My Own Smashbook Continued

Sometime ago the girls attended a friend's birthday party where they started a smashbook with their friends. They were led to understand that smashbooks are similar to scrapbooks in the sense that they are books where you put photos of life events. But smashbooks are different because they don't have to be extremely neat like scrapbooks. The pages can be "smashed" like a collage. 

The girls had a great time making the first few pages of their smashbooks at that party, and they continued this form of scrapbooking at home after the party for many days and week. 

It looked so fun that I decided to start a smashbook of my own. I did a few pages then the season changed and I couldn't find time for doing anymore pages. 

Fast forward this summer. 

I've been adding collages to my smashbook this summer as I listen to podcasts. 

I'll print pictures from my phone in various sizes, cut them, arrange them, and combine them with other souvenirs that are flat enough to go into the smashbook.

I've managed to make smashbook pages for all my major life events up through last summer.

It's been a lovely way to use my summer leisure time, reminisce, meditate on all the ways that God has blessed us and been faithful through every season. 

I'll see how many more pages I can get done in this season before life picks up again and I have to put my smashbook down for other things. 

It's Wonderful!

All three daughters are home doing some combination of work and/ or homeschool or college. 

It's wonderful to have all my girls at home again.

What is especially wonderful is that I have so much help with dinners now. 

Each girl plans a meal, adds grocery items to the shopping list, and takes responsibility for one weeknight dinner. 

Wonderful! 

VBS

 

Adele's volunteering at VBS this week; She's on the dance team again this year. 

The dance team teaches the different groups of kids the various songs and their motions throughout the day, and the team also goes up on stage to help to lead the songs during assembly times. 

She loves it!

But VBS is a lot of work, so it doesn't matter if you are on the dance team and your main responsibility is dancing. If there is work to be done, it's all hands on deck. So in the photo above, Adele and a friend are decorating the church over the weekend before VBS started. 

After attending almost ten VBS's?? as a participant when she was a little kid, Adele is serving now as a volunteer. Now she's helping to teach and demonstrate the truths of the Gospel of Christ, but in teaching and serving, she is still learning the truths of the Gospel only in a different way. 

Praise God! 

One Good Thing Leads to Another

One good thing leads to another. 

The first good thing was the fact that we had been spending so much time out on our deck, mornings and evenings. 

That's when we decided to seek out comfortable furniture for the spaces. 

After a few days' worth of free time spent scouring all stores that sell outdoor furniture, we settled on some new deck furniture; You can see one sofa and chair set in the photo. 

Now it is even easier to spend more time outside in our beautiful backyard. 

One good thing leads to another.  

The next good thing is that spending time outside renewed my love of bird watching. 

So I finally found a bird feeder for the deck. 

Almost overnight, the birds discovered it, and I've seen mourning doves, sparrows, house finches, and a goldfinch at the feeder several times a day.  

A good friend also told us about the Merlin app for our phone that helps us identify the birds that fill up our woods. 

Using it, I am astounded at the number and variety of birds in our woods; I had no idea! 

And now, once we know a bird is out there, it is much easier to spot it.

And once we spot it, that only adds to the joy of being outdoors more. 

So, like I said, one good thing only leads to another!  

Copycat Mango Tumeric Madness Recipe

 

I made myself a copycat Mango Tumeric Madness Smoothie, similar to the one you can get at Robex.

Ingredients:

Carrot Juice

Apple Juice

Frozen peaches 

Frozen Mango

Frozen Cranberries

Tumeric Powder

Honey

Ice cubes 

Water

Directions: 

We have a juicer, so I juiced apples and carrots for their juice and saved it in jars, but these juices can be purchased at certain grocery stores. 

Combine 1/8-1/4 a cup of carrot and 1/8-1/4 cup of apple juice with approx. 6 frozen peach slices and 6 frozen mango pieces. 

Add approx. 6-10 frozen cranberries, one tablespoon of tumeric powder, one tablespoon honey. 

Add one cup of ice cubes and approx. 1/2 cup of water. Blend until smooth. 

If blender gets stuck, add 1/8 cup of water and blend again. If blender sticks again, continue to add a little water and blend again until the combination is smooth. 

Delicious! 

Enjoy!

Pressed Wildflowers From Greece

This time last year we touring Greece. 

Shh! Don't tell customs! But as we traveled along place to place, I picked whatever wildflowers I passed by and put them between the pages of whatever travel guide I was holding in my hands. 

