Oh, deer!

   Earlier this week I grabbed my camera and set out for a section of a park and reservation area very close to my home. This park system covers a vast area of about 500 square miles I think. There are lakes, rivers, creeks, water falls, an array of beautiful wildlife, a zoo, and right now in particular there are trees with such splendid colors. I thought I would get some photos of the trees in the morning and then go out again in the afternoon and take photos of the same trees in afternoon light. It sounded like a great idea to me. I was however stopped in my tracks when I saw what you will see below in this first set of photos. I decided to spend my time in that morning sun just down the street from my house. We see deer often. I was just so taken by these. On the whole of our street there is only one real garden of sorts in a front yard. This garden was pretty this summer. It is just down from my house, and the deer love to stop there. 

Good morning!

Yes, I am still here but will not disturb your breakfast. Carry on.

Done eating this one.

Crossing may not be such a good idea just now.

Heading back for a minute, this traffic is not letting up.

Good idea. They were not as done as they thought.

Maybe the traffic will lighten up. I think she would like to get over there and back in the woods.

Two more are now considering the jaunt across the street.

Fawn figures if they leave she will go, too.

Breakfast in that little garden is now over. See you soon.

   Later that afternoon I sort of stayed with my original plan. I grabbed my camera and headed for the wood nearby. It all came together quite nicely because I started out to take piccies of the sun on the leaves in the early morning in comparison to the sun on the leaves in the late afternoon. I got to see lovely deer in the morning and in the afternoon I came across this beautiful buck.

Well, hello there handsome!

Do you know how magnificently your Creator created you?

We are not through here. I fully intend to follow you deeper into this wood.

His antler's blend like branches. He completely blends in at a distance. God protects, period.

So regal.

  I could have spent the whole of the afternoon into evening in that wood with that buck. However, things at home needed tending to. As I was posting this it occurred to me that I had no real purpose for this post except to share the photos of those lovely creatures. I never get tired of seeing them. And then it occurred to me there is a book I have been meaning to share with you, and this is just the post for it. So I ran up to my bedroom, took it out of my bedside table and took this photo of it. 

   That is the hard copy of Hinds' Feet on High Places my husband gave me for Christmas, in 1996. My original paperback copy proudly displayed the love shown to her with much fraying of pages and falling apart in general. I loved opening this that year. 

   Since elementary school I have battled a fear. This fear would be triggered by a certain environment and was paralyzing, emotionally and physically. Sometimes, often, my physical response would be flight. Initially I would be unable to move, sometimes not breath, but then would be in high flight mode. This fear still tries to dominate and destroy me. I sought counseling, and still...fear. After decades of hell, and I choose that word rightly, I realized it was a spiritual matter. Only God was my answer. In the last couple of years I have made the issue a matter of conversation between God and I. The Holy Spirit has shown me things and through my time in the Word of God and time fellowshipping with God, I have learned some things. Life changing things. I have pressed in, become more honest and transparent and real in my time with God. My relationship with Him is stronger than ever and so my trust and faith have grown deeper. I have gone higher with God that I ever knew possible. As I have grown and changed in my heart, my life has changed and fear no longer has its devastating and debilitating grip on me. I can do stupid stuff to usher fear right back in, but I have no desire to do so whatsoever. That which got me into such a bondage of fear was really innocent on the part of this young elementary school girl. A girl who believed a Girl Scout leader. It was not until a Sunday School teacher took the time to ask me about a comment I made in her class that I was shown how deceived I was. I love the story of David and Nathan where the instant David's eyes are opened he repents. He loved God and when shown the error of his way, he changed. That is what repentance does. When I saw what Mrs. Mucci was saying to me was true; I immediately stopped doing what I was doing. I loved Jesus so much as a kid that when I saw this deception for what it really was that I was grieved ~ deeply. It was nothing to walk away and never look back once I saw and understood the truth. However, I would battle the effects of that for decades to come.

   When first I read Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, I was in my twenties. I could not put this book down because I so related to the main character, Much Afraid. When she was in her paralyzed mode, and when she wanted to run, I could vicariously felt her fear so deeply I felt my own heart beat speed up, and at that moment in time I would forget I was reading a book. The ending was so beautiful and gave me hope. That is why I read it so many times. I was looking to be free of that fear. I have not read this book for some time because I have grown in the knowledge of Who God is and how deeply and unconditionally He loves me. I may read it again someday. I do keep it in my night table by my bed. If I do, it will only be to see how marvelous God is and to remind me from where He redeemed me from. Though a good book, it is not the Word of God. God's Word and developing our relationship with Him is where our deliverance comes. 

