Sheltering (linked to a Sheltering Tree)

Sheltering wings, a thought and verses...linked to a Sheltering Tree

source (Bing)

"He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart."  Psalms 91:4 (World English Bible) 

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" ~ Luke 13:34 NIV

As an older parent whose daughters are now adults, how many times I have thought of these verses.  I have recalled them when I wanted to shelter my children from despair, from hurts, from disappointments and failures, from criticism, injustice or any hateful thing that came their way.  But how many times did I quote this verse to them when they were children, or even now as they are adults?  Not once that I can remember.

And for that I grieve - that I did not take the time to use those teaching opportunities to share God's love with them.  Now I only ask that the Father cover me with His forgiveness, and allow me to go forth in confidence.

The verse was in reference to Jerusalem, and can be read following the break:

October is ...

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, if you didn't know already.

This logo is on the front of one of my favorite black t-shirts, and I wear it with gratitude.  The logo looks better straight on; otherwise if I were to show a picture actually wearing it you might be looking for non-existent boobs.

This t-shirt usually gets a laugh when I show it off! Linking with Pink Saturday.  Here are a few of the other 125 bloggers who have linked so far:

Everything you need to know about understanding Breast Cancer is here.

Go HERE to participate in the Pink Scarf Project!

Wordless Wednesday Photo

It struck me as being cool. The curves are the same and those colors mimic!  Linking up with Wordless Wednesday.

And this links to WOYWW post.  It is a 90% completed Piper's Journey Shawl.

Greenhouse is Alive and Well

Our Greenhouse on the Grand Lawn seems to be working out fine (the "Grand" references the husband's blog livingthegrandlife).  Last evening at 5 PM the ambient temperature outside was 64 degrees F but inside the greenhouse it showed 74 degrees.  And that was after the zippered flap had been opened and we peeked inside several times during the day.

Here is a picture of the interior and where you might find at least one occupant of the Grand House reading, tooling around, or smoking a cigar...not really, but that thought has been bandied around.  There really is not room enough for two people inside these close quarters, but one or two small dogs just might wend their way there if bribed with puppy treats.

Not to be pessimistic, but I wonder how these plants will look when it gets to be ZERO degrees outside.  There are two large black trashcans filled with water under the wooden planks to give humidity, and an inch or so of bark on the bottom of the interior to help mediate the temps. Plus the walls seem to be fairly heavy translucent fabric to aid capturing solar heat. We shall see.

Yesterday was a Scrabble day with six participants who seemed to enjoy lively challenges and debate.  Here are four of them playing.

The only guy there was Allen.  He and I have been playing almost weekly for ten years.  I  have three filled out journals of  scores for each of our games recorded since 2003. Nine years' worth of scores between us.

Here is the button on my Scrabble bag:

Hope your Wednesday is going well.  I'll try to keep my whining to a minimum.

Mme Ramotswe & Pumpkin Soup

Purloined from others' blogs and the Soulbrush Etsy store for a rendition of Mme Ramotswe, as well as the biblical verse that says "what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun", I bring you a post today about Pumpkin Soup.  Nothing original.  But tasty.

Source; Soulbrush Etsy Store here

You will recall that Alexander McCall Smith's character Mme Ramotswe generally went home from her Number One Ladies'  Detective Agency and made pumpkin soup for dinner.  She did it so often that it must have been tasty.  And because she was of "traditional build", I'll just bet she added cream to that soup more often then not.

So I made some pumpkin soup yesterday and felt just like Mme Ramotswe must have felt preparing this recipe, right down to her swollen ankles.  The delicious recipe was found on the delightful blog of Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse; the link to her soup is here.

So I roasted up a pumpkin and went to work on the soup.  I did add cream, which Mrs. Tittlemouse did not, so it made for a more calorific dish, but was it yummy!  I also added quite a bit of red pepper flakes and curry spices, as well as S&P.

Maybe pumpkin soup is not a new idea, but it was the best soup under the sun yesterday!

