Schoolhouse Brownies

These are our favorite house brownies. Clara can usually be talked into making them to share with our Wednesday night Bible study. They can be made dairy-free, which is a plus--just take care to use dairy-free margarine and baking chocolate (hard to find).

*Schoolhouse Brownies*

Melt over low heat:

3/4 c. butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Stir together and set aside to cool.

In electric mixer bowl, beat until light and creamy, maybe 5-8 minutes:

4 eggs
1/2 t. salt
2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Gently blend in the cooled chocolate, and, with a wooden spoon just til combined:

1 c. flour
2 c. chocolate chips

Pour into Pam'ed 13 x 9 pan and bake for about 30 minutes at 350. I check for doneness with a toothpick but am willing to underbake a smidgen--makes them moist and good. Possibly the best brownies of all time.

Tea Party

Last week's lunch was so much fun that today I had friends over to tea. Besides, the round table was still under the maple tree ready for setting!


I didn't have a lot of time to prepare so I kept the menu simple: cucumber sandwiches on homemade bread spread with Greek yogurt, dusted with sea salt and fresh-ground pepper; brownies; and dried cherry scones with whipped cream and raspberry jam. And, of course, Cream Earl Gray tea.





My lovely neighbor brought over roses! They looked gorgeous with the table setting.



Eating and drinking and talking in the dappled shade of the maple, watching the sky change and the clouds blow by, was wonderful. If I had a staff, believe me, I would have a tea party every day.

Clogs

Time for new shoes for the girls! I find that colorful clogs are really practical for our life. They go with everything (by matching nothing), and are appropriate for everything but fancy dresses. They slip off easily at the door during muddy weather, they show off colorful socks, they're indestructible, and they're just so cute!

Clara and Bella enjoyed picking this year's models out of the Hanna Andersson catalog.

Daisy's not big enough for clogs yet, though she enjoys tromping around in any stray clogs she can find. For her, this year, I indulged once more in leopard-print mary janes. Mmm.

Cleaning a Large House

Here are some things that *haven't* worked for me over the years, in chronological order (also happens to go from dirtiest to cleanest):

1. Never cleaning and waiting for the Composer to sweep when things got really bad.
2. Hiring someone to clean every two weeks, and doing nothing in between.
3. Trying to clean the whole house all in one day, once a week. In an hour.
4. Doing all the dusting one day, all the floors another day, all the bathrooms another day, etc.

Here's what does work for me:

1. Breaking the house into five sections.
2. Cleaning one section each day--tidying, dusting, wiping stickies, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning bathrooms.
3. [GENIUS WARNING] Making the children "work for me" every weekday morning from 8:30 to 9:00, right before school starts. We get an amazing amount done in a quick half-hour, and there are no cleaning chores hanging over any of us the rest of the day.

Benefits:

1. The whole house is cleaned every week.
2. No cleaning on the weekends.
3. I may never have that all clean feeling for the whole house at once, but I can have it for a whole wing, the upstairs, the kitchen, etc.
4. My children have learned how and why to clean, and they are amazing contributors. And my house looks great all the time!

Beauty in the Bedroom

Afternoon light and breeze in the curtains:



Rose-scented geranium on my nightstand:



Pillowcases my grandmother embroidered and edged with crocheted lace:

Sewing Another Apron

I made up another view from this retro-style apron pattern (Simplicity 4692) and like it very much--the tulip-shaped pockets, the scalloped hemline, the nicely-shaped neckband which I sewed closed rather than using Velcro (which, heaven forbid, the pattern calls for!!!) or buttons. There is plenty of room to slip it over my head.

"I May Dwell in the House of the Lord"

"One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to meditate in His temple."

--Psalm 27:4

Dried Annabelle Hydrangeas

I love this green with the rest of the green in the room. Floral oasis makes a good enough frog for these very lightweight stems and holds them nicely in the bowl. They are completely dried and will last until I get tired of them and need the smell of hyacinths in January!

Flannel Big Girl Jammies

Clara and I made her these flannel nightgowns this week. Isn't that the best raspberry color? We added some hot pink velvet ribbon across the yoke. The great thing about doing side-by-side projects is that I can demonstrate and then she can do one herself--and then we have two finished! She has sewn before, but this pattern had an interesting back facing technique, as well as lots of gathers which were also new for her.



I was reflecting as I was finishing those long, long seams, that it might be time to get a serger. Since apparently the girls' seams are only going to be getting longer each year. I do make a point of finishing pajamas nicely, so that they will hold up for lots and lots of washing and wearing--more than a regular dress.




She'll be cozy this winter!

Ladies' Lunch

Today was my ladies' luncheon; I invited four friends over for a meal under the silver maple. The weather was cool and gray and breezy and everyone had accidentally dressed in cream and taupe, to look perfect with the table setting, the golden-turning tree, and the subtle colors of the autumn lawn.




