Review and Preview

Amazing how time just gets away from you.  One minute you're enjoying your summer, blogging somewhat regularly, feeling sorta sane and rested.  Then you take a trip, start one too many projects, bite off more than you can chew (me?  no... never), and get kicked in the butt by obscenely hot weather for weeks, and the next thing you know, its the middle of August, school is starting soon (not that you care), and you have a whole summer you haven't told your faithful readers about!

Sorry.  I know you all have been sitting eagerly at your computers, day after day, just waiting to see more dumb pictures of my dog or my latest recipe.

Let's catch up, shall we?  Here are a few summer highlights.

Dog-burts

The Crazies have been as crazy as ever, especially since I didn't walk them faithfully in the hot weather.  In my defense, they couldn't make it on the walks.  Jynx stopped approximately 5 times on a half-mile walk to lay on the grass and cool off.  We try to run them around inside the air-conditioned house as much as possible, but it just wasn't enough.

Tico has taken a strange liking to sleeping on his back and/ or side.  I caught him on the Lazy Boy like this a couple of weeks ago.  For reference, his belly is agaist the back of the chair.  Yesterday he was laying on his back, playing with a toy that he was holding above his face with his front paws.  As Tim says, "Tico is the worst things about a cat and a dog rolled into one animal."  But for some inexplicable reason, he has wiggled his way into our hearts anyway.

Relief Sale

Katie and I had a trip to visit my family on our summer bucket list, and Mandy was going home for the Mennonite Relief Sale, so we decided to join her that weekend.

Although I grew up just a few miles from this annual event, I don't really remember going to it.  I was so glad we went.  It was so, so rich with Mennonite culture.  It really was beautiful.

The highlight of the sale for me (besides the rich, cultural experience) was the quilts.  Indivudals, churchs, communities, sew quilts that are auctioned off.  Many of them had sold by the time we got there, but here are a few that were on display that I was particulary amazed by.

As if hand-quilting isn't enough work, this quilt top was cross-stitched.

Isn't it adorable?

I love the idea of sewing the rosette on there.

 Like I said, the sale is rich with tradition.  This is the awesome apparattus they have for displaying the quilts being auctioned.  The whole thing spins, so that you can display the quilt being auctioned on the front, and remove the one that was just sold, and replace it with the next to be sold.  Each of those supports lowers, and they have a table in the back to "catch" the quilt and to place the next quilt on to prepare it to load.

The auctioneer has helpers, or "spotters" standing in the aisles of the crowd that watch for people bidding, and they encourage others to bid as well.  It is so fun to watch.

I took this picture, because I think it represents the wide demographic and belief systems within the Mennonite community.  

On the one hand you have the Conservative Mennonites.  This is what most people probably tend to associate with the Mennonites.  The women wear dresses and headcoverings, everyone dresses "plain," they drive black cars, and have big, young families since they don't believe in birth control.  These people I tend to associate with my "Mennonite Country-Style Recipes" cookbook, that contains recipes for every kind of pie and cake immaginable, instructions on how to roast meats and fry chickens, and tons of "salad" recipes involving gelatin, sugar, and Dream Whip.  They are represented by the "Pork & Chicken Sandwiches" on the sign- rich, "traditional" homestyle cooking.

Then the are the non-Conservative Mennonites.  I am not sure what to call them.  Progressive, maybe?  I tend to think of them as Liberal Mennonites.  They dress like the rest of us, and drive whatever-the-heck color of car they want.  They are very, very, very concerned with social issues, and put a vast amount of effort into helping others and promoting peace.  I associate them with my "More With Less" cookbook that focuses on what I call "eating responsibly"--not in excess, not rich foods, and foods that suport sustainability in the world-wide food supply.  They are represented by the "Veggie Burgers" on the sign.  Non-conservative mennonites embrace women pastors, homosexuals, and birth control, among many other things.

Of course, these are the two extremes, and Mennonties can fall anywhere in between these two on the spectrum.  And I would say that the Mennonite church as a whole is very concerned with ministering to the poor and promoting peace.  All proceeds of the sale go toward their mission efforts which are world-wide.  Also, (something I particularly admire about them) is they don't waste anything.   Clothing that probably won't be sold is made into quilts.  Books donated are sold.  Mennonites were re-using and re-cycling before it was the cool thing to do.

One last note: it takes so many faithful volunteers to put on an event like this, and if there is one thing mennonites do, it is volunteer.  It was so wonderful to see so many people working together to make the sale a success, and the donations--from quilts, to woodworking, to baked goods-- where of the highest quality and extremely generous.

Ok, enough about the Mennonites.  On to...

My Garden

The heat and drought was tough, but we watered and go through it, and now things are flourishing.

Looking back, here it was on June 12:

And here it is today:

Yay!  While I did water when I could (get motivated), I didn't do nearly as much as I should have.  Again, such a reminder that it's God who grows things.  I am getting tons of cucumbers, the zinnias are going wild, tomatoes a producing, and even my peppers are still fighting.  Oh, and I had this suprise volunteer:

For the last several weeks, I have been wondering what this mystery melon/squash was, but the webbing has finally appreared and it looks like we have cantaloupes! I am so excited!  Hopefully the weather stays decent enough to ripen and harvest a few of them.

The zinnias make me no end of happy.

These are ALL volunteer tomatoes!

My ramshackle cucumber trellis is holding up ok.

Another view of the garden, because it makes me happy :)

Anthony

Anthony visited Taylor when Tim and I were seniors, and stayed in Tim's dorm on his visit.  His hosts weren't around when he arrived, so Tim invited him to hang out, and Anthony enjoyed the floor Cheese Party and Tim's projector and sound system set up (yes, in his dorm room) enough that he decided to go to Taylor.

While we never attended Taylor at the same time, Tim and Anthony kept in touch, and I think we saw him when we went back to visit a couple of times.

Anthony has been living here in town, doing his internship at the company Tim works for in order to finish up his degree, and we have been thrilled to have him here.  He and Tim are two peas in a pod, talking all manner of geek-speak and playing x-box.  In addition, Anthony makes his own freezer-jam (which he shares), and his own vanilla extract (which he also shares).  Are you impressed yet?  You should be. 

He came over on Saturday to work on his car, and when he got here he popped inside to say hello and give me a stack of chocolate chip pancakes he had whipped up that morning.  He informed me that he used an entire bag of chocolate chips.  In other ingredient news, when he had us over for gumbo, he informed us that he had put an entire cup of bacon grease into it.

I ask you-- what is not to love about this guy?  Chances are good he will be offered a full-time job here, and I am so excited to have him around.  He can be Tim's Sapphire!

Speaking of Sapphire...

Sapphire

She's moving away.  This weekend.  To go to vet-tech school.  Its only 45 minutes away, but it will be quite the change.  I think this is going to rock my world more than I am willing to admit.  At least I still have a cute (although naughty) cocker-spaniel that seems to have tied herself to Sapphire's heartstrings, so maybe Jynx can get Sapphire back here once in awhile.  I am going to have to keep myself busy now that Sapphire is not around to entertain me and keep me out of trouble. 

Luckily, I've got plans.  There's big stuff on the horizon!

September: Church Family Retreat!! I love this event, and I am so, so, so excited.

October: Mandy's coming to visit, we're going to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta, and we celebrate our 5 year anniversary.  5 years!  Can you believe it?!

November: 30th anniversary party for my parents.  Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday). And a fundraiser for our trip to Honduras.  Wait, what?  Did you just say Honduras?

December: Christmas!  And a mission trip to Honduras with the youth group.  So.  Excited.