Show & Tell Friday for July 31

For today's show & tell, I have just a few treasures from my early summer ribbon board. I have a ribbon board in my front hallway where I display paper treasures. Most of these cards are newer, not vintage, but they are so pretty I thought I would share. I always get so much enjoyment from the cards I am given, and save many of them to display again and again, varying them with the season.

I love the mix of summer flowers jumbled together in this card. Notice the tiny forget-me-nots just at the tip of the pencil.

This is a summery Holly Pond Hill card by Susan Wheeler. I love her work.

I love the orangey flowers in this thank-you card.

Day lilies are so beautiful. How I would love to have a patch like this!

I own a tea tin much like this one, but I keep tea in it. Isn't it a neat idea to use as a planter, though?

Blue hydrangeas are gorgeous -- some of my favorite flowers. This is a design from a Mother's Day card.

Last but not least is this seashell-themed note card. I love the saying!

That is my ultra-simple Show & Tell for today. To see what others have shared for Show & Tell Friday, head on over to There is No Place Like Home.

Happy Show & Tell Friday!

Back-on-Track Challenge, Day 25

Here's how things went yesterday:

* Health & energy -- kept up with the Body Clutter Investigator, ate well, drank plenty of water, got about 21g fiber, exercised, and got 6.5 hours sleep.

* Devotional life -- worked on the Bible study Becoming a Woman of Grace, by Cynthia Heald; worked on memorizing 2 Peter 1:10-11. Had a wonderful quiet time of reading the Bible and praying. Made a new page for my prayer journal.

* Homemaking -- made a schedule for my day. Stuck to my schedule and accomplished most things on my list. Planned menus, went grocery shopping.

* Creativity -- Spent time working on craft preparation for our church's kids' outreach on Saturday. Posted in my blog. FINISHED a sewing project -- a set of curtains someone had asked me to make, which have been giving me fits. Spent a few minutes thinking about handmade Christmas gifts for this year. Wrote in my journal.

So that was day 25 of my challenge. I'm very pleased with how things went, especially my quiet time. It was wonderful... exactly what I want each day's quiet time to be, but it doesn't always work out that way! It's been a very encouraging week in that department.

How about you? If you're taking part in this challenge with me, share your thoughts in the comments!

Back-on-Track Challenge, Day 24

Here's how things went yesterday:

* Health & energy -- kept up with the Body Clutter Investigator, ate well, drank plenty of water, got about 27g fiber, exercised, and got 6.5 hours sleep.

* Devotional life -- worked on the Bible study Becoming a Woman of Grace, by Cynthia Heald; worked on memorizing 2 Peter 1:10-11. Had a wonderful quiet time of reading the Bible and praying. Made a new page for my prayer journal.

* Homemaking -- made a schedule for my day. Stuck to my schedule and accomplished most things on my list. Did three loads of laundry and hung them on the line with the hopes of getting them dry, since it was somewhat of a sunny day (a rarity this summer). Unfortunately the day was so humid that only about half of the items got completely dry.

* Creativity -- Spent time working on craft preparation for our church's kids' outreach on Saturday. Posted in my blog. Worked on a sewing project. Spent a few minutes on cross stitch Christmas ornaments. Wrote in my journal.

So that was day 24 of my challenge. I'm very pleased with how things went, especially my quiet time. It was wonderful... exactly what I want each day's quiet time to be, but it doesn't always work out that way! So far, it has been a super week in that department. I am also thankful that the Lord helped me to accomplish a lot yesterday even though I was out of the house for half of the day.

How about you? If you're taking part in this challenge with me, share your thoughts in the comments! Just a couple more days! Tomorrow will be my last day of this challenge.

Back-on-Track Challenge, Day 23

Here's how things went yesterday:

* Health & energy -- kept up with the Body Clutter Investigator, ate well, drank plenty of water, got about 23g fiber, exercised, and got 6.5 hours sleep.

* Devotional life -- worked on the Bible study Becoming a Woman of Grace, by Cynthia Heald; worked on memorizing 2 Peter 1:10-11. Had a wonderful quiet time of reading the Bible and praying. Read through the next chapter of the study Quiet Confidence for a Woman's Heart in preparation for the next Sunday School lessons I'll teach.

* Homemaking -- made a schedule for my day. Stuck to my schedule and accomplished most things on my list. Shifted my meal-planning gears to come up with something that would be good for a very hot day. Potato salad, yes, but what to have with it. Meat loaf would be good, but I didn't want to heat up the oven. My old Quaker Oats cookbooklet (which has a great meat loaf recipe) gave directions for cooking it in the microwave. It worked perfectly!

