Happy Place

Dad, Mom, Zachary (Candice was working), Kyle, Evangeline and I went to Bloomington, IN to visit Uncle Kenny on Saturday.  I have always loved visiting Uncle Kenny and Aunt Jeanne at their house.  It is packed with so many interesting items from Aunt Jeanne's world travels.  Now, just being in that home makes me feel close to her again.  I miss her terribly.  It feels good to be in her home, surrounded by her things.  I'm sure she had a great story to tell about each and every piece, and she would tell them with Jeanne flare. 



 

I also love the plants.  I'm telling you, it's good vibes all around at this place.  



 

A few of my favorite things in their home include the Tibetan singing bowl, the wall of framed women who were influential in woman's advocacy, and all of the neat fish she had collected from around the world.

She loved fish. 

There are so many beautiful coleus in the yard.  Whoever lives in our Carbondale house will hopefully enjoy all of the starts of various coleus we split from her plants.

The red stool was an old tractor seat from the farm.  The wooden chair used to be a park bench.  He's handy, that Kenny. 

I sure do love this old guy.

Uncle Kenny is one special guy too.  We adore him. 

 

Here's a picture of the angel created in Jeanne's honor which overlooks the bike trail in Bloomington.  It's made of recycled materials.  The wings are made of environmental license plates.  The words on the book say "love, peace, gratitude, forgiveness and kindness" in different languages.  Aunt Jeanne stood for all of these attributes and had a huge heart.  I am so honored to have had such a person as a role model to look to as I grew up.  I miss her every day.



My Pumpkin

After school on Monday we went to a pumpkin patch here in Marshall.  We had fun wondering around the patch checking out all of the pretty varieties of pumpkins, squash and gourds.  We admired the gorgeous, yellow blossoms and the huge pumpkins ready for someone to come along and cut from the vine.  It was a beautifully crisp and sunny afternoon.  We bought several pumpkins for the porch, two of which are a variety that are said to be particularly good for baking with.  We talked to Mr. Fry, the owner of the farm, and he told me all about various ways to cook them.  I have actually read that canned pumpkin is more flavorful and more rich in nutrients (interesting, I know), but I've always wanted to try to bake something right in the pumpkin.  That might be an upcoming project. 





This is called an Apple Gourd.  It really does resemble an apple in shape. 

Just gotta love a Fox Tail.  On that note, there are just so many fun, and amazing little plants out there that provide so much entertainment for children.  We live in a world of overstimulation.  There is really no need for all the fancy toys.  I remember grandma telling me all about the Jack in the Pulpet we would find on our walks back to the pond.  Peggy makes the girls flower fairies out of Rose of Sharon and mom makes amazing crowns from white clover.  Yet another reminder that "it is the sweet, simple things in life, which are the real ones, after all." - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Society stifles creativity and imagination will all the useless other stuff.  Too bad the useless other stuff is just so darn irresistible. 

 

Evangeline:  "Mommy, you don't really have a name."

Mommy:  "Yes I do.  My name is Adrienne."

Evangeline:  "That's a strange name."

Nothing too exciting...

Last week was a blur.  I can't believe we are almost through a quarter of the school year.  Time just passes by so quickly anymore.  Peggy said that's a sign of age.  Yikes. 

I do so love this time of year at school.  My classroom looks so cute and fall-ish.  I feel like the anticipation of the holidays have already begun.

Last week I had to miss a day of school because I was subpoenaed to court for a custody hearing over one of my students.  I hope I don't have to do that again.  Not fun. 

On a whim I bought around 20 pounds of canning tomatoes at the farmer's market on Friday. I spent my evening cutting out the rotten and bug-eaten parts of the tomatoes, cooking them down, pressing them through a sieve, cooking some more and canning about a gallon of tomato juice.  It doesn't sound like the most ideal way to spend a Friday night, but the taste of the juice made it totally worth it.

Note to self:  I used the recipe from my Ball Handbook.  Next time I will keep more of the pulp.

We didn't do much over the weekend.  We cleaned the house, attempted to organize the Carbondale explosion that is our garage, went to church, laid around, listened to a thunderstorm, watched Tangled and made pumpkin muffins.  Kyle and I went out to dinner together on Saturday.  It got nice and cool out today.  We've been decorating our house with our meager fall décor and were inspired to make a craft. 



Ok, prepare for a ton of pictures.  This afternoon I was playing with a lens I don't use very much and the lighting, which was so pretty.  I ended up taking a bazillion pictures.  I just couldn't narrow it down.  Mostly because they are just Evangeline being herself....and oh, the lovely fall sun. 

We have some kind of ornamental grass growing in various places in our landscape and about this time of year it is out of control.  It's huge and just starts drooping in the middle.  It needs to be cut back....Yes, I'll just add that to my to-do list.  Evangeline has been enjoying picking the seeded parts of the plant.  She yanks so hard that when it finally gives she fly's backwards and just cracks up. 

 

She has never been a chubby thing, but she does have doughy little cheeks that I can't get enough of.

Staring off into space with her ornamental grass...

 

Evangeline said to me the other day, "I know what you could do that's one of your favorite things to do...make cookies with your sweet child".

This is just a sight that caught my eye today.  I thought it was pretty, so I took a picture. 

Today at church she drew a picture of Jesus on the cross and drew two hearts beside it.  She told me, "I drew two hearts because I love Jesus so much."  She started in with all the questions about Jesus dying and then said, "I miss him".  We had to have the talk again about that he wasn't really dead anymore, etc.  Yeesh, that's a hard conversation to have with a 4 year old.