restless

I love travel. I mean I LOVE traveling. if I could spend my life in airports and train stations, I think I could be pretty happy. Every now and then an intense longing to pack up my bags and just GO somewhere takes over. A longing that s hardly conducive to my current job situation, and my current bank account situation. However, if neither were an issue I would love to just go somewhere on a whim. The people you meet in foreign places, and the moments you experience are just unforgettable. I have made several very dear friends whilst on my trips, and can even talk with them all the time, thanks to skype:) however, its not the same as actually being there. Memories seem to be the crutch that helps me limp a long until my next trip somewhere. It doesn't help any that my closest friends all love to travel as much as me. So whenever we hang out our conversations always seem to meander towards Europe, or Africa, or Mexico, or anywhere other than where we are. My dream trip? tour of Europe with my best friends, Naomi, Ingrid, and Monica. Scotland and Ireland are a must. Ukraine, of course (Monica lives there, but I love the country, so the trip would be more for me) Definitely England (If you know me, you know I have passion for hats, and rumor has it that London has quite the hat shops) France (Ingrid speaks fluently, and she is studying French education, or something along those lines.) I've been to France 3 times. However I'd love to actually see France, not just the inside of Charles De Gaul airport.

A day or two spent in Hungary would be nice. I've spent a couple days in Budapest. Its a beautiful city, but SO EXPENSIVE! My strongest memory of Budapest is watching COPS dubbed into Hungarian at the Hostel we stayed at. That and the giant bronze statue of Ronald Reagan in the center of the city.

Denmark would be nice, now that I've had a taste of it, from what I saw at the Amsterdam airport. And Germany. I'm half German and have family there. Plus Monica has family there too, so between the two of us we should be able to find enough people we know to communicate somewhat sufficiently.

Well, for now I must satisfy my restless soul with pictures, and some wonderful memories, and the knowledge that I will be on another airplane, another train, or bus or taxi, and that God has plans for me beyond even what I could imagine, and has given me my love for traveling for a purpose:)

Classical is fit for all moods

I have been listening to classical music a lot lately. In fact I'm listening to a classical music station on Pandora as I type. I go through phases of what music I listen to. I like most genres (all though I really don't care for rap) but lately I've been in the mood for classical. Its just nice and soothing. I get tired of lyrics, and guitars and drums, and sometimes I just want some nice background noise.

And for the past couple weeks I've mainly been listening to classical music. Well, that and Christmas music. At least I waited until September this year before I started listening to Christmas music:)

I've also been listening to old radio shows. I listened to the Jack Benny show today. Comedy sure isn't what it used to be. I'm very grateful that I came across the Old Time Radio Streamer app for my iphone. I love the 1930's and '40's, so hearing the old radio programs they used to play is simply wonderful.

So thats what I listened to while I worked today. That is when I wasn't being vastly amused be the incessant chatter of a very cute 2 year old. "J" is the son of a client of the cleaning company I work for, so while I was cleaning their house, I had an ongoing conversation about everything from Carrot juice to the " queaky mouses dat was in da bament"

It has been deliciously chilly out today:-) I can smell fall in the air, AND I had a divine pumpkin pie latte from a little coffee shop I discovered last week. I'm not really a coffee drinker, but I do love lattes and mochas! I foresee a large portion of my paycheck being spent there in the near future. I'll just use the excuse that I'm helping small businesses.

I went thrifting yesterday! and I got a new coat that was brand spanking new (still had the tags and everything) for a fraction of what it would have been in a department store. Thrift stores are wonderful. I'm not a very good thrift shopper though. I do best when my sister Anna is along

as she is very good at finding deals. In fact I'm wearing an expensive Carolyn Taylor Loft sweater right now that I got for a couple bucks last year at the thrift store. I believe Anna found that one for me.

Well this has been an absurdly A.D.D. post, so I shall leave to go work on more productive things:)

Of algebra and aromas

I remember when I was finally finished with algebra. I was so happy to be rid of those confusing hours spent trying to determine why ab equaled xy and all those confusing symbols that meant nothing to me, no matter how many time I would we reread how to work a problem, it made no sense to me. I honestly don't know how I passed it. And now, 5 years later (has it really been that long? I feel old!) I have decided its time to restudy what made no sense to me before. And even though I'm only three lessons into it, it is making more sense than it ever did before.

