Moonsinging

2011-09-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since posting...life is so hectic as summer winds down. No matter how we want those long and lazy days to last, they don't.

Overnight, the garden goes into overtime, producing tons of tomatoes all-of-a-sudden, or so it seems.
Overnight we go from quiet mornings to busy homeschoolers.
And overnight, the leaves are changing colors, nuts are falling from the trees, and the sounds outside in the evening are not the cheery calls of robins, but the steady hum of desperate insects hoping for one more big date before the first frost.

And so the wheel turns.

Garden Pix from July

2011-07-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

This is the start of the hydrangea season...will put up a post of it in it's full blue glory...

this one isn't from the garden, but the living room couch where Lissa was snuggling with the pooch...
Look who was looking at me taking pics...'hey Mom...watcha doing?"
The perennial green garden (there are a few blooming daylilies there later in the season, and of course, the bleeding heart on the right in the spring)

A Weekend of Little Blessings

2011-05-31T06:31:00.000-07:00

A View to the Backyard

After weeks of cold, of rain, of just general "blecch"...we leap-frogged over spring and headlong into summer. From the low 50's to the 90's in one short leap...

Yet it was perfectly timed to coincide with Memorial Day weekend, and how can one protest a sudden, unexpected heat wave this early in the season on the official Summer Kick-Off Weekend?

not even I could grump about that!

Lee got home early from work on Friday, and we had a long, luscious weekend of quiet. I still had to work Saturday, and it was a surprisingly active day at the clubhouse...followed by a Sunday that can only be described as languorous. Slept in a wee bit, then off to the restaurant for breakfast, since it was Lee and my 33rd anniversary!

Breakfast at IHOP was a bit disappointing, though the kiddo's seemed to enjoy it. The moms? Not so much. Our waitress was a peach, however, and was very accommodating to our large, sometimes loud, group, including a differently-abled adult son.

At home, we tended to gardens, to front lawns gone to hayfields, to hedges.

Even Monday was laid back. Gosh, two days in a row could spoil a family! We went for a lovely hike at Wachusett Meadows Audubon Sanctuary, clambering through fields and woods, finding the glacial boulder and watching the kids scramble up and around it fearlessly. Then onto Browns Hill where we summited quickly, and KC led us down the tricky trail back to the meadow!

A quick stop at the "Twinkie-Winkie" Store in Princeton garnered ice cream treats for the kids, and then home on a leisurely back road.

And after much de-ticking (yes we were *loaded* with the little beasties...ugh!) I remembered the community garden meeting last night and got there in the nick of time! So now it's official, we have our garden plot for the summer. Tomato's and squash and corn and pumpkins....and hours of fun, peace, tranquility, bird watching and garden sweating to come!

What a weekend of little blessings it was!

May, 2011

2011-05-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

I am soooo loving May this year!!! First early azalea to spring open with warm, sunny days....

..while tiny violets nestle into the small spaces between the rocky steps to the backyard..
The ferns and hosta have bolted up, from tiny promises 10 days ago, to rich full green-leaf.
and I'm loving being outside for as long as I can before the sneezies get me!

It's funny, this is 'my' Japanese red maple, one of my favorite trees in the garden...and the kids climb it like little spider monkeys. KC proclaimed it "the best tree, ever!" Since it's not much bigger than they are, there is little chance of serious injury, (crossing fingers!), and it delights me to see them loving being outside playing without hundreds of bought toys, but with imagination, and fun.

This is what May is all about, really.

Kirsty goes to NYC

2011-04-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it? I was in the Big Apple. The city that never sleeps. New York, New York! Somehow, I found myself volunteering to be a driver and chaperone for the youth group at church.

Best impulsive decision, ever.

I'm such a rube. A hick. A tourist..... and yanno what? Could not care less!!! I had the best time. From architecture, to the incredible weather (sunny. blue skies. 40-50's...not a drop of rain!); from street vendors to the fascinating people, and all the incredible food..WoW.

New York pizza? omg. And the bagels? Srsly? Who knew?

Well, New Yorker's know. Buy a slice for a buck and you've got a meal! Run 'round the corner and buy a just-made bagel...oh so soft inside, and just perfectly firm on the outside....

Oh, and the walking... oh my gods above and below!!! We walked from Battery Park, to the financial district. There were somber moments at the World Trade Center site...it hits you like a fast blow to the gut...or a fist grabbed tight around your throat..shocking and unexpectedly painful even after all these years.....then, tears and shivers, a soft-spoken prayer, and a heavy heart.

We proceeded to Chinatown for an authentic Chinese meal. (omg--i'm gonna be saying that a lot.)

Then on to SoHo, and the Village, and St. Marks (a 'place', not a church!). All told, we walked for 11 hours. We sat down once in all that time, at the restaurant, for an hour.

yes.

Eleven. Hours. Of. Walking.

And that was just *Saturday* !!!

We walked nearly all day Sunday as well, (7 hours!) taking in the beauty of Central Park (omg!!), and "my" group heading to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art)...and get ready for yet another OMG....

Jackson Pollock....Picasso...Monet....Manet...Andrew Wyeth (omg i got to see Christina's World....!!!! And too bad I didn't discover until *after* we got home that Starry Night was there...*pout*...well, tis a reason to go back, right?!)

just a few of the many, many things I was so lucky to see there..

Just a small aside here....I don't think you can fully experience the sheer genius of Jackson Pollock unless you see his art up close and personal...I was not a fan...until Sunday.

Wow. His work blew me away. It is raw, and visceral and intense...so full of humanness...and no, I've never seen the movie about him...but he spoke through his art.

There were so many paintings and wood block prints and sculpture (there were these perfectly round marble "balls" and an "urn" that were to represent "woman" on a round marble disc...wait, lemme see if i got a pic of that....)

Yes! (pictures? how about over 300 in 48 hours?!) So this is the "breast and symbolic opening of a woman, representing her ability to bring life into the world."

As a woman who never gave birth to any of her kids, that didn't resonate with me, not at all. Yet frankly? I was mesmerized.

The thing about those marble "breasts"? They were *perfect* spheres, and the sheer smoothness of them...the marble was as slick, and smooth as skin... it was amazing that hard cold marble could be transformed into something so perfect.

and there was this one, same artist and sorry I didn't get his name.....

the ball might have been gypsum? it too was perfectly round, but not slick the way the marble one was...this one had shimmer/gleam to it...

And oh my the "memory maker" things...a wild turkey in Battery Park (where the Staten Island Ferry leaves for Ms. Liberty)

...the long subway ride to the park at the start of our epic trek, packed like sardines....the Elvis impersonator who was more than a little bit kinda freaky...the Broadway show( omg! )...the Chinese Lady who chased me through her little shop in Chinatown selling me a purse for "10 dolla...8 dolla...okay for you ...5 dolla" (i did buy it for $5!) (this after buying $50 of other things there...she really liked me... )

And the buildings. Gosh.

Like this one (just outside of Battery Park, in the Financial District):

the mirrored front reflected the sky, the passing clouds became living art... I was enchanted with that..and the mix of old and new living in some sort of strange harmony...St. Pauls Cathedral all gothic architecture, right next to tall glass-fronted sky scrapers....the statues,and the people...great green goddess, the people.

The energy there is electric. At 11 p.m. it is nearly as hubbub-filled as at noon. (and in the Village? MORE people than at noon!!)

And the streets, all stories in themselves...Wall Street, Fifth Avenue, Central Park South, (yes I did take pictures of them all!)...and Broadway. Omg! me, hick from the stix...ate lunch on Broadway .... !!!

and Times Square?! OMG...where to look? oogling *everything*...look up and see Radio City Music Hall, and down there to the building where the New Years Ball drop happens...

Would i go back there again?

oh, yes!

(but not, please, until next year...I'm still processing...and my feet? they might leave me)

2011-01-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

Always i cannot figure out the uploading-- so these of course are backwards....

So backwards this post will go!

From the top...the broken-limbed birch from the infamous ice storm 2 years ago; those azure sky's are only to be found this time of year...and certainly no portent of the impending storm hurtling towards us even now...

Other than this hopeful sign that faces towards the front door...and the cirrus clouds as KC and I had a "brisk" walk (that said with multifaceted meanings!) to the dentist this morning at 20 degrees and windchill too cold to think about...

And back about 3 weeks now the Princess Cake for the Princess. The ladies' dresses all have battery op-tea lights underneath, buried in the cake (and I thank goodness for Cake Boss showing me how such as this is done!!)...with the hills and vales requested by Ms. Princess herself. "So the Ladies are outside dancing in the snow" she said....

Perhaps because she has discovered the unequaled joy of throwing herself onto a sled and careening down the hill into the backyard....someday that little girl will wind up in the brook as her Mommy did so long ago...

So for these joyous moments of Winter..we smile and grit our teeth, knowing...knowing..that the days are growing longer every day (415 and still light out this afternoon!!)...and the wheel turns us click by click back to Spring....

...and the seed catalogues are getting dog-eared from all the love...

A Mural is Born

2010-12-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

As usual, I can't make heads or tails of how to load the pictures in any semblance of order, so this final picture of the series is the only one in proper order!

The kids painted all the "bricks" by spatter painting red paper with black, white, and gold and silver sparkly paint. The used "recycled" bottle brushes, which make perfect smudgy-spattery marks. I cut them into the "brick" shapes, and they're glued onto the white background.

This year the kids can do so much more! They painted Santa's boots coming down the chimney, and helped shred and glue the "fluff" at the bottom of his pants, which hang down over his boots.

The star at the top of the tree was done tracing the shadow of a star that hangs from the dining room chandelier, in the only 5-minute window the light reflects off the neighbors windows and into my dining room window...just a kewl confluence of events. I had to capitalize on it!

The tree was quick-painted with the chisel-edge of a foam trim brush!

Tomorrow the kids will make paper "stockings" to hang from the "mantle", and I'll paint ornaments on the tree, as well as gluing 3-D items onto the "branches"...and the kids will "glitter paint" them to give them pizazz....

(and don't get me started about the hour we spent assembling the gingerbread house...it was a kit but the kids had a BLAST!!!)

Such a creative, positive energy day!

Ready for the Big Day...and I'm Not Just Talkin' Turkey!

2010-11-24T17:18:00.000-08:00

Untraditional.

That's the word of the day. The word of the Year. The word that most aptly describes this year's Turkey Family Fest.

Or Feast. Whichever *grins*...

Turkey being done in a new way...being "brined" for 12 hours before cooking it, partially downside up, then flipping to "golden" the breast

Stuffing not done *in* the turkey (I wonder if my brother will freak out more than my sister...or vice versa?)

A traditional apple pie....and a non-traditional, done with a "cookie" style topping rather than in a crust.

And the biggest tradition breaker of them all?

A Buffet-style meal, served, not in our beautiful dining room, but in the living room. With the television tuned to the New England Patriots, who are playing football on Thanksgiving for the first time since *I've* been a football fan.

And it will be the first time the family will see the "new" kitchen...the new floor, the wallpaper, and the 2/3 updated paint job. Yanno...I didn't even sweat not getting the painting done. *shrug* they all come here for family, for food, for laughter, and remembering...but I doubt any of them will say ..."Gee, how come Kirsty didn't get that paint job done"...(I'm laughing here coz, my brother the painter, well, he's cut from a different bolt of cloth and as a professional painter...he just might!! C'est La Vie!!)

We spent today getting things ready and it was fun. Busy for the last 13 hours, non-stop things to do...but it was good. Only a wee spat and that corrected fast and I was left with the happy glow of getting things done, being ready, and being happy.

And isn't that the best feeling of all?

Holidays Come Pouring In....

2010-11-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

Yay oh Yah, we're starting to swing into my 2nd favorite time of the year. And yanno what? All those picayune details that I spent weeks worrying about? The wallpaper, the painting, the curtains...it's so close to done that I've decided to package up my "worrying" and put it up on a box in the back of the closet.

All things happen as they should, all things will get done if you keep to it. And I have. And..yeah, it's so amazing and good.

Leaves are up and done, and my new floor has it's first waxing completed. All that's left is the drying, and the putting things back.

When the family arrives on Thanksgiving, they will be met with a nice tidy (well, within reason, Martha Stewart might cringe a bit...) home, but the things they will notice aren't the new floor (my sister was oblivious when she came out a few weeks ago). They will notice the scent of turkey in the oven, the smiles of my kids, the warmth of love that will spill out of every corner and wrap us all in the embrace of love.

Now, that, to me, is Thanksgiving.

Ponderings

2010-10-31T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've been going to church for the last few weeks as a conciliation to my wife. Church is very important to her, less so for me.

That sounds callous, but my church is ...everywhere...which is not to say that I don't get great food for thought at our Unitarian Universalist church.

The hardest thing for her to understand is that I need time, true alone time, to recharge. As a full time stay at home mom, homeschooler, earth-mom type, I am on call all day. Mind, I am far from perfect, but I am a good mom. I am a good teacher. I am a good wife.

