My Great-Grandma's Clematis

I want to tell you the story of this clematis. When I was a little girl, my Great-Grandma had a clematis so huge it covered one quarter of the garage behind her house in Pennsylvania. Now the garage wasn't that big but when the clematis was in bloom it was stunning! Masses of purple flowers cascading from the roof and down the sides. I wish you could have seen it.

She passed away when I was 15 and her husband remained in the house until he also passed away quite a few years later. I was now married and my great-uncle asked me if I would like to come and dig up the bulbs and any other plants in her yard. The house was going to be sold. Without hesitation, I said yes. Drew and I went and dug up literally hundreds of bulbs and many plants. The one thing I wanted most was a start from her clematis. Someday I would have a sea of purple all my own.

We took the bulbs and plants back to our home and found a special place for all of them. The clematis went in at the corner of our potting shed. Years passed and it did not do very well. A few blossoms here and there but not much more. I always hoped that one day it would just take off and grow right up over the top like hers did.

The time came when we decided to move to Idaho. As much as I wanted to take them along, I just couldn't do it this time. After three wonderful years in Idaho, we found ourselves on our way to Pennsylvania then Missouri to another new home. This time, Drew would be coming along behind us in another week. We had all been staying in PA until our MO home was ready. He needed to finish up some work. While there, my beloved husband was thinking of me and my Grandma's flowers. One day, he went to visit the people who had purchased our PA home and asked if they would mind if he dug up a few starts. They said "Take as much as you want!" When he arrived in Missouri he had a special surprise for me. As I remember that moment, tears are flowing. I opened boxes and containers filled with bulbs and yes, a start from my Great-Grandma's clematis. What you see in the photo above is the first bloom from that start, here in Missouri.
It bloomed this week! One single bloom. Earlier this spring we had rows of her daffodils blooming. I'm thankful that I have flowers to remind me of this special woman.

My husband's thoughtfulness and love amazes me. Yet I know that God loves us even more!

Day Five - Friday

This is SO exciting to watch. I told Ukiah that I want a cabin too!

Right now they are building the rafters. All four walls are up and it is really taking shape. When the siding goes on it's going to make a HUGE difference. I'm afraid I have "building cabin fever". This is just too much fun.

Day Four continued

Day Four - Thursday

We all joined them down at the building site in the morning. I arrived as they were finishing up breakfast by the fire.

Day Three - Wednesday - the floor!

Last evening, they stoked the fire and made up beds on the deck for their first night "at the cabin".

Day Two- surveying the progress

This is Ukiah and Drew at the end of the day on Tuesday. The foundation is complete and the joists are in. It is hard for them to quit! They are having such a good time. I tilted the camera so that is why it looks lopsided - really, it is level. ;)

Day Two - Tuesday

Working together.

Day One - Monday

They built a fire for the sticks and refuse they cleared from the site and got busy on the foundation. There is something about having a fire going when we're working outside in the Fall. Good smells and a place to warm our hands.

In this photo, they have stacked blocks for the piers and located the beams they will use.

Applesauce

The Cabin

Where has the time gone???I can't believe almost a month has passed since I posted last. We've been busy keeping up the house, cleaning out the garden and flower beds, working on school activities and canning applesauce. It is SO good to have all those jars of applesauce in our cabinets again. 100 total and 19 jars of juice.

Now, we are watching a cabin materialize right before our eyes. It has been Ukiah's dream to build a little cabin with his dad. He's looked at countless books and magazines for years, formulating ideas. Well, early Monday morning the building commenced. They are really making progress! They located a spot not too far from the house but not too close either...just right for a 12 year old boy. ;) They cleared the area, cut down a few trees and began setting piers for the foundation. Right now they have the whole foundation completed and floor joists put in. It is a 10'x14' cabin with a 7' porch. This is their special father/son week so when I went to get more building supplies today, Silas and Levi went with me. I came home with a trailer full of lumber and wood for the floor and walls. Shingles too. Drew found a great place that sells seconds and we were able to purchase the materials for far less than regular lumber yard prices. What a blessing! This time they've had together has really been worth the sacrifices needed to make it happen. Next week Silas is going to have his time with Daddy and they are going on a backpack trip. Levi will be next and has chosen to go canoe camping. They'll canoe the river awhile until they locate just the right spot for camping. Then, they'll pull in for the night and set up camp.

