~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
I'm on the go here because Rosie is getting close! (thanks for prayers!) but thought I'd check in with some pictures from this past weekend, when we finally — FINALLY! — boiled the sap. It's just been too cold and too snowy. The sap was frozen in buckets in the garage, even if we had been able to get a fire started with the wet wood buried under the snow!
But Sunday was glorious and we worked like crazy people, rushing home after Palm Sunday Mass (at which the Chief, Bridget, and I sang in the choir so no going to an early one, and anyway, such a beautiful liturgy, wouldn't want to shorten it) and getting things going.
{pretty}
Such a pretty day! The dogs were in heaven.
{happy}
We're Ma and Pa Kettle out here, literally! With the kettles! I think this set-up could be my {funny}, but hey, it works.
Everything is better when friends can join in the fun and keep you company. What a day! We got it all boiled, though! Almost a gallon. Could have done more, but mother nature just didn't cooperate with our schedule this year.
{funny}
On Saturday Bridget, having come home for break the day before, had her friends come to hang out in the snowy gloom and make a delicious cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, a book Rosie got me a few years ago. As soon as the sun went down, we enjoyed!
They made the delicious Almost Fudge Gateau, and since Greenspan recounts how her French friend (am I remembering this right?) got her new oven and sat in front of it singing as the cake rose, naturally the girls had to do likewise.
Love them.
{real}
It really would have been a gallon if I hadn't, yes, burned some (luckily a smaller pot) on the stove. Ugh. Just so tired and achy and getting sick and I thought the Chief had turned the pots off and he thought I was minding them… but I wasn't… until I heard and smelled… ugh ugh ugh.
I paid though, for my carelessness. Due penance. The bottom was black. This picture is AFTER boiling with baking soda plus vinegar, vinegar by itself, baking soda by itself… those black bits are BONDED. It's after hacking with spatula, knife, and steel wool.
Read carefully before you comment telling me what to do. I did it all.
Eventually I got it off. I ended up using mostly the knife and a smaller zester (you can see it here) that has a sharp straight edge and a short enough handle to get the center of the pot.
And probably another 3 cups of syrup. Gone. SOB.
Ah well, there's always next year!
I'll leave the linkup up for an extra day — you'll have Monday as well to join us. Please do!
And we are praying, as always, for all of you, our readers. Have a blessed Paschal Triduum. Don't worry. Lately I've been a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that is being bandied about out there. It seems like people get a hold of something and wring every drop of knowledge there is to be gotten out of it. Sometimes I feel like either people are ignoring important things or making them seem so complicated that there is no way to figure out how we are going to live them.
But… just live the important things, in your own way. They are important — these days are cosmically important — because they are important — not because we make them so by our efforts.
Remember, it's experiencing something that matters, not how intensely you feel about experiencing it. You (and the children) can only know what that means later. Some years will seem more full; others less so. In hindsight. That's how it must be. There's harm in forcing things, in a lot of noise and activity. Just… live your Paschal Triduum, along with the church, the best way you can. And have a blessed Easter Sunday and Eastertide!
And we'll see you next week, God willing!
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mary says
Sorry about the syrup, and the mess. Thanks for your wisdom, it’s what I needed to read this morning. Happy Easter! Happy Triduum!
Annie says
I love your words about living it, instead of wringing our hands over doing it wrong. Thank you.
Prayers for Rosie et al!- and what a blessing that Bridget found friends who love what she loves. That makes me happy too!
Mary Keane says
Thanks for this! I’m right there with you-scraping off burnt oatmeal from my nicest pot, with my Palms from Sunday still in a pile on the counter, all dry already.
Kathy@9peas says
I couldn’t agree more – it is later that you realize the ordinary is what blessed your family with touches of extraordinary but really just the day in and day out of living our faith is enough, but thank you for the reminder anyway…we Mom’s can have a tendency to fret you know.
I’ll be adding my link up tomorrow, sorry about it being late!!
jennyann1126 says
barkeepers friend and steel wool seem to work on everything, if you haven’t tried that!
Donna L. says
A blessed End-of-Lent to you and yours!!!
I’m so sorry about the maple syrup–but what a delight that you got a whole gallon from all of your hard work!
I know it’s done now, but some knowledge that blessed me when I need to get over-done food off of the pan, is a triple measure of dishwasher soap–Cascade platinum works best for me–right in the pan. Add enough hot water to give you an inch in the bottom, swirl it together to mix and let it rest for an hour. It seems to dissolve a great deal of the mess, and makes it easier to scrub out the rest….I have left it overnight for the most disastrous of messes, and it saves me time!
God bless you and everyone who is expecting!
Erin says
I second this!
Mrs. B. says
Happy Easter, Lawler Clan! I like how you can boil sap one minute and read Aquinas the next: it’s a good illustration of what a well-rounded life means 🙂
mamabearjd(Michelle) says
Hahahaha, “read carefully before telling me what to do.”
You’re my favorite aunt.
Theresa says
I can’t tell you how the last paragraphs of this post spoke to my heart today. Thank you! Prayers for Rosie!
Emily M says
I did that with a batch of blueberry jam once, a good quarter-inch crust on the bottom of the pot (I smelled burning, but thought it was just some I’d spilled near the flame…) The only thing that worked was accidentally boiling the pot dry (I think vinegar must evaporate faster than water), a method I do NOT recommend, as it is a good way to permanently ruin a good pot. I dodged that bullet by pure chance, though, and the remaining crust just sort of popped off.
Lauren says
Prayers for your family and the upcoming arrival! Thank you for your wisdom in the last paragraphs-as usual, just what I needed to hear today!
Julie V S says
Thank you, thank you, for the wise words, and the sense of measure and balance and perspective of years which is so settled and grounding for me. I’m trying so hard (especially this Lent) to get down to the bedrock and bones of things (temporal and eternal), to see them clearly, do what needs to be done there, and let go of everything else. ( As best I can in my flawed way, with God’s grace.)
It’s a comfort to be reminded just to live this Paschal Triduum as best we can, without forcing anything… Wishing you every blessing.
Robin says
Oh Leila,
This is just what this newbie Catholic (almost one year!) needed to read! I love your wisdom and your wit, and I always look forward to your posts. I hope you and your family have a blessed Easter.
Sully says
my husband would KILL for that outdoor stove setup!
Jennifer says
I was hoping for baby news, is there any news??? I’m so excited.
Lisa says
Thank you for your thoughtful and fun post! Prayers and best wishes for Rosie and for all of you.
Lori says
Thank you, especially for reminding me I don’t have to feel it intensely. I felt like I wasn’t ‘doing it right’ at Mass tonight. God bless you!
Donna L. says
Just wanted to let you know we are praying for all of you this Easter day…
In the hope that we might get some happy baby news soon!
God bless you all!