Mountain Musings

Warming Up America...

...One Square at a Time!

The other day I was in Michael's Arts and Crafts and saw a display sponsored by the Warm Up America Foundation asking folks to contribute a knitted or crocheted 7" x 9" section to be made into afghans and given to children's hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, women's shelters, and various other places.

I'm taking part in the project and knitting one or more squares to be used. Here's the list of patterns to choose from. Sounds simple enough for me to do, and it's a worthwhile cause. I'll take my completed squares back to Michael's and drop them in their collection bin. Next month a special day is set aside for crafters to help sew together all the squares donated, and completed afghans will be sent to the Foundation.

Actually, the reason I was in Michael's was to pick up some of Vanna's Choice yarn. Has anyone used this yarn before and have any opinions about it?

Here's the Modern Blocks blanket I wanted to try that I found in the Lion Brand Yarn catalog that just came in the mail last week. I loved the color combinations, but Michael's only carried one of the colors listed. I opted for my own color combination of Dusty Purple, Dusty Green, Linen, and Taupe. However, I've never used circular needles as called for in the pattern, so it will be more of a challenge than the washcloths I've been turning out!

~Deb

 

Answering Some Questions...

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for our Encyclopedia of Me ~ Q is for Questions post. Here are the questions and our answers below:

Cindi asks: "What is each of your favorite fictitious book?"

I like so many books, it's absolutely impossible to pick ONE favorite. :) Some of my many favorites include the Elsie Dinsmore series, Pansy books, Lamplighter books, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, the Chronicles of Narnia, Heidi, Pollyanna, the Swiss Family Robinson, and many others. ~Sarah

I actually don't read very much fiction, although I recently finished reading for the first time the Chronicles of Narnia series, which I enjoyed. ~Hannah

I have enjoyed several of Francine Rivers' and Angela Hunt's novels, and I enjoy reading Jamie Langston Turner's books, but I don't normally read a lot, although I do enjoy reading blogs and perusing magazines like Southern Living, Country Living, and Country Home to gather new recipes and see new ideas for country decorating . ~Deb

Tammy asks: "Does everyone in the family have a life verse, and if yes what are they?"

I've probably mentioned my life verses on the blog before; they are Jeremiah 29:11-13. I like them because of the great promises of God to me if I seek Him always as Lord of my life. Situations sometimes may look bad, but God means it all for good according to verse 11. ~Deb

Chyrll asks: "What is your favorite recipe and recipe book?"

Two of my favorite recipes are Chocolatetown Pie* and Key Lime Pie*, simply because they are very quick and easy to make, plus they both are quite yummy. :) I probably like my 2002 Taste of Home cookbook best...it really seems to have a good selection of recipes. ~Sarah

Like Sarah, I also like many of the recipes in Taste of Home magazines, and I have quite the collection of back issues to refer to when I want to try something new. Sue Gregg's Eating Better Cookbooks have some tasty recipes that we have yet to make. Some of our favorites have come from her Soups and Muffins book. ~ Hannah

Dorothy asks: "I would like to know what your Dad was like, Deb? It is fun to read about your Mom, and she seems to be so sweet...your Dad must have been someone very special, too."

Yes, very! My dad was a quiet, steady, and faithful man. Working in a cloth factory on second shift, he worked hard, came home and slept, and went back to work--day after day, year after year. He taught a young boys' Sunday School class for years, and I can still remember the big green set of Matthew Henry commentaries we had that he often studied for his lessons. Growing up, we took family vacations to the Smoky Mountains and traveled to revival meetings and gospel singings, and we always had a fun time as a family. In later years he loved spending time with his grandchildren. Here's a picture of my dad taken before the Lord called him home to heaven in January, 1999; we miss him very much!

And Sherrin had several she wanted to ask including: "When did you begin gardening, and what started you out?"

