My Afterlife Mural

During our studies of ancient Egypt, the girls created "afterlife murals" for their parents.  They were inspired by stories of the Egyptian royalty, who depicted on the walls of their tombs scenes of how they wanted to spend their eternal rest.  (Don't worry, we talk about how this isn't what WE believe exactly, but it is kinda similar to our idea of Heaven, eternal happiness in the presence of God, etc.)

To give you an idea of what Caeley did for my mural:

This is me waving my "kerchief" from the door of the house at Ken, who is dressed in full farmer regalia.  And pulling a wagon full of chickens.  Does she know my fantasy or what?

Me feeding my ladies.  Oh I miss them.  At least they'll be there in my afterlife.

My garden.  Notice the raised bed with squash plant growing out of the box.  I'm picking sun gold tomatoes.

Cooking at the wood stove and serving dinner.

After a day in my afterlife, I relax by my fire with my (rather short) legs up.  Reading a book, of course.

Fast forward a couple months...

We are on a "field trip" to Rose Hill Manor Park...a place I have been meaning to go for two years, but just never got around to it.  And now I know why.  Because I have found THE place that I would want to spend the rest of my (after) life.  My idea of eternal happiness would be to live (in Heaven) of course, in the Manor House at Rose Hill.  It is a federalist mansion built in the late 1700s, with huge rooms, a gorgeous garden, and the kitchen of my dreams.  (I can't speak for what the upstairs looked like...we only saw the downstairs because the girls had a "microscope" class that took longer than I thought.)

To tell you that I nearly had heart palpitations in this place is an understatement.  I felt like I had stepped back in time.  Not just to any time, but to the time I really belong in.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have always felt like I belong in a different era.  My mom thinks I could be Laura Ingalls.  My friends and I joke about the "Camish" community I want to start.  This would be, obviously, a CAtholic AMISH community.  And the Manor House at Rose Hill Park would be my Camish home.  Something about the "olden days" and the simplicity, the importance of home, family, working together for survival...I wish I could try it sometime.

But I digress....When we walked into the kitchen of the home, I said to Caeley, "Isn't this kitchen awesome???!!!"  Her response, and the inspiration for this entire post was, "Yeah!  I should add it to your afterlife mural!  And the garden too!"  Well said, honey.  Well said.

In case you wonder if I am over-exaggerating, which I have been accused many-a-time of doing, I challenge you:  Look at these pictures and tell me you can't see me here!

The enormous hearth.  All you need for cooking hanging right there.  My biggest dream.  (If I ever DO get to build that house I dream of, I really want a cooking hearth in my kitchen.)

Mini oven for bread in the back of the fireplace.

More pots and pans around the fire.

Kitchen "cabinets." (Also called really cool piece of old furniture! I love all the old fashioned dishes, pottery, and spice jars...)

The garden was phenomenal.  My camera was running out of batteries, so I didn't take enough shots of it, but it was huge, well organized, and pretty, which incidentally, are my three requirements for a garden! 

Can you imagine the work it took to build a fence like this back in the day???

No outlet or batteries required.  And I bet these lasted longer than your last kitchen gadget.

Fake bread.  But cool serving dishes.

I love that the hearth is REAL brick, and you could literally walk right into it.  Not so child friendly, but how fun to cook over this!

The parlor next to the kitchen.  Set up as the wool/spinning/weaving display.  Makes me wish I knew a fiber art.  Any fiber art would do.  Just something crafty so I could pretend at being old fashioned...

The "ice box" is so much prettier than our silly refrigerators.  Sure, it holds basically nothing, but come on, do you really need all that food???

I want to be this doll.  The one with brown hair.  

The "ice house" makes up for the small "ice box."  And great little well pump next to it for all your water needs.

Welcome home?  Yes, please.

(Note: this post was typed in haste.  Pardon any grammatical mistakes or syntax weirdness.)

  

And the imaginary award goes to...

A completely separate post to nominate for the last award.

Best "It Doesn't Exist Yet, But If It Did, It Would Be Awesome" blog award goes to the blog that my friend Kristina will one day hopefully write.  She is the constant source of laughs at Bible study with her catch phrases and witticisms, and if she were to ever put down on "paper" the stories of her life, complete with her sense of humor, I have no doubt she'd be winning tons of awards.  No cake of shame for you, Kristina!  :-)

And the honor goes to...

My friend Ellie nominated me for "Best Home, Farm, and Garden" blog award.  I am totally humbled and honored to accept the nod in my direction, only I lament that I'm more "home and garden" than "farm" at this point!  I so wish that we still had our lovely ladies around, so that my once-bestowed title of "Chicken Lady" would still be apropos!  But alas, we must move on.

