I'm No Mary Poppins! :)

*SPOILER WARNING FOR ABIGAIL!!!! THIS POST CONTAINS SUBJECT MATTER RELATED IN A LETTER YOU WILL RECEIVE. READ AT OWN RISK!!!!* :D

We are all so blessed for the rain that has been falling for two days now!!! :) We have not had any rain for any length of time since the threat of Hurricane Earl, and even then, it was only a shower or two! So the earth was extremely thirsty! :) I decided to take a walk yesterday in it! And yes, this time I did take an umbrella! :) It did not take me long to find out that in the county, you are looked upon as strange anyway for taking walks, but stranger for taking them in the rain, and if you are without an umbrella, they want to send you to the funny farm! :P So I was a good girl. But I wish I could learn how to walk gracefully with an umbrella! Doubtless I could do it if I were she:

But I am not. And I do not believe even if I had a cute umbrella and not our lumpy black one, that it would make any difference. You see, I cannot walk and look forgetful of my umbrella. I either look as if my arm is tied to a very strong helium balloon, or else I drop it to low and nearly decapitate my head up amongst the ribs. I am always twirling it absentmindedly and accidently twisting my hair all around the pole, only to find I cannot get my head away from the handle five minutes later. And I like to enjoy the view when I walk, so I get wet anyway, from pushing the umbrella from this side to look at something, and from that side to look at another. Umbrellas are so unpoetic! :) And they seem to be in my way no matter what I do. Witness this scene:

Me. I see a brilliantly colored maple tree just across a ditch. Sarah has been complaining of no fall color around here yet, so I determine to gather a few leaves to cheer her up. But the ditch is too wide. No it isn't. Yes it is. No it isn't. Where would I put my umbrella? Just hold it. What!?! Yeah, hold it! Okay. So against better judgement, I agree with the other half of my brain to get the leaves. The opposite bank look very slippery, but I am resolved. With one quick move I straddle the ditch, and reach for the leaves. Blast! They are all out of reach! So with the tippiest tips of my fingers, I catch hold of one leaf, (mind you, I am still holding my umbrella!) and pull the rest of that branch to myself. Triumphant at last, with a fist full of leaves, I stand there panting. Oh joy. How do I get back across the ditch? I am almost doing the splits as it is! But somehow or another, and maybe with some help from the ever-present umbrella, I make it back over, and walk home with a wet skirt, but a happy heart. *bows* "Thank you!" :)
Isn't it so true what Laura Ingalls Wilder said? "It is the simple things in life which are the real ones after all." I do believe I got more innocent pleasure (with a dose of irritation) out of walking in the rain with an unruly umbrella than I could have gained doing many another thing! Try it! I bet no one who reads this blog is too old to enjoy a good hour of puddle-jumping! ;) -Rachel

Oh! Sarah made this cute little button for our blog! Please take it! :) Thanks Matthew for being such a good photographer! :)

What is that drippy foreign stuff called? :P

I have a smile on my face because...

IT RAINED!!!

After probably at least three weeks since the last shower the whole earth around here was wilting. We were hoeing the garden, and raising enough clouds of dust to make someone think we were hosting a horse race! :) Really, it was pathetic. Then, along came some clouds, and behind the clouds the rain, and we all stood in the garden getting drenched by the liquid gold! :) It felt so good to stand for at least half an hour, and feel shower after shower sweep over us as we worked! What a blessing rain is! And we needed it sorely! It wasn't a real long stretch of rain, but enough to dampen everything round about and lighten the humidity in the air! Thank you God! :) -Rachel

In Which I am a Seamstress :)

`Ello Gov'na'! :) I don't know...that was just as sort of English sounding opening for a post on a very English day! :) I have had a perfectly lovely afternoon! One of my friends called me up this morning and asked me to come over and pick their cherry-trees with her! I was so excited, but then it began raining in earnest, and her Mama didn't want us to be out in the rain and catch cold. We are all walking on tip-toe till Saturday when we have our voice recital. No colds till then please! :) But then her older sister invited me to come work on my Scottish dress, and so I did. This dress has been trying to be made since....January? I bought the material and cut everything out and then...our machine quit. I shall not go into gorey details because they would bore you and irritate me! :) The Walkers were just about to move in, and so I felt that the Lord was just telling me that now was not the time to do it. So I packed it all away in my sewing box, and laid it aside. I knew that if I persisted in trying to make it my agenda, I would be constantly snarled because I knew my agenda was not the one I needed to focus on in this season. So I had almost forgotten about my Scottish finery laid away in the sewing box. Then The King's Daughter and I talked about it again. She offered to make it for me, since she had made her's and numerous other sewing projects since my burial of my hopes! ;) So with a very willing heart I gave her the project, and today I went over there and worked away at it with a good will! We were all three out in the room over their barn: a perfectly lovely apartment. The walls are painted the sweetest forgetmenot color, with white trim, and the floor is wood. At one end is a quaint little double-wide window looking out upon the prettiest garden this side of the Mississippi River! (Mr. T. keeps a Mr. MacGregor garden with not A SINGLE WEED!!!) Anyway, the rain was pouring down in torrents upon the tin roof as we sewed and sang together! I have little recollection of a wet afternoon more pleasantly spent! :) I worked on the blouse on Maryanna's machine, and The King's Daughter nearly finished the skirt on another! All that is left to do can probably be accomplished in another good afternoon's time. We must finish the blouse and make the vest. I am so excited! The Lord is rewarding my waiting with a most lovely chance to be with my sweet "sisters" in that pretty room! :) Yay! Three cheers for Scotland's traditional costume! (The King's Daughter and I plan to wear our outfits together one Sunday! :)
-Rachel

Qjduicsl (Bless you!)

Made you look! :)
Here is a question: What do Sarah, Matthew, and I do with twelve young "childrens" in the house, while it rains outside, two dogs run in and up (one who keeps having an upset stomach) and the kids bounce all over (4 very energetic boys) and the moms are gone grocery shopping? I am wondering.....at times like this I begin to think of the Brown children in Nurse Matilda, or Jane and Michael Banks, or the Vontrapp Children with poor Maria. (And yes... frogs will be a part of today. Several of the kids spent a good part of the afternoon catching tadpoles. Actually, Anna was cleaning out the tadpole bowl over the pans of brownies on the counter....we didn't die yet.)
There are many ways it could go...I don't like to think of some of them. But we will press forward and assume the best. We could always send them outside to take showers in the rain? Or....pretend we worked in a brick factory and make squares of the abundant mud...or not.
Anyway, we'll hope and pray for the best, and I'm glad that moms can go out together without any children. The joys and amusements of two large families living in one large house!
With Slightly Great Trepidation,
Rachel (Agreed upon by Sarah and Matthew who witness my hands typing this.)