Crabs and Blueberries
It’s been quiet here because I’ve been busy making summer memories. Last week I enjoyed a visit from my good friend Jessica, celebrated my 6 year anniversary, and had a lovely baby shower in honor of our new little one who is due to arrive in a little over 4 weeks {gasp!}. So surreal. It’s hard to believe that another life will soon be joining us, and that it will very quickly feel like she’s been with us forever. But for now it still feels distant and strange. But I’m reminded of her presence as my belly rises, falls, and is pushed around from the inside even as I write.
Anyway.
It was great catching up with Jessica, who I’d not seen since my visit to San Francisco in March of 2009. I’m so blessed to have multiple friendships that–despite distance and length of time between visits–can be picked right back up where we left off.
Jessica’s two requests were Maryland crabs and blueberry picking. I was happy to oblige.
Now I’m stocked with blueberries for cereal, yogurt, and of course, blueberry muffins.
It’s amazing what paint can do . . .
I’m joining in on the Summer Tour of Homes but am approaching it a bit differently than previous tours. Instead of pictures of details of summer decor, which I don’t really have, I’m going to show you a recent makeover of our living room.
Besides, most of my summer decor is the flowers I plant around my house, and I already showed you that.
Anyway, here’s some pictures of our living room. They’re not super recent, but it shows you the paint color that the living room used to be. I loved the color, but it just didn’t work in our house. The room doesn’t get a lot of natural light, especially in winter, and the ceilings are low. It ended up feeling cave like and depressing in the winter.
I’d been wanting to get the living room repainted before the baby arrives, so Josh decided to do it July 4th weekend. We decided to go with the same color that is in the dining room, to make the rooms visually flow into each other more.
I am loving the result!
It feels much more airy and open. Not to mention we have a classy new ceiling fan, unlike the ghastly gold thing we had before.
So thankful to my hubby who spent his whole holiday weekend working so hard on this project!
Sustained
I found myself sitting at the table in the dark last week. And I cried, because I got bit by a flea.
Let me just say I’m not one to have emotional meltdowns that often, but the day had been trying. Actually, the week had been trying. Well, really the past couple of weeks. It was hot. So hot I thought my skin would melt off. I felt pregnant and tired. Owen had poison ivy for the second time this summer, despite the fact we thought we’d killed all the poison ivy plants. Now, he was on steroids and they’d messed with his personality, making him very difficult and irrational to deal with. And to top it all off, our neighbor passed fleas on to us in a box of clothes for the boys. We’d “fogged” the house twice, treated the yard, and sprayed organic stuff that stunk all around the base of our house. And they still came back.
I’d spent half the day getting quotes from exterminators. I was weary. And so when I got bit by that flea I just lost it. How I hated those blasted bugs!
And it felt good to just let all the tension flow out. As I dried my eyes and got up to take my much coveted cold shower, I was reminded of something I’d read a few mornings earlier.
Elijah, who had just experienced a massive victory and seen a powerful display of God’s power, was now fearfully fleeing Jezelbel’s threat of execution. He was physically and emotionally “strung out” and he escaped to the wilderness crashing under a “broom” tree. He collapses into sleep. God doesn’t chide him or immediately question him. Instead, he is allowed to sleep. Then, an angel shows up to make sure he eats and drinks food that is miraculously provided for him.
I just love this picture of God’s tender care. His compassion on his servant is clearly seen. Elijah was exhausted from doing the Lord’s work and the Lord allows him time to rest and regain physical strength before “getting him back on track,” so to speak. He still has a mission to perform, but for now, there is rest.
God treats me the same way. He knows my frame, he knows I’m but dust and has compassion on my feebleness. My humanness. I want to remember this when I’m strung out and feel to be at my breaking point. Instead of “fleeing to the wilderness” in whatever form that might be I want to flee to the Lord’s care, knowing I’ll find sustenance and understanding. He knows I’m weak and will care for me.
Joining Holy Experience for Walk With Him Wednesday.
4th of July Pie
If you like lemon and blueberry, this pie is for you. Not to mention you don’t have to bake anything but the crust for a mere 8 minutes, so for hot summer days, it makes pie making as easy as, well, pie!
I got the recipe from this blog (scroll down halfwayish for her post on the pie, for some reason I couldn’t link directly to the post). And a quick disclaimer: the picture above is from when I made this pie several years ago, and I actually didn’t layer the berries between the lemon filling like you’re supposed to. Just an fyi.
Blueberry Pie
Ingredients Needed:
- 1 package of graham crackers, crumbed
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3.4oz package lemon instant pudding mix
- 2 tsp grated lemon rind
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 pint blueberries
- 2 tbs blueberry preserves
- 1 cup whipping cream
1. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter.
