a number of things

Summer Fun

                   

Well, the photo shoots for the new book cover went very well and everything is off to CHC. Yeah! Summer is in full swing here with many games of baseball played, frequent fishing trips and whole villages of fairy houses constructed.  I really am a lousy blogger, not to have chronicled any of this.  But well, I just get caught up in the moments and completely forget to blog it.  I am, however, resolving to do better.

To add even more fun to our summer schedule, Cay Gibson and Colleen Mitchell (a good friend and neighbor just 7 miles down the road!) have cooked up a 4Real Mini-Conference for us in August!! If you are a deep-south homeschooler, check it out and email Cay or Colleen if you have any questions.  What fun!!

I am hoping to do some tweaking on the blog over the next week or so.  So, if you pop in and see stuff scrambled, be patient with me until the dust settles.  This is all still fairly new to me. :-)

Have a fabulous summer day!

   

8 Things

A little while back Beth had tagged me for the "8 things about me meme", and well, I'm just getting around to it.  This actually required more pondering than I originally thought it would.  Here goes:

1. I am an absolute list-addict.  I make lists for everything.  If you take away my lists, it's as good as taking my brain. (Just ask the kids... when I loose one, it's never pretty.)
2. I love cooking.  I especially love cooking a very inexpensive meal and making it look like a million bucks. ;-)
3. I love history.  All kinds of history about anything and everything. 
4. I really enjoy a good thunderstorm.  Really.  (Hurricanes, not so much.)
5. I'm a big fan of antiques and old stuff. (See #3.)
6. I had my own dressmaking business in college. (In my dorm room. Yikes!)
7. I listen to books on CD while I sew or do any beading.  (My current favorites are the Little House series.)
8. I have (actually our whole family has) been to Mexico (about 4.5 hours south of the border) three times on Catholic mission trips.  Amazing, life-changing experiences for ALL of us.

Well, there you have it, my 8 things.  I think nearly every blog I visit has done this meme already, so I haven't a clue who to tag.  If you want to play, just grab it and go!

Have a blessed day!

 

Turtle Visit

We have been getting an unusual amount of rain here lately, but a couple of days before we left for vacation, we got almost 12 inches in a single day!  (Some areas just slightly north of us received over 15 inches that day!!)  The front yard was nearly completely covered in water. 

         

After the rain stopped we looked out of the window to see this fellow swimming by the front porch steps!  (Look closely and you can see the green grass through the water.) I stripped off my shoes, grabbed a nearby aluminum container and scooped up our visitor for a closer look.

         

He turned out to be an alligator snapping turtle, who was not the least impressed by our observation attempts. In the photo above, we just barely touched him with the tip of a plastic sword, and wow!  He was fast!  After a brief nature study, we released our little neighbor... a bit further from the house than we had found him. :-)

 

196 Photos Later...

         

...we are back!  After 5 days (not counting the 2 days spent driving) of visiting with Chip's parents and extended family in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee, we are home (sweet home) once again.  After 7 full days away from the old computer, I have quite a bit of catching up to do between email and Gardens orders. (Not to mention the snail mail pile-up!)

Congratulations to Lady Hatton on winning the bracelet from Danielle Bean's first ever charity raffle!!  I will be shipping your piece out to you ASAP! 

Thank you so much to all who have wished me congrats on the new book coming out this fall!!  If you, like me, have not yet received your Summer 2007 CHC catalog, then you have not seen the bit of pre-advertising in there for "Tea & Cake with the Saints" (A Catholic young lady's introduction to hospitality and the home arts).  It is actually a book that I began waaaay back in 2001, before "Sewing with Saint Anne" even.  I felt compelled to dig it back out and finish it late last summer and fall and my 'busy time' early this year was when I was doing the illustrations.  Whew!  I have this terrible habit of assigning myself ridiculous deadlines for completing projects and I gave myself the task of doing all 100 illustrations in 5 weeks.  It did not help that the bulk of my illustrating experience is in pen and ink and I decided to teach myself to use watercolors in the process.  Anyway, all that is left now is to take the photos for the covers, organize all the files and edit a few watercolors over the course of the next 2 weeks. (Another near-ridiculous deadline. :-)) Those of you who printed out the picnic list (from this post) have actually gotten a tiny sneak peak at "Tea & Cake", as those are the very illustrations (and similar words) from the "Picnicking" article in the book.