How To Prune Philodendrons

Now that seems like a silly post title, "How to Prune Philodendrons", but if you get as many Google referrals as I do, you will notice that the search term "HOW TO" is ubiquitous.  (I love that word.)  People constantly search for "how to" do something.  On my Google analytics dashboard page, that term of "how to" is everywhere, so this will be a test post just to see how many hits I get from this topic of how to prune philodendrons.  (Believe it or not, my post found here on pig feet is my number ONE referral to this blog! Who knew pigs would draw such a crowd?)

So even though this mundane chore of pruning household plants might not interest you, dear reader, someone out there on the world wide web might be searching for just this topic that will make me a long distance teacher.  Here goes.

HOW TO PRUNE A PHILODENDRON
If your plants are getting leggy, with too few leaves along the stem, or if the leaves are spaced out too far apart and it looks like the stem is becoming thick, scissor intervention is necessary.  Now is the time to be ruthless, all for the good of the plant.  See how large the plant is? See the stems?

OK: now for a closer look at the roots and you can really see those legs that appear anemic, woody,  and too close together.  Tsk, tsk.

Next step: get out some new potting soil, some jars with water for sustaining your cuttings, a pair of scissors, and an aggressive attitude.

Take out the soil and plant from the pot, cut through those roots, discard the old roots at the bottom of the plant, and start your cutting.

Ensure that you have a nodule at the end with a bit of a root attached as this will help the root cutting adapt to the new soil.

Discard all the leggy runners.  Keep the shorter stems, again ensuring that a nodule is attached.  You should cut off leaves close to the nodule because you do not want any green leaf touching the water where they will stay until new roots have developed.

From just one plant, here is a picture of the salvaged leaves now in water awaiting new roots to grow.

With those stems that have been trimmed, roots longer than two inches mercilessly cut off from the main stem, they can be buried into the new potting soil.  Add even more soil to the top to ensure stability of the stem.  Here are two of the newly potted plants, looking much healthier and with more room to breathe.

From three plants I re-potted yesterday, we now have five jars of leaf and stem cuttings in water awaiting their roots to develop.  One jar is on the kitchen windowsill and the other four are tucked away in filtered light awaiting the same fate.  Maybe we should go into philodendron farming since there are so many awaiting future planting.  Would you like to adopt a jar?  Free for the taking!

Church Banners: 26th Week in Ordinary Times

Today begins the 26th week in the church liturgical calendar of Ordinary Times prior to the Christmas Season. Decorations were changed from the ones posted here several months ago at The American Lutheran Church to the new pieces shown below.

First, the centerpiece of the wall decorations is a quilt made by Pat McCarroll who entered into this humble McCarroll clan in 1974, bringing along her crafting skills that eventually culminated in her expert quilting arts.  Unfortunately she cannot see well enough now to continue with her crafts, but she generously loaned our church this autumn quilt of a tree with a wee squirrel at the base of the tree trunk. Don't you think the purples in the quilt really make the oranges and yellows pop?

To the upper right of the wall scheme is a picture of a coreopsis I painted ten years ago.  After adding a bit of purple to the background, I then borrowed it from the living room of our house to re-hang at church.

This is the completed collage with foam board covered in coordinating fall fabrics to round out the autumnal colors.

Psalm 124 for today's reading:

If the LORD was not fighting for us when men attacked:  they would have eaten us alive because they were so angry, waters would have rushed over us and a deep river would be over our heads, the angry waters would have gone over our heads and drowned us. We will say good things to the LORD. He did not let them eat us. We are free and still alive, like a bird that got out of a trap. The trap became broken and we are free.The name of the person that sent us help is the LORD. He made heaven and earth.

May you all have a blessed 26th week in Ordinary Times.

Knitting and Household Tips from Long Ago

One of my favorite things to do is look back at old references.  And of course, knitting patterns hold my attention, and housekeeping tips are fun to look back on and chuckle over.  How did our great, great, etc. grandmothers ever do it all without the "conveniences" we now consider necessities?  It was not that long ago that I remember my grandmother telling about the days when she had to make her own sanitary products from discarded bed sheets. Can we even imagine that? I  think not.

But I digress.  Joyce James, who guides tours through Scotland and is an avid knitter, gave references here about old knitting books and says, in part: 

I've just had a cursory look through some of the pages and it's interesting to read about the knitting techniques, vocabulary and patterns and how they have changed. Which is not surprising considering how far back the collection stretches. Who knits a "Sontag" or "Cephaline" anymore? (From the 1844 issue of My Knitting Book.) 

