12 May 2013 7 Comments
in Farm Life, Garden, Natural world, Spring, Travel, Vermont Tags: apple blossoms, dew, ireland, mother's day, Spring, Vermont, violets
Greetings after a long respite. Happy Mother’s Day and honor to all of our foremothers.
Heavy dew this week makes for magic mornings. The apple blossoms are just starting to open on the north side by the henhouse. Violets and dandelions sprinkle the lawns, along with fallen branches from winter winds and snow—now just a memory.
Ireland is behind me, bringing a smile to my lips as I think of the stories yet to share. This week. I promise.
09 Feb 2013 5 Comments
in Farm Life, Natural world, Seasons, Vermont, winter Tags: blue sky, Drifting, nature, snow, tree shadows, Vermont, winter
Today’s word: drifts.
It’s hard to measure a snowfall on a morning with the wind howling and snow blowing about forming clouds in the otherwise blue sky.
We braved the weather to feed the animals, shovel some paths, clean off the cars. And now we’re warming by the fire and watching the snowscape shift and reshape itself under the sunshine and tree shadows.
02 Dec 2012 4 Comments
in Christmas, Creativity, Friendship, handmade, Holidays, Natural world, Seasons, Vermont, winter Tags: "Barrett Hall", Christmas, holiday traditions, Jingle Bells, old town hall, prints in snow, snow, Strafford, Strafford Vermont, Vermont, winterberry
Fresh snow fell yesterday morning. A nice way to begin December.
I pinned the first of Peggy’s jingle bells to the hem of my coat, opened the first of my 24 advent packages—a gorgeous garland of rustic wooden stars—sent from my dear friend in France, and headed to Strafford, Vermont.
Who is Peggy? Why did I go to Strafford?
I wrote about Peggy’s jingle bells last December 1. Here is an excerpt. See photos and the entire post here.
My daughter is the one who found the little red box full of jingle bells and safety pins.
We were at the rummage sale last summer in the old town hall near where my parents live.
It was my mom who told us who the bells had belonged to, and the reason for the safety pins.
Peggy used to live in the old brick Cape cottage across from the town hall. She moved into assisted care housing last year, and her nieces and nephews went through the house to choose things to keep and things to sell. Many wonderful things arrived at the rummage sale, and I am now the happy owner of things from Peggy’s house.
Among these things, are the bells.
On December 1—every year—Peggy would pin a jingle bell to the hem of her skirt. On December 2 she’d add a second bell. And on and on, up until Christmas day when her hem was a sparkling, jingling masterpiece.
I pinned the first bell to the hem of my coat this morning.
Strafford (home to July 4 parades featuring dachshunds!!) had its holiday extravaganza yesterday and we Henhouse Fibers and ilo collective makers set up a table and had a great day hanging out in Barrett Hall—a classic Vermont building with high ceilings, big windows, a stage, good cheer. It was full of local artisans and folks coming through to do their Christmas shopping. Very festive.
Outside the snow fell gently all day. Inside the air smelled of pine boughs.
02 Aug 2012 3 Comments
in Artisanal Living, Garden, Summer, Vermont Tags: broken fences, farm animals, horses, Vermont, whinnying
….I had a lot of things on my mind (as the song by The Band goes).
This morning started at midnight when my alarm clock went off. Apparently we had a blip of a power outage last night and it set my alarm back to 12:00 a.m.
I—mercifully—got back to sleep without an allergy attack or a spinning-out-of-control thought.
Then at 5:30, I came out of a dream to the sound of whinnying.
You didn’t misread that.
Whinnying. Nonplussed whinnying.
Out of bed I bounded to find two of our three neighbor horses grazing by the lamb fence in the morning fog. If I hadn’t been so annoyed I’d have said, “ahhhh.” I won’t tell you what I said. Use your imagination.
Instead, I threw on a ragtag arrangement of clothes and boots and headed out the door to find the source of the non-stop whinnying—picturing a horse with a broken leg, or a horse rolled up in a tangle of broken electric fencing. This is the worst that my tired mind could imagine. In a few minutes stroll down the road I found Horse #3 standing in his own pasture (with an entire corner of destroyed fence where he, too, could’ve escaped) whinnying his displeasure that his two buddies had left him and wouldn’t come back. This horse was the tattle tale on the playground. The one yelling, “Hey they’re breaking the rules!!!” Poor thing.
Back in the kitchen I watched Rueger and Rosie, the naughty ones, move further from the lamb pasture and onto my lawn, sampling the various grasses and a few of my perennials. Oh well, fewer for me to deadhead.
It was now 5:45. Put on the kettle. Grab the camera. Wait for a godly hour to call my neighbor.
13 Jul 2012 5 Comments
in Summer, Vermont Tags: Girls jumping from a dock, jump in, leap of faith, summer, swimming, Vermont
No matter how cold the water is, my daughter will always jump in.
