☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ Plus ++++

My families' life has taken a turn towards the bit crazy, busy.  My scientist son who was already to rock n roll for the summer up at college had a bit of an accident.  While having some fun with his bros, play soccer, he broke his leg last Sunday.  So I was on the road back and forth, spent a night in a frat house, sat at a hospital while my boyo had surgery, brought him home and, settled him into the living room.  Of course, this all happened after we had emptied our bedroom readying it for painting and flooring.  So we are all sleeping in the living room.  Gardens are on hold, while my hands are full with renovations and nursing care.  But that is just as well since the spring has been pretty frosty.  

I am flowing with everything and taking advantage of the situation.  My days with my boyo are numbered as he prepares himSelf for adult life that will surely take him away from Maine.  I am being In Joy with the time I have with him.  This may be my last chance to really care for him on this deep mothering level.  He is healing well and fast.  He is determine to get back to college and take his class that starts in June even though he can't bear weight on his leg for 5 more weeks.  So the blog is on vacation for bit until I catch my breath.  Plus, I want to give all the time I can to helping my son.

~~~Gratitude~~~ winter makings

This is how it looks out my window this morning.  Not very spring like!  March came in like a lion and is going out like a mule!  A slow melt may not be so bad.  It is...I...afterall, that always gets anxious when winter has nearly come to an end and I haven't gotten to all my winter projects.  I have, finally, accepted I will never be caught up!  That is an illusion because, for me, ideas beget ideas.  So here are some the ideas that have been hatched this winter and have actually been completed!

March is when I enlist the assistance of my DH for sewing machine maintenance.  I lug all the machines to the dining room table and DH brings in his compressor and blows all the lint out my machines.  Then we oil and grease.  My newest fancy machine only requires one drop of oil.  But the rest have detailed oiling diagrams.  The little Singer Featherweight I found at church sale years ago, paying only $10!  I haven't been using it...the sewing room is pretty crowded. Since it just got oiled I thought I should run it through it's paces.  Well, folks, I think I am in love!  It works so sweetly and is perfect for puppet making!  There IS room for one more machine in my space and heart!

This winter I came up with a new product!  I call them Pillow Puppet Pocket Pals.  First came the Bunny then I made some Piggies!  Working on a Panda pattern right now ideas are begetting ideas!

Bunny

Piggy!

I had some fun with my prototype bunny!  Bunny has a dot of velcro on it's paws for fun positionings and goofy poses!  Like this one reacting to another snowstorm!

Hanging in there with some goofy fun!

Peaceful contemplation of the winter beauty...

Here are a few more of my winter creations!

Black-eyed Susan

See no Evil * Speak no Evil * Hear no Evil

Goldie Fish

....and today's sewing...Bachelor Buttons!

 I am grateful for the lingering winter that is extending my creative ideas beget ideas without the distractions of spring.  And the time, the room, in my life to make them come true!

~~~~~~~~~~~My Lively Life~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Sea Glass & Copper Wire Ornaments with things I have gathered

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"Be Joyful because it is humanly possible"~~~Wendell Berry

~~~Gratitude~~~ Winter Weary...but...still grateful

~~~Gratitude~~~

Helloooo~~ I am still around...I haven't been lost in a snow bank..... 

I have been taking a bit of a computer break.  This winter is sort of dragging on.  Usually, by this time in February, I am getting nervous the winter will be over too soon.  Well, this winter has got me wondering if it will ever end!  Besides copious  amounts of snow it has been bone chilling cold!  For 3 days in a row I skipped my daily snowshoe and I admit to getting a bit cranky.  But, Sunday we finally had a respite with temps in the low 30's.  I got in a snowshoe, a walk on the road with a good friend, and best of all, my duckies got a bath!  I have much more to tell you about this long month...including BEing here for 20 days in a row!!  But for now I will be content with sharing (and revisiting) this balmy Sunday!  Yesterday and today are frigid again....but at least the sun is shining and no snow is falling!!

GRATEFUL for Duckie JOY!!!!

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your moments of Gratitude. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~

~~~Gratitude~~~ Quiet

 In the small hours after midnight

when things are still and calm

dreams float in the meadow

and the moon drifts o'er the farm

A. Curran

 This quote came to me via a greeting card years ago.  I keep it in my bedroom and especially enjoy it  in the late (early) dark hours of winter.  Winter is not my time to hibernate.  I tend to stay up later and later until it becomes early during this season of darkness.  I need less sleep now that I don't hit the pillow exhausted from my garden work.  More time to read, create, and be.  Just BEing in the quiet is my favorite thing to "do".  Like looking out the window into the world of dark & light or having time to really be aware of the contrasts of the cold outside and warmth by the fire.  Winter is my time of rejuvenation.  I am like an child waiting for Santa to arrive but, my gift is simply winter.   

This reluctant shopper has finally decided to buy her new computer this week.  No more research, thinking, hoping for the sale of the century, procrastinating  because I don't like to spend.  Time to accept that this computer has reached its end....nothing last forever...especially Winter...the best time for me to become comfortable with a new machine.  THEN I hope to be back to regular blogging.  I have new ideas and new directions in mind.  Until ~ SOON!

Hope you are finding time to enjoy this season simply because it is.  

Well wishes of relaxation!

 

~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your moments of Gratitude. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~

