Wordplay, F is for...

Fergie, my much beloved Irish Setter, pictured above
Family, the most important thing in the world to me...
Finite, a word I don't use much, as I prefer in-finite
Finish, what I want to do to so many of my UFO's...quilts, house projects, etc
Finangle...yah, you know ... It's how you get your significant other to do something that they don't want to...you finangle a deal with 'em!
Fugly...fug-ly, that is, something that is just too, too ugly!
Fog...I love fog, unless it lasts for 2 or more days. It is mysterious, and has a curious sound to it, all softly muffled and shushed.
Fart...one of KC's first words, it still cracks us up when he proudly pronounces that he's done it again!
Flowers...I love my gardens, they keep me sane.
Frankfurters...oh, hot dogs are so bad for you....but I love 'em!
Formica...the former life of my kitchen counters...before my sister in law worked for a corian dealer, and many, many years ago, put it in my kitchen for a real deal...one of the few well timed things I've done, house-wise.
Fiddleheads...we look for them when we hike in the spring, and in the side shade garden, too
Fruit...don't eat as much of it as I should
Frosting...dont' eat as much of it as I should, ha ha!
Florida...been there, tried it, hated it, except for the fauna
Flamingo's...Lee took a million pix of them when we were in Florida, cracked me up, big time when we had the film developed over the rest of the summer, at least 2 flamingo's in every set!
Flamenco...reminds me of dancing with the stars, and how much I adore that silly show.
Flamboyant..ya, me, sometimes.
Fini...this post!

Sod off? NO! Sod IN!!

Someday I'll figure out how to load the pictures so they come out in order, but nonetheless, you see before you the before, during and nearly complete transformation of our backyard. Where the white line is in this last picture, is a line of "cobbles" that separates the lawn from the kids play area, and that area will eventually be filled with kid friendly mulch, as soon as I have time to dig up the remaining lawn areas and money to get the mulch with! There is a ton of weeding to do already, but I'm just so glad to have a lawn once again that I've been happydancing all over the place!

Word Play, E is for Everything!

Elusive....like the very subtle, natural pentagram in the photo above...can you pick it out?
Education...as a home educator, I believe educational opportunites are everywhere
Eggplant...pretty color, ucky taste! I just loathe it, but make it once a year for my dear wife
Egalitarian...I just like the way that word sounds when y0u say it aloud
Edward, Eddie, not my favorite namess, but I have an aunt,
Edie, whom I love dearly!
Eggs, especially farm fresh ones I get from Peggy, my fellow alto at UUCW! Yum!
Ethereal...another lovely word. I love looking at clouds, and photographing them because of their ethereal beauty...
Eager...something I am not anymore, as often as I would want to be, unless it is going out to dinner!
Eating. Okay, I admit it, I love to eat! Else why would I be the shape I am, right?!
Elephants. I am Enchanted with them. Their loving loyalty to their mates, their young, their comrades, their precarious Existance on this planet, and their massive size.
Earth. I love to dig in it, and I'm very happy to be a resident here. I also love the smell of it after rain or snow has fallen.
Eggshells. How can something so fragile be so very strong?
Egrets. Especially Snowy Egrets. They are so strange, and wonderful and beautiful.
Exercise. Hate it, mostly. But need to do more of it.
Except. I use this all the time...we are all done...except. What an oxymoron I can be sometimes hahaha!
I'm all done, Except....
Enliven...go Enliven someone's Existance!

Hair, again!

