We escaped to the mountain cabin for change of scenery!  It was splendid, and we were just in time to see the aspen trees in their golden glory!

Tonight, I'm heading to bed early, but here's a quick snap of two of my favorite guys. (More from our adventures to come.)

For several years we've been making our own herbal tinctures and infusions.  He does the tinctures and I do the teas.  Today Ken, along with his lovely assistant Keianna made up five tinctures that were running low.

Below I share a rarely glimpsed area of PrairieFrog land (drumroll...)  Ken's barfice!   ("Barfice" is short for barn/office--a little room in the barn.) 

Here's Ken and Keianna's five steps to a perfect tincture:

1. Get down the herbs from vast stores, high on the barfice shelves.

2. Add appropriate herbs to a quart jar for steeping

3. Put away herbs.

4. Add rum.  (This step isn't pictured because I have an alcohol free blog. )    

5. Steep for about a month.   (Also not pictured because it would require time lapse photography and be rather dull.)

Stonewall Jackson and Robert E Lee came to dinner tonight.  When I called them to set the table they sent a foot soldier who requested permission to finish the battle. 

I agreed providing they could wrap up the bloodshed and be cleaned up within 3 minutes.  They obliged.  

Thomas Jackson told me that he typically only eats plainly seasoned meat and stale bread (something about it helping his eyesight?), but he was gracious enough to eat the stir fry I offered.

Robert E. Lee was also all politeness.  He said that being from the south he particularly enjoyed the green tomatoes, although he declared he'd he'd never before had them stir fried. 

Both gentlemen (who looked remarkably like my daughters) were quite personable, addressing me as Miss Clara Barton, and thanking me for the "superior rations."

One of the younger recruits (a lad who strongly resembled my Keegan)  told me that he did a good job in the battle and "shot the bad guys with his sword."  He also said that he "Prayed first like George Washington; because if you go to war you have to pray." 

Never a dull moment. 

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, youir always a day away!

On an entirely unrelated note: a friend sent me a link to a book with a cover so spooky I nearly fell out of my chair. I know nothing about the book and hadn't heard of it until yesterday. Can you see why I did a double take?  (When you link through to Amazon, if it doesn't load the bigger picture of the cover, click on the book cover to enlarge it.)

Keianna accompanied her daddy to the Sherif's office on landlordly business yesterday and was rewarded with a badge!  She wore it all day with great pride!

(Photo tampered with slightly in Photoshop.  As fun as it would be to live in PrairieFrog county, we've been unable to change it officially.  Keianna's badge was altered because if I shared our real location hundreds of readers might show up for dinner tonight.  I'm not sure I have enough food in the crock pot.  By keeping secretive about our location you'll have to email me before coming to confirm our address--that gives me time to throw in a few more potatoes.)

Our garden has faired well this summer, and because we aren’t seasoned gardeners, it has yielded surprises as abundantly as vegetables! 

My favorite surprise was the radishes!  Apparently the red radish variety we planted is one that barely develops any root, but is grown for the pods!

The pods have a lovely delicate texture, just like a young pea pod, but with characteristic radish zest!  They are fabulous in tossed salads, and because our lettuce shot up and gave a great yield, tossed salads have been much enjoyed recently!  These tender pods are so much better than the woody root! 

Being garden novices, we were also fascinated to discover that one of our lettuce varieties is a stalk-like plant with leaves that fan out from a tall stalks--stalks that tower above Kieran!  

I hope that the tomatoes and peppers will be ripe before frost.  Winter comes early here on the windswept plane.  I'm usually eager for snow and snuggly sweaters;  This year, however, I hope to see a ripe tomato first. 

Maybe this autumn girl will learn to love summer yet!

Here's the garden in leafy abundance!:  A little redefining of  "concrete jungle" right in the back yard.

And a blast from the past when we first planted in May (you can read my May garden post here): 
 

Kendra reached her big decision a few weeks ago!  After a lengthy decision making process (vacillating between violin and hammer dulcimer) she decided on dulcimer.  Our piano teacher put us in touch with someone selling a used model and we've been borrowing it to evaluate.   

Ken is fascinated enough by the instrument that he volunteered as "home dulcimer coach".  They'll take lessons together from a friend who lives just over the mountain.

In her experimenting, Kendra's picked out several tunes by ear while familiarizing herself with the string layout.  Christmas was in the air yesterday with "Deck the Halls", today, switching to the Lenten season she's playing "Nothing but the Blood". 

Ken been exploring too.  This morning he played  Scarborough Faire to humor his wife.  (It just seems like a dulcimer kind of song.)

Dulce means sweet;  Melos is song or melody.  Our Kendra is a sweet song indeed and I think dulcimer suits her.  (She's also bouncy and lively--two characteristics I think of in dulcimer music as well!)

We came home last night after a beautifully smooth trip, stay and hospital experience! 

There are too many blessings to list, but here are a few highlights:

The couple we stayed with was amazing.  They treated us as though these were their own grandchildren.  They cooked gourmet, whole-foods meals, gave the children fascinating nature lessons about the local birds, flora and fauna, and acted genuinely disappointed we weren't going to stay longer so they could take the children to more area attractions.  THey had a full finished basement set up so Keegan had his room, Kieran was in with us, and the three girls shared a room, each room had bedding specifically chosen for the genders and ages.  They'd done trial runs of gourmet recipes without milk to make sure they were perfected for Keianna.  We were in awe of their hospitality.  (These people are relatives of a man in our church.  They hadn't met us, but had been called up by their relative, heard about us coming, and welcomed us as family.)  So very beautiful!

