Mountain Musings

Prayer Request

Hello, faithful blog readers! Would you please keep us in prayer once more--Mom had to head off to  South Boston again this morning to be with her mom. Pray for strength and wisdom and Granny's health as they go through meetings and doctor's appointments today and tomorrow. We appreciate your prayer support!

~Hannah

Treasure Tuesday

On my recent post, Amanda asked to read more about my hope chest. This post is in answer to her comment.

My granny gave me my hope chest for Christmas in 2001. I had wanted one for a few years and was quite pleased when I received it. Since then my collection has grown a lot, and now not only is my hope chest filled but also plastic storage containers under my bed and cardboard boxes in my closet as well. :) Of course, that doesn't include the things that don't fit in boxes or the items I'm using right now, such as a few shelves, a quilt rack, my books, etc. Yesterday, I went through all my hope chest stuff and took some pictures of various items so everybody could get a taste of what I have. :)

This is one of several cross-stitch projects I've completed. I have several more I'd like to get done. :) There's also one that Hannah made for me that's she still in the process of framing. I may keep that one on my wall instead of in my hope chest. 

A lot of items come from my granny--she moved out of her house several years ago and gave many things to Hannah and me. This cake stand, antique pie and muffin tins, crock with utensils, and cherry pie holder are all from her. The box of utensils at the back are from a yard sale. :) I find a lot items new or in very good condition at yard sales for great prices.

Placemats, kitchen towel set, and the set of pots are all yard sale deals. :) The cast iron skillet, the tablecloth you can see peaking out from behind it, the brand new utensil set (I've got a lot of those!), and pot are from my granny. The box in the middle holds the dried petals of my graduation roses.

Here's a lot of my baby clothes! Several of these outfits either I or my siblings wore. Also, on the right is a playsuit that both my mom and I have worn. The teddy bear was my first birthday present, and the little New Testament was given to me at my baby dedication. My aunt gave me the Little House on the Prairie book.

This spice rack, grater, and canister set were from yard sales...for $5 or less. :) The baking dishes are from my granny, and the tea cup was a Christmas gift from my great-aunt.

These are just 2 pieces from my set of china. It was a graduation gift from my granny. I think she got it at an antique store, but I'm not sure. There are several boxes just of that in my closet. :)

My beautiful bread box that Dad made for me is on the left! Right now it's put to use holding some of my books. My dad has made several woodworking projects for me, including a recipe box, a spice/wall cabinet, and the aforementioned shelves and quilt rack.

Besides the pictures, I have pots, pans, various kitchen items, a couple sheets, dish towels and washcloths, several afghans, 2 twin comforters that I use now, a lamp, cookbooks, old letters and cards, a few more clothes, a punch bowl set, a knife set, doilies and another tablecloth, and the notes from a Bible study on marriage that my family went through a few years ago. Whew! There's more there than I remembered! I'm also working on an afghan right now, and hopefully soon I'll be learning how to make a quilt, so those have to fit in somewhere. :)

A great book that has a ton of information on hope chests is The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love by Rebekah Wilson. It really has a lot of ideas for what to put in your hope chest, as well as the history behind them, advice on how to pack them, bridal shower and trousseau ideas, and much more. You can read some excerpts from the book here. It happens that it was edited by Carmon of Buried Treasure Books. :)

If you have any questions, comment and I'll see if I can answer them. :) And stay tuned for Hannah's post on HER hope chest coming up.

~Sarah

Butternut Squash Pie

Updated with Muffin Recipe

After harvesting around 21 butternut squash from our garden this year, I have been coming up with several different ways to use them besides just baking them in the oven (which I've done by splitting in half lengthwise, removing the seeds, and then cooking for an hour or more with a little water after sprinkling with seasonings).

Recently I tried a squash and corn chowder recipe, though it didn't seem to be a "keeper" among those who sampled it.

The photo above shows the pie I made using a pumpkin pie recipe. It turned out tasting pretty close to the real thing. While at Granny's house this past week, I made some sweet potato muffins when I had a spare moment; this week I want to try making the same recipe substituting the butternut squash, and of course, using freshly ground flour this time. :) I'm thinking that I can probably take any recipe calling for pumpkin, sweet potato and the like, and make it with the butternuts instead. Oh, the possibilities!

~Hannah

Back Home Again

It's good to be home after being away all last week. Hannah and I traveled to South Boston on Monday morning to help my mom who is a very tired caregiver for her 90-year-old husband, who is in the hospital after a fall. He is becoming more and more confused as time goes on, and I'm not sure she will be able to manage him at home.

