End of Summer Wrap Up. And a Treat.

I feel I owe you something. So many times, I’ve thought about writing something. Something about JOY. Something about WALKING A MILE in others’ shoes. Something about DOING THE WAVE. Maybe if you pick one of those topics, I’ll be energized to blog about it. As Thoughts Collected By Lisa heads into its fourth year, I’m wanting to continue writing. But I’ve been busy.

I’ve been busy getting stronger by pushing myself physically, busier counting steps than words, busy resuming activities that matter to me. I’ve been busy with my Family History project. It was my pleasure to present my Mom with a completed, at least for now, binder with genealogical information about not just her Father’s side of the family, but her Mother’s as well. That was part of my birthday gift to her as we celebrated her special day in Ohio’s Amish Country this month.

I’ve been busy enjoying this wonderful season of Summer. And it has been glorious!  There have been visits to Oglebay Resort with my husband on sunny Sunday afternoons to walk along snapping pictures of  butterflies and landscapes and staying for dinner and some music.

In one of Oglebay’s many gardens – MANY Butterflies!

The lake that we walk around at Oglebay

Taken from my seat at Oglebay’s Garden Bistro

One of the Sunday concert bands at the amphitheater  

There have been red-ripe tomatoes from the plants on our deck and rose bushes bursting with blossoms, more talks with neighbors and walks on our bike path, frequent visitors to our back yard, including a family of deer, our white squirrel, the hungry cat who comes prowling, and so many songbirds.

If you remember the nest filled with baby birds that was in our Boston Fern, here’s the rest of the story. Days after I closed a late May blog post with “Soon they will fly!” I stepped onto my front porch for the mail and noticed little beaks sticking up. The nest was too high for me to look into it, so I held my phone over the birds and took a picture.

At the camera sound, there was a flurry of feathers

and all four of the babies burst out of the nest!

Three flew out into our front yard,

but one landed on our bench.

I was every bit as startled as they were and prayed that God would help them back into their nest! I felt so guilty for scaring them, and so thankful that the hungry cat was nowhere in sight!  It took a few days and several people reassuring me that they “must have been ready to go” before I realized that I had been given the gift of getting to see them fly.

Thinking about birds flying from their nest naturally brought my heart around to having kids grow up and leave home. Tomorrow is a special day on our calendar, the day when son Kyle turns 30. He’ll be returning home from a birthday trip to Disney World. We’ll have a simple celebration with a favorite Summer supper item – Tuna Salad Sandwiches. And what about that treat I promised you?

Our little party will include some HOMEMADE BIRTHDAY CAKE ICE CREAM, a recipe found in the August 2019 Better Homes & Gardens Magazine. This No-Churn Ice Cream is made with 3 ingredients! I tried it earlier this summer, splitting the batch in half to do both Strawberry and Birthday Cake varieties.

Both were delicious, although  with so much pureed strawberries in the mix, the ice cream froze VERY hard. But the Birthday Cake batch had a great flavor and creaminess and was declared by Kyle to be as good as what you buy.  Today, I divided the batch again to try the Chocolate and do some more Birthday Cake.

To see the recipe and a dozen mix-in ideas, visit the BHG page HERE.

Here is the basic recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream:

Empty one 14 ounce can of Sweetened Condensed Milk into a large bowl. In another large bowl, beat 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk in the first bowl. Pour into a freezer container and cover. Freeze for about 8 hours until firm. To make Birthday Cake Ice Cream, stir 1/4 cup candy sprinkles into the condensed milk before adding the whipped cream.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8