That was intro I was thinking of this morning while I was cleaning out the refrigerator, which is a science lesson in and of its self. Or it could be considered algebra too I suppose. Like what exactly was xy, before it turned from ab into xy. Anyways, I'm happy to have that chore over and done with.

And now as I sit on my bed eating a pb&j sandwich on this dreary day, typing on my computer while listening to Bach I will get to the real reason I wanted to write this blog entry.

Have you ever just smelled something and it immediately brought you back 10 years to a certain instance where you immediately remembered that smell before? Like when I smell Johnsons baby shampoo, I am immediately transported to being 4 years old and my parents calling me inside on a saturday evening to come take a bath. Or when I smell a wood-burning stove, I remember playing in a back room at my parents friends house while my parents were in a Bible study, and my brothers friend got the wheels of a toy car stuck in my hair (I don't remember how that happened though) Or how the scent of hymnals and pews remind me of VBS at my neighbors church (because my church has no distinct smell of course:-) )

Occasionally a random smell will hit me , and I feel like I'm back in Europe, walking the streets of Budapest, or sitting in the apartment in Ukraine, or trying to catch a catnap in Charles De Gaul airport in Paris, waiting to board the next plane.

Its amazing how our noses can affect our emotions and our minds. I wonder if thats something God was thinking about when he created noses. It must have been something he thought of when he created roses, grass and rain and anything else with a distinct smell.

I almost think noses were created for our pleasure. Sure, you can breath through them, but thats not all together necessary when one has a mouth to breath through as well. In any case, though, I'm grateful to have a nose to smell things.

What made me a happy girl!

I have long been a lover of L.M. Montgomery, so you can imagine my joy and excitement when this lovely bit of music came in the mail yesterday, a late birthday present from my parents!

Anne's Theme, by Hagwood and Hardy!

I was so excited! unfortunately I was unable to work on it right away, as we were heading out the door to my nephews birthday party, but I started on it this morning!

It will take some time to work on this piece,as I have a job and can't sit down and play for hours

but I am glad to have something to work on in my spare time.

Just the sound of the music makes me want to re-read all my Anne books

I have read and re-read these books countless times. As you can see by the creases in the spines, they have been thoroughly enjoyed!

So, while it will be some time before I can play the song like this:

I look forward to the time when it will be finished!

Labor Day...(litteraly)

My oldest sister once got a birthday card for my mom that showed a 1950's family sitting around the table, the mother standing above proudly displaying a beautifully roasted chicken. In the voice bubble, the mother was saying: "Trixie wasn't much of a pet, but as a main dish she should be terrific!!!"

And that, my friends is precisely what we will be having for dinner tonight. This morning Dad, Anna, Joel and I butchered and cleaned 3 of our 4 roosters. So Clem, Trixie (ironically... and by the way, he was named before we knew he was a rooster) and Merl are no more. We talked dad into letting us keep General (formally known as Magnolia) for future uses. such as making it possible to have more chickens to be raised for meat and eating purposes:-P

So on this Labor day, I only had to work this morning (yay!) but have been rather busy, what with the chickens and preparing greenbeans for freezing, and canning stewed tomatoes and hot peppers and Tomato soup. Actually, Anna did the soup. And it is soooo tasty! yummy... I wonder if it would be possible to can my mom's delicious pumpkin soup. I would be in 7th heaven if it were. To have it year-round would be a delight.

And also speaking of labor, My sister had her baby on Friday! he weighed 9.7 lbs and was 20.9 inches long. And he has a FULL HEAD OF HAIR!!! my goodness, he is a little doll. Little Jeremiah Benjamin looks quite like all of his siblings, except (for now anyway) he has dark hair, and all the others are blonde.

