

We started hunting around, looking for anything that might possibly be what we were looking for. A GPS may not be completely accurate, so you normally just have to look in the general vicinity, not the exact spot it says. We searched for a good while, looking around trees, along the fences, and anywhere else that looked promising. We finally had to admit defeat.  

This was discouraging, but we figured that surely we'd find the next one. Next up - the local park. All of us except Mom piled out again, starting off along the edge of the lake. This time, our stubborn little GPS never announced our arrival, and we just wandered all around the general area. Wouldn't you know it, there were dozens of ivy covered trees right where it was supposed to be! We looked high and low, stuck our hands into knotholes and in crevices, and once again turned up empty.

Two in a row - failures. No matter, our spirits weren't TOO much dampened as we headed toward our third location at a local ice cream store. We pulled up in the empty parking lot and started to search the stone wall bordering the back. Yet again, no sign of anything!

At this point, we were getting a little bit annoyed. What was wrong with us?! Right across the road from the ice cream shop was a street that we headed down, driving to the location of the final 3 caches. They were located in another park, but one we'd never been to before.

The road was not very suitable for our big van. The description on this cache advised us to use caution on the road and said that 4-wheel drive would soon be required. Hmmm. The road finally dead-ended, and we parked. We saw a sign for a hiking trail, and since the title of the next cache included the word "Overlook," naturally we thought if we walked down the path we'd soon arrive there.

 

This time both Dad and Mom stayed in the car as the 3 of us intrepid explorers set off into the woods. After a few minutes, I checked the GPS and gave the rest of them the heads up that we weren't getting any closer to where we wanted to be. In fact, it almost looked like we were getting farther away. No one paid any attention to me. :( They thought surely the trail would eventually curve back around.

After another little while, I announced that we were definitely walking farther and farther away from our intended destination; however, we were gaining ground on an entirely different cache. We decided to go ahead and look for that one while we were so close.

This one said we arrived when we reached a fork in the trail. The only problem was that we were in the middle of a very overgrown forest. Leaves, fallen logs, vines, and probable poison ivy did not make hunting very easy.

Finally admitting defeat, we headed back to the car. Getting back, I decided to stay in the car since I was getting quite hot, sweaty, and discouraged, while Hannah and Jonathan decided to go ahead and try hiking in the opposite direction to find the original overlook.

They took one cell phone, and the three of us in the car had another. A little while later, we called and said not to be much longer, as we needed to be heading to a Memorial Day cookout lunch with friends. They said they had reached the overlook, and there seemed to be a road that led there. Dad drove around, found what looked like could be the road, and we bumped and shook our way up the hill.

Unfortunately, someone was coming down the very narrow road at the same time. After safely squeezing by, we reached the overlook to find two smiling siblings. Correctly deducing they must have found something, we all got out and went to look at the long sought geocache.

Here we are, happy to have finally found one! In each box, there is a log book where people sign their name and the date they found the cache. In the ones that are large enough, there are also little trinkets that you are allowed to take as long as you put something back in of equal or greater value.

Jonathan signed the log, and I put in a keychain and took out a small plastic chip clip. We carefully put the box back exactly where we found it, and rushed to the last location a very short way down the road, hoping we'd find it quickly. No luck on the last one, however, and we headed home with only 1 find out of 6 tries. 

It seems as if people can really get into geocaching, and there's a whole world of terms and lingo that we don't understand right now. One thing I saw is that all non-geocachers are called muggles, and it's essential that you can't have muggles watching you find the cache or tell them about where a cache is located. So technically I might be breaking the rules with this post, although hopefully I was vague enough so I didn't give any top secret info to all you muggles out there. :)

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and hopefully we can try it again soon. Although this time I'm going to decipher those clues first.

~Sarah 

Last Week's Adventures ~ Part 3

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day to visit a friend and stroll a historic site. Before heading back home to the Valley last week, we stopped by Berry Hill Mansion in South Boston. My friend, Carolyn, who recently visited us here at Mountain Musings, lives directly across the road from Berry Hill and had invited Hannah and me for lunch and a tour while we were in town.

