It is PC to Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!

Today was another great day to enjoy the sunshine through the window!  Below ZERO again!!  Did my chores and spent the rest of the day working on my NEW computer... and getting used to it...

I have been using PCs since that late 1980's... pre Mouse!  I had no experience with Apple until I got an Ipad in 2011.  When Windows 8 became my PC choice for upgrading from my 2007 HP Vista I decide if I have to learn something new it might as well be a Mac.  It is a bit like teaching an old dog new tricks.  For instance, to go to the end of a sentence I keep hitting the "end" key "ending" up at the bottom of the page and making a sort of expletive sound... instead of doing Command - >.   I have this great book By David Pogue and I have Apple Care on speed dial to help me but, it is my nature to try and figure things out on my own first.  This all takes time.  So I am behind in my self appointed goals...like blogging more frequently.

I wouldn't say I am super computery.  I probably could be if I had more interested in becoming so.  I am more inclined to sew or weave or spin or walk or read... you get the picture.  But the life of an Etsian requires a good amount of time computing.  So I have made a few improvements to my office.  Besides the Mac Mini I got my self a stool for my standing desk so I can sit sometimes....especially while I am reading the manual!  I do like my new computer and I am sure it is good for my brain to be learning the differences.  I think it was a pretty good value.  I am still using my HP VGA monitor which saved me a few bucks.  I traded in the magic mouse for a regular Logitech optical mouse.  I found the magic mouse a bit harder to click and sometime some of its features needed to turned off so I wouldn't go nuts slip sliding through pages!

Also, I was gifted a new Etsy office mascot... this big beautiful Monroe Salt Works Pottery Raven.  If you follow my blog you know I have a special place in my heart for these fine feathered friends!  I give her a pat on the head as I enter and leave this room!  She is starting to show up in some of my listing photos...

Valentine Heart ~ Raven NOT included!

I have been getting used to importing photos and editing them on the Mac and have recently added some fun things to my Vintage Shop ~ InJoyTreasures

Like this Goofy Frog 

Time to get ready for Chinese New Year with this nice Lantern

Or how about a Doll Bench ~ Raven NOT included

Wish me luck and patience (I just did it again with the "end" key...glad you can't hear my swearing!).  I think Thursday I will take more time to sew!  Heading to the loom for awhile after this...Thanks for stopping by!

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

Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun

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

Hand Made Eco and Upcycled Cutie Buntings, Clothes, & Toys

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

Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 

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

Sea Glass & Copper Wire Ornaments with things I have gathered

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

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

http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/injoyemporium

http://instagram.com/injoyemporium

http://www.pinterest.com/injoyemporium

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

Deep Freeze

Brrrrrr is the word of the day!  Morning chores required an extra bit of bundling up!  Today's fashion is the Michelin Man look!  I found this great, big coat at a thrift shop last summer for $2.50...it may not be beautiful but it is warm!  Neoprene face mask is much better than a scarf in these conditions.  Handmade (by me) hat from an old wool coat...custom fit for my needs!  It was 0-F in my breezeway...colder outside.  I had an Etsy order going to sunny CA!  The first leg of it's journey is up my frigid driveway. 

350+ feet in squeaky cold snow seems a bit further today...but not as far as it feels during bug season! 

Next, on to the duck chores.  I am running a heat lamp so they can choose to get under it for a warm up.  Fresh water, food, hay each morning.  Keeping them locked up today with such risky weather.

The ducks keep a strict 10 feet away from me rule.  While doing the chores they run back and forth between the yard and house in order to maintain their space tolerances.  Wacky Quacky fun!

EVEN in this cold they are giving me 4 eggs a day!

Poor Runa, she wants to go for a walk so bad.  I am bundled up enough that I could tolerate the cold but, not my pup!  So we play a game throughout the day called "get the squirrel".  Utter these words and she is off like lightening to let these rodents know they are not welcomed here!  As soon as she is out of sight I call her back and she gets a treat.  This game takes the edge off her cabin fever.  Now, Vern, the cat, he is hiding for fear I will put him outside.  He's a cat, he won't take chances!

