Happy Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. The weather had tricked me into thinking we had more time.

The news is frightening, the world is spiraling out of control and there is talk of WW3.

Thankfully the poets have found the words that I am unable to find as my thoughts are all a jumble.

So this Thanksgiving besides my wonderful family, I am thankful...

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

And I wish for all of you to find the peace of the wild things....

The Peace of Wild Things ~ Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

OMG A year has gone by!!!!!

 
 
The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to better thinking. ~ Phaedrus

I find it funny that I should return to this blog almost a year to the day. Diversion didn't produce any better thinking but I guess it is true that I do love this time of year. Summer keeps me tied to the garden or the stove canning but when September rolls around I know the end is in sight. I have only to do apples

and sauerkraut and then I get a much needed rest.

Unlike last year the temperatures are above normal. The mornings however are wonderful. A cool fog shrouds the mountains.

 

Unexpected visitors were resting in a tree above the chicken coop. 

 

He did not like his picture taken so flew to a fence post,

 

when that didn't stop me he finally flew to a tree on the mountain. While the pigs were too busy doing their pig thing to notice,

the coop residents would not have liked the visit.

Not much has changed since a year ago. I am still working on the genealogy. I missed a family reunion because the car's (7 more payments but no more warranty) engine died. I also missed the Endless Sheep and Wool again but will be at Rhinebeck.

I did get a great deal on a 30 x 100 foot greenhouse frame. While too much space for my growing purposes, we intend to put part by the garden and the rest will be used for housing animals and storage for tractor and implements.

#1 daughter and Sir T are house hunting. They found a great house but the owners will not work with them, to the point that even the homeowners realtor thinks her clients are unreasonable. So the hunt goes on. The grandkids are getting so big. O starts kindergarten next September which seems impossible. B will be lost without him.

#1 son had a horrible snowmobile accident this past winter while riding with A.....seven broken ribs, three were broken multiple times, broken sternum, broken collar bone, two punctured lungs one collapsed, and a concussion. He subsequently sold his snowmobile but when Spring came they bought the fastest side by side quad to ride. He turned 30 this Spring so healing wont be as fast something he should keep in mind.

#2 son had long wanted to join the marines. Unfortunately he is PDQ because of his hearing. He was always getting ear infections as a kid and had ruptured his ear drum multiple times because of them. He tried for a waiver since he is only off by one frequency but the Marines are not offering waivers at this time. So he started working at the same place #1 son and husband work and will celebrate his one year anniversary there in a couple of weeks.

#2 daughter is working as a CNA at an area nursing home. She loves it but being the mom I worry about her driving as she works 3-11 pm and during the winter they don't always work on the roads at night. In a little over a month she turns 21. How time flies.

As with all gardening years, something's grow and something's don't. It was a great year for peas and summer squash but tomatoes were indecisive. They are loaded with buds now that it is time to pull them! A new thing this year is cotton!!!!!

 

I was given three plants and they had gorgeous flowers and then the boles started. I can't wait to harvest and plant more next year.

Even the farm is pretty much the same. We got three pigs to raise again this year.

We got a couple of turkeys.

A friend got chickens and ducks but his landlord nixed the ducks so he gave them to us.

I am in the sporadic funk with knitting but I have been spinning a lot. I washed a fleece today so as the weather gets cooler I will have plenty to card/dye/spin.

And that about wraps up the year! Pretty boring to put on paper but in real time it has had some pretty good moments.

A chill in the air

“Autumn has caught us in our summer wear” 

~ Philip Larkin

While not yet Autumn, Sunday I could not get warm.  The weather has definitely cooled down (like 10 degrees below normal) and the a/c units are out of the windows.  Along with Spring this is my favorite time of the year.

A walk along the barn road shows dead leaves starting to accumulate along its edge.  

 A look up into the woods and you notice the trees have lost their vibrant green.  They now wear coats of army green and drab olive.  Soon they will be vibrant again in hues of red, orange and yellow.  The wildflowers or weeds depending on who is talking are blooming.

