C'mon Spring!!

Is it still February?? For a month that is so short, it sure is taking a long time to pass! Move out February!!  I'm tired of the cold and I long for warmer days. I'm tired of cold toes and fingers, and surely, my husband is tired of me warming my cold toes and fingers on him!

You know what one of the worst things about Facebook is? It's people from the warmer areas posting pictures of warm-weather activities and people are wearing shorts and flip-flops, t-shirts and they're complaining how hot it is! Hot!? In February!!  I see those photos and it makes me dread going outside in 20-25 degree weather, bundled up in my big, bulky coat, the cold wind whipping at my face and rushing in the holes of my pants' leg openings.

I have a friend that recently moved to Hawaii and she is posting near daily photos of herself at the beach or doing some warm-weather activity and it's almost enough to make me want to unfriend her at this point!! Ohhh! Warm weather, how I miss you so!

I wonder if that's partly why this winter has been so rough for me.. not just the fact that it's cold, but because I am constantly being exposed to images of warm weather.  It's different from a travel agency touting beach pictures because those are meant to be a getaway vacation from the cold and you know after your time is up, you have to return to the cold-- bummer!  But these are personal images from people that live year-round in warmer climes and they have no thought of being cold and so continue their lifestyles without worry of snow or sleet or having to bundle up in twenty layers of clothing just to stay warm. Meanwhile, here I am, sitting in a slightly chilled house (we keep it fairly cool in here and dress extra warmly) and cupping my hands around a big steaming mug of hot chocolate spiked with coffee, wearing a sweater and socks to ward away the chill. Oh Spring! Hurry up!!!

Doesn't help when the stores are also starting swimsuit sales and pushing gardening things. My pool has a 6-inch layer of ice on the top of it and my ground is still frozen solid. Imagine my shovel hitting the ground and making this sound-- thunk-thunk! If this were a cartoon, my shovel would twang and shiver and then make me twang and shiver!!

There's hope yet, though. It warmed up a little bit today, to a cool low 50's and I actually went outside without having to put my coat on! I'm dreaming of the garden and looking forward to starting a few cold-weather loving plants for the first time this year. I have hope that in 3 weeks or so, I can break a small patch of ground in the garden and get some seeds planted!

I know that because of our location, some seasons are harsher than others, and I'm alright with it. I know that Spring is coming and Old Man Winter will be getting the boot pretty soon.  Just getting a little anxious for those warmer days and it's going to feel so good shedding all those layers and feeling the warm sun on my skin again!

From The Inside Out

What is it with the weather and the calendar, man?

These last few months have been strange, to say the least.

Flipping the calendar to September suddenly took away hot summer weather and, in an instant, Autumn was here. Not complaining really, there are lots of great things associated with Fall--

the start of a new school year

apples

and all things apple-related

cooler weather

sweaters

fall festivals

pumpkins

carved and pie

Halloween

changing colors of the leaves

that crispness in the air.

Flipping the calendar to October usually means more of the above.

But ever since October 1st got here, it's been cold, man.

Like, want to start a fire cold.

The temperature never got higher than the mid-40s today.

We seriously considered starting a fire, but we hate to start so soon on the wood pile.

Instead, I'm turning to baking.

If I can't warm from the outside, well, we can start on the inside.

 Apples.. you can see where this is going, can't you?

Bet you didn't think I was going here.



Anything better in the tummy than warm apple crisp?

 How about vanilla ice cream on top of warm apple crisp!?

Oh yes, the cold is much easier to face when one is warm from the inside out.

Apple Crisp

serves 8

Peel and core 8 apples. Cut into largish pieces and place in baking dish. Sprinkle 2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon on apples and stir to coat.

Combine 1/2 cup  (1 stick) of softened butter, 1/2 c flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup rolled oats, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and dash of salt. Mix until crumbly.

Pour crumb mixture onto apples and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Let sit so you don't burn your mouth and serve warm with ice cream.

Smile.

Say yum!

County Fair 2011

When the kids found out we were all going to the County Fair, the girls all wanted to make something to enter into the Fair.  I already had a project finished and ready to go, plus I had some jam and salsa to enter. The girls looked through my cookbooks for inspiration and they also embroidered pictures to enter.

