Apples

Finally, apple pictures!

Our entire collection of apples. . .minus the 4 or so that we had already consumed.


My hurried, makeshift bandage. . .a napkin and neon green duct tape. I was in the middle of a 1-minute blanch timer and couldn't leave for a band-aid. Serrated vegetable peelers hurt!


One day's worth of apple peels, cores, and lemon rinds.


The finished product: Pie Filling, Applesauce, & Cinnamon Applesauce!

Aptly Spoken

Love for God is not natural to us. Even in the redeemed state our souls grow cold and we experience feelings of indifference toward him. When we pray, our minds wander and we indulge in woolgathering. In the midst of corporate worship, we are bored and find ourselves taking peeks at our watches. How dissimilar this is to our behavior when we are in the company of those we dearly love.
--R.C. Sproul, What is Reformed Theology?

Ouch.

Psalm 30

As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved,"
By your favor, O Lord,
you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.

To you, O Lord, I cried,
and to the Lord I made supplication:
"What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
O Lord, be my helper!"

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

Report

We returned home safely Saturday, along with 1 half-gallon fresh skim milk, 1 half-gallon fresh 2% milk, 1 half-gallon fresh whole chocolate milk, 1 quart fresh eggnog, 1 package locally made smoked swiss cheese, and 159 locally grown apples. Pictures definitely to come. Right now they are neatly arranged in rank and file on our table, and they take up over half of it. . .and our table is pretty big.

This morning I had pumpkin muffins and eggnog for breakfast, so I feel that fall and the holiday season has definitely arrived. The temperatures have dropped markedly over the past week, as well, and it feels like fall. Tonight I get the water bath canner for which I searched all over the area before finally ordering through a store, and tomorrow (hopefully) I start making applesauce and apple pie filling!

In the meantime, we're still looking for a house. No news there. We have, however, pretty much settled in a church, and that's very nice. The families we went with on Saturday were very friendly and helpful. They've even volunteered to help us if we buy a home that needs some TLC, with expertise, equipment, and actual labor! I'm very thankful that God so quickly provided us with "family." It's good to know there are people we could call in an emergency.

There's the weekend report, folks. Pictures of apples when I remember to bring the camera downstairs. . . .

Pumpkin Day

Today I completed my annual pumpkin cutting, cooking, scooping, pureeing, and freezing. Four years in a row is enough to call it an annual tradition, isn't it? My pumpkin weighed about 16 pounds, and I ended up with a little over 15 cups of pumpkin puree. . .more than enough for this year's pies and bread, I hope.

I discovered a new trick this year. In the past, I've really struggled with the cutting. Pumpkins are not an easy item to dismember. In fact, I've even had Kevin or, one year, my dad cut them for me so as not to wear myself out with the very first step. Yesterday, however, I read that one should use a serrated knife when cutting pumpkins. Amazingly, it made a huge difference. I cut that pumpkin up in no time, and it wasn't even taxing! Good to know.

So now my house smells like pumpkin, which smells like squash, if you don't know. Yesterday it smelled like bread; I think that was preferable. Tomorrow, hopefully, it will smell like the season's first loaf of pumpkin bread. And Friday, maybe, I will make it smell like pumpkin pie, because I want to make ahead and freeze some pie crusts for Thanksgiving anyway, and, mostly, just because I can.

26

the number of weeks in half a year.
thirteen times two.
in December, the day after Christmas.
Friday's date.
the number of rolls in two baker's dozens.

and

the number of years I've been inhabiting this sphere.

Weird.

