Weekend

 

What a beautiful autumn it's been here in Lancaster County. We still have lovely color but it is beginning to wane. See my tree above? I took that photo last Wednesday out of my bedroom window.

I watched the leaves fall all weekend.

It's sad, but these trees have been glorious and have given me a lot of joy.

We now are four weeks away from Thanksgiving, and before that I have a Friendsgiving meal with co-op moms (being hosted by my sweet friend Britt) and I am cooking the Turkey and making the gravy, and I am decorating tables for our church Thanksgiving meal. I've done this for about four years now.

Yesterday, our daughter and son in law and sweet baby, and Kyle came for lunch. We got pizza from a local place we like, and had a relaxing afternoon. Baby girl is nearly three months already and is very smiley and chatty right now. We had a grand chat together yesterday! 

Today, I am going to do some dusting and vacuuming, always needed in our home, and figure out dinner. I made a roast on Saturday in my crock pot, with potatoes, onions, and carrots. It was delicious. I always season it with Dry Onion Soup mix - 2 packets. I put the roast in the crock pot, add water to cover the meat, put the soup packets in. I cooked it on high for about five hours, then cut up potatoes, and onion put them in the crock pot with the meat and added baby carrots. I let it all continue on high for several more hours. The meat fell off the bone, and I put it all meat and veg on a big platter and took some of the juices and made gravy. 

As my friend Sherry would say - Swoon!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, too!

Weekend

 

This is the grave stone of my dads'  (and my) ancestor on dads' mothers' side. He has spoken of this man and seen his grave stone online.  We've talked about going up there - it's about five hours northwest from where we live. 

Since we always do a fall foliage trip we decided to do our annual trip to Chandlers Valley, Pennsylvania. 

We left Saturday morning and had a good trip up. It was really foggy for an hour or two of the trip and we wondered if we'd see anything! Lol! It cleared and we had great weather all weekend.

We found the cemetery, and we found the grave stone. Josiah Chandler was born in Connecticut in 1754. We don't know what made him settle in this area in Pennsylvania, but we have a few ideas. One is that this area would have been considered the western frontier. He may have been wanting to move west after the war. 

We do know that he is our ancestor and he survived the Revolutionary War. His stone says Veteran of Rev. War.

Pretty cool.

This makes at least two ancestors on my grandmothers' side that were involved in the Revolution. One - Thomas Lynch, Jr of South Carolina is a signer of the Declaration of Independence!

As a history lover, and proud American, this is amazing!

Josiah Chandler died at age 86. My dad is 87, and a veteran of the Vietnam war.

I'm thinking the stone may have been replaced at some point, as you can see the stone behind my dad is older, and Josiah's would have looked more like that originally.

On our way home yesterday, we also got to stop and visit our dear friend Ruth. She's had some health issues lately, so she hasn't been able to visit her son (our friend) much this year. We were so happy to be able to see her hometown and her, of course!

She is a natural optimist, like her son Mike. Mike is Tim's best friend, her daughter in law Jen is one of mine, their son Daniel is Kyle's, and their daughter Brooke is one of Rachel's best friends. We love this family dearly.

We got to watch the full moon rise last night on the way home. God is good, and greater than any other power. He is mighty and full of love and compassion. 

Lamentations 3:22-33 ESV - 

The ^steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;¹

his ^gmercies never come to an end;

23  they are new ^hevery morning;

great is your ⁱfaithfulness.

24  “The Lord is ^jmy portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will ^khope in him.”

25  The Lord is good to those who ^lwait for him,

to the soul who ^mseeks him.

26  It is good that one should wait ⁿquietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

27  It is good for a man that he bear

the yoke in his youth.

28  Let him sit alone in silence

when it is laid on him;

29  let him put his mouth in the dust—

there may yet be hope;

30  let him give his ^ocheek to the one who strikes,

and let him be filled with insults.

