A cut from the life of the Rosholt Selles; A slice of culture from central Wisconsin; A piece of overseas mission; all from the heart of one who is richly blessed by the Heavenly Father.
Half of our Pennsylvania trip with family is to be with Matthew and Angie and their two boys, Isaac and Caleb. We're just about ending that part of our trip, leaving tomorrow for Miriam and Ross's home in Wexford on the north side of Pittsburgh, a 45 minute drive from Bethel Park on the southside.
Horse back riding is only part of the fun.
Isaac pulls out the internals of a pie pumpkin.
In reality, birthdays can be anytime.
Caleb (18 months)
The boys enjoy bunny pancakes.
Ready for another day at school (Tuesday and Thursday)!
We're all having fun in the colorful maple leaves.
.........at least, I THOUGHT we were having fun.
Exquisite!
A whole tree full of beautiful leaves.
But, there is more.
a zinnia..........
another zinnia.........
ornamental grass........
and, Butterfly bush.
Sometimes, a stern word is heard from "Ma."
All during this time, I'm also making preparations for the trip to China...leaving on Oct. 23.
There comes a time each year when the temps move lower, the trees begin dropping leaves, and one begins rapidly to prepare for the onslaught of snow (although I enjoy the snow). Vegetables get quickly harvested, the lawn gets prepared for a time of "no growth," and tools are thoroughly cleaned and placed in their winter storage positions.
It's a time of change, but also a time of beauty. Enjoy with me these days of change.
Karol is always a partner in those times of change. We're harvesting stalks of Brussels sprouts and handfuls of curly kale. The fall veggies are always full of vitamins and other healthy goodies.
Asters are maybe one of the latest flowers to bloom. And they've saved their best beauty for all to see.
Asters and colorful leaves edge the pond.
We don't slow down much even for the changing seasons, but there always seems to be time to sit on our pier and feed the hungry fish.
This year, our new venture was one hill of birdhouse gourds. We didn't know what to expect. They did vine over a group of our bushes, but the gourds look like they'll be good. The book says to wait until the leaves are frosted before we consider harvesting the gourds.
Sumac always seems to outdo itself shortly before the leaves begin to drop.
The birds love the fall. Berries and crab apples are ripe for the eating. These berries are located on the yellow (golden) twigged dogwood located up near the garden.
When we get behind on harvesting, the plants lose no time in trying to reproduce. Here the broccoli flowers in anticipation of producing seeds for next year.
Apples are crisping up and storing additional sugar. That's good for the consumer who plans to harvest the produce before the freeze.
We still have lots of apples to harvest - and give away. They're all organic and may not look like the kind that you purchase at your local grocery or fruit market, but, if you can get by the looks, they are mighty tasty to the palate.
The deep yellow and the many "rusty" shades are characteristic of fall. The beauty is intense.
You have to see to believe. The harvest of apples this year has been amazing. Not only my trees, but all the apple trees in the greater neighborhood - they're all getting broken branches because of the weight of the apples. And the grapes have been good too (along with lots of blueberries).
One side of the tree.
I do not spray my apples - no chemicals. There's a little apple scab but really no worms to speak of.
These are waiting to be peeled, cored, sliced and then put into the dehydrator. Today we made cinnamon dried apples.
Although they have seeds, they are enjoyable to eat because they are so sweet.
Maybe next year, I'll be able to harvest for wine. Just enough for eating this year.
Even blueberries were easy to pick. I still have one bush that is bearing enough blueberries for everyday eating.
If I find a recipe, I may try making some rose hip jelly.
THE FOLLOWING PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY KAROL: she loves the produce and flowers.
Roma tomatoes
Yummy eggplant.
Soon we'll be eating brussels sprouts.
Purple cabbage make great "sweet and sour" cabbage.
If you're ever in Ft. Wayne at this time of the year, you'll want to visit the weekend-long Johnny Appleseed Festival held at the burial place of Johnny himself (someone said that they had 150,000 visitors). Karol and I were in Ft. Wayne this weekend to attend her 50th Concordia High School reunion held at the Holiday Inn. While she was off to a luncheon, I visited the festival grounds - quite a variety of interesting tents all the way from huge pots of soup to blacksmiths to antique shops and a farmers market.
Johnny Appleseed's grave.
They surely were enjoying cooking it in the "old fashioned" way.
The little band marched and played all through the festival grounds.
CLICK HERE to watch a brief listen to the marching band.
And some just have to help by "watching."
Performances were held throughout the whole area - maybe seven to tent stage areas.
CLICK HERE to watch what I'd call a clogging country music dance.
Of course, I'm always interested in the wooden bowls.
Displays of all kinds of "settler" activities were available.
These young bucks were manning a cider press.
We use these kind of pots for our canning, but I guess they work for cooking over an open fire too!
"Hey, mom, can I buy one of these for my sister?"
And, of course, we always like to look at the antique shops to compare and see how much the "old" things in our house are worth. Sometimes we are REALLY surprised!
I received a cold shudder from several of you who aren't especially fond of snakes. So this post will turn to much more pleasant subjects.
Karol and I celebrate when God leads people into full-time church work. Last week, we drove to Oconto Falls to attend the evening ordination service for Sherry (Van Donsel) Van Lishout. Sherry was a faithful attendee at Peace (especially her serving as one of the international student ministry peer ministers) and graduated from UWSP about 2005.
Sherry was ordained in her home congregation and has been called to serve a pastorate in Iowa.
Sherry has not lost any of her joy and warmth. I'm sure that she will make a fine pastor.
Over the past several weeks, Karol and I added a sitting area on the southeast corner of the house. When the colder temps come, this area should stay just a bit warmer.
Karol and I visited Nathan and Holly (Luke and Megan) in Sturgeon Bay on Sunday and Monday. On Monday morning, Nathan took us to Potawatomi State Park in Door County near Sturgeon Bay. We discovered a wonderful underused park. Enjoy the following pictures. The tower had 100 steps. You'd have to know that I was a little fearful of the climb up.
A refuge for gulls and geese 100 yards out into the lake.
