What Goes Up

Must Come Down.


Adam and I both heard a loud crash last night about 11:00. I got out of bed; he came in from the patio. We thought it was downstairs but he didn't find anything amiss.

Julia showed me the mess this morning in the living room. Two shelves of books came tumbling down. It is very distressing to see a book in pain!

Also coming down today, is our pool. The menfolk turned it upside down over some lawn furniture, and it is drying out.

Philip and Peter then started work on putting the patio stones back in their places for the winter. It was hot, sticky work, with lots of bees down by the apple trees.
Lookin' good.

I'm off tomorrow to my parents' house, so I'll see you again on Tuesday!

Phil Potter

There he is. Isn't that a cool picture? It's fascinating that this man's "larger-than-life" persona evidently passed down successfully in 2 separate branches of the family. Adam grew up hearing about him, and the girl in his class also knew the name, and identity of her great-grandfather. That also makes it likely that this is the same man.

The neat photo came to us from Adam's mom.

Replies...

Beth - Well, no, a move is not in the works. We have moved too much. We really want to stay put for a while, especially with the kids in high school. And yes, especially with the bread oven. That's not the kind of thing you can load into the your U-Haul and drive a few states away! Adam kindly told them that he would prefer not to move. But his philosophy of ministry is that a man should be willing to serve where the Lord wants him to, so of course if God strongly directed us to go away, we would.

Jeannie - I never did say, "Welcome!" to you :) And if you're here visiting you DD, please do feel free to drop by for a visit!

Coinky-dinky

I tried to get a cute picture of the cowboy on the Wyoming license plate. Couldn't get it to load on here.(Tried again with Philip's help. Still no go.)

Adam had 2 rather amazing odd and unexpected events today. Let me tell you about them...

He was talking to one of his middle-schoolers today. The girl told Adam that her family moved here from Wyoming. Adam, of course, gave her his usual line that he gives to folks he meets from Wyoming. "Hey! Y'know that cowboy on the Wyoming license plate? Guess you don't know his name! His name is Phil..."

"Potter!" the girl interjects.

"How'd you know that?" Adam asks. Nobody ever knows the name of the Wyoming license plate cowboy. Phil Potter is Adam's great-uncle, and quite a character, evidently.

The girl then replied, "Phil Potter is my great-great-grandfather." (Maybe it was just one great? We're not sure at this point.)

So, Adam is teaching one of his cousins. This girl's older sister was a student of mine last year too. Rather exciting!

But that's not all. Another serendipitous event occurred as well. Adam was talking to another girl in the same class. He asked what she was doing over her long weekend.

"Visiting my grandpa," she said.

Come to find out, her grandpa is the clerk of session in a church in West Virginia which recently approached Adam about becoming their pastor. This girl's aunt wrote to Adam with the inquiry.

So, you just never know if that person you're being rude to in the check-out at WalMart might be a relative. Watch out!

Break a leg, as they say.

No, I didn't break my leg. But I've been contemplating today...if I DID break my leg, or some such tragedy, and were laid up in bed for a good 6 weeks of doing nothing...

What would I do with my time?

Each year when I teach Beowulf I'm reminded how much I LOVE Old English. I mean, I REALLY LOVE it. I spent all my free time at school today looking up Old English words and brute-force translating a small portion of Beowulf. Well, translating might be a bit of a stretch. It is so much fun! I could do it for hours. I honestly do think that if someone said to me, "MK, I'd like to pay for you to go back to school and get a specialized degree in literature. What would you like to study?" I'd kiss their feet and recover myself, and exclaim, "Old English!" It's one of the few bodies of literature that is really small - just a cluster of documents. It's really manageable. Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to just sit down and read something 1200 years old, in the original, and tell myself, "This is the ancestor to my language."

So, if I broke my leg, and had nothing else to do...

Okay, so not all of you feel my enthusiasm. I understand...

Some pictures, you say?

I strolled outside to see what I could see. I think I'm running out of things to photograph. I snapped a pic of our banister and the darkening yard.

When lo and behold, my hubby drove up!

