Sunrise from my front yard looking east
At the same moment, the moon was setting in the west
Celebrating the patriarch’s birthday…72 years
Barbequed Chicken
Corn on the Cob
Potato Salad
Cold Watermelon
Black Bean Salad
Rustic Bread
Rhubarb Cobbler
Homemade Ice Cream
A fun and frugal place setting.
Mix and match dishes: hand me downs from my daughter-in-law
Cloth napkins: 25¢ at Burlington Coat Factory
~ Mutual appreciation of our video choices.
How often is the whole family eager to watch the same thing?
We work heartily on our after-dinner chores
so we can watch an hour of DVD or video.
Kenneth Branagh’s World War 1 in Color
PBS Home Video The Great War
and
Foyle’s War.
~ Wildflowers by the edge of road
~ After two weeks of working full time crunching numbers for the pharmacy,
I have all day today to be home.
Happy, happy sigh.
Agenda:
Bake bread for the freezer
Make poppyseed cakes to freeze for husband’s lunches.
Organizing my pantry
Ironing, while listening to Mark Helprin, my new intriguing author.
Answering a few emails
Singing
Working on 100 Species Challenge
Call a brother or sister or several
Not everybody does. I have a girlfriend who goes crazy if she has to stay home. She loves to be out: out walking, out shopping, out driving, out anywhere. Her home is lovely. She just has to move. I read a biography of Laura Bush and laughed aloud when the extended Bush family had a hard time understanding how she could sit in one spot for hours reading.
What about you? Home or out?
A Living Pencil 
I like a mix. After a few days of out and about, I am definitely ready for a few days at home. Our summer has been so busy that I’m feeling very ready to start our school year soon, because we go, go, go much more during our summer break.Of course, before we can start school at the end of August, we have our week-long trip to the Oregon Coast. First family vacation ever – I’m not sure who is more excited, the kids, Kevin, or me. :)I just got The Pacific from our library on audiobook. It will be next after I finish listening to my current choice. Do you like mysteries? I finished listening to An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P.D. James this week. It’s the first of the Cordelia Grey mysteries – a spin-off of the Adam Dalgliesh series (he makes a cameo). Very good – intriguing mystery and delightful descriptions of Cambridge.And, I finished reading Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross last night. Wow. Thank you, thank you for recommending Kristin’s story to me. I’m still thinking on it, will post about it when I have my thoughts collected.Have a wonderful Saturday!Carrie
Such a beautiful display …. each picture is worth several comments. Love the yellow and blue. Dana
Home, without a doubt! Sitting, reading for several hours is my dream day, mixed in with scrapbooking and card making, and possibly a bit of cross stitch thrown in just the round it out.the place settings are really, REALLY cute! And the napkins do make the table, truly. Who knew?Tonight we celebrate my dad’s 81st birthday at Texas Roadhouse–incidentally his favorite AND mine
Planning to watch Foyle’s War on Sunday evening…..after feeding four Leitharts 🙂
Mix and match, the best kind of table! Not just with the place settings but with the company as well! I like being home, and during the school year that place becomes like home, only livelier as there are no children’s voices in my home any more. So my ‘home away from home’ fills a basic need in my life! And when I’m not there, being really home is a blessing; my books, my dogs, my hubby, music, my yard and swing, friendly horses in the pasture, good neighbors, birds, bugs and flowers! Foyles War should be a good one tonight!
Oh how I love your sweet heart and these simply elegant pictures. Yes I much much prefer the solitude of home. It makes everyday a struggle to get in the car and drive to work. I am finding that I work waiting all day to go home. I am such a home body it can be a problem. There are times I never ever want to leave. I can walk about the rooms and just look, or sit (like Laura) and read. PS> I tape all Foyles War….I just love the way each one has two to three subplots. The one last night was sad. The scenery was gorgeous and I made the comment to B that I appreciate that they don’t put contempory makeup and hair on the actors. I am not surprised that you like it. Blessings my friend!
I thought I spied *that* black bean salad 🙂 Yumm. Time to make that again this summer.Yeah, I thought Foyle’s was way sad this time.
home… as Wendell Berry said about Tol & Miss Minnie: But mostly she and Tol stayed home and stayed busy in the leisurely way of people who know exactly what they have to do and how to do it and have got used to doing it, and who don’t have to do too much. I would love to learn how to do not too much Is your rustic bread homemade? did you plan the frugality ? and (sorry about all the q’s) – i would love to see the homemade ice cream recipe (if allowed)….beautiful pics!
Carol, what a beautiful table! What I would give to sit at your table. I love the blues and yellows, some of my favorites. I love to be home too. It’s been a long time, it seems, that I felt the leisure of being home. Rustic bread–love the name and the look. Is the recipe share-able? Thanks for those Guns of August quotes. I’ve wanted to delve into that book for a while. I have a really fun quote for Gervase Phinn’s winsome book about his life as an English school teacher, but no time to put it up yet. You would enjoy to read his light books. Magistrmater is always a pleasant place to visit!
Wow – I love to read the comments!Carrie – I’m glad you finished Kristin Lavransdatter. It slows down, but is still a great read to the end. I like an occasional mystery and P.D. James is my favorite. I have only read Adam Dalgliesh so far. I’ll be interested in what you think of Mark Helprin. Tomorrow I’m headed to the public library to read his children’s books. I’m eager to start on his book The Soldier of the Great War. I like Wendell Berry better than Mark Helprin, but I think of Wendell Berry often when I have listened to Helprin. And have fun at the coast. There is a lot of fun waiting for a family there.Dana, I heart that bean salad. I didn’t see the Foyles Sunday. We’ve finished the first season. LimboLady – ahem. I knew they would be cute in the store. Happy Birthday to your dad. I suspect I could sit and visit with him for hours. I wish I could have joined you.Applechexx – I love the thought of PA being your “other” home!Roseteacup – I’m not surprised that you like Foyle’s! Sonja and Janie – Rustic Bread described more here. I would be glad to share the ice cream recipe. It is a cooked recipe with eggs in it. Next time I make it, I’ll get pictures and include the recipe. Thanks for the kind words and the Berry quote.
Carol, i forgot to ask – mentioning food, bread etc. Wendell Berry, in That Distant Land, writes about families’ dinners and their food – i.a. biscuits they ate as part of their dinners. Do you know the biscuit he is referring to?
beautiful table setting! Happy birthday to the Patriarch.I’m curious how you are enjoying The Pacific. I haven’t enjoyed it as I had hoped.
@sonskyn – I’m sorry for my delayed response. The biscuits would be a buttermilk biscuit made with white flour, baking soda, butter and buttermilk. http://www.recipezaar.com/26110