I get so frustrated with Homeschool Blogger.  I don't get it why so many times I get stuck in uploading photos, no space to upload photos, or just slow response in the server.  So many others have beautiful blogs here and seem to have all kinds of gismos which I would think would take up space, but it's not that I haven't tried; I've spent hours working on this blog, to no avail.  I've enjoyed my time here , and still visit the front porch and read and glean from many here, but it's time I moved my act over here.  Come visit, won't you?

My Open Nest

So what do you use to clean your dishes?  A brush or a dish cloth?  I'll bet you use what your mother or grandmother used.  My mom used a brush, so I've always used a brush.  But I have a dear neighbor who used dish cloths, and I find when I'm at her home for dinner I enjoy using her dish cloths when I help with the dishes.  Yes, you get your hands wet, but there something nice about that soapy dish cloth and the way it cleans the surface of whatever you're washing. 

Last year I participated in a kitchen towel swap with a group from this homeschool friendly site over at The Homeschooler's Swap.  I received towels from my friend, Renna who blogs in Finding My Knitch  She also sent two beautiful dish cloths she'd knitted in red and cream yarn.  I finally broke down and used the red one this summer.  I just hated to give something so beautiful the dirty task of washing my yucky dishes, but took the plunge, and have enjoyed using the dish cloth.  It washes up nicely, too.  Perhaps I'll break out the cream colored one this fall.

Now my friend Julie at  HomeintheMitten is having a dish cloth giveaway on her blog, and I'm eyeing them to decide which one I want to try and win.  They're all lovely, and hand-crocheted.  Hmmmm..... I like the cool tones as they remind me of the beach.  Go check them out and see if you can win.  While you're there at her etsy site look at her intricate temari balls.  This is an art form I'm not familiar with, but one of those I'd love to sit with Julie over a cup of coffee to learn beside her. 

My friend, Renna over at Finding My Knitch is a faithful blogger and I always enjoy reading what she has to say.  She's participating in the Recipe Box Swap, and I decided to join her.  No, Renna doesn't grow pineapple, nor does she have a cow.  Go read her recipe entry and you'll see what I mean. 

The first Thursday of the month is set aside for the Recipe Box Swap. Randi, at i have to say... hosts this each month and posts a Mr.Linky for bloggers who wish to participate in sharing their favorite recipes. This month's theme is "Garden Fresh".

When I think of "Garden Fresh" I think of tomatoes.  I've heard the advice of not planting tomatoes every few years to let your garden rest and restore, but I have a very had time doing this.  This year I let a portion of my garden rest, and planted tomatoes in other areas of my yard, on my deck, and I couldn't bring myself to pull the volunteer tomatoes which sprouted up in the beds.  The tomatoes I have growing this year are the heirlooom variety, "Brandywine," plum tomatoes, Campari, and then the unidentified volunteers. 

When I have an abundance of tomatoes I make TOMATO WHEELS.

Dana's Slow-Roasted Tomato Wheels

Three or four medium to large tomatoes, washed and sliced in half horizontally

Sea Salt

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Place tomato wheels cut side up in a cast iron skillet or heavy baking sheet

sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with EVOO

Bake 3 hours.

Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese with pasta, or top off a nice crusty slice of toasted bread. wtih one of these wheels.   Make sure you slather on the syrupy goodness in the pan. 

Enjoy, but don't let anyone see you lick your plate.   

The above photo was taken at our church last Saturday when 3200 parents and young adults, sorry I loathe the term t-ager, see I can't even type it without shivers going up my back, attended the "Do Hard Things" conference.  The young men who started this ReBELution are Brett and Alex Harris, the younger twin brothers of my pastor.  Here they are:

All they did was begin writing a blog and thinking about what it means to REBEL against low expectations of young adults.  This led to the conference we attended with our daugther.  What an exciting place to be worshipping with all those folks who are jazzed about hearing the gospel in light of this man-made season of a young adults life.  Did you know that the term "teenager" (there I said it) was first mentioned in 1941 in Reader's Digest Magazine?  I was very interested in hearing about how before that time there were only two categories of ages/stages and that was CHILDREN and ADULTS.  And by the time the children were 13 they were doing adult things in their lives and in the world, so therefore became adults. 