But I also need some me time. My diet coach helps me get that when I get something in my inbox that says "have you walked today?" Walking helps me calm down, slim down, and take notice of the wider, natural world around me.

Still, I find I need more than the 3-4 days a week a get a 30 minute walk. One of these Sunday's they will head off to church without me and I will rake leaves, or paint my kitchen woodwork or ...something. I'll do it in silence, a rare commodity for me. For several hours there will be no one asking me a thing, no one I need to speak to, just letting me charge up and breathe.

I so crave that.

And, despite a deep-seated pessimism, I am working hard, so hard, to embrace my pagan beliefs fully, to find the blessings that are hidden in plain sight, if we but take a moment to see them. Things like the brilliant iridescent green on a mallards neck that I spy as I drive past a small pond; the glimmer of a bold yellow leaf before it falls, the absolute purity of a white, fluffy cloud drifting silently overhead.

Sometimes the blessings come from people I speak to, or things that I read, or even something I overhear.

Today I found my hidden blessing in church. Heh. Who knew?

"You need not think alike to love alike."

That was Francis David, a Unitarian "martyr" (one of a very few U/U martyrs) just about five hundred years ago in Transylvania (google him, he was pretty neat...) .

Five Hundred Years. And a message as fresh today as ever it was then.

Thank You, Francis David.

Home Work

2010-10-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

No pics, but...at the end of a terrible and frazzling week....

the leak in the upstairs supply line was found, and fixed...

....which necessitated ripping out 9 tiles from the kitchen ceiling installed last year....

.....................which necessitated ripping out an additional 25 tiles because of the way they dovetail...

Raised the blood pressure (again)....

but tis done. (and we won't even talk about the welding that had to happen )*( that close to the almost 200 year old floor joists....)

New ceiling tiles came home with Lee yesterday, and were installed in under an hour today. Well, okay, 2 hours, including ripping out and prepping the strapping. My butt is reminding me that I am not 25 anymore, and going up and down a ladder 50+ times is not an exercise that came even close to replicating my normal walking routine!

I bought a shelf to mount between the kitchen windows, and when I install it, will prep the last wall that needs painting prior to...

....painting all the woodwork so that I can.....

.......................install the wallpaper.

Can't start either job until Monday as I am working and churching and working again this weekend. Glad I get a chance to sing in the choir this week, been two years and I've missed it. And alto's are a valuable commodity in the choir! (isn't it nice to be needed?) Then, Sunday I'm in charge (OMG?!) of the Halloween Party at work for the kids at the Village, the apartment community where Lee and I work.

Kids, with multiple issues, in costumes.

Yeah, just another regular day at work (ha ha)!! My "costume" consists of an orange tee shirt I made last year...jack-'o-lantern in the front, and "Staff" on the back. Yay.

I LOVEEEEE Halloween, and the only part of my job I truly hate is that I miss dressing up, and handing out candy at my own home. Still, it's a good job, and I am lucky to have it.

Things are coming together, and the kitchen will (hopefully) be done by the end of next week. The saga that began in early July with the mysterious leaking dishwasher hose floating my floor tiles, will finally be put to rest, and I will have (a completely unexpected) kitchen rehab.

If Wishes Were Fishes...

2010-10-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it.

I missed it.

Okay, I didn't *miss* it...I missed the opportunity to photograph and forevermore capture the much anticipated highlight of the fall leaf season.

Two days ago, such beauty, such incredible beauty surrounded our house. We are the only house on our street that is totally surrounded by maples.

Shades of yellow, gold, tinged with auburn, deep ruby, russet, blending into oranges...poised for a moment in time.

Colors that teased one's eyes to *look*, *look*, dear Goddess, *look*...

Drink it in, suck it deeply into the spirit, let it gild you...

My words cannot adequately describe the intense, vivid beauty.

And yet, I am reminded of that blog I read recently, the monks creating their mandalas of sand, only to let them be carried away on the wind.

Such beauty, we are reminded, is transient.

The beauty we long to capture...we can.

We can hold it in our hearts, and carry it forth into the world.

Autumn in New England Means...

2010-10-23T19:15:00.001-07:00

Well, it would have been better if blogger would cooperate and switch the photo's but the pie came first, the jelly second.

Being somewhat frugal, a few years ago I bemoaned all the peelings that went to waste after making a pie (actually I had made apple pie filling and canned it, which uses a TON of apples). And yes they are *lovely* in the compost bin, but I always felt there must be more.

And guess what...there is! Apple Peel Jelly, is made using the peels and cores, cooked down, left to seep out all the good yummyness of the apples, and then strained into syrup.

The resulting jelly is a beautiful pink (even if you use green apples!) and the flavor is ... just the right balance of crisp apple, and sweetness.

I'm glad I was able to can something this year! T'was a very slack year for canning, though I did a lot of freezing.

Next years garden is already being planned...tomato seeds, and pumpkin seeds and and ... in time. Can't make myself order the seeds until the New Year...a traditional way of saying "yes, this winter will end, see, my seeds have arrived!"

But for now, there is fall, and apple pie...and jelly.

Fall Posting

2010-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Suddenly it's really Autumn here in the Northeast. The leaves turned almost overnight from green to yellows and gold. It never fails to grab me how fast the passage of time has been flowing around me of late. And by "of late" I really mean the last 6 years or so. Something about adding a few kids to the family managed to simultaneously speed up and slow down my internal clock.

Lest you think that's an impossible juxtaposition, I beg to differ. Suddenly, it is Thursday. Wasn't it just July and I was frenetically packing for our camping trip? And yet, yesterday, didn't the kids and I spend 5 minutes, that passed like 5 hours, trying to catch the breeze-blown leaves fluttering from the maple in the side yard?

Something about them makes me younger. I may joke about being 'old woman" but inside, I still feel youthful. Maybe they help me look at the world from a tighter perspective. All this talk of global economy, and global village leaves me feeling powerless, and often, frightened. But bring that wide world down the the microcosm of a 6 year-old, and suddenly...there is joy and curiosity, and beauty in every thing I behold.

Funny, I started out thinking I was going to write about my disordered kitchen, the way I am feeling stressed and trying desperately not to be...

and instead I find myself looking things from my kids viewpoint, and am feeling the thrill of discovering what's under the old wallpaper, wondering about the transformation of new wallpaper, and what will it look like when the plumber pulls apart the wall upstairs to find our leaking pipe...

and not like a nervous adult wondering about the mess, the cost, the fuss...

Funny what a change in view can do for the spirit...

Been Gone So Long

2010-07-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy. Full-on hectic, as life with kids can be. So hi and welcome back and yeah. Sorry I've been neglecting!

Updated pix of the youngest kiddos....Rob in March, using our "leprechaun" glasses as "goggles"...too funny!

Lissa just got her hair beaded in this pic. It takes about 2-3 hours to braid and bead her. The good thing is that she's done for about a month after the efforts. And she loves tossing her head and having her beads "clack, clack".

And KC, doing a "Santa beard" in the tub.

In order, Chet is now 24.5, Rob just turned 14, KC is 6, and Lissa is 3.5....

I'm done with diapers, pretty much, bottles long a thing of the past, and the kiddo's are at that stage where helping Mommy is fun. Oh, how I love this stage!

Because Mommy wears long skirts all the time, our sweet lil gal also prefers dresses or skirts...however, she's a boy in girls clothing! Oh, my, that one is twice as much work as ANY of the boys...maybe even combined!!

She'll not take crap from any of the boys, stands up for herself, tantrums like a pro, and yet still is prone to random acts of sweetness, a hug for brother KC when he's sad, or a full-on body slam from across the house hug with her sweet face tilted back and an "I loooovvvee you mommmmmmy" as her wee arms wrap around my legs.

Life is good.

I Like It!

2009-12-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-26T07:12:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-24T02:17:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-03T06:14:00.000-08:00

From October into November in one fell swoop!

Home Improvements and Women Power!

2009-10-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

One year of Art KC age 4-5

2009-10-23T05:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-19T02:37:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-22T11:53:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-07-31T05:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-29T07:39:00.001-07:00

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.

Despite the rain....

2009-07-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

Wild and cultivated flowers are flourishing! This Queen Anne's Lace is bigger than my hand...HUGE compared to it's usual size....and then...

...the hydrangea's are stunning this year. These are my neighbors, I'll post a pic of mine tomorrow. Mine are more purpley-blue, and my bush has had it's best year, ever. I usually get 2-3 flower heads, this year I have more than 15 and they're still coming!! Awesome!

Today is very hot and humid already. Walked the dog (into my 2nd week of morning walks as both the dog and I need to un-chub!) early to 'beat the heat'. The air quality sucks. We have music and movement class today, the little folks and I, and then we head to Friendlies for breakfast-for-lunch. We take a long winding backroad home, takes about 30 minutes, but we see all kinds of neat things. Last time we saw turkeys and the time before, a coyote at the edge of a plowed field.

Our community garden is doing well, despite the weather. We have 31 tomato plants up there, and some "Indian" corn. None of the squashes sprouted (no surprise as we had 12 consecutive days of rain). But the tomato's are doing well and I look forward to canning, likely sometime in September at this point! Huh. Last year at this time I'd done my first batches of salsa and stewed tomato's. One gardener and I joked that we'd be harvesting our first tomato's around Halloween!

I'm trying paste tomato's for the first time, have 5 or 6 plants of them, as well as several "eating" varieties (early girl, lol!) which also wind up in my spag. sauce. The heirloom's haven't got fruit on the vine as yet, but they are late producers anyway. If frost holds off late this year, I may have a chance of getting a few of them in. sigh. Well the garden looks good, anyway. I'll go up there tonight and hopefully remember the camera this time so you can see it.

Rest in Peace, Ken

2009-07-27T06:55:00.001-07:00

"Grampa Ken" with KC Sept 2006 (KC and Grampa share a name, and Ken also bore the nickname KC as a youth) KC is 1.5 in this pic.

Ken was a retired Unitarian Universalist minster, an avid reader and passionate about religion , and it's role in the life of humankind.

You will be missed, but I know you're walking happy in the Summerlands, Ken.

Blessed Be.

More camping photo's

2009-07-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

One "Must Stop" place we go to every time we come to Old Orchard Beach (Maine) is here at Len Libby's. They have a GIANT, life sized moose made entirely of chocolate, and in the last few years have added black bear cubs, ducks and I think, geese, again, entirely made of chocolate. I never got as far as that display this time, as KC has the "wierds" about statues, no matter what they're made of, and I had to stay with him as he searched out his favorite candy treat, to help "shield his eyes" so he wouldn't even catch a glimpse of the "scarey moosey".

Did I mention previously that this is the summer w/o a summer in Massachusetts/New England? I did? Perhaps I should add that yesterday, July 27, was the firstday, yes, I say the FIRST DAMN DAY that we were mid 80's for temps since late May. Yuppers, it's been 60's to 70's all summer. Not to mention all the rain, fog, drizzle and what have you since late May. And I won't. And now none of us are used to Hot Humid days. Although if you're reading from northern CA/WA/OR or Texas, Kansas, etc, you're laughing and calling me an idiot, right? 80's hot???Dammmmnn. I know you folks are ROASTING and I don't envy y'all a bit. But that explains the flanned shirt I'm wearing above. It was quite chilly while we were camping. Here I'm ready to head up to the sinks for dishwashing duty. Some chores never change. Just the location, lol!

Lee justly pointed out that I'd not put in a pic of Chet yesterday. So, here is the Chet-ster, also enjoying the campfire on day one.

Only was a 3-day trip, up on Friday, return on Sunday. It was a good thing as we had wicked Thunderstorms Friday night/Saturday a.m. and we were pretty damp. Finally got to head to the beach Sat late afternoon, and when we got home it was sunny and breezy and dry air (at last!). We opened the camper up, got it all cleaned out, opened the boys tent in the backyard, and by sundown, closed everything up, all clean, dry and tidy, and ready for our "bigger" campout in September.

First '09 Camping Trip

2009-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Rob and KC toasting marshmallows. KC only likes to toast them, not eat 'em! That's the back
of Lee's head as she helps Lissa get her stick ready for the fire pit.

This takes a LOT of concentration, you know!

After the smores, the fire has burned down and bedtime is looming closer. Skeeters love KC and his freshly shorn head!

And this last pic, of cleome's blowing in the wind, is one KC took during a post-rain walk when we got home. Oh, wait...they've all be post-rain walks this summer-without-a-summer in Massachusetts!