I finally pulled all my travel guides from the shelf, gently removed all the dried, pressed flowers, and arranged them into frames so that I could display them in our home. 

After picking two sprigs of lavender from a bush near the water clock in the Ancient Roman Agora in Athens and placing them inside the book and putting that book inside my bag, I would often catch the scent of lavender for the rest of the trip; I didn't need perfume; Those two sprigs were so potent they created a cloud of lavender scent around me for the rest of the trip. 

That dried lavender still smelled divine and as I handled it to place it in the frames, so I was carried right back in my memory to moments of our trip.

These frames of flowers will make a beautiful keepsake and reminder of our adventure. 

Emptying Nest

My nest is emptying. 

Norah, my oldest, returned to New College Franklin yesterday to set up her apartment and prepare for her senior year of college. 

Yesterday, Avril, my middle daughter, who will be a senior in our homeschool next year, went to the Summer Scholars program at Templeton Honor's College for the next two weeks. She's taking a class called "Elves and Eden."

I am enjoying the quality time alone with my youngest, Adele. 

She and I are planning some visits with friends, and we are hoping the weather clears so that we can go on some adventures. 

With two out of three girls gone right now, this is a short preview of what it will be like as my daughters grow up and leave home more and more until they stay away all the time and only come back to visit. 

I am certainly surprised this season is upon me so fast. 

Nevertheless, I find my soul still within me. 

"In every change, He faithful will remain."

Farmington River Tubing

We went tubing down Farmington River. 

It was hot! 

But the water was shockingly cool, delightful in the contrast. 

I lost my tube at the end. 

Dwayne chased it down. 

He had a crowd cheering for him when he caught it five hundred years down stream. 

They gave him a cold beer and he sat and drank it with them while he caught his breath. 

It was a great day! 

Happy Birthday, America! 

Setting Up the Deck

We've been setting up the deck for the summer. 

It's later than usual in the season, but with the events this spring, there was no time to do it sooner. 

Our good friends, the Beatties' daughters, helped Adele and I pick out the herbs and plant those. 

Later in the same week, Adele and I chose the annuals and planted those. 

It's lovely to sit outside and drink your morning coffee and listen to bird song, or drink a cold beer in the afternoon after working in the flower beds, or enjoy a homemade lemonade in the evening and chat. 

  

I Like What I Like

 I had worn the same sandals for at least nine years! 

 I know this because I found a photo of myself from nine years ago wearing the same shoes.

But who knows how long I had them before that picture was taken! 

Luckily, by the time I realized I needed a new pair, AI technology had advanced so much that Dwayne was able to take a picture of my old sandals and find the exact same pair available online. 

Amazing!  

I had totally forgotten where I had purchased them, and obviously, I could not find anything like them in retail stores anymore. 

So I was very thankful for AI technology for once. 

I am tempted to purchase another pair and hide them in their box in my closet for use in another decade. 

What can I say?

I like what I like. 

Recital 2026

The girls participated in an informal recital on Sunday.

It was Bethel Music Day, so Mr. Wade, their piano teacher set up a tent beside his studio with the instruments underneath. 

We sat under a lovely oak tree in the shade on our folding chairs. 

Passers-by could stop and listen as they came along the sidewalk behind us.

Over us, the lovely breeze drifted right along with the lovely music. 

Our best friends, the Beatties, also take lessons at the same studio and they performed right before our girls, so we got a picture of both families' students together with Mr. Wade. 

I'm so thankful God has blessed us with our community of friends. 

It's the richest of blessings to have other great adults in our kids' lives and other great kids to enjoy,  encourage, and watch grow up along with our own kids. 

 

Creating Keepsakes

My mom passed away this spring. 

She always wanted my sister or I to want her china. 

But, as it often happens, neither of us wanted it. 

We don't have a place to store such a large collections of plates, bowls, saucers, cups, etc. 

And we probably wouldn't use them, even on holidays. 

But I wanted to honor my mom and somehow try to fulfill her desire that we keep her china. 

So I took a teacup and saucer, and I added them to my collection of assorted cups and saucers. 

My collection of cups and saucers is one of my favorite things, so it is fitting that my mom's china is represented there. 

And, I took a few plates, sent them to an artisan, and had sets of jewelry made for my girls. 

Now there's a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet for each of my mom's granddaughters made from her china.