And moments later walked up the back steps bearing groceries and asking for a kiss :)

That Drizzly Weather

I love it. The sky is overcast and has been all day. The air is cool but heavy, and the sound of thousands of leaves rustles through my windows. I've turned off the AC, opened every window and door I can, and it settles my soul. The menfolk are in Hickory at their various Tuesday activities. The womenfolk are sitting in a quiet house. The dog is snoozing on the cold hearth. I've brought no work home, have no movies to watch. I've read half of Candide since last night, which is enough Voltaire for 24 hours.

What should I do with my evening? Walk around the block? (did that last night) Practice piano (I'm tired of piano for now) Blog? (yeah, but I'll be done with that in about 5 minutes...) I finished my latest Victoria magazine.

[Aside...Marie, I think YOU should be featured in Victoria magazine. They always have antique cards and such. You would be a perfect fit!]

I would really like to crochet for the evening. Now that's relaxing. Haven't crocheted in a very long time.

And I started rereading Jewett's "Country of the Pointed Firs" last night. To offset the effect of so much required literature reading, I always have to have a book to read just for pleasure. To remind me that there is still such a thing.

On the Light Fantastic Toe!

On Sunday, I played my church prelude on the organ for the first time! I've played the piano since I was about 9 years old, but never the organ. The 3 little workshops this past summer set me on the right path, and I've been practicing at church once a week ever since. I played a fairly simple piece, with minimal pedaling, and our organ only has 2 manuals. Still, it's a start! And best of all, instead of feeling scared as I anticipated it, I was excited! I can't tell you what a change this is for me, and so refreshing. I find the organ more creative to play, with so many variations of possible sounds. One little finger on one little key, and a complex sound comes forth!

Today was not such a great day at school - rather discouraging, in fact. Sometimes, as a teacher, one has to listen to a dissatisfied parent. Even if the child is unmotivated, and doesn't work, and has no desire to improve, still the parent is alarmed that the child doesn't test as well as the parent would prefer. And the closer the child is to college, the more alarmed parents become. It is sad, because really the child creates his own education. The teacher is rather like the cook, who prepares the education and places it on the table, and instructs in eating techniques. But the child must desire it, and consume it, and assimilate it. There's such a difference between the curious student, who is academically awake, and the one who is academically sleeping. Why do they want to go to college?

So I'm a little deflated after one of those conversations. I know I'm doing a good job, but somehow I'm always left feeling inadequate.

Speaking of fire...

...now that my pool is empty (boo-hoo) I turned my mind to what else might produce the same relaxation. Hmm, what is my winter equivalent? And immediately came to mind: A FIRE! Specifically, a nice fire in the fireplace, in a dimly lit living room with music lulling me into drowsiness. Carolyn's comment about fires reinforced this. How many of us have gazed dreamily into a fire at some point, imagining magical things? Fire and water. Two rudimentary elements that have such a drawing force on the human soul.

And yes, Jenny, this bread is yum-yum-good! I'm eating my first slice as we speak. I warmed it slightly in the toaster, slathered it with butter. It has a nice tight crumb, so it doesn't fall apart on you or drop little pieces down your shirt. Adam put lots of honey in it, so it will last several days without going bad.

He just can't face all that fire again today, though, so he'll bake the country loaf in our barely-alive kitchen oven, and take it to school tomorrow for the teachers to devour. If you want food to disappear, one good place is the teacher workroom of your local school!

(Carolyn/Schotzy - I don't know how close you live to us, but if you & Lynn want to come down some Saturday this fall and see the oven in operation, you're more than welcome!)

The first bread is born!

Four loaves of rye. My oh my.

But Adam says that that oven fire REALLY tires him out. He sacked out pretty early last night. Well, early for him.

PHAT: Pretty Hot and Tempting

Isn't fire fun?? I love the way this fire licks along the curve of the oven ceiling. That's a cheese pizza in there, bubbling away.

Adam finally got his pizza peel this week, which helps him to get the pizza in/out of the oven. I think he's now wishing for one with a slightly longer handle!

Tada! He's also cooking the pizza right on the oven floor now, because he also got his oven brush, to thoroughly clean the bottom, so he can cook straight on it.

After we're done with pizza, he'll pull the fire out, put his bread loaves in, and bake them this evening.

Feeling slightly deflated...

a few hours ago. And by now, the pool is close to empty. I realized recently how few things in my life are actually RELAXING. Relaxing, in that while I'm doing them, that little inner spring in my chest unwinds a little,and I feel lovely calm. Only a handful of things have that effect (unfortunately), and lounging in the pool, gazing up at the trees, is one of them. No more, until next May!