Ha!  That's how it work!  When kids begin doing adult like tasks and thinking they BECOME adults.  Now, I'm not advocating 13 year olds be given rights of adults in this modern age.  But think about it,  even Christians have bought into the worldy thinking of this "wanderlust" age of pre-adult playtime.  That's what it is when young adults find themselves, or um, I think they're still looking for themselves, when they "play" around with taking classes, working part-time, graduating with no plans of employment, and sometimes find themselves back at mom and dads because they just aren't ready to face what it really means to be an adult. 

We're so blessed to have young adults like Alex and Brett who are thinking about HARD things and are brave enough to not only talk about them on a blog but get out on the road and encourage others to DO HARD THINGS, and begin rebeling against low expectations.  I wish I'd heard this message as a young adult, before wasting my wanderlust years, but I can be encouraged even now as a 49 year old. 

I recommend their book, Do Hard Things which is available on Amazon, or their blog. 

Their parents Gregg and Sono Harris whom I've heard speak many times, should also be commended for doing hard things in raising their family to impact the kingdom of God.  Thanks!

BTW, Gregg Harris preached at our church Sunday on "Don't Waste Your Kids" You can listen online here:

Dont_Waste_Your_Kids

Who knows why this is fuzzy?  I linked it from my Picassa web albums.  Hmmmm....... I don't get it.  Any clues fellow bloggers?

Oh well, here's our "Top Dog"  Maggie enjoying her ice cream.  She twelve and a half years old and has more lumps than a bowl of oatmeal.  Maggie and Shadow are great friends, but she's the Queen.  Shadow grooms her, lets her be first in the door, out the door, etc.    We bought Maggie from a breeder when she was eight weeks old.  She's been a great addition to the family. 

Seven or eight years ago our neighbors found Shadow straying in their backyard.  They're not "dog" people so they brought her to us.  We kept her in our fenced yard, fed her, and put up signs everywhere to find her owners.  She had no collar or tags and the vet confirmed there was not a chip with her info.  By the end of two or three weeks of dead ends we were mutually in love and knew Maggie had a newly adopted sister. 

Nothing's more fun than taking our dogs to Soft Stuff for an ice cream cone for cool summer entertainment.  Yep, we're easily entertained.  Mmmmmm........ we all love it!  Here's Shadow eating her vanilla cone. 

 Somehow I don't have enough space to put in the photo of Maggie eating her strawberry cone.  Phoooey!  I'll have to do some investigating and see why I'm out of space.  In the meantime, Shadow doesn't mind being in the limelight. 

I'm ducking the eggs being thrown since I've been AWOL lately on my blog.  Believe me I've thought of many posts, just haven't had a moment to call "extra" in which I could sit down and write. 

I have so many things to share about and also photos to go with them, so without further ado, I'll keep my words brief and tell you in photos what we've been up to while DOING THE NEXT THING. 

It seems like yesterday when Clancy graduated from preschool.  Here she is in her daddy's shirt, worn backwards, at her preschool graduation in 1995 with her Godly teacher, Miss Linda. 

Here she is 13 years later, on the same stage, receiving her diploma from the headmaster of our homeschool umbrella Covenant Community School.  Ahhh........... in the blink of an eye, she's grown up. 

 These photos were taken on the same stage in the same church. 

Here's her proud family .  Left to right:  Grandma, the graduate, Dad, Mom, Blake, and Gramps

 After homeschooling for 14 years and graduating my baby, I left to go on a 4 night cruise with my friend.  We took a bus up to NYC and a cab over to our ship which took us up the east coast to St. John, New Bruswick.  Ahhh... now here it is in late July and I have tons of pictures to organize, upload, etc, so, I promise I'll be back.  In fact, I'm challenging myself to blog every day for one week.  Ha!  Some folks do 30 day challenges, but hey, it's summer so one week sounds good to me. 

Two years ago I posted about supporting local farmers by subscribing to their farms and receiving local organic produce.  Here's the post from June 2006.  CSAs  and then I posted a photo of the box contents: CSA Box contents  In the first article I list a link for you to discover your own local CSA. 

 I just signed up and am sharing a full share (family of four) with my mom. We're not sharing each individual box, but she'll pick up one week and I'll pick up the next.

This seems to work well. I did this last year with my friend Mary, a sweet neighbor. It seemed to be the right amount of produce for our veggie-lovin' family of three, plus frequent company, and Mary's family of seven last summer.

