This Week's Menu...

 

Breakfasts

Eggs, Bacon, and Toast

Pancakes

Cold Cereal

Lunches

Macaroni and Cheese

Chicken Quesadillas

Grilled Cheese

Leftovers from Dinner

Salads

 Dinners

Pot Roast (slow cooked with carrots and onions) and served with mashed potatoes

Ravioli and Meat Sauce, Salad, and Garlic Bread 

Pulled Pork and Coleslaw

Fish Tacos and Coleslaw

Chicken Caesar Salad

Tuna Salad Sandwiches 

Dessert

Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Filled with Glory...

Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”   

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith

Sunset on a Friday Evening...

Apricots...

 

The first time I ate an apricot was last summer and it was immediately in love.  I bought the first ones of this season and was lucky to get to eat the apricot above, because my children inhaled the others in minutes! 

Round and Round We Go...

 

For the past few days, I've loaded the kids' bikes into the van for a ride 'round a nearby lake.  We've tried to go early in the morning to avoid the heat, but it has still been quite warm.  I'm already looking forward to the cool days of autumn!  

The First Blackberries...

 

 

I went for a walk after dinner tonight and spotted the first blackberries ripening on the vines that line the woods.   

Living and Learning: The Week Ahead...

 

On My Bedside Table

It was finally my turn to get a copy of  The Summer Before the War from our local library.  I'm about halfway through and am enjoying the tale of a young female Latin teacher arriving in a small English village just before World War I breaks out.

Watching

I've been enjoying an incredibly silly show of late:  Robin Hood.  All three seasons are available on Netflix and though it is cheesy, it has hit the spot for me.  Have you seen it?  If not, don't judge it by the first few episodes!

Learning 

I'm starting to begin the process of choosing our homeschooling courses and books for this coming school year.  One of the things that I am looking at is Liz Steel's Foundations Sketching Course.  Our children really enjoy drawing and art class and for the time being, there are none offered in our area.  This class seems like it would be a good fit (though it is not designed for homeschoolers per se).

On My Needles

I have begun to work on my long neglected Riverbank Cowl again.  Though there will be no cold weather for months, I'd like to finish it quickly so that I can work on some other projects.  It is a wonderfully mindless knit that produces something really lovely, so that won't be a hardship at all!

In the News

I found the recent article Life Behind the Stacks:  The Secret Apartments of New York Libraries to be quite fascinating.  Though it is unlikely that there will be live-in library superintendents in the future, the list of qualifications to be one is impressive to say the least.

The Ordinary Arts...

 

The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul that their simplicity might suggest."

Thomas Moore 

Welcome Home!

 

The five of us are back together again! 

Soaking Up Beauty...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Button and I were a half an hour into our trip home today and on the spur of the moment I decided to take a small detour to visit a museum a few hours from home that has the largest permanent collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in the United States.  We visited nearly two years ago with two of my sisters and it was high time to take another trip.  The museum is not very large, so Button and I were able to visit all the galleries (though with a six-year-old, we walked rather quickly) and I was able to enjoy looking at my favorite paintings several times to soak them all in.

One-on-One Time...

 

 

The children have two sets of godparents that live near their grandparents and we are fortunate to get to see them pretty frequently.  We went to visit Button's godfather tonight (who is married to Sugar Plum's godmother) and had a delicious dinner of homemade fish tacos (Claudia is a wizard in the kitchen!) and enjoyed a long walk and visit.  Button adores his godparents and was thrilled to have some one-on-one time with Uncle Gregory!

Every Night...

When we're home, my husband lights the lampada every night in our bedroom. When I'm visiting family with the children (and this time I'm only with our littlest since the older two are at camp), my father-in-law lights it for us every night in the guestroom.

Garden Stroll...

After an akathist for Saint Elisabeth the New Martyr and a breakfast bagel, my sister and I took our little ones to a local estate garden where we walked along paths lined with wildflowers, enjoyed the shade of huge trees, and spent a little time in an orchid greenhouse.  This beautiful garden is about five minutes from both my father-in-law's house and my parent's house and though I haven't visited in fourteen years (it was one of the first dates I went on with my husband!), I plan to return as much as possible.  It is truly a hidden jewel! 

On Independence Day...

Living and Learning: The Week Ahead...

 

 

  

Church in the Home
I have long admired Emilia's Post, an art shop with a liturgical and bookish twist.  I love everything in Kelsey's etsy store, but her latest offering is these amazing greeting cards that say God Grant You Many Years on the front!  Aren't they wonderful?  I plan on buying a bunch to keep for special occasions throughout the year.

Inspiration

Elizabeth drew my attention to this lovely essay that Donald Hall wrote on his marriage to Jane Kenyon and I enjoyed it very much.  I read The Best Day The Worst Day:  Life with Jane Kenyon a few months ago and I still think about it a lot.

In Season

We picked blueberries this past week and I was thrilled that I was able to nearly fill a gallon ziplock bag with ones that I flash froze on toaster trays.  They will be lovely all autumn, winter, and maybe even in early spring when we need a bit of a pick me up before the abundance of summer arrives.

Moving and Shaking

For the last few weeks I have been using a widget on my android phone to record my steps on a daily basis.  It has become a little bit of an obsession and I have particularly enjoyed the time we've spent visiting family who live in neighborhoods with town centers in walking distance. Walking for me is so much more pleasant when I have a destination in mind.  This morning, Button and I walked to get groceries, and after dinner we took a ramble to the post office to mail letters for my father-in-law. I've been really enjoying trying to make it to my 10,000 step goal each day.

Beauty and Fashion

I've been trying really hard to stop biting my nails, a lifelong bad habit, the past month. Lately I have spent just a little time one evening a week filing my nails, pushing back my cuticles, using a little clear nail polish, and moisturizing my nail beds.  The result  (in less than three weeks) has been very exciting!  Now, the nails on my left hand look amazing and only three nails on my right hand need to catch up in length.  I finally feel like I have feminine hands.

Sunday...

 

The Trio and I went on a long journey today after Liturgy today to drop off the older two children at Saint Tikhon's Summer Camp.  It is the second time that Sugar Plum has attended this camp,  but it is Little Man's first time at.  They are going to have such a wonderful time (some of our church friends are going as well!) and though we will miss them very much, we can't wait to hear about all of their adventures!

Wildflower Identification...

I spent a little time trying to identify the wildflowers I picked on a walk around the church this morning: Queen Anne's Lace (hiding in the back), Common Yarrow, New England Aster, Asiatic Dayflower, Maryand Meadow Beauty, and Deptford Pink.

July Sponsor News...

 

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On the Last Golden Day of June...

 

Blueberry Picking...

 

 

Our annual June trip to pick blueberries was a delight.  The sun shown brightly down on us, but we were able to fit in our visit in the morning before it got too terribly hot.  We gathered nearly seven pounds in very little time (the children are little picking machines!).  It was quite a busy day, so all I had managed to do before dinnertime was to pour the berries from the children's baskets to my big colander in the sink.  However, I just couldn't let the day go by without a blueberry baked good, so I managed to squeak in a sour cream coffeecake with fresh blueberries baked in the middle just before the children took a quick dip in the pool.  Now I am spending my evening flash freezing trays of berries to stock in the freezer for autumn and winter.