I Like It!

Moonsingers darker color...that's what you get for coloring your hair when the kids are up and you have to turn off the timer and then separate squabbling sibs...nonetheless...I Like It!

Just saw this quote:

“Risk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in. Without serendipity, there are no surprises.”Rita Golden Gelman
.............on Quilters Coven and had to steal it... I Like It!

I've been decorating the house like a fiend for Yule...a few lights here, an arrangement there. Make a wreath here, and hang another there. Santa here, jingle bells there...aaahhh, the Yule Season is here once again...and I LIKE IT!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you the brilliant colors of Autumn
the brilliance gleam of smiles
the spirit of love to surround you
and all things yummy to eat!

Blessed Be!

The Wheel Turns...

We have come to the end of a season. For me, Summer is fully "put away" when the leaf raking is done. Although there are a few straggly bits to take care of (noteably, the hedge where leaves blow from neighbors, and down the street..always a maintenance issue), the yard is essentially put to bed for the season. Compost bins are full and working overtime to produce beautiful soil for next season...the wheel isn't just turning just now, it's in full whirl! Above, the brook after a "cleansing" rain...

Another kind of wheel...the first apple pie of the Holiday Season! Yet to do are 3 more for Thanksgiving (apple), then a pumpkin pie, and finally, a chocolate mousse pie. That's today and tomorrows work. KC declared this "the best looking pie you've ever done, Mom," which is all the praise anyone could hope for! Blue ribbons have nothing on the adoration of your own kids!

It's so hard to see in this photo...but where the shadow of the house is...is an outline of the house in frost! It was so kewl to see! Didn't photograph all that well, but it was neat watching the shadow move with the sun, and seeing the frost *poof* into vapor as you were watching! Note the lawn is virtually leaf-free.

All is well in our corner of the world. Watching the spinning of the season wheel...the last geese stitching across the sky, the fast approaching gloaming early each afternoon, the deep darkness of nightfall, making 6 p.m. feel like 9 p.m.! When it's dark, this moonsinger feels like it's bedtime! Oh, how I envy those farmers of old....in this day and age, our rhythms follow those of necessity...the "gotta get dones"....even when our spirit cries for rest....Ahhh, well, there's always snowshoeing to look forward to!

It's...it's....it's...

More Powerful than a super Bug...
Faster than a fat momma pig....
and Able to Leap Small Children in a single Bound....

It's SUPER MOONSINGER!!!

This is what Moonsinger looks like after the H1N1 has knocked her on her ass and finally gotten back up:


A smile. Make up. Eyes still a bit blurry, but hey, they're blue, and not reddened, runny or closed. Progress on the forward road, my friends.

I have survived the Aporkalypse!!

Thank goddess you can't see all the gray roots in this shot! (prob'ly why I chose this one, eh? LOL!)

Before and After 10/24 + 10/31

From October into November in one fell swoop!

Home Improvements and Women Power!

Yanno.....sigh...someday I'll figure out how to load these the right way! So --TADA! The finished ceiling!

The...it's nearly done ceiling!

The...Oh, it's-not-as-hard-as-I-thought first steps...

The deconstruction mid-phase....

Time to take out all those staples and nails.... okay, so you have the scene, backwards of course, of the 6 hour project. We had about an hours lag when waiting for the electrician friend to come by and take down the 3 light fixtures, and filled that hour with house chores...the inevitable, inescapable laundry, both starting a new load and folding a done load, and putting said load away. By the time that chore was done and a cuppa was consumed, our handy electrical neighbor was over and uninstalling the lights. We made short work of getting the tiles under the lights removed, and started the install around 10 a.m. By 3 p.m. the job was complete. And with just 2 five minute breaks.......one to pee/change the wash to the dryer, (I know TMI!!) and another to wolf down some chicken (thank goodness for purdue done it).

We did first stage of clean up while waiting for the neighbor to return to reinstall lights...he was amazed that two women ( not to mention OLD BROADS,, LOL!!) could put up the ceiling so quickly. And it looks decent. Not contractor perfect (straight lines) because our house is so old that there are no straight lines anyway. And....So. Much. Better. than the deeply bowed ceiling that existed before. Bright and new and tight.

Yay us!

The Staff Shirt

One year of Art KC age 4-5

One of my favorite KC artworks is the one above. He used computer paper that had a rainbow arching over the left top corner, and he "saw" a scene in it. I remember we had one heck of an arguement about him "using" (aka "stealing"!) Mom's computer paper. But when he showed me the picture that was trying to get out if it...well...the stormy clouds, the lightning bolts, the giant raindrops....all the images crowding in his head from weeks of stormy weather this spring. This helped me be aware that I sometimes need to listen better as a Mom....

An early age 4 pic KC made for Mom. He knows how much I love the New England Patriots, so he made this picture of Tom Brady (the quarterback, in case you're not a football fan!)...his numbers are reversed, but he did a great job! He was a young 4 at the time, and I was just amazed that he was writing numbers at all! He also did a pic of Tedy Bruschi, reversing his number as well (54)...

