Pondered In My Heart

Mea Culpa!

Oh dear! I'm so sorry I forgot to list the sugar amount in the pumpkin cake recipe below! I have edited the post so it now includes the 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Please pardon my error and I hope no one tried to make it without any sugar, though if you did just think of Laura Ingalls' pie or call it Pumpkin Penance Cake and be sure to blame it all on me!

Fall Fare

In honor of the Fall Feast to be celebrated at The Virtual Kitchen on Tuesday I am posting a couple of our fall favorites. Everyone delights in fall cooking when turning on the oven provides a bit of welcome warmth to take the chill out of the kitchen air. Appetites are hearty, garden produce is bountiful, and steaming hot tea tastes just wonderful. Even more wonderful than it did all summer. Here are two of our culinary heralds of fall.

Rice Pudding

Comfort food doesn't get any more comforting than this!

8 eggs, slightly beaten

5 cups cooked rice

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup raisins, or more

Preheat oven to 325. Mix all ingredients in a lightly buttered four quart oven safe bowl. Place the bowl in a shallow baking pan and fill to about an inch deep with boiling water. This provides steam during the cooking process. Bake for approximately 60-90 minutes until done. A knife inserted near the center should come out clean. Delicious served warm. My husband likes his with milk on top. I do not, but it has never come between us.

10/26/07 7:10pm

7/26/07 7:36 pm

All gone!

Mom's Pumpkin Spice Cake

I just made one of these yesterday but I did not get a photo. I won't bother to show you the now empty cake platter. 'Nuf said!

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1  can pumpkin (15 ounce)

2 1/4 cups flour (I use half whole wheat)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cloves

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Beat butter, oil and sugar in mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Mix in eggs, then pumpkin. Add dry ingredients and stir until blended. Spread in prepared pan. Bake approximately 45 minutes or until it tests done. Cool 10 minutes, then remove from pan.

Prepare an icing with 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, and enough milk to make a proper drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cake. Enjoy with a cup of tea! You knew I'd say that ;-).

A big thank you to Kristen, our ever gracious hostess!

Big A

I thought it might be a good time to start teaching Eliza more about letters. She knows the alphabet and recognizes all the letters, so I wanted to start teaching her how to write the letters and what sounds each makes. I sat down with her the other day to try and show her how to make an A. I drew many A's while describing the process: up, down, cross in the middle. She went on drawing circles and faces with her marker, seeming completely disinterested and paying absolutely no attention to me. I'm thinking, okay so we're nowhere near ready for this letter-a-week thing.

So imagine my surprise and delight when the next day out of the blue she takes up her marker and starts writing A's all over her paper, gleefully repeating my directions with every letter: up, down, cross in the middle. She has since filled many pages with all manner of capital A's.

By George, I think she's got it!

Lonely

Regina Doman, I want my husband back.

Your latest frigate has carried my beloved off leaving me to fend for my family on my own. Just tonight I had to venture off with my five girls in tow to far away lands the grocery store to obtain provisions (eight gallons of milk) whilst my dear husband sat reading, unable unwilling to tear himself away from the pages. Even now he lies awake in the wee hours pressing on.

He didn't even know the title but Regina Doman's third novel was at the top of Jonathan's birthday wish list. Happy to oblige, though knowing full well my folly, I purchased the desired treasure. Michael got to it first.

At least he should be finished soon, and then I'll have my true love back.

Until the time comes for me to leave him. Not soon enough - alas, I'm third in line.

Just Wondering

If you tell your seven year old daughter to settle down because she is chasing her two little screeching sisters up and down the hallway causing all three to run frantically and giggle wildly while you are trying to comb their elder sister's freshly washed hair and she replies that she'd rather drink fish oil than act like a proper young lady do you reprimand her for being fresh or do you commend her for quoting fine children's literature?

WIP Update

I found it downright hilarious when Danielle Bean referred us to her supposedly messy desk. Apparently she has never seen Josiah's creative workspace. (See how he loves his new nose - he's always wearing it.)

Here are the latest additions to his WIP. The Bait Shop is now open and ready for business. Note the diminutive duck decoys on the porch.

Here we have the General Store with its false front:

A new small craft:

And here is the Inn of the Blue Gull:

I just love the signpost. Wait till you see the Bike Shop with its rentals and the Coffee House with its rather unique sign. But I don't have photos for you yet. When Josiah has completed ten buildings he plans to take a respite and start working on the landscaping. Stay tuned...

   

Rosary Vitamin

Helen of Castle of the Immaculate compiles a daily Marian meditation which she so kindly sends out via email to those who wish to receive it. Helen is so very gracious and generous to share her wisdom as a Third Order Franciscan with her readers. Appropriately called Mary Vitamin, these little daily fortifications provide a wealth of inspiration and encouragement. As I am a rosary maker, and we are in the middle of October, the month of the rosary, and today's Mary Vitamin gives very straightforward advice on praying the rosary, I am posting it here. You can click here to read the archive of daily devotions or to be added to the daily email list. For instructions on how to pray the rosary and a list of the Mysteries click here. If you are just wondering why Catholics pray the rosary and what it's all about click here.