The menu:

•Romaine salad with grilled Greek-seasoned chicken, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and purple onion slivers
•Crispy pita triangles
•Cucumber spears with hummus




•Faux chocolate pots de creme with whipped cream
•Cream Earl Grey on a tea tray

It was cool enough that we went inside for dessert, which Clara kindly served in the living room. Our "pots de creme" were really just homemade chocolate pudding spooned into my Rosemeade china mugs and chilled yesterday, then dolloped today with whipped cream. Better and healthier than an egg-based mousse any day, in my book. Best eaten with silver spoons engraved "Helen".




A sleepy baby at the end of a delightful morning.

Ficus Tree

This past spring I tossed my ficus tree out on the front deck with disgust. It was infested with scale and dripping sap all the time, and the branches only grew horizontally, making it "hard to place"--about twelve inches tall and twenty feet square. Not so attractive. I purposely and deliberately abandoned it to the elements, hoping I would be spared from making a decision about its future; drought, heat, and neglect would do their thing and I could throw away the dead stub in the pot without a qualm.

I took a good look at the tree yesterday and noticed how pristine and green the leaves were, in spite of my horrid treatment. No scale, no sap--apparently the bugs, not the tree, succumbed to the elements. Felix and Clara helped me take the long horizontal branches and in about one minute braid them together into a beautiful (vertical) standard tree shape. Then they carried it inside, where it sits at the dining room window looking fantastic. Look at those leaves--that's clean living.

A Vintage Sewing Scene

"Three girls were grouped together in a pleasant corner of the Red Cross room sewing . . . One was running the sewing maching gaily, putting together tiny garments for the other two to take over and finish. The second girl was opening seams, and ironing them flat, and then finishing them off with delicate feather-stitching in pink and blue, binding edges of tiny white flannel jackets and wrappers with pink and blue satin ribbon. The third girl was buttonholing scallops with silk twist on tiny flannel petticoats . . . And because these three girls were used to having all things lovely in their own lives, it never occurred to them to sling the little garments together carelessly. They set their stitches as carefully, and made their scallops as heavy and perfect as if they had been doing them for their own family. Others might sling such outfits together by expeditious rule, but they must make them also beautiful."

--Grace Livingston Hill, A Girl to Come Home To

Green Beans

We went to the city this weekend for Clara's first rehearsal (she's playing in the state student orchestra), and took advantage of all the city has to offer: a much bigger Saturday morning vegetable market, where I bought these beautiful green beans; a parrot store, where at Felix's request we did a little "research"; and my mother's house, where we ate grilled hamburgers and pecan tart.

Detail of a Plaid Dress

I just finished this fall dress for Clara--a woven cotton plaid in olive, cream, and black, with a black velvet ribbon at the waist and decorative buttons from my stash of vintage goodies.

Meringues

Last night Clara and Felix had a party with their Sunday school group and were supposed to bring a snack. Clara got busy in the kitchen all by herself and made these chocolate meringues without any help. She managed to separate the eggs, whip them, sift in the sugar and cocoa, shape, and bake them! Felix also prepared a snack, from the Roald Dahl cookbook: Crispy Wasp Stings on a Round of Buttered Toast. Such a boy thing.

How to Think About Housework

Don't think: I just cleaned that.
•Think: Good thing I'll be cleaning that soon.

Don't think: I have to clean up after these messy people.
•Think: It's a blessing to live in a clean and tidy house.

Don't think: It takes too much energy to do that.
•Think: I'm exercising. This is good for my body.

Works for me!

The County Fair

Tonight we went to the county fair, an excursion which always throws us deeper into rurality than we usually are. We adored the 4-H exhibits of animals and produce, and Daisy not only loved the merry-go-round, she added cotton candy to her repertoire.



Beautiful eggs in all shades:



A deep blue sky:



Pears that speak for themselves with such dignity:



Pepper sauce:



Such a delightful presentation:



Beauty and skill:

Daisy Under the Maple

The silver maple in the front yard is always the first tree to start dropping its leaves. Daisy was the first this year to drop in the leaf pile.

A Luncheon

I had a hearing this afternoon in a tiny town (we'll call it Tiny Town) 45 miles up the highway, and part of my judicial district. My wonderful friend Jody moved there with her four boys last year, so it is always a treat for Giles and Felix to go along and hang out at her house. Today, though, I took all the children because Jody had somehow finagled such a treat--a luncheon invitation from a new friend of hers. Now, this lady doesn't know me, or my five children, but she invited us anyway--two ladies and NINE children-- to her beautiful century-old house in this little downtown. Oh, this house: its lawn slopes down to the river, barges going by righ past her back hedge. Twelve foot ceilings. An enormous veranda, with swings and a pale blue ceiling. And a huge table set with her fanciest pink-flowered plates. Delicious chicken salad.

On the way there the kids reflected on the rarity of an invitation to a real lunch party. "Social life seems like it would have been so much more fun in the old days," Felix remarked. Myself, I am inspired to get some of that social life going again. I am going to find *someone* who can come over for luncheon.

Bella Made Cookies

Bella made a batch of the house cookies today, and was subsequently declared the Cookie Queen (fortunately, Clara wears the title of Cake Queen, so no competition there). She made very small cookies, and rounded the dough into balls with her hands before setting it out on the sheets. This made for delightful cookies, each smooth, rounded, and loaded with chocolate chips. And it made so many!