Busy, but Blessed

One of my watercolors...

     Wow.  I can hardly believe it's Thursday already.  Where did the time go?
     Okay; Tuesday was my birthday, and I was gone almost all day.  Among other things, Moshe and I went out for a late lunch.  We went to a wonderful local restaurant.  Even though we live up in the mountains, "ten miles from nowhere", there is a REAL restaurant in our little town, with a REAL chef, and REAL food - everything made on location.  Wonderful. We savored every bite and every moment. We even brought home a doggie bag for Moxie and salad greens for the chickens.
     Wednesday was a trip to the Farmer's Market.  It's about a thirty-minute drive one way.  We purchased more apples, sorghum syrup, and Jerusalem artichokes.  On the way home we stopped at a roadside stand "to get an onion", and came home with a fifty pound bag of them.  I also have a big basket of local pears that a neighbor gave us over the weekend...
     Soooo... today is definitely a food prep/canning/drying/freezing kind of day. I'm going to plug in the portable CD player and sing along as I work.  Moshe has a big list of chores, too. Lots of projects for building more storage shelves, fixing a leaky toilet valve, finishing the shelves for our dehydrator.  Life is always busy and interesting around here.
     I have the best husband in the world. Are we perfect? No. Absolutley not. But, we are a great team. When we have a problem, we talk it out, work it out. We are committed to each other. As Moshe said yesterday, "We have our problems just like everyone else, but, I took my wedding vows seriously."
     Busy but blessed.  That's me.
                                                         Shalom y'all - Twyla

Moshe & Me... dressed up silly for a birthday party

An Apple a Day... give or take a hundred or two

My little watercolor magnet - Apples!

     So, yesterday we went to the farmer's market in a town about half an hour from ours.  They have a nice pavillion where "just folks" can set up  booths and sell their fruit, vegetables, preserves, baked goods, honey, etc.  Food stuff.  Homegrown.  Healthy.  We like!
     At the last minute, just before we got in the truck, I suggested to Moshe that we take some eggs with us and see if we could trade.  Great success! We traded eggs for some wonderful local honey and some beautiful butternut squash, plus we made new connections with those folks - traded phone numbers, that sort of thing. 
     We also bought bell peppers, both red and green - for 33 cents each!!! Can you believe it?  And, we bought a big sack of locally-grown sweet potatoes - about 10 pounds for 3 dollars and change.  And a few tomatoes - surely the last for the year for local tomatoes.
    
       And, of course, we bought lots and lots of apples.  More apples to make apple butter, apple sauce, apple pie filling.  More apples to dehydrate. So, I am back in the apple-processing mode... Will be peeling, coring, slicing, cooking, spicing, canning, drying apples. Praise God for the wonderful kitchen gadgets that help with all these apple duties!  We are blessed beyond measure to have peeler-slicer-corer, a blender, a cuisinart, and an enormous pressure cooker, all of which I will use today.
          If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, I should be healthy for several more months!
                                                                                        Shalom y'all,
                                                            Twyla
        

Fall is Approaching

My watercolor, entitled "Mountain View"

          Yes, we are still doing our Fall Cleaning.  Almost done.  It feels so good.  Everything looks so nice;  I always find changing the decor invigorating,  Moshe said, "It's as if we have a new house, without moving!"  It really IS, too;  because we have changed all the rooms except the bathrooms. (I'd change them, too, if I had the time!)  We plan to do the last little touches tomorrow...  looking forward to re-establishing a routine of some sort...
     This month has been exceptionally warm for this area.  A couple days ago I was talking with a lady who has lived here for many years. She said she can't remember a Summer this hot, and certainly not a September this warm.  But, Fall is approaching.  Every day we see a few more red, yellow, and  brown leaves among the green of the trees.  Quite a few leaves are falling in the roads, too.  I like all the seasons, but Autumn is my favorite.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's because of the beautiful colors of the trees.  Maybe it's memories of bonfires and hayrides and roasting marshmallows and picking apples off the trees. Maybe it's just time for a change in temperature and a change of pace.  Spring and Summer are hectic for the farmer;  Fall and Winter provide us with more time for reading, playing board games,  and hobbies.  I'm ready... How 'bout you?
                                                                 Shalom Y'all,     Twyla

Rosh Hashanah - Happy New Year!

      This morning, along with our eggs and  toast, I fixed a plate of apple wedges and a bowl of honey for dipping;  these are the traditional food for Rosh Hashana - one tastes the sweetness and ask G-d to bring that sweetness into the next year. Rosh Hashana is the REAL new year's day,  Per the LORD's calendar, the Hebrew calendar, this is the first day of a new year.  Like most things  today, the worldly idea of New Year's day is rowdy music, lots of alcohol, frantic dancing, etc. - We live in what I call "opposite world". Almost everything has gotten warped and twisted, so that what people consider "normal" is, in fact, anti-G-d. Things are the opposite of what they were created to be...
     Rosh Hashana is a high Holy day.  An "extra Sabbath" this week. A day to thank Abba Father for  His many blessings, and, to ask  His blessing on the new year to come.  Last night we lit the Sabbath candles, and "took communion" - Kiddush - to host in the new year.  We prayed together and separately that the LORD will protect us this year and make us a blessing to others.
     Above is another of my paintings. A Torah scroll, opened to the ten commandments.  I painstakingly copied the commandments letter-by-letter, in Hebrew, just as the anciect scribes were required to do with the entire Torah.  Rosh Hashana is the day of Teshuva - repentance and the turning back to Torah... Not quite the same as the revelry of "opposite world".
     We are going to the beach today.  We're taking a picnic lunch and lots of food for the fish and ducks.
And our devotions books  (communing with each other and God on a beach all to ourselves is awesome!)
When we come home this afternoon we will watch a movie and graze on various snacks in the fridge and cupboards.  Relaxation. Meditation. Adoration.
     Shanah Tovah!  (Happy New Year!)
                                                                                           Shalom y'all,     Twyla