29. Being Thankful for Failure Takes a Better Man than I

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I don’t fail very often any more; and it certainly isn’t because I’m great at everything I do. No, it is much more because at age 59 and 11/12 I’m fairly aware of my limitations, and I stick to what I do well, or at least, what I’m pretty sure I won’t botch badly. I don’t try high diving or skateboarding or basketball; I don’t try to fix my own computer or my leaky roof; I don’t do my own taxes (although I’m tempted) or read Nature magazine. (What a misnomer that title is!)

But as the laborer at the cottage, I’ve been trying some new things, with a modicum of success. My confidence was up (inflated, even) until this past weekend.

I’ve been sanding the old windows that will go above the kitchen sink. I took out the glass — pane by pain (no blood though) — scraped, sanded, and primed. Eventually it was time to replace the glass; the correct term is reglazing and there used to be people who did this as a profession. They were called glaziers. They have my utmost respect.

I was about to do a real DIY blog post entitled, “How to Reglaze your Old Wood Double Hung Windows.” Notice that is not the title of this post. I took lots of photos and even cleaned my fingernails. I had visions of About.com contacting me and asking me to do regular DIY posts.

You might be asking “Why would you be so sure you could do this?” A very good question! Here are some random answers:

  • I am fairly good at artistic endeavors: I can sew, knit, and scrapbook. I have made a couple of quilts. I can do passable graphics, and I’m really good at using scissors and coloring.
  • I am particular and neat about my final work, tending toward perfectionism. (This could have been a warning sign…)
  • I am very good at reading directions.
  • I nailed the first part of the glazing process.

I have about twelve good photos from that first part, which is called the back bead. In effect, it sets the glass in place and seals the inside. It is easy. You just make snakes of the glazing putty, push the glass in, put in the points to hold the glass, and scrape off the excess putty. Would you like to see my pictures???

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I worked on the second part of the process, which is the outside of the window (I kept reminding myself it was the outside and hardly anyone would see it)  for two hours. This is one pane; there are 6 panes per window and 4 windows = 24 panes. I pulled up the snakes and started again at least three times. I angled the glazing tool 100 different ways. When Michael came in from his own window project and asked how it was going, I’m not sure I answered him. Yes. Juvenile. He took the glazing tool from my hand and said, “Well, let’s see…”

When the going gets tough, the tough go take a nap. Two hours of napping and the longest, hottest shower I could take, and Voila! Michael has the entire window finished.

Technically, I am delighted that he could do it, and it looks great. I am glad to have a talented husband. The thing is, I’m supposed to do the unskilled labor and leave the jobs that only he can do (and there are a lot of those!) for him. I was supposed to be able to do this… This is a lesson in humility.

Oh, I know that Dr. Seuss sent his first book in and it was rejected multiple times. Madeline L’Engle‘s book A Wrinkle in Time (which later won the Newbery Award) was rejected 29 times. It took Thomas Edison 10,000 times to get the filament right on his first light bulb…I KNOW ALL THAT! And these failure quotes that you are about to read — I’ve read them all a dozen times. They are platitudes: boring, insipid, and … true.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.” — Henry Ford

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas Edison

“All my successes have been built on my failures.” — Benjamin Disraeli

 “If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.” — Mary Pickford

“Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure…it just means you haven’t succeeded yet. ” — Robert Schuller

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan

and my personal favorite:

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

Yes, that’s what happened; I certainly lost my enthusiasm and never regained it.

The ironic thing is that we had just had a discussion about fear of failure in church the day before! God asked Moses to lead his people out of slavery, and Moses politely declined at first. “Send someone else, God. I’m not really good at what you want me to do…” We all fear failure, but as those quotes above point out, failure is always a lesson. It could be a lesson in hard work, or lack of preparation; it could be an opportunity for a second chance, or to encourage creativity and enthusiasm;  it could be a lesson in losing gracefully or developing patience; or it simply could be to learn humility.

Moses went to Pharaoh to ask for the people’s freedom. Seven times (at least) he went. Can you imagine what he was feeling that last time? “Oh no, Lord! Do I have to go again???” God chose Moses, so His strength would shine through Moses’ weaknesses and failures. Failure is not only all those lessons above; it is a God-given gift! So we won’t live proud. So we can be thankful for those failures.

I’ve got three more windows to work on. I will certainly do the inside seal, but I’m not sure if I’ll try the outside bead of putty again. Perhaps I just need to practice…or perhaps it is a skill I won’t ever master. I need to know for sure, though, don’t I?

In the meantime, I’m sewing some shelf liners from this great apple fabric I ordered. No fear of failure with this project!
Apple fabric

28. The Walnut Harvest; or Nuts on the ground, Nuts in the house

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We are considering changing the name of the cottage to Apple Walnut Cottage. No? Sort of sounds like a diet dessert, doesn’t it?


The nut harvest has been bountiful. In fact, the entire garage bedroom is filled with drying walnuts. Last week we thought we had an amazing amount, and this past weekend the nuts on the ground doubled. We had to go scrounging for more screens — sliding glass door screens do have a use after all!
The amazing fact about these English Walnuts is the husks dry in the trees and the walnuts fall from the husks ready to pick up.

This is what the ground looks like under the tree:

    After doing some online research, I discovered that:
      English walnuts will keep in the shell for several months.

(Good. It will take us that long to shell them.)

      Store in a cool, dry place.

(I’ve always wondered if Everyone but Me has cool, dry places in their house…)

      Shelled nuts can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 6 months and in the freezer for well over a year.

(Seems to me that keeping them in the fridge would make them soggy. I might try the freezer though.)