31  For the Lord will not

cast off forever,

32  for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the ^pabundance of his steadfast love;

33  for ^qhe does not afflict from his heart

or grieve the children of men.

Autumn Dream Come True

 

On Monday night I was to host co-op moms for a campfire and hay ride. When I realized there would only be six of us, I decided to make my creamy chicken and wild rice soup, heat up a crusty loaf of French bread, and an English apple pie. 

I also knew this was my chance to make a long term dream come true - to eat under the lights on the tree in the autumn. Tim helped me set it all up. 

We went on a hayride first, then came back to eat under the lights in the dark. Warm soup and bread, some blankets on laps, and really good conversation kept us warm. Some of the ladies also had brought treats so we ate dessert and then went to sit by the campfire!

It was so much fun, and my heart is happy. They all had a wonderful time and felt special! Mission accomplished!

Here are a few photos with more light if you want to see the details.

I used my plain white bowls, and placed them on top of my Friendly Village (Johnson Brothers) dinner plates. We used my green linen tablecloth, silverplate (Rogers) knifes, soup spoons, and dessert forks, red goblets, and a polish pottery pitcher for water. Silverplate candelabra and candlesticks with my battery candles. I was going to use real candles, until Tim mentioned that they flame might catch my dried hydrangea on fire!

Tim was our hayride driver, and brought the food out for us! I couldn't have done it without him!

Dream come true!

Weekend

 

We had a lovely weekend. 

Friday evening we had a cold front move in and it's been chilly. Just right for mid to late October.

Saturday was spent preparing for our family's annual Fall Fest, which was on Sunday. We've been hosting it for about 20 years. 

I was delighted yesterday by the many young marrieds with babies, who grew up coming to this fall fest and now are bringing spouses and children! It's awesome.

We had a beautiful day Sunday and while the shade was chilly if you were in sunshine it was perfect! Coats went on when the sun set.

My daughter in law made her famous chili, we provided hot dogs to cook over the fire, buns, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. One of our daughters and sons in law brought 4 gallons of apple cider and a smoke pork butt ! There were veggie trays, cookies - people bring something to share.

Tim gave his famous hay rides, we got to hang with lots of friends. It was a wonderful time.

We had great help cleaning up and most everyone was gone by 9:00pm. 

These are some of our favorite memories of good times with friends, and I hope we are able to host it for many years to come!

Weekend

 

Welcome to my autumn cottage!

source

I had a quiet weekend. Tim was away helping friends up north with a water leak at their cabin. Mom was supposed to go to a bridal shower on Saturday, but didn't feel well. I was going to take her and then visit my friend who lives in the same town. I cancelled that and stayed home, too.

I puttered, and that was lovely. 

Tim came home Saturday night, having been gone Friday as well, and on Sunday we had torrential rain from the remnant of the hurricane. We did manage church, this was my week helping in Sunday School, and then met a friend for lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I had a free appetizer to use from my birthday, so that was fun. After lunch Tim and I went to HomeGoods. 

I was gifted, from a dear friend, a digital gift card, and wanted to use it. I found a wonderful plaid tablecloth! What a surprise! Not!

I also bought some shortbread, and we got Tim some dates, and some meat sticks. It was fun to look around and see what they had in the store.

Then Tim popped in to Barnes and Nobel to pick up two magazines for me.

Delightful.

Not long after we got home we celebrated one of our local grands 10th Birthday!

We got her some art supplies and she was very pleased!

Now we have now immediate family birthdays until mid December when my youngest grandson will be two!

source

Welcome, October!

 

Pinterest

"September slipped by into the gold and crimson graciousness of October." Lucy Maud Montgomery

I don't know about you, but September flew by. It is now my favorite month of autumn, my birth month, and I am planning to enjoy every bit of it.

This photo is now so old, that I don't remember if I took it or my oldest daughter took it! I do know it's from one of our maple trees along our creek.

