In My Kitchen, In My Life: "...traveling on life's common way in cheerful godliness"

Past Blast: Channeling Olivia Walton, and Other Ways My Life Operates

By Lori | Published: September 24, 2012

We begin a new series today called Past Blast, in which I plan to share some of my writing from before In My Kitchen, In My Life existed.

From 2008:

Mountain beauty

It occurs to me sometimes that I have probably never had an original thought. What I think and what I do is a direct result of what I have learned from others. I am not troubled by this knowledge – it seems to me that the trick to being a good copycat is to make sure to copy good cats. My overarching influences are God’s Word and my parents – both have shaped me to a degree beyond my ability to describe or even comprehend. To a lesser degree, like Paul’s command to imitate him as he imitated Christ, my steps are directed by a host of others I have encountered at various points in my life, and some of them are not even real people.

Sewing is a less necessary skill in our time, but it is still helpful to know how.

Enter Olivia Walton. Olivia is the wife/mother/daughter-in-law character in the long-running 1970s series, The Waltons. You remember: “Goodnight, John Boy…” She is my go-to model in all of these roles and more. Her life is not easy. The story is set in the 1930s and 40s – the Depression is in full swing and later there is war, she has a large family whose needs often outstrip her resources, she lives with her in-laws, and her husband refuses to be baptized. None of those circumstances fit my own, but, specifics notwithstanding, it is her approach to life that inspires me.

Homemade bread, on the other hand, seems necessary at all times and in all places, or at least we’d like to have it that way.

I admire her attitude toward her work. Living in a rural area far from most conveniences and without the money to afford them even if they were available, the Waltons grow, raise, and hunt much of their food, which means putting a chicken dinner on the table involves more than opening a packaged Purdue bird and popping him in the oven to roast. And, eleven family members can plow through an awful lot of biscuits and a boatload of gravy at one sitting. Then there is sewing, laundry, housecleaning, canning, and on and on. The work does not stop, but where some women succumb to resentment or hopelessness in the face of such needs, Olivia chooses joy. She is industrious, to be sure, but she has learned to find the fun and satisfaction in her tasks. She does her work excellently and makes a place for beauty in her life within the limits of her resources – her family’s clothing may be made of inexpensive fabric, but the stitchery is fine. She takes time to plant marigolds in front of their farmhouse, and she pauses to appreciate the handiwork of God in her mountain home by noticing and even sketching the seasonal landscape. She also has a healthy sense of keeping priorities in line – she knows when to set her everyday tasks aside for the moment to attend to the needs of her husband, a child, a neighbor, or even herself, but she does not use such interruptions as an excuse to jettison her responsibilities frequently, to the ultimate detriment of those who count on her.

I did NOT sew this. It’s a quilt made by some Amish ladies.

People in her orbit do count on her and she finds joy in that. She serves, but she has not lost her sense of self and what she is capable of doing and what she is not. Sometimes she takes on too much, but she is wise enough to realize it and make changes. I appreciate that the changes are chosen from a self-sacrificial point of view, but again, not a martyred stance but rather a “what is possible and how can I accommodate legitimate needs in the best way?” mindset. Just like in my life, that balance is tenuous, with need for frequent re-evaluation and adjustment. That comforts me somehow.

I’m always so thankful for our front porch. I think it would please Olivia.

Olivia loves being married, and she loves her husband – unabashedly and unreservedly. They both have strong personalities and convictions which do not always match, but there is mutual respect and in Olivia a recognition of the man’s need to lead and her need to submit, even when she finds it very hard to do. I love that married love is portrayed here as a healthy and normal pleasure not reserved just for the well-off or the young or the gorgeous. I love the attitude of the marriage as a partnership in which each does his or her best to aid the family and one another. In one memorable scene, the Waltons are having an especially tight time financially and Olivia worries that she should get a paying job for awhile. “I feel like I should be helping out, John,” she says.

