Tutorials/Fall

Fall is here! 

 

Where did September go?  For us it was a blur.

 

We have been so busy at Litengard.  All the college students arrived in late August.  Parents, students and cars, filled to the brim with dorm stuff!  We had families bringing their students early for fall sports practices, freshmen coming for orientation, and finally the upper classmen came.

 

And no sooner did the parents depart than they were back again for Family Weekend.  All 4 schools!

We've been busy.

 

 

 

The summer flowers and foliage are nice but fall is magificent.  The blossoms are off the crabapple trees, but they are now adorned with crimson and amber berries.  The dalia's have center stage and the white phlox are stunning.

 

 

 

The tomatoes grew to great heights this year.  This is Jon, 6'2" reaching up to harvest the top tomatoes.  We've had BLT's, sliced tomato sandwiches, tomato salad, and we've made loads of pasta sauce.  The beets were prolific as well as the beans, summer squash, green and red peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce,  potatoes, and kale.

 

We had a picnic for the St Lawrence students who live on Main Street.

 

And went to a wonderful wedding in Wisconsin.

 

Otis was back for a few days.  People at the Inn miss the Inn dog.  And he was happy to sleep in for a few days, no getting up at 4 o'clock when he was visiting the North Country.

 

We had two different shipments of new chicks.  A new variety, Welsummers, have been added to the group and some others who will give me blue and green eggs.  A new enclosure was developed so the "big" girls would not pick on the new ones.

 

And we are still harvesting tomatoes!

 

We have had two girls come to live with us for a bit.  It's been fun to young people in the house again.

 

But we have had lots of tutorials!

1. how to care for chickens.....feeding, watering, collecting eggs, corraling escaped hens

2. how to slice, chop and roast vegetables...mostly tomatoes to make into pasta sauce

3.  how to hand mow the lawn

4. how to care for neurotic unsocialized big black dog

5. how to iron sheets and napkins

6. how to clean the bathroom....Margaret style

7. how to entertain Inn guests, neighbors, college students and relatives

 

And they have helped me figure out my phone, add Padora, instruct me on internet things, fix things around the house, give me concerts, and let me see a friendship being developed between two girls who barely knew each other before living here.  It's been fun and they have been a big help to the daily goings on here at 42 and 44.

Saturday

It's hard to believe that it's the middle of August.   Everyone is saying, "summer is almost over".  Wow, did that go fast.  We had a magnificent summer up here in the North Country.  Lovely hot weather with little rain, so everyone enjoyed their pools and the lakes around here.  But the farmers were praying for rain.

My garden is magnicient this year.  Today Elizabeth Melville and I harvested the Purple Viking potatoes, and she dug up the residual garlic while I pulled up the onions.  Then we tackled the tomatoes.  The orange cherry tomatoes are so sweet, I've already made two pots of pasta sauce with them.  The Black Prince, Morgage Lifters, Green Zebras,Gold Medals, Paul Robesons, Amish paste, and others are prolific.  Elizabeth was wondering how I was going to collect the ones that are coming off the 7 foot branches though.  I've never had to take a ladder into the garden to get the tomatoes before, but this year the tomatoes are all reaching to great heights.  It must be the chicken manure!

While Elizabeth and I were picking eggplant, squash, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, Rob was busy building a door in the stall so that the babies could have more room to run around.  I was just going to staple up some chicken wire to the wall and somehow attach it to the other side so that I could get in and out but Rob would not allow such a sloppy affair.  So we got a lovely door on hinges and a legitimate latch.  The babies have a large area to run around in and the older chicken can view them at close range.

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And tomorrow it's time to spend with the Lord and our church family.

Take Your Mother To Work Day

It was take your mother to work day yesterday, at least in the Nordberg family.

I got to go to work with Jon at the Belmont yesterday and it was soooo much fun.  Although I didn't get up at 4:30am to go with him, I did join him at 9:00 at the Vet Village.  I got to see the clinic, the drugs, the equipment, the digital Xray and I did bring Otis, who got to sleep an extra 4 hours that morning.  He was happy!

It was so much fun to see Jon at work.  Examining horses, passing tubes to hydrate horses, scoping horses for breathing issues, giving lameness checks, giving injections, and interacting with all the various people who are in charge of all these very important horses!

