whooooosh

My Dad just turned 81 (Congratulations, Daddy!) and reminded me again that the older we get, the fast time goes. Which puts me in mind of this little Dr Seuss ditty:

How did it get so late so soon?
It’s night before it’s afternoon.
December is here before it’s June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon? 

Anyway, it’s been a jam-packed, mostly wonderful, month. If a very fast one. I started a new project I was sure I’d have done in no time – but no time is exactly what I’ve had. This is Little Sampler by The Goode Huswife. I did it years ago in blues for Annemarie, over-one and very wee. This one is huge. I’ll use it as a seed pocket.

I’ve been trying to greenify my thumbs and other fingers with gardening endeavors. My friend Tigger just finished consuming his garden bounty from last year – I want that to be me next year!

The kids have, as always, been busy with a zillion things: sports, concerts, clubs, and much more. It’s not uncommon to hit the ground running at 2:40 when the school bus drops them off and not catch my breath till 7:30 or 8 in the evening. I don’t know how it affects them, but it exhausts me! LOL. Here are a few shots of the younger kids enjoying this and that, here and there.

There’s been a lot of farm activity, with the births of chicks, ducks, goslings, and bunnies. It being a farm, there have also been some sad losses. We are looking forward to the birth of some baby goats later this summer, as it appears both Annie and Eve are pregnant! Muffin left us to join her new home, and we will be welcoming a new buck to the farm in a week or so.

There has been a great deal of beauty in small things – special moments with the children, trying new things, mastering skills, connecting with friends, acts of gentleness and kindness – and over all, Mother Nature treats us daily to a spectacular feast of the senses if only we look around us.

I’ve been reading. Right now I’m reading The Wind-Up bird Chronicle by Murakami (and have the third volume of 1Q84 ready to read) and In One Person by John Irving. I just finished The Wind in the Keyhole by Stephen King and will soon be re-reading The Shining. Stacked up and ready to read are Affliction by Russell Banks, Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell, and Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. I’ve been listening to lots of music, too, mostly thanks to my Pandora connection, but I also bought Affairs of the Heart by Canadian artist Marjan Mosetich – it’s sublime.

Niek’s been traveling much of this month in Europe for his job, and next month I’ll begin a new job in the mental health field. With Arden ready for school, it’s time I can get back out in the world again and will do so with a new job and grad school plans. First we’ll enjoy the sweet months of summer together, though – I’m only working one day a week till school resumes after the summer holidays.

I have no idea how much time I’ll find to get online, but I won’t be far away. Thank you for your friendship – I’m looking forward to sharing more soon.

so very, very much

It’s busy. But wonderful. Would that make it wonderfully busy, or busily wonderful?

In between helping out at the free tax prep clinics, doing schoolwork, mucking the barn, and lots of other pleasant demands on my time, I’ve been enjoying having the kids home for February vacation this week. Although it seems we haven’t actually seen much of them. Rowen had an overnight at a friend’s house, and my Mom watched the boys while Niek and I had our own taxes prepared (unfortunately, not at the free clinic), and yesterday two of my aunties came down from Bar Harbor & Ellsworth to celebrate everyone’s birthday (sadly, Aunt Kathy and Uncle George couldn’t make it due to ill health).

We had a great time celebrating the kids’ birthdays. As one Aunt put it, “We can’t really make it down for each one, so we thought it would be fun to have one big party” – and that, we did! The kids were spoiled rotten and enjoyed every nanosecond of it.

The aunties love Rigby, so he was right in the thick of things as well – can’t you just feel the love?

We started with a feast, but no one got pictures of that. I did manage better with the blowing out of the candles, though.

And then there were gifts. Huge, wonderful, numerous, glee-inducing gifts.

And the packaging was pretty fabulous, too. Nick fit entirely inside the bag that held his gifts and started a sack race around the dining room.