The girls already wear their jewelry quite often. 

I need photo above, my daughter, Avril, is heading to work, wearing her jewelry made from her grandma's china. 

I know my mom would be very happy! 

Front Doors

Our upcoming church art show is about "Proclaiming" the Gospel. 

I'm thinking a lot about our parental responsibility to "proclaim" the Gospel at home first and not overlook the ministry to our families for the sake of the command to "Go and make disciples..." 

Because God also commanded, "Fathers, bring your children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6

And He commands, "And these words... teach them diligently to your children." Deuteronomy 6.  

So I'm painting the front doors of six Christian households from our church, all of whom are raising kids in the Lord while also sharing the Gospel with the larger world. 

A strong Christian home might be the best proclamation of the Gospel in a world where families are often falling apart. 

I'm finished with three doors including my own. 

I'll be painting the next three in the next few days, since the deadline approaches. 

Snow

The amount of snow we are getting is putting my new-found love of winter to the test. 

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Adele came up to me, pointing at Ree Drummond's chocolate sheet cake recipe and asked, "Mom. I'm bored. Can I make this?" 

Of course, I said, "Yes."

After it had cooled a little, we cut big pieces and ate it and watched Bill Cosby's skit about giving his kids chocolate cake for breakfast. 

And then, full confession, she and I had some of this cake for breakfast the next day. 

(It's better the second day because the frosting sets and crystalizes. Wow!)

Turnipseed Sisters' Loaf

I'm making a bread that rises with hops starter instead of traditional packaged yeast. 

In a previous post, I explained that I had to make the hops starter with liquid steeped from hops flowers, mashed potatoes, corn meal, etc. 

This concoction sat out on my counter in a warm spot until it got bubbly. 

This took more than 24 hours; It actually took two days! 

Once it was bubbly, I transferred it to a jar with a tight-fitting lid and left it in the fridge until the liquid separated from the solids (as instructed by the recipe). 

Once that happened, I mixed the liquids and solids together again, added a cup of this starter to flour, salt, sugar, etc. and left it out on the counter overnight to create what is called a sponge. 

This is the first bread I've made that required a sponge, so I didn't know what to expect. The recipe said it would be bubbly. 

In the morning, this is what the sponge looked like. 

To this sponge, I mixed in more flour and some lard then kneaded the dough for several minutes by hand. 

Then I left the dough to rise for the first time in a bowl for a little more than two hours. (It takes longer for bread rising without traditional yeast to rise, apparently.) 

Then I split the dough into two lumps and shaped them into loaves and placed them in pans. 

I let the loaves rise another two hours until they were coming over the top of the pans. 

I baked them as directed and... Beautiful! 

They smell amazing! 

I can't wait to taste them! 

Potato Rolls and Hopps Starter

Amazing things are happening in my kitchen today. 

Adele and I both had plans that required baked mashed potatoes. 

So we started our day baking potatoes. 

Then, Adele used the potatoes to make homemade potato rolls... 

to go with the meatloaf and carrots she is making (under benevolent supervision) for dinner tonight. 

Wow! 

(Adele is often so busy in our kitchen now that I am somewhat relegated to sous chef/ dihswasher, but I can't say I mind.)

It's a joy to watch her and advise her when needed. 

And I get to eat what she makes. 

Today, I also made hopps starter with my portion of the morning's baked potatoes. 

This is a mixture of a "hopps tea" made from dry hopps flowers steeped like tea, then strained, then some of the "tea" is boiled with cornmeal, then all of everything is mixed in a big bowl with mashed potatoes, sugar and salt... 

this ferments on my counter in a warm spot for at least twenty four hours...

before mellowing in the fridge for a few days... 

before I stir it and use it to make the next bread in Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Bread. 

Like I said, amazing things are happening here! 

Art and Design

Avril's taking Around the World Through Art and Design with Delightful Art Co. this year. 

This is a recent project done in the style of Australian dot art. 

The girls have taken Delight Art Co. classes for years. 

And their skills have grown year by year. 

These art classes been a great way to infuse our Classical homeschool curriculum with beauty and vitality. 

Your Best Friend's Recipes

I was at my BFF's house while she was making dinner, so her recipe box was out and open and I had occasion to flip trough it. 

I took pics of some recipes that sounded good to me. 

Flipping through a best friend's recipe box is great idea that I can't believe I hadn't thought to do before then. 

