Great Western Trek '22, Part 1: Westbound

So recently I have had several people (and by "several" I mean "more than one") ask me if we still have a blog.  And yes, technically, we DO....  but it is covered with cyber dust and spiderwebs.  The fact that anyone asked and even expressed nostalgia over our blog prodded me to get out my cyber Raid and duster, and let our adoring public peek into our lives once again.

I've realized that since we have a private GroupMe with immediate family, that's how I primarily share updates from our lives.  But obvs not everyone who reads this blog has access to that, and for some reason my brain didn't take that into account.  Anyway that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Well, going back to the start of summer, this year we FINALLY made a long-overdue driving trip out to Minnesota and back.  Our niece Bethany was getting married in June, and of course we HAD to be there, so that provided the perfect opportunity to make our usual long trip visitng friends-and-relations along the way!

It's beginning to look a lot like vacaaaaayshuuuun...

I wish I'd got a picture of the back of the van all packed up.  Truly a masterwork of Mad Tetris Skilz.

Halloween 2022

 Updated to add this adorable Halloween art from Katie:

 

Boo!

 The kids had a lot of fun deciding on their costumes this year.  Every one was pretty much set by the end of summer, which has to be a world record for our family.  After repeated pestering I finally told Nicky I wouldn't buy any elements of his costume until the end of September at the earliest.  And then me being me, I waited until it was too late to order special items. (insert eyeroll emoji here)  But it all worked out, as it always does, and everyone got admired by all the old ladies in the neighborhood and had candy thrown at them, which is the whole point anyway.

So, youngest to oldest they were: 

Nicky: an inkling boy from Splatoon

It's so great having creative children.  The only thing I had to do for this was purchase the hat and shirt.  Katie did everything else: designing and coloring the logo on the shirt, adding the blue stripe to the pants, and making the "ink tank".

 

Booyah!

Andy was Link from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

We used to have Link's Master Sword, but the wings broke off b/c it was used too many times as a weapon for playing Splatoon.  Let that be a lesson to you, kids: never mix genres.

Daniel was Mario again, this time with a mustache that wouldn't sweat off:

Let's a-go!

Of course Daniel chose the largest pumpkin he could find.  Our only requirements for kids choosing their own is that they have to a) be able to carry it themselves, and b) be willing to carve out all the insides themselves.  So if you want to be responsible for a 20-lb pumpkin, have at it dude. 

Next, continuing Jojo's trend of choosing utterly obscure characters, he went as an original character designed by Katie.  It's a ninja rabbit named Rafael...

(reference art):

Jojo's mask only lasted about 10 minutes.  It was really hard to see with it in the dark.  But he did manage to scare a little girl while he was wearing it, so there's that.

The resident cosplayer, of course, won the night with her ensemble, Philza from Dream SMP (a Minecraft role playing series from Youtube):

reference:

(It being a Minecraft character left a lot of room open for interpretation lol.)

The pumpkins in all their glory!

Jojo's candle kept going out, but here's a closeup of it:

(It's a squid from Splatoon -- a big theme around here these days.)

Everyone went trick-or-treating, even Katie (she used her youthful looks to her advantage), and had a grand time even though it rained the entire night.  Carrying an umbrella and a prop and a candy pumpkin definitely made it more complex, but no one complained, and all came home with a respectable amount of loot.  There were a fair number of other families out too, which is always good to see.

The next morning was our homeschool coop, which was not fun getting up for.  Everyone was a little sugar hungover -- I noticed a definite uptick in the energy levels of the students, and corresponding reduction in ability to pay attention to the subject matter.  But hey, I'll put up with almost anything for a decent supply of Snickers.  Oh, and peanut M&Ms.

Daniel Brings Down the House

For your listening pleasure, we present Daniel's performance of two pieces learned for this year's Jazz Festival.

Boogie Woogie Romp by Eugenie Rocherolle:

Pine Top's Boogie by Clarence "Pine Top" Smith:

(fun fact: written in 1928, Pine Top's Boogie was the first official boogie-woogie song.)

All Hallows Eve 2021!

 ...So does anyone even keep a blog any more?  I apparently don't.... 

It looks like I didn't make a Halloween post last year?  We did go trick-or-treating but pickings were scant, as was to be expected.  Maybe after I finish this post I'll make one about last year too.  It's always fun to have a record of everyone's costumes.

spoopy...

A Year In Review

I think 2020 is over... which would make a year-in-review appropriate, although I'm not 100% sure we're not just stuck in the vestibule of Hell from the Inferno.

 

At any rate, here is a summary of what we did last year (assuming it was actually a year ago).  Surprisingly I have remarkably few pictures.  I guess we weren't very busy for some weird reason.

January

The year began as usual, with the disembowling of the gingerbread monstrosity house.

this would be Day 2.

Independence Day 2020!

Every year Mr Pickles buys a big box or two of fireworks, as do our next door neighbors.  A few years ago we started shooting them off together.  

yes, that is an obscene amount of fireworks

 

The kids all love it.  They especially enjoyed it this year, after being stuck at home so much.  Daniel's best friend, whom he's hardly seen all year, was allowed to join everyone for the fun.

Seriously, when else are you allowed to stay up late to play with fire?

Katie, ever the animal whisperer, made friends with a firefly.

God bless America!!

Katie's Confirmation -- EDITED!

Lest we neglect the Bearcakes, it was a big year for Katie too!  She was finally able to receive Confirmation in June. 