Well, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day of rest, as I plan to start resting soon too, on this dreary and cool September day! I must hunt down some Road to Avonlea movies to watch.
Farewell!

awaiting fall

On Saturday its supposed to be 63 degrees out. I have to say I'm looking forward to a nice chill in the air. Especially as it has been in the upper 80's to mid 90's the past 5 days. I love fall. Its my favorite of all seasons. Partially because of all the smells and things associated with autumn, burning leaves, cinnamon apple and pumpkin spice candles, changing colors of leaves, apple picking, apple cider, pumpkin pies, fresh apple pies, canning apple sauce and tomato sauce and grape jam. The only thing about Fall that I'm not fond of is Halloween and raking leaves. I don't mind raking leaves too much, just when its FREEZING out and the leaves are damp and stiff and don't want to be raked.

I have discovered I like to can. I've been canning with my sister this year ( Salsa, Hot Peppers, pickles...) and decided I really enjoy it. Last year I wasn't able to really help with anything cause of my job, but this year I have had enough time to help out, and have been enjoying it... Well, except for the pickle incident. Which really wasn't an incident, it was just about 90 degrees out (and we have no a/c) and humid and steamy (in the kitchen anyway) and I had poison ivy all over my hands, and my sister and friend Naomi ( who was helping) had burned themselves by not wearing gloves while slicing up hot peppers (we canned hot peppers that day too), so we'd fill up when jar and then plunge our hands in ice water. It was misery.
However, our discomfort was worth it, as the pickles won a blue ribbon at our county fair last week, along with the salsa Anna and I canned the Saturday before the fair.
Speaking of the fair, I entered peanut butter cookies in the baked goods catagory, and won a blue ribbon and a best of show ribbon. That was exciting. the Judges ate all but one of the cookies too. AND, I have decided that I will post the recipe for everyone on here, but probably not today. If we are friends on Facebook, I'll post a status to let everyone know when its up.

Lately I have been doing quite a bit of working. Working two jobs can be tiring, but at least when I go to bed, I can usually fall right to sleep. Tomorrow and Friday I'll be working all day, possibly quite late.

Yesterday I got a new journal. I used to ( ok, this was about 7 years ago) write in one regularly, and I hope to get back in the habit. I like to go back and reread things and such.
AND, I am using a fountain pen with it. There is something slightly old fashioned and nice about fountain pens. I don't use one often, but I think for my journal I'll try to make a point of it. I also liked using one to write letters, but I haven't really written a letter in a while.
Well, I have a mirade of things to do, more important to writing random things on here, so I'll be getting to them:-)

Doings

So I'm sitting at the library now, and thought to write a blog, since our computer at home is so terribly slow. So sorry for all fellow computer people at the library who may be annoyed at constant typing.

I thought to write a blog on what I've been doing lately, as I have been so fearfully neglectful of any information this past month.

I have been working everyday (but Sunday) either at the farm or babysitting, and next week I start a second part-time (for now) job. Its nice, cause I will be able to have a month off for my trip.
Ohh, GREAT NEWS! our tickets are booked, and I am FOR CERTAIN going to Africa! I can't even relate to you the immenseness of my exitement (as I'm certain the all capital letters must have showed you) so On October 14, we will drive to a neighboring state and leave from that airport (in doing so, it was cheaper by nearly $800 for the three of us going to Africa as well as Ukraine) and fly into PARIS (Granted, I will only be seeing the inside of the airport, but I'll take great joy and being able to tell people that I have been to Paris before. 3 different times in fact, by the time these excursions are over and I return home) then from there to Budhapest, Hungry, and then we will take a train from Budhapest to the Ukraine, stay there for two weeks, in which time we will be doing Childrens' programs, and visiting churches and then the last 3 days we will be involved in a youth outreach/open air conference thing ( I don't recall what they called it) Then we will all take the train back to Budhapest, and four members of our team will head home, and the rest of us are going on to Mozambique, Africa. I don't know what all we will be doing there yet, but am so excited!

The trouble will be in the packing. I get one 40 lb. suitcase to pack for an entire month of living out of. Now this wouldn't be so hard, except that the Ukraine will be cold, and Mozambique will be beastly hot (it will be their summer, and its not uncommon for temperatures to reach 120 degrees) so I'm sure it will be an...experience:-)

well, that is all for now, I shall relate to you other events at some other time, so in the mean time, farewell!