chicks, goslings, bunnies … and snow!

The Easter bunny paid us a visit – though the bunny’s “elf” must plan her time better next year to avoid midnight sewing sessions! I made the little Birds of a Feather projects into different bags, pouches and sacks to hold the Easter Bunny’s bounty. More embellishments may be added in the future – I was waaaay to tired last night to fiddle around with trims, etc.

We managed to complete our egg hunt before the snow (!) got serious.

With our farming interest, of course Easter is full of baby animals. This year we’re happy to introduce our first gosling, a Pilgrim goose girl, that the kids have named Peppers.

Her Runner duck roommates, both Fawn drakes, are called Olives and Pickles.

We’ve had 5 new Barred Hollands hatch to accompany the Black Javas and older Barred Hollands that hatched about a week earlier.

Walter continues to grow, albeit rather slowly as he’ll only drink milk … lazy little bugger.

And just so you don’t think I was goofing about the Easter snow, here’s the view out my kitchen window:

A couple of technical issues:

The weird photos are due to the demise of Picnik – I’m trying to adjust to the unsatisfactory Flikr replacement of Picnik with Aviary. Please, Picnik, come back … I miss you!!! Edited to add: Thank you, Terra!! I think PicMonkey is just the thing!

It’s come to my attention that people w/o a WordPress account haven’t been able to comment on my blog. I’d noticed a decline in comments and had assumed I’d become boring, but Carol pointed this out to me. I’ve gone through all my settings and there is nothing that should block non-WP users … I’m curious if anyone else has had this problem. If you have, or if you know of a solution, would you let me know?

a face only a mother could love, and other stuff

The entire week has consisted of days that were not longer than 15 minutes each. How is anyone supposed to get anything done under those circumstances? I’ve felt like I’ve done little but race madly from one thing to the next without actually accomplishing anything. So today, I’m taking it a little slower (although there are still a million things to do!) and tomorrow I may take a road trip to meet some other farming-types who live in central Maine.

I don’t really know where to begin, so maybe I’ll just start chronologically and see where I wander from there. We had a gorgeously sunny day last Saturday. Although it was very cold, Rowen and Arden got the idea into their heads that we needed to go on an Exploration and have a picnic. So … we did. Brrr. Here are Rowen and Arden fearlessly perched atop the broken branch of a gigantic tree – especially when viewed from the perspective of an uncertain four-year old.

And here is Rowen with Flip in the same tree. Rowen has explained to me that the path we followed was one that Flip shared with Ro and Nick several days previously. I’d tell you where it is, but it’ a secret.

And here is Flip, showing that he is a fearless cat who possesses remarkable leadership qualities. Hey, do you think it’s too late to get him on the ballot?

Today is another brilliantly sunny day, and it is a lot warmer than last Saturday. So of course, no one is interested in being outside at all. Go figure!

Since I’m talking about our furbabies anyway, here’s the latest on Tom, who has been re-named by Rowen and now bears the weighty moniker of Major Tom Stubbs. He’s had his neutering surgery and is being introduced to the house. The other animals hate him, though, so it’s a slow process. His own behavior is still a little unpredictable – he’s generally an absolute love bug but sometimes he forgets that the hand that’s petting him is attached to the arm hovering in his vicinity and he bites and/or scratches the arm. The arm usually belongs to me, and I’ve been very glad we keep antibiotic salve and gauze pads on hand. It’s a face only a mother could love, and yet … we do love him and are glad to be able to offer him a comfortable spot for his golden years.(I’d like to point out that I obviously took these photos elsewhere because my own house is kept spotless and clutter-free at all times!)

Well, maybe some of us are less happy to welcome him than others. Flip is letting him know that this pool of sunshine will not be shared under any circumstances.

Also taking place in my clean and uncluttered kitchen is baking. Lots of baking. Baguettes by the bag full this week, and each more delicious than the last. Yesterday, the gray weather really got to me so I also began baking cookies (something I tend to avoid because I like my own cooking…).

Talking about the gray weather offers me a reasonable segue into the bizarre storm we had that dumped close to a foot of snow on us earlier this week. It’s still melting off. Here’s the barn, viewed from the back door of the house, the day it snowed.