Another book, printed by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, titled Helping the Trawlers and dated 1800, has a long list of patrons and vice-patrons. In addition to patterns for clothing to help seamen withstand the harsh weather on open ships, there is a section for donations to Labrador. 

source

Go here for Digital Resources from the Knitting Reference Library WSA.  It has books from the early 1800's.

And as far as references for household management, you just cannot beat the Mrs. Beaton's Book of Household Management (free on Kindle).

And The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Cooking, Toilet and Household Recipes, Menus, Dinner-Giving, Table Etiquette, Care of the Sick, Health Suggestions, Facts ... [free Kindle Edition] is a real look into the White House management from the 1800's.

It was not a simple life.

This is what I just finished knitting after perusing old references on knitting: baby booties with the free pattern found here.

Mrs. Mouse made a great photo opportunity with the booties.

Some things from the past just cannot be replicated.

 Beatrix Potter is one of my favorites.  You can see all of her illustrations at this site.

This and That and Some Knitting

Something new for fall decoration, cheap, colorful and making the living room smile with cheeriness: colorful plastic acorns.  Now really, don't they look like glass?  You, too, can have them for mere pennies and they are available at Michael's.

The Mr. and I attended two fun events this week. One was a picnic for Hospice of Western Colorado volunteers with a beach party theme.

And the pictures are of the Mr., and friend Mary who was a whiz at hoola hooping.  You can figure out who is who.

Libby Sweetpea is actually the Therapy Dog International volunteer for Hospice and I just drive her around to make her visits with hospice patients. It was the thought on the day of the picnic to leave her home because it would have actually been work for her to greet people, let them pet her, coo over her, and she would have had to be on her best behavior.  So she got the day off after working for four years for Hospice, and we allowed her to sleep in

while her driver enjoyed some picnic food of pork loin.

Then last night was the Gala Event for Community Hospital with the Moulin Rouge theme.  Proceeds ...errr...profits from the gala will be used to buy defibrillator units for our local schools.

On the needles this week is the Broken Rib Cowl:

and these baby booties (except my yarn is pink):

 with the pattern found here.

Thank you for reading my blog.  Thank you for submitting comments; they are very much appreciated.  And thank you all new followers. Please take a visit to these newest followers and say a friendly hello: The Shop Around the Corner, Merione, and Diana Evans.

Fairies' Tea Party and You Are Invited

Inspiration Avenue Invites Your Blog Participation at

Click here for signing up!

Go here for signing up to post some pictures of your favorite little fairiy girls having a tea party.  And there will be seven sweet give away prizes just for entering into the tea party festivities. And there will be party favors! Hop around and visit other blogs joining in to the tea party and see what they are serving.

My backyard fairies will be having these scones with clotted cream:

After all, why should just Alice in Wonderland have all the tea party fun?

Older Books Now on Kindle

Being enamoured of English country life, I was delighted over the summer to learn of an older book by a Scottish author coming onto the Kindle format.  I pre-ordered it from Amazon and it was available on Sept. 1. Within a few days, it quickly became a favorite.

Written in 1934,  Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson was a best seller at the time of publication.  An Amazon review said:

Barbara Buncle is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara's bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel ... if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out. To her surprise, the novel is a smash. It's a good thing she wrote under a pseudonym, because the folks of Silverstream are in an uproar. But what really turns Miss Bunde's world around is this: what happens to the characters in her book starts happening to their real-life counterparts. Does life really imitate art?

source

Settle down on an autumn day and read this book for a captivating time with people you come to know as true neighbors.

I am currently reading Sarum (Edward Rutherfurd) on the Kindle app, enjoying his writing style and learning the history of England from his point of view.  What are you reading?

Almost Officially Autumn

A scenic September day in Colorado

Aspen on the Mesa

Aspen by Jumbo Lake

wild daisies

I picked wildflowers and colorful leaves to dry for future crafts

Cosmos to Dry (now under heavy books to preserve)

One cosmos dried and one fresh from the stem

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower.
- Albert Camus