Front Porch Chat: Breaking Open Broken



Ten years ago, in April of 2012, John and I took a 70-day sabbatical from synagogue.  We'd been active in church for several years, volunteering, serving, attending all services, doing Bible studies, working with the worship team, etc., and not balancing work, home, family very well at all with our church activities.  When we went to synagogue, we were busier than ever.  It was a small synagogue, and with worship, classes, duties to attend to at the places we rented for worship, to celebrate the feasts and festivals with only a handful of people to attend to all the details, we were consumed.  

Planning Meals with Grace Livingston Hill

 


Grace Livingston Hill mentions detailed menus in some of her books.  I confess that those books are my favorites, usually because they deal with homemaking and how the homemaker is changing lives.  Mrs. Hill may occasionally share a beautiful room description or talk about a dress color and style, as well but when she feeds her characters she comes up with some pretty good meals.  Often, they not only sound good, but they are economical.   Although the books were written in a different era, I thought it would be fun to share a few of her menu plans from some of the books I've read most recently. 

These menus are old fashioned meals and not fancy but they sound really delicious.  Tell me what you think after reading through a few of these.  I'll share the title of each book I copied out menus from.

Maddie Grace 2009-2022

 


This morning we left home as usual for church.  We tend to scan the yard for the pets, something we've gotten accustomed to doing now that they too are mostly senior citizens.  I'd petted Rufus and Misu when I went out on the front porch to feed Misu.  I didn't see Maddie.  It was already warming up, and I was pretty sure she'd be in one of her cooler shady spots.  

We found her on the patio when we came home.  She looked to be sound asleep, but something told me that she wasn't.  John was sure she was, but he'd stopped the car just the same and whistled, called her name, but there was no response.  He got out of the car to check on her and I knew I'd been right because she didn't stir...

 And so, we said our goodbyes.  

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Last Week of June






In my home this week, I've been shaking my head thinking of the week ahead.  June is nearly over and that means the year is half gone!  Would someone please put the brakes down hard on this year?!

We'll head into July by the end of this week, and the last holiday on U.S. schedules until Labor Day.  It's going to be a long hot haul ahead for those of us living in the more southerly states.  And if June has been any indicator of how July might look, Whew!  It's gonna be HOT.

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Summer Is Here

 


Saturday:  Up early this morning after a very sound night's sleep.  John and I have done exactly nothing at all, though I have tried to keep up with the very minor housework (dishes generated by meals, dirty napkins and cloths in the laundry, folding the last laundry hung dry yesterday afternoon, etc.) in the interest of having an easier morning tomorrow before church.

I've read, explored various blogs, watched videos, napped and am seriously considering going to bed quite early tonight because frankly I'm weary.  We've a long day ahead of us tomorrow.  I think I'm going to spend the evening reading.

Wednesday Ramblings: Mr. Charlie

 

I'd like you to know Mr. Charlie.

Mr. Charlie was admitted to our facility after a hospital stay.  He reminded me keenly of a man I liked quite a lot.  The only difference was that Mr. Charlie was about 30 years older and of a different ethnicity, but the two men were so similar physically in both build, facial features and in personality that I was always a bit surprised one wasn't the other!  To add to their similarities, they both preferred jeans and a plaid shirt and each man wore a ball cap pushed back from his forehead in the exact same way!  The resemblance was truly uncanny, and I was hard pressed at first not to refer to Mr. Charlie by the other man's name.

Potato Head


As I was preparing supper the other night, I used red potatoes.   I was making a potato soup, something I've tried numerous times without an appreciation for the finished product.  I was, as it happened, using a red potato that night and that soup turned out very good! 

As I was dicing potatoes, I began to wonder once more, what potatoes are best for each cooking method?  So, while my soup simmered, I was online doing research, jotting down facts to share within this post.

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Hot Summer Ahead

 

In my home this week, the heat is ramping up to summertime highs just in time for summer.  Forecasts and most weather apps stated the temperatures were in the lower portion of the 90's all last week.  I'm not saying they were lying but my thermometers here at the house and on my car, all were giving me readings of 100f.  This week the weather is being forecast for triple digit temperatures, so I'm expecting it will be a smidge higher than what they're saying.  That smidge is what's going to have me looking for the coolest way to do everything from cooking to cleaning and it's going to dictate how I plan my week.   

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: So long Spring!

 


Saturday:  I was struggling hard to go back to sleep when a text message came in this morning.  I knew it was past 7 because my phone doesn't make a sound until then, thanks to the Do Not Disturb settings.  I know it was one of you who suggested that and let me thank you now. I may set it to do not disturb until a wee bit later in the morning, say 8am, lol.  But yes, just after 7, I got a text.