One last chore...empty the "beast" stove of its ash.  Today is a 2 wood stoves, Monitor K-1 heater, + electric heater in the bathroom running day!  

Stay Warm & Safe!

Happy Winter!

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

Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun

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

Hand Made Eco and Upcycled Cutie Buntings, Clothes, & Toys

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

Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 

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

Sea Glass & Copper Wire Ornaments with things I have gathered

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

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

http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/injoyemporium

http://instagram.com/injoyemporium

http://www.pinterest.com/injoyemporium

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

---Shop News--- Buy a Haiku ~ Get TWO!

Makers can be a little obsessive.  That is how so much gets done!  But, sometimes, maybe, a maker goes off the charts a bit.  I sort of over estimated how "popular" Haiku would be on Etsy.  Personally, I adore Haiku.  As far as I am concerned, it is the quintessential form of poetry.   I love the rhythm of the 5 - 7 - 5 syllables.  I will clap them when I am creating a Haiku.  The structure is like weaving but the subtle meaning is like the heather of handspun hand dyed wool.  Well, anyways, that is what inspired me to make so many! 

I have been running a buy one get on free until they expire or are sold out.  I have 12 left in my shop right now.  If you want to get some before they are gone I will GIVE you 2 extra Weavette Haikus when you buy ONE for only $8.00!  Just mention BLOG in the note to the seller at checkout.  You will get 3 Weavette Haikus for the Price of ONE!  Each will be different.  

~ BUY 1 HAIKU get 2 FREE ~ Mention BLOG in the Note to Seller

These sweet little hangings are handwoven on a weavette loom with my handspun yarn. A traditional Japanese Haiku is digitally printed on to vintage cotton and sewn to the woven piece with a 1957 vintage sewing machine.

This is a Favorite!

...but the Dragonfly is my favorite insect....

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

Fiber Art, Weaving, Hand Spun

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

Hand Made Eco and Upcycled Cutie Buntings, Clothes, & Toys

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

Vintage Collectibles, Buttons, Clothing & MORE! 

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

Sea Glass & Copper Wire Ornaments with things I have gathered

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

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

http://injoyemporium.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/injoyemporium

http://instagram.com/injoyemporium

http://www.pinterest.com/injoyemporium

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

New Year Day Fire

2015 started cold and clear for us here in Maine.  I love to start or end the year with an outside campfire.  There is just something so cleansing about a fire.  Plus, it is a good way to have fun at home.  I spent the morning cooking.  I had a big pot soup on the cookstove along with duck egg white meringue cookies & duck egg yolk frittata.  Pretzels, peanuts, and pickles where the campfire snacks.  After all my cooking I managed to get out to the fire for a cup of tea and a few moments alone.  (DH had got it going while I was in the kitchen)  It was nice to have some quiet and reflect on the past year or rather just stare at the fire and try not to think or plan.  Just be with the moment.  Feel the heat of the fire before me and the cold on my back.  It is the best kind of meditation.  

Later I was joined by my son and his pal, my husband and a good neighbor friend.  A small lovely gathering with good conversation and laughter.  The fire went into the night.  DH & I ended the evening with a bottle of wine and embers.  Another year begins.  Another day begins. Another moment begins ~~~

Burning the Old Year

BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

Letters swallow themselves in seconds.   

Notes friends tied to the doorknob,   

transparent scarlet paper,

sizzle like moth wings,

marry the air.

So much of any year is flammable,   

lists of vegetables, partial poems.   

Orange swirling flame of days,   

so little is a stone.

Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,   

an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.   

I begin again with the smallest numbers.

Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,   

only the things I didn’t do   

crackle after the blazing dies.

Gardens End ~ Years End

Hello!  I am still here.  I have my new computer... I am getting used to it....spending a good deal of time with the tedious task of transferring things from the PC to the MAC.  Which creates a great opportunity to consider what I want and what a do not.  A perfect task to be doing at the end of another year.  I haven't taken the time to get my camera software on this computer so in the meantime here is a blog I began in the fall that I never finished.  Another wonderful way to end a year with reflection on the things gone by.  (Plus I am getting used to my keyboard and trying out various heights to see if I need DH to make a custom board to get it just right...ergonomically!)