We crossed River Road and headed toward the well-maintained entrance. Carolyn said there would be plenty of walking involved. The driveway itself was at least a half mile long or more, plus all the grounds to be toured. But the exploring was delightful.

An avenue of beautiful trees lined the driveway up to the mansion, and Carolyn's dog, Morgan, walked with us and patiently waited while we toured the house, the backyard rose gardens, the family cemetery, the resort facilities, and the grounds.

Inside: Below you can see the double staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms, and in the next photo you see all the many silhouettes of the family adorning the walls of the dining room. Carolyn was a great tour guide and told us all about the Bruce family who had lived here at Berry Hill. There's more history here.

Below are views of the Rose Garden taken from inside looking out and also photos taken in back of the mansion. The property was lovely.

After a morning of touring and walking, we were all ready for lunch and made our way back across River Road and sat down to a wonderful lunch buffet.

Lunch menu: Creamy Almond Chicken, Salad with lettuce and onions from Carolyn's garden, watermelon rind pickle, fresh fruit, rolls, peach tea, and lemonade; and for dessert Strawberry Cake. Everything was displayed beautifully and was delicious, too! Thank you, Carolyn!

After lunch we drove to the Crystal Hill area where an Amish community has been established. We shopped in the Scratch and Dent store, stuck our head in the Bakery, and eventually ended up at a beautiful greenhouse where we brought some flowers home with us.

All in all, it was a great trip to South Boston seeing my mom and sister and a real blessing that we could visit with Carolyn while we were in the area.

~ Deb

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previous posts in this series:

Adventures ~Part 1 ~ Wedding Parsonage

Adventures ~ Part 2~ Bloomsburg Mansion

Next: Adventures ~ Part 4 ~ Geo-Caching

Last Week's Adventures ~ Part 2

No, this isn't Berry Hill Mansion that I promised to post about...this is the little white house on Route 58 where I grew up. (But keep reading, I did post about a mansion today.)

We rode by my parents' first house on our country drive last week, and I wanted to post a picture of where my family lived until I was 11 years old. I wrote about it a few years ago on the post Where I'm From.

This old barn is on property behind the little white house and belonged to my dad's parents. Evidently the current owners left it standing because it is such an interesting old barn. (Notice a portion of a gazebo on the right that was added sometime after my grandparents' house was sold in 1967.)  

I played inside on the dirt floor of this barn in the 1950's calling out to the doodlebugs. We would draw circles in the sand around a doodlebug mound, blow gently on it, and sing, "Doodlebug, doodlebug, your house is on fire!" and we'd watch the sand start moving.

Remembering that jingle got me curious, and I googled "doodlebug house on fire." A site called All Things Southern popped up with several variations of the doodlebug song (scroll 3/4 of the way down the page for the jingles). Another site stated:

Perhaps the most well-known example of a doodlebug charm was published in 1876, when writer Mark Twain included one in his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: "Doodle-bug, doodle-bug, tell me what I want to know!"

I also found a blog called Sliding Through Life and read a post along with some interesting comments written on doodlebugs, of all things! And I always thought it was my mom who made it all up. I never knew other people knew about doodlebugs like we did!

Not far from the barn stands Bloomsburg Mansion (Circa 1839), my dad and Aunt Bunny's homeplace. I never knew that it was called Bloomsburg Mansion until I researched some for this post! I'm amazed! Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful to live there again!

I played with my dolls on this porch (well, on the original porch) and rode my bike between the boxwoods that lined the driveway (before they were cut down)...oooh, I do remember those chiggers after one of those rides!

If you check out the South of the Dan Driving Tour site for Historic Buildings of Halifax County, Virginia, you will see a photo of the house from years past, and there are pictures inside and around the back of the house. In the article, the sentence that stands out to me is the one that begins the third paragraph from the end. It reads:

In 1922 the estate was sold to James A. Solomon, and his heirs held it until 1967.

