Jack South

What has Jack been up to lately (besides enjoying the back porch)?

Jack is my biggest helper on linen change day.  Linen change day has been challenging in the past.  The three cats seem to think that this activity was created particularly and especially for their benefit.  

After all, the bed belongs to them.

When the time comes to change the linens, their attitude is, "Oh goody!  Mommy wants to PLAY!"

This one in particular is offended by having to get down off the bed.

Putting sheets back on the bed before the cats jump up and get tangled in them is the next part of the challenge.

Sorry ~ no pictures of that battle.

I'm too frustrated to grab the camera at that point.

Managing to get the comforter on top of the sheets also has its difficulties

"I think it is fine like this, Mom"

 

"I said it is fine!"

Jack is my new weapon in this battle.

She seems somewhat intimidated by him here, doesn't she?

At least enough for her to stay on the floor and let me finish.

We'll see how long this works...

 Hmmm.

 

Monday Memories

We bought a house.

It had two porches; one in front

And one in back

We decided two porches are not enough.

Mr. Marvelous, being Marvelous, turned the area under the back porch

into another porch.

He screened in both the upper and the lower back porches.

I like my back porches.

I get a lot of use out of my upstairs porch.

It is my summer kitchen.

 It is my space to sit in my rocker

Sometimes it is where I do the routine household paperwork

 like menu planning and budgeting

Sometimes it is where I work on crafts

No matter what the activity, I always love the view.

A year or two ago Mr. Marvelous talked about putting plastic up over the porch.  His reasoning was to create a warm space in the winter.  We could grow plants on the porch if it were covered.  We could grow things ALL YEAR!

My response was always and adamantly

NO.

I was absolutely NOT willing to give up the view.  Not see the deer?  Or the turkeys?  Or watch the hawks soaring over the trees?  I don't think so!

In the fall of this past year, I started thinking about my rosemary plants.  I keep losing them to cold weather.  I thought about my parsley.  I thought about being able to grow lettuce through the winter.  There is a window in my kitchen that looks out onto the back porch.  Wouldn't it be nice if Mr. Marvelous could do just a little build out and turn that into a kind of bay window with shelves, cover it with plastic and make it a miniature greenhouse?  Doesn't that sound like a perfect idea to you?  Me too.  So I suggested it to Mr. Marvelous.  The response was laughter.  Not exactly what I was looking for.

He explained that it was not practical either work-wise or financially.  I kept thinking about it.  I could not let go of the idea.  Finally I gave in.  

"Well if you can not build that window, perhaps we should cover the porch with plastic this year?"

To say he was shocked would be an understatement.  

I assured him that I was serious and before I could change my mind he got busy.  In one afternoon, he and Junior managed to cover both the upstairs and the downstairs.  It was a little different, but I adjusted.  

 (Well of course Jack helped!)

He added two hinged plastic coated windows that could swing open on extra-warm days to vent it.  We didn't figure we would need those much before early spring.  We were wrong.

 It has been a bit gloomy and cold the past few weeks.  There has been a lot of rain and clouds and not much sunshine.   Yet even on the cloudy, gloomy days, the temperature on that back porch stays at least a good 10 degrees warmer than outside, and usually a full 20 degrees warmer.

When the sun shines, here is what happens.  

This was the outside temperature one sunny morning last week:

That's cold by Alabama standards

This was the temperature at the same time on my lovely back porch:

Mr. Marvelous received a text telling him just how marvelous he is.

I will happily surrender a bit of a view

in exchange for a warm place to sit in January!

 

Friday

It's a little cold for many of us this month.

January, 2014

Perhaps these will add a little sunshine and warmth to your cold, dark, January days.

May your heart be warmed.

His peace to your homes.

Mr. Marvelous' Garden

Mr. Marvelous and I are currently attending different classes on Wednesday nights at our church.  I am in a women's group ~ led by our pastor's blessing....I mean wife ~ and Mr. Marvelous is in a class on the Gospel.  As we were driving home last night I asked him about his class.  He was telling me different things that had happened and been discussed.  He told me that in the conversation about heaven they were talking about the beauty of a perfect garden.  "Just think;"  he piped up, "We won't have to carry a hoe around in that garden!"