The horses are trained, either breezed, walked or galloped and then there are folks who give them a bath and get them back in the stalls.  They are immaculate!  The Belmont employs so many people at all different levels.   There are trainers, owners, barn managers, riders, jockeys, grooms, walkers and all the older men who are directing traffic so vehicles so not run into the horses.  And pay attention!!!  One must never slam the car/truck door.  It may spook the horses.

 There are sixty barns filled with horses that are in various stages of training, many of the horses were at Saratoga for August and will be back in September.

Jon kept getting calls has he was going to the various barns responding to the concerns of the trainers and barn managers.

We got to go to the back side and watch some horses that were being exercised.

The park is beautiful and huge!  Right in the middle of Long Island it take up over 450 acres of space.  It has lovely trees, flowers, barns, medical clinics, dorms for some of the 1000 employees, stores, a huge grand stand, magnificent boxes and a lovely track.  The had some of these plaques denoting the big winner different years.  This one dates back to 1935

It was a beautiful day yesterday on Long Island.  And I was priviledged to see so many beautiful horses hear about how they are taken care of and trained.  After most of Jon's rounds were done he was able to get away for a bit and go to lunch.  We drove through gorgeous neighborhoods on Long Island and had lunch at a wonder Asian restaurant. 

And then I had to take off to return to the North Country.

What a great day!

Moms

Today would have been my mom's 89th birthday.

She was a great mom,  devoted wife, loyal friend, yummy cook and outstanding housekeeper.  And she loved doing all those things.

She didn't have to be taught that being a mom was the best thing in the world and that her job was significant and more important than anything else in the world.  And that God valued what she did in the home.  She raised three girls, who knew right from wrong, had a strong work ethic (might be the Scandinavian influence kicking in), valued family and all became born again Christians.

As I look around in church these days I'm so impressed with the wonderful young families we have.  We've been here for a while so all the kids that I have had in children's church are grown, married, have families and even some of their children are now getting married themselves.  Many of them became involved with the Women's Ministry.  And now they are out, married, and having families of their own.

Our church has been a bastion of promoting the family.  That's one of the reasons we decided to plant ourselves at CFC.  That was the most important thing to us too.

And I see that all the teaching, mentoring, praying, modeling the church body has done,  has really paid off.

I see  young mom's grabbing hold of new moms and helping them with questions, issues, concerns.  Encouraging them to keep on keeping on.  They plan showers for each other.  Share books, recipes, and decorating ideas with each other.  They have a Mom's Cadre where they get together and get to talk about mom issues.  And then the young couples get together once a month and receive more encouragement from others about raising Godly families together.  They help each other with home projects, and work together on church projects.  And they promote families together.  And I see the dad's gently and quietly helping with the discipline of behavior in the young, producing some wonderful toddlers and young ones.

I guess I'm boasting.  But I'm proud of them.  I think it's a bit unusual.  I sometime wish families could be imported for a bit and be a part of our fellowship.  We're not perfect, no.  Far from perfect.  But I think we have something special here.

My mom would be proud too.

The Garden

These are Viking Red Potatoes.

I dug a few tonight.  Aren't they pretty?!?

I started growing potatoes a couple of years ago.  I love having them in my garden.  This is a new variety though and I'm excited to try them out.  They look very pretty and I think the insides are milky white.  I've also planted some fingerlings, some yellow and some different red potatoes.  They taste completely different from potatoes one buys in the store.  This year I planted 3 raised beds of potatoes and a couple of large containers.  We'll see how they come out.

The garden is prolific this year.  I can't keep up with the beans.  I've given beans to everyone that comes near me.  Today I resurrected my canning skills and "did" up a huge batch of green beans.  The beets are magnificent this year too.  I'm going to try to store some in the basement for the winter.  And hopefully, I be able to make a trip down to NYC to share the produce with my boys.  The kale is still producing, but I've pulled the buttercrunch and romaine lettuce.  I think I will plant a row of spinach for the fall in their stead.

My tomato plants are almost 7 feet tall.  I have a variety of cherry tomatoes and the larger ones are coming on strong.  The eggplants are developing nicely and I've also had to give away bags of cuccumbers.  I've rediscovered cucumber salad which my mom used to make in the summer years ago, so I'm using quite a few cucumbers.

