All posts by CMLAdmin

Author of a dozen books available on barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com and other online bookstores.
YANKS

JUST THINKIN’

JUST THINKIN’
Standin’ up here on the fire-step,
Lookin’ ahead in the mist,
With a tin hat over your ivory
And a rifle clutched in your fist;
Waitin’ and watchin’ and wond’rin’
If the Hun’s comin’ over tonight –
Say, ain’t the things you think of
Enough to give you a fright?

Things you ain’t even thought of
For a couple o’ months or more;
Things that ‘ull set you laughin’,
Things that ‘ull make you sore;
Things that you saw in the movies,
Things that you saw on the street,
Things that you’re really proud of,
Things at are – not so sweet.

Debts that are past collectin’,
Stories you hear and forget,
Ball games and birthday parties,
Hours of drill in the wet;
Headlines, recruitin’ posters,
Sunsets’way out at sea,
Evenings of pay days – golly,
It’s a queer thing, this memory!

Faces of pals in Homeburg
Voices of women folk,
Verses you learnt in schooldays,
Pop up in the mist and smoke,
As you stand there, grippin’ that rifle,
A-starin’, and chilled to the bone,
Wonderin’ and wonderin’ and wonderin’,
Just thinkin’ there – all alone!

When will the war be over?
When will the gang break through?
What will the U.S. look like?
What will there be to do?
Where will the Boches be then?
Who will have married Nell?
When’s that relief a-comin’ up?
Gosh! But this thinkin’s hell!
HUDSON HAWLEY, Pvt. MG. Bn.

1918 Yanks publication
Yanks 1918
Hudson Hawley, Pvt. M.G. Bn.

 

YANKS

DAD’S LETTERS

My dad ain’t just the letter writin’ kind –
He’s rather let the women see to that;
He’s got a mess o’ troubles on his mind,
And likes to keep ‘em underneath his hat.

And p’raps because he isn’t very strong
On talkin’, why, he’s kind o’ weak on ink;
But he can work like sin the whole year long,
And, crickey, how that dad o’ mine can think!

When I set out from Homeville last July,
He didn’t bawl the way my sister did;
He just shook hands and says, “Well, boy, good-bye.”
(He’s got his feelin’s, but he keeps ‘em hid.)

And so when mother writes about the things
That I spend half my time a-thinkin’ of,
There’s one short line that every letter brings;
“Father will write, and meanwhile sends his love.”
“Father will write,” Well, some day p’raps he will –
There’s lots of funny prophecies come true;
But if he just keeps promisin’ to, still,
I’ll understand, and dad’ll know I do.

1918 Yanks poetry
Yanks 1918 – Dad’s Letters

YANKS – Copyright 1918 – FOREWORD

The verses that make up this little book have all been published in THE STARS AND STRIPES, the official newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces. They have come in from the field, the back areas, the ports; they have been written on the eve of battle; the men who wrote some of them have paid the great price. They are the heart and soul of the American Army in France. It is their only claim to distinction. It is enough.

YANKS

ON LEARNING FRENCH

YANKS – Copyright 1918 – FOREWORD

“The verses that make up this little book have all been published in THE STARS AND STRIPES, the official newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces. They have come in from the field, the back areas, the ports; they have been written on the eve of battle; the men who wrote some of them have paid the great price. They are the heart and soul of the American Army in France. It is their only claim to distinction. It is enough.”

Throughout the remainder of November, we will be posting excerpts from this amazing little 100-year-old book that is literally falling to pieces. It is time to share it, rather than just have it sitting on a shelf in a plastic bag. We will eventually make a slide show gallery of photos of all of the pages in the book.

ON LEARNING FRENCH

Like silver bells heard in a mist,
Or moonstone echoes from some brook
Where silver birches wall a nook,
Or like sea ripples moon-lit kissed,

Or like a lake of silver ledges
Where iris water-lilies lave,
Or like some lark’s translucent wave
Of song above white hawthorn hedges,

The maiden ripples French to me;
But I am like an argonaut
In some mute agony of thought,
Lost in sound’s sweet tranquility.

