Mondays are for Grace

"Sometimes Christ walks through our crisis dressed in the best disguise of all: ordinary events.

He tucks a miracle in the fold of His robe and sweeps in and out unnoticed. 

Only in retrospect do we realize that a divine visitation graced our cold, crude winter 

and the resurrection of spring is on its way."

-- Beth Moore, Esther

The Tea Trolley

This week there was plenty on the tea-time agenda! One morning I attended a talk by a British woman who now lives in my town. She told about her own childhood in a tiny little English village and then launched into interesting bits about the history of tea in the western world. It was very enjoyable and we all got to try some of her homemade scones, conserves, and tea loaf. She also provided good English breakfast tea.

 I also met up for lunch and tea with my Lithuanian Knitting Club friends this week. We sat outside and enjoyed the scent of blooming lilacs.

As we were celebrating a birthday, there were presents. Check out this massive tin of Ceylon tea that was received by our hostess! I think I'm going to have to go get my own tin and try this!!!

At these gatherings we always get to enjoy Lithuanian rye bread and farmer's cheese. It is so delicious. A new thing to try this time was Lithuania's favorite soda. I was told it would taste like rye bread soaked in sugar water with fizz. Exactly! It actually paired nicely with the food on my plate!

And we had to have cake for the birthday lady!

And then there was our Mother's Day tea! I did manage to get a decent picture of the kids and myself!!!

There were 15 around the table at lunch and we made the middle stack of goodies completely gluten free!

We had four different teas going on the table (plus coffee for those who just can't tolerate much tea).

 By the time everyone had passed out flowers to everyone else the table looked like a garden!

Today is our very last day of school! We will have a full morning and then do something celebratory this afternoon before heading to the End of Year Program with our homeschool group! It has been a very full week! I'm looking forward to a few relaxing pots of tea this weekend!

The Tea Trolley Link Up:
-- Any post that is tea, coffee, or hot drink related
-- Link to this blog
-- Paste your link in the Mr. Linky below

Bits and Pieces

I don't think I ever posted this picture! Last summer James really wanted to plant carrots so I let him, even though I figured they wouldn't work. And they didn't. But, when we were preparing the garden for this year, guess what we found?!!!! A nice, big carrot for James!!! 

Our weeks have been in an archery, Bible study, soccer routine for the past few months. Tuesday we drive out to 4h archery for the older three to participate. Wednesday evenings finds me driving Rachel into town for her junior high Bible study, and Thursday finds us at the soccer fields for practice. This week is the last week of soccer and then we will just have archery and Bible study.

Laura is such a fun little person to hang out with these days. She was so excited that I took her to the grocery store on Saturday. Her favorite thing is to hang on the cart -- it makes her feel big. 

On Friday we had a most exciting happening!!!! Last fall we had some caterpillars make chrysallis'. One of the chrysallis' was brown and a friend told us it probably would over-winter. So I put it in the garage and thought about it everytime I walked past, all through the winter. I pulled it out a few weeks ago and we all waited to see if this would be a dud or if the butterfly might actually hatch. On Friday it HATCHED!!!! The whole family was so excited, the adults probably the most of all!!!! It was a family event to let the butterfly go.

Isn't he beautiful!!!!

Three more days of school left! We have our last art class this week, our final soccer games, our Year End program and our spring piano recital! Everything is happening at once. Monday I want at least one hour of peace and the ability to DO NOTHING.

Mondays are for Grace

"The grass is greener where you water it."

-- Neil Barringham

The Tea Trolley

The tea trolley has had a strangely quiet life this past week. There were the usual pots for Sunday afternoon, Bible study, and a pot I made for a long phone conversation with a friend. And of course there were the usual cups all throughout each day. But, as of yet, there has been nothing out of the ordinary to report. Perhaps that is nice.

I have been trying to enjoy my lovely lilac bush while it is in bloom. The scent of the blooms takes me immediately back to a childhood home and the hours my sister and I spent playing inside the large bush and in the grass with our dolls under its branches. The next time I buy perfume, I think it will have to be lilac.

There was an al fresco meal this week when just two children were home. It was an interesting experience to enjoy dinner as a foursome.

And finally there was a break for a few minutes one afternoon -- enough time for a cup of green tea and a light snack along with a book to peruse.

The weekend promises plenty of tea, including a special tea for mother's day! I'll tell you all about it next week!

The Tea Trolley Link Up:
-- Any post that is tea, coffee, or hot drink related
-- Link to this blog
-- Paste your link in the Mr. Linky below

Words and Wool

I finished another batch of flowers this past week and they made their way down to Lilly's Soap Kitchen.

