Mountain Musings

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

~ Ephesians 1:3

Hello! And welcome back after the holidays! Did you take time to count the many blessings the Lord has given to you and yours this Thanksgiving?

Our family is so very thankful for every provision He has given to us...even the fact that we could celebrate Thanksgiving this year!

  I mentioned in a previous post that we weren't able to celebrate the holiday in Colonial Williamsburg. Sadness.

Well, even before that disappointment, our relatives from Connecticut had talked about traveling to Virginia to celebrate with us, but work commitments on that end postponed that idea to a future time.

Next, we tried to work out a trip to see our little grandson in Michigan, but that timing didn't work out for them at Thanksgiving. Sigh.Enter into the picture....friends in northern Virginia had invited three other families to eat with them, and after one family had cancelled, they invited us to take their place! This would be fun, right?

Then the 7 inches of snow arrived and prevented us from accepting that invitation as well. Tom, who works for the local power company, worked a very long day on a snowy Wednesday before Thanksgiving and into the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day getting lights back on for folks.

Four possible Thanksgiving scenarios, and everything fell through! And we didn't know at that time if Dad would even make it home to eat a meal with us. What now?

Here's one of our Thanksgiving centerpieces which says...Share Your Harvest, and the other seasonal plaque says...In all things give thanks! So that's what we decided to do! So...late on Wednesday night Hannah emailed a young single lady in our church to see if she had plans, and if not, would she like to come and have a meal with us on Thanksgiving Day. She said,"Yes!" 

So we all got busy coming up with a Thanksgiving meal. First, here's a new bread recipe that Hannah made--pumpkin rolls! Yum, delicious! Hannah learned that it was our guest's birthday on Thanksgiving Day, so we made Kate a gift loaf of Cranberry Bread, and Hannah wrapped a bar of Bayberry soap as a birthday treat for her: Sarah was busy making the stuffing and the sweet potato casserole while a whole chicken was roasting in the crockpot...we didn't purchase a turkey this year, since we thought we wouldn't be home! The home-grown chicken was a gift from friends and was in our freezer...it sure came in handy for this meal: Hannah tried a new Parmesan Roasted Squash recipe with bounty from our garden: And here I am gathering all the varied dishes for the buffet line and trying to keep everything warm when Tom reads scripture and offers thanks for the meal: The table was all set and waiting for laughter and conversation to fill this room: She's here! Here's Kate talking with Tom and Hannah while the last food items were baking: And here's our menu for 2014:

Roasted Chicken w/Dressing & Gravy

 Slow Cooker Mashed Red Potatoes

 Green Beans

Parmesan Roasted Squash

 Glazed Pepper Jelly Carrots

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Relish

 Peach Jello Salad

Pumpkin Rolls

 Apple Pie and Pumpklin Pie w/Whipped Cream

Everything was delicious! And when it was time for dessert, Kate received her own candle-topped pumpkin pie! Happy 29th Birthday, Kate! What a wonderful Thanksgiving we ended up having! We were so glad she could come and be with us!

The Lord used Kate to help us enjoy a special time of thanksgiving here at home when we didn't know what we'd be doing! And He used us to help Kate when her parents were far away in Colorado and couldn't be here to celebrate her birthday or enjoy Thanksgiving with her. I love a story with a good ending, don't you? This will definitely be a Thanksgiving to remember at our house!

Do you have anything special to share about Thanksgiving at your house this year?

~Deb

I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving!

Hello and Happy Snowy Day-Before-Thanksgiving!

We awoke this morning to a winter wonderland! The prediction is up to 6 inches of the white stuff before it stops, but the way it's snowing heavily we could easily receive more. I'm not sure I ever remember having a white Thanksgiving in Virginia!Plans change when it snows...

We had planned to leave today to spend Thanksgiving in Colonial Williamsburg, but instead we cancelled our reservations and will be home this week. Sigh.

Tom is at work getting power back on for all those unfortunate folks who may be out of power with guests and food to prepare. Thankfully, we're in a warm home and our lights are on!

Hannah is in the kitchen this morning preparing Butternut Squash Apple Soup for our lunch (photo credit: Elise at Simply Recipes).

And I think homemade pizza is on the docket for tonight.

 

 

Sarah is setting up a winter puzzle to work on while it snows. Oh, fun!

I think she also may be brain-storming on whether she'll have a Holly Jolly Bingo contest going this season...anyone up for that again?

 

 

And...I'll be sewing mittens! A row of mittens, that is! Yay!

 

We want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family times and good memories! We're thankful that you take the time to stop by and read the blog!

