Category Archives: Uncategorized

Back in March, our county enacted a stay-at-home order. While at first this was a hard thing to process and accept, we made the most of it. We had a large amount of scrap fabric, which I impulsively started cutting into six-inch squares. My plan was to make a quilt. Of course Lydia was veryContinue reading “Stay-at-home Projects”

When we visted our local fair last weekend, none of the youth entries had a big purple grand champion ribbon. We thought maybe they were not being awarded this year due to the smaller number of overall entries. However, when Keith and Lydia went to pick up the items today, they were pleasantly surprised! Luke’sContinue reading “Grand Champions”

This weekend Lydia and I walked on the last two trails we needed to say we have walked every trail at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield! The last section we needed to complete was the northern-most part of the Manley Uplands Trail, renamed by us as the Womanly Uplands Trail. We ran into a problem, however.Continue reading “Wilson’s Creek: Complete!”

Our family has been attending the fair for about a decade. It didn’t take long for us to discover the Life and Arts department. Lydia in particular loves creating items to be judged in the fair each summer. This summer there were much fewer entries than normal due to Covid-19, but we still entered severalContinue reading “Ozark Empire Fair 2020”

About a month ago we had our First Annual Gourd Washing Day here at Tyndall Acres. Lydia and I both decided to enter a special event at our local fair called Wings. This event featured different bird crafts for adults and youth. We both decided to enter the Functional Birdhouse category and make birdhouses fromContinue reading “Gourd Birdhouses”

It’s comforting to know that as the world seems to fall apart and all the normals shift into “new normals,” late summer still brings ripe elderberries and singing cicadas. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”‭‭Genesis‬ ‭8:22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I recently read the book Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers. It is full of gorgeous arrangements that challenge me to move beyond my basic mason jar bouquets. The most eye-opening concept in the book for me, however, was the idea of blenders. Using a flower or piece of foliage with more than one colorContinue reading “Blenders”

This afternoon we got home from church and I saw a very large dark-colored swallowtail nectaring on my Garden Phlox. It has been a while since I was completely fluent in butterfly identification skills. At first it seemed to be a Spicebush Swallowtail, or maybe a Pipevine Swallowtail. But the underside just didn’t match upContinue reading “Mimics”

For a music-loving person, I rarely listen to music, or at least I haven’t for the last several years. I find it nearly impossible to do anything while music is playing. It’s like my mind just doesn’t have the space for it. But today I have the rare treat of a day at home alone.Continue reading “Guitar”

When Luke was younger, he didn’t want to play baseball, because what if he got hit with the ball? This year he finally joined a team. He seems to be over his fear of getting hit. He now has three marks on his face, all from getting hit with the ball while playing catch, whetherContinue reading “War Zone”