What a Weekend!!!....

(click to biggify any pictures you want to see better)



What a wonderful way to celebrate the Summer Solstice(aka First Day of Summer)* and Father's Day!! We had a wild and crazy time of it which included laughing to the point of nearly being sick numerous times, including when Mark jumped overboard to rescue his favorite lure! The depth finder said the water was 2-feet deep. He hopped out, never felt the bottom and came up sputtering! Amy had just put her feet over the front of the boat and we saw the ripples in the sandy bottom. Apparently there was a huge abrupt drop-off just a few feet out. At least he got cooled off.

It was a terrific 30 hours!! Everything worked, we didn't forget anything, our meals were simple and delicious, and everyone got to go in the boat at least twice. Nobody got hurt, well not anything major. I jammed a toe at the swimming area and Sarah scraped her foot on a rock but the pain was soon forgotten. Other than still feeling like I'm on the boat and being exhausted from lack of sleep(it was 93 freaking degrees at 10pm!!!) we are recovered. Mark even unloaded the gear and started laundry within an hour of being home.



We almost didn't go. Friday I had to go buy some camping groceries and when I got in the Jeep the a/c wasn't working. At all. Neither was the radio. Or the power locks and windows. We were sure we'd put the Jeep in the shop Saturday morning. Thankfully, something clicked in it and everything worked Saturday morning so we hurriedly loaded all the gear and headed out. I'm oh so glad we did, and so are these folks...











Luck was on our side and we managed to get the same exact campsite as we had last year. It is important that we settle near the bathrooms. The girls walk to them alone(together) and I would rather be within earshot. This site is one of the bigger and flatter sites they have. Some of the others we checked out on our loop walks were configured in such a way that the tents were in a weird location or the concrete table pad was a foot step-off all the way around. Everyone can't wait to go again, though we'll likely find a different state park.





Creature comforts in the form of air mattresses, lots of ice, junk foods, craft supplies and electronic devices(ipods and cell phones) kept us sane in the heat. I had big plans to locate driftwood and lake stones for an art project but remembered too late that those things weren't easily found at Lake Bob Sandlin but at Atlanta State Park so I had to crochet instead. I made two babushkas(kerchiefs) making up the pattern as I went. The yarn is I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby and its true, I LOVE it!





Dinner Saturday night was super easy. I had boiled a box of elbow noodles(the kind with extra fiber-yum), grilled 9 bone/skinless chicken breasts on Friday afternoon, chopped them, and put it all in the fridge. When we got ready to eat, I warmed up some bottled alfredo sauce on the camp stove with a can of drained diced tomatoes, spices and some of the chicken. I added the noodles and about 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and we had a feast!! Mark mistakenly grabbed a container of greens leftover from our Wednesday night's meal when he filled the coolers so we had salad as a bonus! I brought two packages of sandwich buns so I split them and toasted over the flame. Camp cooking is SO fun if you prepare well. Because the menfolk wanted to fish early Sunday morning I didn't bring breakfast stuff. Instead we had chocolate covered donuts, Doritos, and Zone bars.





We had glow stick bracelets for our Solstice Celebration. The kids hung them from cracks in the bark on the trees all around our campsite, even made a face. I thought they were pretty creative. We left them up all night.











*Now, before anyone has a freak out about the Solstice. Every person in the world experiences the the Solstices even if they don't know it. We all experience the lengthening days of Spring and the short days of Winter and the shortest and longest days of the year because that is the science of our world which I happen to believe was put into place by our Creator. Celebrating is not the same as Worship and reveling in the summer is not the same as revering my Lord God. Not that I have to defend myself but I'd rather not go through another round of rumors about my religious beliefs.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

After I wake up a bit more I plan to celebrate by spending a good part of the day outside, planted in my camp chair with a crochet project and a pitcher of iced tea! It might be at the lake or a park, or maybe in the front yard, that part hasn't been decided yet. Our temp will be in the mid-80s today so the lake would be nice but Ryan has a friend coming over, we have to get our raw milk sometime after 2pm, and the kids have church tonight so my guess would be that we'll stick close to home.

