Yum! Pancakes!!

Did you have a wonderful pancake dinner Tuesday??? We sure did! Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday celebrates the beginning of Lent (pre-Easter Season) and refers to a day when a thrifty housewife would use up certain food items in the house to prepare for the Lent Fast (which would start the next day). Pancakes are a great way of using up those items. I just love to have the pancakes to celebrate the beginning of Easter season.

Here are some "Lent Facts":

• It lasts 40 day’s from Ash Wednesday to Easter (Sundays aren’t counted)
• "Lent" comes from a old Anglo-Saxon word meaning "springtime"
• 40 day's came from the 40 days Jesus fast in the wilderness.
• The color for Lent is PURPLE ( the color of royalty).
• A time for repentance, scripture reading, & self-examination.
• A time of commitment (or recommitment) to Christ.
• Lent was originally a period of fasting & scripture study prior to a person's baptism which occurred on Easter weekend.
• Lent is mentioned first in history by Irenaeus (180 AD)
• Lent is not mentioned in the Bible. Christians use it as an opportunity to strengthen their faith.
• Instead of a Fast, some people give up something they enjoy, like “chocolate”.

How about you? Are you giving up anything for Lent???

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Working at Pebble Beach, CA

After a week of working and rainy weather . . . my workshop came to an end and the sun decided to shine. I'm flying home tomorrow!

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California Here I Come!

I leave Saturday for business at Asilomar Conference Grounds, CA (which is near Pebble Beach). It's quite beautiful there. Here's a photo from my last visit.

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First Ski Trip & 6 Randome Things

Her first ski tri. . .My dear friend tagged me for "6 random things". So, here goes!

KATHY'S 6 RANDOME THINGS

1. I love taking pictures! So the only blogger I know, http://pardon-my.blogspot.com/ told me about Wordless Wednesday. It's exciting to get comments back about my pictures from people all over the world.
2. I don't like cold weather!
3. I just like plain things. Plain burgers and sanwichs- just meat and bread.
4. I have 3 crazy kids ages 4, 11, and 20, who keep me mostly nuts.
5. God and I - I've always had an inner calling to serve Him.
6. I recently messed up my blog. I did have it set up so you could just see a pic and a few words. Then you could click "read more" IF you wanted too. But I did something and now the "read more" button isn't working. Where is the magic wand to fix it???

So who should I TAG? My most recent visitors! http://meandalvis.blogspot.com/ http://napaboaniya.wordpress.com/ http://letmebeblunt.blogspot.com/ http://maryannbever.blogspot.com/ http://twopluseight.blogspot.com/ http://eyesmindheart.blogspot.com/

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Holiday Hike

My crew enjoys a local hike through the holidays. It's a great way to get out of the house and do something physical after consuming all our Christmas candy. This year we made the trip to Mt. Lake. The lake is one of the few natural lakes in the US. This lake, at full level, is usually about 25 acres in size. The water exits the lake through the natural rock springs under the lake. Unfortunately, the lake "has a leak" and the large water reservoir is WAY DOWN. The water level may now only cover about 2 acres. This made the lake even more of an adventure to us. The kids had a great time hiking down "into" the lake basin. It was like a huge science project to explore. It was still so beautiful and the mountain trail around the rim of the lake was great fun! It's a "have to see" whether the lake if full or low!

If you want to learn more about the lake you can go to their web site at: http://www.mtnlakehotel.com/Section_Home.asp?SID=42

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Merry Christmas!!!

From me and my crew - - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to ALL of you out there!

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Memories

I can’t believe he’s 20. Oh my gosh!!! I'm so proud of him! It's amazing to think about our journey together. And the wonderful people who helped us along the way. It seams like just yesterday that I found out I was expecting. Not in a traditional way. I was an unwed senior in High School with no plans for parenthood at the time . . .

I saw a young mother in a local grocery store soon after I found out I was expecting. Her child was about 6-8 months old. The child was dirty with no shoes on and only wearing a diaper. The mother was fussing at him and the child was crying. They looked poor and so unhappy. I decided right then–that wouldn’t be us.