The price has gone up $145.00 in two years.  I just paid and it was $625.00 but that doesn't include my fifty dollar deposit at the end of last year, and also my $20.00 credit for referring a friend. So the total for the 16 weeks produce before those deductions is $695.00. With my $20.00 discount it averages out to $42.30 per week.  This includes seasonal vegetables, a dozen eggs, fresh herbs, and some extras they throw in like hummus, baba-ganoush, a jar of honey, and at the end of the season I can take all the extra tomatoes I'd like.  I use those to can Chile Sauce, or freeze for pasta sauce. 

 I'll be listing my box contents as I pick it up this summer, so watch for those updates. I'll also check the prices this year against the grocery store near me to see the difference.  I'm going to carefully check to see if this is worth continuing. 

Last year it was $37.00 per week, so we'll have to see if I get less this year due to everything going up, or if it's the same. I do try to serve my family more veggies meals during the CSA season, but we tend to eat lots of fresh veggies and fruits year round.

My chiropractor is signing up his family for the CSA this year and gets very excited about it when we talk about it. I think he thinks it will be a cool farm experience for his little kids to go to the farm to do the pick-up. I told him this farm does not have any farm animals, nor does it have any traditional farm barns, etc. so he wouldn't be dissapointed.  This farm family lives in a traditional home on a piece of land with a green house, and several garden plots scattered around the land.  They get the eggs from another local farmer, so we don't even get to see the chickens. 

The driving distance is 20 minutes from my home, and about 10 minutes for my mom, so I'll also take into consideration the gas prices and mileage of my car.  I'll be interested in seeing if the CSA plus growing some of our own veggies in the garden makes a difference in our grocery bill. 

 One of my favorite sites on the internet is the Homeschooler's Swap.    I've made many online friends there and have even met some of them in person.  It's a place where homeschoolers are drawn to share their lives, and even many folks who no longer homeschool stay around because it's such a friendly place on the net. 

One of the swappie mamas decided to host a theme for us to share photos of our charm bracelets and a little bit about the charms we've collected.

Several years ago I bought myself this charm bracelet and the watering can, lacrosse stick, and thimble charms. 

The lacrosse stick represents the many years my two sons played this sport, and the sacrifice of a mom who transports said (dirty, stinky) boys with all their equipment to and from games, practices, etc.  Did you know Lacrosse is a sport native to Maryland indians?  They used to play to the death.  Thankfully my sons survived playing in high school and in college.

The watering can represents my love of gardening.  I could dig in the dirt all day, dividing perrenials, moving plants to better locations in my garden, weeding, and mulching.  I love it!  It's one of the most rewarding chores to be done at home. 

The thimble represents my love of needle crafts.  For as long as I can remember I've been in love with fiber arts and sewing.  I still have a burlap and yarn Thanksgiving creation I made when I was 7 or eight years old in my cedar chest.  It says "Happy Thanksgiving" along with a pilgrim hat.  Right before buying the thimble I'd made an historic 1830's dress:  the skirt, the bodice, the undersleeves, etc. for a local historic fashion show tea my daughter and I were in.  I love crochet, needlepoint, cross-stitch, embroidery, quilting, and ....too many interests when it comes to needcraft. 

The next charm was a gift from my husband:  The bible with the cross represented a commitment he'd made to me to take his role of spiritual leader in our home more seriously. 

My three kiddos bought me the #1 MOM charm, which I know it's backwards in the photo.  Oh well, you guys are smart enough to read backwards, aren't you?  Afterall, the majority of you have homeschooled, right?

The light house represents my love for the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We've vacationed in OBX for most of the 27 years we've been married.  

Being married to an Irishman, and studying Ireland with my kiddos during our homeschooling years gave me the right (really?)  to wear the Shamrock. 

The tea pot is a representative of my love of tea.  I love to drink it, make it, host tea parties, visit tea shops, etc.  In fact, I've enjoyed visiting two tea shops with two swappies.  My local FITF (friend in the flesh) DollyM and I drove up to meet another swappie, Lori, one time at Civilitea in Gettysburg.  We had a marvelous day with Lori, and she even shared her culinary expertise by making us dinner that evening at her home.  The other swappie friend, Flamingo Sherri came from Georgia to visit her son in Baltimore  two years ago and this time Lori drove down to meet Dolly M, Sherri and I  at Tea on the Tiber in Ellicott City.  It was a lovely afternoon, and we topped it off by a trip to Trader Joe's. 