Silas and I have taken a lot of pictures so I'll try to post some tonight. I'm amazed at how fast this cabin is going up. Surely God is blessing Drew's efforts and commitment to spend this special time with his son.

One pet leaves..another one moves in

Ukiah found this little lizard last year when we first arrived in Missouri. She traveled with us all over - Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and more! Well, it's been a year and he was thinking he wanted to return her back to the wild. She has eaten well for us and even laid more than 20 eggs! That was really neat. Too bad they weren't fertile...that would have been even better. So, three days ago he took her out to a sunny spot and said his goodbyes.

I wondered how long it would take him to find something to put in his aquarium...

Today he found this:

This praying mantis has the same voracious appetite that his lizard had! It's a good thing Ukiah likes to catch insects. :)

A charcoal experiment

We've decided to try to make charcoal for medicinal uses. Since we've never done this before, I knew it would be an interesting experiment. We researched to find out what would be the best wood to use and ultimately chose willow. After we found the willow that was the right size, we stripped the leaves off and the boys cut it up into the proper lengths.

From what we read, we needed an airtight container to put the willow sticks in. The best thing we could come up with was one of my canners. I figured we would put the lid on and then secure it with C clamps.


So far, so good. The boys had a fire going so I tightened the C clamps - any tighter and I would've cracked the enamel. Then...onto the fire.


They cooked and cooked. THEN, I noticed that some smoke was escaping from under the lid. So it wasn't airtight after all. :( We were supposed to let it cook for 1 1/2 hours and then remove from the fire to cool entirely. If we were to take the lid off while it was still hot, the oxygen would cause the charcoal sticks to burst into flame and turn to ash. So, after determining that it was indeed leaking, we took it off the fire. When it was almost cool, the lid was removed. Curiosity was getting the best of a particular boy. ;) It didn't burst into flames-it had apparently cooled enough- and we discovered that we had made charcoal pencils! Those sticks were in the pencil sharpener in NO time. lol. So...that was our first attempt at making charcoal. It was fun and we ended up with something usable. Now, I just need to come up with something airtight that can go over the fire. Any ideas?

Tamale dollies

My friend Ruthie makes the BEST tamales. One day Drew was up at their place working with her husband. When it was time to come home, she sent along a big package of home-made tamales. After we devoured them for supper, Ukiah decided to wash off the corn husks and make corn husk dolls. Aren't they cute??

A beautiful week...

It has been so nice here. The air is starting to have that crisp feel in the mornings and it smells so good. It's been a typical week...catching turtles and snakes, riding the pony, school in the morning and working in the afternoons outside with Daddy. We've been finding ourselves making more cups of tea. Maybe it is the sense that Fall is on the way. We enjoyed 2 nights just sitting around the fire by the pond and talking. Yesterday we went to the river thinking it may be our last chance to swim...the water is starting to cool down. We had a picnic lunch first and Drew and the boys kicked a ball around. We bought Levi a Slinky for his birthday recently and they had a great time watching it go down the steps of the sliding board where we had our picnic. Life seems to have slowed down a bit even though school has started up! I know I'm making an effort to notice the small things in life that can bring so much joy. Speaking of that...I have added a new blog to the "Blogs I read" section. It is called Eyes of Wonder. Oh, how inspiring this blog is! The photos are a feast for the eyes...so rich. Such a full and gentle life.

Ukiah and I went to town today to purchase chicken scratch and to pick up our books at the library. We always come home with more than just what we get on interlibrary loan. lol. We found a good treehouse book...some inspiration to get back to work on our treehouse.

I can smell that lunch is almost ready to put on the table so I should close for now. Veggie chicken rice, tomato sandwiches, and red peppers from the greenhouse.

Opossums go to school