We're Home!

Just a quick post to say that we have returned home from France. We had a marvelous time on our small ship river cruise through Burgundy and Provence to the Cote d'Azur. I am starting the process of uploading pictures to Shutterfly to make a picture book. However, if you'd like a glance at the pictures I posted on Facebook, here is a link that will take you there.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4253646938259.180043.1198367294&type=1&l=4248a80136

 

I'll be posting pictures and commentary over the next few weeks, so come back often and travel with us on the Rhone River.

Packing for "Camp"

We are at the final countdown to our trip to France. In just six days we'll be walking the streets of Paris - again. I never imagined I'd ever be going to Paris at all, but this will be our second visit. This time Graham and I will both be feeling pretty good, thanks to the timely back injections by our Pain Management doctor. (God bless you, Dr. Ybarra!)

While my brother Bill is doing the sightseeing bus tour with the rest of our traveling group, Graham and I are choosing to take the "Batobus" river taxi and check out some of the landmarks we missed two years ago. We are determined to go inside Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle and get close enough to the Eiffel Tower to get a good picture!

All of our recent activity has centered around suitcases and Miss Savannah has figured out that something BIG is about to happen! Fortunately she really enjoys her time spent at Karen Nash's "camp" so I rest easy in regard to her care in my absence. Today she got a good summer haircut and for a few hours she will be nice and clean and WHITE!

I brought out her overnight bag and began the process of fitting in her supplies for the next two weeks. She's checking it over to make sure I have her treats there too. I may have to run to Petco and get another bag or two! Two weeks is a long time for a Westie who loves her treats!

Summer vacation/camp, here we come!

Making Sweet Pickles

Our garden is bursting with tomatoes and cucumbers! Even the hailstorm a few weeks ago could not deter these hardy plants from their destiny. Of the six tomato plants Graham put in, the Juliet is the reigning champion! The fruit from that plant look like miniature Romas and they grow in clusters, like grapes almost. Every day we fill the windowsill.

The cucumbers have been close to overwhelming too. The seed packet Graham bought is for pickling cucumbers, so these grow to only 4 - 5 inches long. They are perfect for bread and butter, or sweet, pickles. It only takes about thirty minutes after the initial ice bath (which is a leisurely three hours).

The pickling process takes the iced cucumber slices and onions into a pot of boiling vinegar, sugar and spice mixture. The sterilized jars are then filled, fastened and placed in a water bath.

Once all the jars are covered and submerged, the bath needs to boil rapidly for ten minutes.

After the jars are removed you can hear a musical popping sound as the lids are securely tightened. In the limited experience I have with canning, I find sweet pickles to be the most satisfying, both for their methodology and their flavor.

Baby Presents

Several of my family and friends are having babies this summer. And they are all having boys. The last little baby girl is now a year old and my pink stash has remained hidden away in the quilt closet.

I had plenty of time to make a quilt for my great niece in Pennsylvania. She isn't due until September. I picked a pattern that was new to me and really enjoyed learning a new skill. Putting the requested blues and greens together reminded me so much of the first quilt I made for Adrian. Meredith also selected blues and greens and his quilt turned out beautifully.

While waiting to take the top to Kingsland for finishing, I decided to make a pillow cover to match the quilt. I had one set of "geese" left and turned it into a pocket for the pillow. It will be a nice place to put an extra diaper or two.

I had a real surprise in my email last week with the announcement that our friend from Romania and his wife are expecting a baby boy in June. Yikes! That's not nearly enough time to make a quilt, so I peeked on her registry and saw some monkey themes and found some cute fabric for a pillow cover with a pocket to hold a burp cloth. We're so happy for Razvan and Anissa, and especially for Razvan's mother in Romania who has wished for this day for many years.

Once a Mom, Always a Mom

Just when you think you've outgrown the stage of "motherhood," Mother's Day rolls around and your lovely children remind you that your position will remain with you forever! What a privilege.

Reaching into my vast storehouse of wisdom (crack a smile when you read that!), I find two wonderful truths about children...

Daughters will give you grandchildren.

                   And sons will give you flowers.

This and That

I'm titling this picture "Pensive Puppy." I was heading up the stairs and saw this sweet little face watching me. Fortunately I had my camera in hand and snapped this memory. She must have been waiting to see if I was coming back up before deciding to come down herself. I love these moments.



This is our first attempt at growing carrots in the garden. These look like they're going to be delicious, probably in another month. Maybe we'll get to eat one before we leave for France. Because we started a lot of our veggies in pots, some how we managed to get a little confused in identifying what was what! So we have a little wager going as to what is growing behind the carrots. We were guessing cucumbers, but our yardman thinks it's cantaloupe. Only time will tell!

Pickles... er, rather, Cucumbers! We have a whole mess of cucumbers growing in this part of the garden. Last year I made several jars of bread and butter pickles, and I can't wait to harvest enough cukes this year to do the same.





