Caramel Apple and Movie Night.

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In honor of Reformation Day, since we don't do Halloween, we had a party. It did get bumped up a day, but we are calling it our Reformation Day party anyhow. Because it was our party and we can call it what we want.

I was baking three loaves of bread. Ashlee wanted a heart. So here is Ashlee's heart on a platter, formed with a few bashes and tugs. Try not to take that as a metaphor for life.





Folks started arriving about noon, and we had to get started on the caramel pretty quickly. This was a recipe I used last year, and it is TO DIE FOR! The girls had never done caramel so I handed the recipe and ingredients over to them.









Bringing in back up, for all that constant stirring.





It went just a little past soft ball stage, I could tell by the smell when I came in the room. Remind me to shop for a candy thermometer with a clip on it. But despite the rapidly thickening caramel, they managed to coat them all!





But check out that surface area! I did not buy enough white chocolate to cover that. LOL





Not a problem. They just spread instead of dipped.





Who gets the leftovers.....





And this very generous young man worked tirelessly for hours on getting an old computer running again for Michael. What a blessing!





Everybody loves truffles. And this had a nice surprise. Cayenne pepper. Two tough guys, feeling the heat...





Now we are talking! The final semi-sweet chocolate coat, to be sprinkled with butter brickle bits. We called this "Leah's Dress in A Pan". Silky, yummy, dreamy chocolate, to smooth out all the rough spots on the candied apples and fix every problem that exists in the universe.

















Let's see what this young lady is up to...





Mmmmmmmmm. The main dish for tonight - Pumpkin Stew.













Beginning to pile into the room to watch the BBC mini-series of Pride and Prejudice. It was not the typical BBC dry flick, but actually very good.

















When people begin to fall asleep on the furniture, yours truly included, you know the evening is being milked for all it's worth. We love each other and I'm so grateful for friends who are like family.





Happy Reformation Day!

~Faith

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Dancing With the Stars.

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These guys all shine, in my opinion. Little Maddie is really looking forward to her first ball, and a ball gown is being sewn for her, even as we speak. Here she is learning her first waltz.





I'm not going to show you ME learning the waltz. It isn't pretty!





The Broomstick Waltz is always a crowd favorite. There is one less lady in the group, and when the music starts, the gentlemen must quickly change to a partner they have never danced with before. The last gent out, gets the broom to dance with until the music begins again. The men have a good time hamming this up!





The fun really begins at our practices, concerning this dance. There are never enough men. So often, the ladies will stand in as men, so everyone can dance. However, it's a little hard to tell.

It was hilarious yesterday, watching one boy repeatedly chase girls to dance with them, as they ran in the opposite direction, looking for a girl to dance with themselves, while they stood in for men.

"I just know this is a girl, I CAN TELL!" And they are all running away from him as he is in complete confusion. LOL









Always keeping their cool. These two are never at a loss with the ladies...





Have you ever seen the Blues Brothers play patty-cake?
Brought to you from our sponsors...
OK, I think this may be their cool handshake, but I am not staking my life on it.





Believe it or not, this is apparently a square-dancing move. Looks scary to me.









No one threw up, but they were certainly dizzy.





Social dance. All the fun. No pressure.

~Faith

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LINES! We've got lines!

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We were driving home from our latest dance practice. We turned onto our little home stretch, and...


VOILA!

They had painted lines on our road while we were gone! Weird! We cannot decide if we like it or not, but we were so mesmerized that I took about 50 photos all the way down the 1/2 mile stretch.

Mercifully, I will not post them all.

Just a few.





















































Yup. All the way home. But not down our driveway. I'd sure love it if they'd pave our driveway, though.





It looks alright, I guess.





Did anyone actually look at them all? LOL

~Faith

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Kefir Grains / Kombucha - Fermented drinks Part 3

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I'm just being busy doing housework today. The house has been sobbing in the night... "It's been so long since you paid any attention to me!"

So today it's getting a lot of attention.

In the mean time, I wanted to show you the changing of the milk in the kefir grains.

So I'll sit on my tuffet and give you the low down.
Here they are, all curds and whey.





Shake them up a bit, to break up the curds.





I'm not going to save this kefir yet, so I'll just let it go down the drain.