While Mom has always been into planting flowers and shrubs wherever we've lived over the years, and our whole family has done plenty of yardwork together, my interest in gardening really started when we moved to the Valley in 2002. Since we have 5 acres and plenty of full sun, there was room to begin a garden plot of our own. So in the spring of 2003, Mom and I put in several veggies in raised beds that we had mapped out for Dad to build. Our new home was also blessed with a friend's gift of many divided perennials that have since been added to--each year the garden here changes, and there is always something new growing! I've enjoyed doing a lot of reading and learning as I go. I'm glad for the chance to get this experience with gardening and to use it to serve our family. (Pictured: pineapple sage) ~Hannah

"Do you follow any particular ideas about courtship?"

We subscribe to Bible principles of loving parental involvement, protection, counsel, and betrothal. See the description in this post, under the heading "Marriage Preparation" (scroll down). We have been blessed with perspectives on this subject from John Thompson, Jonathan Lindvall, Douglas Wilson, Heather Paulsen, and others (see links and references in the post). ~Tom

"Do you have a daily schedule?"

No, I really don't (although I'd recommend it for a new wife starting out). I usually do things when they need doing rather than planning which day I do them or what time of the day I grocery shop or clean. If we're out of food, it's time to shop. If company's coming, it's time to clean. (That's a little joke there...but, seriously, having company over is a great motivation for cleaning!) I used to be much more schedule-oriented when we homeschooled because I had to make sure a large chunk of time was designated specifically for schooling with additional time scheduled for all the rest of the housework.

My time is quite freer now, and I have time to garden and landscape, quilt, knit, or cross-stitch, work on scrapbooking, have friends over for lunch, or write letters...so I plan my day around whatever is going on with the family. Plus, having adult daughters to work alongside me is quite the wonderful blessing. ~Deb

* recipes on continuation page

Family Vacation: Shaker Village Part I

Here we are having just arrived at Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. The family is standing by a portion of the 25 miles of rock fence that is built throughout the Shaker community. It was incredible to see just how many rocks were all over this area.

The first building we entered was the Craft Shop where we purchased tickets to tour the Village. This wasn't your usual tourist gift shop but rather held quite a collection of very nice items! Here's my mom examining an egg basket that had a $320 price tag on it. She makes baskets just like this--but charges a more reasonable price.

I enjoyed looking over all the yarn but just couldn't justify the purchase when I didn't have a project in mind. Although now I wish I had bought a pair of knitting needles from this shop to have a souvenir from Shakertown.

Hannah is standing by more unique baskets. I think Granny picked up some neat ideas here for future basket making. Notice the larger basket on the floor that uses an old rolling pin for the handle! I would love for my mom to make one incorporating that idea. Also, notice the basket just behind the rolling pin one, and you will see it has an old ladle woven into its side. Baskets on the table are covered with old white pot lids! Very interesting and something to scout around for at yard sales.

The Craft Shop also contained many Shaker Boxes for sale - the ideal souvenir to take home from Shakertown. Does anyone own a real Shaker Box? They are sold individually in various sizes or can be bought nested together. I had an idea to buy some for gifts for my sister and friends for Christmas. Well...the itsy-bitsy one... the very smallest one for sale was $40, and one beautiful larger Shaker Box was priced at $198! Can you imagine?! Sorry, sister and friends! But...we all came up with an idea for the woodworker in the family. Hey, maybe Dad can experiment and make Shaker Boxes for all of us!

Our next stop was the Meeting House built in 1820. It was the spiritual center of the community where the worship services were held, which included the charismatic trembling or shaking and the whirling dances which resulted in the name "Shaker." This lady on the right was an excellent interpreter. She described how the men (the brothers) would sit on the benches behind her on one end of the meeting house, and the women (the sisters) would sit on the other end. The Shakers lived a life based on separation from the world, communal ownership of property and goods, celibate purity, and confession of sins. I had never studied anything about the Shakers so all the information was new and interesting to me.

