"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure."
- John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day
RIGHT NOW, and then again tomorrow and then again the next day and on it goes day after day,
1/2 OF THE WORLD lives on LESS THAN 2 DOLLARS each day.
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Do all you can and don't worry about the odds against you. Wield the miracle of life's energy, never worrying whether we fail, concerned only that whether we fail or succeed we do so with all our might. That's all we need to know to feel certain that all our force of diligent effort is worth our while on Earth.
Carl Safina, Voyage of the Turtle
The girls last week of summer school. I finished my 24 page curriculum school improvement plan and I am now getting ready to head out to Colorado next week. The girls will be staying home with Grandma. I will be zip-lining, rafting and learning new ideas about implementing STEM . This week was pretty much staying the course.
I have been thinking about how nice this summer has been and I think it is due to Mim and Ve, but especially Mim's visits with the therapist...what a difference it has made.
my rose bush that I received last year for my 50th birthday and now it is blooming again on my birthday.
pickled summer squash from out garden
the house wren nesting in one of the boxes attached to the garden fence
a few more photos
tomatoes are beginning
red cabbage
beets
pole beans
a baby pumpkin that will hopefully grow to massive size
a few more rose photos
This summer we are getting a lot of summer squash and besides making more pickled summer squash and Gluten free Sundried tomato summer squash, blueberry/summer squash bread I also made this yesterday and boy do the girls love this bread recipe...for the obvious reasons..I add walnuts to the recipe:
CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD RECIPE
(12) 1
1/2 cups (360 ml) shredded raw zucchini (courgette) (about 1/2 pound or 225
grams)
(8) 1
cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
(4) 1/2
cup (45 grams) unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted
(2) 1/4
teaspoon salt
(2) 1/4
teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
(6) 3/4
cup (180 ml) semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
(4) 1/2
cup (120 ml) vegetable, safflower, corn, or canola oil
(4) 1/2
cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
(4) 1/2
cup (105 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
(8) 1
teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven
to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the
oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch
(23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. 45 minutes
I altered a few ingredients summer squash in stead of zucchini, used no GMO whole wheat flour, fresh eggs and added walnuts...YUM YUM!!! Made 10 loaves but will probably make more.
Mim helped Tuki and Ve bake a cake and cookies
bluebird not wanting to move from her incubation when we checked her box
our chickens
Our week wasn't too exciting;
Tuki & Ve went to BB camp every morning and swimming every late afternoon
Mim continued with her classes and finishing up painting the basement
I continued on my homework and reapplied for the elementary school job that reopened when the candidate declined the position
We all went o Noah's Ark again on Saturday, too busy so no more Saturdays
I had a lot of meetings at school and we received the blueberries so we canned jam and made 18 loaves of bread.
Mim braided Tuki's hair
side view
fresh summer squash
right to the frying pan with a homemade recipe
it was so yummy that we plan to make more over the summer and I have recored the recipe below
pumpkins taking over the nearby vegetation, thus the reason they have their own garden
another view of the monster pumpkins
cucumbers starting to grow..we more than likely will be harvesting next week.This week we also have been eating a lot of lettuce.
Our week consisted of me attending 4 admin classes, the girls in their summer school classes and Mim continues to paint the basement..this week it finally felt like summer to me and I had a difficult time trying to stay engaged with my class work and the extra work I have been doing for my classroom next year. Two more weeks and off to Colorado I do for a STEM conference....yahoo!!!
strawberry picking this week
new garage roof-old one was leaking
my brother Jeff, Darla and their daughter Eden visiting from Louisiana
Darla and Eden
me and the girls at Luke's 4th get together
the wee cousins
Mim (Talyn) and Taelyn
my cousin April, her mother Terry and her two kids Daylynn and Brandon
Girls with sparklers at the fireworks
crazy picture with my new camera
girls with glowsticks at the fireowrks
fire works
more glow stick pictures..like these for some reason...
the garden is growing as well
basement is coming along slowly since it is being done section by section
next week my last admin class starts and my first one will be finished
girls are half way done with summer school
hard to believe 4 weeks of summer is over....where does time go when you are having fun????
Crazy day today...the new roof is being put on the garage (the old one
was found to be leaking), the new stove/oven range was brought today
(the old range control panel went out 4 weeks ago (we have been out of a
oven that long) and it cost less to replace the entire unit than just
fix the control panel), and now the LP gas company (new one for us) is
replacing the 250 gallon tank with a 500 gallon tank..(we did this so we
can prepay 1500 gallons to get us through a winter if we have a repeat
of last winter)...all this replacement and fixing has been happening
since 10:00 am. It's funny how it takes weeks and months to arrange all
this and then in one day it all gets done...freaky crazy morning!!!