We were able to offer extra pairs of hands for her--running errands, cooking the meals and cleaning the house, getting maintenance done on vehicles, driving her to the doctor several times throughout the week for her own health conditions, meeting with a neurologist, and being sitters in the hospital so she could get some rest.

Even now that we're back home, I wonder if she's getting sufficient sleep, taking the right medications at the right time, and keeping herself calm with all the decisions to be made on his behalf. We may need to return for a period of time to help out again--and I gladly will--but for now, Hannah and I are enjoying being around the family again, relaxing, and being thankful that we're healthy and at home.

Our time away sure made me appreciate even more caregivers who give time and energy constantly to their loved ones. If you know someone who is a round-the-clock caregiver, I wholeheartedly recommend volunteering to sit with their relative one afternoon or bring in some food so they can take a much needed break. What a blessing it was for us to make ourselves available for whatever my mom needed!

I also want to thank Sarah who did a wonderful job of keeping not only the house going but the blog updated while we were away. Thank you all for encouraging her with your comments on her posts! And thank you for praying for us while we were away. It's good to be connected to a computer again! :)

~Deb

First Day of Fall!

It's fall again! I love autumn - it's my favorite season. The colorful leaves, the crisp cool air, the smell of leaves burning, hikes through the woods, cozy turtlenecks and sweaters...aaahhh! I enjoy everything about this season. I can curl up with a book and hot apple cider or hot chocolate. I can make pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cake, and pumpkin bread! :)

What are some of your favorite fall activities?

~Sarah

Thursday Thirteen

13 Of My Favorite Games!

1. Pit! I love this game - especially when it gets really loud. I've gotten rather hoarse from playing it sometimes. :)
2. Scattergories This is a good game to pull out anytime, with 2 people or a crowd.
3. Taboo It can be hard to come up with good descriptions of the words without saying the taboo words. I've been known to say, "It's a thing...that's a thingy, that's a thing." :)
4. Password This is the traditional game to play with my dad's side of the family when they visit.
5. Trivial Pursuit Always fun to come up with answers to all the trivia questions - history and wild card are my two favorite categories.
6. Guesstures Great to play with a big group! We've had some hilarious moments while playing this one. :)
7. Pictionary This is a family favorite that Mom especially likes, and she gets rather competitive. ;)
8. Tribond It can be interesting trying to come up with the way that 3 words are related. Some words seem like they CAN'T have anything in common.
9. Clue The classic detective game - I don't win very often, but it's still fun.
10. Balderdash This is the one that is SO funny when Mom plays. You can always tell which definition she wrote!
11. Phase 10 We were first introduced to this game by a friend, and I had to get it for Jonathan on his next birthday.
12. Rook My granny is the Rook expert, and we always have to play when she comes.
13. Spoons A great party or group game...it's always fun when everybody suddenly dives for the spoons!

What are some of the games that you enjoy playing?

~Sarah

Around the House

My, I feel like an official homemaker! Mom and Hannah are gone, and I'm the only girl left in these parts. :) The past few days have been filled with laundry, cooking, cleaning, picking veggies from the garden, grocery shopping...everything that Mom and Hannah do, plus my  normal responsibilities. This blog post is one thing that I was instructed to do before Mom's return. :)

I thought I would post a picture of the baby blanket I finished crocheting the other day...here it is. It was a pretty easy pattern - I got it off of the label of the yarn I used, Bernat Baby Coordinates Sweet Stripes. After I wash it, it's off to my hope chest to await my future babies! :)

Well, I have more laundry to do, so I shall finish up this post and get off the computer.

~Sarah

Tuesday Treasures From Afar

Earlier this summer I became aware of a blogger willingly sharing some of her garden seeds with anyone who wanted any of her extras. Never being one to turn down anything free, I promptly emailed her to ask for some of her "Love in a Mist" seeds. I had never heard of this plant but thought it would be so interesting to have something growing in my garden that had once been in another garden far, far away.

I received a return email shortly afterwards informing me she would be delighted to mail me her seeds, and I started watching the mailbox eagerly for a package.

Eventually, I received a follow-up email from her telling me she took the seeds to the post office to mail but was told that because of the recently planned airline terrorist attack, seeds are now classified as food stuffs, and liquids and food stuffs cannot travel by post from the United Kingdom to the United States. Essentially, her seed sharing had come to an end. Of course, she was very disappointed and so was I.

In fact, she felt so badly about her promise to send me something and then not being able to follow through that she gathered up some unique treasures from around her home to send to me and the girls "to make up for the disappointment."