   This brilliantly woven allegory is about the matchless, unconditional and everlasting love of God toward us, and the frustration, destructive crippling and the futility of living in the faithless state of fear. I have lost count of the times I have read it, but my first go round with it was in the early 1980’s ~ it has never lost its beauty for me.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3:19 (NASB)

   I really do not want to put this on here, but must. Though I do recommend Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, I do not recommend her other writings. I praise God for this book as I believe He inspired her to pen it. Her other works do not align with scripture and some vary off considerably. Please check here for a really well written and though brief a quite good biography of Hannah Hurnard. You will need to click on the bright pink book that says "Look Inside" and then scroll down a few pages to where it will read "Author Biography". The brief biography will begin there.

The lame will leap like a deer,

    and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,

   and streams will water the wasteland.  
Isaiah 35:6 (NLT)

Coca Cola Cocoa Cake

  Back in July 2008, the church I attended had an auction of baked goods and I chose to bake among other things a cake make with Coca Cola. I could not find the recipe I learned to make this cake with though. Okay, that was back in 1974. I think I found the recipe in a magazine that my mother subscribed to. I originally made this in an Home Economics class I took in high school. The recipe must have been lost along the way somewhere over the years. The recipe I finally found that resembled the one I was looking for was for a Pepsi Cola Coca Cake and I did use Pepsi Cola when I made it for the church auction, it yielded $45.00. You can read about that here. I tweaked the recipe I found in some other ways to match what I remembered doing when I made that original cake. I got requests back then from people for this cake so I made it numerous times. But, I only used the Pepsi for that auction because it was not for personal use and I did not want to do something I might regret. I have always meant to go back and use that recipe I designed and use Coca Cola. This past week I did just that. It was perfect! I was quite happy with the results. The holidays are on the way and this will be something I keep Coca Cola on hand for.

   This past summer Matrona, a neighbor, dear woman and good friend of mine went to Greece for three months. She is Greek and I just love to hear the stories she tells about Greek food, culture, her home and her experiences there. I have an avid interest in World War II. Most of my knowledge is in regard to Britain's role and plight in that war. I honestly never even considered the involvement Greece may have had. Matrona, was a young girl then but old enough to remember a good bit of the tail end of that war. For one thing, her father transported people off the island they lived on by boat and ended up being drowned by a sortie of Nazi's for it. They came to their home looking for him, did not find him there but did so later. Needless to say, Matrona has amazing stories of how her family survived that. She learned to sew at eleven years old and earned money for some years after that. Her passion was wedding dresses. I read a book last spring called The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck. I have been trying to decide what to give her for Christmas. Hum... that just might do it. Yay! Love it when that happens. Anyway, when she came back she brought Jon and I some little gifts. One of those was a beautiful hand crafted silver ring with the Greek symbol for eternity on it for me. Quite out of my norm for accessories, but it feels so right on my hand and I just love it. Always growing and discovering new things about ourselves aren't we? She has video's from her trip and I am eager to see them. I decided to make this cake and take a few pieces over when I was go to see her and spend the evening seeing those video's.

   I really enjoy baking and putting together a layered cake, and certainly I like the presentation so much better than a single layer cake. This one makes up by far in flavor what it lacks in presentation pizzazz and panache.  Here is the recipe.

Coca Cola Cocoa Cake with Coca Cola Frosting

Cake:

In large bowl sift together:

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix in saucepan:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup Canola oil

4 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup Coca Cola (warm)

Bring to boil, pour over dry mixture and stir some.

Then add:
1/2 cup buttermilk¹

1~1/2 teaspoons soda

2 eggs ( I use Extra Large)

1~1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1~3/4 cup miniature marshmallows

Mix all together well, marshmallows should melt, then pour into well greased pan 13x9x2. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Frosting:

Mix in saucepan and bring to boil:
1/2 cup butter

4 tablespoons cocoa

7~8 tablespoons Coca Cola

Remove from stove and add:

1 pound powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2  cup pecans (chopped)       This would be a good time to mention how much I use and enjoy my Pampered Chef Food Chopper.

Mix and spread over hot cake.

I use a hand mixer for both cake and frosting, but you can get away with just mixing well with a spoon.

¹ If you do not have buttermilk you can always use 

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or white or apple cider vinegar to 

1 cup of milk, it can be whole or 2% milk, or heavy cream. 

Mix your choice of milk and one of the acidic selections in a glass container and let it rest for at least five minutes, then pour the whole thing curds and all into your recipe. I know I have said I don’t cook with what I can’t drink and that white vinegar should only be used for cleaning but it does work here. I prefer the apple cider vinegar. This can be halved, doubled or tripled if needed

Still hot and the sweet fragrance is scrumptious.