The hospital staff astounded me.  From nurses to therapists to doctors and surgeons, every single member of the staff ensured that the parent felt entirely in the driver's seat.   The attitude was entirely one of being there to serve the parent and patient and honor and respect every preference.  If you knew my prickly perceptions of previous hospital encounters, this is exceptionally high praise!

Keegan's surgery went beautifully.  We had been fairly sure he'd need the more invasive of two options--so was the surgeon, who said she'd not make the final decision until after he was under anesthesia.  The more invasive would have required wheelchair and no walking for almost a month--something that would have been very taxing to an active four year old boy.  Amazingly when she got into do the surgery she found she could adapt the less invasive a bit and have it suffice!  We were thrilled to find he'd be up and about almost immediately.

As he came out of the anesthesia, I was told that he may be able to coordinate his legs to walk in a day, or maybe two or three.  The therapist said occasionally a child will manage it the same day, but don't be alarmed until 4 days or so pass as he may prefer to crawl or scoot.  5 minutes later he was waking up and asked to go to the bathroom--and mostly walked there.  20 minutes later he was asking for food and drink--which he downed. 

When his tummy was partially filled I asked what he'd like to play with--hotwheels?  A coloring book?  Nope--he wanted to go either outside to the playground or to the recreation room to play basket ball and climb.  A nurse came in and asked him what he'd like to do, and he told her the same thing, so they unplugged the IV and let him loose to hobble/run!  When asked what he'd like for dinner he said he wanted to go to "the Utah Grandma's house" with his siblings where he knew homemade pasta would be waiting.  The staff obliged, and we were able to walk out of the hospital at 5:30 pm.  (2  hours after he finished surgery at 3:30!)

He's asked for motrin every 8-12 hours instead of the 3 hours allowed, and is just generally doing fantastic!  God is good.

Travel went well and the children were delighted with their travel bags of magnet poetry, books, dolls, cars and other goodies.  The 8 hour drive each way was quiet and uneventful--which is perfect!

It has been a wild month with my health, home repair challenges and pending surgery--it is fabulous to see God working in every detail so beautifully!

Here's Keegan in his casts; Red is his favorite color and he's quite excited about his new fashion statements!

At last posting I  was eager to dive back into routine and schooling and resume the norm.  God's ways aren't our ways however, and the morning after posting I found myself entirely bedridden and too dizzy and weak to stand for even a few minutes.  The respiratory flu turned into bronchitis and then morphed into health adventures that have left me spinning for nearly six weeks.  

Our most recent adventure was Keegan's surgery, which I'll detail in a few minutes!  Stay tuned! 

We've been some hopping PrairieFrogs lately!

We discovered terrible mold under the flooring when toilet in the back bathroom began sinking into the floor, so Ken's been doing an unplanned bathroom remodel.  (We also discovered that our dryer didn't vent to the outside, but rather directly into the floor--no wonder the back laundry area and bath were so humid when I ran the dryer!)  Yikes!  The icky, yucky stuff is gone, and while the bathroom isn't finished, it is no longer a hazard!  Horray!

While Ken was tearing out moldy floorboards, I was driving Keegan to Utah.  He's to have minor yet important surgery soon to enable him to walk on his feet correctly instead of on his toes, and we zipped out for a consultation.  He was a trooper for what turned out to be a seven hour drive each direction.  At a restaurant along the way he captured the attention of an elderly gentleman who whispered a word to the waitress and bought him a free ice-cream cone!  I think it was his highlight from the trip.

Somehow I got roped into a harp ensemble that we were initially planning for just Kaira to be in.  Fortunately it is very informal and there are other beginners, but it is still rather daunting for a non-musician like me.  (Kaira's learning her parts as well as my simplified ones so she can help me though--what a girl!) 

Kaira's also been having fun with a borrowed cross-strung harp.  It is strung from both sides with the strings crossing in the middle.  One side has the "natural" notes, and the other has groups of three and two like the black keys on the piano, and is tuned to the sharps and flats.  (Our own harps have levers to 'sharp' a note, and a pedal harp relies on the pedals for this.)

I mentioned that it's been a zoo, and we did actually visit the zoo yet again on Friday--the second time this spring!  It was literally a zoo!  We attended with our fabulous church family and only lost a handful of the children--one (not a PrairieFrog child) was lost amid a downpour and tornado warning adding significant drama to the day. 

And finally we did manage to fit in Father's day for Ken--a week after the real date, but he enjoyed his kabobs and Home Depot card (and homemade cards from the children) just as much a week later.  We've never been sticklers to the calendar.  (My poor, dear father will be getting his Father's day card on the 4th of July!)

In between happenings we've been gardening, having picnics, and playing outdoors.  This next week as we prepare for Independence Day we are going to try to remember just how to "do school" and enjoy a bit of routine after too long of being off-kilter.  We tend to be a family that thrives on routine, and while being derailed has been good, it will be good to find our rhythm again too.