Defeated and depressed

2009-06-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

and disappointed. The three D's. The deadly D's. Harmful to the spirit, relationships, and life. Today I screwed up. I mean SCREWED UP. Made a judgement error, which will cost us money to fix, which we can ill afford. But hell, we MARRIED for better or worse, and I MEANT it both ways....but when I called my love, my support, the one I trust most on this earth, I was told that I made a "Bad CALL" in calling her first. I mean, don't you call your wife or husband or significant other when you are freaked out? When you've held it together and made an "adventure Memory" for your kids rather than panicking and scaring them? Don't you lean a bit on them to tell you "it will be okay," even when you know they are angry and have every right to be? One word of compassion, of caring would be enough to help get over the emotional "OMG" shaking scared's....
.....and it doesn't come.

I'm a big girl and I'll get over it, but for now, I'm feeling hurt and weepy.

Mini Update

2009-06-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

Moonsingers back ...hahahaha! But seriously, folks, see how LONG my hair has gotten in just over 1.5 years?

Full front face w/makeup (the original "take" was too scarey sans makeup!)
Moonsinger 3 years ago, semi-trying to grow out the hair and go strawberry blonde, instead of the rad red I am now! That, and 35 pounds lighter makes for a way different Moonsinger!

TTFN!

Run for the roses

2009-05-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Moonsingers Kentucky Derby Hat,

Rob's chapeau,

Elisabeth in background with beads and purty hat, and Chet in foreground with his pink creation,

Lee with her flowered pith helmet-hat, and KC in delight over his hattiness!

There, we are all decked out in our finery for this years running of the Kentucky Derby. No one's horse won (what a fun race to watch with an unexpected winner!) but the fun is in being together, rooting loudly for our respective horse (go Chocolate! heehee). I even got home from work early enough to watch this year! Huzzah!

Oh My!

2009-04-30T04:41:00.001-07:00

Okay, things have not been frenetically busy. My days have not been filled with unending business...things have been rather...slow. Mellow. I get my chores done and have time to read a bit on the web. Or a book (shudder w/delight!). Play with my kiddo's. In other words, life is good.
So, the pic above is my darling KC, 3 days after turning 5. Can you believe that? My wee lad is
a 5 year old!!!??? He's sleeping here, leaning into his Ooma's (Lee's) lap....at Fenway Park! Only my son could sleep through a baseball game where the Red Sox kept scoring run after run (they were up on the Angels by 9-3 when we left in the 6th inning because of how windy/chilly it was getting), which means fans were screaming wildly all around us...yet he slept on!

Robbie, almost 13 now, all geared up for the game, having a BLAST. Our company has a Patriot's Day event (you know, "t'was the 18th of April in '75 and hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year...") well, it's a big big holiday here in Massachusetts, with the running of the Boston Marathon, events at Lexington and Concord ("by the rude bridge that arched the flood, her flag to April's breeze unfurled, here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard 'round the world...") and of course, Baseball.

The main office of our company is on Commonwealth AVenue, the very last leg of the marathon, so we get to see runners just before they cross the finish line a few hundred yards up ahead of us. (if watching a marathon is your thing, I guess it's fun!) They do a nice spread for breakfast, and lunch, provide free tix to the Red Sox game. We rarely go in for this event, as getting 5 of the 6 of us up and out on a Holiday from work, means getting up and out before we'd ever have to leave for work...ugh! But this year we said what the heck, and went. The air was brisk, and when the wind picked up in th e 5th inning it was quite chilly. Since we were up high (very last/top row of the bleacher seats, FANTASTIC fun seats, btw, maybe not so much "kewlness" as sitting 8 rows behind home plate like we did last year, but the fans are way funner in the bleachers,lol!) the wind kept "foaming' up over the wall and pouring down on us. It was neat. Cold, but neat. Everyone agreed it was a great day, all in all! Sometime I'll tell you about the sardine T-ride into Boston...or maybe not, because that was NOT a fun experience, but it was blessedly short (although my kids were as freaked out as I was), and will someday make a funny family memory. It's those "bad"-ish things that happen that make the story stick in the memory, after all. And it wasn't sooo bad. Un pleasant, yes, but it could have been worse. The guy with his butt plastered against my side could have let one loose and killed me, after all LOL!

Finally, the wee missy, Elisabeth, you can't really see her twists here, but believe me, Lee is having a blast designing hair styles now that her hair is getting so long. It's a ton of work to do, but the styles usually last about a week. I'll try to remember to upload her beaded head from last week...too cute!

Okay, I've written a book. Sorry bout that, but ...call it catching up a wee bit!

February was the last post I submitted...what the heck?

Yay!

2009-02-08T13:23:00.001-08:00

Here is Blake, surveying our "breach" in the ice dam that was across our driveway!

The ice has thawed considerably, but still, almost 2 months since the ice storm of Dec

13, you can see how thick the ice is.

This wide shot shows the ice moat that once surrounded where I park the van. Now we can drive straight into the spot, and not up and over the moat "entry"! Oh YAY! A breach at each

end...can Spring be far behind? I should mention that yesterday and today were the first "melting" days we've had since Dec 13....hasn't been above freezing since then.

And last, but by no means least, our back step! It's been missing so long, under (at times) 4 to 5 inches of ice. There's a drip off the porch roof that lands here, so this area is subject to massive

ice build up every winter.

Lovely Lissa!

2009-02-06T03:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, so she looks a wee bit pissed off in the above pic, and so she was. She wanted to be holding the camera, not stuck in her play room area! In between pics, the ME ME MEEEEE's rang out at a deafening volume. When she could see that I was trying to get a good picture of her new ear piercings, she finally calmed down enough so I could take this shot:

And Voila! Here is a calmer Lissa with her brand new pierced ears! Although she is just 2, well technically nearly 26 months now, she has wanted pierced ears for 4 or 5 months. Every time I changed her diaper, put her to bed, or held her, she would reach up, toy with my earrings (which I finally started wearing in the Autumn after a 4 year absence) and say "Me, ear?"

I know Lee didn't necessarily think that Lissa *really* wanted her ears pierced, but me, who has heard her ask this somewhere in the vicinity of 100 times, *knew* she really, really wanted pierced ears.

Last Friday, Lee took all the kids to the mall after she got home from work. They were shopping for my birthday. Since the economy sucks, the mall was pretty deserted, and there was no one at the Earring Pagoda...and two clerks on duty meant that both her ears could be done simultaneously. They picked out her December birthstone (blue topaz) and let 'er rip! I guess it went so well the clerks were amazed. She screwed up her face in her "pre-cry" mode, but then the VERY smart woman says, 'hey Lissa, want to see your new earrings?" and holds up a mirror. Lissa grabs said mirror, turns her head this way and that and croons "ooooh pwetty ears"!!! Never a tear shed, and thus far (knock wood) no redness, swelling, pain or upset about her new ears! She loves them.

And of course, she is so pwetty!

lots of snow and more on the way...

2009-01-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Robbie is nearly 5 ft tall, and you can see the great size of our 2nd
snowman of the winter! We got 13 inches or so of snow
last weekend (not this one just past, prior to that) in
two back-to-back storms and it finally warmed up this
past week so the boys could go to work on this fellow.

I guess he'll get a companion sometime this week, as
we're expecting another 12 inches of snow tomorrow.
Rumor has it that we might get (*ugh) ice at the end
of the snow...

still have ice from the Dec 13 ice storm all over the ground.
I have a 2-3 inch tall "hummuck" of ice/snow that never
got shovelled up from that storm that surrounds my van's
parking spot in the yard. I think it will be there until
Spring arrives...sigh.

Done and Huzzah!

2009-01-26T06:26:00.001-08:00

This is the sweater coat detail...

And THIS is the sweater coat!!!

I started knitting this in April last year (08) for Lee's

Yule gift. Didn't finish it completely by Yule, as the collar

and button bands were not done by then, but today, just

1 month from Yule, the sweater is done! I'm ecstatic!

It looks wonderful on her as well. (and fits beautifully,

so there's a lesson in not rushing things!)

I was going to knit a vest for myself, but with the ongoing

weight loss, I won't start that until I'm at my goal weight, by

the Autumn.

I've been making hand warmers, those fingerless/topless

mittens with a thumb hole. Found a sweet and easy pattern

in a library book, and have made at least a half dozen now.

First set was for Lee in an oatmeal wool yarn, now I'm going to

make her a set from the leftover sweater yarn to go with that.

They only take a day to make (I knit both mitts at the same time,

same as I do with mittens and sweater sleeves).

Well, off for more laundry. How a family of 6 generates

4 loads of wash from Sunday night to Monday morning is

one of the great mysteries of life!!

Me, a work in process! Progress? Hmmm...

2009-01-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

Here I am.
Been awhile
since I
blogged.
Busy,
tired,
holidays,
ice storm
no power
no time,
tired,
busy.

But, one thing I've been working diligently on since
I got sick in late October, is losing weight. Doing it
on my own, since the stomach bug I had made me not
eat for almost a week, with only small nibbles to sustain
me. Helped "jump start" me, I guess. Now, in mid
January, I've lost 30 pounds. Super, duper psyched!!
I never hit the evil "200" pound mark, but since I was just
8 oz off that mark, I was scared I would be heading into
my 50's the same way I spent my 30's and 40's...fat.
But....I won't!
Not now.
Oh my, it's been nearly 3 months and I'm still doing it!

As my hair has grown out, my waist has been

emerging!

So looking forward to Springtime when I can walk

again. It's ice and snow for over a month now, too

treacherous for walking in early darkness, or late

afternoon dusk. Soon. Don't want to rush the

winter away. I like winter. Really!

Just 2 weeks until I'm 50.....

....and I'm so happy with my life.

Spooky Fun!

2008-11-04T04:11:00.001-08:00

Miss Elisabeth at the Spooky Tea Party.
Her witches hat is on the table....

Big Brother KC is wearing his witch hat and
enjoying moon and star cookies

Having a tea party with Ooma is great!

glow in the dark autumn decorations glow

eerily while 'worms' are consumed...

and Momma witch poses before heading off

to work at the Halloween party at her job.

EEEK! Post spooky

2008-10-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

Downside up, upside down! KC looks like a

strangely put together person!

Well, I started out with the greatest of intentions, and this last 10-12 days I've really fallen off the writing wagon, haven't I?

Maybe my life is just kinda boring. It's okay that it's boring. It is boring to read about, but not boring to live, if you know what I mean. Life is full and busy and crazy with the kids. With the sudden onset of much cooler weather, the kids and Lee have not gotten to the local park after dinner, thus the chaos and pandemonium that is burned off there, explodes in my house! This does not make for interesting posts, unless you like hearing a 4 yo talking about butts, farts or burping, and an almost 2 yo yelling NO NO YES YES and spitting at her brother. The older brothers either stoically ignore the two younglings, or, worse, they join in. Ah, the strange after supper conversations that happen between the living room and the kitchen when the parents are out of sight, but not out of earshot!!

But as I made dinner tonight, a vegetarian faux beef stew, I realized that FRIDAY is Halloween,

and that means Post spooky ends...and I've been sooooo inconsistant. Sorry all! I've been trying to squeeze out time to read everyone's posts, usually Sunday evenings, but this week I fell behind. Promise I'll catch up when we get our "extra" hour back when DST ends Sat. Between that hour, and the fact that I won't be getting to our UU church much this year either, I'll have more time to catch up. Lissa just hated being in the nursery, and got so freaked out this past week that I was going to put her there that she threw herself full throttle onto the floor,banging her head and adding to the shreiks of fear (oh, yeah, it was fear in that wee voice) were the shreeeeeeks from banging onto the floor that hard. Well, I'm not going to put her through that again. Two weeks is enough. I dunno what happened there, but I'm not going to make her fearful over it. We two will stay home and I'll get caught up on house chores, and SEWING, and maybe even some knitting! With the forthcoming holidays, extra time is a wonderful boon.

Tomorrow I'm going to post before and after pix of the trees. We had wicked winds these last two days, and my trees are just about stripped bare. Yay for raking, but, oh it was such a beautiful year for the color. I'm going to miss that golden glow through my windows, and now I really, really need to get my insulated curtains finished.

Blessed be!

Hmmmmm....

2008-10-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

This was my perspective while lying in my
camp chair at the end of August. It was lovely,
warm, sunny. Lee and kids were at the beach,
I was back at camp with the dog, as dogs are
not allowed at the beach until after 4 p.m. or
something weird like that...ahhhh, peace,
quiet, ......

Oh, there's my footsies...and the camp stove.

Do I want a cuppa?......

Naw, I'll just doze here awhile....

Yeah. So I was puttering around earlier this

evening, kinda planning out the weekend...

I mean T G I F for sure this week...busy every

day, no down time, just on the go from 530 a.m

until 11 pm...I'm just beat. And tomorrow I work

out of the house, but, NO ALARM CLOCK!!!

The one day I can sleep until 7!! Sometimes I

get up earlier, but Saturday, my clock is

sleeping in too!

Anyway, that's off the subject. I was looking at

the calendar for the weekend and the upcoming

week, another busy one, with mucho DR.

appointments. Rob has a glaucoma check up

that is a "long" appointment where they dialate

his eyes and take a ton of readings to check

progression on Tuesday, and then he, Lee, and

his older brother all have flu shots in the afternoon.