“Liv,” he replies, “I can’t think of a time when you haven’t helped out.” Wow. For an acts-of-service/words of affirmation love-language woman, that is high praise and great romance all rolled into one comment.

I want my husband to be able to say the same of me, so I follow Olivia’s lead. It is she who makes me get up and fix a decent dinner instead of presenting my husband with a can o’something stirred into a box o’ something at the end of his long day of work. It is she who encourages me to meet others where they are without compromising who I am. It is she who helps me take seriously the adolescent worries and fears of my children, and she who shows me how to help them look at the bigger picture and see things from more than one side. Because of Olivia I am thriftier, kinder, firmer, and saucier. I am also more loving, generous, hard-working, appreciative, sensible, and joyful than I would be if I had not met her. Most of all, because of her I keep looking — looking for the opportunities, looking for the balance, looking for the joy – and trusting God with the outcome. So, thank you, Mrs. Walton, for all the ways you help me to be a better person. And, by the way, I really love your hairstyle. How do you get that twist to stay in place so neatly?

More mountains — not the Blue Ridge version of Olivia’s life — but the South Dakota foothills near Mt. Rushmore.

Do you “channel” any fictional characters — to follow as an example when you are making choices, to motivate you to do better, to encourage you that your worthy efforts will bring the outcome you desire? I’d love to hear about who you look to for inspiration in your life.

Posted in About Me, Balance, Family, Homemaking, Parenting Practice | Tagged advice, contentment, growth, marriage | Comments closed

My Clothing: Editing, Organizing, Decluttering

By Lori | Published: September 21, 2012

Editing, organizing, and decluttering clothing is one of the responsibilities that comes with the blessing of abundance. I doubt my great-grandmothers had to give much time to this chore, but I have found the dressing and laundry parts of my days go much more smoothly if I spend about an hour every few months going through my clothes and removing what doesn’t work for me and sprucing up what I still love and use. It is one of those jobs I don’t have time not to do.

When my “donations box” starts overflowing, I know it is time to bag it up and move it out. It lives on the floor of my side of the master closet, and all of our family members add to it anything they no longer want or use.

The over-full donations box coincided nicely with chillier weather, which prompted me to pull out the “other season” box that lives under the donations box and retrieve some of my heavier clothing.

So, it is time to do some work in my side of the closet. I don’t have one of those too-awful-to-be-seen “before” shots — I go through my closet at least twice a year at the start of the warm and cool seasons and occasionally another time if I get new clothes, so it stays in pretty good shape, which is just what I want.

<a href="https://www.inmykitcheninmylife.com" target="_blank">In My Kitchen, In My Life</a>'s best tip for keeping things under control: Know what you really wear! To find out, at the beginning of each new weather season turn all of your hangers "backward" on the closet rod. Each time you wear an item and hang it back up, you get to turn the rod back to the normal position. At the end of the season, notice the hangers that never got turned back. If you never wore it, why are you keeping it?

In My Kitchen, In My Life‘s best tip for keeping things under control: Know what you really wear! To find out, at the beginning of each new weather season turn all of your hangers “backward” on the closet rod. Each time you wear an item and hang it back up, you get to turn the rod back to the normal position. At the end of the season, notice the hangers that never got turned back. If you never wore it, why are you keeping it?

Done! More valuable to me than dramatic “before and after” contrast photos is that doing this little bit every few months allows me to enjoy my closet every day. It is a pleasure to choose what to wear when everything is accessible and manageable.

Here is what I edited — 2 skirts I didn’t wear all summer because they don’t fit right anymore, a couple of tops that are nearly worn out, and a couple of perfectly good tops in colors that are the same as some tops I just got that I like much better. The new ones have elbow-length sleeves, which are nicer for my middle-aged upper arms. I got them for an excellent price, so it was worth it to me to replace the ones you see here even though they are nearly new. The only bad thing would be if I kept both versions of each color, when I know I will reach for the longer sleeves every time. Instead, it is much better to let somebody else get the use of them, somebody with better-toned upper arms.