In amongst all the frivolities, I noticed that our batch of Maran eggs were hatching – early! I bought a dozen eggs from a like-minded FB friend who plans to buy a dozen Barnevelder eggs from me later in the spring. When I warned her of the cold temps here, she attached 40-hour heat packs to the packaging, and clearly labelled the box that I was to be notified when they arrived at the local PO to avoid them being dragged around in the cold while the postman made rounds. Naturally, the PO ignored the labeling. And of course it was a day that I was out of town on business. And so it would follow that he mail carrier simply left them sitting on the front steps … in 22 degree weather. All. Day. Long. I never expected them to hatch but put them in the incubator anyway. About halfway through the incubation cycle, I didn’t see any signs of viable life and was ready to throw them out … but I got busy, and several days passed before I could get to it. When I double checked, just in case, lo & behold, they WERE developing! The first egg hatched last night, and was joined this morning by a brother or sister. There are four more with holes that will hopefully hatch this morning, and then another 4 that I hope will hatch. Two of the bunch were obviously infertile – but given how miraculous this has been, I left them in the incubator anyway! These chicks will join my own flock, enabling me to offer more “chocolate egg layers” next year for sale. Marans are beautiful, very calm birds, which makes them a nice addition to the flock, and the dark brown eggs they lay have become a favorite at the marketplace where I sell eggs.

I’ve even made a start to Hooked Rabbit Pincushion, by The Goode Huswife! I’ll share a picture of that next time. Thanks for visiting!

keepin’ warm

Brrr!! Chilly today – but so bright and sunny! The dogs couldn’t figure out how to get warm, fast – Lola thought getting under the dog blanket might be better, but Rigby liked it better on top.

Arden slept somewhat better with the aid of a humidifier, but still isn’t sleeping through the night and is still plagued by the croupy cough. Ugh. Today makes four days of the cough, and it generally runs a course of 3 to 7 days. Needless to say, we are all hoping we’re nearing the end rather than just past the halfway point. My aunties surprised us with a visit and get-well basket for Arden. The basket was quite a bit fuller before I managed to get a picture of it (hmm, how did that happen?). Aunt Kathy remembered that Arden is wild for blueberries, so you might notice a blueberry theme.

It was a wildly busy day. The poor barn critters didn’t get their dinner till nearly full dark and they were making quite a ruckus. Thankfully, the guineas made their noise inside the fence – yesterday, I found 8 of them spread all over the property. Apologies to our wonderful and understanding neighbors. I loved how little Mr Doodles was warming up with the help of a big Delaware girl.

After taking care of our outdoor family, I could finally take care of the indoor members. We enjoyed a delicious and filling Spanish omelette. The recipe can be found over on the farm blog.

Further keeping me warm was the arrival of the order I placed with Violarium. Gosh, I was sad to hear that this wonderful ONS is going out of business. I stocked up on lots of specialty linens – gorgeous banding and two linen towels – as well as two patterns. I’ve had my eye on the bunny one for some time now, and the other just called out Arden’s name when I saw it.

And now, I think I may go curl up between some flannel sheets! Brrr! Stay warm, and thanks for visiting!

happy day after!

We have enjoyed such a wonderful Christmas day and, as we’d say in Holland, Tweede Kerstdag (second day of Christmas). Everything was very relaxed and enjoyable. My mom came over for the day – from our French toast breakfast:

through the opening of Santa’s gifts in our gorgeous stockings handmade by Sara:

and through the end of our dinner of seafood paella. No pictures of that – everyone ate it too fast!

As I’d mentioned awhile back, we seriously cut back on gifts. The kids got one major gift each, plus Santa’s gifts in their stockings. Max’s big gift will be a bike, but because he’s so tall and we’re out of season, we couldn’t find his frame size. So he’ll get it in the spring – thankfully, he’s into the delayed gratification thing.

Nick got a new Nintendo DS and it’s been a challenge to get him away from it.

Rowen finally got the hamster she’s wanted for more than a year. Meet Winslow.

And Arden got a Play-Do set, but found the punching balloons that everyone got to be an awful lot of fun.

There were gifties for the house pets, too.

Flip awaited the promised handmade catnip treats from a safe distance.

Molly – Mom’s Pomeranian – got a pretty blue sweater that compliments her auburn tresses.

Rigby got a pair of winter booties to protect his sensitive feet, but he’s not convinced that he wants them.

Lola got biscuits, but I think she preferred laying under the tree and soaking up the ambiance.

And Rico got some tasty treats as well as a new toy that has a bell – he does love to ring the bells.

It was a lot of fun and the kids’ amazing behavior made it that much more enjoyable. Seriously, there were smiles from start to finish.

On another note, I did finish-finish Stacy Nash’s Primitive Bell Ornament and here is an embarrassingly poor photo that makes it look as though it’s lumpy and deformed when it is not.