I barely remember this day of digging.  All this food is now nicely tucked away in the cold room.  Some of it has been eaten.  We are already through nearly half the carrots!  Guess I should plant more next year.  This is the time of year we tend to take stock in all that has passed.  A time for goal setting and getting busy again after all the celebrations.  I have begun my long list of desires.  Hoping not to make my Self crazy with my goals but, to always remember slow and steady fills the pantry.  There can Be times for flurry and time for reflection all mixed together.

It has been a nice and quiet holiday here.  Just the 3 of us enjoying good healthy food and each others company.  I declined most invitations for big parties and listened to my need for quiet.  I feel refreshed rather than drained from this festive time of year.  I hope to continue to improve my inner "hearing" in the new year!

Well, time to get back to the transfer work, year end bookkeeping, garden notes, seed order, Etsy creating, and all the day to day ~ buzz, buzz, busy-ness!  Hope this little blog finds you and yours well.  And if I don't get back "here" before the New Year... Wishing you a Very Happy One!

Simplified & Sustainable Christmas

I decided this year not to have a holiday tree.  This will be the first time in 20 years without the tree.  (can you guess how old my son is?!)  I have never purchased a tree, they have always been wild trees from our land.  I am usually scoping out trees several weeks ahead of time during my daily walks.  This year I didn't find a tree that I wanted to cut down.  So I thought why not just skip it...

For the last several years the tree tradition has been my baby.  DH & Son don't really care one way or the other.  I go out and cut the tree and drag it back to the house.  I need to clear a space in our small home for the tree which involves packing up my little loom and putting my spinning wheel away for the duration.  I do all the decorating, watering, and then take it down when the time comes.  So no tree has been something I have been considering for a number of years.  When my son was young he used to help and enjoy it very much.  In those days we would put an electric train around the tree...it was a lot of fun.  And that is what it is supposed to be about, Fun!  So when my son didn't enjoy it anymore I did it because I wanted too, but not this year. 

But the house wasn't feeling that festive, at least not for me.  

It just so happened that I had made plans with a couple of gal pals to come over and make wreaths. I went out tipping in our woods for balsam fir boughs.  Well, when they came over we got to gabbing, took a snow shoe, then a sauna...time got away from us.  I was left with a big pile of tips.  The an aha moment happened!  Why not make a big garland and decorate it with some cherished ornaments!

Here is how I did it!

First a little explanation on tipping.  It is pretty simple.  If you have balsam fir it is the nicest smelling and the needles are soft.  Spruce is pretty prickly.  Any evergreen will work.  Be sure it is your land or you have permission to tip.  In Maine it is against the law to tip on other folks land without permission.  We have a pretty big wreath industry in this state.  Tipping is sustainable and enjoyable.  You just snap off a few tips from many trees to get your boughs.  The boughs are about 10 to 15 inches long.  You can use pruners but on a cold day they will just snap off.

All you need is some wire on a paddle or spool.  Some pliers to cut the wire and something to wrap the boughs around.  I used a long piece of bailing twine.  Also, I put an old sheet down to catch the needles and keep my table pitch free.  Next just grab a bundle of tips and start wrapping the wire around the tips and twine.

Make several wraps of wire around each bundle of boughs.

I end with a few half hitches around the final bundle with the twine.

 Leave some twine for hang your garland.

I have sturdy beams for hanging.  It is a bit heavy.  Fewer tips would make it lighter.

Then decorate it with some ornaments!

It has been up for over a week and is shedding very few needles.  The few that do fall are easy to sweep up.  It smells great!!  I love going up and putting my face into it  and soaking up the aroma.  When I am finished enjoying it I will be able to wrap it up in an old sheet and dry the needles for balsam fir sachets!  Love a multi tasking task!  

I new tradition has been born!  I love this garland!

All my fussing about didn't even phase Vern one bit

...or...

could it be the new catnip rat I made him?

Wishing You & Yours a Very Happy Holiday Season!  

I am really savoring a simpler celebration this year.  

More time to enjoy the ones I love & just gaze out the window on a beautiful wintery day.

~~~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'~~