In Memory.  Gosh they are cute.

As part of the nomination, I am supposed to tell all nine of my readers seven interesting things about myself, and then nominate five more blogs for awards.

Seven things about me:
1.)  I have a downright horrible memory.  It is a constant source of embarrassment, frustration, and irritation to me.  I can watch a movie and a month later, re-order it on Netflix, watch it, and have almost no recollection that I've ever watched it.  The nice thing about my bad memory is that things always seem new and exciting.  Tell me a funny story and I will roll on the ground laughing.  Tell it to me three days later, and I'll STILL roll on the ground laughing, not because I'm humoring you, but because I didn't remember the punchline from three days ago.  It is also very hard for me to hold grudges or "keep score" in relationships.  I easily forget hurts and wrongs others to do me.  The flip side is that I also forget hurts and wrongs I do to others, so if I don't realize right away I've done something wrong to offend another, I won't remember the original incident long after it has happened.  It doesn't mean I'm cold, heartless or unfeeling, or that I am pretending I did nothing wrong.  It is simply that I don't remember!!  My family and friends (for the most part) know this about me and hopefully love me in spite of it!  (Insert sheepish grin here.)

2.)  My idea of a perfect date is to sit on the couch with Ken, with the house full of both healthy and naughty snacks, and watch an entire trilogy or movie series without one single interruption.  (Bathroom breaks excluded of course.)  Following nominations: Lord of the Rings (obvious first choice), The Matrix, and Harry Potter.  I would put Star Wars in for the husband.

3.)  In spite of my attempts toward eating healthy, I have a total weakness for McDonald's, particularly the fries.  I blame the golden arches for the fifty pounds I gained this last pregnancy.  Oops.

4.)  My favorite ice cream, which I hope can some day follow me into Heaven (assuming that's where I end up, which is a large assumption, I know!) is Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby.  The chocolate.  The peanut butter ribbons.  The chocolate -covered, peanut-butter-filled pretzels.  Oh my.

5.)  I am firmly annoyed by respectfully disagree with those who feel you can't be Catholic and an environmentalist.  Or those who think you can't be Catholic and think that man did not, in fact, walk with the dinosaurs.  I believe that faith and science can, and should, dovetail quite nicely together, but I will save the rest of my opinions on this for another post.  

6.)  I don't have a lot of friends.  (Wait for the explanation!)  I am the type of person that can't do the "lots of acquaintances" thing.  I end up feeling really disconnected.  I treasure deeper relationships, which can really only happen (at least at this point in my life) with a smaller group of people.  It doesn't mean that I don't enjoy large gatherings, parties, social events, because I love those too.  But it is very overwhelming to me to try to maintain the types of friendships I feel I need with a huge group of people.  It's like watering down the juice.

7.)  I wrote in my journal the first day I met Ken that he was the man I would marry.  I loved him from day one.  I will love him until the final day.  He is the mirror that shows me who I really am, and loves me in spite of it.  He puts up with my neuroses, the bees in my bonnets (gardens and chickens) and even trusts me when he might not be sure of the outcome (homeschooling and homebirthing.)  Even though I don't tell him enough, he is a super-hero father, a doting husband, and does way more than live just up to my unreasonably high expectations...he exceeds them.  (Positive points.  Just positive points.)  I can't wait to celebrate our ten years in October.

And now for my nominations!  Being new to the blog world, I hope you forgive me for only having FOUR nominations!  (Ellie, I'm assuming I can't re-nominate you, but you'd be on the list if I could!)

1.  Best "Tell it Like it Is" blog award has to go to Alexis at Catholic Love Life  Constantly laughing, but also inspired and strengthened by her tales of life with four young children.

2.  Best "This is What Farming SHOULD Be" blog award goes to Will at Whitmore Farm.  Not only the nicest person I think I've ever met, but totally committed to farming and raising animals in a way that respects the earth and its creatures.  And when I tell you his eggs are like nothing you've ever tasted, I'm not yolking.  And the sausage.  And the bacon.  Oh my.

3.  Best "Hate to Love It and Love to Hate It" blog award goes to Shower of Roses.  I'm not gonna lie, I can't really read this blog without having a panic attack that I'm not doing enough, or that I'm doing everything wrong.  That said, if I need a quick idea for what the heck to do to celebrate a certain saint, or Catholic feast day, or really anything, this is my go-to place.  I love it.  But I hate it.  I hate to love it.  I love to hate it.  :-)

4.  Best "Reading and Fooding" blog award goes to Ree Drummond at The Pioneer Woman.  Not only amazing recipes, but hysterical presentation!  Reading a recipe from her blog constantly makes me smile.  She makes cooking fun!  (She's so good she's getting a Food Network Show!)