And I want to thank everyone who responded to my Christmas Eve post. I’d love to send a gift to everyone, but I have to be realistic. LOL. We put names in a bowl and Arden, Rowen, and Nick each chose a name. Ladies, please contact me with your snail mail addy. And once again, thank you so much for reading and commenting!

day twenty three – catching up, thanks to mother nature

It’s snowing like mad! I woke up to a couple of inches of the white magic, and it’s been coming down steadily since in the hours since then. It is gorgeous. And of course, it’s the perfect reason to stay home and catch up on things.

First off was loading my camera pictures onto the computer. So here are the fun snaps I took yesterday when we celebrated Arden’s birthday at my mom’s house. She got him a remote control monster truck, and it was truly love at first sight.

Of course, there was some extra time spent in the barnyard this morning because the animals’ different reactions to snowfall are so interesting. The ducks love it.

The goats do not.

It’s a mixed bag for the chickens and Guinea fowl. Some don’t mind it, but others won’t put a toe out in it.

And our indoor pets know exactly how to handle a day like this. You curl up in front of a warm woodstove and don’t move for anything.

This human animal has a pot of chicken soup simmering on the stove and hopes to get a few stitches in while the kids whoop and holler and have a great time. I wonder if I can haul my Daylight lamp over next to Rigby there by the woodstove?

Take care, and thanks for visiting!

day fourteen – this ephemeral moment

It’s been a nice day. I had hoped it would warm up enough for me to pound the fence stakes for the new goat house, but alas … it didn’t reach 40 and the ground remained rock hard. But my aunties all came up for the day and we surprised my mom by taking her to her favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch, and that was certainly much more fun than pounding stakes. After they left, the remainder of the day just flew by with taxi-mom and dinner-chef duties. But the morning started out so quietly and sweetly that I wanted to share it with you. After Arden woke up over breakfast, we walked to school and on the return trip, I took some photos.

Crossings
by Ravi Shankar

Between forest and field, a threshold
like stepping from a cathedral into the street—
the quality of air alters, an eclipse lifts,

boundlessness opens, earth itself retextured
into weeds where woods once were.
Even planes of motion shift from vertical

navigation to horizontal quiescence:
there’s a standing invitation to lie back
as sky’s unpredictable theater proceeds.

Suspended in this ephemeral moment
after leaving a forest, before entering
a field, the nature of reality is revealed.

day four – whenever I see your smiling face

Can you believe I overslept again today? I’m going to have to start setting the alarm clock on the weekends if this keeps up! I’m usually the person in the family who wakes right up at about the same time every day no matter what, but maybe all this fresh air and fun are making me sleep a little deeper than usual.

My thankfulness moment came early this morning (not that there’s just one of those a day, mind you!) when I called my Daddy and he sang to me. My Dad has such a good voice that he could’ve easily sung professionally if he had wanted to. (He’s a good dancer, too!) We talk on the phone every Sunday and it’s a bit of game to see which of us can call the other first. (Of course, he would win if he called at 5:00 when he gets up – and I’m awfully glad he doesn’t!)

Listening to Dad sing and thinking about how lucky I am to have such a great family made me think I’d do today’s blog post a little differently and blend together the thing of beauty, thankfulness and non-commercial elements. Here are some pictures of my family – because what is more beautiful than the people we love? I’m grateful for each and every one of them, whether they’re still with us or live on in our hearts.  ♥

And I guess that’s it from me for now … off to spend a whole day luxuriating in the chaos that I call home. See you tomorrow!

day three – confession is good for the soul

I’m going to tell you right out – I haven’t (yet) done any stitching today. Hopefully I’ll get some done tonight after the kids go to bed. It’s been such a fun and busy day that this is the first time my butt has been on the sofa all day!

It has been an easy day for feeling grateful (if not for stitching). Our small town was filled-to-bursting with fun family-oriented holiday activities all day. There were so many possibilities that we weren’t able to do them all! After a big breakfast and Rowen’s return from an overnight at a friend’s house we headed to Jordan Gardens, where they were offering various workshops, a meeting with Santa, and an assortment of Christmas trees. The trees, sadly, were all too big for our living room (the Obamas should head here when picking something out for the White House, IMHO!), but we did buy a beautiful wreath (that I’ve just realized I forgot to photograph). We also decorated ornaments for the tree (again, no pictures) and made a “tree” for my mom’s apartment.

Which she really enjoyed.

And of course we hung out with Santa!