I don't know when he decided to frame, and outline his work, but the flower just pops. The electric blue doesn't translate as well on the monitor as it does IRL, but trust me, it's gorgeous! Note the "knobs" at the corners to connect the frame!

Ocean themes abounded this summer, especially after camping at Old Orchard Beach in Maine, twice. This whale was drawn with dry watercolor crayons, and then "bled" with water. He liked the blurry effect it created, so it looked just like a wave misting as it broke.

And finally, his first attempt at free drawing stars. He had such a time learning this, and he's getting better all the time. I've never met a more determined kid! He practiced doing these for at least an hour. He gave me the picture so that "You'll aways have stars, Mom!" I call him our Star Child, for he was blessed by the light of a full moon and beautifully shining stars, just a week or so after he came home to us, and this celestial theme is one that he and I are deeply connected to.

Proud Momma!

PS. I hate taking down artwork and putting it away, but blogging it has helped. Now my workroom walls are clean and bare, ready for another winters artworks to adorn them! This year Lissa is more excited about creating, so I'll have artwork from two littles to post about next time!

And so it goes...

The view from the front porch to the trees across the street

and what you can't see is the photographer,

happily resting her elbows on 100 bags of wood pellets, which arrived on Tuesday, 3 days before the first snowfall, Friday. Also, these pics were taken just before the snow started falling on Sunday.

So here it is, Monday October 19th and we've had our 2nd snowfall of the season. Already. Okay,not enough to measure, unless you were at Foxboro stadium yesterday (GO PATS-- WOO HOO!) where it was snowing sideways, but really, two n'oreasters in 2 days?

So....A summer that rarely if ever made it out of the 7o's, winter arrives in October. Tell me this....if there is global warming...where the hell is the warmth? Because it's FREEZING in New England !

Gotthose good pics above of the foliage around here before the winds came up and tore many leaves down. Now if only they (the winds) would come back and blow them into the neighbors yard. Hee.

Update...

Autumn is really creeping around our front door...



On the front steps,

And all around the yard (please note cornstalks, grown by our kids for $0.75

rather than the usual $5.50 cornstalks cost around here! (and there is a ton

more at our garden site)

I loved this lonesome red and yellow leaf, wrested from the tree across the driveway,

a lone sentinel to the changing of the seasons. I can almost hear it calling to the hedge

and garden below, "it's time to change..."

Finally, my favorite shot from the lot...our front tree, illuminated by the morning sunlight,

mid-transition. The understory is still deep and rich and green, but the outer edges are

nibbling away at it...red, yellow, a hint of orange....

Welcome, Autumn!

Creativity comes in many forms...

Take, for instance, Lissa's hair. Lee and I really sweated when we adopted a baby GIRL...for the same reason...the hair issue. Boys are E.A.S.Y. Chop, chop (or, more appropriately, clip, clip) and they're good to go for at least a month or more before you need to regroom them. Girls, otoh, need lots of labor intensive work! Especially this lass, as she is very particular about how she looks. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, she does get that from me, lol!

So, Lee put in hours, days, weeks, months into researching the How of AA Hairstyling. Viewed videos, blogs, you name it, she read it, watched it, asked about it!! And now, we have a daughter who loves having her hair styled, sits for the most part, patiently when it's braiding day, and who also, at just 2.5 years old, can help "load" the beads onto this kewl "needle" thing (think plastic 8" needle w/a huge "eye" on one end) all by herself. In fact, she (with some "help" from her older brother, sheesh...another story for another day!) did all the bead loading for the style you see above.

I finally was able to french braid (I could only do mine until now, working backwards on my own long, straight hair was easier to me than working on her shorter, curling hair from the front) Lissa, too, and that means no beads are wacking her in the face. They are all "pulled away" and hang on the back and sides of her head.

Just had to brag!

'Sall bout me!

yah, no posties in a month, then two in one day. Just wanted to show the "refreshed" redhead (gad it had been fer-eva since I last did my roots...eeek!) and the longer hair. Boy it's growin' like a weed, already in the middle of my back and I didn't think it would get there before Yule...

Been knitting like crazy...doing mittens for a friend that works for Headstart and trying to get 18 pair done before winter, plus a vest for me before the house gets really chilly, a beautiful scarf, then a second vest in another colorway (first is gradient tones of brown, very earthy and lovely, the new one will be shades of deep blue into earth green, think "melted globe" colors ...yanno, like melting down a planetary globe...those deep ocean blues and earthy greens melting into peacock and cobalt...I'll promise to post pics when both are done. Then there's all the jammie sewing, and some tunics for Lissa...phew! Between that, homeschooling two kids (one is kindergarten, so it's a bit easier, and he LOVES to learn!), keeping up the house, I'm busy busy.