Garden Babies

Just in the last week or so (let's conveniently call it June 1st) the garden has exploded.  The hot temperatures are fooling everything into believing it's way later in the summer, I suppose.  The tomato plants all have flowers, and I have started my careful morning walks through the garden to peek at what  has popped out overnight.  I've also had to admit that the lettuces are just getting plain bitter.  This is really hard for me, as I try to get the most I can out of each harvest.

Here's what I worked on today:
1.)  I ripped out the original batch of mesclun, and replanted some in the shade of some of the bigger plants.  Maybe this will keep them from getting bitter too quickly.  Or maybe it's just too darn hot.

2.)  Replanted some spinach in shadier places.

3.)  Planted two spots of cucumbers.  (Annmarie, I took your advice!  Hopefully they will pop up quickly with all the warm temps!)

4.)  Watered, watered, watered.   It took me an hour an a half to just water this morning.  I really tried to give everything a nice bit of water.  But the reality is that it's just a big garden, and with all the side boxes, the new bushes, and watering the compost, it's no small feat.

Questions for the gardenly inclined.  (I made up the word gardenly I think.)
1.) Why are the leaves of the tomato plants in one box curling?  I hope it's not due to some large failure on my part.  Nothing like a tomato plant to hold a mirror to your face and say, "See, you are failing!"

2.)  How long until the cucumbers appear?

3.) How are you really supposed to water?  Every 3 days or so but with a good soaking, or every day just a little bit?  I've been doing the every 3 days thing, but wonder if that's too much water logging to give them a big drink and then let them dry out.  Is this like the "chicken and the egg" question?

And now for the pictures.  This is my botanical daycare.  Aren't babies so cute?

Aerial shot of the daycare center.  

 Aerial shot trying to include the whole sha-bang.

The broccoli and cauliflower patch close up aerial shot.

LOOK LOOK!  I got heads!!!!

See???!!!

I really hope it doesn't get so hot that the broccoli and cauliflower start to bolt or whatever it's called when the heat makes stuff flower or go bad!  I'm so excited.  This is a huge success compared to all my other attempts!

This could be a sugar baby pumpkin.  This could also be the Feed Me Seymour, Awful, Hard, Inedible hybrid plant we accidentally grew last year.  We called it a "squmpkin" because it was a cross between a pumpkin and a squash.  The problem was that the plant itself was the MOST PROLIFIC thing I have ever seen.  It took up a huge section of the garden bed, and for most of the summer, I thought I was growing pumpkins.  I was super psyched thinking about all the wonderful pies and mini jack-o/-lanterns we would make.  Until the fruit got bumps.  And grew handles.  And then I realized something weird was going on.  My garden mentor, Annmarie, informed me that SURE, it is possible to have created this weird hybrid plant by growing pumpkins and squash near each other the previous year.  By some strange miracle, they could've cross pollinated and made a rather unwanted garden baby.  But I tried to look in the bright side.  SUPER! I thought!  I have some neat new food to try.  Oh no.  Not to be.  We couldn't even break the things open.  We tried smashing them on the concrete patio.  We tried pretty much everything, and I think we succeeded in finally getting one open.  And we realized that it was too seedy and not fleshy enough to be anything purposeful, other than maybe a really cool looking decorative gourd.  It was growing in this same spot last year, and so I hesitate to say for sure that the picture above is a sugar baby pumpkin.  It could be her nasty stepsister.  (And based on how huge the plant is, I'm suspicious that it might be.  This year, no lemonade stand.  If that happens, we will have a decorative gourd stand.)

The first Sun Gold.  I am so excited I could tinkle in my bloomers.  There is nothing quite like Sun Gold tomatoes, which I only just discovered last year.  Not to mention everyone likes them, and best of all, they just keep on keepin' on all through the summer.  Even the girls sounded a huge, "Hooray" when I told them our first Sun Gold was out.  

First Tigerella tomatoes.  I believe this is an heirloom variety that will be green and yellow striped.  I had a lot of blossom end rot last year, and my heirlooms did poorly, so I'm hoping to avoid that this year.  (Annmarie, any ideas??)

Dear Zucchini, In a few short months I will be horribly sick of you.  But for now, you are adorable, small, perfectly cylindrical, and I can't wait to turn you into a mexican zucchini boat.  Love, Mommy

Baby bell peppers.  Another success that I've never had before, but I should knock on wood.  I will usually get a tiny little green nub, which then becomes deformed and weird.  Here's to hoping.