This is a very common site here in Pennsylvania. For many years we went here to get $1 pumpkins. Now we frequent a place close by, and support our neighbors and their produce stand. They also make the best apple cider!

This is a photo of our cottage last year in late October. 

I love the autumn.

I know you know that if you've read here before. 

Here is a list of some of my favorite things about autumn.

1. The changing leaves!

2. The chance to wear cozy sweaters.

3. Wearing boots.

4. Watching leaves fall from the maple trees in the front yard.

5. Hosting our annual Fall Fest.

6. Drinking hot chocolate.

7. Drinking apple cider.

8. Quieting the house down after a busy and full summer.

9. Eating comfort foods.

10. Fall Foliage trips.

11. Sitting in the sunshine, with cool temperatures and reading.

12. Knitting.

13. Pumpkins.

14. Campfires.

15. Celebrating the many October family birthdays including mine!

Oh there's more, but I'll stop there for now. 

I hope you embrace autumn in all her glory, and I'll see you next week!

Weekend

 

What did I do this weekend? I slept in on Saturday, puttered around my house, printed off knitting and crochet baby hat patterns, made dinner, watched some episodes of a British detective show with Tim.

Do you want to know what I made? It's a favorite around here, and we've been making this recipe in my family for over forty years.

CHICKEN OLE

Cook and shred chicken - enough to fill a 9x13 pan. I use a bag of tenderloins. 

Saute a can of green chilis and some onion in butter, then add 2 cans of cream of chicken soup (I make my own) to the chili's and onion in the pan. Mix well. 

Pour this mixture over the chicken and mix together. Top with cut up tortillas - I use flour tortillas but corn is fine, too. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees until the mixture is bubbly, the cheese has melted and browned a bit. 

Easy peasy and delicious.

Sunday was church. I was in Sunday School. I help every other week with 3-5th grade. They are a lively and fun bunch! I got to hold my new granddaughter and she and I had a talk and I got another smile from her! She's a doll! Tim and I picked up lunch for us and my parents. We ate together at home. 

We talked for a while after lunch, then we napped for a bit. Tim doesn't get very many days where he gets to relax, so we try to make Sundays restful.

I love the photo above but as I look at it I can tell its from before we put the addition on the house. The front window was replaced the year after the addition went on.

I have a birthday this weekend and we are going on a road trip. Arrangements are in place for the house and the cat as my parents are going with us. It's going to be fun.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Weekend

 

I hope you had a great weekend. I had a good one. Not busy, I mostly puttered around on Saturday. I put a roast into the crock pot with beef broth and small potatoes and carrots. I added salt, pepper, garlic powder and a packet of onion soup mix. It cooked all day and made the best dinner!

I also reorganized some things in the kitchen. I'm always a fan of making our work spaces function the best they can for how we live now.

Our kitchen is very white, and I use color as an accent. Here are a few photos from the summer.

Of course, the flags are gone now and I have repotted both plants which have grown a lot this year. I may buy new curtains to put in here for the autumn season, then put these back for Christmas. I might use some tea towels like this.

source

Sunday, we took two of our grands to church with us, and then after we took them home, we met up with our local daughter and son in law for lunch. It was so nice to get some time with them. We are all so busy, they with a new baby and a business, and Tim and I with his business. Baby girl is a month old already. She's precious.

Tim went to check out a car with our oldest daughter and her friend in the late afternoon, and I had a nap in my chair. Lol.

Then we finished watching the first season of a series on Britbox. It's good but there is language. 

The temperatures are moderating here, and the leaves are changing. We've had rain off and on this weekend and it's supposed to continue through the week, with tomorrow having heavy rain.

I started and finished a scarf this week. It is a crochet pattern and so easy. I made a different color but here is a link to the pattern.

source

If you can chain and do a slip stitch you can make this pretty scarf!

I want to work on a baby hat for my new granddaughter. My TN daughter and my daughter in law are both crocheters and they make things for their kids.

Well, I've chatted on quite a bit. Tell me what you've been up to lately.

