Two Week Wrap Up: Experiments, Projects, and Gardening

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In our life these two weeks…

My husband came home after his second trip in two weeks, and we have a whole month before he needs to go away again.  He has been able to avoid traveling for a few years, but that stage of life seems to be over.

Mr. 19, currently between university and his summer job, did all sorts of handyman projects, from painting, cleaning up the barn, and planting trees to working on the van and redoing an antique chair bottom.  These are all jobs that my husband is too busy to do and I do not have the strength for.  Many of them have been hanging over our heads for months or even longer and we are so grateful for his skill and helpful attitude!

Lately we’ve also been confronted with health issues, some major and some minor, in our family at home, among our relatives, and among our friends.  Our prayers are getting longer….

Last week I had the exhilarating experience of being part of a miracle.  When one of our conference speakers was unable to attend at the last minute, the organizers asked me to fill in, and God blessed those efforts.  Miracles do have their aftereffects, though, and it took me much of this week to recover from packing a week’s worth of prep work into one day.

In our homeschool …

Again we tried to measure the speed of light using a microwave and chocolate.  So now we have one measurement that gives double the real speed of light, and one that gives half.  I talked to two photonics experts, and they were not sure how to explain these results.  Probably they are either related to the shape and other specifics of the microwave cavity or to the way microwave radiation dissipates in chocolate.  There’s not much easily accessible scientific data on either option, so we bought another bar of chocolate (any excuse, right?) and are going to try one different experimental set up.  If that does not work, we will just give up, eat the chocolate, and move on to something else.

We also had a lot of fun with this experiment.  I set it up and then had each child watch as I poured in the water.  They all burst out in delighted laughter.  If it does not work right away when you try it, move the glass away from or toward the arrows.

Miss 16 has almost finished Apologia chemistry.  Her other work has also been going well.

Miss 13’s sore neck (judo) and sore head (soccer) turned out to be more serious than we had suspected.  She is currently taking a break from studying as well as reading, screen time, sports, and ‘everything else worth doing.’

Miss 11 has been busy doing her schoolwork and has spent every available moment helping her brother with his handyman jobs.  Her studying is much more efficient now that she knows there are exiting projects awaiting her when she is finished.

In our gluten free kitchen… Sausages.  Salads.  Bacon.  Kale stampot with bacon. Strawberries.  Soup.  Eggs.  Raspberry crumble.  Oatmeal scones.  Lots of vegetables.  Breaded chicken.  Butter tarts.  Raspberry marshmallow pie.  Gingerbread muffins.  Turkey.  Asparagus soup with fish.  Biscuits. Oatbread.  Banana bread. Lemon bread. Corn bread.  (Yes, I’m gearing up to start posting recipes at my gluten free blog, which is almost ready to come out of a long, long coma.)  Pizza.  Pineapple sauerkraut salad.  Cranberry orange bread.

In our garden

Our front flowerbed has a new cedar, the garden has some winter-hardy cherries, and our steep slopes will soon be covered with the beautiful, sturdy roses that are taking over our lawn.

Hyacinths and miniature daffodils are up, the red tulips have just started, and I noticed a few yellow blooms at the bottom of our forsythia bush.

We worked on preparing the garden for the early vegetables, but it’s a big job, especially with several of us unable to work at full capacity, or at all.  Today I hope to weed the raspberry bushes and make gingery turkey nettle soup; I always leave a few nettle roots in the raspberry patch for next year’s spring treat.  Hopefully the girls will be able to weed and trench the sides of the garden, and next week we will be able to plant.

Some of my favorite things were…

• My husband’s return from the second trip in two weeks.
• Mr. 19’s many successful projects.
• Various outings and visits, to friends, the homeschooling conference, and my husband’s work.

Questions/thoughts I have…  A smile goes a long way in brightening everyone’s day.

Fitness… I am almost back to 10,000 steps a day!  And I’m back to doing my physio exercises and feel well much of the time.  As usual, life is a constant balancing act between overdoing and underdoing, though.  Gardening is a real challenge, because there is so much that I want to do but should not attempt.  I did to chop down some of our raspberry canes, but that was a very bad idea and put me out of commission for a day.  On the positive side, I’ve lost my kilogram for the month of April!

Some of the things I’ve been working on…

• Homeschooling.
• Gardening.
• Finding winter hardy cherry bushes for a friend, our neighbors, and ourselves.
• Preparing for and reviewing after the homeschooling conference.
• Encouraging ill loved ones.
• Writing reviews and articles.

I’m reading… Luke. I finished The Pelican Bride and Safe as Houses.  I’m reading The 40 Most Influential Christians, The Death of Adam, and the Candle Bible Handbook.

Reading Aloud… We’re still reading Jeremiah, Volume 5 of In de Zoete Suikerbol, the Kids Can Press French and English Word Book, and Young People’s History of the Church and have begun Albrecht Durer by Joyce McPherson. 

I’m grateful for …. The doctors and physiotherapists.

Quote or link to share….  Another link to the neat experiment I mentioned above, just so you’ll remember to try it.

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The photograph was taken by my son.  This post is linked to Kris’s Weekly Wrap Up .