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night." ~ Psalm 92:1-2

~Deb

Around the World Blog Hop

Hello! And a hearty welcome to any new readers who are visiting from the blog hop, where bloggers from around the world have been posting weekly all the crafty things they're up to!

The girls and I were asked to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop by Nic over at Dragon Rambles. Nic is a quilter and an avid knitter, so check out her blog to see what she's up to. Thanks, Nic, for asking and including us in the hop!

Some of the things we usually blog about include gardening, soaping, baking, quilting, knitting, basket-making, beekeeping, house-building, and hospitality--all the fun activities that make up our slice-of-life blog.

"What are we currently working on?"

Quilting...well...when it comes to quilting, the question should be, "What am I hoping to start working on soon?"

Jacquelynne Steves over at The Art of Home recently started a free block of the month project called Sew Sweet Simplicity. You can get all the details here.

I signed up right away, but somehow all the beginning information didn't show up in my emailbox. I think everything is squared away now, so hopefully I won't be too far behind the rest of the group!

Vintage Farmhouse Block of the Month...I've also been signed up for this block of the month by Fig Tree Quilts and Joanna Figueroa over at Fresh Figs for several months. As you can see from the photo below (photo credit: Fig Tree Quilts), this is what the finished quilt will look like...but that's Joanna's quilt ready for quilting and binding and not mine.

So now that gardening season has come to a close, I'm planning on beginning these vintage blocks:   Row-Along...and let's not forget the Row-Along I began early in 2014 with my friend, Chris. We both took a break from the rows because of our busy lives this spring and summer. This is the last photo I posted several months ago...and the last time I worked on it...heh..heh... But, break out the confetti! I'm starting the mitten row this week! Baking...Fridays always look like this in the kitchen (and even more than what's pictured here!) since Sarah has lots to get ready for the Saturday Farmers' Market. Speaking of market...the last market of the season was this past Saturday. And we all said Hallelujah! It's time for a break!

Baskets...We recently posted a picture of Granny working on three large custom-order baskets:For any new readers here from the blog hop, if you're interested in how Granny got started making baskets, Granny wrote a post about it!

And here are the three completed baskets just waiting for the customer to pick them up before Thanksgiving. I love how they turned out:The other two baskets she made that were a little too large for the customers' needs are now in her Etsy shop and ready for purchase. Here they are pictured below with bands of brown, orange, and green: And here's the other one below with the colors higher up on the basket. I love them both! Here are the latest potato masher baskets Granny made just waiting to be dipped in walnut stain. We wrote about some of her mashers in this post: Hospitality...these delightful sisters came to visit us recently, and here they are with Granny in her basket shed:

Bee-Keeping...we haven't written much about Jonathan's bee-keeping lately because, unfortunately, all the bees were lost in last year's very severe winter weather. He's planning on starting the bees again once he's not busy with building his house!

House-Building...Jonathan's house is coming along nicely. Since I last posted a picture, the shingles are finished, and the front porch is being built.

This is the newest family craft, and everyone is learning about house-building and teamwork! This past Saturday, after Market was finished, Tom and Sarah were working on the cripples...now that was a new word for me!

The next step is to get in the windows and doors before winter arrives: Soaping...Hannah is continuing to make soap throughout the busy fall/winter season, packaging orders to local stores, and gathering various fragrances of soaps for custom orders:A couple of weeks ago Hannah was in the kitchen harvesting some fresh aloe gel to use in her Skin Soother soap. She simply breaks a leaf from our large aloe plant and scoops the gel out to be incorporated into her batch of soap:Hannah was also working this past week on some handmade photo cards for delivery to Cranberry's, a local store that carries her cards: And last, but not least....

Gardening...I only recently finished planting the 38 blueberry bushes that arrived this fall. I actually only ordered 6, at least I thought I only ordered 6 bushes; and yet when the large box arrived, it contained 38 bare-root plants! What box did I check incorrectly to create that much work for me??

I shoveled topsoil and more topsoil to fill 3 extra-long raised (temporary) I-beam beds to hold all those plants! And then I planted them all and covered with a thin layer of mulch.There's so much more garden work I could do...if only it stayed fall forever!

And...if I get to it today, there are 100 bulbs to plant: "Why do we create what we do?" 

If you read our blog for any length of time, you'll see we love the whole process of creating any of the crafts listed above, and we love seeing the finished products. If our craft will be gifted to someone, we love blessing them with it and seeing their joy in receiving the item.

"She...works with her hands in delight." ~ Proverbs 31:13

We mostly create to give thanks back to the Lord for giving us the talents we have to use for His glory. 

