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Author Archives: Kim Halloran-Fry
In the kitchen with Alannah – Julia’s Potato Leek soup
"A good homemade soup in these days of the can opener is almost a unique and always a satisfying experience." – Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking
We recieved Julia Childs, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," from our friend (Miss Jen) and decided to finally make something out of it. We picked Leek and Potato Soup. To be honest, I was intimidated at first when looking through her cookbook, but when I went to actually make something, I found her directions super easy to follow. So if your in the mood for a good homemade soup, expecially with the chilly days approaching, this is definitely one to try. Enjoy! : )
Rain
We've had a good cleansing rain which we were sorely in need of. They told us they would be fertilizing this last week. They sure enough did just that.
Wow.
This is an organic farm and it's all natural and nontoxic but pretty, um, potent. If was more mystical I could maybe spin this into a metaphor about rising from the dung heap and such. As it is all I've got is this – it smelled really bad. : )
Three cheers for rain!
cleaning up the orchard
We have picked a lot of apples this fall, but since we didn't realize we could until they had begun to fall there were many on the ground too that were rotten. We learned that these can spread disease to the trees. Since we have a compostable rubbish bin along with our regular bins we have been gathering the yucky apples and fallen branches as we can.
The children just adore the orchard. Working in the trees reveals some basic gender differences. The girls reach for apples one at a time, carefully depositing them into their bags. The boys just LOVE picking up fallen apples. You can see by the looks on their faces. I was just amazed at their enthusiasm. Wanna know why they look so gleeful?
Two at a time were pitching apples from one side of the orchard towards the bin. Another one would lift the lid just so, creating a backboard of sorts for the apples to slam into. They were keeping score of how many buckets they made. At least until it looked as though there was a fair possibility of someone getting clocked by flying fruit and I had to put the kibosh on that.
So yeah, that's how we get our kicks around here. <g>
I hope your weekend is full of chores-made-games, crazy laughter, and antics of all kinds.
A look at learning
Just some random glimpses of learning lately. Some favorite things this fall have been drawing from how to books like Draw Write Now, some of which we are also using for our continent studies. They have gone through a fair amount of origami paper. The littles have a much better handle on the world map.
We did a little Catholic feast day cooking. Just a little. A birthday cake for Our Lady. Some cookies for St Rose of Lima. We tried some marshmallow fudge molded into roses for St Therese. That didn't turn out so hot. You win some, you lose some.
The lagoon notebook page below is from Kieran's geography. Kieran loves the geography book I shared in this post. We actually use a workbook as well. A both/and approach this year. He is using techniques from the Drawing With Children book and I think the pages are really bold and fun.
Tops in Blue
Tops in Blue is one of the best kept secrets of the US military troops. While America watches young talent compete for prizes on tv talent shows, airmen stationed around the world audition for a one-year gig performing at bases free of charge. No record deals. Nearly no press. And when the year is up the sequined gowns are traded back for neatly pressed 'blues' and days (or nights) spent loading planes, sorting mail, or repairing engines.
Today was a big day. Allen took Moira, Aidan, and Kieran to London. They returned and within moments Alannah, Moira, and I got into the other car with the little girls to see the concert on base like we do every year we can. We missed last year and Tess was too little remember ever having seen the show. She loved it. Abbie loved the first half. Despite the music and flashing lights she was out cold an hour in.
At some point in armed forces shows you can count on hearing Lee Greenwood. And, particularly if you are overseas, you can count on people standing right up, a little misty. Or a lot.
There are no Democrats or Republicans in uniform. Just Americans.
photo booth fun
gathering
It worked.
Turns out the phone wiring in the farmhouse needed to be reconfigured, so that was done today. And here I am, images virtually flying onto the screen. I hardly know where to begin. So much has happened. Since we have been all about apples lately, and because these make me smile, I am sharing the "pretty" orchard pictures of the little girls who daily want to gather more into their baskets and beg big boys to take them over to the trees.
These were taken earlier in the season before the cold set in. Like I said, so much has happened. It will be fun to catch up.
harvest time
It was a misty three day weekend around the farm. The neighbors are still harvesting. The pumpkin's are coming in now as well. We had one near perfect weekend of football and cornfields and a quick trip to Cambridge.
Tomorrow the telephone company is sending an engineer out to explore our phone line. Here is hoping.
London day trip
A few snaps of London daytrip from the phone files. This was during the paralympics. You'll see the symbol hanging from the bridge.
We have only made the London (downtown) trip in various small combinations of family members and I haven't been one of those members yet. It's nerve wracking to me to think of taking the littles on the underground so we are practicing in smaller groups and getting our bearings. Dh went first with the bigger kids. <g>
Starry Sky Journal 