The littles and I have ours the day before. There are

other things, like I have to work extra hours Thurs.

and Friday. Bummer, I have to work on Halloween.

But I do get to dress up, as we host the party for the

kids who live at the apartment complex where I work

in the clubhouse. It's a gathering area for the kids

and the party is always exhausting! Then I realized..

That means next Saturday is the first day of NOVEMBER!

I mean, wasn't I just laying in that lawn chair and

taking pix of my feet for this blog???? Wha?

Where? Where has the time gone? And yet, I know

the days have been full. We have had morning walks

together, the kids and I. Music Movement classes

for the littles in Worcester. Trips here and there.

Work. Gardening. Canning. Cooking and freezing.

Yardwork, final camping trips, reading books, painting

pictures,makingcraftsridingbikesplayingintthebackyard

cookingtogethereatingatFriendliesgoingtotheAudubonsanctuary...

Breathe....

Okay, I guess all of that can't fit in one or two days.

So the time has passed, well spent.

No days of lolling about, to be sure. We're not "lolling" people,

but we're not overprogrammed, either.

November. Wow.

Feel that wheel spin, much?!

The last canning of the year...

2008-10-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

First, the crew assembles to pick the last
apples of the season

Oh, look at that view! Orchard is to the left,
right and behind us too! The community garden
is behind us as well.

All hands to apple picking! Lissa LOVES picking
apples. Too bad I was shooting against what little
light we had so you can't see the gi-normeous
grin on her face!

Older brother hates the smell of apples. He doesn't
like to pick apples. But these Suncrisp apples
have next to no smell at all and soon...

KC gets in the act too! Rob climbed up a tree
to retrieve a really HUGE apple, and He was
so proud to have overcome his fear of heights
to get it.
Spent all day today making apple pie filling
(and a fresh apple pie, too) from all the apples
we picked yesterday. I made 6 quarts this a.m.
and 9 this afternoon. Once the timer goes off
the canner will go down cellar for the season.
I'm very tired, but it's a "good" tired! Now we
can enjoy apple treats all winter long. Nothing
like putting a pie in the oven when it's snowing
like crazy outside, knowing that we picked the
fruit 4 miles from our home!

I;m late, I'm late for a very important Spooky!

2008-10-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

the kids pumpkins in a great light and shadow
play..

this was a few days ago, these maples
have fully turned brilliant red and orange now

this was yesterday, from my bedroom window.
This maple is one of the last in my yard to turn,
but that one orange/yellow leaf is so pretty!

The view when I sit at the kitchen island for
breakfast. Sun has just broached the houses
across the street and smack full onto the side
yard maples. I love how the glassware
contrasts against the outside color and texture.

One more orange leaf pic...well, for today. A
short breeze blew just as I snapped this, but I
love the blurry image. Someday, someday
I will have time to make this into a quilt. But with
full blue sections sparkling behind the colors, like
the photo a few frames up.
Oh, I can't believe how behind on blogging
and blog reading I am. After 10 days with no
factory work, I suddenly had jobs at the two
that I do home work for...nearly simultaneously.
And all due "yesterday" so we were flat out between
that, and making time to rake up those beauties as they
fall!
I'll be catching up over the next few days. Down to working
just one job now here at home, canning is almost done.
Well, we went and picked what apples remain at the orchards
so I can can two more batches of apple pie filling (great with
the kids' oatmeal during the winter). And just when I had my
son take the canner and extra jars to the cellar...who knew the
orchard would be open after the first frost? Live and learn, I
guess. Anyway, this makes tomorrow a great "go nowhere" day.
Weather will be turning windy and raw and wet, and we might
see a few snowflakes, our first of the season!! (see, I knew I'd get
a scary thing in there somewhere!!!! Snow before I get all
the leaves raked for the season?? eeeeeeekkkkkkk!!)

more autumn pix, maybe spooky, too!

2008-10-14T11:38:00.001-07:00

Isn't it strange that one side of the road has turned color,
but the other side hasn't? Same climate, but less sunlight?
Hmmm, spoooky!

And just a bit down the road...sha-boom~ a gorgeous
riot of colors, even on this murky day.

And in my own yard, my "slow" maple has begun to turn as well,
a gorgeous tri-colored delight. I love how the red-orange
just glows in the low light from the overcast. The dark
pines behind make a nice contrast, too.

And my own cheery front door! KC painted the jack o lantern
last year, when he was 3, hence the few missed spots that make
it all the more precious to me.
Didja know that Indian corn was hung on doors to symbolize
that harvest had ended? I didn't know that! And our harvest
has indeed ended, pout. I was soooooo terrifically sad to turn
in the garden plot. We had to have it all done by today, so the farm
could plow it under. I loved my community garden plot, the location was
only 4 miles from my house, and high on a hill. Sunsets and thunderstorms were
awesome from up here, and the gardens got great wind movement to help
them to grow strong and steady. It was so sad to pull up the vines, pull up stakes,
literally and figuratively, and say goodbye. And yet, there is a larder full of things
from the garden, to fill our bellies with our own grown food!
As Candice Olsen from HGTV says...."How Divine"!!

Apple Peel Jelly/Halloween Bones Recipes

2008-10-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Apple Peel Jelly

peelings from multiple apples (like after making
apple pie)
place peels in pot with 5 cups water (I usually
use a generous 5 cups, closer to 5.5 cups).
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and
cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat w/cover
on pot, and let sit overnight.

Strain liquid into measure cup, be sure you have
5 cups of liquid. Dispose of apple remains in your
compost bin, and put liquid into a bigger pan.
Add one box pectin, stir to dissolve pectin.
Heat on high, bringing to boil, and
add 7 cups of sugar all at once to pot, and bring back to boil.
I also add about 1 tsp of butter (not marg.) to help reduce
foaming.
Let boil hard for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
Pack into sterile jelly jars leaving 1 inch headspace.
boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

This is sooo yummy, although my next batch I'm going
to try reducing the sugar by 1 cup as 7 cups is very
very sweet.

My jam costs 34 cents a jar, for something that would have
gone straight to my compost.

Halloween Bones via Recipezaar #44079
Ingredients
2 large egg whites
4 ounces confectioners sugar
Directions
1Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2Beat the egg whites until stiff, starting on a low speed and gradually on a higher speed.
3Then start adding the sugar, a tablespoon at the time, keep beating until you have a thick and glossy meringue.
4Line baking trays with paper.
5Using a piping bag with a plain nozzle, pipe a straight meringue bone/line of approx 4 inch long, pipe 2 meringue balls at each end of the bone/line.
6Take of any pointy bits meringue on the balls with a small knife or use scissors.
7Bake the bones for 1 ¼ to 1-½ hours until they have dried out, let them cool on the paper.
8If you like the bones to look more brittle, then mix in some chopped nuts.
9The yield will depend on how large you make the bones and on the size of the nozzle.

October and it's moods...

2008-10-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

first shot of moonrise two days ago..

last roses of summer bloom on...

And Elisabeth is done on the swings!
(talk about moods, that one!)

Post little spooky

2008-10-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

My "spooky" window....
My living room window, tree "leaves" made
by KC and I this week, and added to our
fall tree...took this pic last night, and it doesn't
do justice to the glow of the backlight, and the
beautiful stained glass effect of the leaves
not to mention the real stained glass above the
window.
I just love my old, old house!

One other thing you can do with apples...waste
not, want not.........
Apple Peel Jelly! (yommmmy!)

apples apples!

2008-10-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

put in jars,

processed in boiling water bath

consume when snow flies!

spooky foods

2008-10-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Halloween Bones

Jack O'Mac

Spooktacular Salad

All Hallows Eve

post spooky week 2

2008-10-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Local funeral home, all decked
out for the holidays....
Happy Harvest, guys!

Autumn Pretties

2008-10-07T18:45:00.001-07:00

Joe Cool
and his
big Bro

Autumn beauty around every corner...

Post spooky...

2008-10-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Okay I confess, my sister sent this picture to me, it's called "when pumpkins drink" and it had me in hysterics! This is my "make up" post because I forgot to post last night, good intentions vs very tired Moi....my bed won this round!

One of the things I LOVE about Halloween, is that, during the day of Halloween, the 3 boys spread out on the top of our driveway and gut their pumpkins, and carve them to their hearts desire. I started stepping back from the process a few years ago. Last year I opened and partially cleaned KC's pumpkin, but at 3.5 he was "ready Mom" to be out there with his big brothers. And although my eldest is 23, he is developmentally between 14 and 16, and he very much enjoys this yearly ritual. For Rob, this is the one thing he does where he doesn't mind having gross hands. The first few years he couldn't do it, it wayyyyyyyy grossed him out, and that was fine, but now, he's up to his elbows in gunk like the other two.! It will be interesting to see where Lissa goes with this ritual...she is not one to get her tiny paws gunky! Holds them up and goes "ISH ISH" and wants a napkin to wipe them off. . . in a way this a wee spooky, as my Mom always said "ish" for icky things, and she's been gone over 12 years, so there's no way she and Lissa had a heart to heart, at least on this side of the veil!! Oh how Mor Mor would have loved them all!

Post Spooky 4

2008-10-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

My sweet KC...he's my posting spooky for today..

more to follow..

Last night the neighbors had a woo hoo of a party, him and her only I think, and boy oy BOYZ were they drunk! And Loud. From inside their house I could hear them whooping and yelling and partying until 430 a.m. these are not young kids, either...they're in the 40's or so, a bit younger than Lee and I. I finally got up and turned on my window fan. Didn't care that it was 37 out (I sleep with a window open for as long as possible), I would rather be cold than awakened every 30 minutes by raucous drunken laughter.

So today was a rather wasted day. I should NOT have been sewing. sigh. am making lovely lavender cuddleskin nightgown for Moi, but sewed the wrong end of the yoke onto the top of the gown, URG and even DOUBLE STITCHED the bloody thing to reinforce it. I will take it out tomorrow when my brain will be working again. There was something else I screwed up sewing too, forget what it was. Put my machine away. Did not put on the iron. Did go for a walk and left the tea kettle on (gas stove)...had about 1/4 cup of water in in when we got home oh for gods sakes!

Got my CSA boxes, and put up the first of the winter squashes, oh yummm mmm.

so, for my post spooky...a funny tale tonight...

Friday I started decorating for Halloween. Put out our giant plastic jack o lanterns ( I think there is a pic of them somewhere in a recent blog entry here). I had colored my hair last week, and my son had a b.m. near catastrophy and just as my timer went off to rinse out the dye, he called me from the bathroom "mom come quick I'm having POOP!" So I go in and he's fine but wants me to stay with him. "Poop is such a pain when it won't come out fast" he says, with 4 year old wisdom. "Come ON" he hollers at his tummy and into the potty between his legs..."I have things to DO". Finally this wonderful experience ends, and I've exceeded my color time by 15 minutes. So, instead of light auburn, I had deep dark brunette which has some red in some light. This is the darkest my hair has ever been and it's kinda nice, but also shocking, as I'd really wanted red hair. Not too much of a problem, as I have a highlight kit and later I can put in highlights and that will bring up the color a bit, and give color dimension.

Day comes when I have time to do this. Friday, last week. So I'm going to be rinsing out the highlights when KC asks for raisins. I tell him where they are (pantry, a spare closet in the guest bedroom behind the kitchen). He goes in and I go under the water to rinse. I hear a sound, but have by now forgotten that he's gone off for his raisins about 8 minutes ago. I rinse and rinse, then add conditioner. There...I hear it again...a spooky wail...heeelllp....ooohhh, helllllpppp meeee! It's from far away..what the heck? and again...:oh please, please won't somebody hellpppp meeeee...Suddenly I realize that KC has not come back and it's been 15 minutes. I grab my towel and wrap my hair while yelling for Robbie to come help find his brother. Which we do. He's been in the pantry all this time, poor fellow, too scared of the jack o lanterns to pass back through the dining room alone, and has closeted himself in the cold pantry to be rescued.

Oh my! Poor lil pumpkin pie!! He was soo scared. Sometimes I forget how big the world is when you're 4.

Posting Spooky #3

2008-10-04T19:20:00.001-07:00

Okay, if this isn't a scary picture, I don't know
what is! No makeup, end of the day, home from
work, and Oh My!

And then there is this breathtaking photo! OMG!
is that MY chin, and chin, and chin??
ssssscarey!!!

OOkay, still no make up, but at least I's got

a smile on my face!! The end of a l-o-n-g day..
only day I work outside the house, missing my
kids, but I do get some projects done if it's slow...
of course, if it's slow, the time creeps by.