Top o' the Mornin' to ya

It's barely 8 o'clock here on the east coast, which means it is barely 7, 6, or 5 where most of you are. Early. K has left for work, and I am gathering my energy to actually begin the day.
Checking e-mail, I noticed a steady stream of visitors last week through my ShinyStat counter. Well, stream might be a strong word. . .let's try trickle. Anyway, steady is the right word, and now I feel guilty for not answering loyal reading with loyal posting.
I typed up a nice theological musing to post before we had internet, but, as is often the case after the heat of the first impressions have gone, I now hesitate to actually put it up here. Maybe later this week. Suffice to say I was reading Hawthorne, which always make me reflective. . .and vastly influences my writing style as well, I fear.
We looked at 6 houses (well, 1 house, 1 duplex, and 5 townhomes) this weekend. A couple of them may be contenders, but we want to look more first. We met several new people at the church we've almost decided to stay at, and they recommended a couple different communities we had glanced past and offered to advise as to the fitness of any neighborhood we found. That's so very helpful, so we are going to look there as well.
We were planning to go backpacking this coming weekend, in honor of my birthday. But a group from the church is going on an excursion next Saturday, so we're changing our plans to go with them. I'm so excited; I can't wait! We're going apple-picking(!!!), then for a picnic to one of the state parks, then to a dairy/creamery for homemade ice cream, and maybe to buy some organic, fresh milk or eggnog! The apple orchard sells fresh-pressed cider, as well!
Speaking of organic milk, we've started buying it. I had started buying it for Kevin before we moved up here (yes, we buy two kinds of milk. . .we're both spoiled, I know.), because he wanted to try it. And he liked it. And, truthfully, it stays good twice as long, so we wind up not throwing any soured milk out, which is good. Then we moved here, and Maryland doesn't carry the one brand of milk I would drink. (Again, I know I'm spoiled. I don't like milk anyway, but one particular brand of skim tastes less like milk than any of the others, so I always bought that.) So I had to try something else, and I opted for the organic. I actually like it. This bodes well for my bone structure and our future children.
I went grocery shopping last night. You know the frustration of going to a different store than your usual, and not being able to find anything? It's ten times worse when you move across the country, because on top of being in a new store, the local area dictates an entirely different arrangement of products (at least in OK, usually, stores were somewhat similar, especially in the way they grouped items), AND they carry different products to begin with. So going grocery shopping is an ordeal, and it makes me feel very lost. It's nice to shop where the staff are nice, though. Last night, I was looking for a little 4 oz. can of green chiles. Apparently they don't carry them here. I looked with the Hispanic foods. The cannned peppers in jars. A couple other random places (all on different aisles). Someone asked if I was finding everything, and I said no. So he started looking. He asked someone else. And someone else. I went on shopping. Next thing I know, I hear the 3 of them calling to each other from neighboring aisles, still looking. . .and chasing me down 3 aisles later to see if a particular product is what I was looking for. Isn't that nice? (I bought a fresh yellow chile pepper, and then the bag of dried red chiles he brought me. Any advice on which I should use?)
I should get busy now. Today is laundry day for sheets and towels, and I need to get some cleaning done so I can unpack the computer on our new desk and have dinner ready early enough for us to go look at houses tonight.
I do hope you appreciate the lengthy ramblings of this post, and that it makes up for a couple of the days you've visited and found nothing new.

*Whimper*

I think I just saw one of these in my basement, in the (unfinished) laundry room. Unfinished means there are wooden beams visible above, etc. . .and one of the websites about this ugly thing helpfully says it likes to hang upside down from wood. And another says it jumps on people. And. . . uggggggggghhh. Don't tell me it's harmless. I did read the page I just linked to. I can deal with plain old crickets. Fine. No problem. But this monster looks a whole lot like a spider. And I don't deal with spiders. Irrational or not. I don't care. Do you think I could get a big lizard and let it live down there and it would eat them all? Do I have to go down and put my clothes in the dryer? Laundry just got a lot more painful.

Internet!!! . . .and Marriage

Woo-Hoo! We're connected again! We bought a new computer desk yesterday, and we've ordered a futon for our media/guest room, so hopefully I will soon be able to post pictures of our unpacked and settled temporary home for you! Tomorrow, we're going to look for a permanent home. There's a scary thought. It's somewhat disconcerting to unpack in one place while simultaneously looking for a place to move.

In the meantime, here is a collection of 4 short articles expressing various perspectives on courtship, dating, and marriage. Food for though.

Naomi's wedding, Part 3

The wedding was beautiful, and the reception a great celebration. It had Naomi's fingerprint on it, through and through. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures.

Naomi's wedding, Part 2

Naomi's wedding, Part 1

The First Real MD post

Greetings from Maryland! We’ve been here almost a week now, and I feel very blessed. It’s lovely to know that my little world is now solely concerned with my home and husband.
I would have posted sooner, but the soonest the company can install our internet, landline, etc. is October 9th!!! So I’m typing this at our “dining nook” table, and I’ll post it the next time we camp out at an Internet café for an hour.
We got in last Thursday, but the movers didn’t make it until Saturday. We spent the time cleaning in preparation for our furniture and exploring with the friend who owns this house. It was a huge blessing that he was in town this weekend, as he helped us find the important places and even introduced us to new friends! Thursday night we ate at a French café downtown, where I had tomato bisque soup with lump crab meat. Mmmmm. . . . After the movers came Saturday and we got the bed put together, we went to a party and met lots of new people, many from Tulsa and in the same field as K. Sunday we visited a little Lutheran church here in town, and the people were very kind and friendly. They are in the process of calling a new pastor, so we may visit a couple other places and then go back in a few weeks.
I’m still unpacking, of course. We got the master bedroom and bath in livable order over the weekend, and then we quit working and explored our new town. (The downtown area by the harbor has 3 (THREE!) ice cream parlours, and I think there’s a FOURTH getting ready to open. And one of them is a Ben & Jerry’s! Obviously, I am meant to live here.) Then Monday and Tuesday I got the kitchen cleaned and unpacked, so we could have home-cooked food again, and today I’m working intermittently on the front room and breaking down empty boxes to store until we need them again. I actually went to the grocery store last night (that’s a whole post in itself. . .), so life is settling down admirably.
The carpet cleaners are coming in half an hour to clean the basement stairs and rooms--that’s the only place that’s carpeted, and there was once upon a time a cat whose legacy remains in the form of runny noses and scratchy throats for the two of us. Actually, since I sprinkled carpet deodorizer and vacuumed, it’s not so bad. But we want them cleaned before we spend any amount of time down there. Fortunately, the master bed and bath are upstairs, and the kitchen is on the ground floor, so we haven’t needed to go downstairs at all.
Once everything is unpacked, I’ll post a detailed photo-tour of our new home. Until then, here are a few pictures I took on the road and around town thus far.

