First Place!

 

Our sweet girl won a first place ribbon for a crocheted garland that she entered in a local fiber festival's children's category.  We're so proud of her!

Luminous

At the End of September

Reading

Miss Clare invited me to her cottage for the evening.  She refuses to let me fetch her or run her home in the car, but cycles very slowly and as upright as ever, on her venerable old bicycle.

As usual, the best china, the snowiest cloth and the most delicious supper awaited me.

Miss Clare's cottage is a model of neatness.  The roof was thatched by her father, who was the local thatcher for many years.  She has early-flowering honeysuckle over her white trellis porch, and jasmine smothers another archway down the garden path.

In the centre of the table stood a cut-glass vase of magnificent tulips, flanked by a cold brisket of beef on a willow patterned dish garnished with sprigs of parsley from her garden, and an enormous salad.  The freshly-plucked spring onions, were thoughtfully put separately in a little shallow dish.

'It's not everyone that can digest them,' said Miss Clare, crunching one with much enjoyment, 'but my mother always said they were a wonderful tonic, and cleared the blood after winter.'

Miss Clare's silver was old an heavy and gleamed with recent cleaning.  how she finds time to keep everything so immaculate I don't know.  Her house puts me to shame, and she has no one to help her at all, whereas I so have Mrs Pringle occasionally to turn a disdainful hand to my affairs."

Village Diary

Miss Read

Gray Amelie

My knitting has been so slow of late.  I cast off to this gray Amelie sock the other night and have already cast on to the next one with the hope that it won't take me as long to finish it! 

This Week's Menu

 

  Sunday: pizza and salad
Monday: beef stew and biscuits
Tuesday: meatballs, ravioli, and salad
Wednesday: Auntie Claudia's tuna pasta salad, chips, and pickles
Thursday: Sausage sandwiches, chips, and pickles
Friday: salmon, sweet potatoes, and salad
Saturday: salads topped with grilled chicken

Sunday Beach

Apple Orchard

Weekend Feelings

 

The most exhilarating feeling when you are a homeschooling mama is the one she gets on Friday afternoon when lessons are finished for the week!

Autumnal Nature Table

The September Beach

My Autumn Bucket List

Buy a pumpkin decorated with dried flowers
Pick up chrysanthemums and pumpkins for the porch
Apple picking
Carve a pumpkin
Visit the Renaissance Festival 
Bake a sour cream apple pie
Bake a plum torte
Bonfires on the beach
Pick up a pumpkin shaped beeswax candle
Set up an autumnal nature table
Knit a new shawl
Enjoy apple cider and apple cider slushies
Hunt for interesting mushrooms in the woods (non-edible)
Thanksgiving dinner for my husband's side of the family
Apple cider doughnuts
Dry hydrangeas
Bake apple bread
Visit Longwood Gardens
Plant Bulbs

Living and Learning: The Week Ahead

In My Garden

My roses continue to delight me!  I do need to give them a little tender care this week...  they've developed some black spot, so I need to remove and burn the infected leaves and spray some fungicide on the bushes to prevent it from returning.  I also would like to prune my hydrangea bush and "water dry" the blooms.  Finally, while on the hunt for chrysanthemums in the perfect shade for the front porch, I spotted a large and healthy eucalyptus plant at the nursery for two dollars! I snapped it right up and just need to give it a nice pot and a place on the patio.

Inspiration

I absolutely love following Rebekah Markewich on Instagram and was thrilled when she mentioned that she had resumed blogging.  Matushka Rebekah's photography is stunning and I love the beautiful and peaceful atmosphere that she has created on her social media accounts.

Watching

I really enjoyed this video on Getting Dressed in the 18th Century:

 

In the Kitchen

I thought that the days of peach galettes were gone until next July, but then my friend, Lila, gave me six gorgeous and fragrant peaches on Friday and that's all I've been dreaming of since.  I think that I'll make one this afternoon!

On My Bedside Table

Lately, I have felt drawn to read a mystery and have found just the thing:  The Complete Stories of Miss Marple.  I think that Miss Marple just might be my favorite lady detective!  Agatha Christie wrote quite a few books about Miss Marple, so I have lots to look forward to!

An Overnight Away

 

The children and I tagged along with Papa for some diocesan meetings and were able to cram quite a bit into a little overnight away.  After dropping him off for the first day's meetings, Friday included a quick lunch at Chipotle, the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. for a quick spin around the exhibits, and an all-too-short visit with my dear friend Lila and her trio of little girls.  Saturday began with Liturgy with the clergy of the diocese, lunch and a little bit of autumn shopping for our long-legged daughter, and a stockpiling at Trader Joe's.  It was a bit of a whirl-wind, but we will be reliving those lovely traveling hours for quite awhile!

Basketball

 My husband was quite a basketball fiend when he was growing up and it seems as if our children are following in his footsteps.  In lieu of the homeschool gym classes that we have taken almost since the start of our homeschooling careers, our older two children have enrolled in a once-a-week basketball clinic (there is a later one for their brother's age bracket).  If they like it, we will continue with the basketball team that begins in November.  It will be a more demanding schedule than we are used to, but I foresee quite a lot of reading and knitting time on the bleachers which I cannot complain about!

Joyous Feast!

O Lord, save Thy people, 

And bless Thine inheritance. 

Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians 

Over their adversaries. 

And by virtue of Thy Cross, 

Preserve Thy habitation.

The Baltimore Aquarium

September 11

Memory Eternal!  We happened upon the 9/11 Memorial in Baltimore, Maryland just at about the time that the towers fell in 2001.  The beams on top are from the wreckage of the Twin Towers and the names of those who died from Maryland are engraved in the marble base.  The monument is cleverly situated so that each event on the engraved timeline along the side is illumined by the sun at the exact time it happened on that fateful day in September.

The Renaissance Faire in Photographs

One of our favorite things to do in the autumn is to visit our state's Renaissance Faire.  We all have such a lovely time with lots of fun, food, music, and people watching.  This was the first year that I spent a little time in a costume shop today.  I loved seeing all of the beautiful garments...  many made with natural materials like wool and linen.  The Faire is always a feast for the senses!