Hello, all. I popped over to Lisa's blog to read her latest, and realized I'd not posted for quite a while as well! I always think summer will be slower, but it never is. Ah well.
Adam has been on his summer break for a week, and he's hit the ground running in his sewing adventures. There is so much creative energy in the house! It's lots of fun chatting about what he's making, what I'm making ...
I'm sewing little fabric bowls. They are ridiculously easy, and it's silly that I love them so much, but I do. I've made four, and will certainly make more.
Like Kate Jackson, I saved all my little scraps of fabric from the other projects I made. Then I decided to sew them together in a hodge-podge sort of way, and then cut it square, put some batting in it and a back on it, and run some bias tape around the edge. It's not fancy, but it sure was fun!
It was supposed to be a doll's blanket for my granddaughter, but it's really too stiff. It's sitting in my studio instead, being decorative.
This is a new piece of kit that Adam got me for my birthday -- a tapestry loom. I finally admitted that my big rigid heddle loom was NOT going to work for tapestry weaving, and I'm so very happy with this loom. It's made by Grebstk. I'm almost finished with my first piece on it:
I had many more cards printed this past week, from watercolors I'd painted and scanned before.
All of these are pretty new, except the geraniums. I especially like how the sunflower turned out. I sell 5 of them (with envelopes) in a pack. These sold very well at the market today. I thought this batch of 300 cards would last me for many months, but now I'm not so sure!
The chickens have been rather naughty. Mr. Sparky, the new roo, is often too scared to enter the pen if I'm in there. He's spent a couple of nights on the loose. The hens have been quite naughty and started laying their eggs in mysterious places in the yard. Today I discovered 8 eggs under our deck. They may have to spend some time in Chicken Pen Prison, so they remember how they are supposed to behave!
This lovely book is my new, very favorite devotional book. It's all Scripture.
The man who compiled the book, Jonathan Bagster, has combined many various pieces of Scripture for each day, twice a day, on various topics. Combining 7 or 8 passages of the Bible like that takes a deep knowledge of the book, and it's done in such a way that it makes connections among the passages that I'd never thought of before. It has sparked many new thoughts and feelings of wonder and thankfulness for God's Word.
It's nearly mid-June, the weather is heating up, and our schedule is speeding up. I hope to have some time with the grandchildren soon, which I'm over-the-moon thrilled about!
October flew away, and now we are into the fast downhill race to Christmas. Can we slow it down? I'm spending my days mostly at home, doing my artistic work and household chores. Taking the dogs outside and resting when I need to. This does seem to slow things ... a little bit.
Julia now has a kitten called Leo. She found him in our yard. He was about 3 - 4 weeks old, and desperately looking for someone to take care of him. She is delighted!
Last week I enjoyed lunch with a group of dear friends from church. What a gathering of beautiful souls is our church! I may be the pastor's wife, but these women are all GOOD FRIENDS, and I'm so thankful for them.
I don't think I posted about my trip to West Virginia a few weeks ago. In addition to seeing my mother and other precious family members, I also got to see my grandbaby, John. He's grown so much and is so much fun!
After canceling our church's community Thanksgiving Day dinner last year because of Covid-19, we are eating together again this year! Adam and I are so excited to enjoy this day again, even if our crowd may be a little smaller.
I participated in an Art Walk in Oriental last week! I felt like a real artist for the evening, haha. It was so much fun, and I sold quite a few cards. Adam and Julia came along for moral support and to help me haul my stuff. I set up by the waterfront and the Tiki Bar. Delightful!
It's downright chilly here now. The low last night was around 40. Brrr! I'm finally settling in to my new routine since Adam took a second job as a middle school science teacher (which he absolutely LOVES). My days are my own, and the house is mostly quiet. I'm making a loose schedule to keep myself accountable to get at least 2 things done each day. It helps. Yesterday was "painting in the morning and resting in the afternoon." (I only do "resting" once each week!) Today is "soap-making in the morning and yard mulch in the afternoon." We'll see if I get that done.