The Juliet tomatoes are producing like rabbits! This one plant has taken over a big part of the tomato section and has dozens of tomatoes on it. We have already picked a few hands full and enjoyed them on our salad. We've also cooked a pot of green beans from the little bush bean plants - very tasty and tender beans. Looking forward to some yellow squash and zucchini soon.

Graham and I went up to Kingsland again last Wednesday to take a quilt top to the quilter. Her shop is just across the way from the Colorado River where it flows into Lake LBJ. There is a photo stop at the top of the hill where you can park your car and get out to enjoy the view. And what a view it is! We love the short drive there and, especially, having lunch at different restaurants before heading back home. There's some really good catfish in Marble Falls.

Okay, one last picture of Savannah. She so loves to be outside and she especially loves it when Graham and I are outside with her. then she can really show off her stalking and chasing skills. We keep the squirrel feeder stocked with corn and the squirrels have figured out that Savannah is more bark than bite. They still run across the fence and into the neighbor's yard when she chases, but that does not deter their frequent return.

Looks like it's going to be a good summer!



Middletown Bible Conference

Graham and I selected the Middletown Bible Conference to attend this year. There were several reasons for our choice. First, we had never been to the state of Connecticut and thought it would be good to see a different part of the country for a change. And more importantly, Graham's mentor from seminary, Dr. Robert Lightner, was one of the three key speakers. When Graham was taking extension courses from DTS we would regularly drive Dr. Lightner from the airport to his hotel and to the classroom and back. We were able to spend many hours with this fine man, in addition to the many classes Graham took from his tutelage. It's been many years since those days and we have seen him only one other time, also at a Bible conference and longed to hear from him again.

Middletown, CT is about 20 miles south of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. We flew into the airport just north of Hartford, rented a car, and then drove down to Middletown. Being Texans, we fully expected to be on the road for hours, but found, quite surprisingly, that it was only a thirty minute drive to our destination. And this lovely New England town proved very easy to move around in. That's not to say we didn't make several wrong turns! But it proved to be pretty easy.

Dr. Lightner opened the conference on Monday night and we were privileged to hear five of his six sessions. He spoke on worship, sanctification, what Jesus said about the Old Testament, the many facets (contextually) of the Kingdom, and the cruciality of the cross in relation to salvation. His topics were familiar and his content was comforting. If you have read any of his books you would feel right at home with his preaching. He was definitely the highlight of the week for us.

I promised Graham I would get a picture of him with Dr. Lightner, who quipped that he never smiled when having his picture taken. Determined to prove him wrong, I snapped an instant of hilarity going on between the two of them - don't ask me who said what! This is a loving, lasting memory we will have of a man dear and near to our hearts.

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!!

One of the other speakers was a gentleman from Friends of Israel ministry named Bruce Scott. He shared that he is of Scottish/Irish descent, but his wife is Jewish (a believer in Christ), and that is how he became immersed in the ministry to the Jews. He has a deep and sincere love for Israel and shared, in the four sessions we heard, sound, biblical messages concerning Israel and the current political scene. He not only shared dozens and dozens of Bible verses, but reams of documented information that, were we not Christians and aware of God's workings in the end times, would surely scare the casual reader. Though disconcerting at times, I came away more sure than ever that God is in control of world events but we are still exhorted to pray for His mercy on our nation.

The third speaker was the pastor of the church, George Parsons. Graham and I were both taken aback by his voice and mannerisms at first, for he reminded us strongly of a man we met on our trip to Ireland! We looked at one another and in unison said, "Jimmy!" Once we got over that and began to listen more closely, we were impressed with the passion, as well as his grasp of the Scriptures, as he wove his way through each message. We're looking forward to getting the recorded messages so we can listen to his sessions again.

Our overall impression of the church and the conference is that this is a congregation of loving, living saints who, more than anything, want to live out the Word of God in their lives. We were treated to wonderful music - much of it a capella - from both individuals and ensemble and really delicious, home-cooked meals between sessions.  We stayed in a lovely hotel in downtown Middletown and became familiar with some of the historical sites and statues on our route to and from the church. This is what I envision a New England small town to be. We did have one opportunity to relax in the dining room and preserved that memory from my delayed timer on my camera!

The only downside to the week was the amount of flying time it took to get there and back home. Juggling plane connections with determination, I just couldn't get there and back without wasting two whole days. We missed a little but definitely came home with a full heart.

BUT WAIT!! WHERE WAS SAVANNAH??

Glad you asked. Savannah went to camp for the week at Camp Nash! I knew she would enjoy herself, being the little social canine that she is. And Karen was sweet to send me some pictures of her activities, which included an introduction to a guinea pig! For a brief time Karen said she would sit and stare at Mr. Guinea. Apparently he just wasn't enough fun and she soon lost interest and set her sights on the dogs. All in all, it was a very good week.