The acoustics in this building were unbelievable. This lady coming down the Meeting House steps sang many of the Shaker songs to demonstrate how the Shakers would sing and dance during their meetings. The most well-known Shaker song is Simple Gifts, which was her final selection; the performance was one of my favorites on the tour.

To Be Continued: Shaker Village - Part 2: Boxes, Brooms, and Quilts

~Deb

Family Vacation - Caving

In planning for our Kentucky fall vacation Hannah spent quite a bit of time researching places of interest and things to do as we traveled through West Virginia and Kentucky on our way to the Creation Museum in Hebron in northern Kentucky. She came up with several ideas, and our first stop on her list was Carter's Caves to explore a cave and do some hiking.

Here are Granny, Sarah, Hannah, and Jonathan at the Visitor Center which was all decorated for the fall season--only the colorful leaves and fall weather temps were missing!

The original plan was for me to stay with Granny and hike the mini-trail around the Visitor Center and shop at the gift shop while the rest of the family actually toured the cave. Easy! I love gift shops, and I like easy trails.

Well, we found out that Carter's Cave wasn't located right at the Visitor Center where we could all be together. Tom needed to drive--not far--but still a distance away to arrive at the cave location. Sooo, we all decided to get tickets and just go for it!

Here's Hannah leading my mom down into the cave. The tour guide let us go ahead of the crowd so we could take our time. This particular cave included 250 stairs--not all in one place but still something to think about for my mom as far as climbing back up out of there!

This cave boasted a 30-foot high underground waterfall and lots of stalagmites and stalactites--all millions of years old, of course, according to our geologist guide! Tom should have worn his Creation Museum polo shirt to pique our guide's interest.

Special features included the Lake Room's reflecting pool, the Cathedral in North Cave, and formations with names like The Old Man, Eagles Head, and The Turtle. It was all very interesting and was a neat cave experience.

Well, we survived the cave and made it back out into the sunlight after the 90-minute tour. It felt so good to be back into wide open spaces! So, no, we didn't go "caving" down on our hands and knees crawling into tiny little spaces. But, this was close enough, don't you think? :) Needless to say, we all ate well and slept well that evening after lots of good exercise!

~Deb

Next: Family Vacation - Shakertown

Family Vacation: Creation Museum

Well, did you guess we visited the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky for our fall break?  We had been looking forward to our visit there since the museum opened earlier this spring and also since we'd seen pictures posted by friends from their trip (Caleb's blog has a much more thorough commentary and an excellent pictorial of the museum than what I've posted here).

We started our day waiting outside in line with the rest of the folks on a very warm morning. Thankfully, the doors opened soon, and we were inside and signing up to see the Planetarium's first showing. If you ever visit, make sure you get to see this show as we thought it was the best planetarium presentation we had ever seen!

The Museum was huge, and there were people everywhere! Here's the family waiting with Granny (my mom who traveled with us) inside the main entrance with Noah's Cafe in the background.

There was the Dragon Hall bookstore to browse, Noah's Cafe in which to grab a bite of lunch, multi-media presentations (the Six Days of Creation was my favorite!), and many well-done sections that presented the gospel story: the Creation showing the Tree of Life and Adam and Eve in the beautiful Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark with animated figures working on the ark, the Last Adam Theater portraying Christ's death on the cross, the dinosaur displays, and scripture everywhere. The gospel message was evident throughout, and it is my prayer that many will visit this wonderful museum and their hearts and minds will be opened to believe. 

Jonathan enjoyed the many dinosaurs located throughout the museum, as you can see! Their teeth and tongues were so realistic--the animated ones actually seemed to be dripping saliva, but maybe it was just my imagination!

The various dinosaurs in the newly opened Dinosaur Den were amazing! I lost count of the total number of dinosaurs in this particular section, but the Creation Museum certainly did an outstanding job with the scientific information presented and the actual creation of the dinosaurs themselves!