* Creativity -- Spent time working on craft preparation for our church's kids' outreach on Saturday. Posted in my blog. Worked on a sewing project. In the process of craft preparation (as mentioned above) I did a bit of decluttering in the craft closet. Found an unfinished girls' blouse and skirt that won't take much work to finish and may fit a granddaughter. Also found a tablecloth/napkin set all stamped for embroidery -- I know this is a UFO given me by someone else. The napkins are all stitched, but the tablecloth doesn't appear to have been started. Fun find! I have been wanting to work on an embroidery project, so I guess this will be it. In the evening, spent some time on cross stitch Christmas ornaments. Wrote in my journal.

So that was day 23 of my challenge. I'm very pleased with how things went, especially my quiet time. It was wonderful... exactly what I want each day's quiet time to be, but it doesn't always work out that way!

How about you? If you're taking part in this challenge with me, share your thoughts in the comments!

A fabulous raspberry pie....

A week or two ago, friends from Florida on a road trip stopped by to spend a weekend with us. They brought us a wonderful gift -- a quart of raspberries they had picked in New York state the day before. These raspberries were perfectly ripe and were the largest, most succulent raspberries we had ever seen. They just called out to be made into something special. Our friends asked somewhat wistfully if I had ever made a pie with fresh raspberries -- they had never tasted one. So I thought back to the most delicious, fresh-tasting raspberry pie I had ever made. Years ago, when I worked at an inn as a part-time pastry cook, this was a featured recipe. I memorized it during my time there. They made this pie with cut-up strawberries, then raspberries, then blackberries, as the respective fruits came into season. I don't recall them making it with blueberries, but I think it would be every bit as good using those. Here's the recipe:

RASPBERRY CREAM PIE

1 9-inch pie shell, baked and cooled
1 quart raspberries*, divided use
1 1/3 cups water, divided use
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream (that would be 1 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put 1 cup of the raspberries into a saucepan with 1 cup water and the sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes. Mix the cornstarch into the remaining 1/3 cup water and stir into the simmering mixture. Cook and stir until thick. Cool the mixture and stir in the remaining 3 cups of uncooked raspberries. Place in the refrigerator until cold.

Whip the cream until stiff and whip in the vanilla. Pile the whipped cream into the baked pie shell. Gently spread the raspberry mixture over the cream. Chill the pie 3 to 4 hours before serving.

* Or use blueberries, blackberries, or halved or sliced strawberries. I have never tried using a combination of berries, but I imagine that would be good, too.

Our friends raved about this pie and said they wished it was polite to lick one's plate! It did turn out to be absolutely delicious. I had never had such remarkable berries to make this pie with before, so Mr. T and I enjoyed it every bit as much as our friends did.

If you want to use some summer berries in a marvelous way, try this recipe! And let me know what you think!

Back-on-Track Challenge, Day 22

Here's how things went yesterday:

* Health & energy -- kept up with the Body Clutter Investigator, ate well, drank plenty of water, got about 23g fiber, exercised, and got 6.5 hours sleep.

* Devotional life -- worked on the Bible study Becoming a Woman of Grace, by Cynthia Heald; worked on memorizing 2 Peter 1:10-11. Had a wonderful quiet time of reading the Bible and praying. Made a new page for my prayer journal. I am making some pages which thank and praise God for our spiritual blessings as defined in Scripture.

* Homemaking -- made a schedule for my day. Did several loads of laundry and part of the weekly home blessing... changed sheets, emptied wastebaskets, etc. Shifted my meal-planning gears to come up with something that would be good for a very hot day.

* Creativity -- Spent time with a friend working on crafts for our church's kids' outreach on Saturday. Posted in my blog.

So that was day 22 of my challenge. I'm very pleased with how things went, especially my quiet time. It was wonderful... exactly what I want each day's quiet time to be, but it doesn't always work out that way!

How about you? If you're taking part in this challenge with me, share your thoughts in the comments!

Back-on-Track Challenge, Day 21

Here's how things went yesterday:

* Health & energy -- failed to use the Body Clutter Investigator, ate quite well, drank quite a bit of water, got 7 hours sleep.

* Devotional life -- Finished memorizing 2 Peter 1:8-9. Had a good quiet time of reading the Bible and a shorter prayer time than usual.

* Homemaking -- failed to make a schedule for my day. Other than meals and dishes, didn't get a lot else done in the homemaking department.

* Creativity -- Spent some time working on my journal. Posted in my blog.

So that was day 21 of my challenge. For a Sunday, I'm quite pleased with how things went. Even though I didn't use the BCI, I'm pleased that I kept up with good eating habits anyway and got quite a bit of water.

How about you? If you're taking part in this challenge with me, share your thoughts in the comments!