We are slowly getting our outdoor area ready to be gardened and planning a method that will hopefully cut back on the weeds at least a little bit this year.  In an effort to avoid using the rototiller as much as possible (his knees are somewhat older than his joie de vivre), we are planning to do raised beds.  The thought is that we will clear out plots throughout the front and back garden areas, then build frames around these areas and fill them with a mixture of mulch/compost/good soil.  First things first; how do you clear out large areas of a former yard without using a tiller?

How do you go from this:

Yes, my Vermont friends, that really is green stuff growing in January!

To this?

 It's quite simple.

You don't.

They do.

And oh, are they ever happy to assist in this process!

In the space of a few days, these girls are able to strip a fairly large area quite bare.  They remove all weeds, "til" the soil by scratching, and add quite a bit of fertilizer in the process.

Once the girls ~ and their consort, Brave Sir Robin ~ are done with an area, the pens are moved to another area and we are left with something that looks like this:

We bring in the lumber and the wagon, but you get the idea.

Mr. Marvelous had decided that instead of buying lumber we would use ropes and Mr. Marvelous Jr. (!) and drag tree trunks up from the bottom of the back hill.  They went down there with saws, ropes and willing spirits;

they were quickly daunted by the slope of the hill and the pain of the back!

Mr. Marvelous pronounced that it was too much and that he would have to purchase the lumber.  Junior quietly spoke up and pointed out several trees at the top of the hill that happen to be just the right size to use to build raised beds.  He also noticed that these particular trees do need to come down AND will increase the amount of sunlight in the back garden.  

Brilliant, isn't he?!

So this coming weekend the men will be out in the back cutting down a few trees, removing branches, and moving the trunks into position for raised beds.  We will not have to spend money on lumber for the beds, and it also will give the beds a more rustic ~ and therefore Akin-ish ~ look.

I will be inside while they are doing this, pretending that I don't know what is going on and talking to God about surrendering fear.

We aren't sure that we will be able to do all the beds like this (remember the SIXTY tomato plants?!), but we should be able to make quite a few.

Names

My jar is overflowing as I finish up the Prophets! 

Here are some of the treasures I have found this month.

In Daniel 5:16 He is  

your God Whom you serve continually

May that be said of us as well!

In Daniel 5:23 He is 

The God in Whose hand is your breath.

In Zephaniah 2:7 He is  

Mindful (of His people) 

It is comforting to remember that He is mindful of us, isn't it?

In Zephaniah 3:17 (are you singing that old camp song?) He is the One Who 

Rejoices over you 

and Who  

quiets you by His love.

His peace to your homes.

Monday Morning Memories

The Ballet Recital

When Mr. Marvelous and I married over twenty-seven years ago, he inherited a treasure trove.  I came with nieces and nephews.  At the time we married there were a total of six with two more on the way.  Four of these (and one of the ones on the way) belonged to my sisters.  For several years my sisters and I lived within a triangle that went from Macon to Warner Robins to Americus and we frequently got together either at each others' homes or at the Mennonite restaurant in Montezuma.  Montezuma may not have been exactly central, but Yoder's Deitsch Haus Restaurant is so good we pretended like it was.

As I said, Mr. Marvelous inherited nephews and nieces.  This was an entirely new experience for him.  There is an eight-year gap between Mr. Marvelous and his younger sister, and his cousins were all considerably older than him, so he was not used to having little ones around.  Which brings us to the matter of:

The Ballet Recital

Shortly after we married, one of these nieces ~ who was not quite four years old ~ was taking ballet lessons.  One day I mentioned to Mr. Marvelous that I would be going to Americus the following Saturday.  He said he did not have plans for that Saturday, so he thought he would go with me.  I assured him that it was not necessary for him to go along since I was going over for The Ballet Recital (I was used to little ones.  I knew what "The Ballet Recital" meant!).  He said he thought that would be fun and he would go with me.  I gently tried to dissuade him, I really did.  I was flattered that he wanted to be with me and spend time with my family, but I (to myself) did not think he had the patience for The Ballet Recital.  He insisted.  I gave in.