I came across these websites this morning. They'll make you think.

Christian Ecology- Christians for Environmental Stewardship

Forum on Religion and Ecology

Evangelical Ecologist Blog(see Christians Don't Do Earth Day)

ThinkChristian.net

The National Religious Partnership for the Environment

In other news...

The pretzel recipe from Alton Brown makes wooooonderful bread!!! I whipped some up Monday night to go with our leftover spaghetti and threw in onion and garlic powder, fennel and caraway seeds, parsley and savory. Instead of a loaf, I patted it down to almost fit in my large jelly roll pan, about 13x10 inches. I also didn't let it rise the second time, just once. We are using it for sandwich bread and toasting it. I can't get over how good it tastes with black forest ham. Next time, I'll leave it as an oblong loaf shape and let it rise a second time.

The girls just found their camera so pictures will be more frequent. They misplaced the cord for my camera, grrrr. Oh well, it will show up someday.

Coming Clean...

I've had a few questions about why I changed my blog url/name so I think I'll take this public space to let everyone know what went on.

This happened because of an incident with a local homeschool mom "friend". For reasons I don't understand, back in early November she started planting seeds in the heads of many moms in our local (99% conservative Christian) homeschooling community that I was a devil worshipper(pagan, wiccan, choose your poison) apparently because I love nature and voted for Obama.

Yeah.

She did.

Sigh.

I heard one of the things that caused her to think this, or whatever, was because I had pine cones in a basket at Christmastime. Also, she appeared to "know"(by osmosis I guess) that I didn't have any Bibles in my home. For the record, we have NINE, more if you count a few from childhood and at least one of them gets read multiple times a day. And that I didn't have any crosses in my home. We do have crosses, they just aren't prominently displayed on my walls. If those things make someone a non-Christian then a lot more of us might be in big trouble!! Personally, I don't believe one should decorate with crosses to prove one's faith. Having them in possession is one thing, displaying them is one thing, but for it to be a requirement of Christianity is quite another! Not buying it.

***updated to add this: Another thing she questioned(or brought up to others for questioning actually) was a quilt I had made. She claimed it was a pagan symbol of some sort. She had told another friend it was pictured on my blog so I searched and searched. Surely I would know if I made a quilt with pagan symbols on it, don't you think? Anyway, I finally found what she was talking about(I think), a paper-pieced hexagon quilt in a six-pointed star shape. Oooooh. Apparently there is some reference to a six pointed star in Revelation being the sign of the devil. I really had to do some research on that one. Sheesh. At this point it became very clear to me that she was strictly on a "witch hunt" and I was the target. What was so bad is that she got a few of my long-time friends involved with this. My relationship with some of them will never be the same.

Here is a neat site about Christian symbols, and another.

I can assure you that I am not what she claimed. I am a Christian, raised Southern Baptist but not in a church home right now. Truth is something I'm all for, I wouldn't deny believing a certain way if it was really what I believed. Religions fascinate me, I love learning about why and what others believe in. Some of my local friends are pagan and/or Wiccan. They are not going to convert me or corrupt me, loss of my salvation isn't an issue. They are interesting and non-judgemental(well, ok, there are a few who are quite judgemental...oh well) but I am friends with them because I LIKE them. I am NOT doing anything wrong by having people with different belief systems in my life. It's too bad that others have a problem with this but I'm not going to change nor does it negate my status as a child of God.

Anyway, she questioned my Dark Oak Woman name(which was strictly an "indian name", hello, I have been interested in Indians since I was a preschooler and majored in Native American Studies at OU!) and dirtied it for me. That's ok though!! I really love the new name, it fits my personality much better.

I cut all ties with this person in mid-February and will not allow her toxic spewing back into my life, ever! I've even asked others not to tell me if the issue is still being discussed. This has been a nightmare for me and my family but has finally leveled out on my end. Now is the time for me to be done with it completely, it has wasted FAR, FAR too much of my time.

And that's the story of why I'm now at uneven edges.*G* Hope yall understand my need for a change!