In Such an Hour
Sometimes, when everything goes
wrong:
When days are short, and nights are long;
When wash-day brings so dull a sky
That not a single thing will dry.
And when the kitchen chimney smokes,
And when there's naught so "queer" as
folks!
When friends deplore my faded youth,
And when the baby cuts a tooth.
While John, the baby last but one,
Clings round my skirts till day is done;
When fat, good-tempered Jane is glum,
And butcher's man forgets to come.
Sometimes, I say, on days like these,
I get a sudden gleam of bliss.
"Not on some sunny day of ease,
He'll come . . but on a day like this!"
And, in the twinkling of an eye,
These tiresome things will all go by!
And, 'tis a curious thing, but Jane
Is sure, just then, to smile again;
Or, out the truant sun will peep,
And both the babies fall asleep.
The fire burns up with roar sublime,
And butcher's man is just in time.
And oh! My feeble faith grows strong
Sometimes, when everything goes wrong!
In no way do I want to blather on about my boring day and try to make you think it was in any way exciting. There was not much unusual about my day today. The animals did everything they do every day...the house needed picking up from the weekend. It was rainy and blah with tornado watch reports from the laptop until I could tell nothing was going to happen weatherwise. Praise the Lord! Who would ever have thought of tornadoes in New York? Times they are a'changin'!!! (See Matthew 24-watch and pray!)
We did have high wind, and pouring rain...but by eventide the sky was pink and blue and the gray storm clouds had passed on.
The highlight of the day was an attempt at gluten free cream of potato soup and gluten free biscuits. I say 'attempt' because it was actually an experimental meal...so far I have had gluten free success, but today I say...'not so much'! Nay...the results were anything but palatable. Back to the drawing board!
The girls and I had lots of fun at attempting gluten free biscuits...a recipe searched for and found on the internet...they looked good there, but somehow the end result here...well, it did not look like the picture on the web page. I thought maybe somehow if I slathered them with butter after they came out of the oven it would help the poor whitish pucks but nay, the butter immediately absorbed into the very dry orbs and did not even give the appearance of being buttered. Like water on a spot in Death Valley! No trace of any buttery goodness! Nothing! Dry as the bones in the valley spoken about in Ezekiel! Dry!!
The creamy potato soup was also very bland. We had bacon bits we made from our oversalted bacon from last year's pig slaughter (an experiment we'll not allow to happen this year!), dried onions (which really came out of the cupboard as an afterthought, I should have fried fresh onions in butter before the roux was made), cheese topping, lots of salt and pepper...and although everyone else thought it was alright...it just did not come out the way I had hoped. The soup sort of matched the day...bland day, bland soup.
Still, nothing could take away from the laughter, the conversation, the joy of being creative together in the kitchen. What is it about cooking together that makes it so enjoyable? My Nettie was here, Dena and Lydia were helping too and we just had such a time making those awful biscuits and laughing about the outcome! It was honestly a ray of sunshine on an otherwise rainy, drizzly day. The smiles and the conversation, the cooperation, the blessing of being together, doing what women do, kitchen fellowship. It just made my heart happy - all of our hearts happy.
We continued to laugh over the meal as we ate it. And Dave is such a good sport, he says he'll eat anything...he wanted to make sure I gave him some in his lunch tomorrow. What a good guy! What a trooper! He must have been really hungry is all I can say!
As far as my Home-Sweet Handiwork button up top goes, I am looking forward to putting some things up I'm working on. Hopefully tomorrow. I am working on miniature pumpkins, the white kind, I like them and each year find some to display. I love the pale, milky white skin and also the milky orange ones. Those make good pies! I thought it would be fun to crochet some and then maybe I'll give sewing a few a whirl with some retro fabric I have around. Then there's this new Cricut my Mom gave me when I was in Illinois a couple of weeks ago. It's brand new and never been used! Can't wait to try it out!
How was the day in your Home-Sweet? I hope you found laughter amidst the hum-drum, smiles in the routine and joy in the everyday-ness of your day. Most of all I pray you found your Savior overseeing it all and His nearness and blessing throughout all your times-which the Word tells us...are in His hands! Praise Him!