What seasonal jobs do you like to do at this time of year?

Posted in Homemaking | Tagged cleaning, organization and order | Comments closed

Think Like a Chef

By Lori | Published: September 19, 2012

Summer produce requires us to have a repertoire of dishes that will make the best use of them.

One of the big moments in my evolution as a cook was when I gradually began to think like a chef instead of a recipe collector. I am not talking about taking up molecular gastronomy or wearing a toque and clogs in the kitchen or hiring illegal immigrants to wash dishes and prep produce. I mean I learned to stop thinking in terms of recipes and start thinking in terms of ingredients and/or categories of dishes. That is not to say I never think, “I’m in the mood for Mom’s Tuna Casserole” and make that for dinner, because, well, who doesn’t? But mostly I think about ingredients like this: The basil is in its final glory in the garden. What can I do with basil? The wheels start turning and I start thinking of the other good ingredients I have on hand and soon a whole bunch of possibilities are before me:

–Tomato Basil Pie or Tarts

–pieces of Brie and basil leaves rolled up in strips of prosciutto — one of my favorite summer snacks

Brie and basil leaves rolled up in prosciutto — mmmm

–Tomatoes Caprese (sliced tomatoes w/ fresh mozzarella, garlic, basil leaves, olive oil, etc.)

–pesto: on hot pasta, in pasta salad, stirred into vegetable soup, stirred into mayo for a cold salad plate with hard-cooked eggs, green beans, salmon, etc.

–on top of a freshly baked pizza

–in tomato sauce

–chiffonade (sliced into thin ribbons) mashed into soft cheese and used to stuff squash blossoms or chicken breasts or pork chops or tea sandwiches or for stuffed eggs or spread on crackers or dolloped onto cucumber rounds or…

There are more, lots more, ways to use fresh basil, of course, but you get the idea. We can do the same with onions or ham or a hunk of good cheese. Knowledge of various types of dishes is what helps us here — to know that these dishes exist and to have an idea of how to make them prevents us from being chained to a specific recipe.

Taking things a step further, we can learn to keep certain prepped ingredients on hand, at least part of the time, so that cooking interesting meals feels more effortless and natural. If onions are on sale, I might get 10 lbs. and slice and saute most of them during the afternoon when I am home. They will cook down to a fraction of their former size and can be stored in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks to be used in sauces, soups, casseroles, omelets, on hot sandwiches, and more.

On the other hand, we can approach meal planning from a somewhat opposite direction by understanding that there are categories of dishes and choosing one of those and then picking components to switch up in order to make dozens of variations on the same dish. For example, I might want to make a quiche. Instead of finding a recipe for Ham and Cheddar Quiche and buying the ingredients and making it, if I think like a chef I realize a quiche is simply a kind of egg custard base baked in a pastry crust with protein/vegetables/herbs added to it. There is usually something from the allium (onion) family included, so I can use yellow onions (my sauteed onions find a happy home here), scallions, shallots, or even fresh chives in my quiche, all to good effect. For protein, I can pick bacon, cheddar cheese, cooked salmon, ham, Parmesan, or whatever. For other veggies, almost any soft cooked version is possible. Experience with pairing ingredients and taste imagination skills help me make good choices — like realizing broccoli is better than beets in a quiche.

So three skills and one habit — knowledge of various types of dishes, experience pairing ingredients, and taste imagination, plus the practice of keeping prepped ingredients on hand — are what I want to work on in order to think more like a chef and less like a recipe collector, and doing that makes me a happier, more versatile cook.

What have you learned that has made you happier in the kitchen?

Posted in Homemaking | Tagged kitchen, organization and order | Comments closed

Two Announcements: Giveaway Winner and a New Series

By Lori | Published: September 17, 2012

April Starr at The Flourishing Abode is the randomly chosen winner of a copy of Anne Bogel’s new book, Work Shift. Congratulations, April! You can get your gift by contacting Anne here.