James A. Solomon was my great-grandfather.

~Deb

Previous post:

Adventures ~ Part 1 ~ Wedding Parsonage

Next: Adventures ~ Part 3 ~ Berry Hill Mansion

 

A Great Mail Day!

Yesterday's mail contained some fun stuff! I won this Dayspring one-serving teapot at Lisa's blog Stop & Smell the Chocolates. Isn't it beautiful? The teapot sits on top of the cup, and the scripture is from Isaiah and says, "The Lord delights in you."

Plus, Lisa included a bunch of tea bags and a delightful scripture notecard. Thank you, Lisa! I love it all.

I also won this Moda Woodland Bloom charm pack in the forum over at Missouri Star Quilt Company.

Check them out; every day they have a Deal of the Day and you pay only $5 shipping for everything you buy, plus there's lots of good information in the forum. 

And now I'm just waiting for this Astor Manor JELLY ROLL from 3 Sisters to arrive in the mail from In Stitches! I won it!

For everyone who might like to win giveaways (like I do!)...have you been over to Sew, Mama, Sew for their May Giveaway Day? It just started today, and there are tons of giveaways....here, here, and here!

~Deb

Last Week's Adventures ~ Part 1

On Sunday I received an email from a friend wondering if I'd been out of town or just plain busy since Mountain Musings has been rather quiet lately! Well...both, actually!

Travel: Hannah and I were in my hometown of South Boston, Virginia, to be with my mom for a few days last week. My sister Bet was there also, along with Barney, visiting from South Carolina. As usual we tried to fit in as much as possible...it was fun!

Flowers and Lamps: Hannah helped Granny plant her spring flowers, and we made a trek back to Olde Lamps & Thangs where we had more of Aunt Bunny's antique lamps repaired and where my sister purchased some beautiful globes. I really like that little lamp shop located in the town of Boydton.

Country Drive: We picked an afternoon and rode out to explore some country roads, and explore we did! And...this was so interesting!! We were riding along near Cluster Springs, and my mom casually said, "That's the house where we got married."

"Huh?" We turned around and drove back by the house very slowly...and took pictures, of course!  I had never, ever heard this story before. I lived in South Boston for 28 years before moving away, and this was the first time I was driving by this house where my parents' wedding took place and the first time knowing they were married here in this parsonage back in 1949. Talk about news to me!

For Sale: A major piece of business taken care of while we were all together was determining what furniture my mom would bring to our house when she moves in with us in the next few months...and also determining what my sister and I would like for our homes, and what gets sold. A big job accomplished! So we are praying for her house to sell in God's timing; would you pray with us?

Friends loaned us this DVD titled Journey of Honor when they knew we were entering this new season of having a parent live with us. We highly recommend it if you are thinking of something similar.

"Journey of Honor" makes the case for the superiority of home-based care for the elderly and infirm over institutional care, when possible. This documentary tells the personal stories of family and friends who have cared for their elderly and infirmed loved ones at home, highlights the services available to assist in these situations, and makes the Biblical case for families taking responsibility for the aged and infirm in their lives.

We had some full days in South Boston and made it home in time for a quilt class, working in the garden, preparing for church services here at our home on Sunday, and geocaching and a picnic with friends on Memorial Day. So much to blog about!

~Deb

Next:

Adventures ~ Part 2, Bloomsburg Mansion

Adventures ~ Part 3, Berry Hill Mansion

Progress report

Are you tired of reading about my cloth diaper project yet? All those of you who aren't interested in this fascinating topic have my permission to scroll past this post. :)

It's time for another update on how I'm doing on my cloth diapers and related items! I ordered extra PUL when I bought it for the diapers so there would be enough for diaper pail liners, zippered wet bags, and a changing pad. Those items are now completed!

Hannah was kind enough to give me an empty grain bucket to use as a pattern to go by for the pail liners, and I think they fit in there just wonderfully. :) I made two, so there would always be a clean one while the used bag is being washed. They have a drawstring closure and can be hung on a hook or doorknob if a pail isn't available.

