Only in Lancaster

In the last half a dozen years, we have gone to the Lancaster's Symphony New Year's Eve concert.  The conductor always prefaces and concludes the evening with the phrase, "only in Lancaster."  Today on this Fourth of July weekend, I enjoyed another "only in Lancaster" privilege.  I picked a table arrangement of zinnias, daisies, and plumes for only $3.00 from an Amish garden.

The Amish farm is over the covered bridge, around the corner, and up hill from our house.  A mule drawn wagon passes us as we climb the last elevation before reaching the picture-perfect cutting garden.

A table sits in front of the flowerbed bearing a sign, "Cut Your Own Flowers".

Upon closer inspection, on the folding table, you find another handwritten sign:  "Sunflowers .25 each, all other flowers $1.00 a dozen".  The plastic container, weighed down with rocks, awaits deposits.  Even a pair of scissors is laid out for the using.  What trust; it is all on the honor system.

I always appreciate the simple beauty of the garden.  The grass is neatly edged.

 Flowers are planted in careful rows by type.

The landscape designer planted with an eye to the eventual height of the blooms.  The tallest sunny faces are in the back row, while the short colorful blossoms are in front.

  

On the way home, we cross a second covered bridge.

 Then we pass a tiny potting cottage...

which sits beside a sweet guest house.

What beauty we enjoy...only in Lancaster.

This Fourth of July, I hope you each celebrate the unique brand of freedom we enjoy only in the United States of America.

Joy Bubbles Up from Praise

I am savoring a book chuck full of wisdom and joy, One Thousand Gifts.

The author, Ann VosKamp,

is daughter-of- the-Heavenly-Father, wife-of-a-Canadian-farmer, mother-of-six-children, and truly-a-poet. In prose-poetry, she opens the eyes of her readers' hearts to see God's daily gifts. Then, by listing the Lord's thousands of gifts, they reap a joy-full life.

This post will follow her lead. Won't you trail along, creating your own list of thanksgivings? Joy is sure to follow.

1.  "Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of yourself--your unsoiled righteousness, your unparalleled love, your amazing grace--displayed so obviously in creation."

2.  "Thank you, Lord, for the kind, trustworthy, godly man you gave me."

3.  "Thank you, Lord, for our son's deep-throated belly-laugh at all of life.  Thank you for his wife, a wonderful mother, for their bright thee-year-old little girl and adorable son."

4.  Thank you for the match you made for our oldest daughter who captures beauty in her new home and advocates for victims of crimes against humanity. You knew she needed a brilliant husband whose taste and goals parallel her own, and you provided. What a powerful couple for good they will make as they grow more and more aware of your abundant grace."

5. "Thank you, Father, for our second daughter, her creativity and her compassion.  Thank you for her hardworking, happy, godly husband. And a big thank you for their most exuberant little boy and the promise of another son to frolic with his brother."

6.............


Did you begin your own list?  I hope so, because joy will multiply in your life as you take Ann's advice to thank the Lord for his thousands of gifts.

I have found a praise list to be a gift that gives back.  It works like this: Praising the Creator makes glad the heart of God which in turn bubbles up in ours.

Furthermore, praise is not difficult to voice because, as author-Ann says, "All really is outrageous grace."

Birthday Party Work Zone

Two-year-old little boys love trucks, heavy equipment, well actually, any machine that goes vroom, vroom.  Oh, let's get real; twelve-year-old boys, twenty-two-year old young men, even sixty-two-year-old men like machines-on-wheels.  This fetish inspired my daughter to build her little boy's birthday party theme around construction equipment.

The invitations dug the foundation.

Yellow, black, and white balloons directed traffic to the site.

Front porch signs cautioned pedestrians to proceed with caution.

Once inside, young guests donned hard hats

to avoid construction hazards above

and below.

Each young construction worker found a bag of equipment with his or her name.

The guest of honor discovered a road running across the table....

and a truck driving across his cake.

For a little boy growing up in a yogurt-and-humus home,

 the Oreo-cookie dirt was an especially tasty treat!

Opening his gifts,

he uncovered new trucks--trash trucks, cement mixers, and dump trucks.

At nap time, little man went to sleep with heavy equipment surrounding him.

Sweet dreams and happy birthday, big boy.

Golden Friendships

When you were in girl scouts, did you say the motto:  "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold"?  Well, we spent our last few days panning gold.

On Friday, we flew to the windy city, Chicago.  It was breezy, of course, but a beautiful spring day. After checking into the hotel, we hopped the east bound Metra train for center city.  Disembarking at the last stop, we caught a cab which took us to some long-time friends' penthouse condo on North Lake Shore Drive.

From the top floor of the prewar building, the views of Lake Michigan are postcard perfect.

You might think a large penthouse in a doorman-building would be intimidating, but our down-to-earth friends immediately put us at ease.  Their tasteful and comfortable interiors humanize the grand coffered ceilings and old wood paneling.  Toys for grandchildren, family pictures, and religious art reflect their values.  Besides, their gracious hospitality spilled over us making us feel welcome.