For me, writing happens very much in the moment. When I write about my earlier years, memory alters reality too often, and what life was really like when our children were young or we were first married can get either a gloss or a tarnish it did not truly have at the time. Starting next week, I plan to start a new series called Past Blast. I will share some writing from the years before In My Kitchen, In My Life existed. Much of it is about my life then — the time of toddlers and homeschooling and soccer and training the Offspring in civilized living and crumbs in the butter (although we still have that) and all the wonderful and awful stuff that makes up family life. The first entry, next Monday, is Channelling Olivia Walton, and Other Ways I Operate My Life. I am terribly aware that although the bulk of our family-raising years are behind us, there is not yet enough proof in our pudding to know if we got it right, or at least right enough, but I hope you find it worthwhile to read glimpses into the life of this fellow traveller. Perhaps you will find a little encouragement or an idea to smooth your own way.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Work Shift, by Anne Bogel

By Lori | Published: September 13, 2012

Surely one of the greatest challenges for Christians is to step outside their culture (even the culture within the community of brethren) to accurately determine God’s best plan for their families, and once they have understood it as well as they can, to live it in the middle of the culture in which they find themselves.

And one of the most hotly debated topics within that plan is what constitutes appropriate “women’s work” and how, when, and where it should be accomplished. Women ask themselves:

Does being a “keeper at home” (Titus 2:5) leave room for me to earn money?
Is it possible for me to be an excellent homemaker and contribute to the family’s income?
Is it ok to work away from home?
Is it better to live solely off my husband’s income?
Is it ever appropriate for both parents to work a significant number of hours each week?
Is it possible for my husband to be forced to work too much because I am earning no income at all? Is there a remedy for that?

I do not have all of the answers to these questions, mainly because I think every situation is different and there are a variety of possible solutions for each. Anne Bogel at Modern Mrs. Darcy has written a book that provides good food for thought for women (and their husbands) who are answering these kinds of questions for their own families. Work Shift recognizes the explosion of working opportunities that have emerged in just the last couple of decades:

The workplace has changed dramatically in the last twenty years, and today’s women have work options that simply weren’t available to previous generations… It was a different world then, so now we have to figure things out… And honestly, we’re really struggling to find a way to make it all work.

To help us step back and look at the bigger picture, Work Shift gives a concise review of historical work patterns in western culture, including this:

The lines between work and family didn’t used to be so distinct. There was a time – not too long ago – when the home was the center of production. That’s where the “work” happened, and the family did much of that work together. They wouldn’t have thought to distinguish between what was “life” and what was “work.” Whoever had the skill to do a particular job, did it. (In much of the world, this is still the case.)

Bogel’s tips about how to manage blending work and home life and sharing care of children is perhaps the weakest part of the book, although this perception is largely because the fact that she shares nothing that is really novel is because there is nothing novel about juggling several responsibilities between spouses.

Additionally, Bogel’s book gives numerous real life examples of how people are handling their work/home lives in this new paradigm, with a mix of traditional leave-home-for-work and work-at-home scenarios and a variety of numbers of work hours for both parents.

Finally, there is a useful section called Ages and Stages, which is a topic dear to my heart. Bogel has good advice for women about how they might manage to incorporate paid work into the unique circumstances of their season of life. As a mother who is semi-retiring from the hands-on stage of parenting our children, I find myself transitioning from one season to another, and I am experiencing the challenge of re-ordering my routines and figuring out how to best handle my time productively. Work Shift gave me encouragement to consider several possibilities in ways that might not have occurred to me otherwise.

Perhaps the best value Work Shift offers is the timing of its appearance. Wireless internet capabilities make it easy to work from home (or anywhere else!) in ways that were not possible just a few short years ago. Bogel has much to say about how to use technological advances as an advantage to families who want more time together for home life and work.

