projects

Life has been full of many projects lately...

We have been hosting cousins and a grandma the last couple Mondays and loving it.  This Monday was filled with dyeing: first eggs and then using the leftover dye to color some fabric.  Watching the colors magically transform the white to rainbows of brilliant colors was exciting for all of us.  Welcome spring, truly. 

happy winter solstice to you

There was a moment about a week ago when I fully realized that the days truly are shorter right now.  I noticed the lengthening shadows and got up from a chair to start making dinner but when I got in the kitchen and looked at the clock, lo and behold, it was only 3.

But so far, all these shorter days have turned out to be quite the blessing.  I find my mornings and afternoons so very full of all sorts of lovely things that I enjoy the darkness and the coziness and the retreat indoors that the changing seasons bring.  

I also know enough to recognize that I probably feel this way because I live where it's sunny 90% of the year so a little darkness does a girl good, and I also know that I may not be singing the same tune come February.  But for now, I can appreciate this, the first day of winter and the shortest day of our year.  I hope you are enjoying your own!

a reminder to really look

I want these images to remind me to look.  To actually open my eyes to the world when I step outside my house, and even when I am within.  So many days I find myself rushing out the door, my mind on the various places I'm off to, the people I may be seeing, the things I may be doing.  And at the same time, the gardener in me is doing a quick survey of the front yard: the bermuda sneaking in, hiding among my natives, the pineapple sage has lost its last bloom, the white sage giving off its sweet scent in the morning dew.  But it's just that- a quick survey.

I am not a rose person- never have been.  When we first moved into this house, we inherited about 10 rose bushes.  9 of them are in the front, right next to the driveway.  I had big plans for that section- there was no irrigation going to it (meaning I would have to hand water those rose plants all summer long) so it was the perfect space to begin my foray into natives.  As I said, I had big plans.  That first summer turned into fall, turned into winter, turned into spring, turned into summer and the seasons kept changing and I started to prune the roses, and I figured out how to set up a drip line that I could attach a hose to once or twice a week, Jed started dumping coffee grounds at their bases, and the roses flourished.  And the thing is, I am still not a rose person, but I am definitely a fan of anything beautiful.  And I finally had to admit, these roses were stinkin' beautiful.  No two were alike, they had clearly been chosen for their delicacy and scent.  These were no grocery store roses- these were the real thing. 

And the best part is that they are right there on the side of my driveway, releasing their scent into my car as I drive away and greeting me with that same sweet fragrance upon returning home.  And because they are not store quality roses, the blooms rarely last more than a day.  They go from tight bud to full bloom within a couple days and to bring them inside is to embrace their fleeting beauty, as petals can be found within a day or two surrounding their vase. 

And so I've decided to literally stop and smell the roses more often.  They may not be 'my kind of flower' but what is really?  They are surely beautiful, fragrant and put up with my neglectful style of gardening.  And they are right there.  I pass by them every day.  They are my visual cue to slow down, return to this actual moment, right here in the world and be present.  They are my reminder to really look: at where I am, who I am, and to be genuinely present and at peace with that reality. 

So, I will listen to that inner voice that we won't be late if I go inside to get my camera to spend an extra 2 minutes really looking at a flower, that it's not too cold to capture that tree in just the right evening light, that I'm not too tired to really get down into the dirt with my hands and plant those winter greens.  I have time.  There is always time. 

in this moment

There has been a flurry of activity in our house of late as we slowly begin to gather 'necessities' for our trips east.  Of course, when certain things must get done (ie laundry, packing, animal care, etc) other things must really get done (taking advantage of dewy mornings to spot huge spider webs in the yard, making lots of art, eating so very many delicious figs, making mozzarella cheese for the first time, sewing the perfect skirt-oh that picture does not do it justice...perhaps a few more lazy daisies will make it even better?).  This will be my last post for over a week- I may bring my computer so that I can upload pictures off my camera as I will surely want to have room to capture fall in Maine- but I can't promise any actual posts.  Enjoy your first week of October...I know I will!

it's the most wonderful time

I love, love, love fall.  It is so very clearly the very best season of them all.  You still get some warm (even hot) days yet an extra blanket is a good idea for sleep.  It doesn't seem silly to wear a light scarf in the morning or evening and my toes are happy to be wrapped up in some hand knitted socks from last winter.  I no longer feel silly with my knitting needles out- and, instead, begin to feel frantic when I don't have them as that's one less moment I can work on a gift before Christmas.  While the season officially starts on the 23rd, today felt like it was the first true day of fall here at my house, so I'm claiming that it has begun.  In all honesty it actually began a few weeks ago- I noticed that the apricot tree was beginning to look bare, my tomatoes were finally ripening, watermelon were starting to grow, the pears were almost through and our persimmon tree was beginning to topple with ripening fruit.  It was officially fall this afternoon, however, when I took my first bite of an apple off our tree.  There is much written about the extravagant sweetness and the taste of summer in a freshly picked summer peach- even I have gone down that literary path.  But to taste fall in the crisp, clean, sweet-tartness that is a tree ripened apple.  That is goodness.

Welcome fall, it is so very good to have you back.  

zippered bags

I have been making zippered sandwich and snack bags for a little while now- giving them away to friends and family, enjoying how useful and easy to clean the bags are.  Well, at the insistence of everyone around me, I've decided to finally put them up for sale.  In keeping with the 'inspiration' theme, I've decided to hand-stitch little words or phrases to the bag to brighten up snack or mealtime when people are out and about.  They are lined with nylon and are hand or washing machine washable.

I've used these bags for just about everything in my house...food, wet suits, craft supplies, if you can fit it in a bag, then it'll probably end up in one :)

I currently have two sizes- snack (7x5) and sandwich (7x8) and am at work on a larger size (7x12).  Click the pictures below to see more info:

snack bag

sandwich bag