Autumn: bringing it in

We bring bits of nature into the house during every season. Fall though seems to make the biggest  impact. I love it! Even on the short walk to my mailbox I come back with something pretty. Although we have a couple of designated "nature shelves" the rest of the house is being taken over by the great outdoors.

Did you ever do this as a kid? I did and now I do it with my girls. Collect leaves and iron them between waxed paper to hang in windows or use as place mats and table runners.

Of course I am crazy about things that represent the natural, like my pumpkin teapot. Yesterday I got the notion to make acorn shaped cakes for tea time. The baking pan I used is shaped kind of like an egg carton. I dipped the tops in chocolate and there you have it---acorns!

 I made these gluten free pumpkin bars even though I don't have a gluten problem. I am always looking for nice recipes that I can serve my GF friends. Use any pumpkin pie filling recipe that you love and bake it on this GF crust. I pre-baked the crust first for about 15 minutes before pouring on the filling. It's really good. 

Crust: 1 1/2 cups almond meal + 3 TBS fat (butter/coconut oil) + 1 TBS sugar (or packet of stevia)

Press crust into pan evenly, I used a rectangular  tart pan with removable bottom.

See more of my Pumpkin Tasties here: 

http://childrenofeve.blogspot.com/2012/11/pumpkin-lattes-and-things-like-that.html

Adventures of an Elf

Yes, I know it has been quite a long time since my last blog post. I have been rather preoccupied with "real" life. Life is interesting, life is unpredictable. Life gets in the way of  blogging, blogging will never get in the way of  my life. There is so much to do, to see, to try. Sometimes I admit...I just forget to blog. The longer I stay away, the harder it is to come back. Today I'd like to recap a little of the past month while the memories are fresh. It has been a very exciting and fun time.

My daughter has been writing a story about a dark elf/Drow who because of complicated circumstances is being raised by her wood elf grandfather. This week she finally gathered all the necessary pieces to dress up as her elf counterpart. The autumn colors made for a perfect elf walk and photoshoot. It seems like only yesterday that she was a tiny girl devising a way to attach hair to her Frodo feet. She insisted on going to church that way, barefoot in very cold weather. We compromised with flip flops. She was born with a wonderful, brave, adventurous spirit and many times I have had to look away and just let her do things that worried me rather than crush her spirit.

 A year ago she began earnestly asking if I would let her go on a mission trip to Cambodia.  My husband had been to Cambodia in 2011. He met some amazing people there whom we have become very close with. They run a church and orphanage in the city of Phnom Phen called Water of Life and they are doing miraculous things in their community. 

When my husband first went it was scary to think about the strange and dangerous things he was doing. Twenty-six hours of travel each way, oppressive weather, strange food, anything goes traffic, trips into the jungle and dangerous slums. Our friend Holly is a missionary who runs a home for vulnerable woman and girls called House of Refuge. Sometimes girls come to her for help, sometimes she goes out and finds them. Holly took my husband to a horrible building used for human trafficking where she and her girls frequently go to talk to girls and offer them a way out. The people are so poor that many of these girls have been sold by their own families.  My husband was horrified at the misery and filth of the place. One of the girls they spoke with that very day did come to live with Holly and her girls.

 Knowing these things and then hearing my 13 year old daughter tell me how much she wanted to go of course made me anxious!  My little girl! On the other side of the world!

 She started having dreams that she was going to Cambodia, that she was there with Holly.  In my gut I knew then that she would go.  If God was setting this up for her, then she would go. How could I keep her from something that meant so much to her? To hold her back might even kill the fire in her forever.

 My husband was eager to go back to Cambodia and reconnect with the friends he had made. When a group from church planned another trip he took my daughter with them.   The children there need money for food, medicine and vitamins. But they also need mentors, adults that they trust who can guide them and give them hope for a better life. We stay connected with them through the internet and are hoping to arrange more visits going both ways.

Our team ended up at three different orphanages. My daughter taught jewelry making to the older girls while another woman did a craft with the little ones.  They were long, hard, hot days but she did a great job. That's her in the purple shirt. Dara, the boy in blue translated for her.

Only after they came home did I hear about the crazy stuff.  How they had to stay at the Water of Life orphanage instead of the hotel one night because of terror threats against Americans. How their tuk-tuk got stuck in the mud and almost tipped over. How they were threatened with bodily harm and spiritual curses when they tried to help a young street hustler. How my adventuring elf went for a joy ride on the back of Holly's motor bike. She said it was like Indiana Jones. "We drove through a crazy market that had huge pieces of meat hanging from hooks and chickens were running out of our way!" On their way home they got caught in a flash flood. The water was up to their thighs so the moto's engine flooded. They had to push/carry the moto for two miles. When she came home I unpacked her boots, they were soaking wet and had mold growing over them.

When people ask my daughter what her favorite part of the trip was she always says,

 "THE FLOOD!"