The multi-flora rosehips are turning red.  

 The hops are past their prime.  

 The acorns are plentiful and the black walnuts 

are making walking across the yard without turning your ankle an impossible feat.

Autumn seems in a rush this year.  The bear is a regular visitor as he tries to put on his winter weight.  The puppy doesn’t like him!  He growls with his hackles up while walking from door to door.  Something took down one of the fawns in the field.  It took ½ one night and ½ the next.  We believe it is the coyotes which are getting to be nightly visitors on the mountain behind us….another thing the puppy doesn’t like!  A small buck was in the yard yesterday, the velvet is off his antlers and his neck looked like it had already started to swell.  And at the man’s worksite there were deep marks of hooves being shoved in the dirt where two bucks had been fighting. 

I have spent the last month canning, knitting and working on the genealogy. A friend knew my tomatoes were not producing what I needed and picked me up 125# from a farm near where he works.  I was kept busy enough that I missed the Endless Mt Fiber Fest. 

I did however enter into their completion and I won on both entries!!!!!  Cyndi from Riverrim was nice enough to take them up for me as she vends there with Grace Hatton.  This year’s project was a cowl.  I entered a crocheted version 

(Main Street byKrista Wolf) which won first place and a knit version 

(Beaded smoke Ring by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer with a few changes due to time restrictions) which won third place!  I know it’s not like entering into a huge competition such as MD Sheep & Wool or Rhinebeck but its fun.

But back to the gardening/canning….With the addition of the 125# of tomatoes, my  shelves are now stocked with all the BBQ sauce, chili sauce, salsa, bruschetta in a jar, rotel tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and V8 that I need to get through the year.  The green beans which were late to start are still producing.  I slowed down picking so I can save seed for next year.  The summer squash were nothing to write about but the winter squash are doing fantastic.  I planted two spaghetti and one LI Cheese in the regular garden and I must have 10 spaghetti squash still out there and three cheese.  Up by the barn in a manure pile I also planted one LI cheese, 1 striped cushaw and some saved seed from a sugar pie pumpkin I got from Walmart last year.  I intended to keep moving the fence but the vines soon grew through the roll so I couldn’t move it without breaking the vines. 

However I have four cheese, three cushaw and some sugar pie’s.  The chickens have discovered the sugar pie and are pecking at them.  I had to wrap the others that are growing outside the fence in old feed bags so as not to lose them.

We went blueberry picking in August at Herrick Hill Huckleberry Farm and it was awesome. Toddler O kept eating and every time we asked him how many berries he picked and put in his bucket the answer was three.  His brother Baby B went from person to person, stomped his foot, grunted, put his hand out and waited for it to be filled. We brought home 30 pounds.  I froze some, and then canned blueberry/lime jam, blueberry syrup and blueberry pie filling. This past weekend we went apple picking at Roba’s.  You can quickly fill a ½ bushel as the trees are loaded 

so it wasn’t as much fun as berry picking for the adults or the grandkids.  Closer to Halloween we will go back pumpkin picking and after looking at their cut your own Christmas trees we might have to get our tree there this year. And did you know there are less than 100 days until Christmas?

And in genealogy…I got back into it after being contacted by a relative on my father’s side.  This past week I contacted someone about my grandmother’s sister (or daughter as has always been assumed) on my mom’s side and it ended up being her granddaughter.  Now maybe we can make some head way on our great grandparents.  

And that about wraps it up.  

Small hours

Our lives are made in these small hours

These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate

Time falls away but these small hours

These small hours still remain ~ Rob Thomas

And before you know it these small hours add up and a month has gone by!  Yikes! So what remains of a month of small hours….

…Visits with my grandson’s, with more to come on the weekend of the 26^th.

...A visit from our forest neighbor

…A new engine in my car thankfully, fully covered by the warranty.