These represent actually the end of our strawberry time.  We have a bunch on the vine right now, still ripening, but no new flowers.  I'm okay with that.  I still would like to go pick a bunch at a larger farm and try my hand at jam, but I fear that the season is already over everywhere.

A tiny green honeydew.  I'm afraid this little lass is being shaded too much by the huge pumpkin-could be-squmpkin plant.  If I have to, I'll be pruning off the top leaves of her nasty, sun-hogging neighbor so that she can grow to her full potential.   I'd love a homegrown melon since we've never had one before.  Melons just don't seem to like me.  Probably because I plant them next to squmpkins.

If I were Jacob, chard would be my Joseph.  It would be my favorite, and I would make it a coat of many colors, but it already has one!  I don't know whether it's the composition of the soil, or whether chard really is just that easy, but it never fails me.  It grows quickly and easily from seed, can be planted fairly early (seedings went in April 6th, and I direct seeded another batch a couple weeks later), and if you harvest the leaves on the outside first, it just keeps producing and producing and producing all summer.  It doesn't seem affected too much by the heat, as long as it is watered, which is unusual for greens in my experience.  Lettuces get bitter, spinach bolts, but the chard does wonderfully, even in the full sun of our garden.  If you don't eat chard, or have no idea what to do with it, let me point you to two of my FAVORITE recipes that feature chard:

Swiss Chard Pie

This is an easy recipe, but rather time consuming because it calls for TONS of chard, which you have to wash and cut up.  I made it last Sunday, but only because I had one of our favorite college students (shout out to Solia!) over to watch the girls while I basically cooked all day.  But it's delicious, you can throw other greens in it as well (I actually used chard and kale from the garden) and it turns out looking just like the picture.  I decrease the cooking time to 30 minutes because I don't like the crust quite so crispy, and I use a regular 9" pie plate.  I also think it's better the next day after the flavors have a chance to meld and the crust softens.  Great for harvesting tons of greens at one time.

Gemelli with Sausage, Chard and Pine Nuts

This is an easier recipe, as it calls for less greens.  Oh my goodness, it is divine.  I have to admit, though, that I don't use raisins.  I have serious issues with using raisins or dried fruit in general in my savory cooking.  I don't know what it is, but I just can't do it.  I also know that my kids would probably stage a revolt if I tried.  SO, instead of the raisins in this recipe, I whip out the food processor and chop into itty bits a bunch of sun dried tomatoes (the ones that come packed in oil).  The combination of pasta, the sun dried tomatoes, and the toasted pine nuts is only made more wonderful by the Sweet Italian Sausage (which I get from my farmer Will at Whitmore Farm.  Side note:  best.  sausage.  ever.)

And lest we forget the flower bed....there are even babies among the Cosmos.

Happy Almost Summer!

DC in Three

We just got back from a whirlwind staycation in DC.  It was one of my summer goals to get there and do some of the things I'd been meaning to do all school year, but hadn't.  So, Ken took three days off work and we committed to getting some serious activities in with the girls.  It was so much fun, but also exhausting for someone not used to doing the tourist thing!  It was completely worth it, though, to see the girls get excited about some of the things we've learned this year, particularly at the Air and Space Museum.  (And admittedly, it was much easier for Caeley to appreciate stuff than for Meara, who was coming off a stomach bug and just wasn't as excited to be walking SO far in the heat.)  We had a fantastic three days, which I will briefly chronicle below, but think that a new personal resolution is to start making MORE use of the wonderful stuff that is so close to us!  It could take a lifetime to see all that is in DC, and trying to pack it all into three days was a super huge tease.  (Don't get me started about being rushed through the NGA's PICASSO exhibit by a cranky someone who demanded I think more about the children than about the fact that there was a room full of Picasso paintings.  Geez, who does he think I am?  A mother? ;-)

Day 1:  Morning
Glen Echo Park's Adventure Theater showing of "AYear with Frog and Toad" (I have to insert here that if you've never been to a Glen Echo Adventure Theater performance, please put it on your bucket list, if nothing else.  I really think that their shows come close to being Broadway wonderful, but they're for kids, which is even cooler.  They are super top-notch performances geared towards little kids, who might not even appreciate all the wonderfulness.  All the attention to detail is there anyway, which makes it so fun for the adults who go too!  These are not dumbed-down performances, second rate actors and thrown-together sets.  I'm talking amazingly inventive sets, really creative costumes, catchy songs, cute choreography, and some of the best play adaptations you could hope to see.  In fact, I'm sometimes so overwhelmed by how great it is that I get a little choked up.  Don't laugh.  I really do.  Really talented people and art forms make me cry.  Like Olympians.  Like Picasso paintings.  Like classical music performances.  Like the Adventure Theater shows.)  The next show coming is Charlotte's Web, which I can't wait to see.  As a poignant story anyway, it's bound to be a three-pack-of-tissues affair for me.  After the show the girls had their 2011 inaugural ride on the Dentzel Carousel.  No words to describe how cool this 1920s restored carousel is!  The pics and website will speak for me!