Down in the barn, life has been busy. The geese continue to lay eggs and because I only have two small incubators, we’ve been eating some of the eggs. I made scrambled eggs the other day and when I saw how huge the goose egg yolks were compared to a regular chicken egg, I had to take a picture. Doesn’t it look like a face?

We have some new chicks down in the barn – 2 month old Barred Hollands. I love them! They look a lot like Barred Plymouth Rocks but they’re a much older (and rarer) breed that lays a white egg (rather than a brown one).

In the house, the little Miracle Marans are doing well, and the incubators are full-up. Hoping for some exciting hatching to start soon! While I wait, I occasionally find five or ten minutes for stitching. This is for an exchange, so I can just show a snippet.

I’d probably be able to get a whole lot more done if these impossibly adorable creatures didn’t keep distracting me.

Thanks for visiting! I hope your weekend is full of joy and good health!

social sunday

Wow, it’s been a cold one! But beautiful – wow, is there anything to compare to winter in Maine? We built up a good fire in the woodstove:

And visited my mom (no pictures, sorry).

We introduced three new pullets to the flock and said goodbye to one rooster:

I did some stitching (and frogging – how’s it possible to make a mistake on a pattern like this??):

And Niek made us an amazing dinner and Arden hammed it up for the camera (as you can see, he’s feeling much better!):

It’s been a great day, and I hope yours was, too!

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!

day fifteen – redirect

It is a drab and dreary day and since I can’t really think of anything funny or profound to say, I’ll redirect you to a blog that I love and some amazing tips to make life easier and more organized: New Nostalgia.

Even if I can’t get organized, there’s no reason you can’t!

day eleven – jack frost and finishing

Today was the day that I would whip through my stack of to-be-finished stitching and create wonders of delicacy, creativity, and beauty. Or something like that. But after spending most of the day tackling this:

I only had this:

A mere seven finishes with over 20 (?!) yet to do. Sigh.

***

It was a cold day today so the kids stayed in and got goofier and goofier as the day wore on. By dinnertime, Arden and his pet lizard were wearing pearls:

While Rowen and Nick went from angels -

to … well, I don’t quite know what they became.

***

To answer Riona’s questions in yesterday’s comments, there really was just Winter and Summer with little between for those who lived in Maine – but with global climate changes, the intermediate seasons are stretching out … and out. This November was the warmest on record, I read the other day. When I got up this morning, the temp had dropped to about 25 and Jack Frost had decorated many of the windows (particularly the barn windows), but here we are in December with only two snowstorms so far and – weirdest of all – with green grass showing. It’s not normal. Generally, winter in this part of the world sets in sometime around the end of November and there’s ground cover (aka snow) until the January thaw, when we get a week or ten days of softer weather. Then, winter will resume and we’ll stay bundled up and trudge through the snow until the end of February or early March. Growing up, Mom made us wear our winter coats until the first of April, I remember. There have been snowstorms on Mother’s Day several times that I can remember, but such late snowfalls rarely stay on the ground more than a few hours. So, Riona, how the barnyard animals spend their winter can fluctuate. Last winter, the chickens were barn-bound from that bad snowstorm at the end of December (which knocked down all the fencing) until the beginning of March. But this year, we’ve put up the new fence which will not topple under the weight of any amount of snow, so they’ll be able to get outside all winter.  (Frost photo borrowed from here.)

atchoo!

Isn’t this cool? The kids love it. Patti and I had a great time in Belfast this past Saturday – we spent the whole time stitching outside in the sun! And … I came home with this wonderful Halloween treat. Thank you, Patti!

The kids have had a few days off school due to the holiday weekend and a teachers’ day so we have tried to enjoy the fabulous Indian Summer weather. Yesterday, we headed to a new-to-us location: the Lamoine State Park. It was so beautiful – you can bet we’ll be back!

I’m taking a brief break from sneezing to type this, so I’ll keep it short and get back to making the most of my allergies. Have a great day!

on a roll

We had a quiet day yesterday because the weather – the kids enjoyed some Netflix episodes of H.R. Pufnstuf and I stitched this little charmer from Stacy Nash’s booklet “A Simply Early Christmas”. I added some French knots to the holly sprig in the bird’s mouth because Niek thought it was a worm, and I used a few more colors than the four called for, and of course I used my own choice of colors that were similar to the model. This is stitched on a tiny piece of 35 (?) count linen that I’d distressed when we were back in Holland – it’s the last scrap from that series of ‘experiments’ I did using herbs, coffee, and food to dye/distress linens. It seemed perfect for this piece.