What a great way to get some new ideas! 

Cooking and Baking in Our Homeschool

Adele has discovered cookbooks. 

And it's wonderful! 

She and I both enjoy reading them, and sometimes we actually read them together while sitting on the couch or table. 

Last week, she made the most delicious scones any of us had ever tasted. 

She also made sugar cookies (not shown here, but I can still remember the taste of them if I close my eyes.) 

She also made lemon eclairs- Twice!

Eclairs! 

What I love about Adele is that she's only thirteen, so in her mind, anything is possible as she reads these cookbooks. 

She doesn't have to work through failures/ baggage I've have to work through to try more difficult recipes. 

She just goes for it, and it usually ends up alright.  

So her attitude is very inspiring to an old cook like me. 

We're not eating everything she makes ourselves. 

We have had several occasions to share her baked goods with friends at church or dinners or parties.  

Now she wants to make meatloaf. This is thanks to Ree Drummond's cookbook with the most enticing, mouth-watering photographs. 

So I plan to let her help me make dinner one night this coming week. 

Her sister, Avril, can cook, too, of course. 

In fact, Avril's cooking the bacon in the oven for tonight's "breakfast for dinner."

But, Adele is the one really passionate about baking and cooking right now, and she's cranking out the goodies daily. 

And we all really appreciate this. 

I started making the girls bake/ cook several months back. 

I'd literally assign them a recipe as part of their homeschool day. 

And obviously, I'd give them the time to do it. 

I'd start with simpler things like a box brownie or muffin mix or a simple from scratch recipe like no-bake, nut-butter energy  balls. 

With repetition of those simpler recipes, they both gained confidence and competence and they can do harder things now. 

Like eclairs! 

And now that Adele has some skill and she has discovered the potential inside the pages of my cookbooks... 

Magical things are happening here! 

Buttermilk Bread

       I made bread #8 from Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads- Buttermilk Bread. 

This was a second try, and this batch of bread came out beautiful.  

The first time I made this bread, I was working after dinner, the dough wasn't rising quickly, and I did not have time to let the loaves rise all the way up out of the pans before I put them in the oven. So I cut the second rise short in order to have time to bake the loaves before bed. And so those first loaves came out of the oven the way they went into the oven- flat.

But they were delicious, so I was motivated to give it a second try and see what I could improve. 

This time, I was up before dawn, so I got started early. Taking notes from the previous loaves, I found some ways to improve rise time in my winter kitchen. I used a dough warmer for the first rise. Then I put the loaves in their pans on the top of the toaster oven set on low for the second rise. With the help of the added warmth from these kitchen devices, the risings went quicker. And I had time to wait for these leaves to rise well over the tops of their pans before baking... 

Beautiful! 

 

Greek Koulari

Almost every day we were in Greece, I had a koulari, a sesame bread round. I ate it for breakfast or for a snack, always with a cup of strong coffee. 

I so enjoyed koulari, in fact, I was sad to come home, because I may never have it again. But then I wondered if I could learn to make these for myself someday. 

I have been doing a lot of bread-making as I bake my way through Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads. So I have gained knowledge and skills (and weight) that I didn't have a few months ago when I first dreamed of making koulari for myself. 

I found a recipe online yesterday, and it was actually easy to follow, and I had all the ingredients and equipment, because of all I had learned through bread making. 

And it was fun! 

The girls pitched in, especially Adele, who loves to cook and bake. 

We made traditional koulari with sesame seeds, but then we ran out of sesame seeds, so we also made a few rounds with Everything Seasoning. 

Everything Seasoning has white and black sesame seeds, along with other delicious salts and spices. Avril and Adele actually ended up preferring the koulari bread with Everything Seasoning. 

This homemade koulari is delicious! Especially since it came to me fresh and from my own oven! 

I'm so grateful to be able to enjoy koulari at home in Connecticut of the USA.

Even though it's the middle of winter here, I can close my eyes, bite into this bread, and it takes me right back to Greece and its constant warm breezes. 

 

Creamy Eggs

Adele and I made creamy eggs for breakfast today. 

We adapted a recipe from Jessica Fisher's Good Cheap Eats: Dinner in 30 Minutes or Less!

We greased our ramekins, added a tablespoon of heavy cream to the bottom of each, then cracked two whole eggs into the bottom of each. Then we added a bit of cooked bacon, chopped, that we had left in the fridge, shredded cheddar cheese, and green onions. 

