They say that if you don’t like the weather in East Tennessee, just wait ten minutes. One never knows for certain when it’s going to rain, how long it’ll last, or what the temperature will be like! You just can’t figure it out!
Colonial Costume
July 4th, 2008Hello folks! Happy Independence Day!
I thought I share with you what I’ve been doing in my spare time (besides picking blackberries;-))
I call it an “everyday colonial dress”.
It wasn’t at all planned on my sewing schedule. It wasn’t even extensively labeled and packed with appropriate trims and notions, like my other future projects. I just discovered some colonial-looking striped fabric while sorting through our bins last month. A large sky blue piece (also from a fabric bin) made a perfect match. 
I still have to hem the sleeves and bottom, sew a hook or two, and somehow resew the zipper so it doesn’t bulge and wrinkle. But it shant be long before it proudly hangs in the costume closet. 
Happy Independence Day!
July 4th, 2008Blackberries and Visitors – my first post in a long time!
July 2nd, 2008It’s blackberry season in Tennessee, and much to our family’s delight, we’ve discovered that our property (and the adjoining ones for sale) is scattered with many thickets of wild blackberry bushes!
Before now, I had never gone blackberry picking in my life. In New York the fruit season consisted of strawberries in June (only the first two weeks), blueberries all throughout July and part of August, and lastly, we had apples in the Fall. I remember blackberries being expensive and somewhat rare in the grocery stores, but here they seem to grow wild all over the place!
Two days ago, with a little bit of help, we picked about a gallon of these berries – we’re going to fill up our freezer pretty soon!
Oh yes! Here I must pause with my ramblings on blackberries to congratulate our friends on being our second visitors thus far (Aunt Frances beat them to it), and our first visitors from Virginia! You may remember our friends from the pictures at Appomattox Courthouse. We invited them on many occasions for them to come pay us a visit once we had a house, and we’re so glad they took us up on that offer! It was only a short stay, just one night, but we had a lovely time together all the same.
Unfortunately it did rain most of the time, but we plunged bravely through the scattered showers together in order to give our guests a tour of the land. We had a lot fun along the way (getting caught in the rain is always an adventure!), and we brought deli buckets with us and picked many, many blackberries!
…Which brings me back to where I left off; blackberries. They are very juicy, black, sweet at the first taste, and slightly bitter at the end. The thorns and brier patches surrounding every bush are painful; we can all testify to that, and you could see for yourself if you ever examined our hands at this point.
Right now I’m thinking about pie; blackberry pie for our future guests, parties and special occasions. (yummm!) Do any of our readers have recipes they’re willing to share? We’re definitely going to try a few this summer, and depending on how long the blackberries last, in the Fall too. (we’ll have to see about that…)
That’s all for now folks. God bless your day! And huzzah for my first post in TN! (I’m so glad we have internet again!)
-Kasie
And We Have a Winner…
July 1st, 2008And the winner of the reclaiming the culture giveaway is:
EliasBoudinotismyfriend!
It appears that for the 2nd time in a row, this lady (who apparently wishes to remain anonymous), has won a contest here on TheWilli.com! As a prize, she gets to choose any one of the Reclaiming the Culture DVDs from Vision Forum.
Thank you everyone who participated! We’ve greatly enjoyed reading all your thoughtful, and sometimes even challenging comments on how we can reclaim the culture. So now, by the grace of God, let’s DO IT!
For the glory of God,
The Willi
- Camille and Family
- Lady Abigail
- The Discher Family
- The Nisbett Family
- The Thomas Family
- Valiant For Truth