Adam is firing up his oven today to bake! He is making 3 loaves of bread, and pizza for supper. The bread, shown here, will be 2 loaves of rye (his favorite) and one country loaf.

Adam needs a new door for his oven, a more substantial one. Here is the huge log that a friend gave him. He'll get a saw mill to cut out a thick slab from the middle, and he'll have a solid door this time. Julia reads constantly.

Can you see the fire in the oven? It takes hours to heat up - it's an all day anticipation! See how flat the pool was?

Our ivy is growing like gang-busters right now. If we went away for the weekend, I think it would bar our way from the carport.

Hi Marian!

Thanks for your comment - I do have your blog already bookmarked and I look at it all the time. MUST see pics of Elvis once in a while! LOL I went to your blog this morning, tried to leave a comment, couldn't leave one, then couldn't get back into your blog at all. I can still read your posts in my Google Reader, but I can't actually go to your blog, or leave comments. SO... I just wanted to let you know I was there. This is an odd way to leave a personal message, but there you go :)

My last word...

Since a number of Mitford friends have dropped in here, I just wanted to say, welcome to my blog - if you enjoy it, please do feel free to visit often and say hello. Amazingly, I generally don't post political or controversial matters here. I wonder why not. I don't really know. This is mostly about what we eat and do at home, which ain't much :)

Pat (Duke Fan), if you read this, I understand that you stick by how you feel. That's fine. I appreciate your recommendation, but truly, a person's blog is her individual space. This is MY place to talk (and happily receive feedback). When I posted my first word here about my frustrations at Mitford, I did NOT intend for it to get back there. I really didn't think about one way or the other. I was expressing my feelings, on my blog. This place is mostly for my family (who live far away) and friends to read. After I posted it, I thought it was unlikely that anyone at Mitford would sort through those old threads from weeks ago and dig up my blog address. If they cared to, that was fine. I'm not ashamed of my thoughts or my words here.

I don't use profanity. I don't rant and rave. I don't use coarse language. Noting that a group of people are repeatedly giving unwarranted complaints, in order to manipulate a situation to their preference, is certainly my prerogative, especially if I can back it up. The fact that I pointed out the weakness of their complaint is what made some of them mad, I suppose.

I wasn't at Mitford for long. Very few of the ladies there have distinct identities to me; there are so many of them, with real and other names, and not knowing them well makes me mix them all up. I don't recall particular posts or people who "offended" me. That's not the point. It was the weakness and selfishness of their argument, and its lack of logic, that bothered me. If a site is going to be run by people who made illogical arguments, I don't want to be there.

That website is about 97% conservative. Yet, I've never known a bunch of conservatives so intent on not letting even one little liberal voice have an inch. And I'm a conservative myself! But so many complained about being overcome by liberalism. I did not find that to be true there. The conservative voice was loud, strong, and occasionally strident. I wonder whether poor Marian from the Netherlands will ever post again!

I've given about as much space as I care to, to this issue, on my blog. I will not allow the mean-spiritedness at Mitford to carry over here. So, this is all that will be said about it.

Those anonymous posters!!!

Well! As one of my visitors here noted, perhaps it IS a good thing I left Mitford!

No, seriously, I will say that many of the ladies (and there were a few gentlemen there also) were fine folk, and I enjoyed conversing with them. I hope they will realize that even when I describes some as hens, I wasn't saying they were ALL hens.

And BTW, I do want to say that I'm not criticizing all the ladies who were in favor of moving the political threads to another location. As ever, they're entitled to their opinions, and most were willing to try that, and wanted to support the moderator.

What bothered me most were the ones who insisted that the political threads dominated and out-numbered the other threads. Or those who complained about them heatedly, but continued to view and post on those political threads. I found that disingenuous.

You know what's funny about anonymous posts? You get to see what people will say, when they don't want anybody to know they're saying it! Ha! I thought about removing the nasty comments people have left here, but I think I will leave them, because they truly prove my point. They don't bother me, but they sure give us something to laugh about in our living room.

I think I'll ride my broom to WalMart tonight, whadya think? Oops - no, I wouldn't have room for the groceries, and I can't really balance 4 gallons of milk on back of my broom....