Here are some of my recent youtube videos, if you want to come along with my daily doings:
Making my first beeswax candle:
Making pumpkin bread:
My West Virginia trip (part two):
One more? Just toodling around outside in the autumn and inside my studio:
And here are a few cards I've painted recently:
Enjoy the season! Cherish and savor every day! Soon it will be January with plenty of time to rest and ponder. Now is the season for joy.
Hi, friends. It seems that spring is sprung (as they say), and now we are creeping into those warmer days ... not summer yet, but we can see it from here! Mowing, gardening, air conditioning, light cotton skirts and cool showers. Let me see if I can catch you up on some of our highlights lately.
I took Adam to Beaufort, NC, for his birthday. We stayed overnight at a nice Bed and Breakfast hotel with a view of the water. After a year of illness and staying at home so much, it was strange and wonderful to eat at restaurants (outside on their porch/decks, by the water). The weather was windy and cool, but we had a most delightful, restful time.
Adam's riding mower is broken right now, and we have awaited three (!!!) mower parts to repair it. So the buttercups and clover are abundant and high, and the yard and pasture smell amazing. I am nervous of snakes (haven't seen any though), so wear my tall farm boots and WADE through the blooms. It's really rather magical.
Julia is finishing up her last year of college, just a bit more to go. That's an important milestone that I don't want to pass unmentioned. We've been educating children since about 1995. Is that 26 years or so? We're very proud of her; she's a very dedicated student. She's getting a Bachelors Degree in Psychology.
Adam is doing major work on our back deck! He's putting in a new flight of stairs, giving us easy access to the cars, but also plans to build a cooking area (grill, cooktop) out there too. I'm quite excited.
As usual, I'm spending much of my time painting, tending chickens, making wares for the market, and fiddling with yarn. I'm spinning again (sigh - that makes me happy!) It does feel that things are slowly returning to something that feels old and familiar. What a relief! I ate lunch (on the restaurant porch) with 3 friends yesterday, without masks. We are all fully vaccinated. Hooray! Tomorrow our church will gather at one family's creek-side home and have a big picnic on their lawn. We've done this twice during Covid, but it was so much fun, we're doing it again. In July, we hope to have a potluck dinner indoors at the church -- just about everyone in our church has been fully vaccinated for a while now.
Some of you may wonder how Adam is doing and would like a health update. His steroid intake now is very low, and soon he will wean off it entirely. He has been able to lose a bit of weight, and his doctor is rather pleased with him. His attitude is good. He remains on extremely high dosage of immunosuppressant medication every day. This puts him at great risk for getting viruses especially (of all kinds), so he must be more careful than most people, probably for the rest of his life. He will continue to wear a mask. It's preferable to being in the hospital from catching a flu bug! He now has esophagitis and and gastritis rather badly. That is inflammation of the esophagus and of the stomach. Many foods now make him feel quite sick, and he must avoid them -- dairy, sugar/sweets, heavy meats like beef, and on and on. Cooking has become problematic, although he is perfecting his sourdough recipe.
But we are thankful for so much and are doing fine. The upcoming months should bring visits with family again, and we are thrilled about that. I'll end with a few photos of some cards I've painted, and maybe a few youtube videos for those who would like to watch.
It's certainly time for a blog post! We've been busy, and I'm sorry to say much of it has been the drudgery of doctor appointments. However, we are so thankful for healthcare, aren't we?
This stunning sunrise greeted me one morning ... Sunday, I think. No one else was awake; no one drove by on the road.
Adam and I are trying hard to be healthier. His health is very complicated with so, so many medications with various side effects. It's nearly a part-time job to keep up with his health, poor fellow! Diet plays a big part.
I'm eating his healthy, nuts-and-bolts bread for breakfast, farm-fresh eggs, and avocado. Pretty yummy!