What a special package I received last week from her home in Warwickshire, United Kingdom! As you can see, she included an old fashioned sewing machine card with a delightful note inside, an Edwardian pamphlet on pickles, jellies, and preserves, Debbie Bliss merino aran, flower pictures from her beautiful garden, and three pieces of "Liberty Tana" fabric, which she uses to make lavender bags.

I was amazed at the generosity and caring shown to me, especially when there was no obligation to do so. She actually tailored the package just for us after reading of some of our interests on our blog! Natalie, thank you so very much! I love it all! I will always remember you as our special faraway gardening friend.

~Deb

Appalachian Farm on the Parkway

Our weekend was very enjoyable with overnight guests on Friday, and it was fun spending time with them at the Appalachian Farm on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday afternoon. We opted not to climb Humpback Rock this visit although the strenuous hike was beckoning just across the road from the farm. In the picture above Sarah and Hannah are watching the basket making and yarn spinning taking place on the front porch.

The Humpback Rock Mountain Musicians were playing mountain fiddlin' tunes and a few gospel songs inside the old cabin to keep the visitors entertained. Pictured above you can see Jonathan taking a turn on the hammered dulcimer plunking out "Star of the County Down." Later one of the ladies switched to her fiddle and shared her guitar with Jonathan, and he accompanied the group on "I'll Fly Away." It was a very impromptu jam session, and he seemed to have a lot of fun.

The Applachian Farm has always been an interesting place to spend a fall afternoon. The old wooden checkerboard, with corn cob pieces as the checkers, was still there waiting for someone to sit down for a game. Here's Hannah playing with Dougie, one of our young guests. We have pictures of Micah and Sarah playing checkers on the same board about 15 years ago when we were there on a homeschool field trip!

Sarah tried her hand at spinning the colorful yarn on the front porch of the cabin. She said the wheel kept trying to go exactly opposite from what she wanted, and it was harder than it looked on her first attempt.

I'd love to drive on the Parkway later in October when the leaves have turned colors and stroll the farm trail again. All in all it was a very fun afternoon with our guests.

~Deb

Fun Friday

Long, long ago Susan tagged me for this meme, and I'm sure she thought I'd never get around to it. But finally here are my answers!

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4: ~ ..."our deeds are dependent upon the condition of our heart soil"  (from Down a Garden Path by Karla Dornacher).

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can:  ~ just air reaching into the schoolroom.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? ~ probably news/weather at the motel when we were in Georgia for the wedding in June.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is:  ~ 5:25 a.m.

5. Now look at the clock:  ~  5:31 a.m.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? ~ only the drone of the fan (we use it for night noise) because most of the family are still asleep.

7. When did you last step outside? ~ yesterday afternoon to tie back a hibiscus from drooping on the ground so Sarah could mow around it.

8. Before starting this survey what did you look at?  ~ Bloglines, where this meme was saved waiting for me to answer it!

9. What are you wearing? ~ a warm and cozy red robe

10. Did you dream last night? ~ probably, but I never remember what I dream afterwards.

11. When did you last laugh? ~ I usually have something crazy going on around the house all the time, but evidently this has been a slow week for laughs; I don't remember laughing at all!

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in? ~ BBN calendar, antique small city license plate from my dad's car dated 1974 with South Boston on it, white eraser board with to-do list, clock (I'm in the schoolroom with slanted walls so there's not much wall space).

13. Seen anything weird lately? ~ no

14. What is the last film you saw? ~ re-run #11 of a Sheffey video last night. Amazingly, I never tire of this movie and always get teary when he gives his faithful horse Gideon away.

15. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? ~ After giving a tithe back to the Lord, I would pay off Micah's medical school bill, pay off our house mortgage, build a deck on back of the house, build a new deluxe garden with raised beds and enclosed with a picket fence, give each of the kids some money for their future, donate to several of my favorite missionaries, airplane tickets to anyplace, and a red pickup truck so I could haul my own mulch!

16. Tell me something about you that I don't know: ~ I am wild and crazy at home, but most people would never know "quiet Deb" could ever be like this!

17. George W. Bush: ~ I met him once in Newport News at a political rally. I respect him because the Lord placed him in the position he's in now as President.

18. Would you ever consider living abroad? ~ Sure, if the Lord said that's where He wanted us.

19. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gate? ~  "Welcome, Deb, let's go on a tour of My heavenly gardens."

20. Five people you want to do this quiz on their blog: ~ I'm sure everyone has already participated in this meme since it's so old, but if anyone would like to that hasn't, feel free! Or answer some of your favorite questions in the comments section.

~Deb