Mixing work and home life can look a little odd…

Giveaway: Anne offered me a copy of her e-book to give away to one of In My Kitchen, In My Life’s readers. I would not host a giveaway of Work Shift if I did not find worthwhile, but I can happily endorse its value. Here is how the giveaway works:

Leave a comment below to be entered in a random drawing for a free copy of Work Shift. Comments left between now and midnight on Saturday, September 15, 2012 EDT will be included in the drawing.
You cannot receive more chances by “liking” or sharing IMK, IML on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter or pinning on Pinterest or “following” me or subscribing to my blog (see the right sidebar to do that) because of the possible illegalities of making those forms of promotion a part of the giveaway, but if you find the content of my blog valuable I would love it if you’d share your feelings in any of those ways. I would very much like my readership to grow and you are my best help to accomplish that, so know you have my gratitude whenever you pass the word to others or subscribe to become a regular reader yourself!

Click here to visit Anne Bogel.

Posted in Family, Homemaking, Uncategorized | Tagged growth, organization and order | Comments closed

Pucker Up, Buttercup: Lemon and Berry Pie or Parfaits

By Lori | Published: September 10, 2012

Our friends, the Bishops, grow incredible pick-your-own raspberries (and blueberries and thornless blackberries) at Yellow Hill Farm in Biglerville, PA. They generously donated a couple of gallons of berries for camp.

Summer means thinking of ways to have your dessert and not heat the kitchen, too, and variations on lemon icebox pie are at the top of my bag of tricks for ways to satisfy my sweet tooth with a minimum of fuss and heat. At the girls’ camp we talked about earlier, we wanted to pamper the campers and staff with seasonal produce, but we needed to find ways to make some of the more precious stuff go far. This breakfast (ahem, dessert) dish was praised by many, and why not? A scattering of fresh raspberries and blackberries surrounded by creamy filling with eye-opening pert lemon flavor is a great start to the day.

Lemon and Berry Parfaits

We served them in parfait form with breakfast burritos (recipe to come another day), which gave a sweet and a savory combination to keep everyone going strong until the next meal, but at home I would be more likely to make it into a pie. Could you do this with frozen berries? You probably could, but drain them very, very well. Fresh is going to be better, however, so make it quick before they are all gone for the year.

Fresh berries — one of the great joys of summer!

Lemon and Berry Pie

Serves 6-8

One 20 oz. can lemon pie filling

One 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

¼ — ½ of a 12 oz. lemonade frozen concentrate, thawed (about ¼ c.)

1 c. heavy cream, whipped

1 ½ — 2 c. fresh berries to layer and garnish – strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries

One 9-10” graham cracker crust

Blend 1^st three ingredients together until smooth. Fold in whipped cream.

Turn half of the lemon filling into the pie crust; smooth to an even layer. Arrange berries in an even layer over the filling. Mound remaining filling over berries, smoothing as desired. Chill pie uncovered for a couple of hours. (Or, to store for 1-2 days, poke 4-5 toothpicks partway into filling; drape plastic wrap over picks to hold it above surface of filling. Tuck plastic wrap edges around and under pie plate. Refrigerate until serving.)

Before serving, garnish pie with additional berries, as desired.

To make individual parfaits:

Use small dishes or 9 oz. clear plastic punch-style disposable cups. Spoon some filling into dishes; top with layer of berries; spoon in more filling. Cover and chill for up to two days. Garnish with berries, if desired.

You can also serve the pie or parfaits partially frozen.

Other camp recipes:

Tomato Basil Tarts

Chicken and Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Question of the Day: What goodness is coming out of your kitchen today — what’s cooking?

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged kitchen | Comments closed

Sprucing Up the Porch for Autumn

By Lori | Published: September 6, 2012

You can’t see the bugs in the photo, but the plants look like they’ve been sprinkled with sticky sugar.