Carousel Detail

Beautifully restored horse!

Baby A on her first ride!

 Day 1: Afternoon
Pool time!!  First dip of the season was surprisingly refreshing.  The water was not half as freezing as it has been this early in years past.  Caeley's first jump off the diving board always makes me smile!

Day 2: ALL DAY at the DC museums
First stop: Old Post Office Pavilion.  Best view of DC.  Little known secret.  Thank you to my DC scouring husband for that experience.  The girls thought that was so cool!

Second Stop: National Gallery of Art.  Hugely poor planning on my part.  I was only looking for the artwork of the artists we studied this year: Delacroix, Durer, and Caravaggio.  If I had been smart, and not in total brain-numb since we've finished school, I would've remembered to look up the locations of the paintings on the wonderful NGA website before we got there.  Instead, I resorted to asking a security guard (posing as the information desk person) and that was the beginning of the end.  He directed me to Caravaggio paintings that weren't there.  We found a couple from Durer's school, and one actually by him, but by the time we started looking for the Delacroix, a certain person, who shall remain nameless, was getting cranky about the aimless wandering and the distractedness of the brain-numb tour guide, who shall also remain nameless.  I will eat crow on this one.  Next time I want to go to the NGA, I'll do the footwork myself beforehand, or go with an adults-only party so that I can sit and drool out of my eyes over all the amazing talent housed in one building.  Oh Picasso.

Stop Three: Air and Space Museum.  Another bunch of overwhelming wonderfulness.  I ended up actually being glad that we finished our astronomy curriculum before going.  Caeley kept yanking my arm, pulling me toward yet another thing we "read about in our book!"  It was super cool that A.) she remembered a LOT of the details of the stuff we learned and B.) was super excited to learn even more.  Next visit we will devote a whole day to the museum.  It was so big, and we saw such a little portion.  And I really wanted to see one of the Imax movies, but again, just didn't have my act together to research show times before we went.  Yet another note to self.

Getting to look AT the sun through a special telescope outside the Air and Space Museum.  Even saw some Solar Prominences and Sun Spots!

Stop Four: McDonald's in the Air and Space for lunch.  This was probably Baby A's highlight of the day.  She can, after all, recognize the golden arches.  She calls it "Don-dols" and horribly embarrasses me in front of people who think I'm crunchy and care about what my kids eat.  Alas, my weakness for McDonald's will not remain secret forever, and is a whole separate post.  (Included in that post is sure to be details on how hypocritical it is for me to even think about eating there, much less to do it every week when pregnant.  Ouch.)

Stop Five:  Museum of Natural History.  Meara desperately wanted to see the dinosaurs.  So we did a whirlwind tour as we were all losing steam.  Another place that you could really spend all day, especially in the super-neat kids room where they can touch, feel, open, close, dress up, explore, compare, inspect, etc.  Just think of all those silly "benchmark" things we could do that every elementary school kid is expected to do...and all in one little room!  After this, we were completely beat and headed home.  I look forward to many more visits to the DC museums!  (Not going to lie, though, I kinda want to take a chartered bus that will drop me right at the door to each place I want to go.  And pick me up when I'm done.  And maybe offer pedicures on-board for the ride home.  A girl can dream, can't she?)

Day 3: Morning
National Zoo.  Just fun!  Baby A loves animals, so this was a special trip for her.  She's particularly obsessed with owls (taking after her father and his affection for large birds with big claws) and so the best-spent time was in the bird house.  I tried so desperately to catch her smiling face, but didn't come close to the joy she radiated!  Lots of school groups were there, too.  Another note to self: do all touristy things on the first day of school in the fall.

Day 3: Afternoon
Mommy and Daddy headed home with Baby A.  Big girls got to spend another day at grandparent's house.  Tennis lessons and more pool time ensued.  No pictures of that, obviously, as my camera was back home, collapsed on the couch, having a beer.  And the camera wasn't the only tired one!