The day before the Fair, Gretchen made Peach Buckle and Evelyn made Tic-Tac-Toe cookies.

 We got to the Fair really early to get our free tickets for entrance, meals, and rides. A little too early, since none of the rides or the games were open for at least another two hours, but we were able to look around and eat before the real action began.

 Sylvia made a pair of gnomes-- Mr. and Mrs. Gnome.  She embroidered them, I sewed them up, she stuffed them, then I sewed the holes shut. 2nd place!

 This was Gretchen's very first embroidery! I'm bursting at the seams at how all 3 of the girls like to embroider! Gretchen sewed up a Chicken and got 2nd place!  Evelyn sewed up a turtle with a flower in the shell and got 3rd place!

 Both girls got 1st place for their baked goods!

 Both my Cherry Almond Jam and my Salsa got blue ribbons!

 While we were eating, they had plain old trashcans placed between every other picnic table. Peter was being especially helpful and wanted to throw the trash away. He walked right by the trashcan closest to us and kept on going, going, going all the way to the clown trashcan a good distance away. Can't say I blame him, I think it's more fun to throw stuff into a clown trashcan, too!

We had a good time. The nice thing about getting there early was being able to get ahead of the crowds. After about 3 or 4 hours of walking around, going on the kiddie rides and constantly staying on top of 'Runaway Peter', we'd had enough and were ready to head home. It was just starting to get dark and the teens were getting wild and crazy, cutting in front of the little kids and I was so done with that. Time to go.





 It was easy to get the kids in bed that night!

Happy To Be Back!

It's amazing to me that as soon as we flip the calendar page to September, the weather seems to flip, too. While I'm a little sad to say good-bye to summer, I admit, I love these cooler days and nights. We haven't needed to use the A/C in several weeks and I've had to put light blankets on all the beds because we all seem to wake up just a tad chilled.

Lately, after dinner, we have been walking in the woods again. It was too hot and muggy to do it during the summer, plus the gnats and mosquitoes are quite ferocious here and it just doesn't make for an enjoyable walk. It's so nice to walk out after dinner as a family and be together, enjoying nature's changing of the seasons. I almost feel like I need to shield my children's eyes as Mother Nature sheds her leaves and bares her naked limbs.

 We have a young black walnut tree growing in the middle of the garden area. I'm torn about cutting it down. As it grows, it will shade the garden, but-- it's a walnut tree!!  All this time I thought it was one of those fast-growing weed trees and we have been putting off cutting it down because we wanted to let it grow just a little bit thicker and get a little more firewood out of it, but this year it sprouted black walnuts for the first time! Pretty impressive for a young tree that's only 3 years old. I counted more than 25 walnuts hanging off the branches. What to do, what to do? We have other walnut trees, but many are old with rotten limbs and not producing a lot of walnuts anymore. I'll probably just procrastinate another year and see what happens in the garden shade-wise.

Is there anything more precious than seeing your children holding hands?

I predict many more after dinner walks in the woods with the family.

***

I've missed this little space I have here. I missed writing and reading your comments. I really needed this time away, to not think I needed to blog every little thing and appreciate time with my family. We did a lot together this summer-- spent every single day of July in the pool; went to the county fair; lost teeth, celebrated birthdays, spent time with friends, enjoyed cook-outs... but most importantly, we were together. There's nothing I love more than being with my family.

I hope you all had a great summer, too. I am looking forward to what the future holds and what Fall may bring to me and my family.

*

Sideshow

Every year, the same people hold a yard sale and I always look forward to seeing their address in the newspaper advertising their sale. First, they sell great stuff. I suspect they either own an antique shop or lease out a booth at an antique mall, because they are meticulously priced with item numbers and such a large variety of choices. We always find good stuff to bring home. Second, they have peacocks!

It's a beautiful area they live in, about 10 miles down the road from us. A great old farm house, I'd love to peek inside! Lots of land, cool barns, gardens and peacocks! It's so fun to see them and hear their calls. The kids really enjoy watching them and it's one of the few sales we can go to and know where the kids are!

There was a nice group of peacocks in the garden area and in the back there, one of the males had his feathers up in full display.