Well, I guess that's all the creative spookyness
I can dish out tonight. My brain has come
unwrapped like a mummy..hey, wait, I am
a mummy...well, heehee, the cobwebs are
growing faster than my brainwaves can keep
up with, so I guess I'll creak up to my room,
where it's quiet as a tomb, and read my
tome (Friday Night Knitting Club) which I just
started today. When I got home from work.
Because I left it on the kitchen table instead of
BRINGING it to work, like the dummy mummy
I can be!

End it already!
sheesh!
how mwahhahahahahahaha....creepy!

Post Spooky 2

2008-10-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

spooky dead tree swamp, sun set,
and my favorite one tree on a hill
picture on the hill that overlooks my
hometown nestled into a hollow,
below a ridge of granite
hills.

Although I don't recommend it, I took this picture in the series above while I was driving down the highway. Small highway, but still..not a wise idea, dontcha know?! They were actually taken nearly 2 years ago, on a January evening, during the "winter without a winter" in New England. You may recall, if you're from here, that we never got snow this winter until mid-February, not even a flake, and then it snowed into April. My son was taking snowboard lessons and they almost couldn't hold class because of how warm it was, they were having trouble making snow at night. By week 3 it was finally warm enough that there was about two feet of base snow, but it was just so spooky and wierd (hence, the addition of said photo's into an October Spooky Blog!)

Posting Spooky, one day late...

2008-10-02T12:04:00.001-07:00

late to the Spooky Party, but at least I got to the party, right?! Today we started to add to the fall decorations that I put up last week.

Robbie made all the arrangements in the various pots and vases...how fun! I only had to do the swags of silk leaves around the window and door.

One pumpkin for each kiddo. The one on the step is the one KC grew from a seed, a great experience for him. The two giant ones we found...check this...at Home Depot!! Went in for plumbing parts, and came out with two pumpkins that weighed at least 45 pounds each...I could barely get them into the car! And you'll NEVER guess what I paid for them...$8.88 each pumpkin! OMG! What a steal! Then, on top of the two biggies is the wee one that is Elisabeth's. She picked it out of the field (we got 3 with our CSA boxes, two are to cook for pie, but the third is all hers!)

So, maybe this post isn't all that spooky...but what will happen to that wonderful pie that KC and I made today will be...it will disappear right before our very eyes, and be gone by sundown....

stream of...

2008-09-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

supposed to be "stream of conciousness" but...this week has been appliance HELL so I think it'll be stream of various liquids running across the kitchen and bathroom floor. Sigh.

It started last weekend. Sunday we went to church, and from there, headed to our annual adoption picnic where we get to see new kids, old friends, and the staff that helped to bring two of our kids home to us. Had fun, but it was so HOT! Last year we froze, the wind was brisk and we left early because Lissa wasn't even a year yet, and was getting chilled. This year, we ran through the water spray cooling center, played at the playground, sandpiles, scooter cars, said hi to the goats and llama's, and left early because it was so hot! Headed off to get our CSA boxes. We finally get home at 4 pm. A long, tiring day, lots of veggies to put away and SPLASH! suddenly we are splooshing through this puddle in the kitchen. WTH? Where'd that come from. We look up at the ceiling...no dripping from the upstairs bathroom. Open the sidebyside fridge, thinking someone spilled something or one of the melons gave up and was dying...nope...it was the dang FRIDGE that was dead. OMH! It's 4 pm on a Sunday. Quick, run up and get the coolers from the attic, get some ice from the store, and get our essentials into the coolers. Move the freezer items to our other two freezers. Well, I've been meaning to organize our storage freezer down cellar for a few weeks...now that's done!

Go to Sears to pick out a new fridge. Hem and haw over two models, finally pick out the one I like (didn't LoVe any of them...didn't want another s/b/s). Picked out a double fridge door w/ice and water through the door (our old one had that feature) w/freezer drawer on the bottom. Wait! Can't deliver until October 6. Well, it's obvious we can't wait until Oct. 6, so check the other model ...okay that could come on Friday...not ideal but...we would try to live with it (not many appliance places around here). They ring up the sale for, gulp, $2116.00. OMG.

Lee goes to work Monday. She works at an apartment community. Tells the sad saga of our fridge to the boss. Hey, he says, the village has a used fridge, smaller than we're used to, but she can have it for free. Whoa! Okay, we agree to do this, and the guys at work deliver it that afternoon. I cancel Sears, we save $2116.00!

Now, I've been living with a very small washer in the cellar, have to go outside the house, downstairs. I have a stack washer/dryer up here on the first floor, but the washer died last year, after 2 repairs of over $400, I was done with that. So we got an inexpensive one and put it in the cellar. I do 2-3 loads of wash a day. On diaper days, 4 loads. On sheet washing day, 6 loads, egads! And we've had no dryer these last 7 months. That too had several expensive repairs. Made do with outside line, inside bars, inside lines...but we had a run of rainy weather three weeks ago and I had to go to the laundromat to dry the 4 loads I washed. Repeated that last week. If we get 2 or 3 days of rain or fog in a row, I've been screwed, laundry-wise. Most of us wear clothing more than one day, but we all started running out of undies, sox etc. So, with the money I saved from the non-purchase of the fridge, I bought a brand new stack washer and dryer, super capacity, with a sterilizing load for the diapers! Yahoo! I'll post pics of my beautiful pair, lol, in a later post, as Lee has my camera. Oh, they are gorgeous...and the set cost $54 less than one fridge, including take away of old appliances, and installation...that was also a nightmare, but another story for another day!

once a red head...

2008-09-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

...always a red head!

Yup, I colored my hair back to red. Been a redhead nearly 20 years now, and this last year or two have been flirting with all shades of brown up to darker blonde. Well, with that one awful exception of brilliant lizard yellow that was so gacky I recolored it myself a few days later.

But I found haircolor at the grocery store and it was on deep discount...only to discover that it was TEMPORARY...bummer. Well, I used it anyway and now I know how much I love being a redhead.

My mood went up, my dispostion, which can't really be deemed "sunny" on the best of days, as we keep losing the sunlight, really did brighten up, and for an added bonus, all my kids AND my wife love it!

Added to that, I'm growing it out and it's shoulder length already after just a year, and it was soooo short...I can pony it (well, a silly one!) but spent most of the summer with it clipped up in a neat way to get it off my neck. But just now it feels nice and long and I like it!

pic's to come later!

KC's Pumpkin/the Garden

2008-09-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here is KC and his pumpkin, which he grew from a seed in a tiny cup. This boy is going to be a gardener like his MorMor, I swear! Hard to believe it was time to harvest it already...

This year our community garden was such a blessing to me. Not only did I prove to my fellow gardeners that I CAN garden (last year's garden fell to weed-choked ruin when I hurt my back and could not work there most of the summer), and I've had so many tomato recipes to bottle and freeze.

Made yet another batch of red sauce on Saturday. It simmers on the back of the stove for hours and hours (after about 2 hours of prep peeling and chopping!) and we ate some tonight. Some more will be for lasagne later this week...it's going to cool down quite a bit by the end of th week, and the rest I will freeze. I have 25 cups frozen already and this batch made 30 cups. I still need to make salsa for my brother, but the garden production is coming way down, the end of the season is in sight. Only 3 more weeks for our CSA, too. We'll start getting the winter squashes in over the next few weeks.

Trees in our yard and in the neighborhood are looking a lot like that CVS commercial where a hand splashes the green leaves with red...there's dots and dashes of red all over the treescape. A dab or two of orange and yellow, and the constant ping! Pop! as nuts and seed pods fall to earth (ping when the maple starts hit the roof of the camper!). Chipmunks are screaming at each other in the backyard, jays are zipping here and there hiding their caches of food...and so many of the summer birds have been gone for weeks. Haven't seen or heard the bluebirds at the garden (on a hill top) for the last 10 days or so. Between the tropical rain we had last week and the cool weather, I think they, too, have fled southwards.

We may not be heading south, but we will be prepared for this winter in our freezer and pantry! Thanks be to the goddess and the earth spirits for all the bounty that we have harvested this summer!

Sept 11

2008-09-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

And in my earlier post I didn't refer to the date at all. Laume, in her blog, beachtreasure.blogspot.com, does a far more eloquent job than I ever could about this day.

I spent some time being sad.

Went to the cemetary to visit my Mom's grave, and wife's grandparents graves. Super suprise at my mom's grave....the wee flowers that KC had grown from seed had flourished there, way more than in my gardens here at home, and waving zinnia's arched up and over Mom's stone, red, yellow, orange, white...the marigolds he so laboriously planted, seed by tiny seed are now 3 feet tall and flower heads bigger than my closed fist!!

Mom was an avid gardener, and I guess her gift lingers on there. And she knew the flowers were a gift from a grandson who will never meet her.

then I went to my garden on the hill, the community garden that has brought more tomato's to this house then I've ever seen before in one spot in my life. Up on the hill, the sun was setting, the sky was robin egg blue, with pink tinged clouds. No bird calls disturbed the hush that announced day's ending. I stood, hands overflowing with tomato's and thought about all those people in New York, and Pennsylvania, and Washington DC. All the men and women overseas who have given their lives in response to the terror and anguish of 7 years ago. and I prayed.

and I remember the joy and expectancy that filled my heart that fateful morning as we prepared for our first visit from a social worker, to begin the adoption process for the hoped for arrival of 3 children we saw on television, and during the interview process got the call from work to turn on the TV quickly, the world had changed in a heartbeat, and we stared in horror as we tuned in just in time to see the first tower go down ....

a day of heartache and hope forever intertwined.

5 months later our son came home to us. His sisters did not come to live with us, but they are still part of the family of our hearts.

since then two more have come, both infants, now 4 and almost 2.

Life is full, and busy and tiring, and fulfilling. I thank the Goddess for every day I get to spend with my kids, and for not letting me become a recluse living in fear. Life is meant to be lived!

To be here, with my kids is a gift I cannot imagine living without.

Blessed be for this day. Blessings for those lost, and for those left behind. Blessings on my children, and to those that have lost a parent on this day. A day of anniversaries...happy and sad, fear and relief, familes torn asunder and families come together.

for this is life.

Pix and stuff.

2008-09-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

Blake being silly my garden turning Fall=wards

Precious tired boy child,
fallen asleep
holding his floating balloon
sitting on the couch
last evening!

Getting ready for sending the family camping tomorrow. Going to a UU camp/retreat, fun and fellowship. I used to go, but since Lissa have not. Going to be too chilly for her again this year, and I was planning on being home and getting some projects done! No work this weekend, not my work-at-home factory work, nor going out to my Saturday job...this weekend is totally mine, well Saturday is totally mine.

Going to sleep late ...Ya, right!...Lissa still gets up at 6 just like big brother Robbie...or try to. And sew and sew and sew.

Working on a quilt top for my bed, G0ddess inspired as I'm not making a "pattern", just a scrappy quilt, using colors from my "inspiration piece", an 8X10 watercolor painting middle son Rob painted in first grade that I've always loved. All swirls of purple and pink and blue and green and splotches of this and that. Perhaps I'll remember some night to get a picture of it, and post it up. Right now my wife and I sleep apart...I'm a terrible snorer, and my bed hours got all wonky the year I slept downstairs when Lissa came home and would not sleep throught the night. OH, she was such a fussy baby. Still not a great sleeper, but not anywhere near how bad she was as an infant. Anyway, once she went upstairs into her own room, I kept sleeping in the spare room, as I was totally uncomfortable on wife's mattress (hate to put in print how old it is!) ()h my! and my snoring disturbed everyone EXCEPT the baby, as she had grown used to it, cosleeping with me as an infant and even once she was in her own crib with me in the room. But I woke up Wife, young son still cosleeping with wife, middle son 3 rooms away, and eldest son in next room. So, I banished myself to the boys old TV room, way in the back of the house. I love it! It's fully wood paneled, with sloping ceilings on both sides. But I'm short so it isnt a bother to me. And really, I'm only in bed from 11 pm until 530 ...I don't hang out in my room ever, as there is never any time in the day to do such things!! Just a place to lay my head for a few hours...until the next day when the day wheel spins me about, once more!

and still more tomatoes...

2008-09-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

this tomato haul was collected just before we were heading out for our annual labor day camping in Maine. I decided to get all the harvesting in that I could so nothing would rot on the vine during the 5 days we would be gone. never, in my wildest dreams did I imagine that there would be this many tomatoes ready after just 4 days away from the garden!! So, in addition to packing a family of 6 for camping, preparing food for same, etcetera, I had to make stewed tomatoes. Made somewhere in the vicinity of 30 pints from this haul!

Came home Monday, gathered even more tomatoes, and made 17 pints of salsa and 25 cups of marinara, which I froze. Oh, the house smells Yummy these days!

Harvest!

2008-08-27T03:58:00.001-07:00

60
big
tomato's
120 in
the 8 cup
measure
plus what
is in the
4 and 2 cup
measures
and a
handful
of purple
beans...
what a haul from our garden YESTERDAY! With sunny skies this weekend, when we come back to the garden next week, I'll have another haul to process...
thus far I've made 30 pints of salsa, and today's project is Italian Stewed Tomato's!