Our pastor celebrated the Mass and administered the Sacrament.  As it turns out, it was the last Mass we would be able to celebrate with him, since he and his fellow Disciples were transferred to another parish later in the month.  We'll miss their order -- they were very good fathers to our parish.

Katie asked her godmother to be her sponsor, so thankfully Aunt Rachel and cousin Lucy were able to drive out and stay for a short visit.

cousins! (and friend)

Katie's friend the Hairdresser Extraordinaire arranged Katie's hair to look like something from anime.  Of course.

It did look super cute on her.

Even though we are all suffering through this plague in some way, it was good to be able to celebrate a major Sacrament together.

And to check that box off!  That's the last sacrament we're responsible for for her. :)

EDITED TO ADD:

I can't believe I forgot to mention Katie's Confirmation saints!  She chose St. Catherine of Bologna, the patron of artists, and St. Marina of Omura, a Japanese martyr.  Both are perfect for her.  Instead of writing a report about her saints, she made a posterboard:

Scripture for 2020

It's comforting to know that we are not the only generation who have suffered and are confused; and that God is eternal and powerful.

Psalm 90

O Lord, You have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Before the mountains were born or the earth or the world brought forth,

You are God, without beginning or end.

You turn men back to dust and say: "Go back, sons of men."

To Your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone,

no more than a watch in the night.

You sweep men away like a dream, like grass which springs up in the morning.

In the morning it springs up and flowers: by evening it withers and fades.

So we are destroyed in Your anger, struck with terror in Your fury.

Our guilt lies open before You, our secrets in the light of Your face.

All our days pass away in Your anger.  Our life is over like a sigh.

Our span is seventy years, or eighty for those who are strong;

and most of these are emptiness and pain.  They pass swiftly and we are gone.

Who understands the power of Your anger and fears the strength of Your fury?

Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Lord, relent!  Is Your anger forever?  Show pity to Your servants.

In the morning, fill us with Your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days.

Give us joy to balance our affliction for the years when we knew misfortune.

Show forth Your work to Your servants; let Your glory shine on their children.

Let the favor of the Lord be upon us: give success to the work of our hands,

give success to the work of our hands.

"We should be grateful to the Lord our God for putting us to the test, as He did our forefathers.  Recall how He dealt with Abraham, and how He tried Isaac, and all that happened to Jacob in Syrian Mesopotamia while he was tending the flocks of Laban, his mother's brother. 

Not for vengeance did the Lord put them in the crucible to try their hearts, nor has He done so with us.  It is by way of admonition that He chastises those who are close to Him."

-Judith 8: 25-27

We may not understand it for some time, or even on this side of eternity, but it's good to have a Faith that tells us all this is serving a purpose, and that purpose is for our benefit.

The First Pickles Graduate!

So despite The Plague's best efforts, Miriam was able to have a high school graduation ceremony.

Three, in fact.

The first was at the end of May and was very informal; since everything was still up in the air and we weren't sure when or if there would be a graduation for our homeschoolers, some friends sweetly hosted a little event in their backyard.  It was the first time in months we had been with a group of people, and it was SO. GOOD.

Ma Ingalls would be so proud

Hello, friends-and-relations,
yes, we are all still alive.  Still inside.  Going stir crazy.  Along with everyone else.  Last week the Powers That Be promised that everything would start opening up on Friday, and then oh big surprise changed their minds mid-week and extended our solitary confinement sentence by another two weeks, dashing all our hopes that this will ever come to an end.  I have no idea what day it is anymore.  All I know is that when the milk runs low I go shopping and try to buy whatever is left in the stores.

Enough complaining.  At least Mr. Pickles is still allowed to work, so we can still buy books and eat.

...in that order.

I know a lot of people have been planting pandemic gardens -- that sounds like it requires way too much energy.  We're still homesteading in our own way though. 

Behold!

that would be 45 lbs of hard red organic wheat

A few months ago a friend told me about how some health issues she'd been suffering through were miraculously relieved by eating homemade bread from her own freshly ground wheat, and I thought hey why not?  We've got nothing to lose -- if the allergic people in the house end up not being able to eat it, we're no worse off than before.  It's actually cheaper than the good stuff at the store, plus with the added benefit of having all the nutrients still in it since nothing needed to be removed to keep it shelf-stable.  So in the name of Science I joined a co-op and ordered a bucketful.

I started by grinding the grain in a regular ol' blender, which was very loud and took a while.  Then Mr. Pickles very kindly bought me a grain mill which is much more efficient.

It's from China, so figuring out the attempted English translation of the instructions was entertaining.


Here are the results from my first loaf:

behold, the Bread Brick!

I followed the bread machine's recommended recipe for whole wheat bread.  It was very very dense.  I think 3c. of whole wheat flour need a little more than one tsp of yeast, n'est-ce pas?

Next batch, using recipe from my friend (and 3 times the amount of yeast):

voila!  too much yeast though; it fell at some point during rising

the texture was perfectly light, though

I adjusted the amount of yeast again and have finally hit on the perfectly textured loaf. 


And the final verdict?

Mr. Pickles and Miriam can eat it!  Not too much at a time, but they're not suffering the reactions they normally would from eating wheat.  Whew! 

It also tastes so amazingly good, I wish I could make some for you all.  It's good and hearty and makes awesome toast.  The crust is a little dark, but I think that's more of a bread machine issue than a fault of the wheat.

So, yeah.  I grind my own flour now.