Summer is winding down, as I have already mentioned. The big blue pots on either side of the front door have been planted up with red geraniums, a vine-y thing, and a looks-like-petunias-but-its-really-something-else-I-can’t-remember-cascade-y thing. They have been pretty accents on the porch, but they have suffered from forgetful watering several times and the stress of that is probably what left them vulnerable to an infestation of whiteflies. Rather than fight with them, I decided I would rather just discard the tired plants and get something fresh to look at for the next few weeks. I am lucky to be able to walk down the side alley to a neighbor’s house to choose some just-starting-to-bloom chrysanthemums.

This is the result of a summer’s worth of non-attention around the pots. Blech.

When I pulled the pots away from their spots, here is what I found. This is what you don’t see in the magazine spreads of “welcoming entrances, right? It’s real life, though, and it is going to require some scrubbing. Now, if you think I am going to scrub my entire front porch, you’ve got another thing coming. I’m the queen of “that’s good enough,” after all. Also, while I am out here on the porch getting myself wet (I know this will happen — I always get wet when I use water!), I decide I may as well take apart and scrub the dog’s crate, a job I try to do a couple of times a year. Half the time, I don’t get around to it until it is so far into autumn that we need to shut off the outside faucets and it either doesn’t get done at all or I’m out there doing it (and getting wet) in very chilly air, so I am kind of proud of myself for remembering it today. Then, if I am going to clean the dog’s crate, I am going to wash his crate towel (which I do many, many more times than twice a year), and if I am going to do that, I am going to brush him.

Tools of the trade

Calvin the Wonder Dog personifies “hangdoggeryness” whenever his brush comes into view!

Our dog always acts like he is being tortured when he realizes he is going to be brushed, but as soon as he accepts that no amount of slinking and mooning is going to make a difference, he settles in and acts like he is having a spa day. Silly animal.

So after I finished pampering Calvin, I did all the dirty scrubbing and rinsing — no pix because of my track record with water. You understand.

Not perfect, but good enough

Is it me or do the spiders seem to have been extra busy weaving this year?

Letting the sunshine assist me

When I finally finished, everything was dripping but satisfactorily clean.

Much improved

I love our front door. I painted it last summer and smile every time I approach it since. That blue is ME!

Typical — just as I am reveling in how clean it all is…

…my gaze travels upward for a second and I spy THIS in the transom over the door. Oh, well — another day, I think.

I got two pots of well-grown mums to replace the infested summer flowers. They are only $5 each — quite a bargain. Do let me note here that I know it is a luxury to be able to buy plants. There have been times when that sort of fun was simply not part of our budget, and I want any reader who finds herself in that situation to know I understand. Lacking funds for flowers, never underestimate the impact and pleasure of simply keeping the entry clean and tidy. I was impressed with what a difference just that effort made. But of course, it is lovely to have some seasonal color.

A perfect fit!

I was pleased to discover it wasn’t necessary to lug potting soil up from the basement and so on right now. I simply left about half the old soil in the big pottery pots and scooped out an area in the center to cradle the nursery pots. Leaving the mums in those was nice for the time I had available today, but if I see them suffering at all I can always repot them in more soil as I had originally planned.

In its place, symmetry is a very good thing.

I was careful to choose plants whose bloom is just getting started, which will allow us to enjoy fresh-looking flowers for as long as possible.

Porch spruce-up accomplished — welcome, Autumn!

It gives me a lift to be welcomed home by a neat front entrance. We don’t go in for much decorating at our house, really, but flowers on the porch are always a happy addition.

Do you decorate for the seasons?

Posted in Homemaking, Uncategorized | Tagged cleaning, gardening, seasons | Comments closed

Cerebral Homemaking Part 7 — Mundane or Maniacal?

By Lori | Published: September 3, 2012

September – Summer’s Swan Song

By Lori | Published: August 31, 2012

The globe thistle settled nicely into the new north tree and shrub border this summer.