After all our decorative endeavors, we hurried home for a quick cheese sandwich on homemade bread, and then back downtown for the Christmas parade. Nick was on the Rose M Gaffney float and Rowen marched with the Girl Scouts. Arden was utterly entranced by everything – I think it’s the first time he’s been old enough to really “get” it. And there’s nothing quite like a small-town parade, is there? You know almost everyone, and the originality of the floats and designs is just so unique. And pretty much everyone who wants to be in the parade, can be. We had a great time. Very grateful to be part of this community.

Walking back to the car, Arden and I enjoyed the view of the moon coming up over the water even though the sun hadn’t set, so I pulled out my camera to capture today’s “thing of beauty”.

Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with me.

it has been a busy week

My brother, niece, and Daddy have been visiting this week, which has been absolutely lovely – and busy!

It was the first time I’ve met my niece, Morgan, who is a half year older than Arden. What a great kid she is! She was very excited to see the barn animals before her arrival, but once she was here, her obvious favorite activity was Cat Carrying. I think Flip has forgotten how to walk. We are really going to miss her.

We enjoyed time with both my Dad and my Mom. For my Dad’s last evening with Rich, we enjoyed a big lobster feed. My step sister’s family, including my niece Yulinka, came over. It was soooo fun to have a house full of happy, active, wonderful kids!

And for my Mom’s last evening with Rich, we enjoyed a Dutch dinner of stamppot. The kids had a great time lovin’ up their Grammie.

It’s been so long since I stitched that I’ve probably forgotten how. But maybe I’ll be able to pull out the needles and linen this week. One can hope. Thanks so much for visiting!!

finally, some stitching!

I’ve finally stitched something! It’s tiny, but at least it’s something. Actually, I enjoyed this so much that I want to do it again using another colorway. I matched GAST fibers to the called-for DMC  but instead of the pinks shown in the model, I got yellows and browns – I love the look, but I’m really curious why it’s such a drastic difference. This is just a sneak peek, till I get it finish-finished.

Here’s my rather devilish assistant, modeling what he calls his Hawaii shirt. The kid just slays me – he’s such a hoot, and the things he says just have us all rolling.

Baked delicacies have been rolling out of our oven!
Here are some of the breads I made last week:

And cupcakes we enjoyed this weekend:

And an apple pie that Niek made last night:

(Don’t lick the screen!)

On the farming side of life, yesterday I came to the unwelcome realization that my pregnant goat is not pregnant and getting friendlier. She is fat and in heat. Oh joy. I was pretty angry yesterday when I contacted the previous owner and she made up some bullpuck story, but being mad doesn’t accomplish much so I’m now trying to figure out the best way to make lemonade out of the reality of the situation. First off, of course, is cutting the food rations for Miss Plump and Perky. Secondly, I’m tackling the big question of whether to buy a buck this fall and breed the two older does. Originally, I’d planned to keep a buck from whatever kid(s) Pinto Bean had and use him for breeding (to the other three does, not to Pinto Bean). After being “taken in” despite trying to research reputable breeders/farms online, I’m reluctant to go out there and try again. It’s like online dating or something – you have to trust what you’re told to a large extent, and that leaves you wide-open to unscrupulous individuals. But if I don’t breed the does, I’m just feeding them without any return on investment until next autumn when they go into heat again, and that’s not a happy thought, either. So I ponder, weak and weary, wondering which choice is the better one. Do you have any ideas?

I’ve been promising Glenna better pictures of our glorious, gorgeous Silver Fox rabbits for awhile now. I purchased the bunnies after looking high and low for this breed for several months. I had actually given up and was going to wait till next spring and buy from a breeder down in New Hampshire, when I stumbled across a serious breeder down in central Maine. We now have two does and a buck. The buck is still quite young and is only just beginning to get the silver-tipped fur that makes the breed so gorgeous. As with the other animals I’ve been focusing on, Silver Fox rabbits are critically endangered and they are also a heritage breed. I’m very honored to be able to play a small part in preserving this wonderful animal. We’ll be selling babies as pets, show animals, and … dinner, for those so inclined. (Don’t tell Pink, Elvis and Peaches, Glenna!) Here’s our little buck (the kids like the name Hopper, which has me off on all sorts of Dennis Hopper tangents) and one of the does, who is still waiting for her name.

I’m having lunch with my Dad today, who surprised me with a nice long visit this morning. It’s great to soak up as much time as possible with him before he heads down to Florida for the winter. I hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful day and that at least part of it is spent with someone you love.