Oh my, how could I forget....... my cooking utensils.   I love to cook.  I grew up learning from my grandmother, and mother, and they're fantastic cooks.  Grandma owned a little cafe called The White House cafe in Oklahoma City, OK.  I spent many days there with grandma, watching her and the other cooks provide delicious home cooked meals for her "regulars."  Those would be her regular customers who came in at least once a day for breakfast, and or lunch.  There was Sarge the jeweler from next door, Sam, who worked across the street at the bank, the ladies from the beauty shop next door, etc.  Oh, and after Grandpa died, she even married one of the salesmen from C.R. Anthony's who REALLY liked her cooking.  ;-)  It was Mayberry, USA, right in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma serving up wonderful meals and neighborhood charm. 

 I have one more charm I just had put on this week after I'd taken the photo.  It's an eagle which represents our trip to Alaskas last June where eagles flying overhead were a dime a dozen. 

This was fun, and I can't wait to visit the other swappie charm bracelets here. 

For now, gotta run. 

Dana

Today is the last day of class for my daughter in our homeschool group. We've been involved with this group for 14 years, and it seems like yesterday when this young lady was a preschooler. 

We went to the gym together at 6:00 am, worked out, came home to read a couple chapters of Girl Talk, by Carolyn Mahaney, and soon we'll stop at Starbucks for a celebratory cup of coffee. 

Just wanted to share this bittersweet moment with you.  God's been so faithful to her in so many ways, as she's grown in grace and beauty from the inside out. 

With a tear rolling down my cheek,

Dana

I came across this list of basic rules for hanging clothes out on the line, and a poem.  If you've never hung clothes out on a line, try it this spring and summer.  With the cost of electricity it will help the family budget and it's enjoyable too. 

THE BASIC RULES

1. You had to wash the clothes line before hanging any clothes. Walk the length of each line with a damp cloth around the line.

2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order and always hang whites with whites and hang them first.

3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail. What would the neighbors think?

4. Wash day on a Monday...........never hang clothes on the weekend or Sunday for heaven's sake!

5. Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your 'unmentionables' in the middle.

6. It didn't matter if it was sub zero weather.............clothes would 'freeze dry.'

7. Always gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes. Pins left on the line was 'tacky'.

8. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

9. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?????????? Well, that's a whole other subject.

A POEM

A clothes line was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the 'fancy sheets'
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the 'company table cloths'
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside
As brand new infant clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, 'Gone on vacation now'
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, 'We're back!' when full lines sagged
With not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way..

But clotheslines now are of the past
For dryers make work less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best
By what hung on the line!

If you or anyone you know suffers from depression, please listen to the sermon preached Sunday  at our church.  What a testimony of God's mercy poured out on this same pastor I refered to in my last post.  Again, and again, we're amazed at just how humble and accountable our pastors are to their church family, each other, and ultimately to God.  We're so blessed.

I'm downloading this to my ipod, so I'll have access to listen anytime.  It's the message dated 4-13-08

http://www.covlife.org/

Today is my husband's birthday.  He's such a wonderful provider and friend, lover and confidante.  His humor tickles me most of the time, and he's incredibly clever.  I'm amazed at his perserverance and faithfulness in running his own business despite incredible daily hoops and landmines he navigates. 

His gift is serving and I'm so blessed by the ways he serves me and our family.  After coming home from work, kissing me and my daughter and then feeding the dogs, his readiness to serve is apparent by his words, "How can I help?"  I've grown accustomed to this, but realize how incredibly blessed I am to have a husband who truly wants to help me in any way he can in the kitchen and around the house.  He never complains about much that I do or don't do, and is always encouraging me in my hobbies and interests.

He's growing in knowledge and wisdom of God's purpose for his life more and more each day, and I'm so proud of him. 

Happy Birthday, Michael!  I love you~

My dear husband has entered the world of blogging.  He's an avid bird watcher and his goal since January 1 has been to see and identify 100 different species of birds here in our county.  He's well on his way with over 70 birds.  His blog is dedicated to this goal.

http://fr84wrdr.blogspot.com/

Well, OK, I lied.  It's not Wordless at all.  Here's a photo of my daugther as a toddler sniffing flowers.  It's one of my favorites  as I've begun digging through photos in an attempt to pick and choose the cutest and most memorable for an album I'll present to her on her graduation day.  