The message was from Katie who offered to come out and make pancakes for us.  I struggled out of bed and told John to get dressed and texted her to come on.  I was having coffee on the back porch when they arrived.  This I've found does disappoint Caleb.  He prefers for us to be inside and when they open the door, he likes to call out "Hey!" instead of having us greet him.  In future, I'll try to keep that in mind.

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Starting at the End


Friday:  It's just minutes prior to Shabat and I've just finished up the planning post for next week's lot of work.  As always, I'm both looking forward to Sabbath rest and excited by my plans for the week ahead.  

The boys and I went to the library this afternoon.  It's so stinking hot and even though they bring along their water bottles, I feel duty bound to get them a cold drink after we've come back out into the heat.  Even with the AC running on high in the car, my older model cars AC doesn't cool them off very much in the backseat.  

Worth Sharing: Gabriel Faure, Composer



I stumbled upon a composition by Faure quite accidentally and was captured right away.  I listened to the lovely "Pavane" and felt I must know more about this composer of whom I'd never heard.

Gabriel Urbane Faure was born in May of 1845, in Pamiers, Ariege,  France the youngest child, and fifth son of a schoolmaster.  He was sent to live with a foster family for the first four years of his life.  In 1849, when his father began teaching at Foix, the child was sent to live with his parents once more. When he returned home, he would often slip away into the chapel next door to the school where his father taught and taught himself to play the harmonium.   It wasn't until an elderly blind woman who had taken time to sit and listen to the child and give him pointers on his playing expressed her appreciation of his music that his father was even aware the child had been taking refuge in the chapel.

Homemaking Instinct

 


Show of hands please:  How many of you are homemakers?  If you're living in a studio apartment or an RV, in a tiny house or a three bed, two bath house, or if you've camped out, you're a homemaker.  It is the instinct of most, man and woman alike, to create a home wherever you live.  

It begins in early childhood when children first play 'house'.  It continues on through all our lives.

Many years ago, I spent six weeks in a physical rehab center after a car accident.  I noticed that my section of the room took on a distinct personality of its own.  A bulletin board meant for nurse's notes, also contained quotes that moved me deeply, cards from friends, photos of my children.  The bedside counter had flowers and an array of makeup and facial products.  Across the foot of the bed was a cozy blanket in pretty colors.  I'd created in what was meant to be a temporary space, a home of my own.  I missed only having books.   At that time in my life that 'home' was vitally important to me.  

Two days prior to my accident, I'd left my husband and had no home of my own to shelter my children and myself.  We were staying with Granny, a place meant to be very temporary.  

My next home didn't come along for three months after leaving rehab.  I went to live with Mama and Daddy.   I had no place to call 'mine'.  My children and I shared a room.  I was reminded daily that it wasn't my home, I was temporary and wasn't living there.  I think that inability to create anything resembling a spot of my own greatly increased my sense that the world as I knew it had fallen apart. 

A friend and co-worker knew of an empty house on her street, talked to the owner and introduced me to my new rental place three months later, a house where we lived for the next six years.  Even though it wasn't mine, I made it mine.  I cleaned the overgrown yards and planted flowers.  I piled junk culled from the house and outer reaches of the yards along the curb for pick up.  I painted walls and bought furniture.  It was as much to create a sense of home as knowing I could belong in that place.

I was working at the nursing home during this time in social services.   I noticed that nearly every new resident gradually made themselves at home.  It was evident that the instinct to create a space to live, to make a place a home, was something that seemed to be a natural thing for every person. They brought in a favorite chair, hung pictures, arranged and organized their belongings to suit themselves, and had lovely blankets or quilts on their beds.  Some had plants that they lined up on the windowsills.  

It wasn't just decorating the rooms but the duties of homemaking that kept them involved.  Almost all of them had their little housekeeping routines even though there was a housekeeping staff who came in daily.  Dusting, watering plants, putting away clean laundry, bundling up dirty laundry, making beds, were all done by most of the residents.  

I've noted that many who have office spaces, are just as keen to put their personal stamp on their workspace and have some sort of cleaning routines to keep those spaces looking spruce.  We teased Katie about 'nesting' into her new office, but that's pretty much what she did.

We are all homemakers at heart. 

Cast Iron Facts and Fiction

 


When I first married, I was given a couple of cast iron frying pans.  One was about 8 inches and was meant to be my cornbread pan.  The other was a 12-inch skillet.  They had been well seasoned by Granny, and I kept and used them with minimal upkeep for nearly 25 years.  

I used my cast iron nearly every day.  I usually avoided cooking eggs in my skillet, especially the cornbread skillet, because I found it needed to be re-seasoned many times before it was non-stick for cornbread once more.  I washed my pans in soap and water and I cooked spaghetti and chili in them many an afternoon, letting them simmer long and slow.   I found over the years that truly there is not a lot you can't do in an iron skillet as long as you keep them clean and you occasionally re-season.