…days of unusually high temperatures.  I was forced to install the air conditioners.  Last year I didn’t because I feel shut in all winter and I love to have the shades up and windows open so I can see &  hear nature, but I couldn’t stand the humidity.  I thought I was living in DC again, oh horrors.  Today is a glorious 75 degrees at noon time with low humidity, what much needed relief

…the brightly dyed roving was spun but then wasn’t matching up when plied so I plied it with some white singles.  Made a pair of fingerless mitts, might make a hat to match.

…small knitting projects and may I add useful.  I have been knitting scubbies with cotton and tulle along with some new dish clothes.

…the garden has thrived in the heat, (and with a little added water from the hose).  The green beans are reaching for the sky 

and starting to produce. (Thank You Cyndy for telling me to check the lower sections) 

…tiny heads of broccoli starting better late than never

…gladiolas blooming and I nearly missed them

 …fireworks at our town’s field day

  …perfect physical for the man while I was diagnosed with Lyme disease.  Since meds keep me from going out in the sun I am so thankful that 90% of the garden was mulched so the weeds won’t over take the vege’s.

…friend that goes to auctions picked up some produce.  I canned and dehydrated blueberries, canned mango peach lemonade concentrate, strawberry lemonade concentrate, organic raspberry jam and strawberry syrup.  I also froze 8 quarts of cauliflower and 7 of green pepper slices. My berries should be ready soon for blackberry lemonade concentrate, pie filling and maybe some cordial.

…#2 son and daughter have summer jobs which means I am minus a vehicle most of the time.  #2 son bought a vehicle now we just need to get it on the road

 

…total of three baby chicks hatched this year and we  bought four turkey pullets

…barn field mowed, raked and stored away for chicken bedding.

…a little swimming and fishing.  The heavy rains prior to the heat wave caused flooding .  Once the waters receded the temperatures were too high for any good fishing.

 ...beautiful sunsets

 

 ...and hopefully a months worth of small hours before I get back here.

  

Christmas Hangover

Urban Dictionary describes a Christmas Hangover as “The day after Christmas, December 26th when you wake up realizing all the fun is over and you have to wait another 365 days until Christmas.”

I am a creature of habit.  And as much as I love Christmas or any holiday for that matter, it throws a monkey wrench into my normal boring hermit-ish existence. 

So ...I do not like to pick fights or anything but I think that definition is wrong.  I think as an adult it could best be described as the exhaustion one feels from having…found or made the perfect gift for everyone on your list, wrapped it, labeled it, packed it, shipped it or delivered it, bought the tree, decorated the tree, decorated the house, made the nog, the dinner, the cookies/pies/stollen , cleaned the house from top to bottom  for all the holiday guests….several times because the kids, husband and dogs thought you had too much time on your hands, prepared for family and their animals that stay over, tried to prepare for any “unforeseen” that usually happens, and after weeks of this the exciting finale of watching them open presents finally came and you are still going at mach speed… 

All those later than usual nights, earlier than usual mornings, having all these people in and out of your usually quiet abode, the extra laundry, the excess food consumption (or alcohol) that your body is not use to finally takes its toll and you become mentally and physically exhausted.  And yesterday when everyone left I could only sit.  I could not concentrate enough to knit, I could not read, I just sat like a lump on a log and watched something on tv that I don’t even remember…and then more friends came over … and tonight we will have company … Wednesday night into Thursday #2 son is having three friends coming over that love to eat … Friday life will semi return to normal only to have the New Years activities.  If I can make it until then, New Years day the tree and decorations will come down so that Tuesday when the kids return to school I can sit in my everything is back in it’s place, empty house and … take a nap!  Actually this is when I will get to really enjoy my gifts.  I have ebooks to buy and a kickass kitchenaid that was insulted when all I asked of it was to whip up a dozen eggs.  Trying to redeem myself in the eyes of the mixer earlier I had it working on a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  It was amused but is asking for a real job… I am thinking bread might make it happy.  I know it will make the man happy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas that left you with a enough of a hangover to know that you had a good time with family and friends but not so bad that you don’t want to redo it for another 365 YEARS!!!

