Lesson One

Check out my sweet new ride!


Lesson one was this afternoon.


So far dear husband hasn't lost patience with me. I didn't get out of second gear or leave the yard but hey, at least I'm upright and moving!
I'm having a little trouble kick starting the bike then starting out without killing the motor but I'm getting there.

Planning for for vacation

Joe & Kristin were out today for a motorcycle ride. What started out as a morning ride ended up with us getting home at 4:30 this afternoon. I should say that we didn't leave here until 11 though. We spent the morning putting puzzle pieces together and deciding how best to load two rather large cruiser bikes into our new toy hauler trailer for this years vacation. With the exception of moving a wheel chock they fit with room to spare! Whew!
After all that was done, we headed west to the river and had lunch at Poopy's in Savanna. Odd name you say? For sure, but they have some of the best burgers around, in spite of the fact that most items on the menu reference a form of bodily function. It sure makes for interesting reading as you wait for your food. After lunch we rode up through JoDaviess county and stopped at a local winery that sits up on top of a hill with this fantastic view.

In June, I posted a picture of the landscape I see on my way to work. Here is a what the lay of the land looks like an hour NW of here. So, see we do have some good sized hills up here just not directly where we live.


During the course of today we finally decided to take this year's bike trip Labor Day week but not sure exactly where we're going other than East. We like to leave a lot of wiggle room in our itinterary. :) Talking about another bike trip made me want to come home and look at our photos from last year's trip to East Tennessee. Here are a few of my favorites.

Dad & son solving all the world's problems


The lake at Indian Boundary campground off the Cherohala Skyway


An overlook on the Dragons Tale (US Hwy 129)


Sunset on the Cherohala Skyway - I love the way you can see the layers of mountains in the Smokies.


Son, Dad and Mom at a Cherohala overlook on the way back to camp for the night

Happy Independence Day!

What a wonderful weekend we are having here in Northwest Illinois! 70's & 80's, low humidity and plenty of sunshine! I've been off work since yesterday so have a 4 day weekend! I am so excited. I guess I shouldn't be since I was just off of work for a week and half in New Orleans, but I have so many odds and ends to catch up on. Nothing makes me happier than tying up loose ends.

I don't know what kind of weather we had while we were down south but the weeds took over all of the flower beds and fire pit area. Yesterday, I fought that battle, with granddaughter Ava's help. She didn't quite understand what we were doing. She kept scooping up bark with my hand trowel and throwing it in the bucket, but she was "helping". If I wasn't on my kneeling pad, she would get this really concerned look on her face and say "No, Gamma, No" and try and shove the pad under my knees. How cute is that? She loved her time outside and I so enjoyed my Ava time. I can't wait until Owen gets old enough to join in the fun.

I finally found a recipe for Chow Chow. I have been looking for one since we last visited our Tennessee friends, and had it for the first time. It's not something we have in Illinois. At least, I've never seen it anywhere.
Yesterday I made my first batch. For those of you fellow northerners, it's kind of a cabbage relish. If any of you folks from the south have a better/different recipe and would be willing to share it, I would love to have it.

Southern CHOW CHOW


Combine 2 quarts shredded cabbage (one medium head), 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion and 1 cup finely shopped green and red peppers. Sprinkle 1-1/2 tablespoons of salt over top. Let set in refrigerator for 4 - 6 hours. Drain well.

Combine the following and simmer for 10 minutes using a pan large enough to the put the vegetables in later.
2 cups white vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons celery seeds
2 teaspoons mustard seeds

Add vegetables to vinegar mixture and simmer another 10 minutes.
Pack immediately into heated pint canning jars, leaving 1/8 inch head space. Seal with hot canning lids and tighten canning rings down. Turn upside down so that all the heat is on the seals on a towel on the counter top until cool. I got 3 pints out of this.

I couldn't believe the jars sealed using this method, but all 3 did. This is such a nice change for relish. We had it on pork in Tennessee and it was great! I can't wait to try it out.

Tonight we are headed to a cookout, tomorrow morning a motorcycle ride with Joe & Kristin, a bonfire tomorrow night and hopefully more riding after church on Sunday. It's been so long since we've had a total weekend of nice weather, we ARE going to take advantage of it.

Have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!

Iowa floods 2008

A friend at work forwarded this video of the Iowa floods to me. It's set to the song "Evangeline" which was written about New Orleans. Who would have ever thought that Iowa and Louisiana would have this commonality.

Another trip over

We arrived home last night about 8pm very tired after a week with high school students and a 2 day drive. It's always great to serve our Lord through these trips and this one was no exception.
The California and Vermont teams were staying at the same church we were so it was great getting to know them better. Friendships were formed and some of them are talking about coming back when our team is there again over Christmas break.

It was also nice to have time for some quality conversation with Pastor Teresa and Pastor Larry and hear the vision they have for this ministry. Pastor Teresa has a vision of His Hands 2 Go becoming mobile, not just local in New Orleans. She would like to be able to come alongside pastors in disaster areas and help them get their churches back up and running. The idea was birthed out of her experiences after Hurricane Katrina when there was no one to come alongside her. She knows the frustration of trying to start a church up, organize work teams and be a light in the community by yourself. It will be exciting to see where this leads.

I have just a few more pictures of interest to share.


