A Wintry Morning at PotterVilla

It is finally winter at PotterVilla!  Last night's low temperature neared the single digits, and when coupled with a rising sun makes for beauty everywhere you look.  I don't know if I could live in a place that doesn't have such wonderful days.  Ever place has its own beauty I know, but I enjoy the cold, some say frigid, temperatures (though it does make for some chilly fingers working the camera) and can't picture (pun intended?) winter without the cold and snow!  This is usually when most people from around here tell me to move north :-)

But anyway, if you came down our road this morning....

and turned in at our sign....

 These are a few of the sights you'd have seen:

Starting with the rising sun...

Looking Southeast across the road at the neighbor's fields.

I really liked the frilly, frosty fibers on this plant--do you recognize it? 

Its call the Yucca (it has a tall stem with white flowers part of the year) 

 Even common weeds (and brush piles) take on a brilliant beauty that they usually eschew...

It reminds me of what can happen in a person's life if he will only totally surrender to God...Letting the SON shine on him and in turn reflecting His character, so that the world around sees no longer the person but his savior--it is transforming; and nobody will be able to look at him or his God the same way again.

I liked the way the different textures showed up in this shot. 

We've decided that there is one time of year that having a golf course in the backyard is especially pretty! 

 And then there are those wretched Scotch Pine trees that are the bane of my existence in the summer while I'm mowing, but live for the days like this that their cones may be photographed!

  

And the lovely three sisters: Blue Spruce and very prickly, but at least they don't droop!

 Last but not least a White Pine for good measure:

That's the tour for today--hope ya'all enjoyed it, but pictures really don't do it justice...so you'll just have to wander our way, come down that road, and turn at the sign.

Until next time; May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine upon you and give you peace!

Matthew

Photographic Odds and Ends

A few days ago we decided it was time to rescue the squash from the garage before it froze solid!  So we did a bit of chopping and then stuffed them in the respective cooking devices:

The 18 qt roaster full of Delectica squash

And a pan of Acorn squash got popped into the oven

 Then later that night we had a squash processing party!

Listening to Kevin Swanson's radio show always make the job go faster! 

These are a few pictures of a pillow Mom put together for Jonathan's piano teacher and his wife:

Mom did the embroidery several year ago and finally found the perfect combination to put it with. 

A detail view

The "other" side--still pretty!

 And a study of a yummy breakfast!

We also had a bit of a photo shoot the other day trying to get a good family picture--we haven't had a good one in several years--probably close to 6 or 8 years actually!

Here's a couple of them where we all at least had our eyes open!  When your laughing hysterically it's hard to keep your eyes open, let alone stay still :-)

Well there's a taste of what we've been up to the last few shutter closings....between Christmas (when we got the new "good" camera) and now we've takes a couple of thousand pictures.   Of course about 950 of them were trying to get everyone's eyes open!  And Baxter "hold still!"

Untill next time,

Matthew

Complete by Christmas

Well almost....

BUT....

We did....

As you can see there are still a few (about a dozen at quick count) finishing touches (or major sub-projects)...

One of which is to take the blank spaces above the doors and windows and put up decals of verses.  A few of our ideas are:

In the Beginning God Created...

The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom

But the biggest part of it all, eg. refinishing the cabinets and painting, is complete!  The new hardware is up and things are looking pretty.

Now we just have some lighting decisions to make, a few fixtures to install, some outlets to double, and a couple of new switches to install.  Then there's the range hood, which we want to cut shorter and refinish; and there are a few smaller things that we'll refinish too, Lord Willing, as long as we're at it.

However the end is in sight and we have regained use of the counters and cupboards which is the greatest blessing of having a kitchen.  

And so there you have it--a kitchen again!

We did even pretty much get it back to the point you see by the 24th.  I was still laid up with the flu, but Mom and Jonathan finished the painting and we recovered the counters as well....so all in all, we did pretty well by God's grace. 

Not that we'd ever try to do it right before Christmas ever again...

Matthew

Christmastime 2012

This year's celebrations did not go down quite as we all had envisioned--the flu bug came to visit just in time for the holidays--but by God's grace, after several days of lolling around we mustered up enough strength to have a semblance of seasonal spirit.  Thank God for hot tea and cololidal silver!

We ended up postponing our "Christmas" an extra day since I was still pretty heavy in the recovery mode on the 25th and Jonathan had come down with the fever.  It wasn't the funnest bug, with my case including a 102+ degree fever, and the worst case of sinus congestion I can remember, for about 3 days.  Jonathan's version was thankfully much less severe and Mom only got the head cold part of it, while Dad miraculously escaped unscathed.

Thus on the 26th we had our festivities (although greatly subdued) and opened our gifts.  We seemed to have more family gifts this year....some of us were a bit preoccupied with another project for some reason....However we did all concur that the Kitchen project could definitely count as a family gift!

So here are a few pictures of our days:

Our pretty Christmas tree--with handmade village ornaments 

Jonathan distributing gifts from under the tree

Mom and Dad

Even Baxter got a gift!

It all made for quite a pile of empty boxes!

Roses from last Christmas are still pretty!

 We also enjoyed a lot of good food over the break:

Hamburgers with all the trimmings!

And burgers seem to always taste better when grilled outside after dark! 

No Christmas is complete without a large selection of sugary goodies...

These were the result of one afternoon's baking--which is all that I managed to squeeze in this year....

Fortunately, some of the church ladies (who knew that we were kitchen-less) blessed us with some goodies as well, so those that were well enough had something to partake of before my late baking spree.  

We also enjoyed a lovely selection of Christmas music over the course of the Kitchen project and also during the festivities--some of our favorites are the CD's the Angle Tree Christmas, and also A Classical Christmas.  And of course no day is complete without a number of pieces by our favorite resident arranger/composer:

And then there were the games!  

If only that crazy string would stay put!
Once you've tried it with the included string
you'll quickly agree--it's time for a new one!!

Much better!

We take our games very seriously! :-)

Someone got the camera away from me!

We're getting close to the end...

Time for more Christmas Punch!

 On New Year's Day, we had a very similar modus operandi--Family, Food and Fun!

PotterVilla Pastured Pork--It can't be beat!

Deliciously paired with Buttermilk Pancakes.

 After Brunch it was time for more games....

An all time favorite

By later in the afternoon the goodies were calling loudly!

The ever-popular!

Skip-Bo -- partners

Gaming action!

Two games at once anyone?

And then all too soon, it was over....

Dad returned to the "daily grind" of work in Jackson and the rest of us to our various jobs and projects.  But we are thankful for the time we had to spend constantly together as a family, growing closer to each other and closer to God.

So until next Christmas, we pray that all of our and your days will be full of Christ as we strive to honor Him in Thought, Attitude and Action, seeking to be in fuller, sweeter, and more constant communion with Him and our Brothers and Sisters in the common Faith.

Happy New Year!

Matthew