Summer is winding down. It has been an awfully rich time for my family – a big trip “out west” including a week-long family reunion at Yellowstone National Park to celebrate my parents’ fiftieth anniversary, then home to continue the celebration with a party to honor them, more time with extended family, visits from friends, camps, time alone with The Husband, garden revamp fun (and perfect weather for all the growing things after a strange spring), good health for our parents, cooking at a camp for a week, a wonderful re-design for my blog by April @ The Flourishing Abode (and today is Moving Day — how do you like our new digs?), and getting our second child ready for college.

We find ourselves in that between-the-seasons time, when the days are still muggy and hot but there are occasional chill mornings. The sun arrives noticeably later and exits earlier — we plan an after-dinner walk and find ourselves rushing to catch the sunset up on the cemetery hill. The cicadas still rasp out their shrill song, but by now it seems a bit more subdued, a little tired. The tomatoes are still wonderful, but only a week or two from now they’ll start to decline and taste better cooked instead of raw. The peaches are going out as the apples are come in.

Surprise — a generous gift from Jonathan’s siblings to start his academic year off right!

School started this week, and after more than twenty years of homeschooling, I am feeling semi-retired. Our youngest is a senior, but he is taking all dual credit courses through three different colleges/universities, so I am finished with active teaching and operating solely in guidance mode. Although there is some sadness in this ending, there is anticipation, too. I have loved homeschooling my children. It has given me the feeling that we have maximized our time together during their growing years – I have the supreme satisfaction of feeling no regrets about whatever I gave up during that time of heavy-duty, hands-on parenting.

Camp cooking

Still, while I never felt that anything really important to me was completely impossible, homeschooling meant I didn’t have hours each day to spend however I chose. Now, I feel some luxury of time and of choice. It is delicious, and I hope to savor it and use it well.

S’mores fingers!

Even so, there is a sense of urgency. Life is uncertain, but it will certainly end. A friend of ours is dying, and apparently his last days have arrived. He is ready to meet God and only hopes his family members’ eyes will be opened to eternal truths as well. That is his swan song.

Anenome ‘September Charm’

Summer’s swan song is made up of those lingering cicadas, the crickets, and the rustle of tree leaves already beginning to stiffen. It is in the budding chrysanthemums, the nodding Japanese anemone blooms, and the tomatoes hanging heavy on their vines. It is September: the mental new year for millions of current and former students, the last swims and cook-outs of the season, and for me and our dying friend, the start of something good.

Posted in About Me, Family | Tagged seasons | Comments closed

Savor Summer: 5 Ways, 5 Senses, 5 Minutes

By Lori | Published: August 30, 2012

Nectarines — one of those fruits that are only good in season (photo credit: Tori Luther)

Summer is almost over, but more about that tomorrow. Right now, before it ends, here is what I wish everyone in the northern hemisphere would do:

Taste — Get your hands on a tomato. Any version grown in somebody’s backyard is what you are after. Eat it any way you like, but TASTE it, really taste it. Savor. Love.
Feel — The Husband says my range of temperature tolerance is about two degrees, 70-72 degrees, to be exact, and there is justice in what he says. But, today, revel in the delicious fact that you are warm ENOUGH when you are outdoors. The chill in the air this morning reminded me how soon that will change for many of us. It is wonderful to be able to go outside so EFFORTLESSLY — no coats, scarves, gloves, boots to tug on. I am going to appreciate that today as I work outside in the heat.
See — Green, green, but with a tiredness that presages Autumn, hazy skies, storm clouds
Listen — In our Tiny Town, this is the time when the cicadas’ whirring is being replaced by the crickets’ chirping. The birds still sing, but the insects have taken center sound-stage.
Inhale — Mown grass, growing things, blooming things, LIVING things

Catch ’em while you can!

What will you miss most when Summer gives way to Autumn?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged seasons | Comments closed

In My Kitchen, In My Life is a place where women (and the odd male) can be encouraged, nudged, and occasionally kicked in the pants toward living their lives on a higher plane. Oh, and readers get plenty of chances to laugh at the author's foibles, which is always worth a click.

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