While in the midst of exploring one morning, I happened upon some curious looking creatures.

This one is not as big as she looks in the picture.

There were several pockets of these clustered together.

Recently Matthew and I took off for Eisenhower State Park for a camping trip.  This park is located on Lake Texoma, which is part of the Red River, the northern border of the state of Texas.

One thing in particular that I like about these kinds of overnight trips is that once away from the city lights, the stars are bright and beautiful. 

Here’s what I saw early one morning.  Normally it is easy to spot the two constellations, Orion and Sirius, but with so many stars visible, they are a little harder to pick out.

A new recipe from Kathy’s Kakes.  It tastes as good as it looks.

At a recent trip to our public library we had an opportunity to inspect a fire truck.  They are amazing pieces of equipment.

Group discussion afterwards.

Early one morning we all tumbled out of the house for some exercise.  This consisted of walking our street a few times and visiting the neighborhood horses.

Here’s a picture of the street on which we bike, walk, and exercise.

The fog had just lifted when we embarked.

There were several flocks of grackles feeding on the lawns of several homes.

Off we go!

We took a break to feed some of the neighbor’s horses.

Kimmy was elected to perform the feeding.

Checking out the limitations of my telephoto lense.  This was taken at 16X normal.

Here is a picture of our house at the beginning of autumn.  The leaves are just beginning to change.  It was good to be out in God’s wonderful creation on this cool morning.  As we have just moved from the season of summer to autumn, I am reminded of these words from one of our hymnwriters:

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

On a beautiful, autumn evening this past week we ventured out for a visit to a local Baskin Robbins ice cream store.

Tough decisions had to be made.

Much counsel was needed to make those decisions.

Comparing results and reconsidering those decisions.

Satisifaction.

Let’s see just how big of a bite can be made on this ice cream cone.

Ever since I was young I have loved to cook.   During my youth I focused on basics and some desserts.  15 years ago this month I baked my first loaf of bread.  It was a disaster.  Since then I have improved a bit and still love baking bread as much now as I did then.

This batch is ready for forming into loaves.

Notice the air pockets and holes in this batch.  The liquid was Kefir (too much of it) and the excess leavening put a lot of holes in the dough.

The dough has been divided into four pieces, ready for forming.

Formed and ready for rising.

The dough has risen and is ready for the oven.

The loaves are cooking and the smell is delicious.

The finished loaves. 

Remember the batch of dough with all the air pockets?  Here’s what happens…

I am blessed because my family continues to encourage me to improve my skills and strive to make that perfect loaf of bread.  An unfortunate result is that it often improves my waistline.  C’est la vie.

Waiting for Mom in the back seat.  Fortunately, Dad was there to entertain.

During a recent illness, I began to drink Kefir, in an attempt to improve my immune system.  I’ve acquired a taste for this interesting drink, and did quite a bit of research on it.

These days I have my own Kefir grains, and I make my own Kefir drinks each day.  This process has gotten so involved that my family calls this process ‘the recipe’.

Here are some Kefir grains.  This batch was obtained from some friends in Nebraska.  They look like little heads of cauliflower.

This batch of Kefir grains was ordered from someone in Australia.

The grains are placed in milk and fermented for 24 hours.  After that the grains are removed and the drink is ripened for another 24 hours. 

This batch has been fermenting for about 18 hours in raw milk.  You can see the milk coagulating.

The drink is similar to yogurt but much healthier, and has quite a zing to it.  It is similar to a combination of creamy vanilla yogurt and sparkling water.

I think I’m addicted.