The Viscount

I have news!  Wonderful news!  I... have....

 

Drum roll please...

 

Purchased a vintage sewing machine in it's own darling sewing table!!! 

 

As you probably guessed, I am very excited.  

 

 

It is the most unique sewing machine I have ever seen.  And it sews beautifully!  I adore everything about it!  Really - have you ever seen a robin's-egg-blue sewing machine?  It reminds me of a soda fountain and a retro rocket ship rolled into one.  I think it was made sometime in the 50s.  And... I made the bargain of the century by getting the machine, table, a chair, a sheet of glass to set on top of the table, and a can of touch-up paint for $20!  

 

I am smitten with the table, too... the cunning little thing!  If only I had a place to put it, now...  that would be perfect!  As it is, I guess I'll have to keep it on the back bunk.  Only then I can't open it.  Patience, patience...

 

*Slam*  Now we can go home!!

 

(Name that line...!;)

 

~Happy Trails!~

 

The Lady Jeanne-Marie... and Her French maid

The other day I tried out this amazing pompadour on a nothing-loath Ellen, and the result, though not so amazing as I had envisioned, (It fell out, so to speak, a short while afterwards;) was quite lovely.  

 

“Jo’s nineteen hair-pins all seemed stuck straight into her head, which was not exactly comfortable; but dear me, let us be elegant or die!”

 -L.M. Alcott

 

I only used fifty-six hairpins, rest assured.  I counted.

- Miss Kellie Ann

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

 

 

"Now, Ellen, look very haughty.  Supercilious.  Perfect!"

Au Reviore!

 

Fresh from Hawaii

Meet my ukulele.

I'm quite overwhelmed.  In fact, I am happy and excited and overjoyed and surprised!!

Grampy, thank you!!!

First snowfall

I was in that half-conscious state between sleep and wakefulness early this morning, when I first felt that something was wrong.  All wrong.  The lighting wasn't right somehow.  It was... white.  And it was really cold.  I shot upright and stared wildly out the window.  

It's hard to explain exactly how I feel about snow.  Every Autumn, I get some sort of... uneasiness - an urgency to get everything snug, clean, tucked in, so to speak.  And it's rather discouraging (to say the least!) to look forward to another winter... well, in the same place.  

Autumn is a time of growing for me.  A time to cry afresh; "Not my will, but Thine, Lord!"  And only after the first snow of the year, when I actually see everything shrouded in white, can I finally seem to be able to let God overcome my despondency and fill me with His joy.  

I felt almost overwhelmed this morning with the unreasonably early snow to begin with. Then the extra chores that come with it - thawing out the water lines that had frozen during the night, finding all of the winter chore clothes for the girls from the frigid depths of the storage bus, Ma being gone, and who knows what else, had me in a pretty advanced state of self-pity.

But then I started thinking about how little my troubles were, compared to some, and I started to feel better.  When the thought struck me that I was grumbling about the water pipes being frozen, and the winter clothes so hard to get to, when we had running water to thaw out, and nice, warm clothes to unpack, I had to laugh.  

The Lord is so good.  That's a very common statement, but a very, very true one.

When you look at the world from the palm of God's hand, it's beautiful.  

Even snow.

Happy Trails, Folks!

Rejoice in the Dance!

What does the Bible say about dancing?

A phenomenon has taken place in our homeschool circle recently.  We learned to dance the Virginia Reel.  And it has proved to be a joyous, old-fashioned, animating experience! (For some, that is. Others seem to have an abject terror of said dancing;)

However, when I was little, I always thought of dancing as something that was bad.  Something Christians shouldn't do.  

As Christians, we should strive to glorify the Lord in every aspect of our lives.  That includes searching the scriptures diligently to find out what His will is for us - His children.  

After I made this little study, I felt so joyful that I wanted to run and shout and dance and sing!  From these verses, it seems clear that the dance is used for praise, for rejoicing, for glad worship to the King of kings.  It is the opposite of mourning and lamentation.

Let us then be girt about with gladness, that our glory may sing praise to him, and not be silent!

 ''Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing:

thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 

 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent.

 O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. - Ps. 30:11-12

Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. - Ps. 150:4

 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...  

 ...A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. - Eccl. 3:1&4

 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 

Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. - Ps. 149:1-3

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Cor. 10:31

Rejoice in the dance!

Pasta is as Pasta does

The other day I made homemade pasta.  I envisioned something elegant, thin, smooth, uniform, reminiscent of fettucini.

Having none but the most primitive tools for the job, I began to be discouraged by the rather rustic appearance my pasta was presenting.

The dough was behaving rather well, in spite of my frustration and an unshakeable conviction that this meal was not going to look pretty...  (For those of you who are interested, the aforesaid dough had a remarkable propensity for elasticity that was quite fascinating!)

... The semi-finished product.

I preserved, cooked the pasta, and served it to my victims with fresh pesto.

And the result, though different from anything you've ever tasted before, was quite good, if I may say so.  The description is quite beyond me - rustic, thick, grainy, uneven, the opposite of what I'd imagined.

However, it was good.  As clearly proven by the fact that all traces had vanished in about ten minutes.

Who needs a pasta machine, anyway?