If you'd enjoy reading other Around the World Blog Hop posts, just google "around the world blog hop," and you'll find blog after blog listed with their crafts and why they create what they do!

If anyone would like to participate in the hop, leave me a comment directing me to your blog so we can read what crafts you're working on!

~Deb

Photographing the Valley

As mentioned in a previous post, we recently hosted Tom's brother, Steve, when he traveled down south to visit us last month.

Some of the activities we planned for his visit included, of course, a visit to the farmers' market. The downtown streets of our quaint little city offered many opportunities to set up his tripod and snap away!

The highlight, however, was a picnic and a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. You can see Uncle Steve in action here at one of the many beautiful overlooks:And another shot with a good view of the Shenandoah Valley in the distance. Uncle Steve loves photography and brought all of his camera gear knowing he'd be taking photos in one of the most scenic areas of Virginia.Hannah made sure she documented the beauty, too:This lone tree at Raven's Roost Overlook was the subject of many photos: Uncle Steve with Sarah, Hannah, and Jonathan looking towards Afton in the background: Soon, we had worked up an appetite for some food over the campfire...grilling tilapia for fish tacos with lots of smoke in my eyes!:Here are the two brothers and Jonathan enjoying the meal:Another day of his visit we traveled to the little town of Dayton and drove by the surrounding countryside. Upon spotting a large field of pumpkins, we pulled over and both photographers set up shop and started shooting away:Everywhere we looked the gentle rolling farmlands were photogenic:In fact, all the photos you saw in Hannah's recent post Autumn Splendor were taken on this excursion with Uncle Steve to photograph the Valley.

Whenever we drive down country roads, I'm always on the lookout for barn quilts. On this trip I was rewarded with this orange quilt pattern at Silver Lake Mill: I'll leave you with this beautiful fall display of pumpkins, gourds, and corn shocks outside a Mennonite farmer's barn:I hope you've enjoyed this view of the Valley. I feel so very blessed to live where we do! In fact, Virginia is the only place I've ever lived. We think Uncle Steve enjoyed his visit with us and hope he comes back soon!

On Monday I'll be participating in the Around the World Blog Hop, so stop by again after the weekend to see what we're working on craft-wise.

~Deb

Autumn Splendor

 To Thee, O Lord, our hearts we raise in hymns of adoration,

To Thee bring sacrifice of praise with shouts of exultation.

Bright robes of gold the fields adorn, the hills with joy are ringing,

The valleys stand so thick with corn that even they are singing.

And now, on this our festal day, Thy bounteous hand confessing,

Upon Thine altar, Lord, we lay the firstfruits of Thy blessing.

By Thee all human souls are led with gifts of grace supernal;

Thou, who gives us our daily bread, give us the bread eternal.

O blessèd is that land of God where saints abide forever,

Where golden fields spread fair and broad, where flows the crystal river.

The strains of all its holy throng with ours today are blending,

Thrice blessèd is that harvest song which never hath an ending.

Hymn by William C. Dix 1861

Photos by Hannah Girotti, October 2014

Spot 22

Parking Spot 22 looks a little empty in this photo, doesn't it? Every Saturday morning this empty spot gets filled with tables, tents, and all the girls' market wares.

After market morning is over, Spot 22 looks just like this again! Empty! It's amazing to think of all the conversations, sales, and enjoyment this little piece of pavement gives.

I've written many times on the blog about market setup, and here's a review of what Spot 22 looks like once everything is in place for customers: But have I ever told you about Saturday morning breakdown? Now, that's a lot of work, too!

All the soap must be put back into the designated boxes to keep the fragrances separated and then loaded back into the van: Everything off the tables first and then tablecloths folded: Recently Uncle Steve (Tom's brother) came to visit us from Connecticut, so we put him to work, too: Legs must be unscrewed from the display shelving and packed away. Everyone tries to grab something to make the job go faster: Sometimes when you put two heads together it helps solve the problem: Okay, all set with the tables. Now it's time to take down the tent: All the market vendors know the routine well. What goes up, must come down.

Sarah's mini-fridge and cart (on the left of the photo) is the last to get unplugged and packed away. She pays for electricity each week and plugs into the city's power to keep her cheesecakes cold: And back in the bag the tent goes until next week when all the setup and breakdown will begin all over again: There are two remaining Saturday markets for this year, as market season closes the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Temps for this Friday night are predicted to be 22 degrees. It will be a very COLD Saturday morning market. [Edited to add...the temperature Saturday morning actually was 13 degrees downtown!! Brr!]

If you're local, come out and see the girls...right here at Spot 22: ~Deb