For the changing pad, I didn't have any pattern or instructions. I just cut out a rectangle of PUL, a rectangle of flannel, and some quilt batting and sewed it together. I sewed dividing lines so there would be four sections, and it makes it easier to fold up. Hopefully it will work well.

Lastly, I made two zippered wet bags - these will be to keep in a diaper bag for out and about changes. The dirty diapers will be safely contained and not soil the inside of the diaper bag! They are simple squares, with a covered zipper near the top.

All of the above projects were very easy and didn't take that long - less than a day of actual sewing. I'm very pleased with how everything turned out! :)

And finally for the diapers themselves: I've cut out all 70 pocket diaper outer pieces, 70 pocket diaper inner pieces, and 23 fleece covers. I decided to do these in assembly line style to hopefully streamline things a little more and cut down on the time. So far I've only completed the first step - applying the front panel snaps to the pocket diapers, a total of 980 snaps. My hand was sore after finishing!

Now all my diapers are sitting in stacks according to their sizes, patiently waiting for me to get around to sewing them. I've been busy with various other sewing projects and things going on around the house, so I haven't yet made the plunge into full force diaper sewing. Hopefully soon.

That's it for now. I won't bother y'all again until I can show a picture of finished rows of diapers. :)

~Sarah

Hymns of Providence

Over the past several months our church has been studying God's sovereignty, relating to many different areas, such as the gospel, salvation, the unrighteous, human responsibility, or prayer. As the entire chapter of Psalm 145 shows us, realizing the Lord's sovereign upholding power should lead us to praise Him:

"...Thy dominion endures throughout all generations....The LORD is righteous in all His ways...My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD; and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever." ~from Psalm 145:13, 17, 21

Today we sang the following hymns, which have the theme of God's providence and sovereignty.

The first hymn is one I have always liked the words to and recall a friend eloquently quoting at a homeschool speech meet years ago. Our family was recently introduced to singing it with the beautiful tune Hermon.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform:
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
and rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines,
with never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
and works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
the clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
but trust Him for His grace;
behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour:
the bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
and He will make it plain.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Words: William Cowper, 1774

This second hymn was especially fitting to consider as our church prayed for a long-time friend of our family who is dying of cancer.

"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon him in truth." Psalm 145:18

These hymns hold some encouraging thoughts!

Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right

Winners Announced!

Get up to 53% off on these new DVDs--and the sale has been extended through tomorrow the 14th!

Thank you, Victoria, Mommy, Chris, Alli, Laura, David, Timothy, John, and Trents for entering our special giveaway for your choice of these films. Looks like You May Not Take Our Guns is a favorite!

Your names all went in the Random.org hat at 8:00pm tonight, and the name we drew was...

CHRIS!

Congratulations! We hope the DVD you choose will be a benefit to your family. We will be contacting you and Vision Forum soon.

Thank you everyone else for taking the time to comment! We got some first-timers out of the woodwork. ;)

~Hannah

Shenandoah Valley Art Show

Recently I participated in a weekend art show at a local garden center. Their gift shop has started carrying some of my photography cards, and when I talked to the owner, she invited me to come set up a table for free. I had less than two weeks to prepare, but since it seemed like a good opportunity for a little bit of exposure, I decided to go for it!

I was to be one of 4 local artists displaying their work at the greenhouse. The week before the event I was scurrying to get together the several new cards that were already planned to come out this spring. Two days before the show, Mom and I discovered a going-out-of-business sale and snapped up for $8 the only greeting card rack left.  This rack was very useful for showcasing my cards.

I was very glad to have the excellent help and company of Sarah on Friday and Mom on Saturday. The weather complicated things, not to mention affected the turnout. As you can see, we had to quickly cover the table and rack when the intermittent rain began. We ended up staying for just the morning hours both days. A grand total of 5 people entered my giveaway, but the Lord allowed me to make one sale just as I was taking everything down. Even if somewhat disappointing, the show was an interesting experience.

~Hannah