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Archive for the ‘Home’ Category

A Wonderful World

Monday, December 26th, 2011

OMG…we hit the big time… Just watching CNN Headline news and it had  HOPE, MAINE –our town of 1313 souls–with 4 inches of snow yesterday LOL!  What a hoot–I’ll bet Hope has  never before made national news!   I had opened this post just a moment ago thinking it would be a nearly-no-words post, just pictures, but that was too hilarious not to share!

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring...except for the kitties, the dust bunnies and me...

 

While unwrapping, Eli decided to turn Mr. Wiggles into a gift... Mr. W was somewhat uncertain about this turn of events....

 

Joshua and Ashley had many stops...her mom's, her dad's, our house, but got to come over twice, for gifts earlier in the day, and supper later...Here Ashley is (woohoo!) happy to receive Joy of Cooking. The kids got lots of gifts for the house from the various relatives, hers and us

 

They even had time for some f un wrastling...notice the gins? (Ashley was grinning too...clearly Joshua has taught her a couple wrestling moves)

 

Me, wearing perfect turquoise earrings and a made-by-Marie-Shibori silk scarf--Thank you dear one!

Eli walks the dog... we got more snow than predicted so driving was a bit dicey going to get J&A, but this may have been the first Christmas in my life where we both had snow on the ground AND snow falling from the sky! Stunningly beautiful

Finishing with a feast! From left to right, Eli, Brad (friend of J&A), Ashley, Joshua, Paul, and behind the camera, me! After this shot, we were all too busy eating to remember the camera!

What a wonderful life, what a wonderful world.  I hope your days are as filled with love and joy!  And maybe a bit of art and sewing, too!

The Night the Animals Talked

Saturday, December 24th, 2011

Mom gave me a record when I was a girl…probably when I was about 8 or 9, that included the story “The Night the Animals Talked.”  As vinyl records gave way to cassette tapes, I recorded it from album to tape, and  continued to listen to it every single Christmas Eve without fail.  Then CDs arrived, but no CD version of it, so I kept up with my cassette.  Finally, the last boom box with a cassette player died, and I could only sit in my cold car in the garage and listen to it there.  Then I sold that car and (duh) my new car plays my iPod, not cassettes.  2010 was the first year I couldn’t listen to this version.  I googled it up again this year, and lo and behold, I found it!  I’ve now got it on my iPod, but thought I’d share with you here.  Grab a cuppa cocoa or cheer, close your eyes, settle back for a few minutes, and listen to the gentle voice of the cow as she narrates the story ….

May the Peace and Joy of the season be with you my friends!

Found at: FilesTube

Finally, a new Tea Cozy–or two!

Sunday, December 18th, 2011

For about the past 18 months, I have wanted a new tea cozy as the old one was seriously exhausted, stained, beyond redemption.   Then a few months ago, after a trip through the wash, the ribbon which gathered it up on the top came out and I never put it back.  It was getting annoying.  So a week or two ago, I took a break from “ought to do” stuff and did a “want to do” thing:  I made a tea cozy that actually fits the current teapots…smaller than the old one so it will keep the pot warmer (in theory).

Finally, new tea cozies and a mat/pad

The first one I made was a little bit too small, so it got turned into a little hot pad.  See, I make Irish steel-cut oats most mornings and, rather than dirty a dish, I just take the small pan to the table and eat from that.  In the interest of not scorching the placemats or table, and with the idea of something a little less decrepit than our kitchen hotpads, I made the hot pad.

The two tea cozies are the same size, but have four different Rowan/Westminster fabrics, those lovely color-saturated florals!  You can see three of the four fabrics in the photo.  So now I am going to go pull the cozy off the pot and have another cuppa tea!

Hope house and snow

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Thanks so much to the many who wrote and who surfed in to read the tale of nutsoidness about our move!  The great news, of course, is that we will be moving to a house we LOVE, with good karma, in a town called Hope.  Several of you asked for pictures.  I feel a tad awkward about sharing pictures of the house and its insides now (will when it is ours!), but I can share some of the outside and view.  Yesterday a big storm blew (and boy did it BLOW) through.  This was our current front yard as we left the house to trek out to  Hope, about 10 minutes west of where we are now:

At home in Camden-still snowing furiously on Weds. afternoon

On Tuesday we had gone out to the Hope house for the septic inspection.  It was a glorious winter’s day in Maine, so I took these photos looking toward Freedom and Liberty (ya gotta love a state with town names like these!) and uphill of the house, which is surrounded by 11 acres!

Looking towards Libery and Freedom, Maine from the top of the driveway

and looking uphill from the top of the drive:

Looking uphill from the driveway into the winter sun. The path in the snow leads to the porch off the kitchen..you can see the tip of the roof on the right edge of the photo.

and another of the “main” views:

My shadow is the one to the left; I think our realtor Mary and hubby Paul are on the right. What BLUE skies!

Yesterday during the storm, our house inspector, Peter  T., took this photo which he shared with me.  It is of the front of the house, and as you can tell it was windy with snow going sideways! The lights on the right are in the living room.  The dining and kitchen are to the left and there is another covered porch off the kitchen on the driveway side of the house.

The Hope house in this week's storm

Just imagine....this will be OUR view soon! Taken from inside the living room.

And dusk was falling as we made our way home to Camden at about 4:20 p.m.  Took this from a moving, bouncing car…good camera!

Dusk (at 4:20 pm...the days are getting longer!) and the road to Camden