The botanical gardens around the Museum were beautiful, and the plants were thriving. We walked across the swinging bridge that led from the museum to the picnic area and gardens. Of course, Hannah and I loved this section and saw many different plants that were unfamiliar to us. I'm glad we visited when the gardens were still active with butterflies and birds.

And, of course, we posed for pictures on the humpback bridge across the pond before leaving. We had a wonderful visit and would definitely recommend the Creation Museum as a worthwhile destination. As a side note, on our way out we heard that Ken Ham was actually there that day meeting with the Board of Directors. Wouldn't that have made our day to get to meet him in person and thank him for coordinating the effort for such a museum? Maybe next time!

~Deb

Next: Family Vacation - Caving

Encyclopedia of Me ~ R is for...

Rest and Relaxation

We've been missing in blogland for the last few days. From this picture can you guess one of the places we've been?

For years we've always taken our family vacation in October after all the schools are back in session. It's less hectic, cooler, and always a fun season to travel--a great time for the rest and relaxation we all need. This year my mom traveled with us, and we enjoyed visiting many new places with her. The temps in the 90s were quite different, however, and our fall vacation missed that nip in the air we're used to!

We'll try to organize some of our hundreds of pictures and post a few soon. Also answers for the Q is for Questions will be posted...later this week, maybe? Give us a day for some rest and relaxation from vacation first! Zzzz...

~Deb

Goodbye, Guys...

Last night we had a very enjoyable evening with Nathan and Jacob, the two farm interns we've mentioned in a previous post. They will be leaving the area next week, so we took the opportunity to invite them over for one last good-bye and some of Sarah's homemade vanilla ice cream--complete with lots of delicious toppings.

The conversation ranged from woodworking and types of trees in Alaska good for such work to lots of late-night theological discussion around the table. Hey, we even talked knitting! :)

Here's a picture of Tom scooping up some fresh pineapple for his ice cream, and Jacob, Hannah, and Jonathan are shown enjoying their first serving.

As the evening drew to a close, Tom prayed and asked the Lord to guide them in their future endeavors and that no matter where they end up or what they do in life that the Lord would be magnified through their testimonies and that they would be as lights set on a hill shining for His glory. Amen!

Good-bye, guys!

~Deb

This Made Me Smile...

Susan (By Grace) presented Mountain Musings with a "You Make Me Smile Award." How very special! Thanks, Susan!

What really made me smile was when Susan commented that she would love to visit us in real life! From faraway Canada to little ol' southern Virginia...maybe that would be possible one day! You know how we love company!

This is what the person who created this award says: "The thing that I love most about blogging is that I learn so much about a person just by reading their blog. I have met MANY wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell, and I am grateful every day for each person that I have the pleasure of crossing paths in life with. I wanted to create something special for the people who have inspired me through their blogging, the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement."

I love meeting new friends through blogging! And if you're reading this and are listed on our sidebar, you're one of the special blogs that make us smile! Thank you, and pass it on!

~Deb

Encyclopedia of Me ~ Q is for...

Questions?

Well, this is going to be a different kind of post! You can ask us questions for this letter of the Encyclopedia meme. What do you want to know about us? We're game for most any curious inquiry, we think! Ask away, and we will pick a few to answer after a few days. Should be fun!

~Deb

Encyclopedia of Me ~ P is for...

Puzzles!

We have always enjoyed putting together puzzles. In the past week, I've finished two. My Granny has been here for a few days, and she helped with one of them. :) Over the years, we've completed so many...big puzzles, little puzzles, and even 3D puzzles! Some of our favorites are Charles Wysocki puzzles, so we have a big collection of those. Some of the nicer ones we've finished are glued together, and I have two of them on my bedroom wall.

Yard sales are great places to pick up cheap puzzles, you just have to judge whether the person selling it would have lost any pieces. :) I've bought several good Wysocki puzzles at yard sales, and not one has had any missing pieces!

It really is a fun activity, especially if it's cold or rainy outside. :) Does anybody else enjoy puzzles?

~Sarah