Category Archive

Here are a couple runners-up (above). Below are a couple of non runners-up.

The next photo reminds me of an album cover for some oldies style album. Something like Beach Babe in the Field.

The Lonesome Hill Gang is about to cut their first CD, and we went up there this week to take photos for the cover art. We took over three hundred photos, and they have narrowed it down to three. The above photo is one of the finalist. Below are the other two.

So what do you think?

I’ll post some of the runners-up later on.

We wanted to give our nephew, Wesley, a good taste of Missouri. But when you’re entertaining guests from Florida, Missouri sort of pales in comparison. Not that I would trade it for Florida, but Floridians are at least as proud of their state as Missourians are of Missouri. So we tried to think of activities that would be a good representation of things that you can’t really do in Florida.

For one thing, you wouldn’t go wading in a stream like this, in Florida. Unless you like being gator bait.

For the same reason, you wouldn’t stand in the river and fish, so that is exactly what we did.

Which brings us to the part where Kinsley catches her first fish. And falls in love.

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That look on her face cracks me up every time I see this photo. She was so infatuated with that fish! Just after I took that last photo, the fish squirmed out of her hands and swam to safety. I imagine he told his fishy buddies “You’re never going to believe what just happened to me!”

Sophie in just her diaper. She’s oddly lumpy, and incredibly squeezable.

Storms in the distance.

The whirlwind visits of family from afar.

A conglomeration of nieces, siblings, and daughters. Can you see what doesn’t belong in that photo?

Simple fixes to concerning vehicle issues. It’s so nice to learn that the problem is an $11 part!

Evening picnics on Great-Great Grandma’s quilt.

Making do, in the good old Ozarkian way.

Sisters and nieces. They’re kind of summery, and I sure do love ‘em!

Fishing. We’ve fished in about every body of water in the Ozarks over the past couple of weeks, and Kinsley caught her very first fish. But that’s another post for another time.

Summer sunsets.

Swimming. Canoing. Gardening. Plump, juicy blueberries, warmed in the sunshine. Even the to-do list has a certain charm in the middle of summer. There is so much richness to be enjoyed this time of year!

As we were heading home from our weekend of shopping and politicking, we found ourselves driving into bad weather.

Which made for some interesting photos.

And an interesting (but safe) drive home.

Journal Entry 5/19/08

As the sun peeked over the horizon and made its way through the window, onto my bed; it kissed my face. I thought of our weekend at Dan and Candace’s place. The highlight of our weekend, indeed! And how could it not be when sweet, little sunshiny kisses hit our cheeks on and off through the whole stay? And like the sun rises and sets, each kiss from our precocious little nieces, dampened our faces with moisture like the morning dew.

Upon our arrival we were enticed with a delectable menu creatively prepared by Candace, whose appetite for innovative recipes (influenced by the Confessions of a Pioneer Woman) tantalized our curiosities. She sited the recipes on her fifty’s retro, white enameled, metal cabinets. We gave our invitation of helping hands. She gladly accepted, but with our meager efforts she managed quite well; most of which could have been done without us, including a wonderful conflagration upon her busy stove top. Fireworks wouldn’t have done any justice; the excitement alone was quite exciting and entertaining! She calmly said, “What will put it out?” and I said hastily, “Baking powder! Oh, er…no, I think its baking soda!” Just like I said she could manage well enough without us.

We enjoyed a Cheese macaroni dish that consisted of green and red peppers, red onions, and…cheese! Brilliant! (That certainly didn’t give credit to the pioneer-lady, sorry about that), anyway, what ever was in it, sure pleased our palates…

…Along side this “palate-pleaser” was a beautiful, mostly homegrown salad (greens and scallions given by Grandma Brand of course) and arrayed creatively in a striking wooden, teardrop shape bowl was green and red bell peppers and…scallions! My brilliance strikes again, (she still could do better without my help). Let’s just say… you had to be there!

Oh, I did forget the stuffed jalapeños filled with…yikes; here I go again…cheese!! (Cream cheese…that is) At least they were wrapped with bacon and no doubt, deliciously HOT! I better quit while I’m ahead or am I? Uhgg, I left out the most important thing, dessert! Grasshopper Pie! There that was easy.

All in all it was very entertaining and very complimentary of Candace’s character. She enjoys the “far and outrageous menus” to which everything prepared was a palatal success, indeed!