Thank you, Helen!

Mary Vitamin for October 19^th

Topic: Ceaseless prayer and the Rosary

Quote:

Father Stefano Manelli, FI

“At San Giovanni Rotondo one used to have an idea of Our Lady’s ceaseless prayer, by watching Bl. Pio of Pietrelcina as he prayed hour after hour in the choir, in his cell, in the garden, in the corridors, by day and by night, reciting about a hundred Rosaries. If a man could pray so much, what must have been the Mother of God’s capacity for prayer?”

Devotion to Our Lady, (Academy of the Immaculate: 2001), 128.

(As a child, Father Manelli served St. Pio of Pietrelcina’s Masses.)

Meditation:

St. Pio of Pietrelcina spent his priesthood bearing the stigmata. Every day, every hour he felt the pains of Good Friday. His constant companion, his best friend through this trial of blessing was the Rosary.

St. Louis de Montfort

“Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, b e sure to ask for some special grace. Ask God’s help in cultivating one of the great Christian virtues or in overcoming one of your sins.

The second big fault a lot of people make when saying the Holy Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over as quickly as possible! This is because so many of us look upon the rosary as a burden which is always heavier when we have not said it …”

The Secret of the Rosary, Forty Fourth Rose

Resolution:

Imitating Our Lady requires prayer, frequent prayer. Our Lady asks for the Rosary and the great saints pray the rosary. As the month of the Holy Rosary draws to a close, I will make every effort to pray my Rosary well  following the counsel of St. Louis de Montfort (I will ask for a special grace) and the example of St. Pio of Petrelcina (who prayed many Rosaries).

Never Enough Flowers

We enjoyed a lovely walk today in the splendid fall weather. As Monsignor said this morning, the cool, crisp autumn air is invigorating - even for a ninety-five-year-old. (!) It is interesting to walk through our neighborhood and admire the lushly landscaped yards interspersed with wild, overgrown empty lots. A bright splash of red caught my eye amidst the palette of browns in one of these barren parcels. Someone had prematurely dumped out all of their summer potted annuals and masses of flowers were resting peacefully in a tangled, colorful jumble, unaware of their rejection.

The girls started picking them up by their well-knit root balls, Look at this one! Look at that one! They are full of flowers!

Soon we were up to our old tricks. It amused me how the girls ran for the wheelbarrow with glee. They didn't question my intentions or marvel at my proposition. They delighted in hauling home all of the cast-offs, sticking them in pots and giving them a much needed dousing.

My deck has been transformed by the masses of adopted blooms. Here are a few:

It makes me think of a scene out of  The Gardener.

I've always wanted to learn how to overwinter geraniums. I should get plenty of practice!

A Little Shopping

The girls and I went out for a bit of shopping last evening.

My new fall hat:

(Do you know it is great fun to stick out your arm and try and take a picture of your own hat? It also provides slight entertainment for any passersby.)

New shoes for the littlest girls:

I found the puppies quite irresistible:

I do think of my boys even when I'm out with the girls.

So for Josiah, a new nose:

Successful outing, no?

Poetry Friday

The Walrus and the Carpenter

A limerick or three

Robert Louis Stevensen

The Horses of the Sea

Sea Fever, Sea Gypsy, and Old Ironsides

Stephen Vincent Benét

Hilarity, drama and passion abound

When we recite at the end of the day

These are scenes from last Friday night's 'Literary' as Pa Ingalls would have called it. We enjoy gathering for a bit of reading and recitation in the evening, and it always proves to be a delightful entertainment. Last week had a bit of a sea theme to go along with our recent trip. The girls enjoy choosing their poems, or having me assign them, and practicing all week. Dad can usually be depended upon for a reading of a favorite piece or two.

If family recitations are not already part of your weekly learning routine I encourage you to give it a try. When the children are little it is a simple matter to have them recite their 'memory gems' or a Bible verse or two on Friday night when Daddy gets home. They look forward to these little presentations and are motivated to do a good job. As they get older the pieces of course get longer and the manner of expression grows along as well.  Letting the children choose pieces that interest them is only natural. If you have any 'reluctant reciters' just keep making suggestions until something strikes their fancy. Even teenaged boys will have a great time reciting if the material is to their liking - whether that is the drama of Shakespeare or the nonsense of Lear or even just the Gettysburg Address done in one's best Mayor Shinn voice.

And of course Eliza had to do a bit of reciting as well:

We don't have a clue as to what she was actually jibbering, but we do know she gave a fine performance most worthy of a bow

and a jolly round of applause.

Bravo!