Well, hair I am again !! If you read my blog a few weeks ago, I went back to blonde, after years of being a redhead. Last week at the salon, spur of the moment, I went platinum. Gods know what I was thinking, and after 24 hours, decided that I did not look good as a platinum blonde...my coloring is just too "ruddy" for it, and I aged at least 10 years. So, I think I'll tone it down by using at home color...ash blonde. My hair grabbed the color...the gray color, and I had very vibrant cigarette ash gray hair....major panic. So I run out, grab another color to relighten it...nada...no change except the gray is brighter. The next morning I look in the mirror and am totally grossed out by this...strange gray. I have nothing against gray hair, mind you, but this color, I am sure, does not appear in nature!! So I asked a friend who used to be a beautician, and she told me I should be grateful that I didn't turn green because of various chemical reactions, can you imagine if I did that to myself???!!! And then she recommended brown colorant. So I went out again, and colored it a medium brown and used the kind that you highlight after coloring...and I love it. NO, I mean LOVE it!! It's something different from red, and not 100% blonde, so I am really enjoying it. And because my hair is very resiliant, I have had no damage other than to the tops of my ears which I burned with the 3rd treatment. That means that I colored my hair 4 times within 36 hours! Vanity, vanity to be sure, but with a crooked nose, and rotund figure, and short to boot, one must have one vanity!!

D is for...

Dangerous, like the thunderclouds in the pictures, boiling up from the west and blustering through causing
Disruption...of plans, like wanting to sew so much today and only getting a quarter of what I wanted to do, done.
Done...what I want be with this quilt, so I can gift it to my friend
Daylight which there are so many more hours of now in late April, Destination, like, where am I going? where have I been? am I on the right track?
Dogs, especially my Irish Setter Fergie,whom I love, as well as other dogs in the future...and right now we're rather leaning towards a...
Doodle, a cross breed mix of standard poodle and either Labrador, which makes a labradoodle, or a golden retriever, which makes a golden doodle. Google them...they are so very cute! And almost allergy free, to boot!
Desire, for romance, for chocolate right NOW!, and for more time
Driving, which I do a lot, but not as much as my Colorado friend, and which I usually enjoy
Daisies, a great perennial flower in my garden
Deer which I see sometimes in the meadow not too far from my house
Dang! a word that I use to not say Shit! anymore, because it was one of the baby's first words, and I really needed to change that!
Drool, which the youngling is doing alot as he cuts his 2nd year molars
Drizzle, yes, it's just drizzly here today, but more rain is forecast for tonight, thank the Goddess, as we really need the rain
Donut, another of the baby's first words, to go along with my ...
Dunkachino, the only coffee mix I can drink, and that only sporadically.
Duh, a word that bugs me when one kid says it to another but I think is appropriate when self directed
Drover, one of the characters in the Hank the Cowdog series, who is absolutely hysterical! We listen to the book-on-cd on our trips to Maine. It keeps the boys occupied and laughing the entire 1.5 hour trip up!
DVD's... a very neat invention!

Orange Chiffon Pie Recipe

I don't usually post recipes, but if you love creamsicles, you have to try this recipe! You can make it easier by purchasing a graham cracker crust, or you can make this one, which I found at recipe zaar (recipe number 63068). It's as easy as....well, pie!

Orange Chiffon Pie

1 Graham cracker crust :Mix 1.5 cups of crushed graham crackers; 0.25 cup of sugar and 4 or 5 Tbsp. of melted butter. The recipe calls for 5, but I used 4 and it was fine. Mix all ingredients and press into a pie plate. Refridgerate for 1 hour. See, easy!

1 -3 oz. pkg orange gelatin
1 -Tbsp sugar
0.75 cup water
0.50 cup orange juice
1- tsp grated orange peel ...I left it out and it was still fine!
1-8 oz carton of non-dairy whipped topping, thawed

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve gelatin and sugar in water. Add orange juice and peel. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until thickened but not set. Beat on high speed with mixer for 3 minutes, until very foamy and thickened....note: it gets thick very fast after the 3 minutes are up so you need to do the next part right away! Fold or beat in the whipped topping, pour into graham crust. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

I'm so looking forward to dessert tonight!

The recipe was created by Tina Dierking of Maine, and published in Taste of Home's 2003 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes.

You just have to see this picture to realize...

...that KC is totally and completely unhappy about his new haircut. Two days later and, when he sees his reflection in the mirror, he shreeeeeeks at it! He is getting a bit of peach-fuzz back on top now, but he is really not amused at mom's Sunday shearing of the lads!

WordPlay, C is for...

