Still Camping

...here's day 5 of no power... I'm gettin' lots of use out of my pots & pans, since all I can use is our stove right now. We are SO thankful that in God's providence we have GAS heat, not electric! We're also getting lots of use out of our candle stash. I'm trying to use all the same scent, so we don't have winterberry-cantelope-lime or something wacko like that. I keep thinking about "Heifer Hobbs," the Rebel cook in Rifles for Watie who can cook ANYTHING over a camp fire. ...or Sara, from Leif Enger's Peace Like a River, who grows up cooking amazing stuff in an dutch oven over a wood stove. For a girl whose greatest disappoinment in childhood was having no more American Fronteir, playing pioneer wife is about as good as it gets! So far we've had baked beans, skillet potatoes, omlettes, chicken-noodle-veggie soup (yum!), and most lately I'm stewing a pumpkin from our garden. I'm not sure what I'll do with it once it's cooked. :) Oh yes, and lots of peanut-butter on fruit!

Well, I have been vastly enjoying our book club book this month-- Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry (a Kentucky author). I highly reccomend it (at least so far), with lots of great quoteables, and lots of descriptions of lifestyles worthy of imitation. One quote ties in well to me playing pioneer wife...

"She was an old-fashioned housewife: determined and skillfull and saving and sparing. She worked hard, provided much, bought little, and saved everything that might be of use, buttons and buckles and rags and string and paper sacks from the store. She mended leaky pans, patched clothes and darned socks." (~Chapter 2)

And this is the homemaker I want to be!

"I had never known such prettiness as I found at Miss Ora's. Though she was not by any means a wealthy woman and was busy all the time herself, she had a wisdom that spread order and beauty around her. For me, Miss Ora's was a place of rest." (~Chapter 4)

All right, I've taken up enough of the Kings' computer time... we're still alive and doing well. Real well. :) There's something about enforced candlelight, and semi-dark houses that are even more fun when your best friend's around to share it with you!

rejoicing in the goodness of God,
--Christina