Adam and I took a trip to West Virginia last week to see my mother (at last! after 16 months!) and my brothers and two sisters-in-law and one nephew. It was lovely. It was chilly. It had been way too long, not only since visiting dear family but since seeing the state I love.
(As an aside, the greatest obstacle to my blogging these days is the difficulty uploading photos. Google's storage limit keeps me from connecting my phone photos directly to Google Photos now, so it's a pain to get photos all the way over here to blogland!)
Here's the view from my mother's front porch:
We did go out to eat once, but otherwise we mostly enjoyed the beauty of my mother's home and my brother's farm. He has baby lambs!
Those are bottle-fed lambs from sets of triples or quads, whose mothers could not manage them all.
I've been saving my figs from last summer in my freezer, having promised my dear mother that I'd make her LOTS of fig preserves (with many, many lemon slices) to last her at least a couple of months.
I've never been much of a fig fan, but I think she's converted me. It's delicious on morning toast. When my figs ripen this summer, perhaps I'll make a few pints for myself.
Mother's doing pretty well for her age. Beau gave her a brief moment of affection.
It was hard to say good-bye!
Now we're back to our usual routine. My little "side business" of soaps/lotions/watercolor cards has grown slowly over the past year, and now I find that it takes much of my time each day. I am constantly making something. I paint for 2 -3 hours each morning, make skin care products after that, and try to film for my youtube channel along the way.
Oh! Let me share my latest weaving project -- 2 little baby blankets for my two precious grandsons, woven on one warp. It was challenging because I don't weave often and make lots of mistakes.
There will be youtube videos of both the WVa trip and the baby blanket weave, but they're not quite ready yet ... almost!
Sorry I've been so absent, and thank you for dropping by.
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.
Hello, dear friends! We are busy here at our place, as I know you are at yours. I'm loving this, my perfect weather of the year: No hurricanes yet. No mosquitoes yet. No terrible heat yet. It's a joy to go outside in the morning with a jacket on and drift into some flower bed and begin picking weeds. There are always weeds.
We haven't traveled anywhere quite yet, but my son and his wife and baby traveled to West Virginia to visit my mother. Isn't that the sweetest photo? She held him for hours. He is such a sweet baby, very content. That was over Easter weekend. I hope to go visit her in May after I'm fully vaccinated against Covid. It's hard to wait.
My other grandbabies are in Mississippi, of course. These are Easter photos of them. I miss them so much! Ellie Kate is growing and thriving now, and we are thankful. Isaac is happy and cute as ever.
My Lady Banks Rose, of which I'm inordinately proud, is glorious right now! I've had so many plant failures that it's a comfort to have one thrive like this.
I'm gazing at her right now, out my studio window.
Adam is starting many spring/summer projects. He wants an outdoor cooking area, and he eyed my clothesline area as the desired location. So the clothesline came down!
That grassy area between the deck and the carport poles will be a small eating area. He'll build an outdoor brick cooktop/grill just about where he's standing. He'll also cut new stairs into the decking, there in the middle of that white lattice. It's not an ideal area -- the carport limits its size -- but it will be nice, I think. He'll make pavers for the area too. He makes concrete leaves, using our elephant ear leaves as molds, and they would make good pavers there.
I've fallen into a nice rhythm these days. I eat my toast and coffee in my favorite chair in my room and slowly wake into the day. Then I drift into my studio sometime between 8:00 and 9:00, and I start painting. Now that we're back at the farmers market, my cards sell each week and I must replace them to keep my inventory up. So I paint needed cards, perhaps do a bit of work with my soap/balms/shampoo bars, or I ship packages to customers. It really is time-consuming in that it takes my morning, which is excellent. I feel useful, and I'm not bored.
There are a few recent cards.
I must say, it's wonderful to see Adam active again. All last year he generally felt awful and was unable to work outside. He barely kept the grass mowed with his riding mower, and that was all he could do. There's much outdoor work to catch up on, but he has more energy. He needs to rebuild his stamina and strength. What a discouraging year it was! But the Lord has brought healing and help; we are thankful. It seems as the years go by, and we learn a little more to trust Him and be content, He provides more and fills in all the needy gaps in our lives.
I would say that we are content here, content now. Life is far from perfect (as perfect goes), but perfection is not necessary for contentment and goodwill; Love is. I need daily reminding in myself, that patience, forgiveness, helping others, and hope are the ingredients of a happy spiritual diet. And prayer. I'm always deficient in prayer!
I hope all is well with you dear friends in blogworld! If you want more details of our daily life, my youtube channel is the best place to look. Meanwhile, wisteria:
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.