Bad Mood

2008-08-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Blah Blah Blah and then my kids blah blah blah

and then I blah blah blah

and then my spouse blah blah blah

and my son grrrrrr

geeze already.

enough.

get over it.

oh-kaaay.

I sewed a pair of pajamas for my son the 4 y o

I have 1000 things to do before camping.

I had the stomach crud and spent most of yesterday with my pal John,

and thus lost 30 hours pre camping prep time (hence the Bad Mood).

But...
I'm over it.

I think.

grrrrr...

Sparkperson ...

2008-08-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

(.......Blake

and

Mom

having a

moment over a blade of grass.)

Well, I have joined Sparkpeople, the online, and most importantly, free weight loss support group. Well, it's more than that, actually, it's meal planning, exercise inducements, and support. I have tried 3 times this year to lose weight, yeah, right. But I'm going to be 50 in a few months and would love to be much healthier. My kids are getting to an age where we could be doing some fun hiking etc, and Mom is in no shape for that.

We started a "morning routine" because my 4 yo son was watching tooo much tv! I knew this when we went camping in July and he hugged me and cried and said he "missed his tv". Oh. My. Gosh. Bad momma. So, now we turn off the tv at 8, brush teeth, put on our sneakers and take a walk around our neighborhood. There are a variety of places we can walk and see. There's the "Flower Walk" where we scope out several lovely Victorian-style gardens, or the "Duck Walk" where a person has 2 ducks in their very small yard. No pond, but the ducks eat all their bugs, and their garden is lovely! Then there's the "Block Walk" where we walk around the long block where we live (actually a double block because there is the former high school and field at the end of our block)

That's helped me a lot, so I'm not huffin' and puffin' all the time. I need to lose a minimum of 50 pounds, and to be honest, 70 pounds is the ultimate goal. Obviously I'm not going to lose all that in one year, but the 50, well, I can manage that.

One of my mini goals is to be more focused on journaling. Which boils down to some "me" time, something in short supply around here these days! Me-time has been coming at 1030 when everyone else is in bed, and I can eat chips and then go to bed and knit for 20 minutes or so. Change is so hard!

What inspired this change? The photo my son took of me the other day. At 4, he's a real budding photographer, but this photo just really brought home to me how very fat I have become. And no, I'm not posting that one today!

July stuff

2008-07-07T03:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm having enough time to do posting on a monthly schedule now...sheesh! Since it's going to be a hot and muggy day, I'm taking some time in the (relatively) cooler morning for computer time.

Here is the backyard in all it's green glory! And the kids new swingset...did I mention that the one we got them last October was destroyed when one of the trees behind it was felled by a straight-line wind during a March storm? Well it was totally demo'd and boy were the kids upset! It took awhile, but by May we had a new swingset installed and they've been happily using it ever since.

The gardens are doing great...this year our community garden plot is one of the best ones up there. I learned a lot from being one of the worst last year! But live, and learn, has paid off. I have tomato plants that are up to my waist now, and quite a few baby tomato's coming along. The basil is HUGE this year, and I'm not sure if it's our wet, almost Mediterannean climate this summer, fertilizing, or what, but ....sooooo much better than last year's basil ever was! I'm looking forward to hanging it up in the attic.

This year has been the year for hail for us, but it seems to be missing the garden up on the hill, which is about 4 miles from here. Last week we had hail twice, some the size of dimes! So many wild thunderstorms, and more are predicted for tomorrow and especially Wednesday when the humidity is supposed to break for a few days. Here's hoping....did I mention how much I hate humidity?

Look for me lounging on my couch by tomorrow...

KC

2008-06-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

KC has always been a free spirit. He loves music and television and dancing...every night after dinner, he performs for us, and he always cracks up the rest of us. Lately, while big brother Robbie has been at Little League, KC and Ooma have been heading down to the field to cheer him on, and KC decided to bring Momma's camera with him.

The first pic is a self portrait, not bad for someone who just turned 4 a few weeks ago!
The pic below shows him trying to frame a shot with the fencing! It sure gives me a perspective on what a little kid sees in the world.

There are about 50 shots (over the course of the last few weeks) of the ground at the foot of the bleachers. When asked why he kept taking these pic's, he replied, "because it's so beautiful and intra-sting". Some shots show foot prints of various sneakers and foot gear, another shows close up of rocks, but each one is subtly different. He's also taken multiple sky shots because he knows that Mummy likes to take sky pix too! "and the clouds were so bee U tiful that I know you would like it Mummy!" I foresee a camera in Santa's sack for this kiddo!

Spring!

2008-04-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

How could I resist adding some pix of my freshly springing garden? I love the lime color of this wee bush with the golden edge of the hosta behind it. And below, one of the many new daffodils that Rob and I planted a year ago that didn't do so well last spring (we had very little snow in the 06-07 winter) but are doing wonderfullllllyyy well this spring (after quite a bit of snow and cold...the winter that seemed to go on forever!) I love the orange petals peeking out on this fancy double daffy.
But my favorite daffy this spring is this pair, with the delicately apricot-to-orange hued trumpet and the gorgeous sunburst yellow fan behind it. These fella's are in my front garden that I look out on all evening as I do piecework for a local factory, a true spring garden that I pretty much let alone the rest of the summer. Last year the boys put in a bunch of flowers for Mother's Day, which was a true surprise! I saved several plants and have overwintered them and will replant after May 15th.
Spring ! ahhhh!

Better late than never?

2008-04-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

>Wow! My computer is finally fixed and now I can blog and email and EVERYTHING!! Oh, it's so nice to be 'connected' again!
So, some updates: 1. It stopped snowing (finally) 2. Flowers are blooming (spring has sprung) 3. kiddo's are growing: here's Robbie dressed for his first baseball game!

Little brother KC here at his 4th birthday party just last week, with his Ooma who was snapped with a big 'ol bite of pizza (oh, she's gonna kill me for that shot!)
Little Miss Lissa wasn't so sure about the party hat thing, however...
she does like to be "pree" and you can see just how pretty in her Easter duds! Note the three different colored hair bobs...yes, she finally has hair, at 16 months!!! And her dress was fleece, since it was soo bloody cold on Easter here in the northeast.
As for me, well nothing much has changed. Hairs been red, brown and red and now brown again, but I've been walking the dog and doing tons of yardwork so far this spring. It's been nice to have a wee bit of freedom to get tasks done, now that the baby isn't such a baby any more!

Gotta run I'm soooo missing my bed! Been a long, busy, full, wonderful day!

Blessed be!

snowsacomin'

2008-01-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

After a very snowy December in the northeast, we had such lovely weather this week. Kiddos and I went out every day to play in our diminishing snowpack. First there was almost 3 feet, then 2 feet, then one foot, then big holes in the snow where lawn showed through. Rain on Friday took care of most of the rest. The base of the giant snowperson in the backyard is a frozen hummock but most of the yard is clear.

Got to poop-scoop (oh yeah, I live for that chore!) and fill the birdfeeder, and gather up the big branches that fell from our nearly-dead sugar maple. That tree was supposed to come down before Thanksgiving, but the tree guy was delayed by weather and then the snow came and stayed. At least we can see down the road when we turn out!

but then there is tonight...we could get another 14 inches (that's what we got in the last storm about 2 or 3 weeks ago), and another storm coming in for Friday. A week bracketed by snow. Kewl.

I choose to live in New England because I do like the weather. Oh, I complain about the heat in August, and that darned polar express that brings us sub-zero temps in February, but the rest of it, yeah, I like it. And although I'm so wayyy not a kid anymore, the thought of snowstorms excites me, every bit as much as thunderstorms do. I love to look up from my back porch and see the flakes just flying down at me, see the beauty and pristine whiteness...the Ansel Adams portrait of the outdoors. And I like how luminescent the backyard is even when it's deep dark midnight...the snow just reflects all the light and it doesn't seem so densely dark. Snow-glow or somesuch.

So, I'll be waking up early and looking outside! The dog will be excited in his puppy way, the boys will love it, although as homeschoolers, there are no snow days for us per se. Snow play, oh yes!

Yule never guess..

2008-01-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

...just how fast one must be to grab a photo op with this bunch! I think they sat like this for about 45 seconds...all subsequent photo's show someone's butt, tongue hanging out, or ghoulish faces!

The kids decorated the Yule tree this year, and Rob (11) put it up! Oh, yeah, it's fake, because I'm still allergic to the real ones. Been trying every year since 1978 and still they make me sneeze. sigh. Anyway, Rob studied this process last year, and then this year felt he was "ready now" to take over this odious task for me. I put on the 8 strings of blue and white lights, and directed the two older boys on which boxes of decorations came down from the attic. All in all it was a lovely tree.

One thing you cannot see is the elf collection. When Robbie came home to us at age 5, his kindergarten teacher made kid-elf ornaments...elf body, with kids photo face. This has hung on our tree these last 7 Yuletides, and this year, KC (3) decided he needed to have an elf too! So I traced, colored, photo'd, printed and laminated a KC elf. "but what about Lissa? What about Chet?" the two elves asked, so they too were "elfed". It was so cute how the brothers decided that all the kids needed elves on the tree in their images!

Anyway, sharing this has put me in a good mood. We had just the best Yule, it was fun and family and cuddles and love and Lee's delicious cinnamon buns hot from the oven (she makes them up Christmas eve so they are ready to pop into the oven Christmas morn).

Well, the kitten is driving me nuts, so I must end tonights ramble. But not without a mega "YAHOOOOWAHOOOO" as the Patriots have just defeated the Jax. Jag's 31 to 20 !! Woo hoo!

Next stop, Payton Manning and the Colts!

Firstly, 2008

2008-01-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

....has been good. But I've been suffering what, 100 years ago would have been labeled "melancholia"...nothing so horrible has happened but I am just blue. I had a bad November, really in a deep funk, but I lay that to not sleeping through the night for 11 months. The Friday before Christmas, Elisabeth slept through the night...and has every night since. I amend that. She tried to wake up, but instead of giving her a bottle, I just re-covered her, and she went back to sleep...I'd been "enabling" her to wake up by giving her bottles on "mommy auto-pilot"!! Yikes, if I'd figured that out in August, would my Autumn have been different? Who knows. Anyway, I'm funked out. Tired of being in one, tired of my messy house, tired of ...being overweight and not doing anything about it. I guess that's the major issue, isn't it? I'm fat, and I hate it, and I keep giving up, and I don't give up when it's for someone else, just me. I get tired of "dieting" or don't have time to make lunch or dinner and it's takeout, or hell, I might just be lazy. I admit it, I LOVE food. But when I can mow through an entire bag of Lay's Potato chips all by my lonesome, it's time for a time out for momma.

So....tomorrow I'm off to weightwatchers. Yes, again. but it worked for me many moons ago, when I was just a fey youngling. Kept my weight off for 8 years, and then adopted our first kiddo, and he has/had issues that kept me eating for comfort for the past 20 years. Oh, it's so hard living with someone with Aspergers (high functioning autism)...looking back I wonder how I ever did it, sometimes. He's such a hard case even now, and likely won't ever live without us, as he forgets to eat, or bathe or leave his room if we' re not diligent. But I digress...tomorrow I will go stand on that scale and find out that I weigh nearly 200 pounds. Ugh! I'm only 5'1" so when I wear my blue sweatpants and sweatshirt, I look like that girl on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. You know, the Blueberry girl? ya, me.

I am not comfortable in my skin, I have no energy. No, that's not true. I do have energy but I run through it quickly. I homeschool my 11 yo, and kinda school the 3 yo, and care for the fully walking 12 month old, and nag the 22 yo...laundry for 6 people (including the baby diapers), meals, and a big old house to maintain. I have gleefully traded my job of 25 years for a full time job here at h ome, and most of the time don't regret it. There are days when I just want to fall into a vat of ice cream and die there, but for the most part, it's great to be home and puttering...oh yeah, right, puttering! I'm very directed with the tasks I do, but phew, by days end I'm so weary.

I think I'm also battling the age demon. Did I mention that I'm heading for my 49th birthday in a few weeks. Three or 4 weeks I guess. Egads!! that means I'm almost 50!!! FIFTY??!! What the? how? Inside, I'm a tired 18 year old. Maybe 25 year old. I forget for vast periods of time that I'm 48. I'm one of those people...so unhip and uncool. I don't have a cell phone, and it took me 3 days to figure out how to wire the two hd tv's we got last summer. I do have a cordless phone and a computer, however!

Well, it's time for me to quit my bellyaching, suck it up, and get on with my life, and stop dwelling in Funk town, where the skies are perpetually grey and it smells like old fart. Yeah, I'm outta there.

Gotta go...it's time for my nap....