Dana

My husband and I are members of our local bird club.  We don't get to attend many meetings, but keep up with sightings of unusual migrating visitors and reports of interesting birds.  In my husband's attempt to see and record 100 birds in our county, he's been taking daily walks around various lakes, ponds, and paths.  I don't join him on cold, rainy or windy days, but when he makes a good find, he will take me on a milder day to see what he's found. 

My bird-lover took a walk recently with other bird club members and got a tip on the location of a Great Horned Owl.  Last Friday he closed his office early and came home to scoop me up to go see this beauty.  She'd been spotted high in a nest with two nestlings behind a rather busy shopping center near our home. 

As we parked at a park-and-ride lot and readied our gear, (binoculars, camera, field guide, etc.) a gentleman spotted us and asked if we'd come to see the owl.  Apparently, when my husband strapped on his binoculars that was a dead giveaway. 

Then he told us the high winds from the night before had broken a branch which supported the nest and it was destroyed.  He'd been there an hour or so earlier and had found the two nestlings on the ground.  Thinking fast, he made many phone calls and eventually found Judi from All Creatures Great and Small.  She runs a wild animal rescue service and knew just what to do when he called. 

Judi arrived shortly after and the four of us trudged through the brambles to get to the best location to search for the survivors.  Rick gave us a wide area to search, but instructed us to watch where we walked, and watch our heads as Momma Owl was nearby watching us from the trees. 

Sure enough, we came upon one of the survivors, but found it was dead and had a broken wing.  It was a beautiful cream-colored furry ball the size of a football, with talons which sent shivers up our spines.  They were HUGE!  This reminded us of Momma Owl's grasping strength capacity of 200 lbs. per square inch!!!!  Gulp!   Huh..... this means she could inflict serious damage, if she thought we were getting too close to her babies.  

After finding the dead baby we decided to pay more attention to Momma, as she was screeching and carrying on as if to distract us or scare us away.  We thought she might lead us to her sole survivor.  She gave us a warning by buzzing about 20 feet above our heads we were getting too close for her comfort.  After combing the area below the tree, a nearby ridge, and a stream, we decided to abandon the rescue effort. 

Today I received the fantastic photos from this man we met in the parking lot, Rick.  He had a MEGA lens camera which impressed our socks off, and his photos are proof of his ability along with the professional equipment.  BTW, Rick not only loves photography, but is a race car driver we discovered by his business card. 

Here's a photo of the mom in the nest with her baby, and it was taken by another birder.   The babies can fly if their wings are developed enough, but we'll have to go back to see if we can see these two with our own eyes and whether or not they found a new home. 

This whole experience reminded me of another owl rescue.  I was waiting outside the library in Carmichael, California for my mom to come pick me up from study time with a friend.  As we waited we walked down the road a bit and saw a white fluffy "thing" on the side of the road.  Upon closer inspection, we discovered it was an immature Snowy Owl and still alive.  It looked as if it had fallen out of a palm tree nest right above our heads.  I begged and begged my mom to let me bring it home.  After all, we couldn't just leave it there.  Mom gave in, and after many phone calls the Sacramento zoo agreed to advise me on how to care for the baby, and also would take the owl the next day.  I fed it raw ground beef that night, water, and kept it in a shoe box all tucked in.  The next day we drove it to the zoo.  I remember feeling very proud of being part of this rescue.  Here's a photo of this beautiful owl. 

On Monday we took a hike in a local state park.  It was a beautiful day and an unusual 73 degrees here in Maryland.  So we packed up the dogs and brought our daugther, too. 

Here are some photos. 

We brought all our bird-watching gear, but the only new bird we saw was a Chinese Goose along the edge of the river.  A kayaker, a jogger, some horseback riders, and another family walking their labrador puppy were the only company we saw on the trail.  It was a little drizzly by the end of our walk and the dogs were muddy, so we let them wade into the shoreline to wash off before sticking them back in the car.

Here's a photo of me before the rain began.       One the way home my husband suggested stopping at Starbucks for coffee.  Ahhhh..... the reward of a long hike was much appreciated.  Thanks!

 We were met with a wonderful aroma coming from the crockpot when we arrived home.  I'd put a pork roast in with onions, rosemary, thyme, sage, and sliced apples to cook before the hike.  I'm so glad my husband had the day off and planned this hike for us.  We've been stuck in the the daily grind of waiting out the winter far too long, and we needed a change of scenery, and a breath of fresh air.