ALFRED J. FRITCHEY, Camp Hospital 30

1918 military poetry
On Learning French
Alfred J. Fritchey, Camp Hospital 30
YANKS

YANKS – 1918

YANKS – Copyright 1918 – FOREWORD
The verses that make up this little book have all been published in THE STARS AND STRIPES, the official newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces. They have come in from the field, the back areas, the ports; they have been written on the eve of battle; the men who wrote some of them have paid the great price. They are the heart and soul of the American Army in France. It is their only claim to distinction. It is enough.

When this amazing little book came to us from a relative nearly 15 years ago, we didn’t really realize what a treasure it is!

Yanks 1918 Title Page

This type of literature is hard to come by. As you can see, the pages are extraordinarily fragile. The booklet measures 7 1/2″ by 4 3/4″.

Some of the authors are named, some are just initials, some have no name attached to them. In my next post, I will include a list of the poem titles and authors.

A few of these “works” are not suitable for a “mixed audience,” so we will not include them here, this being a Christian site and blog.

Abundant Divine Provision, Miscellany

Spring Flows

As we worked to manage the springs literally flowing straight out of the ground the first Spring season we spent in our new home (Spring 11 approaching now), I decided to pound a small section of leftover PVC pipe into the bank above one of the seeps to see if I could get it to flow out the pipe. It did, and still does – every Spring – for several months, usually.

God provides many “signs” of Spring approaching. One of ours here on Mt. Snowberry is flowing water, straight out of the ground, in a dozen or so areas of our 38-acre mountainside property, even up toward the top of what you can see in the picture below. Our property ends where the sky meets the land.

You can see why we don’t “farm” our acreage!

There are spots during the Spring, where you will be walking along and step right into a water flow coming out of the grassy slope.

We have come to the conclusion, over the years, that this mountain is just one big crumbling rock with varying amounts of dirt on it. The mossy greens that grow around the springs are a unique and welcome pop of color as we transition from white snow to gray death to Spring.

Water lovers
Fertilizer in the making.

Spring seems to be early this year; although it is supposed to snow in a couple of days. The tender young grasses are beginning to poke through in this favorite deer trail that goes right over a rotting log left over from the wildfire that took most of the timber from our side of the mountain more than 50 years ago.

Water flows, in this endless cycle that God created; nourishing, enriching, carving, sustaining life – and soothing, as I sat and listened to the sound of the water arriving on the rocks below the pipe. Thanking Him today for His generous provision!

RSVP Reading2Presentation

New RSVP Spelling and Vocabulary Grade 6

 

RSVP 6th Grade Old Hymns

We’ve been promising you the next study book in the RSVP Reading2Presentation series, and here it is!

Beginning with a carefully chosen set of lyrics from hymns 100+ years old, this 6th grade level spelling and vocabulary workbook offers the usual 18 weeks of study, with a suggested culminating presentation at the end of the 18 weeks.

Click on the book picture or go to the CML Bookstore tab and select RSVP in the pulldown menu for secure purchase through Amazon.

Email info@wordcompanyusa.com for information on discounts for orders of more than 10 workbooks at $8.00 each. We cannot sell bulk discounts through amazon, but can take payments with PayPal or credit card through PayPal and direct ship them to you.

The next book coming out in this series will be for 9th grade, and offers 18 short literary selections from the 1900s for the in-context study material. This book should be available by Fall 2019.

Calendars, Selkirk Devotionals

2018 Calendars Available

Christian Mountain Living is pleased to announce the completed publication of two calendars for 2018. Both are high-quality, full-color on 100# white card stock, wire bound for flush hanging on the wall. All of our calendars will include standard U.S. holidays.

The 2018 Selkirk Mountain Inspiration calendar contains 12 images, paired with Scripture, chosen from among the three SMI devotional books. In the case that a stored image was not of the appropriate size for the calendar, we have used a similar image with the scripture verse from the book.

The 2018 Fabulous Flowers calendar contains 12 floral images, some wildflowers and some garden flowers – or other garden plants – printed with a floral watermark background for a more “formal” appearance.