Grabbing at Summer

The last couple of weeks we have been running here and there grabbing at the last drops of summer. I am a follower of seasons and traditions, I don't want to miss out on anything that a season has to offer. Even though I'm just as crazy about whatever season is coming up next, I need to soak up everything, feast my eyes on what is here, RIGHT NOW. I had my last look at the water lilies at the Botanical Garden. They have some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, deep burgundy and apricot. My nine year old snapped this picture. I think it is pretty good,  it's funny how they go for the pink at this age.

That same daughter has a certain hamster toy (named Cream Puff) who has crossed over from inanimate object to vibrant member of our family. She goes everywhere we go. Which means I end up driving back to where we just came from because she somehow gets left behind. I can't tell you how many times I have asked God to lead me to Cream Puff when she has been lost in the woods, restaurant, library, church,  or store. Once I even had to go through a public garbage can to get her back. So far she has always come back to us.

 My daughters get in a tizzy when they think she may be gone for good. I guess it's because there are so many memories of every place they have gone and everything they have done over the last four years. I think she should be retired and made to be house bound. But she is a wild adventurer, always tempting fate, floating in the ocean, getting thrown into trees, being buried in snow. We celebrate Cream Puff's birthday each year, another of our summer rituals. This year she had a party with a blue layer cake, human friends and their hamster toys. 

As long as my family is able to visit a beach, we will. The ocean can take us away from the everyday sometimes petty thoughts that life can bring. It is so big, so deep. Every drop is teeming with life. Any bit you take home with you becomes a treasure. It is both calming and terrifying. There is nothing that compares to the wonder of the ocean. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to share these summer days with my girls.

My elder daughter has been looking forward to The Ren Fest and it has finally come. Another summer treat. She has developed a new character for herself, a gypsy-ish wood elf. She came up with a pretty convincing costume that included latex elf ears, crazy contact lenses and a dagger.

Now I can say that I am officially done with summer. I am ready and excited to welcome autumn. I will now start pulling my favorite fall books. The ones that inspire me to make, cook, and knit all things cozy!

Tasha Tudor Day 2013

Honoring Tasha here today with one of my favorite of her quotes...

"I’m very fond of men. I think they are wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don’t want to look like one. When women gave up their long skirts, they made a grave error…" ~Tasha Tudor

You never know.

 I sat in the dermotolagist's office waiting and fretting. I was there for a procedure that the doctor assured me would take all of 15 minutes. Such a short visit I could surely bring my girls and leave them in the waiting room. 

Well, it actually took two hours. That's were the fretting came in. I wondered how my 9 year old was holding up with nothing to occupy her. She's the type who just can't sit still. Thoughts of her bouncing off the walls and her sister getting really annoyed with her made me anxious.

 I had left a Molly Makes magazine with them. I brought it along for me to look at while waiting. When I finally emerged I found them o.k. (but hungry!) and that aforementioned 9 year old immediately started telling me about all the animals she was going to make. 

The next morning, all by herself  she made this adorable lion and a wolf. Today she made a Kangaroo with a baby in it's pocket. She's not done yet. She has a pile of felt ready to go. We will soon have an ark full of creatures.

There I was thinking the worst, worrying for no reason. It made me think how often this must happen. How our imaginations run wild, making a neutral situation into a bad one. We never think that good might come from an unplanned (maybe even unpleasant) situation. Most times we  fall into the habit of expecting the worst. 

But really you just never know.

What's for breakfast?

 I don't have a huge appetite in the morning. I like picking though. A cup of good tea is essential. After that we pretty much eat whatever our bodies want. That could mean anything from soup, salad, salmon, to the more traditional oatmeal. Our tastes are seasonal. Pancakes are definitely a fall thing. Fresh baked buns, winter. Tea is the only constant in my breakfast offering. My littlest one needs the most food in the morning. She can't sit still, always burning energy. She wants miso soup, my goat cheese, berries and olives. So she gets it. It keeps her busy and satisfied.

One of my summer day breakfasts. I wake up with a craving for very vinegary salad, so that's what I eat.

During the summer we enjoy pesto bread for breakfast, tea and bedtime snack. My daughter could live on this stuff and sometimes she does. Along with our daily salad dressings it's another way to get loads of fresh garlic into us.

Some days (quite often), this is all I want. I crave good butter. Every day. Some fat is needed in the diet. This is how I take mine, with no guilt. 

We do eat "real" breakfast foods too, like oatmeal or waffles. When the mood strikes I make my all time favorite Vitamix recipe whole wheat waffles. While my girls are having oatmeal with maple syrup I might be eating my oatmeal raw, with lots of seeds or nuts and a shredded apple. Food, like all of life is best lived when it is not monotonous. When I wake up I never know exactly what the day will hold, there are so many choices, so many possibilities. As the seasons and our moods change, why not what's on our plates?

Yarn Berry

My daughter was busy working on Photoshop. "Don't look!", "It's a surprise!" she said whenever I would walk by. She surprised me with this Yarn Berry that she based on my berry blog post.

Of course I had to share it here!

Then we went picking again...

I promise my next post will have nothing to do with berries.