~~~Gratitude~~~ Many Things

This Morning

I know I have been absent, lately.  I am still having equipment issues.  My 2007 Vista with 2MB of RAM computer and my 2011 IPad 2 with IOS 8 (I recommend Not updating an older IPad...too late for me) are not quite up to "speed" with todays computer requirement.  Any day, now, I should be upgrading to the Mac Mini...when I finally decide what I want and face the fact that Apple really doesn't have sales...of course, then this long time PC user of a certain age will be on a little learning curve~~~  That said I will start my list of gratefulness with the fact that I am grateful I am in a position to purchase a new computer!

Winter seems to be here!  What a week!  Last Tuesday the temps reached nearly 60 F!  I was able to clean out the duck house with ease.  I was able to dig my last carrots too!  Carrots that have been in the gound through a few freezes are indescribably delicious!  They are a favorite of one young man I know, who happened to be coming home from college for Thanksgiving!

 I left a few carrots in the ground.  It was a bit of a gamble since the only mulch was their carrot tops and plenty of hunger mice and voles are in the area.  But, each day on my walk I would have Runa patrol the carrot area to hunt for these little subterranean carrot eaters.  "Pay Dirt" on Tuesday!

The last time my hands will be covered with earth in 2014!  I am so grateful for my garden bounty!

I did not need my fork to pull the carrots.  The soil was loose and wonderful from all the fall rains!  But winter is here now.  A sure sign of winter are the nap location chosen by Runa and Vern!

I am so happy to have winter.  Yesterday, I enjoyed my first snowshoe of the season with a couple of gal pals. On the day before Thanksgiving I made a lovely dinner enjoyed by the 3 of us + one good friend of our sons who has been in our life since the kindergarten days.  A real Eagle Scout who honored me and DH with Mentor Pins this fall!  I have warm house, plenty of firewood, a bursting pantry...I live surrounded by beauty and love.  I am very grateful!  I really want for nothing! (well except for the computer up grade...my machine has frozen 5 times while typing this :p )

I will be back to regular blogging.  I really enjoy the process and sharing.  I appreciate your patience...I am learning another level of patience with the current computer configurations.  In the meantime I wish you and yours all the very best!

~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your moments of Gratitude. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~

~~Gratitude~~

 There is a saying in Maine, "if you don't like the weather...wait a minute!"  Well, the last several days proved that adage to be true!  It started on Saturday the 1st of November with our first hard frost!  This is one of the latest frosts that I can remember.

I

I got the very last of my garden work done that day.  Liming & leaf mulching the lavender!

The Ducks enjoyed the day even with the frostiness. Good thing because, the next day turned into what I am calling Insta-Winter ......

Sunday started out with a few flakes.  Then the snow really started to pick-up soon followed by the wind.  So I filled the tub and any other water containers I could find.  By late afternoon we had a blizzard on our hands!

View out the sewing room window ~ Buntings at Etsy

Ducks did NOT mind the storm!  We tried to herd them in but they won't go until they were ready...after dark!

These photos don't really show the big blow that happened after dark. Speaking of dark we lost our power at 4:00pm Sunday afternoon.  We didn't get it back until Tuesday evening at 5:00pm.  49 hours without power really made me feel grateful for electricity.  I had plenty of off the grid activities to keep me occupied.  But, the power outage had the affect of discombobulating me.  I just couldn't get organized...so I organized along with a little therapeutic dusting.  I am never a spring cleaner, spring is time to get outside.  But when the weather brings me inside I get the urge to cleanse my nest.  While I was cleaning DH was plowing!

 

 2 days without power makes it pretty easy to reflect on Gratitude.  Grateful for showers, the use of the oven, lights at night.  But, also, grateful for our systems that make a power outage a bit more bearable. We have wood stoves to keep us warm, a generator so I won't lose all my garden goodness from my 2 chest freezers.  And of coarse, I found time to be grateful for all the beauty around me.

Today feels like spring!  The 12+ inches of snow is nearly gone and the temperature is mild.  I am all caught up with the post power outage chores like... since I emptied the refrigerator I might as well clean it.  Now back to Etsy work and blogging.  I am enjoying the shift in the seasons.  It is good to be done in the gardens...though I have to admit I have been looking at the FEDCO tree catalog and thinking about a few things for next year...ahh me!

~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your moments of Gratitude. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~