I've harvested my garlic.  I think I have enough for the whole neighborhood, but I seem to cook with garlic almost everyday.  And one clove goes in each of the chickens various water buckets.  It seems to help prevent parasites.....at least that's what I read in my Backyard Chicken magazine.

The only thing I seem to have trouble with in the garden are peas.  Everyone else can grow peas like crazy but I have the most meager pea production ever.  I think I will skip them next year.  And they are supposed to be the easiest vegetable to grow.  Oh well.

I had blueberry pancakes at the Inn this past Sunday.  And the blueberries came from my own bushes.  I managed to get out and harvest them before the birds and chipmunks could get all of them.  I've heard we are supposed to have dominion over all these creatures.....but somehow they still seem to get the best of me in the blueberry patch.

It's been unseasonably warm up here in the North Country this year.  But thank goodness we are getting rain a bit.  I went out to my neices baby shower the weekend before last and flying in we could tell that everything was just completely burned.  My friends family had a big farm in Iowa and he said all the crops are dead and they will just have to plow them under.  So sad.  Farming is not for the weak at heart.  He's optomistic next year will be better.

But we've had a wonderful summer.  Hot, but everything is still green.  And I think the corn is just about to be harvested!!

Rejoice with those, and Weep with those......

Two weeks ago we were rejoicing and celebrating.  God's goodness, his faithfulness, and hope for the future.

This weekend we are weeping over two friends who have died.  Much to early.  And looking to HIM for hope for the future.

"And that's the way it's done!!!"

The four of us were sitting quietly on the bench in the garden.

Waiting.

The plan, so far had been implemented perfectly.

Timing was crucial.

And so was the canine participation.

Then around the corner and up the path Ethan came.  Fist in the air saying..."and that's the way it's done!....that's the way it's done!!"  He was so excited.  The plan had worked perfectly....even better than they had planned.

Jon wanted the families to be involved in this special weekend.  He was going to propose, under the Brooklyn Bridge, on their way to the River Cafe.  Otis, Jon's chocolate labrador, was a big part of the plan.  Ethan was to tie with a pink ribbon, the engagement ring (Grandma Nordberg's engagement ring) to Otis's collar and have Otis tied up to one of the park benches.  They would come upon Otis and she would see the ring and say "yes!!"

Ethan, coming from work in his suit, secured Otis from the Suburban, tied the ring to the collar and Otis to the designated bench and proceeded to hide in the bushes.

People started passing by wondering out loud who this dog was and if they should call the police.  Ethan, from the bushes giving hand signals, indicated that Otis was part of an engagement strategy and that everyone should act normally.  Then everyone wanted to linger and witness the event.  One older couple got so excited that they indicated to Ethan that they would take pictures and just pretend that they were taking pictures of the scenery.  Ethan quickly reached into his breast pocket and gave them his business card, securing promises that they would send him the pictures.

Otis, of course, behaved perfectly, knowing his role in this adventure.  Jon and Jill came upon this dog sitting quietly beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  Jon proposed, Jill said yes and the ring fit perfectly on Jill's finger.  And 75 people who just happened to be milling around the Brooklyn Bridge broke out into a round of applause.

She still did not know that her folks and we were sitting just a few hundred yards away.  They came up the path to the restaurant garden and we jumped up and shouted "surprise!!"  More tears of joy as she saw her mom and dad, Rob, Ethan and myself waiting to congratulate them on their engagement.

The folks at the restaurant joined in our celebration with champagne, wine and a special dessert of the Brooklyn Bridge made from chocolate with "congratulations" written on a square of chocolate.

It was magical from start to finish.  And then we proceeded to have a wonderful weekend filled with a trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, picnics, a swim in the waves of the Atlantic on a beach on Robert Moses State Park, a trip to Manhattan and Broadway to see Newsies, a Sunday at Redeemer and brunch on the sidewalk cafe on the upper east side.

Perfect.  We reluctantly said goodbye.  A trip back north, a new week filled with responsibilities, and dreams for the future.

The weekend was too short.  And we need to be closer.  But those are things for the future.  And plans for the upcoming event are already being made.