Change

Another grey, murky day in Maine.  The weather forecast is predicting a change and the sooner the better as far as I am concerned!  My gardens are suffering, slugs, mildew, and blight.  I am looking forward to fall!  The first signs are starting to appear.  Asters are in bloom and the wild apple trees are loaded.  This little tree's apples are pretty good.  Looks like I'll get some applesauce this year!

 

A bit of natural spookiness too!  Dreaming of halloween! 

My Etsy life in a bit of an uproar.  I am in the process of emptying my 2 rooms so we can continue the cork flooring project.  It is quite a project!  It is always amazing during a move all the discoveries one makes.  Definitely using the process as an opportunity to purge physically and metaphorically.  I plan to make some changes in the coming year.  I have been photographing tons of vintage items so I can keep listing during the construction time.  I will be setting up my sewing machine so I can sew but something tells me between harvest & floor laying I won't get too much done.  I have set up my office in the living room.  I hope to stay in touch and share some to the floor work.  Here are some photos of some new vintage finds as well as the moving in progress!

I am keeping the photo station up until the last minute!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/240655421/vintage-red-pitcher-tumbler-set

https://www.etsy.com/listing/243246502/vintage-bandana-scarf-backgammon-fabric

https://www.etsy.com/listing/244311599/great-dane-tractor-trailer-emblem

The sewing room is next!

Runa loves the new cork flooring!  Well maybe not, she is just a love!

Living Room Office

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

I Spin Yarns, Weave Dreams, & Sew to Mend the Soul

Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun

http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoyemporium

Hand Made Eco-Friendly Home Decor, & Toys

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyEcoCutie 

Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoytreasures

Beach Finds & Copper Wire Ornaments

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyGatherings

My Blog~~Makings, Musings, & Lifestyle on the Land: 

http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

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www.facebook.com/injoyemporium

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

Letting Go

There is this time every summer that, as a gardener, I just sort of let go.  What can be done is done or it may just be a weariness from all the work.  It is a time for a bit of respite before the harvest and garden clean up are in full swing.  That time is now, especially helped by a heat wave, it has been in the high 80's for days!  I got up before 5:00am this morning and took a walk with Runa, trying to beat the heat.  For the first time in a long while I grabbed my camera.  It has been some time since I came to this blog "place".  It has been a challenging summer.  My son broke his leg in the spring.  There have been many trips back and forth to the college campus.  Surgery, crutches, then complications so more travel for me and times of tension and worry.  Things are, finally, settling down.  The boy is on the mend and so is my psyche!  What has brought me peace during these times besides a supportive partner, is this place on earth.  I have often thought of starting up "here" again but I couldn't come up with a good segway for return.  So the time of "letting go" seems as good as any.  Here is a little photo journal of my dawn stroll with a bit of news from around the land.

The pond has been wonderful this summer!  I took a dip right after my walk.  I jump in everyday sometimes too tired to swim so I just float and look up at the heavens and relax.  The pond is quieter too.  We found a new home for our ducks so one less chore and little more freedom to travel.

A couple of photos of the "let go garden".  Plenty of dill!  Dilly beans will be processed soon!

A rare Vern sighting.  Except for meal time we hardly ever see him.  He is off on his own adventures these days.  Runa is my ever present companion!  Here she is begging for a bean.  She is such a lovely creature.  I am very grateful for her friendship.

 Still battling the beetles.  But they aren't making me so mentally crazy this year.  I sort of enjoy my evening of beetle collecting.  I might not be motivated to get outside around 8:00pm if I didn't have the beetles...who knows?

My favorite kind of flower is the one that creates a vegetable and can be tilled under in the fall!  This is a Long Pie Pumpkin flower surrounded by crimson clover.

A new experiment this year is letting a friend have a garden spot here.  It has been a very nice addition.  I have learned a thing or two from this beginner gardener.  Like I might not need to do quite as much work to get a good harvest.  Her garden is producing well even with being "neglected" more than my patches!

