A squirrel friend

I am sitting here at this table the my husband made, with a vase full of flowers from our garden, a glass of red wine, and a large piece of dark chocolate that was left-over from our chocolate party.  This piece is absolutely delicious, and the party, if I can say so myself, was beautiful.

We had about 8 women total to this party.  In military terms it is called a "coffee".  Basically, it is a chance for the officers' wives of a unit t get together.  Traditionally it was quite formal, with china and white gloves.  These days, depending upon the unit, it has become more informal.  Our coffee, that Molly and I hosted, was very informal, but lovely all the same.

This table at which I sit right now, was not quite long enough to hold of all the delicious cheeses that Molly brought.  Beecher's cheese nonetheless.  For those of you who don't quite know Pacific Northwest cheese, Beecher's is "the lady in red" or the most elegant, the most exquisite of all cheeses.  Molly had over 6 different kinds of this cheese and each one was delicious.  She brought cheese fondue with all the dip-ins (although the cheese burnt before the party began!  That was the only mistake of the evening though, I must say), with a multitude of crackers and different breads, salami, meatballs, and seared chicken.  She even homemade mozzarella cheese to serve with tomatoes with a balsamic reduction and fresh basil.  It was amazing!

I was in charge of all things chocolate and I had the best time shopping at Trader Joes.  I have to say, their treat section is the absolute best!  You can find almost anything chocolate covered. . . even potato chips! (which we did not serve, by the way!)  We had several little snacky chocolate things such as pretzels and almonds, I made a new treat: chocolate covered spoons which I found on Pintrest, and also had a chocolate fondue section.  We had almost too many bottles of wine to count, the night was perfectly gorgeous as we sat out by the park, and the children enjoyed themselves almost as much as the mamas.

It's a Manna Monday and so I will recall the ways in which the Lord provided today:

a friend with whom I share a love of all things canning.  Currently, Melissa and I have canned 3 or 4 nights in a row creating beautiful jars of: Dilly Beans, Bread and Butter Zucchini Pickles, and tonight, Hot -Cumin Summer Squash (those are just for her... I don't think I could stand the cumin, but I wanted to help her)

A phone date with my husband: sharing laughter and sharing dreams

countless hours of delight for my daughter in her old now new love: the Jolly Jumper!

A squirrel friend for Tirzah.  Truly, I think Tirzah might be the only person in the world to have played peek a boo with a squirrel, but it really happened.  There we were, just about to finish up our walk when a squirrel went running across our path.  We froze so we wouldn't scare him, for Tirzah loves all animals and longs to watch their every movement, whenever we come across one on our walks. He stared at us and we stared at him for several moments until he scurried up this huge cedar tree.  Not even kidding, he went to a little outlying branch and crouched down upon it.  He would hide behind this branch (although it was more like a twig and we could see his every movement), and he would lean to one side and look at us for a moment and then quickly move back to the center.  And then he would lean over to the other side of the branch, stare at us, and then quickly jerk back to the center.  It was so funny to watch and then all of a sudden, Tirzah hid her face behind her hands and then quickly opened them and said Boo!  It might have been one of the most endearing moments this Mama has ever seen.

One of the simplest most delicious meals of the summer.  We received 3 fresh ears of sweet corn from the farm this week, and I had bought a large head of broccoli the other day since that is one of Tirzah's favorite vegetables.  We harvested several carrots right before dinner, cut them up, chopped the broccoli and cut off the corn kernels (after we boiled them), placed them all in a skillet with lots of butter and a little olive oil (with salt, pepper, and garlic powder), placed some seared chicken in as well, and honestly, it was absolutely delicious!

How have you seen the Lord provide for you this day?