Here's a cropped close-up of the above picture. Andrew and I were explaining to the girls about why the males were more colorful than the brown females you can see in the foreground, then we started ad-libbing: "Hey baby, look at me and my lovely feathers. Don't you want a handsome feller like me on your arm? That's right, I got it and I got it good. Let me turn around and give you the full scope of my fan here. See that baby? I'm working it! You know you want me! I'm all that and a bag of chips!"

Wouldn't that be nice in real life? The men all dressed up and parading in front of us ladies, begging to be chosen? :o)

The kids chased this one around and he hopped through the fence to get away. Wait til you see the views on the other side of the fence!

Oh! If I lived here, I'd never move! Such a great place to go to for the afternoon-- nice people, good stuff to dig through, peacocks for entertainment and gorgeous views to soothe the soul. They usually host a yard sale twice a year and I am already looking forward to the next one! :o)

~

Spring's Alter Ego

I'm sure many think of Spring as the bringer of flowers and warm weather, the beginning of gardening season and lots of shiny love and happiness and giggles and bouncy bubbles. I think like that too, sometimes. But today was, to me, the most perfect example of the beginning of Spring: overcast, rainy, cool, windy, sunny, warm, gray, cloudy... It was like Mother Nature was refereeing a squabble between Winter and Spring and the weather was the result of their bickering.

I love this shot. Straight out of the camera! You can see the raindrops on the new growth branches with the cloudy skies in the background. Spring is here alright, but Old Man Winter ain't giving up without a fight!

-

Speeders

We had a visit from my Dad and his wife and we took them sight-seeing around the area. In our local newspaper, they had an article about 'Speeders'. Little maintenance rail cars that used to speed around the rails to help make repairs on trains or tracks. Railroad companies no longer use these Speeders, but there are people who buy them and restore them and then ask permission from rail stations to travel through on the tracks. They travel all over the country and Canada, seeing the country in a way that many of us never get to see in our cars on the roads. The article said the Speeders would be in our area on Saturday, but I never thought we would have actually seen them! We quickly pulled over and watched the procession of Speeders speed by!

This group of Speeders had about 20 cars from all different railroads and we really enjoyed watching them go by. I had no idea they existed and when we got home, I quickly dug out the newspaper to read it more thoroughly. It was a nice little history lesson for us.

They even bring along their own port-a-potty!

Check out the Hampshire Reviews' youtube video here to learn more about Speeders
(sorry, it isn't captioned)

Home Sweet Home

We went to our old haunts on Sunday. We went to the Husband's parent's house for lunch and didn't tell the kids where we were going so it was a fun surprise for them. Then in the afternoon, my closest friend was having a baby shower for baby #4. I tease her that she is trying to keep up with me! :o)

It was great seeing everyone, to talk and laugh, catch up on the news... but man! Once on the road, we sure couldn't wait to head back home to the mountains again! The traffic is something terrible and being away from rush hour and thousands of crazy drivers, you forget what it's like to drive on the beltway. I'm not saying people in the country drive any better, but there's less of them to contend with.

Doesn't look so bad in this shot, but there were lots of cars on the interstate. About halfway home, there was a bad accident going eastbound and traffic was backed up for miles. Made me glad we were headed west towards home.

We're in the last 20 minutes to home here. I love coming over this hill and seeing several mountain ranges. Kind of cloudy, it sprinkled on and off, but on a clear sunny day, you can see for miles! Oh and see what I mean? No cars!

Almost home! We're about 7 miles from home and this is one of my favorite views, especially when the pastures are dotted with hay bales. The sun is going down, the air is cool and you can feel the difference in temperature almost immediately. We're at least 10 degrees cooler than our old haunts.

When we first bought this house, the former owner told us that we would enjoy living here. She was so right. We have come to love it so much and we find ourselves visiting our old haunts less and less. The first year here, we went back just about every 2 weeks, then every month. Now we go maybe 4 times a year. So far in 2009, we've only been back twice-- for Easter and yesterday. I'll be back soon, though, when my friend has her baby. She's due July 19th. I'm hoping to be there to witness the birth, but that depends on how quickly she progresses and how fast I can get there. Wait for me!! :o)

Sand and Cherries

Thursday we went to Cacapon State Park in West Virginia. We live close by and we have had picnics there when we go yard sale-ing or thrifting in the town of Berkley Springs, but we had not been to the lake there. We finally went and what a great place it is!! It's nestled right in the mountains and the lake is so clear, with little fishies swimming by your legs. There is a lovely little beach and there are picnic tables dotted here and there and on the other side of the lake you can rent paddle boats or kayaks.