I loved this work basket I saw inside the Wilbur Wright birthplace last week! Back then sewing and knitting were of necessity!

Laura and I have finally gotten into a routine of reading together everyday! Yay! It's taken a long time to get there with everything that happens around here daily! She also likes to spend time in the kitchen with me while I make dinner.

I cast on today another Garter Leaves Shawl, this time with a sport weight rather than sock weight. It will be a bit bigger than the last one I knit.

I have made a lot of progress on Ronnie the Fox. The nasty bit will be sewing it all together!!

And check out this beautiful find from Goodwill this past Saturday! I could not resist this for $2. The knitting is absolutely beautiful! And I love the covered buttons too. I wish I knew the era it came from as it was made a long time ago. The fit is wonderful!

As for books that I am currently reading:

The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott is going slower than I hoped because of such little time for reading at the moment. However, I am enjoying it when I get to it.

  Scottish Reformation by D. Hay Fleming is a book I am reading in preparation for teaching the children this summer a little class on the history of the First and Second Scottish Reformations.


A History of the Scottish Reformation by Mackie is another book I am using for gathering information for the aforementioned class.


English Lakes: A History by Ian Thompson is a beautiful looking book I hope to start this week - giving the history of the Lake District in England, one of the most heavily-visited areas in England.

And now I must get on with some housework and gardening!

For more ideas on knitting and reading, hop over to Ginny's Yarn a Long.

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School Field Trips

We had so much fun on our homeschool field trip last week! We drove far from home into the deep country to see the birthplace of Wilbur Wright, one of the early pioneers of airplane flight.

Wilbur only lived here for less than 2 years, I believe, because his father was a minister in what became the United Methodist church and thus their family moved often. However, this house is typical of dwellings of the era (1860's) and it was fun to imagine the Wright's life in these circumstances.

I particularly loved the kitchen!

Apparently, Wilbur and Orville's mother was quite mechanically minded and as children they took their broken toys and failed experiments to her for advice and help! I loved thinking about the way this busy, hard-working, Victorian-era mother nurtured the natural interests of her children and created an atmosphere where they could experiment and learn.

 Wilbur's father was a traveling minister and of course I couldn't help comparing the lives of Wilbur and his siblings to the lives of my own children, though I am thankful we haven't had to move so much!!!

Originally, Wilbur had planned to go to Yale and become a minister himself but a freak accident with a hockey stick left him without his front teeth and sent him into a depression which caused him to change his mind. Thus his life began to go in the direction of inventing a flying machine.

Isn't it interesting how God uses ordinary, often difficult, life circumstances to direct us into the destinies that he has for us. God so directed Wilbur, through ordinary ways, to glorify Him most in the inventing of an airplane!

With such lovely weather, we all enjoyed a picnic outside!!

Then we drove to the second stop of the day -- the Levi Coffin House.

Levi Coffin was one of the most famous people connected with the Underground Railroad, helping to get about 2,000 slaves to freedom during the 20 years that he and his wife so lovingly worked in this vocation.

Here is Rachel beside a false-bottomed wagon -- just the kind the slaves would have left the Coffin house in, bound for the next stop on the underground railroad.

I can't help but admire this man who knew the laws of the land and sought to abide by them as much as he morally could. He may have broken federal laws by helping slaves, but he knew the Indiana laws so well that he managed to avoid having his house searched or being put in prison himself even though everyone knew what he was up to.

I also loved the fact that Levi and his wife worked together as a team. They couldn't have done what they did on their own. "Aunt Kate" welcomed newly arrived slaves at all hours of the day and night and promptly fed them and found places for them to sleep or hide. 

This family invested their whole lives and fortune in this important work and nearly went bankrupt at one point.

Rachel is sitting in front of one of the secret hiding places in the Coffin home. These things are always so intriguing for children! I always wished I would find a secret connection to the underground railroad in my home growing up!

I just loved the doll bed!!! (The Coffins had six children of their own)

 Our field trip was extra fun because so many friends from homeschool group were along too!

The kitchen in this home was in the basement, which probably made sense for hot summers!

We couldn't get over the well in the basement, which appeared to be empty but in reality was filled to the very top -- our guide had to stir the water with her hand just to prove this point!

And here is the house from the front:

And the small backyard was beautiful at this time of year!

 I enjoyed looking at all the period furnishings and imagining life at this time in American history. Several years ago we studied Indiana History and read a number of excellent books including By Freedom's Light which tells the story of a young girl in Indiana and her struggles over what to think of the underground railroad.

Several of the scenes in the book take place right in this sitting room! It was fun to finally see it in person!

History is certainly one of my very favorite things and it was a treat to experience a day like this. As you can see, I came home with plenty of things to think about and ponder for my own life!

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