Autumn Days at Green Acres

Visit from the grandchildren

There is nothing quite like a visit from the grandchildren.  Another simple pleasure that money cannot buy.
We celebrated thanksgiving, Canadian style (in October) with a turkey and all the trimmings.  I made the ever popular "Senator Russell's Sweet Potato Casserole", which actually tastes like a cross between sweet potato pie and pecan pie.  My husband loves making the turkey.  Actually he just wants to make sure it tastes the best so he does it and I don't like to deal with it if I can get out of it although I do help him.

 The kids arrive for the day.  We are so blessed that we live so close to each other now that anyone can drive up for the day if that is all the time we have.  They arrived around 11:00 and we had an early Thanksgiving lunch around 2:00. They left around 4 or 5 that afternoon.

 After playing outside with the kids for a couple of hours everyone is ready to eat.  My son carves the turkey.

 It was a beautiful day.  Truly warm and sunny filled with autumn colors.  The kids loved playing outside.  We played hide and seek and a round of bocce ball and of course a trip to the grandparent's house would not be complete without a tractor ride and playing on the swing set and fort.

 It is difficult to play bocce ball when the munchkin keeps walking away with the pallino (the small orange jack) which is the target for the rest of the bocce balls.

 The family has become quite use to play bocce ball now and even our oldest grandson will ask to play it by name.  This was the first time we actually played with the baby.  We had to all be careful and slow up the game due to baby interference but we had fun.  It is called Bocce, the plural of the Italian word boccia, which means "bowl", traditionally played on natural soil and asphalt courts.  Of course we don't play it the way it is suppose to be done but we have a lot of fun. 

Nice time of year to take a drive and enjoy the countryside

This is the time of year that I love to take a drive to see the countryside, whether it is driving to Orillia to visit my mother-in-law or just driving to Simcoe to go shopping, its a nice time of year for a drive and a few photographs when the opportunity presents itself.  Enjoying Fall and times of harvest.  

A Simple Country Fair

My hubby and I took in the quaint, little county fair in Norfolk county recently.  It was so nice and simple, nothing as grand as the Calgary Stampede, which is way too much for me anyway.  I liked the simplistic style of a small country fair.  I've missed that.  I could almost imagine seeing Babe, the pig speaking the secret password to the sheep, "Baa-ram-ewe. Baa-ram-ewe. To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true. Sheep be true. Baa-ram-ewe." or Wilbur the pig from Charlotte's Web, trying to help Charlotte the spider spell one more fantastic word.  It was sweet.

 

HOME CANNING LESSON

I just spent a fabulous day with my gifted, gracious friend, Lea, who gave me her time for the entire day to teach me how to do home canning.   Together we canned several jars of tomatoes and made apricot jam. 

I was struggling with internal fears of failure.  I was procrastinating and becoming very frustrated with myself  as I read a "how to" book about canning.  It was confusing to me and only furthered my frustrations. When I talked to my husband about it, he listened.  I heard myself admitting to him that I was scared and didn't know how to do it though I wanted to learn.  I heard myself expressing to him, "I learn better when somebody can show me how to do it, you know, a hands-on experience".   That's when he came up with a great solution.  "Why don't you call someone and ask them to show you how to do it?"  

Yeah!  Why don't I?   I can't believe I didn't I think of that myself?  Instead I just suffered through this frustration as though I had no choice and it never crossed my mine to ask someone to share their time and knowledge with me.  For some silly reason I guess I thought I should already know this or at least should teach myself alone.  I have no idea where we come up with this crazy way of thinking.

Even though we tell everyone that men are so frustrating because they won't stop to ask for directions, the truth is women are terrible about asking for help.  For some reason we think we must have all the answers and that it is our lot in life to carry the load ourselves.  I don't know if it is that "motherly instinct" to nurture and take care of everyone else or if it is the "superwoman status" or if it is the godly woman of Proverbs 31 that we aspire to achieve as role models.  One thing I do know about myself and about several women -- we are hard on ourselves.  

So I called someone for help.  I called my friend, Lea, to help teach me how to do some home-canning.   She seemed honored to do it.  I sensed this was a divine plan and am reminded of Titus 2, which lays out a leadership plan -- "women of age, teaching the younger women".   I knew that Lea was the right person to teach me.  She has an amazing God-given talent.  Lea is so patient and puts everything into a step-by-step, easy-to-understand method.  She also has a gift of organization that is so necessary for a project like this.  

My mother and my grandmother would be so proud of me finally learning something they did as part of their way of life.  When I was younger I had no interest but now that they have both gone to be with God, I find myself longing for one day to spend with them learning their wisdom and knowledge.

For me there is nothing like hands-on experience. I'm so grateful to God for blessing me with a "mature and wiser" woman to teach me, "the younger and inexperienced".   It was almost like spending a day with my mother once again.

Thank you, God, for this blessing.
Thank you, God, for another adventure and a beautiful day.
Thank you, God, for my friend.  Please bless her for her sacrifice of time given to me.