Welcome Maui

2007-09-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome home to our new kitty, Maui! Isn't he just too cute?
He has spent the last 4 days acclimating to his new family in our boys' tv room, which he has adored. We have gone up and visited him during the day, as he is rather fey, and today he "got" the whole house.

He had a great time exploring all the nooks and crannies in our house, loving especially, the cool wood floor of the dining room.

But here he is in the kitchen, on his way to this long alleyway that's been called the Cat's Alley for more than 30 years. Used to be a
big table built in back there, but now there are just two low shelves that are steps up to the window back there, and a convenient jumping place to get onto the counter there. He figured that out right quick!

It's not called the cats' Alley for nuthin'!!

Back in the dining room...the gate keeps the wee kids from banging the glass doors of the cabinets (one more year and I hope it can come down...taking it down each feast day and reinstalling it later is a pain in the butt, as it's screwed into the flooring....but Maui has no problems climbing the gate and seeing what's on the other side....

At 5 months, he's just wary enough to keep away from the littles and that's good all around...wonder how he'll feel in 8 weeks when our new puppy comes home ....
ah, well, it will make for some great photo-ops, right?!

In One Month...

2007-09-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

Elisabeth in her Tom Brady shirt (go Pats!)... has gone from crawling to cruising, eating semi solid foods, and babbling up a storm. Unfortunately, sleeping throught the night is still not on her agenda...

And KC.....here with Lee,

at age 3 has learned to ride a bike with training wheels, and become potty trained!! With less than a hand full of accidents. We've had bm's and peed in every potty of every place we know, but he's done it! It's all in when you are ready, I guess!

It's amazing how fast these littles are growing up! Lissa goes for her 9 month check up tomorrow....

I'm grabbing onto these images because I blink and they've grown another inch ...and wait till you see how tall Rob has grown this summer...phew! I can't keep up with it sometimes!

An Ode to Wally the Cat

2007-09-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Wally
You were one sweet natured boy
Came to the office one day
Lost
Alone
Abandoned by the one entrusted with your care
and fell...
into our hearts.
Never complaining about all the new babies
even
when they pulled your glorious striped tail.
Loved to be brushed
fur gleaming
belly rolling towards the ceiling
purrrrrrring
ahhhh bliss!
You loved Robbie and helped
all those first scarey nights
when home wasn't here yet
and the shadows were
bad things
You showed him
he was safe here
purrrrrring
on his bed through the night
Patrol Cat
extraordinaire.
You are missed.

Florid

2007-08-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

No, I am not in this picture. Now, why would I spend the hottest day of the summer (and feeling doubly hot since all this week it was in the 40's and 50's ) at the beach? Cool breezes, cold water, relaxing??? Heck no!

No, I spent the day, a full 10 hours, canning peaches. Last weekend we picked 75 pounds of peaches, and had thought I'd have time during the week to work on canning them, a bit each day. But it got so cold the ripening never happened ... until Friday night. Sooo, up and at 'em by 630 this a.m. and by 430 I had completed 20 quarts of peaches, AND 6 quart jars plus 4 pint jars of peach pie filling. It's a wonderful thing to open the pantry on Jan 1. and whip out a jar of peach pie filling and make a pie in moments (make crust, dump in filling, bake)...and from ingredients that we harvested ourselves!!

My feet are so tired and sore they have disowned me for the rest of the night, but I have such a feeling of accomplishment. Each time I walk into the kitchen, all those wonderful jars of fruit are winking back at me!

Next up; kolhrabi to blanch and freeze, and eggplant casserole to make and freeze.

Tomorrow.

AFTER we go to the beach!

Turning over the Turning of the Earthwheel

2007-08-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

In her Beachtreasure blog (www.beachtreasure.blogspot.com) Laume was talking about changes in her family, in the seasons, and the restless wind blowing through her spirit lately. Wow. Yes, at the risk of adding a meme here, I've had that restlessness in my head too, but tinged with sadness. It is always so hard to lose the daylight, and where once it was light, or at least dusky until almost 9 p.m. it is now dusking up around 7 p.m. and full dark between 730 and 740 or so. And the sun sets so much more south of where it did just a few months ago. In midsummer it beams it's last long rays from the center of my backyard, through the trees in my neighbors yard as it slowly slips past the horizon. Now it is setting behind another neighbors house. By midfall it will begin setting at the house 3 doors down from there and the last sun I see in winter is when it is perched on their roof, before it falls off and my yard darkens, between 330 and 4 p.m.

I'm not trying to give a lesson here, just noting that I'm working out in my head what has been, and what is coming.

It has been so cold here in New England this week that 1) I felt guilty for everyone else in the US that was roasting in 100 degree heat and 2) almost needing to turn the heat on. Okay, I'll admit it. I *did* turn the heat on, Wednesday morning. It was 52 degrees in my living room and all of us were shivering. Since it had been in the 40's at night all week, we needed a break from shivering! Um, isn't it still AUGUST we were all saying to anyone we met. Out came long jeans, sweatshirts, shirt jackets from our emergency camping stash. Elisabeth got some new polarfleece pants and shirts on clearance from LL Bean and they came in Tuesday and she wore them all week.

Today is Friday. It hit 90 humid degrees today, after being just about 70 yesterday. Tomorrow it could be near to 100. Go figure! Of couse I need to finish canning my peaches tomorrow....

And finally, when I took Rob to Princeton for a homeschool hike (a small town south of here, where there is an Audubon sanctuary we frequent), which is about 500 or so feet higher in elevation...and there were trees everywhere just "frosted"with color. Reds, a bit of yellow, a wee slice of orange...nearly every tree had at least a few colors near the top or a side branch...we've had a few tree' s locally begin to show early color, but this...this is crazy! We hit peak color around Columbus Day in October...but perhaps since our weather the last 2 weeks have been more October than August....perhaps we're finally in for a snowy winter!

So although the wheel turning on it's Autumnal axis is rather sad, as I so hate for Summer to go, there is much to look forward to, too. I'm reconciling myself to the shorter days, the cooler nights, and to accepting the beauty, the splendour of brilliant leaves against that painfully blue blue sky of Autumn, and the promise of winter snow.

On tonight's menu....

2007-08-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

A DOUBLE RAINBOW! And although this next image doesn't show much of the double, I love the glowing arch of the main bow...
and the intense color! This rainbow show lasted less than 5 minutes and we just happened to catch it as it rained very hard, but the sun was shining brightly. As soon as the rain moved east, I happened to glance out the window at the right time and voila!

And tonight I saw one Persied (oh hell I know the spelling is wrong and I'm too tired to go and look it up) meteor.

I love these little miracles! No foreplanning, they just are what they are and if we're lucky enough to look up and see them...I guess it's the stop and smell the roses mentality, but we do so need to stop and sniff, or stop and look up...isn't the sky just so *amazing*???!

Cutey Crawlies!

2007-08-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

THEN: Elisabeth aged 3 days, with big brother Rob, at our hotel in Chicago...

NOW: age 7.5 months and crawling!

It is truly amazing to me to watch a child, who just 7 months ago was a small bundle not even able to move more than arms and legs, grow by such leaps and bounds that she has become mobile. She is mostly up on her knees now, after just about 2 weeks of combo-crawling...knees to "g.i. joe" style via elbows and hips! This weekend we went camping. While she was hanging out in her pack n play she got up on her knees, and today got up on her feet. I gave her a wee bit of support, but she was so happy to be standing that she performed her silly head bobbing routine and promptly fell on her butt! Oh, she wants to walk so badly!

She is just so happy to be able to move around under her own power...there's no holding her back now!

Awesome sunset

2007-08-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

The clouds, the lighting...it was a magic moment. Good thing I keep my camera right by the door. Got the shot, and the garden bathed in this mystical, beautiful lighting, and then it was over.

My Girl...a Brag Report

2007-07-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

Taken at Old Orchard Beach, Maine at the end of June, our little girl has had some major milestones in the last 4 weeks. She began creeping and rolling to move about the room, sat when placed, fell over, and within a day learned how to sit herself up again!

This Monday, July 16, she turned 7 months old, on Tuesday she was really attempting creeping as a form of locomotion to reach for a toy she wanted, on Wednesday her adoption was finalized, and on Thursday she crawled for the first time!! She is one determined little girl.

Now she gets put on the floor and in a moment she has crawled-crept away! Into her older brothers' toys, grabbing at the couch...and thinking about trying to stand. Goddess help us, this girl wants to WALK !! NOW! And things around here will certainly become interesting once she does....

Campfire chairs...

2007-07-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love this photo.

We went camping last weekend, and there is a chair for every one of us, even the baby! Her blue bouncy seat is there in the center, and we all gathered around the campfire each night. We were up at Old Orchard Beach, Maine; the campground is wonderful, very quiet and peaceful, and just a 15 minute walk to the ocean. Down on the "strip" there are shops full of tourist mementos, Americana kischy stuff, the expected beach togs...towels, chairs, tatami mats, flip flops. The smell of fried dough fights with the scent of frying clams, as the screams of the younglings being shaken, whirled or otherwise stirred on the various whirl-a-gigs and ferris wheels a the wee amusement park waft over all. A few steps beyond that and you're standing on fine white sand, soft and so smooth underfoot, while a freezing cold Atlantic ocean waves at you. The smells and sounds abate, and you are completely under the spell of green/blue waves, crying gulls, and laughing children.

What a weekend!

Garden pix

2007-06-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

New iris...
...6 year old rose...
..beautiful, feathery Astilbe, and "Apricot Ruffles" daylilly in foreground...
new extension of perennial bed beside the driveway...
and Idea I proudly stole from Laume's California garden...currently, statuary scares 3 year old KC, so this wee sprite is deeply nestled into the 2nd year hosta bed, and can only be seen from one angle...to KC's most earnest relief..."thank you my mommie for moving that scaaaaarie thing aways so KC won't have to see it anymore"!

Thursday, Last Day of the Heat Wave...

2007-06-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

The dawn broke with the sky exactly this color, like everything was bathed in a quicksilver and pearl dust. It was so hot and ever so humid, which we ordinarily would expect, as it's summer, after all. But last week we nearly turned the heat on as it was in the upper 40's to low 50's each morning, and didn't warm much beyond that. To say we New Englanders are not yet acclimated to summer weather would be an understatement! But the light...oh goddess how I wish I could paint this!

The day passed with not terrible hot temperatures, but the humidity was terrible. It felt like one was breathing water. Yuck! We were all feeling draggy and drawn by suppertime, but we had a lovely dinner salad with vegetarian chicken that I quick-fried in olive oil and soy sauce, total yumminess. Decided to eat out on the deck for the first time this summer yay! I replaced boards there last week and painted it Monday when it was hot but not humid. Spent Tuesday getting the furniture out of the shed in the way back yard, rolling the glass-topped table carefully down the ramp, across the lawn, up through the bushes and up the steps to the deck. Today I got two basket planters of red, white, and blue petunia's from the grocery store of all places, but it was one less thing I needed to go, and I cannot go to the garden center and spend less than $100 at a shot.
After dinner, Lee and the boys headed up to the local playground, and I finished gathering things for camping this weekend. So much stuff for 2.5 days! The fun of a large-ish family, right? We might need a shoehorn to get everyone into the van but heck, we'll do it!
As I hung out my wash, noticed the clouds. The sun had set, the thunderstorms totally missed our area for a change (we've had a ton of Tstorms this spring, very unusual ) but we had these awesome clouds and the background clouds were all shades of pink...

with all these dark purple tones mixed in. And if I hadn't have been doing laundry, I would have missed the show completely!

Then, a short while ago, around 1030 pm, I went out to the cellar for the diaper wash and spied the nearly-full moon peering down amongst skudding clouds. I've been trying to play with settings on my digital camera as I know I'm not using it to it's full potential, and got this cool shot of the clouds breaking, frosted by moonglow, as She broke free of them for a moment.

It has been the best photo day I've ever had!

The Gnomes have had at me!

2007-06-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

It all started rather innocuously at the end of May. I had to buy flowers for the cemetary plots for Memorial Day. But of course, I over-bought and had to put them in my garden. But then there weren't enough and my garden looked dorky. Can't have a dorky garden now, can we?? But I'd promised I would not go crazy at the garden center this year. Okay I can buy a few more flats. And then I went there. And they had these GORGEOUS tuberous begonia's. And they offset my mom's planter so well. I've managed to keep this planter intact for the last 11 years since Dad told me to take all her plants home with me. But this year it looks...spectacular. And there were so many colors that I added some to the window box on the side of my shed, which really brightens up an otherwise dingy corner.

After purchasing 3 giant hanging plants for the porch by the back door, and more flats for the garden underneath, I decided I needed to go back to the garden center, where the owner starts to salivate when he sees my van pulling into the parking lot. I needed more potting soil. And how could I resist some perennials. Look! They have a gold edged Hosta. Ooooh, I've always wanted a giant leaved, gold edged hosta! Oh, and a reverse hosta...it has white centers rather than green...and on it goes. Now I have added 5 planter boxes to go on the rail at the porch by the back door. They are between the hanging plants and the garden below, with some trailing ivy type plants to bridge downward, even as the airy plants below reach upwards...