Saturday morning found us on the road enjoying a lovely Spring drive to Americus.  We arrived in plenty of time, met my sister and brother-in-law and the baby and went in to find a seat.  We visited a little with the family, met a few of their friends who were sitting around us and also had daughters in The Ballet Recital, and settled in for an afternoon of.......well let's just call it eye-opening-enrichment, shall we?

The first class came out on the stage.  The Ballet Recital began with the very littlest dancers.  Mr. Marvelous' interest began to wane.  The first class left to enthusiastic applause and the next class came out.  His interest continued to wane.  They left to enthusiastic applause and the next class came out.  His interest waned even further.  Mr. Marvelous actually began to slip down in his seat.  When our niece's class came out he perked up in expectation.  That did not last long.  He says now that there were at least fifteen different classes (each class did 2-3 dances) and it lasted for three hours.  Periodically I would glance over to find him looking at me with a horrified expression.

As things wound down, the final class came out on stage.  These were the "big girls".  They began to dance and Mr. Marvelous began to perk up.  As their performance went on, he sat up a little straighter in his seat.  Toward the end he leaned over to me and began to point out one of the dancers in this last class who, in his words, had real potential; he thought that with work she might go somewhere with this dancing-thing.

I leaned over.  "Honey", I whispered, "That's the teacher".

He has never gone to another recital of any kind. Ever.

Thankfully, our only child is a son.

I can hardly wait to watch him with Grand-daughters!

Sadly I have no pictures of her in her tutu, but this is one of my favorite pictures of one of my favorite ballerinas, who was also one of my flower-girls.

She is a little (!) older now.
She is still gorgeous.

Friday!

Enjoy the sunrise this weekend.

Remember; He's coming back!

God's peace to your homes.

Homestead Update

Mr. Marvelous is marvelously happy.  One might even say he is "Happy, happy, happy!!!"  The garden has moved through dreaming to planning and he is now busily working in the basement with his hands in the potting soil. 

The basement has been tidied and reorganized.  The light stands have been built.  

The calendar has lists of what things are to be planted in what weeks.  He has planted multiple varieties of lettuce, some hot peppers, tomatoes (of course), and a few herbs.  Green shoots are peeping up through the dirt. 

Or in some cases, getting ready to take over the basement.

Mr. Marvelous is walking around with a smile on his face and every night it is a gardening book he brings to bed.  "What do you think about this plan for an herb bed?"  "Would you like for me to try planting some of these?"  "I think I'm going to try a little of that!". 

Whew, I'm glad I am writing about this right now.  It reminded me that the artichoke plants we have babied through the year were not covered today and the temperatures are plummeting.  Now, where was I?  Oh yes.

Do you like the little newspaper pots we have this year?  So do we!  Last year Mr. Marvelous tried to make them by hand.  It was a less successful experiment than he might have wished.  This year as he was thumbing through one of his (many) garden catalogs, he came across a little gem of a tool.  He wondered if perhaps Santa might see fit to bring him one.  Santa sent one by way of Jack South.

Isn't this the niftiest little gadget?  Mr. Marvelous is in love with it.  It is made by Secrets du Potager in Belgium and you can find it here on Amazon.com.  For $12.52 (we have free shipping), we can make innumerable little pots.  In our county the little weekly newspaper is free; we don't even have to pay for that.  For the next 50 or so years we can make as many little starter pots as we want.  That is a big deal in our house, because we go through a LOT of little starter pots in a year.  Remember those SIXTY tomato plants last year?! 

Every Wednesday evening we go down to the local shopping mall (also known as Jeeter's Country Store) and pillage remove the remaining unwanted newspapers to kindly make room for the new edition that comes out on Thursdays.  If we also pick some up on Friday I'm not telling.