Trying to limit my computer time so I can get everything ...well, I was going to say done, but who am I kidding??? More, so that I can keep my head above water! Still have to trim the hedge, paint the back shed, trim backyard bushes, harvest more tomato's (okay who the hell has a major tomato harvest in late September fer crissakes??????? It's apple season, Goddess!!!)

ahhhh, life is strange in New England!

Autumn is creeping in!

Autum display prep on the kitchen island,

One week ago, the tree across the street (extreme zoom!)

Same tree, less zoom, more color!

Blessed Samhain! Happy Autumn!

Last year we had this as our first harvest from our garden plot...in late July....

This year we have........................

....................................

a whole lotta nuthin'. sigh.

I have a lot of tomatos coming along, but they are only a bit bigger than a half dollar. We had 2 sunny days last week, but also 4 inches of rain. More is coming today/tonight, too. I am so lamenting our lack of putting food up. I love my salsa, and spaghetti sauce. This year is my year to conquer my fear of the pressure cooker so I can put my spag sauce in jars, not freeze it. Well, guess I'll be canning into October, this year!!

Xcrossing fingersX

Yesterday was Ken's memorial service in Maine. It was a beautiful service. He was well loved, and many great stories were told of his life. He had a tough early life, but he made his dreams come true, and became a Unitarian minister despite all adversity. He had a long, full 96 years, and we wish him well on his journey onward...blessed be, Ken...

colors to end July

kinda looks like a campfire, right? It's the last blaze, and I do mean blaze, of sunlight around 820 last evening. I shot through the Japanese maple branches towards this screaming orange fireball just dropping beyond our visable horizon...and when I turned and looked eastward...

Holy cazow!!! Streetlights and a double rainbow! You can barely see the 2nd one just at center.

Most amazing is that we got to see the entire arch of the rainbow...something we rarely see in our location. This rainbow lasted appx 10 minutes, it was still dripping rain a bit as I shot this series...and then ..Poof! ..the sun slipped beyond the horizon and it was over. Over the the garden however, was a brilliant orange spectacle too....

We got this daylilly last summer in a last-second frenzy of flower buying to spruce up the backyard garden before the big birthday party for my Dad, brother and Lee's mom (combined 190th party...75, 40 and 75 respectively!) so I don't even know the variety. The flowers are HUGE, bigger than my hands,which I admit aren't all that big to begin with but the color...oh Goddess...it is so intense. It just so mirrored the other images...what a sendoff for July. July ended the way it began, btw, with lots of rain! We got over 2 inches from 10 a.m. until sunset when it was winding down. With the first day of August upon us, and SUNSHINE, we're hoping to have a wee bit of summer this summer, before we head back to autumn!!

Farewell, July...

I will say that all the rain of late has certainly created a deep, tropic-like lushness in our yard. We won't mention that the weeds are thriving right along with the plants, right? But this close up is of the botom step into the backyard...the stone steps are peeking out like a narrow corridor through the green verge...

...laying on the grass in the backyard, and looking up those steps...they look like they've been there for 100 years, when it's only been since the mid-80's that we redid the backyard and these steps.

Lee planted this gorgeous hybiscus this spring in my mothers favorite planter. I LOVE this look, the brilliant yellow with the blue pottery.

We've had sun twice this week! This was yesterday...we never got rain from these gorgeous sky-galleons as they sailed on eastward, but they sure were gorgeous to look at.

Here's a closer image of one of those clouds. The "T" on the bottom left is an antenna on the roof of the house up the street from us. And the sky was such a deep intense blue....so nice to see blue skies instead of the gray we've become accustomed to this summer. What I couldn't capture was the small flock of chimney swifts that were stitching across the sky, darting back and forth, and reminding me of quilters needles flashing into and out of a quilt, lacing layers together.

Lissa's new 'do

After giving me much grief about finishing up, we took a break, and when we "reconvined" our wee lass cooperated nicely. Or maybe it was those ketchup flavored chips? (eeewwww!) The iced tea? Who knows, or cares, just so glad to have it done. Done in only an hour this time, yay!

Morning walks

I forget that blogger uploads these backwards from how I plug 'em in...so, come and walk backwards with me on my early a.m. rambles with the dog. We're "rambling" because it's too damned hot to "walk"....not that I'm complaining...I just wish the humidity would go away...but I digress. See the lovely purple bellflowers...a "weed" growing along the fences in the neighborhood. I love the bright purple bells with the bleached out fencing and brilliant green foliage....

This home around the corner has a S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G, incredible daylilly garden. It comes out from the front of their house at least 10 feet and runs along the front and sides of it. Oh, it's so lovely, so many different colors, so brilliant in the first light of day.

This is the sun broaching the treeline, 615 a.m eastern time. Those are not clouds, but the sky. Ugh. Somuch humidity, air quality sucks, but there is still such a beauty to be seen...

And here are some of the queen anne;s lace growing so prolifically around the phone pole across from the park...gilded by dawns early light.