This brings me to a question I get more and more frequently these days.  Beth writes:

"I received my CHC catalogue in the mail yesterday and noticed you have a new book coming - Tea and Cake with the Saints! Wow. Now here's my request.....how about a book geared toward boys??? Yes, I know I can probably use the book with modifications (which I just may do) but you are so wonderfully creative I'd buy any book for boys you put out."

One of the reasons I hear the "what about a book for boys" question so often, is that it is coming from my own 3 boys.  I, personally, would LOVE a book for boys. The truth is, I was kinda hoping some creative and enterprising father would take this project on (but so far, no luck).  Anyway, a while back I began jotting down notes for a possible boy's book. (Any ideas are WELCOME!) I have no clue if these ideas will ever come together to make anything remotely readable, but it's a start.  I really do wish that someone else would take this on, though.  I do not feel exactly qualified, having never been a boy myself. :-) 

          

    

A Charity Raffle

       

Would you like a chance to win this bracelet?  Or how about 38 other fabulous prizes?  Then hop on over to Danielle Bean's terrific site and make a donation to St. Gianna Maternity Home to participate in her first annual charity raffle! The list of prizes is simply amazing!  I will be out and about visiting relatives for a few days; but I will be back in plenty of time to mail the above bracelet to its lucky winner on the drawing day!

God bless & good luck!

 

Picnic Time!

We are such picnic fans! I had been planning a picnic-post for some time now, but after seeing Jennifer's request for submissions for "The Loveliness of Taking Meals Out of Doors" event that she is hosting this Monday, I thought I'd type it out now and share a few of our picnicing ideas.

I realize picnics are supposed to be somewhat spontaneous, impromptu affairs; but for them to happen often around here, they take a bit of planning.  That is where my "Picnic Plan" comes in!

         

It is a list of very simple and quick foods to grab and a second list for a well stocked picnic basket or baskets. (If you would like an up-close and printable pdf view, you can click here.) When we are in the mood for a picnic, I or anyone else can glance at the list, toss a few things into a basket, and we are ready to go!

         

Above you can see a few of the essentials in our picnic kit.  The neat silverware wrap is from the book Romantic Home Sewing that I mentioned here. (It was a super easy little project that even my 10 year old would have no trouble with.)  The little floral, draw string bag holds our plastic grocery sacks to use as litter bags and the 'bug tent' on the far left is a necessity down here in Louisiana!

         

Speaking of keeping out the bugs, these bowl (or pitcher) covers and glass cover are simply cloth doilies that we stitched beads, buttons and random medals to!  (These also make great gifts for picnic-loving friends. :-)) 

I have found that by keeping all our basic supplies ready to go in a basket, and the list for inspiration, picnics (and the memory-making that goes with them) can happen much more often. 

Happy picnicking!      

   

Pondering Beauty....again

"Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence.  It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future.  That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy.  It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: "Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new. Late have I loved you!""

~ Pope John Paul II in his Letter to Artists, April 1999

Oh, how I love that quote!  How true!  Gazing on the perfect petals of a rose or the wings of a butterfly or an exquisitely rendered painting or other work of art will often turn my thoughts to heaven.  I truly believe that beauty does indeed "stir that hidden nostalgia for God".  It is for this very reason that I design the type of rosaries and chaplets that I do.  I want to create (and help others to create) beads for prayer that call out from the coffee table to be prayed!

Our souls crave beauty.  To rest ones eyes on something as simple as a mason jar filled with honeysuckle brings a certain peace and calm.  I suppose the early summer outdoors has me a tad distracted these days.  Everywhere I turn there seems to be something worth stopping and getting a closer look at, be it butterflies, blooms or berries.  When I cannot get outside (it's been raining quite a bit) I have been visiting Dawn's lovely blog and especially her Nature Notes and Nature Corner. 

Speaking of beautiful blogs, I have also been carefully pondering how I will fill the walls and shelves of our almost complete home addition.  I need to utilize the available space carefully and practically while  bringing in touches of beauty where I can. This post from Vintage Home has given me a few ideas while this one from Rebecca Sower has me looking around the house in an effort to use what we already have or can create ourselves.

Have a beautiful day!