He made this for lunch: red pepper stuffed with chicken and Mexican rice, and a kale salad.
And this: "sliders" (mini-burgers) and that same Mexican rice. The burgers are steamed over a bed of sauteed onions, topped with cheese, and then a smear of mustard.
Here's a recent photo of adorable Ellie Kate, our newest grandbaby!
I know!! Those EYES!
I'm painting quite a lot. Roses:
Apple blossoms:
Finally I am cracking and picking the pecans I gathered in the fall. They needed to cure, but it's past time to get them into the freezer!
Adam and I spent several good mornings in the veggie garden, which I had rather given up as a lost cause. We did no weeding last summer ... and you can just imagine the carnage! But he is ready to get back outside and gradually build some stamina. Together we cleared the strawberry bed, put in new (well, transplanted from elsewhere) strawberry plants (lots of them!), cleared the asparagus bed, cleared the bed for sweet peas and lettuce. That was a huge start. I wish I had a photo! I would go TAKE a photo for you, but it's raining steadily outside and has been doing so all day and last night. This is a blessing; we've been quite dry, and all those new plants need moisture.
I'm so very busy with my little side business -- making soaps, shampoo bars, painting cards, filling and mailing orders, contacting customers. I desperately want to get back to spinning and weaving, but there's no time (yet). I am still knitting that slow blanket.
Not very elegant looking! This is just the first row. We'll see if it looks pretty ... or looks jakey! At least it keeps my hands busy.
Let me see if there are any new youtube videos to share ...
This was a lovely day trip with two friends:
This is more soap-making:
And this is just an ordinary day of various little activities. Not sure why I thought that would interest viewers!
Much love to all of you in blog land. Stay healthy, stay hopeful, and I'll give you the MOST helpful advice I've heard in several years: Go get a therapist if you need one! It's past time for anybody to be embarrassed about going to a therapist, like we used to be embarrassed about going to the gynecologist 40 years ago. We must all attend to our mental health, and as with all health, sometimes we need a little professional help. That's my pitch for the day 😀
Adam missed me when I was gone. He keeps telling me so. He makes me delicious brown bread for my breakfast toast.
For lunch he made tortellini and Kaiser buns.
I, in turn, mended his favorite mask by shortening the elastics.
I packaged some lavender soap today too.
We have daffodils blooming now -- hooray! I look forward to this each year, a true start of spring and all the new, fresh beginnings for all of us.
Adam is weeding out parts of our veggie garden, starting with the strawberry bed. There ARE strawberry plants in there, I promise! About ten of them.
He's also working on the asparagus bed, and then will clear out my pea bed. Lettuce will go next to the strawberries. It's a struggle because he's been pretty inactive since last spring, while he was ill. He is still having some health issues -- medication and peripheral issues -- but he wants to get back outside.
I've started a long knitting project, a blanket. The pattern is called a "mitered square" blanket. I found it at a youtube channel that I like, and thought, "I can do that!" I'll share more about it in a youtube video soon, but here it is so far:
My sprained knee is much better, and life is stumbling along as usual -- I won't pretend that it's all easy sailing! But we are getting along, just like you are, I hope. 😀 Adam is a lobbyist/advocate volunteer for people with Rare Diseases in North Carolina right now, and he hears about the most harrowing illnesses that some people have, much worse than his own. It is a reminder to be thankful for each normal day, no matter how many things go wrong.
Ah, pancakes. Those are strawberries from our garden last summer, frozen all through the pandemic. They slept peacefully in the deep freeze and came out for this delicious appearance, haha.
Tomorrow I go off for a day jaunt with two friends to a rural area renowned for good bird-watching. Mostly, it'll be a fun day out with two ladies I enjoy very much. I'll tell you about it next time!
I'll end with some cards I painted in recent days, and maybe a youtube link or two to my latest videos. Thanks for coming by for a chat, friend. Take care of yourself.