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With all these apples and walnuts, a cake is calling out to me… I was about to make one of Mr. H.C.’s favorites. The recipe was given to his mother by Anna Hincy, one of the cafeteria ladies at East Franklin School, who also did cakes on the side. But after looking at the recipe, I think I’ll pass. I was willing to make it from unbleached white flour; I was willing to use sugar; but I draw the line at Crisco… So I will experiment with this recipe and give you the results later. (It sounds like it might be a Christmas Cake.) In the meantime, here is a snack cake you can eat with no guilt.

Apple Walnut Cake Apple Walnut Cottage Cake

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Gather together:

    1 cup honey
    1/2 cup coconut oil
    1 3/4 cup sprouted wheat flour
    1 cup chopped walnuts
    3 cups chopped apples
    1 t. Vanilla
    2 eggs
    1 t. Salt
    1 t. Baking soda
    1 t. Cinnamon
    Nutmeg to taste
    Lemon juice to pour over the apples to keep them from browning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the honey into a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer for ten minutes. I had never done this before, but don’t eliminate this step. It makes the honey thick, light, and creamy.

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I peeled most of the apples, but I left one pretty red one unpeeled for color.

While the honey is whisking, chop the apples and walnuts. Squeeze lemon juice over the apples

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Just in case you are cracking your own walnuts, this is the tool to use. These Channelocks are fully open and they give the nut-cracker lots of control.

Add the coconut oil and beat until well mixed. Then add the two eggs and the vanilla and mix well.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture in two batches and just mix it in by hand with a large spoon. Mix in the nuts and apples by hand also.
Spread into a well-greased 9 x 9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.
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Some important stuff about this weird recipe:
Coconut oil is the new miracle food. It’s pricey, but I just bought some at Trader Joes for $5.99 a jar. It may be overhyped — it is one of those good fats — but you can read about its health benefits at this website.
Sprouted wheat flour is not gluten-free, but the wheat is sprouted and then the sprouts are ground into this flour-like substance, which does give it much less gluten and makes it more easily digested. You can get it at health food stores, co-ops, and online at Shiloh Farms. (Note: Sprouted wheat flour is not completely gluten-free.)  Of course, you can use regular flour — just increase the amount to two cups.

I could hardly wait to taste this cake so I cut a piece before it was cool. This is one cake that needs to cool a bit — it tasted much better a half hour later.

I adapted this recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. But I changed it enough that I’m giving it a new name — Apple Walnut Cottage Cake. Yep, a healthy diet dessert.

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(Mr. H.C. thought this cake was delicious; but, truth be told, he is dessert-starved these days, and he would probably eat cardboard if it had honey or maple syrup on it.) Not that this cake tastes like cardboard! It is actually better the next day for breakfast. Enjoy!

27. Door # 1 : The Price is Right

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When Joe and Clara remodeled the cottage in the 70s (see 1. The Story of Apple Hill Cottage) they put in 5 (five!) sets of sliding glass doors — one at every entrance except the basement — and 2 (two!) opening into the kitchen. Correction:  there were 2 (two!) going into the kitchen; now there are 0 (none!)

It was a very gratifying weekend. We had spent months dithering about the front entrance door. There is one good point to sliding glass doors and that is: glass. They let in light. This is a very good attribute if the room is dark and has only one other window. We didn’t want to lose the light; and there were 4 (four!) giant panels of glass to turn into real doors.

A door such as this would be lovely. Yes? This door is on clearance from Door Emporium; the clearance price is $1995 plus shipping of $150.

Entry doors tell the story of your house in ten words or less. Grand or simple, painted or wood, leaded glass or rough hewn, windowless or all glass, they are the topic sentence in Chapter One.  Everyone who comes into your house goes through those doors, and most will form an opinion of their character as they walk through. Are they ostentatious (Faulkner) or humble (Emily Dickinson)? Do they have style (T.S. Eliot)? Can you see through into the bright, cheery house (Alcott), or is the door stark and unfriendly (Poe)?

I wanted a good, old-fashioned, Wendell Berry kind of door. But those old farmhouse doors don’t let in much light, plus we had a six-foot doorway to fill. I kept finding all these lovely old doors at the Restore places, and Michael kept telling me they were interior doors. “But can’t we use them as exterior doors???” I would ask. The short answer was No. Michael’s concern was for the seal. Keep out winter. Keep out water. Keep out critters.

New entry doors are pricey. Very pricey. Pella wouldn’t even sell us a wood entry door unless we were installing it with six feet of protective porch and a roof. (Not to mention that their wood doors are in the Three Thousand Dollar range…) So when Michael called from the Restore saying he had found an entry door, I said, “Send me a picture…”

But before he sent me the picture, he told me the price: $189 + tax. Free delivery. (That would be us wearing delivery hats.) So, I can compromise. It is a metal door; but it has lots of windows and not so much metal. And it can be painted. Sold.

Yep, free delivery. Did I mention heavy?

The old (the doors, not Henry) …

and the new!

The sun was beginning to set by the time the lock and handles were in place. We were delighted just to be able to turn the knob (the knob is on the inside) and open the door!


And when we left on Monday, we locked the door just as if we lived in a real house. Those Price is Right contestants don’t have any thing on us — such excitement behind Door # 1! We were so excited on Sunday night that we ripped out the other sliding glass door that goes into the kitchen as well.

On to Door # 2…

 

Post Script: As I was publishing this post, my wonderful husband came back from Home Depot with perfect matching trim for adding horizontal muntins to the plain sidelights of the door.  Add $5 to the cost of the door; but the new look of it? Priceless!