Better the next day, even better two days after baking.

A piece for, Jon. I nibbled enough and then some to be counted as my piece.

Moist like a brownie, delicate like a cake from scratch, perfectly balanced with decadent silky chocolate frosting laced with the slight occasional nibble of pecan.

I think you will enjoy this cake and your friends and family will, too! Please let me know!

Enjoy!

Aldi Addendum

   Yesterday evening, Sunday, my husband mentioned that I should go to Aldi and see the other pumpkin items he saw when he was there last week. I was going to go buy bottled water anyway, so Aldi's it was. I will not promise to never mention Aldi again because I know they have truly scrumptious gourmet foods throughout the holidays, particularly Christmas which is quickly on its way. This will however not be an ongoing series here at Honeycomb Cottage, its just that their selection of pumpkin groceries is well worth mentioning. So with a minimum of editorial comment I will give you a pictorial summary of what I saw this evening.

Pancake & Waffle Mix $2.49  ~  Pasta Sauce $2.49

Iced Latte $1.19

Dry Coffee Creamer $2.29  ~  Coffee $4.99

Bread Mix $1.49  ~  Pizelle's  $2.99

$.99

Last one in the store!  $1.99

Coffee Creamer $2.29

Cheesecake $7.99  ~  Pie $6.99

Ravioli $2.49

$2.49 each

$1.99

The following are not pumpkin products but certainly looked good and seemed fitting for this post.

I do not remember the price on this Cider.

Kraft Caramels $1.89

   Done with buying the water and few other items and on our way home. We live fairly close to the Aldi's we shop at but the ride home, especially if it is evening is always nice. We have deer in our neighborhood that roam freely and in large number.

Shortly after leaving the store we see this beautiful creature. It is near impossible to see but there is a large buck in those trees.

One of the quaint features of this house we pass that I like.

The next street over from us and always decorated nicely.

Across and down the street.

Still across and the down the street.

One yard over from the 2 piccies above.

    Home and now it is time to gear up for the week.

My three pumpkin items this trip.

Not too strong or spicy ~ just delicate and yummy!

Since I am posting this the next evening, Monday, I will add a few updates.

   Those pumpkins were large but the pickings were slim and picked over. I went back today and they had a new and full tote of beautiful large pumpkins of which seven of them now rest adorning my front porch and steps. A few more updates here. I did snag the Pumpkin Pizzelle's and Pumpkin Bread Mix while there today. Also, I discovered today the Pumpkin Ravioli is great with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on it. You could put butter on them and let it melt before sprinkling the cinnamon sugar on but there is no need to ~ they are GREAT. Prepared this way this Ravioli would be outstanding served with a good sage sausage, my choice is always Jimmy Dean, and apple cider ~ cold or mulled. I have a traditional Christmas breakfast. Thanksgiving however tends to be muffins and sausage, bagels and fruit or just oatmeal. I think this year it will be this Ravioli, sausage and cider. I may try a tweaked version of the serving suggestion on the bag for the next lunch or supper meal I want to make these. They recommend a Browned Butter Sauce using 1 stick of butter and 10 ~ 12 sage leaves, melting the butter, adding the sage leaves cooking on medium~low heat for 2 ~ 3 minutes just until the butter begins to brown, then remove, set aside and drizzle over Ravioli once prepared. The last update is that while there last night I missed a few items. I did not take piccies of them today, but I will list them for you.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream   1.5 quarts   $2.89

L'oven Fresh (Aldi's baked goods brand) Pumpkin Cream Cheese Crème Cake   20 ounce   $2.99

Frozen Pumpkin Spice Waffles   9.8 ounce   $1.49

Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix   17.5 ounces   $1.69

If you go to an Aldi grocery and try any of the pumpkin food items, I would love to hear how you liked them.

Greetings!

I have been gone from posting on my blog far too long. There is much I want to write about, but I am going to condense so that I can just jump back in. If I were to set everything to writing in this post I suspect it would be too long and not make for enjoyable reading.

Jon and I looked for months for the neighborhood and house we wanted to make our home in. Needless to say, that endeavor was bathed in prayer. Of course I approached it much like I do everything else, methodically, with type A decisiveness, and with determination. I have to say though, we were listening to and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that is how our decision was made. We did after months of house hunting, with a wonderful couple that do real estate together, find the home we were looking for. We bought our home the first week of April, and moved in that next weekend. After living here in this neighborhood and home, it is clear to me that while we were diligent and persistent and did all we knew to do, it was in fact the Lord that brought this home and Jon and I together. We contemplated building a home, and our next and most likely last home we will build. But this was the home for us. The layout of the home suits our lifestyle perfectly. There are a number of just “small things” that are perfect in this home for Jon and I. The location is very comfortable as far as where each of us work. The setting is a wonderful neighborhood with the great neighbors on our lane. There are two large malls in Oklahoma City, and one of them is very close by with the other less than 20 minutes away. Anything you can imagine in the way of shopping, eating and recreation, and everything we need is so close by. Yet, if you go in the opposite direction of all the shopping, churches, eateries, recreation, etc., you are in beautiful spacious country.