We put the ramekins on a baking sheet (just in case they bubbled over.) We baked these at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. The whites were hard and the yolks were firm but still soft enough to smear on toasts.

These were amazing! 

We'll definitely have them again! 

These would also make a nice brunch for weekends or breakfast-for-dinner idea. 

Sourdough Cont.

With temps in the single digits here, my sourdough wasn't quick to rise. So I gave it more time. +

I also turned on the oven and put the dough on the stovetop, so it had a warmer environment. +

The colder environment created a tighter boule with more tension. +

I also used a banneton for my second rise this time, 

so it had the beautiful, concentric circles on the bread. +

And when I scoured, I kept the razor almost horizontal this time. +

= 

one beautiful loaf! 

And many things learned in one day! 

Learning Chemistry at Home

Avril's doing Chemistry in our homeschool this year. 

We use Apologia's text. 

She reads one module (or chapter) every one or two weeks, and she completes all the On Your Own Questions for every module. 

She or I or both of us together will check her answers to the On Your Own questions in her notebook with the text's answer key, and then she makes corrections as needed until she gets all the right answers. 

But she usually has very little corrections to make, because she read the material carefully to begin with. 

How quickly I make her move through the modules depends on how much time we have, which depends on how much vacation we've been taking. 

Right now, she's reading one module a week for the next few weeks to make quicker progress through the text, since we just took a few weeks off of school to go to Florida. 

I make her choose one lab from each module to complete. She gathers the materials and/or tells me what she needs if it isn't in our homeschool closet or kitchen. 

She makes a record of each lab and the results in a lab journal that I assess every week. 

She's using the same lab journal she used for Biology last year. 

I don't really believe in tests for Chemistry, so I don't make her take them. 

It's more important to me that she learns the virtue of steadily reading and working through the huge text and completing all the assignments and labs to gain and demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the subject. 

I want her to learn how to learn a subject like Chemistry as much as I want her to learn Chemistry.  

And I'm certain that since she's actually steadily working through the material, she's learning it. 

I can't tell you how often in public high school, I passed a class like Chemistry having never read the textbook or engaged with the material much with my own mind, but rather, the expert teacher lectured and gave tests on the lecture notes, and I just passed those tests on the notes and forgot everything before the next test.  

So I never really learned Chemistry. 

I believe I would have been better served by a Chemistry textbook and consistent time and quiet to read it and let the information become a real part of my soul.

So, Avril's grade, at the end of this year, will be based on whether or not she did all the reading and questions and assigned labs, whether or not she actually did the very personal work of learning Chemistry. 

She will, most likely, get an A, because she doesn't move to the next module until she has completed all the reading, questions, and labs and gotten the right answers to the one before. 

Homeschooling through a subject like Chemistry doesn't take an expert; It isn't rocket science. 

It just takes consistent reading and engagement with the outstanding Chemistry textbook we have.  

Mastery of anything, even Chemistry, usually comes easily enough if you are simply willing to show up and actually do the work. 

Snow Sabbath

A snow storm covered us (and a lot of the United States) in snow last Sunday. 

It's a good thing church was cancelled and only online that day, because if people had been out at church or anywhere else, the roads would have gotten too bad too fast. 

Everyone knew the snow as coming for a while. But once the snow started, it came down fast and steady and kept falling all day and night. 

So, we started a fire for the first time this winter, gathered in the living room and watched church, and we got a lot of rest on that snow sabbath (unless we were out shoveling). 

The plow came Sunday and cleared the driveway, but the snow just kept coming.  

On Monday morning, it was as if the plow never came; There was so much snow! 

The girls had work and/or homeschool work to do on Monday, so they weren't free to play until Monday evening, about the time the sun went down. 

But they went out anyway. They turned the outside lights on and explored the yard and edges of our woods and built a snow fort inside the massive pile of snow the plow made on the side of the driveway. Below is a picture I took from the warmth of the inside while I was making dinner. 

I imagine they won't always want to play in the snow, but I'm glad they are still young enough, or young enough at heart, to want to play in the snow. 

And I'm thankful for the pockets of quite stillness and rest winter provides. 

Winter can be, in a sense, one long sabbath if we are apt to observe it. 

An Element of Chaos

Arcus brings a lot of joy and an element of choas to our otherwise orderly days. 

 He's a fun friend to have hanging around. We're so thankful for him.