We bring them home and Mr. Marvelous gets to work. 

He measures.

He cuts into strips.

Lots of strips.

And he turns into little pots.

The one on the left was the first one he made.

The one on the right was the first one he made after he read the directions.

How many has he made so far?

A few.  Hundred.

See the ones down below?  Each one of these flats contains 60-70 pots and he has at least 8 filled.  So far.

That is what we have been doing the past week or two.  That and babying artichoke plants.  

Mostly we are just having fun.

Stay tuned; baby bunnies are coming in less than three weeks!

 

About Books. And Prayer.

I have started tracking my steps again.  We'll see how long the pedometer works this time.  I know I need a new pedometer that is reliable, but until I win a Pioneer Woman FitBit give-away I'm sticking with old (semi) faithful.  I'll have totals at the end of January.  For now, let's talk about something else I love.

Photo from daydreamreader.com

 My name is Virginia and I love books.  It's not a problem.  Really.  The fact that I create "bookshelves" out of floor space is not a big deal.  Books are friends AND food.  Or something.

I discovered a few new Christian fiction authors last year.  One of my new favorites is Lisa Wingate.  A highlight of my Pinterest life was when she not only noticed that I had one of her books pinned on my Book Board, she liked it and re-pinned it!  Lisa Wingate is a very generous author.  She promotes other writers on the Tyndale House blog she helps maintain, on her Facebook page, and on Southern BelleView Daily.  That generosity appeals to me.  I like the recommendations that are made for other authors I have yet to meet.  I also like this spirit of sharing new authors with her fans, and sharing her fans with other authors.  Did that make sense?  Read it again and see if you can make it come straight.  Got it?  Okay.

In December I was reading the blog and was introduced to Jolina Petersheim.  This lady writes Plain fiction.  Plain as in Old-Order Mennonite.  I like Plain fiction but I am VERY picky about it.  So far the only authors I really enjoy are Beverly Lewis and Cindy Woodsmall.  I've tried others, and haven't been able to finish most of them because they are so poorly written.  I was a little uncertain about trying another one, but decided to risk it.  The first book, The Outcast, is touted as a modern-day re-telling of The Scarlet Letter.  I don't care for modern-day re-tellings as a general rule, but I decided to forge ahead anyway.  I am glad I did!  I enjoyed this first book so much that a) I finished it and b) I already have the next book, The Midwife, ordered from our library.

A day or two after I ordered it from our library, I was back on the Southern BelleView Daily blog and read that Jolina Petersheim's husband was going through a health crisis (she shares the story on her blog), and I began to pray.  It is interesting to connect with an author.  I think that connecting through prayer is one of the best possible connections to have.  Having had this opportunity to pray for Jolina and her family has been a good reminder to me to pray for other authors I read and enjoy.  Sometimes we have the privilege of praying over a crisis that is shared through a blog or a Facebook post.  Sometimes we have the privilege of praying over something that the Holy Spirit whispers to us.  Sometimes we are able to pray over the family who are keeping the house going while Mom or Dad finish up the latest book.  Sometimes we can pray that the book itself will be what God wants it to be, and will honor Him and reflect Him clearly to the world.

In a small and peculiar way, I get to be a part of something I love;

A new good book!

The Further Adventures of Jack South

Jack was a busy boy gnome during December.  I bet you thought it was just the elves, didn't you?

Nope.  Jack was busy too.

He helped with the Christmas baking.

He helped with the Christmas decorating.

(and made sure the cat did not misbehave!)

He even helped the Wisemenman find his way to the stable.

("Dude, it's over there!)

Jack went with us to visit family.

He likes my sister's tree.

While we were there he successfully defended three young ladies ~ and their mother ~ from the evil Barbie.

WNBA Barbie now knows Jack.

Jack is back home today and the house is undecorated to his approval.  

He is going to chill the rest of the week.  

With temperatures in the single digits tonight, what else is there to do?!

Oops; I missed one!