C is for Cat, Wallace Sebastian by name, the greatest "patrol cat" ever, and my beloved Willa, may she be playing happily in the Summerlands with all the great cats who preceeded her...

C is for cinnamon, one of the best spices in the world, second only to ...

Chocolate and Cocoa...this needs no explaining!

Creamsicles, one of those benchmarks of mid-summer,

Candy...which I eat sometimes but not as often as I did before I started being more....Careful! and this is also a word I use alot with the boys--sometimes more with the 20 year old than the 2 year old...

Caffeine, in the form of tea or diet Coke

Coconut...who can make a bunny cake without it?

Caramel...love to make my own for frosting, but don't care at all for them in those mixed chocolates boxes...

Caring...the nurturing of my lifemate, the rearing of our children, the upkeep of our 175 year old home, the love-bond with my pets, my friends, my extended family...

Concern...what I feel when I hear about the latest death toll in Iraq, and very deeply concerned when I hear about "proposed plans" for a nuclear strike by this president, against another country and it's citizens...

crud...the cold I have now that makes my eyes and nose look like rudolph's nose

Computer...why did I ever fight so hard about learning to use this wonderful, and sometimes annoying, tool?

Cash...wish I had more of it, but happy with what I've got, really.

Cable tv...I just love the weather channel, lol!

CD's. Music on a mini disc...who would've thought those plentiful black vinyl disks would become obsolete in my lifetime?

cream, frozen with chocolate chip cookie dough...I know that could be under "I" for Ice cream, but I wanted to be sure to include it!

carrots, which are great with hummus or in stew or...plain!

colors...the world would be so very drab without them

crayons...see above entry

It's amazing...

...but, just when I think I cannot cope one more moment with "losing" my 1 hour of sleep due to Daylight Savings Time's resumption, an image like above appears. I took this picture just a few moments ago, at 725 p.m. in my backyard in New England....I can see the scampering clouds, the brook in the backyard clear as full day, the kids toys in the backyard, the blue star flowers in the front yard, the cardinal as he visits the feeder one last time before heading off to his nest in the pines in the yard behind ours. In short..er, perhaps that should be "in long", I can see at 725 p.m. This, then, is the great trade-off for that missed hour. And although I will admit to being very tired on this Friday evening, my heart has received a balm that will sustain it through the coming months...more daylight, more blossoms, more birds, and more ability to be a part of this wonderous evening light.

B is for...

Beauty, which is found everywhere, if you look hard enough

Breakfast, one of my 3 favorite meals of the day


Bounty which my life is full of, and I don't mean the paper towels!

Brokeback, a movie I want to see soon,

Baby, who I hope comes home to us soon,

and Boys, specifically my 3, who are my deepest joy

and blue, my first and truest favorite color... who can't look out the window or up at the sky on one of those blue-oh-so-very-blue sky days, especially right after a cloudy spell, and not feel the wonder of all that blue?

bologna...sometimes you just want a bologna sandwich, you know?

Blogs, which I think are the wonder of the modern world!

Booties, which goes back the to baby thing and *not* where you were going! ha!

Boogers. I had to say it. I have boys. We talk about these things. And sometimes sing songs about them.

Barry, my good friends young Lab, and the singer too, y'know? Manilow!

Bump, as into things, something I do way too often.

and Burp. reference to Booger, above.

and I can't finish without mentioning my other favorite b word.... Books!

Word Play, A is for...

Adorable, as in children and pets...I have 3 of one and 2 of the other...

and absolute, like in the love I have for my one true beloved wife, even if she hates hates hates the camera...

and Audubon, the sanctuary that helped open Robbie to nature and the Goddess...

and abilities, ones that I have learned from all walks of this joyful loving life I am living....sewing, quilting, knitting, cooking, driving, seeing the small slices of life around me, loving...and learning, the most important ability of all.

Spring is out and about....