The view from the MD welcome center on the Youghiogheny (sounds something like "Yuckugeeny") River:


MD state flower, the black-eyed susan:


You know what this is:


My first foray into the world of brussel sprouts. . .don't ask K if he's glad I'm staying home to come up with new vegetables for him to eat. :-)


The roast I fixed for our first "real" dinner in our new temporary home:

On Moving

A last glimpse of our apartment:


Proof of my Stellar Packing Skills:

Farewell Party, Part 3

And a few more. . .by now you'll have noticed that my mother is conspicuously absent from any of these photos. It amazes me that someone so fond of being behind the camera always manages to evade being in front of it.

Farewell Party, Part 2

More pics. . .

Farewell Party, Part 1

Greetings all, and sorry to be gone so long! We are happily arrived in Maryland, but more on that later. First, some pictures from our farewell party in OKC. No captions, just my favorite pics.

Catching up Cakes

Here are 2 pictures I haven't shared yet, one a wedding and one a first birthday. Please note the impromptu cake-topper arrangement made by yours truly. . .communication is a good thing.

Bagels!!!

Whole-wheat bagels are becoming increasingly difficult to find in the grocery store, at least in my part of the country. Solution? Make your own! Here are the pictures of my scrumptious bagels! The recipe may be found here.
Shaped dough:

Boiling Bagels:

Ready to bake:

Finished!


Next time, dutch apple walnut bagels, almond crunch, orange craisin. . .the possibilities are endless. . . .

Long Time, No. . .Blog?

Hello all. It's been a while since I've really posted anything of substance (Have I EVER posted anything of substance?), I know. Since we disconnected our Internet at home (in preparation for the still-awaited move to Somewhere), my opportunities to blog are not abundant. So, some updates. . .
On the job/move front, we're still waiting. K is wading (and I mean wading as through a thick, murky swamp, not in the clear blue waters off a Hawaiian beach) through the paperwork and such that must be completed and approved before he can be hired. In June, they gave us a 4-6 month timeframe, so I suppose we're sitting at 3-5 now. We'll likely live in or around Annapolis, though we haven't delved into those options too deeply just yet.
In wider family matters, things are going pretty well. My youngest cousin got married last month and moved here. They live about 15 minutes from us, and it's nice to see her more often now. I got to help her do all the little things that have to be done when you change your name and move to a different state. Also, they're expecting a baby in January, so I foresee some garage sale and consignment shop maternity clothes shopping in the future. That will be fun.

I went to the Farmer's Market with a friend this morning, bright and early. It's really grown since I first started going a couple years ago. It used to be that, if you went around 7am, there were very few people there and you could have your pick of things. Now, traffic is already crazy at 7, and it's already crowded. That's good, I guess. It means more vendors and more produce in the future. This morning I bought a Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper spice mix, and I picked up a couple recipes to go with it. The Spice Hunter vendor booth is amazing. I also got some black cherry tomatoes. They're a dark gray-red color, and I hadn't tried them before. But I ate one this morning, and they were good. I think, when I have a house and garden space, I should try to grow those along with regular cherry tomatoes, sungold cherry tomatoes (orange-colored), and these others I saw this morning that are a bright yellow. Wouldn't that make for great table presentation? And think of the fresh salsa! I like colorful food.

I also bought some fresh yogurt this morning. I've never been a huge yogurt fan, but I'm trying to learn. I don't like milk that much, and there is only so much cheese a girl can eat. So I'm working to expand my dairy (read: calcium) options. Flavored yogurt, though, has so much sugar that I avoid it. A couple months ago, we had breakfast at a friend's house. I made baked oatmeal, which we normally eat with yogurt and fruit. She buys plain yogurt, so that's what we had. While not my favorite thing (as if yogurt were even close, anyway), I didn't hate it. So a couple weeks ago, I bought a small container of plain yogurt. I mixed it with fresh blackberries (from the market. . .mmmmm!) and homemade granola and a teaspoon of sugar. I didn't like it much, but I ate it. Then, last week, I bought more, but a better brand this time. It was much more palateable. I even liked it. So today I bought some fresh-made yogurt from a dairy farm booth. They let me try a spoonful of a sample container they had open first, and I think I can handle it. . .properly sweetened with fruit and granola, of course. I think I can forego the teaspoon of sugar now. So we're making progress, and I feel like I'm making great health strides. I will probably get tired of it quickly, as I do cottage cheese, string cheese, and snacks that make milk worth drinking. But if I can gather enough options, I can just switch every couple of weeks and still get my daily calcium dose. Next on the list? Yogurt cheese and recipes that use it.

That's all my rambling for now.