The kefir is about the thickness of cream.





Here they are, completely drained.





Back into a new jar.





Don't they look wholesome and good?





Add milk, and back they go to ferment again.





And here is the progress on the Kombucha SCOBY. What's it been, about a week?





The bathroom mirrors and sink are calling....

~Faith

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I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta' My Hair...

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Or at least wash the dirt off some windows.

Sunday was a beautiful day, perfect for washing windows at one of the offices.

Just imagine 70 degrees, a lazy Sunday afternoon, great company, a bit of Fall color, the work is done, and nothing else scheduled til a surprise party in a few hours.





















Sometimes life is simply made up of the little things, and nothing more.

And that's a good way for it to be.

~Faith

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Adventures Take Many Shapes and Forms.

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What began as a beautiful Friday morning...









Quickly took a nasty turn.

The air, when you stepped outside, had that magical quality to it. Michael had gone down to get in some time on the trampoline, "Perfect weather for jumping, Mom". I was chatting on the phone with a friend. I went to hang the phone up and saw a man in the pasture with Michael.





It took me a few seconds to recognize the man I am married to.

I wanted to do a lot of things. But I did nothing except get on my knees and pray. I did make a call to my attorney, to see what my rights were. You see, this man has not been here for 18 months, is completely ignoring a court order of support against him, has not utilized the designated child visitation that was given to him at all, but decided to show up and muscle Michael, alone out in the field.

He spoke to Michael for 20 or 30 minutes, slandering my character and Michael's, and leaving Michael with a feeling of disgust. He told Michael he didn't care what any court order said, even if it meant he had to go to jail, and that he would come here any time he felt like it. Michael was respectful, but told him exactly how he felt. Even through all this Michael was thinking of me. When his dad left, Michael remained where he was standing instead of coming into the house, in case his dad decided to follow him.

I was a bit frazzled for the rest of the day. We had office cleaning and a get-together in town to do that night. Michael in much better shape than I was. But I am learning to let go and rest in the Lord earlier and earlier in crisis situations.

Saturday I would have liked to have taken the day completely off, but since I'd not done the work in the kitchen on my 'frazzled' day, we worked sporadically.

Our spring hens have come into lay. YAY! We have enough eggs to share now. This was two day's worth.





The broom corn vase.





Michael, taking care of worship music business for church this weekend.





How kefired milk looks before you swish it around to mix the curds and whey together and strain out the grains.





Here is three day's worth of growth on the Kombucha SCOBY. The mother has risen to the top and you can see it bumping up underneath the filmy growth of the baby SCOBY. It's doing fine.





Seth, the dog, went nuts and we took this photo of a small equine entourage passing by. Whoever they are, they like to come out in the Autumn, not much other times. Seems like the time of year for it.





No, I don't talk about our horses much, because that aspect of my life is a little frustrating to me, not having time to work with them. But I have them, I love them, and they have always been a formulating factor in the foundation of who I am. I always dreamed of how wonderful it would be to have sets of draft horses. I'd love to ride a Percheron. I even went window shopping a couple of weeks ago online. Google is a lovely place to waste time.

Another office to clean this morning, and windows to wash this afternoon. I hope I can make it to church with Michael.

Better get busy!

~Faith

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Sweet Gifts

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Of friends, and from friends. These two ladies are a blessing. They dropped by the other day bringing the gorgeous horse hay over. But just the visit would have been nice enough. Good times.





Ashlee is just beginning her driving career, so we had to get a photo of her getting into her chariot for the day.





But mom, Elaine, drove down to our little barn while I led the way.





And Michael and Ashlee rode in high style.





"Oh!" the girls say, "Is that for us?"





Practicing the Barbie wave.





Moving the Sukkah lumber out of the way.





Smells like a lovely meadow.





The bales were quite light, but I showed Ashlee how to use hay hooks; a leftover from my days of moving 120-140 pound alfalfa bales in baling wire. These light bales with twine are easy to pick up and move with just your hands.





























Boy, Gary had really packed these in! Took several of us to get one out of the bottom.





Ashlee taking the first hay treat to the girls.









Bye!!





And did you notice?

X marks the spot!





Follow that, and you are home.

~Faith

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