Two weeks ago we went to Maine and were able to be in that fine state on "Maple Sugar Sunday", where we were able to sample the fruits...er, that would be syrups, I guess, of these dilegent, hardy farmers. We had maple syrup on ice cream, maple sugar candy, and maple sugar 'straight up' in a shot glass! There was a pretty stiff breeze blowing which kept it cool, but once inside the shed where the sugar was being boiled down it was lovely and warm. Outside, we had the chance to see maple sugar being boiled down in H*U*G*E kettles over an open fire...it was an amazing sight, and truly gives one an appreciation for our forebears who worked so hard for their syrup. The boys were excited to see oxen, as we have been studying westward expansion, including how oxen were often used to pull the prairie schooners on their journeys. Seeing them plod past gave Robbie a fine appreciation for just how long it would take to go somewhere being pulled by the ox, rather than being transported in mere hours to a place 100 miles away in a Dodge Caravan!

And for all of you who are still shoveling, some pictures from the garden here in Massachusetts, where we have had an unusually early spring, yay!

On the last day of winter...

Yes, the last day of winter! We've survived another one. OH, I accidentally spelled that "won", erased it and re-wrote it, but now I wonder if it wasn't really correct the first way! I feel like I won something! I was looking out my window at the silver sky, feeling a bit bleak about the bleakness, and I look down to my front garden. I was feeling bad about the poor garden, as last week I barely had time to do much more than rake off some of the leaf-blanket I put on last fall. It got so cold again last Sunday and has stayed cold, that I never went out to finish the job...when to my amazement, I see these two purple spears poking up...my giant crocus, just waiting for the temps to go over 35 so they can open! O!
Then I knew we were on the other side...it may well snow again. Frankly I might be disappointed if it didn't snow at least one more good one before the good weather comes to stay. But it won't last. The push and struggle of life will suddenly burst forth, and nothing Old Winter can do will work, and it will retreat north, north and north! And the proof is in those crocii. Hope, wearing deep purple, poking up from the darkness of cold soil, will not be denied. Welcome Spring! Farewell Winter!

A family hike

It was a lovely day here in Mass. with temps over 60 for the first time in....forever, practically! So we went on a hike at our local Audubon sanctuary. Robbie comes here once a week to attend a homeschooling class, and is really getting into nature, which is a wonderful transformation for him. KC has discovered the fun of running in the fields from these sojourns, and today was totally enraptured to hike in the woods. Except for .10 of a mile where the trail was very muddy and he was in his carrier, he hiked nearly all of the 1.5 mile trail through woods and fields! He is such a sturdy lad, which just amazes me. He is so short, but he is tough! I can't believe he'll be 2 next month! Anyway, these are some pictures of Lee and the boys. I kept running ahead, yelling stuff like "be natural" and "don't look like you're posing, Robbie, just stare at that tree, would ya?". Lee told me it was like hiking with the paparazzi!! Despite the constant annoyance of me whipping out my camera, the hike was wonderful, everyone had a good time, and we're hoping that tomorrow will be warm and sunny like today!

Okay, so this is different....

Top: yesterday, and below: today. O what a difference a day makes! Well, it is very different. After flirting with blonde a few years ago, and growing up blonde, and living as a redhead for, hmmm, 18 years or so, I went to my hairdresser yesterday, had the brown stripped out, and blonde put back in. It is very, very blonde! I think when I go back in a 6 weeks, I'll have some "lowlights" put in, if I don't even go down a shade or two. Wow! I've never been this blonde before. Awhile ago I walked into the bathroom to get stuff out of the dryer, turned on the light and gasped....I'd forgotten, you see. I've been living with that kinda drab brown, which was supposed to turn my hair a lovely ash blonde, btw, for about 2 weeks, and had gotten used to it. As I suppose I will get used to this too! At least when I walk at dusk, I won't need a reflective vest, eh?!

Stopping by washer on a cold Sunday morning

So, it's in the 5 a.m. hour on a perfectly good Sunday morning and here I am on the computer instead of my nice warm bed, with my nice, warm family! I had to let the dog out, who's bladder alarm can never distinguish Saturdays or Sundays, just "it's 5 a.m. pul-eeze let me out, mom" and I had to run down cellar and get the diaper wash I put in last night and the cold air was so invigorating that I am now too jazzed to go back to bed. And I got to thinking, as I loaded the diapers in the dryer, that in January, I used my clothesline for diaper drying for at least 2/3 of the month, and here it is, March, and I've barely been able to convince myself to go outside to put in or take out the wash, it's been that cold.