I want to go into just a small bit of detail on one aspect of moving into this house as I suspect it will prove to be future blogging material. This aspect of living in this particular house, in this neighborhood, we could have had no way of knowing. This is where how good God is really shines through. Before half of the U~Haul truck was emptied, the lady cater~corner across the street brought over her version of a Black Forest Cake for us to enjoy. While dropping off the cake she gave us a printed list of nearly every family on the lane, complete with phone numbers and email addresses. The next day, the woman on one side of us came over with a hardy welcome wanting to make sure we knew if we ever needed anything to let her know and that she is home most of the time as she has a home business. Within two days we were visited yet again. This visitor from the lane wanted to give us information about events the neighbors do throughout the year. The ladies have a Spring High Tea. Summer brings a backyard neighborhood barbeque and little later in the Summer an ice cream social where everyone makes ice cream and gets together for a frozen yummy feast. Autumn brings a chili bake off and the holidays bring a Christmas party with a fun gift exchange. I may have missed something here as I am new, but you get the idea. Within the week of moving in, I was invited to the Spring High Tea where I would meet the ladies of ******** Lane, which I did. I must comment here on the authenticity of the High Tea. The woman that does this every year is very familiar with proper tea etiquette and displays it beautifully. What a treat and delicious blessing that was! I have made some good friendships with these women, two in particular. More on those later... I will be here for a while. Suffice it to say, Jon and I are very happy here!

I have some interesting things to post about, complete with photos, but I will do those in later posts so as to keep this catching up shorter. I will share this with you though. In the weeks following the initial move~in weekend, I had the long and laborious task of scrubbing everything, lining shelves and preparing the house so that I could just put things away... a huge task in itself even with my overly thorough organizing, packing and labeling. Working full time left only a few hours in the evenings and weekends. I worked at it for five weeks straight before I stopped to do anything else. I will of course be painting, making window dressings, shopping for bedroom and bathroom linens and pieces of furniture for different rooms, but short of that, the house is almost done. What I mean to say is that the garage has little left in it to put away. Gardening and yard work has been at a minimum. Some pruning and little planting has happened. As I redecorate I will take photos and share my progress. I am very excited to get about the business of making this blessing of a house, our home.

By late May, most work around the house had come to a stop, and by June 10th and since then work around the house has been at a standstill. I have debated sharing this next part for a number of reasons. But, now that the worst of it is over I am going to go ahead. By the time we moved in here I was already seeking medical advice for something I had struggled with since the beginning of 2004. And truth be told, discomfort had set in some years before that. After one week of packing and moving while not missing any work, then five weeks of cleaning and unpacking and not missing any work, the situation became too much to bare. On June 10th, the problem was fixed in surgery. I must tell you, I felt better the day after surgery in the hospital than I had for years, and definitely for the last six months. Day after tomorrow marks four weeks and I will go back to the doctor for my post~op appointment. I have been off work since surgery and expect to go back Thursday or possibly the following Monday. I am pondering the notion of blogging about the things I have discovered during this medical adventure. I am leaning toward doing so just to share information you may be interested in regarding all of this and, maybe getting valuable information I am sure some of, if not all or you ladies could share with me. We will leave that for another post though.

Please forgive me for not posting and being away for a while. I have tried to focus on recovery. They say the better you tend to recovery in the first month, the better your overall success will be. I have stayed up on all of your blogs. Actually, it has been in reading some of the things you have posted that has made my down time more enjoyable.

The other thing I will say here is that in this time of not being able to do much physically, I have spent time working on a Bible Study God laid on my heart quite some time ago. I am not done with it, and in fact it seemed the more I did the more I found to do. But, God has given me clear direction on where He wants me to go with this and that has been my biggest obstacle. It has been in spending quiet time before Him, and diligent time in His Word that the Holy Spirit has been able to get through to me and show me what I am to focus on. The busyness of working and trying to do all that is needed to be done day by day, week in and week out, prevented that. With the direction I have now, I will even be able to use the time on my breaks at work to work on this project. I am so very excited about what God is showing me.

It is good to be back blogging! It is good to be back and functioning physically! Life is just good... period.

‘nuff said for now.

Much love and......