Kinsley and Sophie, rug rats of the sort, displayed their precocious characters to the hilt. Crying and whining in a tizzy like manner, probably not even sure what they wanted or why they were fussing. They probably were mimicking what we “big” people tend to do, who knows. Their delectable nuance of character kept them entertaining at all times. Kinsley, in her own little world certainly thought she was the center of attention would carry on a “know-it-all” adult conversation; at least she appeared to have it all figured out, and maybe she did. Sophie on the other hand, puttered around with her two-inch length little legs, going from one thing to another; cloth on her head, ball in hand, examining crumbs and crying for Mama and her “binkster.”

We had beautiful walks down the city-park sidewalk, which led to the city park.

Our eyes found animated wild flowers waving their cheerful blossoms in the gentle breeze that tantalized and led them to the bubbling creek that runs through the little town.

The banks were also adorned with flowing, hair-like, tall grasses which gave a soft continuity against the rocky banks.

The activities of our stay consisted of basket ball at the park, without a basket ball— hum, “who would-a-thunk” (a Mark Jacobson term)? The only ball available was a soft soccer ball that Dan and Candace had…“Hey, whatever works!” The English family joined us there and all had a wild game of soccer-ball/basket ball game, they didn’t seem to miss the proper ball.

The playground was Kinsley’s and Sophie’s delight other than almost getting plowed on the court and totally oblivious to it all. Sophie found the slide to be thrilling and her face in an almost fright, gave “us” observing more of a thrill! Kinsley gave her Uncle Jared an exhausting time (to his delight of course) with her “peek-a-boo” games.

We headed to the Huzzah, I think or at least it was an arm of it, to slash on buoy-boards and plastic donut floaters.

It didn’t last long though, the water was too cold. Kinsley took it upon herself to release the “warm liquid kind” onto the only blanket we had to sit on. She thought what was wrong with that, it’s a normal fact of life!

Sophie examined the geological finds of ornate rocks though half her time was spent trying to balance on them which set her to get angry and think that it was her Mama’s fault or anyone who was near. My kids shivered and chattered most of the time, they didn’t want their Aunt Candace to get her feelings hurt you know.

Nathan took it upon himself to use Sophie’s floating ring and had a cute ride down some cute little rapids. He looked like an over-sized spider that found a nice spot to spin its web. Kind of gross with those hairy, spindly legs hanging out over the sides; if I had a fly-swatter I might have used it!

Gage and Glen, once back at D& C’s home, continued their racer-like bike rides down the sidewalk, dodging each other before a collision took place (I had to resign myself to whatever course it took, luckily nothing happened and they got to enjoy their uninterrupted fun).

Nathan and Eric took to mowing for Dan. I think they felt sorry for him; poor guy, he needs a break here and there; he’s a busy man you know! Ahh, gee (that’s what the kids would say)!

Nathan and Natalie were big helps in the kitchen washing dishes and mopping floors and at best helping with their tiny little cousins demanding needs.

We all found it a delightful weekend and a break from the monotony of our lonesome hill. Tears ended the stay for the little guys and following the next day, Gage didn’t unpack because it made him sad; he even said he was going to keep his toothbrush in there too, and didn’t see why we couldn’t just go back. He’d be ready if we had a change of mind.

To sum it up: “If you stay out in the sun long enough, you’re bound to get sun-kissed and better yet, if you stay out in the sun long enough with you nieces, you are bound to get the ultimate sun-kiss… ” — Aunt Paula of course!

On Sunday we spent some time with Dan’s brother and his family after church. We had a great time, listening to music, laughing, admiring the scenery on their beautiful property, going out for ice cream, and avoiding a tornado.

All day it had been stuffy, with about 200% humidity. We all agreed that ice cream would be an appropriate ending for the day. Just as we were about to head into town, a storm began to roll in.

But once you’ve told six children that you’re going to buy ice cream cones, you don’t let anything deter you. Even the possibility of major, tornadic storm.

As we were finishing our ice cream, the storm really began to blow in.

Dan and I had to get gas before heading home, but after two of the gas pumps didn’t work, it took us so long to get out of the gas station that we decided to go South, back to Eric’s house, rather than forging North, into the storm. Little did we know that we were driving right into another bad cell.

After driving a few miles, we heard on the radio that a tornado had been spotted on the county border (about six miles ahead of us, in the direction we were heading). Behind us, the tornado siren from town was going off. We tried to press on, but the wind was rocking our two vans so violently that we ended up puling off the road.

