All the photos I just selected loaded into the post in reverse order. Sigh ... do any of you still have trouble with this new blogger arrangement? I'll just go through them in this order!
I decided it's time to paint some autumnal cards. I was in the mood for ink with my watercolor.
Adam fried shrimp, squash, and dill pickles for dinner the other night. All delicious -- we dipped the shrimp in a remoulade sauce and the veggies in ranch dressing.
Do any of you remember little aprons on the dish soap bottles? I made this the other day. It needs a piece of elastic around the bottom, because it slips around too much when I pick up the bottle.
We found a lovely fabric store in New Bern! I was shocked; I thought it was just for upholstery, but they had everything, and at such good prices! The upholstery remnants were cheap. We found fabric for two more vests for Adam. This wool plaid excited him. The striped fabric will be the back and lining.
This fabric below is for the second vest. It's also wool, and is bluer than it looks in the photo, more the color of the thread.
At the thrift store this week, I found a box of silver plate flatware -- about 50 pieces. I do NOT need 50 pieces of flatware, esp. in patterns I'm not wild about. But I couldn't resist the two sugar spoons (one shown below), the butter/cheese knives, and a few spoons. We're always running out of spoons. They polished up very nicely!
The two patterns involved:
Before polishing:
Tuesday night after Bible study, the sky was this:
I have a fun story to tell. I'm part of a facebook group for beginner watercolor folks. A lady there (British, I thinkk) shared a little painting she did. Her daughter asked her to paint a picture of a worm, wearing a crown, in outer space. So she complied. It was adorable, and all of us liked and loved it, etc. Several people said, "Oh! Worm King looks like he needs to have a story to go along with that picture of him!" The artist said, "I don't have that kind of imagination." I looked at that painting and immediately thought, "I could write a story about that worm in an hour." The painting just BEGGED to have its story told; it was easy. So I told her, and then I wrote it, and then I sent it to her. She was excited about the story of Worm King in outer space (that makes me giggle!), and was inspired to keep painting pictures for the story, and her children love it! She's putting her paintings in a spiral book with the text I wrote along the side of each painting page. I don't know if it will ever become anything, but what's most exciting is that SHE is a truly gifted children's book illustrator (in my opinion -- it seems to come naturally to her), and I think my gifts are more in writing -- it seems to come naturally to me. But we both needed a prompt, a push. Perhaps more artistic folks need to push each other, ever so gently.
(This painting is by Lou Tom. I don't know her full name. But it's her intellectual property, so please do not copy. Isn't he cute?)
I'm really hoping 2019 will be a much better year than 2018, which was a bit of a heartache in some ways. Some lovely joys too, of course. To welcome the new year, Julia and I decided to go to the beach. And since it was supposed to be 72 and mostly sunny, it seemed a good idea.
It was a good idea. A bit windy and chillier than we'd hoped, but still a lovely day.
My lovely daughter:
She's growing her curly hair out long.
Julia got her first fancy tattoo this fall, a cute snail amid mushrooms.
The seagulls were particularly friendly.
Over a month ago I visited the thrift store late in the day. A box of dishes had just been set out - lots and lots of blue Currier and Ives, $20 for the box.
But dishes were half-off, so it was only $10. There were 11 large dinner plates, salad plates, little bowls ...
Plus three beautiful platters!
At home, I was nearly out of everyday plates, and I only had a random mix of various patterns. So I left all the chipped ones at the store and brought home the nice ones -- most of the box. I took back my mismatched ugly plates, and now I'm enjoying my Currier and Ives! My farm strolls show me some interesting things.
Yes, buttercups are blooming in our pasture.
The fungus among us:
Here's a little shot of my chickens, most of them.
Arthur (upper left), Sylvie (foreground), Lady Grey (with her gray fluffy fanny in the air), Henny Penny (black head and gray body), Brownie (far right), and Sheena (black hen in the rear). Clementine was elsewhere. She's a loner hen, the bottom of the pecking order. This morning before heading to the beach, I investigated the strawberry bed with Adam. I dug out some strawberry shoots (strawberry plants send out lots of shoots that easily root in any soil nearby), putting them into three large pots full of Adam's lovely compost. Then I put them in the winter greenhouse, our front porch.
They're covered with straw. I'm hoping they'll flourish there in the sunny warmth and in March we'll have plants to start a new, large berry bed in the garden. We'll also transplant (I hope) some of the other plants that are overwhelming the small, raised berry bed we now have. We started with only three plants back last June. How they've grown! Next summer, and I want PILES of strawberries :) That's all for now! Happy New Year to everyone!
We remain busy. I told the Prayer Shawl ladies yesterday that I wish I could have some minor injury that would keep me in bed for a week, so I could stay in my pajamas, eat popcorn, and watch shows ... and slow down. One lady laughed and said, "One day would be enough. You'd be ready to be up again." She's right. I made a (what do the British call it?) ... a pig's breakfast of this long scarf. I'll be messing with it for a while to make it work.