A friend of mine was talking the other day, and mentioned how we would all be whining come mid-July, about how hot it was out....

....I don't know if I'd be whining............okay, I probably will ! But right now summer heat seems an awfully long way away. Don't get me wrong, I love New England and the changeable weather, but January spoiled us, and, I think, delayed our cabin fever by a few weeks. We've been able to be out and about, not very much snow to hinder us all winter, excepting December, but it's not the same, being out and about when the windchill hovers in the single-degree range.

On a positive note, another flock of robins landed on the hill about 3/4 of a mile from here. We had a mini-flock in our yard Friday, they blew in with the wind, and blew right back out again in an hour. The poor things are looking for worms which are frozen deep in the soil...I sure hope it warms up fast before they starve.

What I've been doing...

This is my wife Lee, and our wee lad, KC at my surprise birthday party a few weeks ago. Lee and my best pal Wendy surprised Wendy's husband Greg, and me, with a joint birthday party, as Greg's birthday is a few days after mine. KC is wearing his first ever birthday hat, and learned how to blow those roll-out noisemaker-thingies. What do they call those, anyway? *****

I can hardly believe that KC will be two in just 6 weeks! Sometimes I try to picture him when he was the "wee worm", he was just so tiny. He is still such a short little fellow, but sturdy and determined, two very important traits, I think. He sticks with something until he is satisfied, whether it is putting blocks just so, or shaking milk from his sippie cup into the top recess of his baby gate, creating a fetid milk mini-lake if you don't catch him doing it!

We are adopting another baby, are on the waiting list, and will likely be receiving an infant from the same agency that placed KC. The wait could be as long as 18 months which would be next summer. It's a worry, as I creep ever closer to 50...next summer I'll be 48...but having this second generation of children has made my spirit young. And I have an excuse for napping midday, to boot!

Whine, pizzle.

Have you ever been such a grump that you wanted to just slap yourself and holler "fer crissakes, jest get OVER it already"?? That pretty much sums up today. I ate icecream for lunch, which ordinarily would not be a bad thing, but I'm on a diet for goshsakes, and the boys have been trolls, and the sky is cloudy and we're just this close )( to having a snowstorm, missing it, and having the cloudy dreary skies, but no sparking snow to make it all worthwhile. I can see the dark clouds on the horizon, and if that is not a metaphor for how my mood is, I can't think of what is!

I know I didn't get a good nights sleep, because the baby kept kicking me out of the bed, as he loves to sleep sideways and I'm in the way. The dog woke up at midnight because his schedule got screwed up by being at the groomers, and the groomer could not get all the tangles off of him, so he got all his long hair whacked off, and is a "shorthaired" Irish Setter at the moment. Except for his ears and tail, and that, somehow, makes it worse! It will take some time before he grows his "feathers" back and I am currently vowing to groom him daily so I am in the habit as the hair grows back.

My hair color sucks big time. I tried to go blonde from red and it came out brown. Now, I'm obviously not a chemist, but someone please explain how blonde turns brown for gosh sakes. And it's growing out and looks doggie....except the dog is currently near bald. And I'm not. Bald, that is.

Sigh, I guess I will go have a cuppa, keep my appointment with the chiropractor, and see how the rest of the day shakes out. It's 4 pm eastern time, so the day is nearly over, whether it gets better or not. That should be a comfort, right?

Here is Barbara's quilt. It's still very much in process, but I wanted to show the "bones" to all my quilting pals! She will love the pictures of her dogs, and the center ones especially, as he passed over the Rainbow Bridge last fall. She loves orange primarily, and yellows, and asked for greens as her new room has green in it. This is the center panel, it will have 5 blocks on each side, with a "block" being 4 mini blocks. My goal is to have time to have the entire top together before Easter, and then start quilting it, to have the entire project done before September.