I admire that quality in kids. This weekend it will be sweltering hot and we’ll be camping on a lake. I plan to take a tip from the youngsters and make the leap without dipping a toe.
30 Apr 2012 8 Comments
in Natural world, Paris, Photography, Spring, Travel, Vermont Tags: Butter, Croissants, Eiffel Tower, paris, River Seine, travel, Vermont, violets
It is the day after a longest day. A day of traversing timezones and crossing continents and oceans. So here I am in my own timezone feeling a little like I’ve been run over by a car. Nothing another cup of tea won’t cure. And a few more nights of sleep.
My body could also be going through butter withdrawal. Or cured meat overload. Or post-paté panic.
Only a few days ago the skies of Paris shone kindly on us after days of rain. We wandered from the top of the city at Sacre Coeur to the river banks of the Seine.
It’s a world away, but still fresh in mind (and belly). But it’s good to be home with the grass greening, leaves unfurling, and the fresh bloom of violets sprinkled through the lawn.
I didn’t expect the violets.
24 Jan 2012 4 Comments
in Chickens, color, Natural world, Seasons, Vermont, winter Tags: door, Eggs, narcissus, quilt, red barn, snow, snowfall, Vermont, white, woodpile
Whites of January—tinged with blue.
I draw back the curtains to the cawing of crows, the papery bark of birches, the tracks of deer under the crabapple tree below our window.
The quilt looks like the landscape in the meadow, puckered and pocked after last night’s rains.
Those hens that weren’t laying back in December are filling the egg basket to overflowing. And—yes—the first eggs showed up on Christmas Eve, a nice anniversary to last year. Thanks hens.
The days are lengthening. I love that about January—the shift after the dark afternoons of December seems so quick and so promising.
More white in the forecast for Thursday.
20 Dec 2011 7 Comments
in Artists, Christmas, Creativity, Design, DIY Tutorials, handmade, Holidays, Natural world, Seasons, winter Tags: Christmas, DIY, Handmade Christmas Decorations, ice lanterns, Tina Lewin, Vermont
Tina Lewin is a master ice lantern maker. Each year she makes them for the Christmas Eve service at the little church in her village (where my parents and my brother and sister-in-law also live). Last year she told me how to make them and I am just getting them going (a little late…but it’s cold out there!).
All you need is a five gallon bucket, water, and below-freezing outdoor temperatures. (You can also make them in smaller heavy plastic buckets.)
Fill the buckets with water and leave them outside. The ice will freeze from the outside inward in 24 to 48 hours. The ground will insulate the bottom and leave it unfrozen. The water at the top of your bucket will be frozen, and become the bottom of your lantern.
When the walls of ice seem to be getting thick (Tina’s lantern walls range from 3″-6″ thick), bring the buckets inside long enough to melt them a little so you can get the ice out of the buckets. Take them back outside when they loosen up at the edges and are ready to turn out. Empty out any water left in the center.
Place the ice lanterns outside your door, down your walkway, on your porch….
Put a candle in the hollow of each lantern and light the wick.
Shed a golden glow out into the deep, dark, December night.
01 Dec 2011 5 Comments
in Christmas, Creativity, Family, Holidays, Seasons, Vermont Tags: Advent, Christmas, Jingle Bells, Rummage Sale, Vermont
My daughter is the one who found the little red box full of jingle bells and safety pins.
We were at the rummage sale last summer in the old town hall near where my parents live.
It was my mom who told us who the bells had belonged to, and the reason for the safety pins.
Peggy used to live in the old brick Cape cottage across from the town hall. She moved into assisted care housing last year, and her neices and nephews went through the house to choose things to keep and things to sell. Many wonderful things arrived at the rummage sale, and I am now the happy owner of things from Peggy’s house.
Small porcelain elves and musical boys. A ceramic bird, once found in a tea package. Silk thread and tiny scissors that look like a crane. A 1960s tea towel with mod turquoise circles. A soap dish that looks like a clawfoot tub….
Among these things, are the bells.
On December 1—every year—Peggy would pin a jingle bell to the hem of her skirt. On December 2 she’d add a second bell. And on and on, up until Christmas day when her hem was a sparkling, jingling masterpiece.
I pinned the first bell to the hem of my coat this morning.
29 Oct 2011 5 Comments
in Autumn, Natural world, Seasons, Vermont Tags: autumn snow, seasons, snow, Vermont
Thursday evening I drove a co-worker home and made a circuitous route to my house via dirt roads and snow squalls.
On Friday morning we woke to a world of white, with a few snippets of russet, ochre, and blackened green peeking out.
It all melted by noon.
This morning we are back to a normal autumn view—frosty grass, pale blue sky, amber sun sweeping across the meadow and clusters of gold, auburn and green amid many bare branches.
More snow forecast for tonight. *sigh*