But it's off the loom, that's what counts. Now I've moved on to a scarf weave with some pretty autumn colors. I love that Wool-Ease yarn. Such luscious colors. {{{Sigh}}} I love autumn. I know, I said that before, haha!
I made a batch of soap: tea tree, vanilla, and warm cider scents.
And I've spent much time folding, stapling, signing, and mailing out "The Thanksgiving Mice" books. Quite fun! Thank you so much, all you readers out there! (Don't forget to send in your payment to get your book shipped to you!) The dogs are snoozier and snoozier.
Despite cute little mouse stories, we are at war with mice in this house, and we've pretty much won the war! We have safe poison traps scattered around, but Adam's carefully sealing up all their access points. Ha!
This little fellow died after nibbling one of my old Chopin albums.
Here's some of my homemade deodorant. I delivered it to a fellow who lives on a boat.
I mentioned the storm damage to the Methodist church. Well, they threw a big fund-raising party on Wednesday, called a Mad Buffalo Party. It was delightful and so festive!
A HUGE baked potato bar ~
Hot chocolate with a stunning assortment of sprinkly things to add to your cup ~
And fabulous desserts. I chose this one, a mixed apple pie baked in cast iron. Oh my ... so, so good.
See the buffalo plaid? It was everywhere, a warm theme. They set up a little Christmas Shop in a closet. It was so fun to finger ornaments, wreaths, Christmas nibbles in cellophane! And everything that wasn't nailed down was for sale.
They even had a crackling fire on the screen overhead, plus cozy music playing.
I found some prizes at the thrift store this week. This skirt I wore to the Mad Buffalo Party.
I found two panels of sheers that are a vast improvement over what I had (dark maroon).
Yesterday we had a sad loss; one of my chickens, Autumn, died. I didn't know she'd been ill -- some respiratory sickness. Bless her heart :(
I won't enlarge that photo, because who needs a bigger picture of a sick chicken? I'm now down to a rooster and five hens, and one of undetermined sex who I think will present himself as a rooster here soon. One doesn't need more than a single rooster, and sometimes even he is too much. Today I'm weaving, knitting, writing and painting a bit, and preparing for the farmer's market tomorrow. I hope your Friday goes well and your weekend is lovely!
Hi, everybody! Yes, I'm still here. Granny Marigold said she's enjoying the story but misses knowing what we're up to. "Surviving Summer" about sums it up -- does that sound whiny enough? Haha! (You might want a cuppa. This could take a while.) Books: After the John Masefield books, I read this one:
Also a beloved English children's book, I did enjoy the story. But something about Aiken's voice was too pedantic and predictable. Plus, something was lacking. Now I've moved on to this delightful English children's book:
This one is better. Ransome is perfection itself in entering that realm that Adam and I call "kid world." He understands it and has the children speak and live it. He said of the book, "I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself." You can tell. It's a delight, a summer story about four siblings who explore a lake and its islands on their little sailboat.
Both books are adventure books, a genre that most children enjoy. I've discovered though, that in order to connect with a children's book -- to have it enter my soul and never leave -- it must be a book of magic at some level. I don't like wicked magic, nor lots of sorcery, etc. But I love reading about children who understand better than the adults around them that there's a spiritual world, a world of supernatural realities around us that affect us and that we affect. Call it magic, or call it what you will, but that, in a book, draws me in. Next I'll be rereading this gem, and getting a good dose of adventure and magic both:
What else have we been doing? Perhaps this little ditty of a poem will express my feelings:
When, in August, I am overcome
with the sun's anxiety
and the heat's depression,
I remind myself it is the season
of sadness for me,
of worry for me.
I remember then burrowing my hands into soil in the greenhouse
in February,
~ my season of happiness ~
when little bubbles of joy
rise unexpectedly within,
when the cool air and rain splattering
and promise of snow
make my body sing.
I can just hear some of you shaking your heads in despair and muttering, "She's a lunatic." Haha!
What does a heat-hater do in August? She sits on the couch with her knitting ...
Infinity scarf to sell at the market
... and watches Netflix and Amazon Prime movies and TV shows (Thank you, you-know-who!!) Here's what I've been watching recently:
Horatio Hornblower (show) ****
An Inspector Calls (movie) ****
I Capture the Castle (movie) ***
The Treasure Seekers (movie) ****
The Durrells in Corfu (show) ****
We'll Meet Again (show) ***
Enemy at the Door (show) ****
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
(movie) *****
(Those are my "star" ratings.) That last one I watched yesterday afternoon, and I will certainly watch it again soon. It merits two viewings. Plus, we went to the cinema for our anniversary date and saw Christopher Robin, which was quite good. Adam wants to see it again sometime. Adam and I have very different preferences in screen entertainment. I can watch sadder things than he can. I can't tolerate some of the silly, goofy things he enjoys. Our go-to evening date show is reruns of Star Trek, Next Generation. It reminds us of our newlywed days.
Adam baked apple fritters this morning to take to a friend.
I nibbled a couple with a glass of milk.