Unfortunately the people who lived in the house where we stopped have never, ever won any awards for politeness. The woman came to the door and told us we were fine - and that there was no tornado. She then told us we could wait out the storm on her porch, shouting over the roaring winds and tornado siren that “this is no tornado”. She even had the audacity to claim that her dog wouldn’t poop in a tornado. What sort of person would turn down a family with several small and terrified kids in that situation? Poor Gage kept crying “I don’t want to die!”

In retrospect, we were probably not in any eminent danger, but we’d rather be safe than sorry. The story about the family killed over Mother’s Day weekend when their vehicle blew off the road kept flitting through our minds, and we thought we’d play it safe by stopping. So much for Missouri hospitality!

Kinsley on the other hand, approaches live with much more thought and imagination. Many of her conversations begin with phrases like: “it seems to me…”.

As one uncle puts it, she’s the Dreamy One. Another phrases it “so many phobias, so little time”.

She preferred to stay closer to the ground on this particular evening, and pretended that she was eating “out”. We were cued into this game when Kinsley told Dan that she “had ordered already”, and was now “waiting”.

On the few occasions when she chose to slide, she was very careful to hold on to each bar in the railing on her way up the “stairs”.

Once she had reached the top, she thought carefully about her descent.

And often had to be coaxed down.

Once we left the park to walk home, she wanted to sit and “soak up the sun” in a safe place - “are there no ticks here, Papa?”

Sophie, who had no patience for this, decided to get on with things.

I recently learned that I have been obsessed with something before I ever knew it existed, That is, if you can know that you are obsessed with something even if you aren’t even aware of the real existence of the object of your obsession? I don’t know if that makes any sense, so I’ll stop the commentary.

“Bokeh (from the Japanese boke ボケ, “blur”) is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens. It is pronounced (Boke-aay)”

Read more on Bokeh from Wikipedia.

I recently learned this term from Miz Booshay, who was guest blogging over at the Pioneer Woman’s Photography Blog. Somehow, learning that there is a term for “that nice, blurry background” which I love so much, was exciting to me (I’m fairly easy to please).

While I have a lot to learn before I can grasp the technical side of Bokeh, I am content to know that the idea exists, and have begun to notice it more in my photos. I find that I get much more pleasing bokeh when I use my 50mm f1.8 than when I use my 18-200mm 1:3.5-6.3, which I think makes sense.

Would it be possible to see these photos and not notice the pleasing, twinkly background?

Cheerfulness is a Beauty which every body admires. A cheerful spirit is a continual feast. It smiles its way through life. It wins crowns for its possessor. It makes and gives happiness. All sunshine and flowers is a cheerful heart. It shines in perpetual spring. Its birds are ever singing, and its joys ever new.

From a text entitled Aims and Aids for Girls and Young Women, written in 1856 by George Sumner Weaver

We’ve been cooped up for so long now, with the flu, and all this rain. When we went outside this afternoon to hang laundry, I forced both girls to join me, though they were very skeptical of this warm bright stuff filling the air and sky.

Once outside, the girls blinked and looked around like cave dwelling critters. They slowly began to adapt though, and managed to have a fine time after all.

Kinsley found some columbine, and brought Sophie a fist full, instructing her that “this is good to eat.”

I spotted this in the stump of a tree which Dan cut down last fall.

I have been very fascinated by these little flowers (or weeds?) this spring. I seem to be obsessed with photographing them, and both girls have a new appreciation for them.

I have heard that the dandelion is supposed to be a good measuring device for all sorts of things.

Weather:

“The dandelion is an excellent barometer, one of the commonest and most reliable. It is when the blooms have seeded and are in the fluffy, feathery condition that its weather prophet facilities come to the fore. In fine weather the ball extends to the full, but when rain approaches, it shuts like an umbrella. If the weather is inclined to be showery it keeps shut all the time, only opening when the danger from the wet is past.” Says “Camping For Boys” by H.W. Gibson

The time:

“The dandelion is called the rustic oracle; its flowers always open about 5 A.M. and shut at 8 P.M., serving the shepherd for a clock.” “The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought” by Alexander F. Chamberlain

And, last but not least, Love:

It’s said that if you can blow all the seeds off with one blow, then you are loved with a passionate love. If some seeds remain, then your lover has reservations about the relationship. If a lot of the seeds still remain on the globe, then you are not loved at all, or very little. Source: “Unusual Vegetables, Something New for this Year’s Garden,” Rodale Press Emmaus, PA.

