Michaelmas, Part Two

We made St. Michael's Day Bannock with a recipe from The Catholic Home. (A more traditional recipe can be found here.)

Served with fresh, cider from the orchard we visited!

We also decorated the Michaelmas Candle. My original plan was to use an idea fomr All Year Round and do a dragon design to represent St. Michael's casting the Devil out of Heaven, but since I wanted my older son to be involved as much as possible in the project, we switched to something simpler. The little guy chose the shapes and colors and helped me cut them out and press them on the candle.

Our design features a ladybug, turtle, several stars, hearts, a flower, and a butterfly!

Michaelmas, Part One

Blackberry Cobbler for breakfast...

"According to an old Irish folk tale, blackberries were supposed to have been harvested and used up by this date, too, since it is told to children that when Satan was kicked out of Heaven, he landed in a bramble patch -- and returns each year to curse and spit on the fruits of the plant he landed on, rendering them inedible thereafter."

http://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost10.html

Apple picking...

Today we picked Jona Golds (or Jonagold) at one of our local orchards!

Commitment to Loveliness, September 14

One day late! Visit Charming the Birds from the Trees to join!

• Start planning our Michaelmas Festival.


• Exercise five days this week.


• Finish moving cookbooks (again!)


• Try a new recipe.


• Finish decluttering kitchen table and set up new centerpiece.

The Last Days of Summer

Backyard Fence

A tour of the fence my DH built earlier this summer!

Four Things Meme

From Emma:

Four places I go over and over:

• Library
• Target
• Outside to play
• Mass

Four people who e-mail me (regularly):

• Emma
• Kat
• Mom
• My sister

Four places I would rather be right now:

• Amazon.com's Book Warehouse with an unlimited budget
• Wegmans
• The gym
• Angels Camp, CA

Four TV shows/programs that I watch over and over:

• Friends
• Mad About You
• Masterpiece Theater
• Weather reports

Four things I have for breakfast:

• Eggs
• Yogurt
• Toast with Peanut Butter
• V-8

Four animals I like best:

• Cats
• Lions
• Kangaroos
• Penguins

Four beaches I’ve been to:

• Sylvan Beach, NY (barely counts, ha!)
• Bougainvillea Beach Resort, Barbados
• Somewhere near San Francisco
• Somewhere in Rhode Island (I was about eight)

I live right on Lake Ontario, yet have not gone to a "beach" here yet. Maybe next summer!

Labor Day Meme

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer has posted a Labor Day Meme. If it applies, please participate! Let's all relive the fun...for me, my latest was just over a month ago!

How long were your labors?

1. DS1 was less than 10 hours. Water broke at 7:15 PM and he was born at 4:55 AM.
2. DS2 was 15.25 hours. Water broke at 2:45 PM and he was born at 6:03 AM.

How did you know you were in labor?

My water broke. Out of nowhere with both boys. Just like on TV-- huge gush. Both times I was lying in bed reading.

Contractions started 2.5 hours later the first time (with active labor, transition, and delivery lasting 4.5 hours) and over 10 hours later for DS2 (with active labor and delivery lasting just under five hours).

I had my midwife a little concerned with baby #2. In NYS, if your labor hasn't started 18 hours after your water breaks, you MUST have IV antibiotics for Group B Strep and you MUST deliver within 24 hours or so. (Of course, if you homebirth or just don't contact your care provider what can they do?) Based on my experience this time, I fully intend to NOT get in touch until contractions start, especially if the fluid is clear and there's no sign of distress. This baby was having a grand old time in there, rolling around and kicking merrily away until things got moving after 1 AM.

Where did you deliver?

Typical Labor and Delivery Unit the first time. Okay experience.

Hospital Birthplace second time-- three bed unit (I was the only one there during my stay), LDR all in one room/one bed. Let you leave, come back, eat, where what you want, labor how you like, deliver in any position, early discharge. As close to a homebirth as my husband will let me get. It was phenomenal. Labor was actually pretty fun.

Drugs?

Nope. One word: water. Works wonders, especially for those of us blessed with back labor.

I agree with Emma. Recovery is sooo speedy drug-free. I felt great immediately after birth-- totally like myself again. (Of course now I'm a sleep deprived, milky mess.)

C-section?

No, praise the Lord.

Who delivered?

Me! A doctor attended our first, and my beloved midwife the second.