"GUY" China

In our house, we drink tea... a lot of tea... and the guys will use regular tea mugs as long as they aren't covered with flowers.  :)  I did find a set of china, though, that they like much better!  I found part of a set and a friend found more of the set. Now, for birthdays for the guys, they like it when we pull out the "Guy China".

For this birthday meal, we had cold kombucha, but we did serve it in the John Deere mugs.... after all, it matched the set.  The guys liked that.  :) By the way, the homemade subs recipe can be found here.

We do have pretty china in our home - actually more than one set,  so it only seemed right to have some "Guy China" also.  We keep a couple of these John Deere mugs in the cupboard for every day use, but the rest are kept separate and only used for birthdays or special occasions, mainly because we just don't have room for them in the cupboard. The guys enjoy drinking tea, hot cocoa or hot spiced cider in these mugs..... or even cold kombucha. :)

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Garage Sale-25 Degrees? Brrr

 
Garage Sale... when it is 35 degrees? Brrrr.....   We had a late season garage sale... just decided to have it for sure last Sunday , so things were busy and rushed. The forecast said it would be chilly at about 55 degrees on Friday, but we were out of time and wanted to have a sale and be done with it, so we went ahead.....  Then .... the weather changed.....

 The sale was all set up.... in the garage and some on the driveway, then the sky darkened.

Just that morning, they had changed the forecast to include a 20% chance of rain in the morning. 20% isn't much and we were already committed, so we were hoping it wouldn't rain.

The sky looked a bit unsettled. 

Then it also looked a bit pretty... but the clouds were moving fast.

 All of a sudden, it started to rain lightly.... we rushed to move a few things under the canopy... then it rained hard for several minutes. Sigh.

After about 10 minutes or so, the rain stopped, it was windy, then the sun came out and though a bit chilly, especially with the winds....  it was beautiful. 

We had lots of people.... and as we sold things, we rearranged and kept it interesting. It was a very busy day...  in the afternoon, the temperature started to drop and it was quite chilly. 

Before closing that evening, we rearranged much and did some consolidating, to get more into the garage since it was supposed to be even cooler the next day.... and there was to be a hard freeze the next night.

 The 2nd day WAS very chilly in the morning... and VERY windy. The morning's temperature was 36 degrees with a wind chill of 29 degrees. Brrrr........ The whole day was cold.... we had tea and warm drinks to keep warm... and dressed in lots of layers.

The end of the 2nd day, we were so tired and chilled, we just closed up when it was time. We had sold much in the 2 days we were open. With the freeze expected that night, I made a big batch of chili and had 2 big crockpots of it simmering all afternoon - it smelled so good. In the late afternoon, I made a batch of homemade bread to have with the chili. The recipe is here. 

I had spent much time harvesting in the garden on both days of the garage sale... trying to get everything done before the night's freeze. We also did schoolwork.  It was a busy day.... and a very cold one.  All of the potted plants had to go into the garage for the night.  In the afternoon, we had hot homemade spiced apple cider and it tasted good and helped to warm us back up. When all was finally done, it was so nice to come in to the house and eat hot homemade chili and hot fresh bread. It was very much of a comfort meal and warmed us up from the inside out. :)  Also, we still haven't turned on our furnace yet, so we piled on the blankets and quilts and took hot rice bags to bed with us. They felt so good. :)  You can see how to make them here.  I love having the rice bags. :)  We all slept wonderfully well with the cool temps and nice warm covers, but it wasn't so easy to get out of bed on Saturday morning. In fact, we opened late as we figured no one would be out early with the freeze, so we waited until about 9:00 am to open.

 On Saturday morning - day 3 of our garage sale... the last day... we woke up to frost all over the place... and very cold temperatures. It was 25 degrees in the morning... and it was cold... outside.. and inside. We all dressed in a LOT of layers, drank hot tea, ate breakfast and set up the sale.... and how nice it was that my husband was home to man the sale, for the most part. :)

Saturday wasn't a busy day, but we still sold things... and gave some away at the end.

It was a cold garage sale... we had rain, wind, cold temperatures, the first freeze of the year, and more. It certainly wasn't ideal for a garage sale, but we are so glad to have done it anyway.... and to be done with it. :)  We have many people who love to come to our garage sale every year and we call them our "regulars".  Many have seen our kids grow over the years, or we have learned things about them... we have prayed for them... and they for us.  We have shared Christ with many of them.  A garage sale is a lot of work, but there are also benefits... for one thing, there is the ministry aspect... also we got rid of unneeded things before winter AND freed up some money, which will be helpful. It would have been easier to do it earlier, except that our schedule wouldn't allow for it, so this all worked out even with the weather problems.

By Sunday, I was really tired.... and after church and then the potluck, I came home and took a 2 1/2 hour nap! A tiring week, but it was good... I am so thankful for hot drinks - teas and such. There is something cheery about a hot cup of tea, or cider or cocoa or other hot drinks. :)  Thank you for visiting my blog today....

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Through The Fog- Part 2

This is part 2 of my fog pictures... what a fun morning experiencing the world through a layer of fog...  the quietness, the changing of normal scenes into something special, the glow of the sunlight behind the fog, the rays of the sun puncturing through the fog... it was a special morning.  Here are some more of those fog pictures.

Beyond these trees, there is a lake... not at all visible here.

This dock was in the first post about fog, but this is a different view of it. 






This picture has the optical illusion of a dock out to nowhere.... it almost looks like it is just hanging off the edge.