Although we will likely produce more than two calendars most years in the future, we began this venture with just two. You can preview and purchase them by clicking on the 2018 Calendars tab on this website.

Miscellany, Selkirk Devotionals

Coming Soon – Original Photoart Calendars

Next weekend, we will post a new page and link to the calendars we will be offering annually. Our first 2018 calendar offering is Selkirk Mountain Inspiration 2018, a compilation of 12 selected devotional photos from the three books. The second will be all flowers. As we move through the next several years, there will be calendars exclusive to animals, mountain/forest scenery, birds, butterflies, sunrises and sunsets.

Selkirk Devotional Calendar
2018 Selkirk Mountain Inspiration Calendar

We look forward to the task of going through thousands of photos we have taken over the last 10 years and selecting the best ones to share with the world.

Abundant Divine Provision

So, What’s a Salsa Kit?

It is not important to everyone – and that’s perfectly alright – but I get a great deal of personal satisfaction from growing, preserving, and cooking many of the foods that we eat through the year.

Although our freezer space is limited, and I cannot put up dozens of these, one of our favorite ways to preserve a God-provided abundance of tomatoes and peppers over the last several years has been the “salsa kit.” This collection of ingredients common to our favorite fresh salsa gets frozen and vacuum sealed, then popped back into the freezer for preparation later. (I freeze the kit IN the unsealed bag, then seal the kit – this helps the vegetables to hold their shape).

For us, each kit contains fully ripe tomatoes, bell pepper, hot pepper, onion, and garlic. What peppers we use varies, depending on what we have ripening at any given time. If I don’t have any bell pepper on hand, I will occasionally pack a kit without it and buy a bell pepper at the store when I know I am going to use the kit. Most of our kits are made with Early Girl tomatoes, but we also use Romas.

Because most of the time there are just the two of us, we make a small kit. You can make them whatever size fits your family or entertaining needs.

We use a variety of tomatoes and peppers, along with sweet onion and home grown garlic

This year, for the first time, I made several of the kits with the Sun Gold cherry tomatoes we grew. This single plant has produced an astounding quantity of larger-than-average, candy sweet fruit – much more than we can possibly eat. Some of them end up sliced and dehydrated – excellent – and the rest have ended up in the salsa kits – or directly into the mouth from the garden!

Salsa kit made with Roma tomatoes

To prepare the salsa, I empty the contents from the vacuum bag into a cake pan with some olive oil (you can use your oil of choice) and a splash of lime juice, then roast the vegetables in a preheated 350º oven for 30 minutes or until you achieve the doneness you prefer.

Once the components are finished roasting, pull the pan out of the oven and let it cool a few minutes; then toss it all in the blender with a little more olive oil and lime juice, cilantro (either fresh or dried) and whatever spice seasonings you like in your salsa. We keep ours pretty simple and usually only include a little salt and pepper. Depending on your blender, you may have to cut the onion, garlic and/or peppers into smaller pieces before blending.

These kits can also be used to make a quick tomato sauce for Spanish rice or a pasta dish – or it makes a marvelous, flavorful tomato soup on a cold winter day. Yum!

Miscellany

Christian Votes Matter

As the primary election dust settles and candidates move on toward the general election in November, we at Christian Mountain Living would like to remind you that the votes of Christians truly matter.

Even at the local level – and maybe especially at the local level – it is critical to know who is running for office and what they stand for. City councils, county commissioners, school boards, mayors have the capability to change towns for the positive – or the negative – for decades.

Although we do not live in the city limits and cannot vote for her, our family is supporting local mayoral candidate, Dorothy Knauss – the current mayor – for re-election. Dorothy is a mature Christian woman with a wealth of knowledge in municipal government, finance and city management and a heart to make our little town the best possible for the people who live in the area now – and for those who will come in the future. Her record of successes in 20+ years of serving her community in various capacities stands for itself.

We are pleased to be able to assist with Dorothy’s website, www.knaussformayor.com and support her in every way possible.