It's sad, really, that those members are so attached to that site that they are vicious toward anyone who even decides to leave. I don't think I want to become that attached to a website.

Gotta dash. Enjoy reading those zippy anonymous messages!

And like many new mommies before me...

I forgot my camera.

Of course.

I was a good mommy

...and went to Peter's track meet today. And Adam's track meet too, since he's the coach. They had about 90 runners, and it was held at our school. Now, I really don't understand the deep mental functionings of a cross-country runner's mind. Those are waters into which I do not dive. It's a sport where your competitor is yourself; you're running against your own best time.

The track was 3.2 miles. Peter was hoping for somewhere between 22 and 24 minutes. So when he wasn't in by 25 minutes, we thought, "He's gonna be grumpy at himself!" He came in under 26 minutes. But, bless his heart, he threw up in the middle of his run! That's what cost him a little time. Better luck next time, Pete!

While the runners were running around in the woods, conversing with the trees, I decided I'd go watch our soccer match for a few minutes. The nearest spot was actually our players' bench. It was in the sun :( but it was a seat :) Then I asked the coach (who's young enough to be my son) if it was okay for me to sit there for a few minutes while waiting for the runners to return. He said, actually, he'd prefer it if I didn't, although he hated to be rude. So, ejected from the bench, I sought out some lonely shade. And then, do you know what happened? A flock of cute, giggling high school girls came to sit with me. I must say, some of these girls absolutely adore me, and I have no idea why. I've taught them English for 2 years already, and they have 3 years of me to go. I scared them to death the first year. But now ... they love me! Go figure.

Must dash. I'm probably defrosting the chicken to DEATH.

Windfall tomatoes

I'll take this bowl of gems to work tomorrow, just in case my colleagues don't have a few bushes in each of their yards.

I just have to say this.

I don't often vent on my blog. It's more for fun, and besides I have a husband to vent to, y'know?

But I have to write about this.

I've mentioned before that I frequent a bulletin board website, run by Jan Karon. It is a fun place, and many members have been there for years and are old friends. Besides that, some of them are just plain old. They like to call it the "Porch," which is a quaint idea: picture a nice wrap-around with 20 rockers swaying on it gently and the tea glasses clinking pleasantly.

But lately I think of them more as a coop full of crotchety old hens.

Now, when I first joined this bulletin board (BB), I was warned to watch out for the resident difficult member, a lady who wouldn't even reveal her real name, even in the midst of such friendly folk. "H" liked to start political, controversial threads, and keep things heated up with her liberal viewpoints. She and I discussed our way around many topics. However, I've learned over the years not to take these discussions personally, so my BP never went up. Why would I get riled over a woman I don't even know?

But with the political landscape becoming daily more volcanic, the political threads became numerous, and some of the local hens were offended. "We don't like these threads!" "They raise our blood pressure!" "They're taking over the Porch!" "People are so mean on those threads!"

The simple solution, which they were told, was simply not to click on those threads. But I fear that the old hens' claws were simply addicted to reading all that vilification. Dislike it they might; ignore it they could not.

So, now the political threads will be relegated to a separate location on the website; out of sight, out of mind. And those hens declare they are thrilled, and will NOT frequent those threads. Even though, of course, they could not resist them before. And those threads had exponentially more views than any of the share-your-favorite-recipe, or how-do-you-knit-a-sweater, or see-pictures-of-my-vacation threads.

None of those controversial threads got me irritated, but in case you can't tell, this little chain of events has stuck in the proverbial craw. I don't know that I'll frequent that place anymore. I tried, I really did, to enjoy chit-chat about my daily doings, and others' as well. It's relaxing sometimes. But bless me, I'll not do it with a bunch of whiners who don't have control over their own mouse-clicking fingers. Grrrr, as they say.

I confused my readers...

...when I was talking about the story I read the other night. When Julia asked, "Mom, could you read a chapter from your story?" she really meant MY story. So, Tammy, you can't go find it somewhere, and Annie, I haven't thought of a name for it yet. It's the children's book that I wrote a few years ago, but haven't edited completely yet, and haven't thought of a name for yet.

It's a pretty fun story, really a book, because it's 29 chapters, I think. I also started a sequel to it, and am about 1/3 the way through it. But then I started teaching again, and I just haven't had time to finish it.