Don’t get me wrong. We were still poor for quite a while. We lacked many things through the years (including maturity). At the time I brought him home, he had a chest of drawers in his tiny little room which had a few socks, a few shirts and 4-5 pair of pants leaving most of the drawers empty. I remember baking cookies with him as a toddler. I’d let him stir the batter and I acted so excited about the cookies. But what I was really doing was trying to keep us warm by the stove because the house was cold. For Christmas one year I got together a bunch of happy meal toys, wrapped them and stacked them like a pyramid to make it look like there were a large amount of presents under the tree.

I thank GOD for all the wonderful family members and friends who surrounded us like a host of angles sent from above to help us on our way. These people filled our drawers with clothing, our belly's with food, and our hearts with hope and love.

I cherish these memories. Hard times they were but time like these can be full of love and special moments. I felt like we were a 2 person team. I loved the hikes we went on - just the two of us! Oh, how I loved to foot wrestle with him on the couch and going to scout meetings and the ball games over the years. I could cheer for him for hours. He was so well mannered, well spoken, smart, athletic, and he had such an awesome attitude! We both leaned so many things together.

I can’t imagine my life without him. I’m so proud of him. He’ll always be special to me in a way that words can not explain. It’s funny to think how at the time I felt we had nothing. But on the contrary – we had it all! Just he and I, and a host of angles to help us along the way. The perfect recipe for success!

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Falling

Fall! A fabulous time! But it doesn't last long enough. Has anyone else been up to the Cascades? It's in Virginia only 25 minutes from Virginia Tech. It's a great 2.5 hr hike. To see more pictures click read more below. And here's a few more.

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Harvest Time!

Visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/ for more great sky pictures!

Our first garden was a WONDERFUL success this summer. For the first time our cabinets are full of food we grew on our own. The corn was unbelievable. And that was even after part of it blew down in a rain storm. Click below to read more and see more pictures!

I picked green beans until we had canned over 70 cans. We could have got another picking too but decided enough was enough. Unfortunately we couldn't find anyone else who wanted them either.

Oh, the watermelon was such a treat. This doesn't grow very well in our area but we had GREAT luck!

My 10 yr old ask "so how big will a cucumber get if we don't pick it"? So the garden was even a science project at times.

My husband did most of the work and it was a hoot to work in the garden with the kids.

We also grew peppers, onions, and potato's. We did have a battle with potato bugs! (Where do those things come from?) This has really helped with the grocery bill to and I feel good knowing we have what we need no matter what happens with the economy. We are prepared for the "storm".

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Country Boy In Philly!

Took my country boy to Philly. It was his first large city trip. He loved the fountains and statues. At this fountain, he just had to see how cold the water was and before I knew it HE WAS STANDING IN IT! (he he he) To be a child again!




It's been a crazy month. Unfortunately, finding time to enjoy this bogging picture adventure has had to take the back seat! In summary - -
1) Went from working 2 day's to 4 day's a week.
2) Decided to take a class
3) Started taking the tot to preschool
4) 10 yr old is back to school and sports.
5) Took pictures for a family members wedding.
6) Work trip to Philly.
7) On top of that, now I caught a cold!

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N-D-Grass & Skywatch

She's my girly-girl. But sometimes I see a little tom-boy in her too.

THERE SEAMS TO BE A SKY PHOTO THEME GOING ON TODAY!
SO HERE'S A SKY SHOT TOO!
("Skywatch" http://skyley.blogspot.com/)

Monster #1 is very little like me. She loves ribbons and bows and pretty little dresses. She likes to sit in front of the mirror after her bath and comb her curly hair and put perfume and powers on. It's so cute! At 4 she picks out her own outfit, which usually includes a frilly dress. Despite our differences, I encourage her to be all that! And thank goodness she has a grandma who has supplied her with all the pretty little things a little girl loves.

But I try to encourage her to check out things like spiders and other creepy crawler's too. When we go to the farm I assure her that jeans and flannel is the best thing to wear. Daddy found a little frog while mowing today and took it right to her to investigate (as he held it). Hopefully my husband and I will together raise her to be a well rounded individual!

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Field Shot

A year ago someone mentioned there may be a bear in the area (a small one). We giggled and said "sure". My husband caught this on his field camera. Unfortunatly, the camera dosen't have a very fast shutter speed (sorry for the blur). Click on the "read more" button below to see the "Rated-R" one! I just couldn't believe it!

We couldn't have caught this if we were trying. My hub and I laughed till we cried!

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