While working in a location like New Orleans in the summer, a person must continually drink water. You can get dehydrated much quicker than one would think. After all, Old Spice did a survery and found that New Orleans is the 12th sweatiest city in the nation. Now isn't that something you want to be known for?!? Just a little tidbit of information we learned this week. :)


This is the first year the palm trees have looked healthy and really green again. The flowering bushes were blooming nice and full as well.










Did you know honey bees get extremely ticked off when you spray them with gasoline? This beehive was in the wall of the house Dan and his team were roofing. The bees were not happy when their territory was invaded by humans and got rather violent. It took two days to get rid of them. It was either get rid of the bees or get stung. But look at all that honey gone to waste!


This is one of the reasons we continue to go back to New Orleans. This home had over 8 feet of water in it. The occupant of the home spent days in their attic and had to cut a hole in the roof to be rescued. These homes are getting fewer every year but there is still along way to go until they are all fixed.

Priceless

Red beans and rice for 125


Red beans - $30


Rice - $10


Salad - $20


Dessert - $25


Pastor Teresa cooking outside in a downpour - Priceless!


Sorry for the delay in posting the last couple of days. We lost internet connection sometime Wednesday night so I haven't had access until on the way home tonight at the hotel.

If these walls could talk...

Wow, if the walls to this old theatre could talk, I can only imagine what stories they could tell. This is the building that the Virginia team is working on that was a theatre but is now a church. I went to take pictures of the team but found myself taking more shots of the building itself. I have no idea how old the theatre is but am guessing early 1900's. Old buildings and different styles of architecture intrigue me, always have. New Orleans is such a melting pot of so many different styles. I wish I had more free time on these trips to wander around and look at more, but glean what I can as we're on the go.








The theatre is located across the Mississippi River in Algiers which means I have to cross this extremely high and long bridge. Now, those of you who know me, know I like bridges about as much going to the dentist. However, I have been over this nemesis 4 times now. Who needs a shrink? I can conquer my fears head on! :) Did I also mention it's 4 lanes of traffic going 65+? Yup, I'm all about this!

Today's projects in pictures

Now that's a yellow house!

Virginia team members sanding drywall in the yellow house

The Virginia team stripping trim, hanging sheetrock and doing general clean-up in an old theatre turned church

Viriginia sanding walls

More Virginia team members digging out a stump. The stump started out 3' x 18". That's one way to take our your frustrations!

Virginia roofers

Gary from Vermont laying tile

The California team wrapping Rose Stevens home

More California team members hanging sheetrock in the same house

Feeding the multitudes or how to cram 111 people in 1000 square feet!

Morning chapel service

We start every morning out with a 7:30 am chapel service at the Franklin Avenue church. The sanctuary there is the only room big enough to hold everyone. The large team of 82 is staying there and all the girls are sleeping in the sanctuary. The beds gets stacked, shoved out of the way and everyone sits on the floor for chapel.

After chapel, jobs are assigned and work begins. There are teams hanging sheetrock, putting in isulation, painting, siding, laying floor tile and roofing. Susan's roof project that Dan is in charge of turned into more than expected. The roof had been replaced a year before Katrina so it was assumed the sheeting was good. Unfortunately, as the shingles were scraped off, it was proved otherwise. They were able to resheet it today and hope to start laying paper in the morning, weather permitting.

I went to Sam's first thing this morning, which will porbbaly be a daily occurrence, and cooked all afternoon. Tonight's supper was spaghetti, garlic bread and salad so it was easy enough. Tomorrow night is jambalaya for 100+.

It's pretty quiet around here tonight. I think everyone is whooped after working in the heat, including us.

Until tomorrow...

Calm before the storm

Today (Sunday) was great day. Dan & I left early this morning and took a driving tour through the Canal/St Charles Avenue neighborhoods of New Orleans. What beautiful old historic homes. The wrought iron and columns on the homes are so unique to New Orleans as well as the hurricane shutters on the windows. One of these trips here we are going to make time for a trolley trip through those neighborhoods. There is so much history in this city, I am dying to learn more. Whenever we leave I say to myself that I am going to study up on it but never do. This time I will. Well, maybe I will...hopefully...possibly...probably...okay highly unlikely...at least the thought to do it is in my head. Doesn't that count for something?

We had just a great church service this morning. Coming from church services where everything is very well orchestrated, it can be refreshing to come to a much simpler, more unstructured service. Plus, Pastor Teresa sure can preach! Afterwards, they have what they call table fellowship. Everyone who wants to can stay for lunch. Members of the church take turns providing the meal which is no small or inexpensive task. They could have anywhere from 50 - 100 people there on any given Sunday. Today, a woman in the church, Carolyn, made some of the best meatloaf I've ever had (and I make a killer meatloaf) with mashed potatoes, peas and french bread.

We then went to look at the project Dan and a team will be starting tomorrow morning. They will be putting a roof and siding on a home for a sweet, energetic lady named Susan.
I will be cooking tomorrow for just 20 of the volunteers. The large team of 82 will be going out to eat Monday & Wednesday night so I only need to cook for 100 two nights instead of 5. On the big days I will be working with a summer volunteer, Cassandra, who is Pastor Teresa's daughter-in-law. The days I am cooking for 20, I will be on my own. 20 is pretty common for us when we have brought teams down so it shouldn't be a problem.

Tonight we grilled burgers and had Pastor Teresa and Pastor Larry over to the our FEMA penthouse for dinner complete with fresh watermelon. What a treat. We don't see watermelon up home until at least the end of August.

Until tomorrow night...