five finds friday – (Congaree, more soup, another Otto saying & sunshine)

I really need to go to bed instead of writing this post.

I don’t feel at all certain that I can think of Five items tonight.

But, at the same time, I really want to do this.

funny

We went to see a play at local college with many of our friends.

The lead role was performed by a friend we made through our stays at Lost Valley Ranch.  I love that sort of connection and how that works out.

It was Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and, like every event of late in our home, the feelings about attending the show were mixed.  (In fact, Bergen heaved a heavy sigh lately after one such typical family conversation where half the family wants to attend an event and half the family does not. “Mom, why can’t we just all like the same thing?”  Dude.  I. Hear. You.  Why, indeed?  WHY INDEED???)

At any rate, in a steady attempt to offer my children culture and growth, education and refinement, I required all of them to attend.

And, except for one, they all enjoyed it. And that one, as the house lights came on for intermission, leaned up from the seat he was sitting in behind me and placed his head between mine and my friend’s, and said, with an air of importance and exactness, “That was 44 minutes.”

fashionable

Two words.

Swimsuit season.

This year we just tried to get ahead of the curve (ha) in the challenge of looking for swimsuits for teenagers.  Swimsuits that didn’t leave the rear end fully exposed, thus wondering why a swimsuit had even been created.

We rolled the dice with catalog ordering from Lands End.

Now we wait to see if the suits fit or if we are forced to endure the dreaded Return Through the Mail system.

faithful

God makes really beautiful places.

I’d love to travel all over, everywhere.  My list of Places I Want To See is long and extensive.

There is generally not ever a time that I don’t have a trip on the horizon, in my mind, with plans and thoughts.  A trip on the calendar.  One to always be looking toward.

On my way home from one trip, before I am pulling in the driveway, I have genuine plans for the next trip.

One place we hadn’t seen yet, was the only National Park in our current state.

Congaree National Park.

We spent a morning there this week.

The loblolly trees were shocking in size.  The Beech dreamy.  The swamp – swampy.

I wanted to see more birds – but turns out the people I was with (my children) were too loud for that sort of sighting.  I saw more snakes than I signed up for. And a turtle.

I love the diversity – even in South Carolina – that God designed and maintains.

It’s some kind of lovely.

flavorful

Last week I mentioned soup too.  Whatever.  I can mention soup every week if I want.  I can change the name of this one to “flavorful soup“.

Anyway.  I’m going to talk about soup. Again.

This one was ridiculously easy.  Because, although it does contain meat, you don’t have to brown it before hand.

It’s an Instant Pot recipe too.

You use cooked sausage links – of any flavor you like, really.

Which makes this soup the fastest and easiest around.

I think it took a complete total of thirty minutes, maybe thirty-five, to have it from chopped veggies to on the table.  And only about ten or less of those minutes were the chopping of said veggies.  Most of that short time is just letting the Instant Pot do its job.

Tuscan White Bean Soup.  (Naturally, I substituted.  I didn’t have cannelloni beans so I used what I had – one can of red kidney beans and one can of northern beans.)  I did, however, use the zucchini and the kale and no one died and no one really noticed either of those formerly offensive foods.

feels

This break week I had a lot of work meetings and tasks to accomplish so although the kids were able to basically take it easy, I wasn’t real familiar with that pace – you know, the “take it easy” pace.

But at one point on one of these beautifully sunny afternoons, we all went outside and had snacks on a blanket and I read the kids a story.

Like the old days.

It was nostalgic and sweet and short and it reminded me of how much of my life has been spent sitting on blankets in the sunshine, reading to my children.  Not recently, sadly, but in those early years with so many dirty faces and cute heads to wrangle.  They would all come running to the sight of a blanket spread in the yard and snacks placed out for reading time.

It felt nice to revisit that scene – even for a short chapter of Jane Eyre – another item that brought wildly mixed reviews to my band of children.

(I love Jane Eyre.  Inexplicably.  I don’t understand why she intrigues me so much.  But she does. I once had two goats. Twins. Jane Eyre and Rochester.)

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