After hors d'oeuvres, we drove to Chicago's Symphony Hall where we dined before attending the concert. Before we ate, my husband's best man and our long time friend thanked the Lord for his grace in all of our lives.

Then we were treated to a performance conducted by the world renowned Riccardo Muti. He directed the orchestra in a premiere performance of Pulitzer-prize-winning-composer Bertrand Rands' Danza petrificada, followed by Strauss' Death and Transfiguration and Prokofiev's Suite from Romeo and Juliet.

After the concert, we caught a west-bound Metra train back to our hotel.

Saturday morning we drove over to Wheaton College, my husband's alma mater.  Wheaton is a family tradition.  His father and three of his aunts attended, and one of our daughter's followed their footsteps. (If you aren't familiar with Wheaton, Google to read its rich history. The Reverend Billy Graham and Jim and Elizabeth Elliot are among alumni who have lived the college motto, "For Christ and His Kingdom.")

At the Saturday morning class-of-'71-breakfast, we chatted with some of Bill's nearly sixty classmates in attendance and listened as each shared snippets of God's grace in their life. Afterward, we went to the luncheon for the entire alumni contingent. Impressively, there must have been over 500 former students present.  The oldest two alumni were from the class of 1936!

From there, we drove to another suburb to attend the wedding of our friends' son.

What a joy to see Peter Connelly marry Krissy Peters.  The bride's infectious enthusiasm seems to match Peter's sterling qualities. The reception was in a warehouse-turned-gallery, the perfect place to celebrate young Christian love.

Mother's Day morning dawned bright and clear.  After brunch hosted by the groom's parents, we drove east to O'Hare and caught a flight back to Pennsylvania.

This morning as I was reviewing the delightful weekend I was reminded of the last lines of the hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken":

"Fading is the worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; 

solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know."   

Lasting friendships grounded in Christ glittered this weekend. Such treasure is priceless.

Powder Room Gets Face Lift

Have you heard the expression, "The apple does not fall far from the tree"?  Well, there is truth to it.   Guess what our youngest daughter wanted for her thirtieth birthday?  Some accessories for her powder room!

after

We happily obliged. In a short weekend we were out to celebrate her milestone, the powder room got a face lift.  Originally, the small space was painted a pretty shade of blue/green, but had builder-grade accruements.

before

At Mission Road Antiques Mall, we found some wonderful accessories to upgrade the room.  Our first reclaimed treasure was an antique leaded-glass window.

The rich, dark gray lead provided a color scheme for accessories, while the pattern set a somewhat Gothic theme.  We found a miniature lead French "laver" for above the commode. The top portion has a detailed spigot and the bottom basin is clover-leaf shaped and decorated with the French fleur-de-lis perfect for French-milled soaps!

In the same mall, we spied a French wire basket to provide a home for magazines. Notice how the color and lines repeat the color and pattern of the glass?

Finally, the builder-grade mirror was replaced by a lovely antique gold-leafed mirror, and the light fixture was  upgraded with Circa lighting.

Without changing plumbing fixtures, the interesting accessories create a delightful place to powder one's nose.

Easter Celebration: Spring Table-scape & Menu

Over the weekend, we were blessed by having our son, daughter-in-law, their two munchkins, and a nephew as house-guests. 

 Yesterday for dinner, they were joined by a great grandfather, two great grandmothers, and a great aunt.  Getting ready for the party is always fun for me.  I enjoy cleaning the house, planning menus, purchasing the groceries, and making flower arrangements.  But, the flower arranging is my favorite preparation.

purple tulips and purple grape hyacinths (Muscaris amenicum)

I began by soaking the oasis in water with flower-perservative.  Then I cut two dozen purple tulips stems into seven inch lengths.  Next, I gathered several dozen of the tiny grape hyacinths from my garden, cutting them in five inch lengths.  I spaced the tulips in the oasis.  Then I filled in with the smaller flowers, and finally I added the tulip leaves.  The green and purple color scheme is one of my favorites.

My Easter menu was easy and could be used all spring and summer.  I began by serving crackers and cheese and a pear nectar with sparkling pear juice as an appetizer.  

At the table I first passed the whole wheat dinner rolls and the citrus and strawberry salad.  A short cut that eliminated the time consuming and tedious chore of segmenting the grapefruit was using canned but drained pink and white grapefruit sections. I also added a can of drained crushed pineapple.  Finally, I mixed in a pint of frozen (but defrosted) sweetened strawberries in their juice.  

  

The main course was a honey baked, spiral-cut ham, green beans, carrots, and scalloped potatoes. My shortcut for the scalloped potatoes is to use the packaged sliced potatoes sold for making home fries. The recipe is on the back of the package.

 

Dessert was simple--a purchased coconut cake topped with a scoop of pina colada sorbet.

The most memorable moments of the weekend were watching a three-year-old and a one-year-old hunt Easter eggs.  

Too quickly, the weekend was over and they had to drive away.  

Happy memories linger.