Well I have found my path back.  I will try to show up a bit more often.  All is Well~
wishing the same for you~~~~

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

I Spin Yarns, Weave Dreams, & Sew to Mend the Soul

Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun

http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoyemporium

Hand Made Eco-Friendly Home Decor, & Toys

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyEcoCutie 

Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/injoytreasures

Beach Finds & Copper Wire Ornaments

http://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyGatherings

My Blog~~Makings, Musings, & Lifestyle on the Land: 

http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

http://www.pinterest.com/injoyemporium

www.facebook.com/injoyemporium

https://twitter.com/InJoyEmporium

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/injoyemporium…

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

3 Days Gone!

Oh where, oh where, have I been!?  Three days gone from the gardens and this is what I find upon my return!  The wheelbarrow was too small for this haul so had to cart it all.  The last couple of days have been catch-up.  The day before that was running around town taking, the soon to return to college, boy/man to appointments and shopping.  BUT the two days before that I was on a trip!  A wonderful, beautiful, amazing boat voyage around and about Penobscot Bay, Maine!  

It has been a while since I have left my Freedom home for an overnight anything.  The morning of the trip it occurred to me that it had been over two years since I had gone away and slept anywhere else.  Funny thing is, I hadn't really noticed that I haven't been away.  Guess this speaks to the wonderfulness of where I live!

Seven women with beyond perfect weather set out from Belfast Harbor, Maine for Isle au Haut.  What good company!  We all brought amazing food.  But the weather was unimaginably beautiful.  Words escape me so I will let the photos tell the story.  (this will be a photo rich post for all my far flung family that do not have facebook)

Our Vessel ~ that transported us on a dream voyage

Evening arrives and we weigh anchor off of Isle au Haut~~

In the morning me and one other fearless mermaid took a QUICK dip in the harbor!

Towed the kayaks for these ladies, who enjoyed a morning paddle...
While the rest of us took the dinghy into "town" for a walk.

My turn at the helm!

A bit of my garden goes to sea!

Wind blown, a bit too much sun, and weary from a late night of gazing at the stars but, content.  I am so grateful to the Skipper for inviting me to come on this little adventure.  We had so much fun, tons of laughs!  We all worked well together and I am sure we will smile when we recall the evenings anchoring activities!  Leaving you with the lyrics to the Gordon Bok song, Isle au Haut Lullaby~~~~~

ISLE AU HAUT LULLABY (Hay Ledge Song)
(Gordon Bok)

If I could give you three things,
I would give you these:
Song and laughter and a wooden home
In the shining seas

Chorus:
When you see old Isle au Haut
Rising in the dawn,
You will play in yellow fields
In the morning sun.

Sleep where the moon is warm
And the moon is high.
Give sadness to the stars,
Sorrow to the sea.

Do you hear what the sails are saying
In the wind's dark song?
Give sadness to the wind,
Blown alee and gone.

Sleep now, the moon is high,
And the wind blows cold;
For you are sad and young
And the sea is old.

If I could give you three things
I would give you these:
Song and laughter and a wooden home
In the shining sea.

---Shop News--- Summer Distractions

I have been trying to spend 2 long days a week only working on Etsy, this has been a real challenge.  There are so many distractions!  I am making headway but not at the pace that I desire.  Here is my Thursday this week...supposed to be Etsy all the way but....

I did get this Vintage Spice Rack photographed and listed...

I sewed some eyes and whiskers on these Seal...something new coming to EcoCutie 
& a start cutting flower puppets

 


Then Runa had to out so I walked up to the garden and found an armload of summer squash ready.  One cannot wait when it comes to zucchinis, and the like, or you end up with monsters.  So I got busy blanching.  This is why I have a garden, to put food by.

I had planned to photograph and list these Buntings and all these Tendrils but I lost the light as well as my steam.  At least you can see I have been busy creating!

So I went outside in the little covered patio we call The Bear's Cave.  I thought I would try to do a little Etsy Teams work on my Ipad while enjoying the cooler evening air...until...

...I noticed this reflection in the table top.  I was so pretty. I began to reflect on reflections.  It was such a nice summer evening.  I just got up and began to wander about.

I spent the rest of the evening watching the light fade.  There will be another day to work.  But I wonder if these moments of reflection could really be our true employment.  It certainly makes all the other busy times more worth "wild"...at least for me!

I leave you with this lovely quote by Wendell Berry~~ Love & Light

“There are, it seems, two muses: the Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say "It is yet more difficult than you thought." This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” 
― Wendell Berry