A Wonderful Day

"A little of what you fancy does you good."  Marie LLoyd


Today was to be cooler (66 degrees at 12:30!!!) and I fancied myself getting the garden finished.  I went out early, let the ducks out,

applied a coating of sun block, breathed in deep to appreciate the scent of locust blossom and got to work.  I got some tilling done, beds raked and 44 tomatoes planted and then I started  feeling the familiar twinges of sunburn so I am calling it quits until later.  So much for sun block!


I picked some lettuce before coming in to make a salad for lunch.  I planted several kinds as we  enjoy the different colors and textures.

I am surprised it has not bolted and turned bitter.  I have a cool/shady spot to plant some more in.  


Tuesday I got the cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash planted.  Then the man came home from work and I had to take him to the hospital.  Eight hours later he was diagnosed with neck and jaw contusions and a severe cervical strain.  Yesterday I spent the day babying him and consolidating two freezers into one.  Today he went to work, don't know if that was the best idea but he is stubborn.


Had a great weekend with #1, Sir T and G-baby O.  He is giving his mom a hard time sleeping...it would be really mean of me to giggle hysterically about grandkids being great revenge so I will contain myself with great effort.   Saturday,  Sir T went with #1 son to compete in a kickball contest.  We stayed home and tilled a new section to add to the garden.  We planted 30+ pounds of potatoes and the corn....cooed all over Baby O.  Sunday, #1 had friends over so we picked up our dinners from the VFW and ate here.  With an evening fire, smores and the passing on of some magazines it was a good day.  The guys tried to make it better by going fishing but nothing sizable was caught.  Monday we let the exhausted parents sleep in a little while we hogged baby O.  After a late breakfast, showers and packing they left to stop in and see the progress of #1 son and A's new house.  Hopefully Sir T will find a job comparable to what he makes now and they will be up here in the near future.


And the future is looking better than it was a week ago.  I always get antsy about getting the garden in so I am feeling better now that so much has been accomplished.  I picked up my wool so have lots to keep my spinning wheel going.  I finished the sweater for my nephew and working on little things to use up some scraps.  The fruit and berries are looking promising

The weather today was perfect.  Life is definitely looking good.  

Simplicity of Spring Fills the Senses

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke


It happens every year.  I get this unbelievable ache at the miracle that is Spring.  Oh to be a poet, author or song writer and  be able to put into words what it is to watch the kids play outside without jackets on the first warm day, to sit quietly and watch the miracle of birth of a lamb, to see the smallest plants fight through the frozen earth and flower, 

the intense green of the new grass, the brightness of the yellow daffodil and forsythia, to listen to the raucous songs of the birds calling their mates, the tiniest seeds opening to what will be summers bounty, the warning of momma duck sitting on a nest of eggs, 

throwing open the windows and having the fresh scent of earths rebirth blow the stale winter air from the house.... It literally fills the senses.  It costs nothing but is worth far more than anything money could buy.  It will continue to happen every year and I hopefully I will continue to be amazed at it each and every time.  

"Precious"

Inspect every piece of pseudoscience and you will find a security blanket, a thumb to suck, a skirt to hold. What does the scientist have to offer in exchange? Uncertainty! Insecurity! — Isaac Asimov

Friday evening my friend and her children came to visit.  Her oldest daughter saw the little pink doll blanket mentioned in the previous post and said she "That would be perfect for Precious".  When #2 and her went upstairs to #2's room, I asked who Precious was and her mom told me it was her baby doll that had been bought as a Christmas present for her before she was born.  She sleeps with her every night and hides her under her pillow so other people won't know.

We were invited to this girls 12th birthday party on Saturday.  In some ways she is trying to turn 16+.  She wants to wear makeup all the time.  Every penny she gets she uses to buy stick on french manicure nails.  She wants to be able to go on the computer whenever and with whomever she choses.  She wants clothes, jewlery and toys and which are too old for her. She wants to be able to go to her friends whenever and have friends over all the time. 