Weekend

 

I was busy in the kitchen this weekend. I spent most of the day making 5 dozen vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting. The best strawberry flavor!

Here is an image from the website where I got the recipe!

source

I found the recipe on Pinterest. I used a box mix for the cupcakes, but I did make this cake from scratch after my daughter had her baby girl!

The cupcakes were for a baby shower on Sunday, best friends of my daughter and son in law, and they were having a huge shower! 80 guests! Women, men, and kids attended. My daughter had asked me if I was willing to make the cupcakes, as she is just had her baby four weeks ago!

She said they were delicious! Someone else made Lemon cupcakes!

After I finished the cupcakes, I made dinner, then frosted the cupcakes, and then I made quiche to be cooked for breakfast on Sunday!

Sunday was missions Sunday at our church with our team who just were in Honduras spoke. God used them in practical and spiritual ways, and God blessed the team in many ways, too!

Tim and I grabbed some lunch on our way home (no grands this week). When we got home, I started to decorate for fall. I also made some small changes in my kitchen, to declutter the counters a bit, and see how it might function a bit better.

I did go to Hobby Lobby Saturday morning (before the kitchen marathon!) and got a few fall picks to refresh my favorite wreath, I also got a new piece of art for the living room wall. I'm changing a few things around, and I like it!

Today, I spent most of the day out as my dad had two annual appointments up at the V.A. We are so thankful for the care that he receives.

The weather is delightful. We had blue skies, white puffy clouds, and mild temperatures today. Autumn is here! 

Welcome Autumn

 

source

In my life autumn begins at the beginning of September. Schools are back in session, the turning of the leaves has begun, the local produce stands have pumpkins. By starting now, we get three good months of autumn for decor and coziness. I'm all for that, how about you?

Saturday was a great puttering day for me, here at the house. We've had guests non stop since August 9th, so I haven't had my usual puttering. 

Our Sarah stayed over for a few days to have time with her sisters, TN daughter was in town, and to hold our new little grand. She left on Sunday. She had stripped the bed, so on Monday I put fresh sheets on the bed, fluffed the pillows, and with the weather being amazing, I opened the windows and aired out the room!

This week is school with Kam, and I have a co-op meeting tonight. I'm hosting a back to co-op tea on Saturday morning, but so far we only have one person signed up. I think more will sign up after the meeting tonight.

I'm in my 32nd year of home education. Amazing to think about. I've committed to finishing high school with my oldest grand, and then I'll be retired. That will be weird. It's been hard work, and joy, and I do not regret a minute of it!

source

Autumn puts me in a cozy mood, and I love to have candles on and books to read. Speaking of books, have any of you read "The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion," by Beth Brower? Oh, how I love these books. I actually listened to them on Audible. Hopefully the next book will be released soon. I also want to collect the books.

source

There is so much more to savor and enjoy this autumn. I hope you'll take the time to sit in the fresh air, eat outside, and bask in the beauty of God's creation.

"Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter will never cease while the earth remains." Genesis 8:22

Weekend

 

We had a really nice weekend. On Saturday we had lots of puttering here for me, and mowing and oil changes here for Tim! What a pair we are! 

I finally got most of the artwork up in our bedroom. I also used some Rub n Buff on a too shiny gold frame, and four metal disks on the edges of our sleigh bed. They were too shiny, too! Now they look better.

On Sunday, we had to leave right after church to meet up with extended family for lunch. Our sister in laws sister is someone we've known for many years. In fact, when we moved to Pennsylvania 32 years ago, we stayed with her for a few months. She was single in those days. 

Anyway, we meet up with them, my parents and three of our nieces for lunch yesterday. It was so fun.

Our beautiful nieces

We stopped by our friends' house on our way home, to drop something off and my sweet friend Britt, cut some of her garden roses for me! They smell so beautiful!

We came home, relaxed and enjoyed a quiet evening.

I'm thankful.