I loved the reflection in the water. 

At first, even the animals were quiet, but after a while, we saw a few squirrels and even a deer. 

 I loved the beautiful tree with the fence and the road... where a car is faintly visible before the fog closes the view away. 

Everything seemed to be very different...  I like trees and love to see them, but the shadowy ones in the foggy distance along with the more focused ones up closer, made taking pictures more interesting. :)

The silhouettes were striking....

 This tree was highlighted by the fog and the sun's rays... it was so pretty..

I am reminded that like the fog blocks the view of what is ahead of us.... sometimes life it like that.... we can only see so far... and I am so glad to know the One who knows what is out there beyond the "fog"... He is trustworthy.

It was a fun morning and I hope you also enjoyed the photos with me.  If you missed seeing the first post about fog, called Shrouded In Fog.... you can see it here.    Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you are having a wonderful week and are enjoying God's creation.

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Shrouded In Fog - Part 1

Recently, we had a morning with thick fog and it was beautiful. Since the guys were gone to a church workday, the girls and I went on a photo shoot. The world seems different, when shrouded in fog.... there is a quietness, a sense of being in a strange place even when it is familiar. 

If we lived with fog often, it would lose its appeal for me, but since we rarely have fog, a day like this causes great excitement for my kids and I as we all want to be out in it, taking pictures. My husband doesn't see the appeal of going out in it, although he loves looking at the pictures later and is surprised at the "amazing" pictures we are able to take. :)

 There is a little lake at this park in the country and the fog was heavier here.... especially as we drove lower in the park.

The park is usually rather busy, but we had it pretty much to ourselves...

 Such a mysterious look... trees up close showed color while those a bit further back are only shadows in the misty fog.

There is such a softness to everything... and just a hint of the sun hiding somewhere out beyond the fog.

At times, the girls and I walked in the quietness. Everything was so wet with dew dripping.... the dew was so heavy that the kids had heard it going down the gutter downspout at home... that is a lot of water for dew! 

 It was quiet... and yet, the longer we stayed, the more we started to hear a bird call through the fog here and there. 

 In some places, the fog was so thick we couldn't see far at all... and only a shadowy object appeared as if there was nothing behind it... 


In other places, the fog thinned allowing more visibility for a time before the window closed back up.

 I love scenes like this... where the first tree is quite visible and the next tree is softly visible through the fog... then in the background, you can just barely make out the slide on the playground as a shadowed silhouette.

As the sun started to try to break through the clouds, a new look was added...  still mysterious...  still quiet and unfamiliar.... and still utterly beautiful.

Finally, one side of the lake came into view... only minutes earlier, it was totally invisible.
 
The other side of the lake remained hidden, although the fog cleared enough to see the dock.

 This dock seems to stretch out to nothingness as the lake is totally shrouded in fog on this side.  The dock almost looks to be a structure out over a cliff, rather than just a dock out on the lake. 

 It was a beautiful and enjoyable time out with my girls. I took about 500 pictures and had a hard time culling them down to only a few...  I will be doing a second post with more of the pictures (no, there won't be 500 on the post! :)  .... hopefully in the next couple of days. :)  I hope you will return to see them.  Thank you for visiting.  I hope you have a great week. 

To see the next blog post about fog, called Through The Fog, click here.  



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Beauty From The Highway...

It is a beautiful time of year here and I have been wanting to get out to see the trees that are changing. I can see ours, but I like seeing more and I love taking pictures of them. On Sunday as we went to church, I started noticing the beauty along the highway and started taking pictures. My camera is usually with me wherever I go. :) 

What beauty is just alongside the highway.  No these are not pictures of someone's landscaped property.... it is just the side of the road.  The sun was highlighting the colors also.

 The quality of these pictures is not great... they are taken through the windows as we were driving 55-70 mph.

I enjoyed the drive...

When we are home most of the time, sometimes I just feel the need to see the beauty... especially the beauty in the country. 

The trees in the city are more glorious... even the one in our own yard is bright red and lovely. Though these colors are not as striking or flamboyant as the trees specifically planted for fall color.. .there is a real beauty to the landscape and I enjoy it. 

The golds, browns, oranges, greens and even the whites of the tree trunks, all combine to make a quilt-like scene. 

As we drive back into the city, we start to see different trees still so pretty... and I loved the clouds that day also. 

I don't know about you, but a pretty drive like this can help me get my focus back on my work at home... it is a bit of rest for me. I love the beauty and sometimes I feel that I NEED to see a fresh view of it. I love being a stay at home, homeschooling mom... I really love the job/the ministry that God has given to me. Sometimes, though, I find that a time away refreshes me and my outlook. Sometimes, the kids and I will take a mini "day trip" and drive through the country or take a new route someplace just to see what is there. We have had some wonderful times that way. :)

If we had gone on a specific "color tour" to look for the wonderful colors of fall, we would have looked in other places to see the colors that shout out their beauty. I am glad that God used the sun to highlight the more subdued beauty we saw that day. It is easy to miss the "quiet" beauty.

 Yes, I can certainly see a spiritual message in that thought. God's SON also highlights beauty in our lives... beauty that might otherwise go unnoticed. We need to look for it because it is there. I am ready to continue with my tasks at home.. and I will treasure each trip to church or the store or a garage sale and I will be looking for more beauty and I will also continue to be thankful for all of the beauty I can see from my own windows. What a wonderful God we serve.  

Thank you for stopping by today. 


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