In her defense she was daddy's little girl and grandpa's baby.  She had been Grandma's baby but Grandma was moved to a nursing home with alzheimers and didn't remember her.  Four years ago her mom and dad got a divorce and she hasn't seen her dad in over three years. Since the divorce her grandfather died, her grandmother died and her only aunt commited suicide.  So the past few years have been rough on her and in a rush to put it all behind her she is trying to race into adulthood.  She goes to counseling through her school but the counselor has been changed five times already!

To find out she had a "softer" side, a side where she relaxed, let down her guard and allowed herself to be the child she is, was amazing to me.  So after she left Friday evening, I started to knit her "Precious" a dress

and a blanket. 

I ended up switching to crochet as I can do that faster.  I got them done just in time for the party.  I stuffed them in a bag and off we went. 

She had friends over so I told her to take the bag to her room and open it.  She ran up the stairs while her friends were occupied and opened the bag.  She came downstairs, pulled her mother aside and with tears in her eyes showed her mother what I had made.  Before I left Precious was dressed and wrapped in the blanket.  I need to make another dress...Precious is closer to being a Flat Stanley from years of hiding under the pillow so the flatness makes the dress slightly big on her.  I have promised her another outifit.

A little leftover yarn meant more than the money in the card.  It allowed me to see a side of her that she doesn't share with the rest of the world.  Precious keeps her tied to a happier past and knitting/crocheting does the same for me.  It reminded me of all the Christmases where we would put our naked dolls under the tree and wake to find them dressed in new outfits.  I think we all have and need some little "Precious" something that brings us comfort and soothes our soul.

Traditions

Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends. ~Margaret Thatcher


#1 and I were talking about traditions recently. In her married life and with a baby on the way, they are forming their own traditions. They are combining some traditions from both of their childhoods and forming new ones along the way.

Last year when we were still scarred from losing my mom and uncle, everything HAD to be done the way Mom did it. I was never the baker and here I was trying to make all her foods without her recipes. I was making my own gift tags, making my own cards, making a lot of the gifts and making my own wreathes. Everyone was trying to deal with their own grief and different traditions held different meanings for everyone. I tried anticipating it all and drove myself ( and possibly others) nuts while trying to do so. I came to realize traditions are great but they are nothing without the family. And with that fear of trying to perfectly replicate the Christmas’ past removed,  I was free. The traditions are still there but I can do things my way and if need be cheat along the way.

So this year went easier…I bought wreathes for home and the cemeteries, I had gift tags left over from last year, this year’s cards were easily printed out, and I had a year of baking mistakes under my belt. If all the cookies burnt then there was always the bakery. I made some gifts.  If I had something in mind but the pattern was driving me crazy, I sat it aside and didn’t force myself to work on it. If the project gets done it can be put away for another time or even another person.

So, the decorations are all up. I have all the shopping done. A few gifts are still in shipping but will arrive before Christmas but if they don’t they are not any of the important ones. I have everything else wrapped. The breads are made. Almost all the cookies are made. The meats have been taken out.

And now instead of spinning around like a mad woman, today I am watching Christmas movies and finishing off a pair of fingerless mitts for a friend. If time allows I would like to make her a pair of slipper socks, if they don’t get done on time, her birthday is in February!

The kids came home early from school and the man has tomorrow off so instead of trying to do it all I can pawn off various jobs on them! 

So the traditions are still there but not at the expense of family or my sanity.  Everything is right on track but if it goes a stray it could become a new tradition.  And to make sure I don't forget my lessons and worry to much about the traditions and not enough about the family is the newly knit Shelf Elf.

So I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with friends and family.  Keep the traditions close but the friends and family closer.

Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show.

The secret lies in an inner glow.

It's lighting a fire inside the heart.

Good will and joy a vital part.

It's higher thought and a greater plan.

It's glorious dream in the soul of man.

~ Wilfred A. Peterson