It's perfect for small children since there are no strong waves to knock them down and we could relax without worrying about undertows or big waves. The entrance fee is small, only cost us $12 for all 6 of us and we are definitely going back. We'll go for a whole day next time-- the Husband had to work that evening, so we were only there for a few hours, much to the children's disappointment.

Baby had fun, too!



Just look at that smile!

Loving every minute of it!

My water girl!

*****

Friday, we went cherry picking again. I used up all the cherries from the last time we were there and I wanted to get more before they were gone. Cherries are only in season for about 2-3 weeks and when we were there, the orchard only had 2 trees left with sweet cherries. They still had plenty of sour cherries, so we got 3 buckets of sours and 2 buckets of sweets.

I canned 6 pints of maraschino cherries last night for a total of 9 pints so far. The juice for the maraschinos is so good, that I've been using it in the lemonade for a cherry-lemonade drink. Yum! I bet if I added a bit of rum to it for a grown-up drink, it would taste great on a hot day! I canned 3 pints of leftover maraschino juice for future drink mix-ins.

While at the cherry orchard, Middle found a 4-leaf clover!

Lucky girl!

The girls also used their very first genuine outhouse at the orchard! It was tucked in between these huge lilac bushes and when I saw it, my first thought was natural air freshener in the Spring! :o)

Welcome to Almost Heaven

You know how some people like to travel to far off and exotic places? They hop a plane or a train and go to see mountains or beaches or far away cities where no one speaks your language? I don't need to do that. I have all the beauty I need right here.



We had the most perfect weekend-- well, half perfect. Hubby had to work on Saturday so I went yard sale-ing by myself with the kids on Saturday. Then Sunday we all went out again and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.



We never went farther than 30 miles from where we live, and the views along the back roads are simply breathtaking. Add to that the blooming redbuds and dogwoods and it rivals any greek ruin. There's a reason why West Virginia is called "Almost Heaven". If you like John Denver, you can start singing his 'Country Roads' song now.




The John Blue Bridge. I know, it's green. But it's called John Blue. They're going to tear this one down soon and replace it with a stronger, boring concrete one. I'll miss this bridge when it's gone.



The view through the bridge, over the river. Gorgeous rocky cliffs. Downriver is a beautiful campground nestled in the valleys and there are campers and tents parked all along the river. We want to camp there one day when the kids are older and canoe down the river. It'd be lovely to see the views from the water.

Stopping at a road-side flea market, I caught this wasp admiring itself in the mirror. Couldn't resist a shot of it. It stayed there for a good while, preening and cleaning his antennae and legs.

Along Route 50 in West Virginia, there is a stretch of road that has blooming redbuds all along the side for miles. It's a breathtaking view and then when you clear the trees you can see for miles the mountain ranges that Virginia and West Virginia share.

I love, love, love this old log cabin. I can only imagine when it was built and the road was probably a dusty dirt trail. It sits right at the bottom of a mountain and beyond the house the road veers sharply to the right and a steep drive up, up, up. It's made from these huge cuts of logs and the cracks filled with mortar. Still in pretty good shape except for that corner in the back. A car crashed into it and busted it open, but look, it didn't even do that much damage. It gives me a peek inside to see abandoned furniture and odds and ends. How I wish I was brave enough to climb inside and get a closer look, maybe salvage a few pieces of furniture or something, but people up here don't take too kindly to trespassers and it's legal here to shoot trespassers. I'd rather not catch myself staring down the barrel of a rifle, thank you very much.

I wonder what happened to the occupants of the house, where did they go and why did they leave. They couldn't find anyone to buy it? Nobody wanted to live so close to the road? No surviving relatives? Maybe someone could reuse the logs and dismantle the house and stone chimney piece by piece? If I could, I would. I'd rebuild it on the other half of our property and rent it out as a vacation home. Until then, I'll just enjoy the beauty of the old house, tell Hubby to "slow down, slow down!" and crane my neck looking back at it every time we drive by it.