Maybe I need to make something of this obsession. Have you ever made dandelion wine? I’m considering this recipe.

“Dear common flower, that grow’st beside the way,
Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold,
First pledge of blithesome May.”
~ Ellen Mackay Hutchinson Cortissoz

It was sort of a second (or third) celebration of Dan’s birthday. We settled ourselves into the backyard for some watermelon and observation.

Sophie seemed to prefer the green stuff on the bottom of the rind.

Kinsley noticed that the melon was the same color as her new shoes.

Today we met with a few other homeschooling families at the park for the first picnic of the season (for us, anyway). I thought the girls were unusually charming today, and couldn’t stop taking photos.

Kinsley thought the idea of sliding sounded really fun, but couldn’t actually bring herself to go down the slide. “Mama!” she called to me, “Do you think I will conk my head?”. As her Uncle Eric would say, so many phobias, so little time…

Sophie tried to play it cool.

In reality she reminded me of Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace.

Silas gave Kinsley some sort of weapon and instructed her on the art of sword fighting.

Which seemed to bore Sophie immensely.

The line down Kinsley’s face is the result of a run-in she had with Frances, involving the door frame. Oddly enough, that wound hasn’t been nearly the trauma as the skinned knee. I think it has to do with the fact that she can’t see the scratch on her face, where as she can look at the scratch on her knee whenever she feels like it. Poor little thing.

All in all, I think they had a great time. They both crashed as soon as we got home.

I have been a long time reader of Alison’s blog, Brocante Home Chronicles. She is a big proponent of what she calls the Puttery Treat, an idea which I find very enticing.

Then, today I was glancing over Sense and Sensibility (a message forum geared toward historical sewing), an off-topic thread entitled: Taking Care of Yourself as a Mum… got me started thinking.

The train of thought went something like this:

I have a moment every now and then to relax, and when that time comes, I’m usually so overwhelmed that I don’t know what to do, and so waste that moment staring blankly at the computer screen (sad, but true). So, if I wrote down some of the great ideas which the lovely ladies at the S&S forum had given, as well as some of my favorite puttery treats, along with a few of my very own ideas, I could put them all in a pretty jar on my window sill and draw a slip of paper out when I had the time. But next I thought that I could also keep the list right here on Gentlewood Cottage, where I could refer back to it, and add or subtract to the master list as I see fit. Then, the thought struck me, that if I had a copy of the list online anyway, I could copy and paste it into Random.org’s list randomizer, and come up with a single treat that way as well.

So, that’s the long explanation for the list which you will find below.

:: Find a pretty water glass to help motivate me to drink plenty. Add mint leaf or a slice of lemon, lime, or orange in it for prettiness and taste.

:: Go for a walk. Attempt to indulge all five senses on the walk. Watch the clouds, keep an eye out for little critters, new wildflowers, and birds, stop and breathe in the smells, touch the various barks and leaves, listen to the music of the birds and insects, pluck some of the wild raspberries along the pathway.

:: Do a workout video

:: Listen to some classical music with the girls while stretching.

:: Fold a pretty tea towel in half and sew together. Make half inch hems either end and thread elastic through, before adding a ribbon loop and feeling virtuous because now you have a pretty place to store those plastic bags which seem to multiply in our home.

:: Demote a blanket to garden duty and leave it folded in a basket near the back door for chilly Spring evenings outside. Allocate a garden pinny and hang it from a ribbon tied laundry peg on your doorknob.

:: Chill fruit tea in the fridge as you do your housework, then sit down with a pretty little cup and the morning paper as reward for scrubbing the bath so wonderfully well you can see your reflection in it.

:: Make a drama out of lunchtime…select a beautiful tray and the bestest china you own, add a napkin and a tiny bud vase, and sit quietly, meditatively, as you eat…

:: Use white vinegar and a cotton bud to clean the crevices of your phone. (The blasted things get soooo grubby don’t they?) Then give the whole thing a gentle swipe with a cloth scented with lavender or orange blossom.

:: Clean out the girls dresser drawers and add a cotton ball soaked in lavender

:: Hunt out an old fashioned enamel coffee pot and use it to water your houseplants while you wait for the kettle to boil in the morning…

:: Dust your light bulbs with a cloth infused with aromatherapy oil for a gentle scent when you switch them on…

:: Choose a pretty teacup and use it to scoop washing powder into the machine.