When I'm not working anymore, I imagine writing a series of books about these 3 children and their adventures. These are children's stories with a real spiritual twist to them, but not preachy.

I think it's amazing how sitting in front of teenagers all day long in an air-conditioned room, and talking about something I love and enjoy -- is SO EXHAUSTING. Why is that?

I forgot...

my camera at school again! It's sitting in my mail slot in the teacher workroom. I just don't go over there very often, and today the copier was broken, so I REALLY didn't spend much time in there.

Adam has middle school orientation this evening, so it was my job to take Philip to his trumpet lesson. But his teacher called while we were at the dinner table, and asked if he could skip the lesson tonight; he's very busy. Okay with me, because that gave me a nice evening at home, in comfy clothes, on the sofa, with a small bowl of popcorn and a friendly book. For my nearly-no-brain-cells-needed reading right now, I'm enjoying "Over the Gate" by Miss Read. I read a double pile of her books a number of years ago, and reading one again is as comfy as the old shirt I'm wearing.

And I'm wearing soft, long pants, and a very soft,old,long-sleeved shirt, and fuzzy socks, because we all know that that will help fall to arrive earlier.

On the other hand, I did dip back into the pool this afternoon. It was very cold.

And as I was enjoying my popcorn and my book and my couch, my darling 9 yo asked me, "Mom, could you read a chapter from your story to us tonight?" Too often when she asks that, I put her off with my tiredness, or other things I have to do. But tonight I read to her. And Peter, who was trying to pretend that he's really too old to listen to his mother read a book.

It's getting exciting in this chapter. Cecil, Connie and Carla are about to go rescue the poor children who are held captive in the horrible workhouse. Don't you wish you could know more???

No photos today

Because I left my camera at school with the yearbook teacher. I had some pics from in-service on there for her.

Phew! Slightly hectic first day. It'll take 3 weeks, but I'll get used to the schedule, the early rise, the daily grind.

Today I spent a lot of time talking about worldview and how to evaluate worldview in literature. Hopefully it will be useful to them this semester.

Too tired to yap anymore. Later!

Heigh ho, heigh ho...

It's off to work I go.

6:13 AM

School again

Baby Grace

She has arrived! A very difficult delivery, and we are thankful that it is over for Faith. Hopefully now she will get lots and lots of rest.

Annie...

No baby yet. Faith is very tired. She has not rested as much as she needed to - she didn't know. The other kids are at friends' houses. Faith is trying to rest as much as possible right now. The labor is not progressing quickly right now.

Lunch from the garden

While out looking at Adam's flowers, I also plucked a lovely tomato for lunch. Isn't it a beauty?



This is a simple favorite: lettuce, tomato, cheese & cucumbers with mayo, on a good wheat bread. By the time you read this, it will be LONG GONE.

Adam's flowers, finally

Back in the spring, Adam started lots of flowers from seed. Unfortunately, many of them did little to nothing. However, he did have some success! Here are his hollyhocks. He planted them because he remembers his grandma growing them in Nebraska when he was a boy:




These next ones are amaranthus, which I was not familiar with. They were supposed to be INCHES tall, but they must be 7 feet. Ah well. Still beautiful. The color is unusual for a flower, very "fallish."

It's all in a name

We're all waiting for Mark and Faith's baby to be born. Now, the baby himself (or herself?) is a very important thing.

But in our family, with this bunch of kids, what we REALLY want to know is,

WHAT DID THEY NAME THE BABY?

Here are Mark & Faith's children's names thus far:
Patience Autumn
Justice Pierce
Honor Gray
Mercy Sky
Courage Winter

They choose virtue names, which are very nice, and I personally like their middle names too. I've told the children that their parents are writing a poem with their middle names:

"Autumn pierces the gray sky in winter..."

Or something like that.

So, what virtue name will they choose this time?

And how will the poem continue?

[Julia says Truth is a nice name. My personal favorite virtue name is Increase.]

I have a new:

Niece or nephew being born as we speak! Are we speaking? Whatever!

Mark and Faith have been up most of the night, waiting for the birth. I'm reading about it on his blog; he keeps us posted up to the minute with all the little details, like how the bread smells in the breadmaker, and that their 2 year old got up feeling a little sick :)

My favorite part is about the midwife, who was driving to their house for the birth. She had to stop in the fog to shoo some lambs off the road. Only in rural WV!!