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Sailing Towards Summer



In my home this week, I am tired, planning my next week and sipping the first cup of coffee I've had since I woke.  It is evening, just to let you know that it's been one long day.   I did something completely uncharacteristic this afternoon and drove over to pick up take-out for supper.  I was just that doggone tired and not in the mood to do dishes or try to figure what sides I might have when I've yet to get to the grocery store.  That was the BEST food I've had for supper in a week.  I am sure that knowing I didn't have to cook it, there would be no dishes and the fact that I was bone weary all combined to make it an awesome treat.   Not one I'll treat myself to often but one I surely did appreciate this evening.   We'll call it bonus that we both had leftovers, enough to make a decent lunch for us one day this weekend.  

Let's get busy planning the week ahead...

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Busy Happy Week

 


Saturday:  We woke early, which is usual for us this time of year.  Truth told I could get up an hour earlier than I do but I tend to try to let John have a quiet space in the morning before I come out of the room.  Some mornings I might doze back off, but usually, I lie there and think about the day, sometimes pray before I get up and dress.  It's a leisurely way to start a Sabbath morning and that's the way I started this morning.

John is off to volunteer with a dinner for the homeless today, and I am here alone.  After he drove through town, he asked me what was going on, the sidewalks were full of vendors and food trucks, etc.  I was puzzled as he, but vaguely recalled a motion at a town meeting back in early April to have a vendor day in town.  Not one mention of it since then and no advertising that it was happening today in our local paper.  I hope it all goes well.  He said, "Well you might go..."  I reminded him that we are currently a one car household, and he had the car, lol.  It is easy to forget that, because we've had two cars for most of our married lives.

Chatting on the Front Porch: How We Grow

 


Hello dears...Do come in and join me for a bit.  I have Pink Lemonade today.  Would you like a glass?  If you prefer it less sweet, allow me to suggest making it half and half with water.  That's how I make my own.  Then let us go to the porch and sit to talk for a bit.

I was out this morning working in the yard.  It wasn't on my list to do that, but it was what called to me so that's where I went.  Rufus apparently considers himself a gardening companion which is nice. I enjoy having his company.  In the past it's always been a cat that wanted to accompany me when I was planting but I don't mind a bit that it's a dog now.    We only had words once.  Right after I spread compost over a bed and raked it neatly, he jumped in to lie down.  I'm afraid he was spoken to quite sternly.

Willing to Make Mistakes

 




One thing my Granny often said to me was something I'll wager a lot of you have heard, "You're never too old to learn!"  That has certainly proven true all throughout my life.  

My parents urged us children to do well at anything we attempted but they failed us miserably in one area.  They didn't believe in making mistakes.  It was their expectation that you'd be perfect right away with any new thing and if you weren't, there was a lot of fuss and fretting.  With each mistake and each fuss, we began to lose self-confidence and I can assure you that I actually grew afraid of making mistakes, so, I just didn't even try anything new! 

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Busy, Busy Bee

 


In my home this week, I plan to be at least as busy as I was last week.  It's the season!  Seriously, it truly is the season for getting things done, especially outdoors.  You see, it's hot just now but not that deadly heavy heat of deep summer, when I know I am going to be outdoors only just long enough to water plants or for an early morning ramble to pick flowers and then retreat, panting and glistening to the porch, and then into the air-conditioned house and stay there.  

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: What Three Day Weekend?

 


Saturday:  I slept in this morning and enjoyed every minute of it.  I've been having pain on the right side of my left knee...but only at night when I'm stretched out trying to go to sleep.  I can walk on it all day long without any issue at all but lie down in the bed and within 15 minutes, my knee begins to be painful.  I've tried over the counter pain relievers, topical gel pain relievers, heat, even CBD oil rubbed on the spot, and nothing helps.  It hurts just enough to wake me at night.  As I've mentioned I have sleep issues anyway and while I've had the luxury these last few years of sleeping in after a poor night's rest, I am loathe to give up a night's sleep to pain!   

Wednesday Rambling: Art, Music, Vlogs, Blogs I'm Enjoying Just Now

 


Ralph Vaughan-Williams is one of my favorite composers, especially his " The Lark Ascending".  This time of year, I love that piece, because in my area, wheat is ripening, and I often see the birds over the fields of wheat.  The birds I see are most commonly the red winged blackbird or hawk.  We don't have larks in my region from what I can tell.  

Never mind.  The music is lovely and suits spring in my area.  It also makes me think of Van Gogh's painting, Wheatfield with a Lark.