Home & Homestead Living
~ someone’s beautiful homeplace ~ Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black. I suppose I’ve passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it. I never have seen…
Read More
~ Indian paintings in Tazewell County, VA ~ On October 17th, Sunday, the Cove Community Association hosts a wagon ride to the Indian paintings at Paint Lick. We’ve done this several times and it’s always fun at a beautiful time of year. It’s usually cold but we have the ride after a frost to ensure snakes aren’t stirring. Wagons are…
Read More
~ Maiden Spring Road ~ “…there is a future for the man of peace.” ~ Psalms 37:37 ~ If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” ~ Moshe Dayan ~ “There was never a good war or a bad peace.” ~ Benjamin Franklin ~ “They shall beat their swords into…
Read More
~ Sedum ~ “Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence ~ October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came – The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand, Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor…
Read More
~ TCF farmhouse ~ Do you have sanctuary? Do you think it’s important to carve out a place where you can be alone with just your thoughts, perhaps the company of beloved companions nearby and no sound save that of the wind’s whisper, the lowing of the cattle, sheep bleating, horses neighing, bird song or other nature only sounds? ~…
Read More
~ apples being washed ~ About this time, every year, my family gathers together to make apple cider. This year we went to my brother’s West Virginia farm, on the mountain north of Snowshoe, and squeezed six bushels of whatever apples he and his wife found on the mountain. ~ who needs a ladder? ~ Since we had to go…
Read More
~ …you are covered… ~ “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” ~ Exodus 10:8 ~ “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day.” ~ Hebrews 10:25 ~ “I think of my life and the lives of everyone…as not just…
Read More
~ Otis’ Eats ~ Don’t you love autumn and all the wonderful festivals? We have several in our little county and one of the favorites is the Burkes Garden Festival. It’s a harvest festival, none of that halloweenie stuff for us, we celebrate Christian holy days…thank you very much, and I enjoyed myself today. Burkes Garden is, thus far, the…
Read More
~ our vintage waffle iron ~ Care to take a guess of the age of our waffle iron? If you guessed forty years, you’d be right on the money! Dave bought it when he was property of Uncle Sam, at the Ft. Lee Army Base in Virginia. It’s been a good waffle iron, still is actually, but it has this…
Read More
~ a quiet spot ~ Sometimes God uses painful lessons as a reminder for me to slow down. Although I seem to forget, He never does, I’ve got 60 in the headlights and this is one reason I can’t do as much as I could do when we moved to the farm back in ’95. Well, do ya think?! Yeah,…
Read More
~ Meri Go Lightly, some say her best side ~ “Cowgirl is an attitude, really. A pioneer spirit, a special American brand of courage. The cowgirl faces life heard on, lives by her own lights, and makes no excuses. Cowgirls take stands, They speak up. They defend the things they hold dear. A cowgirl might be a rancher, or a…
Read More