2. Press evenly in bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake pie crust at 350 for 8 minutes. Cool completely.
3. Beat cheese, milk, and powdered sugar until creamy.
4. Add pudding mix, rind, and juice. Beat until blended.
5. Spread half of mixture into crust.
6. Stir together blueberries and preserves, spread evenly over lemon mixture.
7. Spread remaining lemon mixture over blueberry mixture. Cover and chill 2 hours.
8. Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form and spread around out edge of pie forming a decorative border.
Since I was short on time I bought pre-made graham cracker crusts, baked them, and then made the filling. So easy and a great pie to make on a summer day since you don’t have to bake the pie and you serve it cold.
Backyard Fun
My lack of blogging lately is due not only to the seemingly never-ending doctor visits, lethargy from the recent heat wave, or slightly out of control social calendar, but also to some fun times in the yard these summer evenings.
Golf is a huge hit in our family, no pun intended.
All the boys love it (big and little) . . .
but Owen is particularly obsessed with it.
Seriously, I’m not just saying this because I’m his mother, but the boy is a natural. He can really hit that thing!
Perhaps it’s his one-on-one tutoring from daddy?
Duncan gets in on the action too. He like golf as well, although not with the same passion as Owen seems to have.
Another backyard activity is fighting over swinging on the neighbor’s swing.
They don’t like me to push them because I don’t push them high enough!?!
My little adrenalin junkies.
Garden Magic
This year my garden has really come into its own. After transplanting daylillies, phlox, and cone flowers from my mom’s and adding a peony and some urns to the front, the flowerbeds are finally starting to fill out. I still have some bare areas that need some plants, but we’ll get there!
This daylilly adds color to the front garden.
Josh bought me two “balloon flowers” for our anniversary last year.
I love this garden decoration my mom bought me for Mother’s Day last year.
Two garden urns flank our front steps. They were the urns used at our wedding and had ferns in them. I love how so much of my garden flowers and “stuff” have a history and tell a story.
Our tomatoes on the deck are coming along. Last year the boys kept picking the green tomatoes off, but this year they’re patiently (mostly) waiting for them to turn red.
Our little veggie garden out back holds more tomatoes, beans, eggplants, peppers, and herbs. Can’t wait to start eating them!
He’s too Cute
I told him I wanted to take a picture of his shirt. He stuck out his chest.
Then he posed for the camera and gave me the cutest smile.
The Clothesline
Clothes on the line. I remember as a child going to hang out the laundry. I’d throw a book in the basket too and sneak in a few moments of reading–between hanging shirts and short–making the process stretch out longer than needed.
When I was all grown up and married, I was delighted to discover a clothes line at the house we ended up buying. Nothing beats the smell of crisp sheets, smelling of the outdoors.
But now that the clothesline is mine, so often the task of hanging wet clothes becomes drudgery. It’s easier just to throw them in the dryer, it doesn’t take as long. Hanging them outside is just another thing to do, an item on the list to be hurried through and crossed off. I forget how much I enjoy the result of line-dried clothes. That wonderful smell that can’t be reproduced by dryer sheets. The fresh feel under skin.
And a lot of other things that once brought joy can become drudgery too, if I let them. Taking care of my kids. Making dinner. Cleaning the house. They’re just things to hurry through so I can get on to the fun stuff.
But if I do that, I miss out on simple joys that are really the things that make up life. The “thank you” of my son as I hand him breakfast. The taste of a well-prepared meal. The thankfulness that I even own a house to clean.
So today I’m thankful for my clothesline, and that it teaches me to slow down and savor the simple things–everyday things–in life.
Just my contribution to Tuesdays Unwrapped with Chatting at the Sky . . .
Peachy Pork Tenderloin
Tonight I grilled Peachy Pork Tenderloin from Family Fun Magazine. Boy was it ever good! The peach/mustard/rosemary glaze was fabulous! And although you have to plan ahead a bit to have it marinade in brine first, it’s really a quite simple main dish since it mostly just grills the whole time. I will note that it took an hour for mine to cook over a charcoal grill, not the 20 minutes that was mentioned in the recipe. I’m sure it depends as to how thick your cut of meat is and what kind of grill you’re cooking over. But it was delicious just the same!
(Image: Family Fun Magazine)
A Little Bit of Lovely | Hydrangeas
One of the joys of every summer is bringing in heaping piles of Hydrangeas into the house. Thought I’d share some of the beauty today with you.
I put them everywhere. In the kitchen . . .
On my bedside table . . .
And in the bathroom.
What’s your little bit of lovely today?