Then I go to that big Orange Hardware Store. Yeah, I needed some eye bolts. Truly, I did. It wasn't my fault that there was an empty parking space in front of the Garden Center area.
Nu-uh. I don't know HOW that coreopsis got into the carriage, but I do remember putting in the giant purple iris, the pink and white margarites....

.....the sedum, the two catmints...oh there's more but I can't recall all of them just now. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I got so caught up with these wonderful perennial choices that I forgot the screw eyes and had to make a second trip. And there was a glorious pot of brown eyed susan's just begging to come home....

The Plot Thickens...

2007-06-04T03:45:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the first Community Garden Plot we've had in over 20 years! Although I haven't gardened for veggies in all that time, other than the occasional planter of lettuce or tomato's, I've spent lots of time reading my "green bible"..the Rodale book of Gardening. Plus, my Aunt Nancy has gardened forever, and I used to help her in her garden when I was a teen; as my boys will tell you, that's about when dinosaurs roamed the earth....

Anyway, I chose to do raised beds...lots more work to prep the garden beds, but so worth it. The soil was pretty well tilled, so raking the dirt up wasn't horrendous. It took me 3 days to do all the beds in #13. Robbie helped me plant, as he had just finished a 2 session homeschooling class at our local Audubon sanctuary on veggie gardening; all the kids hoed, dug in manure from the sheep, and planted. I didn't make him hoe the beds up, but he was invaluable in planting most of the beds. This far, our raised beds have far fewer weeds than do our neighbors (brag, brag!). But when we were done planting, we had plenty of plants left over, but no more room in our 10X13 plot!

I noted that several of the plots were untilled, so I asked if I could have a 2nd plot...and after a week, I got one!

Plot 11 was originally going to be the "water depot"...so everyone threw their rocks into the space..erg! Yesterday I went up and started de-rocking and creating my beds. The boys really, really wanted watermelon and pumpkins, so I planted those in the center so they'd have room to spread.
With the plot comes a variety of veggies. With yesterdays fog/drizzle, I only had time for planting my leftover tomato's as well as the 2 flats that came with the plot...but here they are! Tomorrow, when the rain from TS Barry leaves New England, I hope to put in a bunch of peppers, some hot, some bell...I'll be canning for weeks and weeks and weeks....

Pondering

2007-05-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

You know how when you're in your 20's and you spend oh so much time pondering on life, fate, the future, the meaning of life? Oh I know, this is a group of topics that are first pondered when we hit those mid=teen years when we have so little control over things in our lives...

Usually we have time in our later years to do "Deep Thinking" and I was thinking the other day, as I hurried through one chore to get to the next one...I've not had enough time for deep thinking lately.

And it bugged me.

I love my life, my beloved Lee, my children....but I'm so busy being busy that I'm not spending time doing some Kirsty thinking. I know, I *know* my purpose here is to love raise and nurture my children and I'm giving 100% of me to that effort...but I think I am going to carve out some time to reflect.

To think about those big questions. I've made time to get house work done, diapers washed, meals cooked, and recently added "reading", "gardening" and a wee bit of "quilting"...all important ingredients in the recipe of life.

But if I don't add the most important ingredient, "thinking quietly" I don't think my recipe will compute. I don't think I will compute.

ah, well, I'm tired. So tired. Midnight is hard on me, and my cough syrup has taken it's toll...are we drunk on it or stoned? dunno, just so glad I'm not coughing...of course, I've not tried to lay down yet so I may be back.

be ware You may be subjected to another stoned on cough meds blog entry!

now, go somewhere and reflect!

wierd things about me...

2007-05-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Laume posted on her blog beachtreasure about a meme where you post a bunch of things that are "wierd" about oneself. Hmmm. And what, if we are all individuals, is the true meaning of wierdness?

Like Laume, I often know who is on the other end of the phone when it rings.

I also will think "oh, I've not heard from so-and-so for awhile" and I'll either get a phone call, email, or snail mail within 24 hours from that so and so.

I like to change my hair color. Often. Sometimes 3 times in a two week period, like last week.

But I like the red/brown color it is just now so I'll keep it awhile. If only it would make my face as thin as the picture on the box...

I cry during sappy commercials. Even if I've seen them before.

I have had more kids join our family in my 40's than in my 20's, and two of those were infants!

I like to wear wool blend socks in the summer. Well, year round, really.

I sometimes forget that I'm nearly 50 and get shocked with my mirror's reflection when I walk past the front hall mirror.

I don't believe in using deodorant.

I howl at every full moon, from outside in my driveway. Loudly.

I gave up shaving my legs when I went through menopause. What's the point?

I prefer my spices to be alphabetized but my family makes fun of me when I do it so I only fix the cabinet once a year.

I like my life. Sometimes I complain, but not really loudly, and not for very long. Since so many people I know complain about every wee facet of their lives, I would love to consider *them* wierd, but I think it might must maybe be me!

I like ironing and weeding.

The end.

Happy Days....

2007-05-24T05:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the younger set in the kitchen this very morning, all happy! Such a nice thing to have everyone having happy smiles on a Thursday morning. Of course, when we hear things like it's supposed to be in the upper 80's today, sunny and wonderful that could bring a smile to the most dour of faces! When you consider that we had a frost warning 2 nights ago and have been running the heat again...well, we'll hope that all that is behind us now! I spend some time in the garden yesterday, transplanting some Hosta to my side yard where a trencher dug up our crumbling gas line a few months ago. We lost some Spring plants as well as Hosta, so this fall we will replenish them and have a full garden once again. It felt good to have my hands in the dirt again. Tonight I go to an information meeting about our community garden plot. It's up on the hill bordering the last apple orchard that Johnny Appleseed, our native son, planted before he headed west. This is still a working orchard, purchased several years ago by our fair city to protect it from zealous developers. We've not had a garden plot for over 20 years, so it will be fun to have a garden for veggies once more. Our yard has 40 or so maple trees surrounding the property so we don't have enough light for veggies here. The one area that gets the most sun is about 4 foot square and has a rose bush, Black Eyed Susan, and Purple Coneflower (echanachea).

Wow, don't know how I got on the garden tangent, except the fruits of my labor yesterday are visable outside the window next to my computer and I was smiling to see how well they have transplanted and...oops there I go again!

Okay, back to my human children! This picture of Lissa was taken last week. She is starting to creep/scoot in her crib and playpen, and is rolling like a champion. I think I took this on her 5 month "birthday"...she hit 16 pounds this week so she's a very solid girl. I saw a little baby boy who was born 3 days after she was, and he is nearly the same size and much chubbier than she is, so I am not worried about her "supersize"!! I think it's so hard for me because KC was a preemie, and was 16 pounds when he was a year old (and we thought that was wonderful...well it was...for KC!). The impish smile is what I see every day when she wakes up, and keeps me going through the screaming dervish she becomes between 7 and 8 p.m. as she fights to keep awake for one more minute! Oh, she is a stubborn lass...and I'm glad of it as she will need to be a stubborn lass to succeed in this world!

Today I...

2007-05-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

spent the day re-organizing my adopted room. Since Lissa came home to us in December, I've been sleeping downstairs in my mother in law's room. Mum lives in Maine, but the room is hers, and we use it for a guest room, and storage etc. And Lissa and I have been sleeping downstairs here so that Lee and KC will be able to sleep through the night. After all, Lee has to go to work each day, and I'm so glad I don't have to go out of the house to do that, and KC...well, who want's a cranky 2..er. . . 3 year old all day? So moving downstairs was easier for all 4 of us.

But this week Lissa began REALLY rolling over. She did it once at the beginning of April, front to back, and mid-April she went over back to front. Since then, nothing. Then yesterday she rolled over, I rolled her back and this went on for 20 minutes. She is so charmed by her mobility it's so awesome to see her grin and laugh with her accomplishment. This did, however, present the problem of her sleeping in bed with me, as she can wiggle down the side of the co-sleeper "box" and then roll into the middle of the bed. I'm such a sound sleeper once I'm out that I'm afraid I'd smush her, so there was nothing for it than I set up our crib.

Have you ever read "IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE"?? Great kids story about cascade effect ...and that kinda sums up this whole setting up the crib. It was upstairs in what will someday be Lissa's bedroom, all set up of course. So I had to take all the baby blankets off of it, move the 3 piles (different ages/seasons) of baby clothing that I've been meaning to pack/sort/or put away in the attic, and attempt to get the crib through the door. Get one side through, then the body...then..stuck at the other end. Drat! Rats!! Dammitall!!! Get side unstuck from doorjamb and only hit bruised knuckles once or twice, push crib back into room...yup, have to take it apart to get it downstairs. This takes about 20 minutes, not as bad as I remembered. Make 4 trips downstairs with assorted cribrails, sides, ends, mattress etc. Get sidetracked by a kid, lose an hour, go back to room to assemble the crib. Where the hell is my screwdriver? ? Spend 40 minutes looking for it, work with Rob on homeschooling project question, get KC a snack, check Lissa (napping), wake Lissa up accidentally while checking her, stop to feed her, go and run 2 errands, 2.5 hours later, back to work on crib...oh drat, that's right, lost my screwdriver...look at floor to ponder where I could have put it...there it is, right under the side rail of the crib, on the floor. PHew! Assemble crib. Look at where I can put it ..this room is crammed with furniture....

This engenders moving the double bed 3 times, putting all the winter clothing that was on top of the pine chest away so I could move that someplace, put away 2 sets of bedlinens in the drawer of the other chest, find homes for homeschooling supplies I don't use all that often, and FINALLY, I find the right spot for the crib (well, I knew where I wanted that to be all along), the bed, the 4 dining room chairs that have to be stored in here, the pine chest, the wee pine chest that has sewing supplies in it, the nightstand, the nightlight, AND I have made the bed as well! Now it is 230, I'm hot and tired, as it is almost 90 here with hight humidity, the kids are wild, and I had just 4.5 hours of sleep last night, and phew...it's time to cook dinner !! Lee skipped lunch at work today so she'll be extra hungry, what can I whip up fast fast fast, and still have a few minutes to sit and get off my tired mules?

Thank goodness for "fast" food vegetarian helpers. Morning Star Farms makes these "beef" strips (and chicken ones too) that you only need to lightly saute to prep. I had them on top of a light (doctored) pasta sauce and box spaghetti with the faux beef on top, a fresh salad, and all prepped in under 30 minutes! It was wonderful to carb up after moving all that furniture.

So now I'm heading off to enjoy my "new" room! Hopefully Lissa won't hate her crib forever, and I'll get used to not having her sweet self right next to me (sob)...and her wee cute turtle head popping up at 4 a.m. to laugh me awake for her bottle time! An adjustment for us both.

I've been a co-sleeping parent for 3 years now, this is so hard! Harder than moving all that furniture today...well, I'm stalling now, so I'm off!

Woodland Sprite

2007-05-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you, the boys were horrified when I told them I'd posed their sister in the brook.
"IN THE BROOK??!!" they hollered, practically in unison!
"In the Brook?" Lee quieried right after the boys.
"Yup, in the brook" I replied with a smile.
No, her feet did not get wet, nor did her bottom, at least not from the brook! No, she was not sitting on a rock exactly. There is a large rock that had a lot of debris in it from our spring rains, and it made a lovely hummock to sit her upon, with a nice pair of sticks for her to lean back upon, just like the brook was waiting for her (and I'm certain it was!). KC had his picture taken here as well, when he was about 2 months old. Lissa is double that in this picture, and she was totally fascinated by the stick she is holding onto.... and then....

she saw the water running past her feet and this was her reaction! I will mention that the brook runs about 2 inches deep unless it is stormy....

The view from my window

2007-05-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a wonderful thing to look at all Spring? The truly wonderful part of this garden is that my son Rob planted these tulips and daffodils over the past two autumns. He is 10!! I put in the Bleeding Heart and the Hosta from the backyard, but everything else is Rob's work. He pores over the catalogue from Breck's each summer, just plotting and planning where everything will go ... I..... I get to reap the benefits of his fascination with bulb planting.

It's been such a wierd spring too...first it was sunny, then the sun went away for about 15 days, and then it snowed, and sleeted, and finally, when it rained, it rained BUCKETS! So many people in the northeast were flooded out seriously, and had homes destroyed when the high tide, and wind driven waves took out their property that I'm not complaining at all about the mere 3 inches of water we had in our basement. And now 2 or 3 weeks later, and it's so dry out we're in fire danger alert! And we had a frost last night,and today it will hit 80, wihth 90's predicted for tomorrow...as I say, strange.

But I have a beautiful garden, and a wonderful son who makes it happen for me!