It’s another gray day here … I wonder what I’ll get up to today.

i really wasn’t done yet

I had to laugh when I checked the comments last night – everyone kept mentioning what a cute finish it was, despite how clearly I said it wasn’t done. It didn’t even look finished yet, LOL! But you certainly made me determined to complete it before bedtime, and I even gave it an ironing to show it off at its best. So please meet Fare Thee Well by Bent Creek.

And now on to serious matters. I know many of us are also friends on Facebook (and if we aren’t, we should be!). I am getting used to the constantly-moving tikertape thingie down the right side of the screen and have actually found it helpful to keep up with (1)real-time happenings and (2)busting my son when he was bragging about some recent issues at school. Which is to say, I have actually been able to get in on “conversations” that I’d have otherwise missed. But my problem is that I know I’m missing the feeds on a lot of friends and acquaintances and short of individually clicking 400+ people to change the settings, I don’t know how to fix this. My second gripe is that I no longer get email notification when I receive a message, and last night I missed a very important one. Does anyone know how to tweak something so you at least get an email for inbox messages? (I’m not saying I miss the scores of messages on every conversation I’ve contributed to, but messages are usually about something important.) Your expertise will be hugely appreciated.

Here at Chateau Chaos, we are experiencing rain – and plenty of it. I was glad we had some simple ponchos lying around that we’d bought for the BB King outdoor concert, because I certainly needed one this morning. The chickens look half-drowned and the goats are terribly unhappy (the really hate the rain). The ducks and geese, however, think it’s a party. I had to go out around 1 am this morning to close them in the barn because they were outside playing in the rain and making a horrible amount of noise, LOL.

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy weekend. If you see the sun, point it in my direction, please.

i love it!!

The cooler weather has arrived and it feels great! The kids have begun school – even Arden goes to the local Montessori school 3 days a week – and having a quiet house feels very strange … but in a good way. There are a lot of exciting things going on as autumn wraps around us – I’ll be teaching a bread-making class, Niek will have a birthday, we’ll see BB King in concert, and we’ll almost certainly welcome our first baby goats (and that’s just the first 10 days of the month!). I prefer being busy to being idle, and even being too busy is better than not feeling productive enough.

On an artistic level, autumn always makes me feel very jazzed-up. I love the colors and smells and that feeling of promise in the air. I love knowing that the short, slow days of winter aren’t far away. Autumnal cross stitch designs seriously rock, too! Look at what Pokua sent me today. (The design is by Primitive Betty, and didn’t Pokua do a fabulous job with it?!) I love the goodies she included (not shown in the picture is the pattern for Jenny Bean’s Pin Tuffet because I’m an airhead).

I told Niek the other day that spring cleaning has never made sense to me. I want to be outside as soon as winter has let go of us – who wants to stay inside and clean?? But autumn cleaning – now that seems sensible. And I guess I have to admit it was also desperately needed here at Chateau Chaos. I never take ‘before’ photos because you guys will know what a disaster zone this really is, but I bit the bullet this time. Here’s our library, which had become a dumping ground for anything not nailed down. Scary, huh?

And here it is after a day’s attention.

But what really took the time was organizing my floss, which had gotten completely out of hand. Actually, after organizing it, I may have to reluctantly concede the point that I may, just possibly, have rather too much. Maybe. Anyway, it’s all bagged up and sorted out and really quite lovely again now.

Autumn also sparks those creative parts of my brain. When I saw Ickle Pickle, the weird light turquoise silk in this set, I just had to have it. It must feature in something, and soon! (You can just ignore that bit above where I said I had too much floss. I mean, I didn’t have this color, right?)

So as September flies by, which it will, you can picture me conducting an orderly, civilized sort of existence in my tidy and well-organized household. I will remember to brush my hair every day. I will not be covered in barnyard muck. I’ll set reasonable goals and work in logical manners to achieve them, rather than going off all willy nilly and accomplishing tons of things I didn’t mean to do while the task I started sits undone.

Oh heck, who am I fooling?