When the apples are falling...

I know it's time to make applesauce! The weather is cool, and very unlike August. I enjoy making applesauce - it's so easy - watch!



These are pretty rough, backyard apples. But aren't they pretty?



Cut them in quarters. If you want, cut out the core for a cleaner end-product. No need to peel them or get too picky about cleaning them. After all, you're going to boil them, and get rid of everything objectionable.



Here is the applesauce-maker's secret weapon: a food mill. When the apples are cooked till their insides are mush, just plop them into the food mill, and grind away. If you wait until it's a little cooler, you won't burn yourself, as I did :(



You really have to keep churning that food mill until all the pulp is strained through. Only the skins should be left. You can rotate the blade backwards to clean off the sieve. (The stuff in the spoon is the finished applesauce.)

Yummy finished product - just add as much sugar as you like, and it's perfect. Natural. No sprays or preservatives.

I'm Famous!!

Click on Marie's postcard blog. See? That's my postcard! In France! If I can't be in France, I guess that's the next best thing :)

Yes, yes

I'm still here.

No photos.

No fun.

Back to work.

About the most fun I've been having lately are my dreams. They've been really weird. Last night I dreamed that our pastor was also a dentist for his "day job." In the waiting room of his dentist office, he put on his pastor's robe and was administering the Lord's Supper to a family waiting for dental work.

I think this is because I have an aching molar, plus we went to church last night....

Then I dreamed that we taught Julia to drive. Perhaps I should recategorize that as a nightmare??

Okay, while we're at it...

Here are a few more old postcards:






This last one is a real hoot!!!

Marie - here's the leather postcard!

This is for my friend, Marie, our resident antique postcard expert! This is a leather postcard, copyrighted 1907 and sent from Chicago with a penny stamp. It belonged to Adam's great-grandmother.



The leather is still in great shape - see how flexible it is?

The "Old Guy" Look

Adam bought some coveralls, so he can work on Audrey (the car, ahem) without getting oil all over ALL his t-shirts. Now, he has made a giant step toward the greatly-desired "Old Guy Look."

We told him he's looking like Wesley, the character in "Last of the Summer Wine."

"Old Guy" is one step before "Geezer."

Plus a couple of Blowing Rock churches:

Presbyterian Church

Episcopal Church. I'm supposing this is the building that Jan Karon modeled the church after, in her Mitford books. It has the square tower even!

A cool mountain town

And this time, I remembered my camera :)

Blowing Rock has a lovely central park, with many benches. Instead of eating at a restaurant, Adam and I took a small picnic, and ate it on our bench.


We enjoyed their public library, which had a little book sale. I bought an old Sonatina piano book.

And a tiny museum, which was closed when we walked by.

Oh Happy Day!

These flowers are from 3 different events: our 19th wedding anniversary, and 2 separate doctor visits, for which Adam brought me flowers to cheer me up :) I took all the "living" flowers today, and put them together. I have a VERY sweet husband; he loves to bring me flowers.

And today is an especially happy day for another reason. 20 years ago today (it was a Monday, BTW) Adam and I went on our first date. It was 8/8/88. Now it's 8/8/08.

So, you want to hear about our first date, you say? Alright!

I had just returned the previous day from a 2 week mission trip Poland, and had mountains of dirty laundry to do. I hadn't seen Adam for a couple of months; he was just a guy who sat next to me in an English class, in graduate school. But he read about the trip in the newspaper, saw my name, and decided to find me. He dropped by the office where I worked, and we chatted. Then he told me he had come by for a reason; he wanted to ask me out. I said, "Sure. Go ahead." I was rather a brutal date, by the time I was 26 :) He was waiting tables, and could only go out that night, or wait a whole week. Well, I told him, I had to do laundry. I was going to my parents' house, who were out of town, and doing laundry all evening. If he wanted to tag along, and make me supper, that was fine with me.

I remember we had to talk in the laundry room, because my mom's washer was one of those with legs of its own, if one didn't sit upon it.

And neither of us ever went out with anybody else, after that evening. 20 years of dating, and I must say, I still get excited when I think of going out with him for an evening!

To celebrate, I think tomorrow we will drive to some nearby mountain town for the day. I'll let you know! And TRY to remember to take my camera.

VBS