Decking the halls

The farm looked like this the day we went to pick out our Christmas tree: Yes, almost every tree covered in mounds of snow, but that didn't stop of from trudging around through the deep, deep snow looking for that perfect one. Finally choosing, we circled round our tree to give thanks before cutting and bringing it home. I love so much the sweet forest scent that now fills the indoor spaces.
And I love the gleam captured on sparkling ornaments.
More little bits to add some holiday flavor:
This one is Ava's.
Here's Rowan's.
The advent garland which I can never seem to get a good photo of, but on most days the kids awake to a little treat tucked inside.
And the little felted bird- an idea stolen from the fabulously crafty Leanne at Homemade Rainbows. I've been admiring the ones she made some time ago for her little one's birthday and have been waiting for the moment to make my own. And now I can't wait to sew a few more.
Hope your holidays preparations are merry and bright!

Winter picnic

Come join us ...we've got heaps of new fallen snow. Everything is frost covered but it's really not too cold. Bring out your sleds and we'll dine at the top of the hill- today's menu: freshly baked potatoes washed down with a mug of hot chocolate.

And now Rowan is six

December 7th- six years ago when we were graced by the arrival of our dear boy. I pulled together a simple birthday celebration beginning with a star path (an idea from The Birthday Book, which I adore).

Rowan awoke with morning's first light to find a trail of golden paper stars laid out on the floor beside the bed. After realizing the trail was meant to be followed by a certain birthday boy, he bounded out of bed and tip-toed his way to discover this at the end of the path:
And the unwrapping and playing with new treasures ensued, with my boy still pajama clad:In the afternoon the kids (all three!) and I ventured out to see a movie . As we so rarely go to the theater, this was indeed a very special something. Rowan guessed that he had only been out to the movies once or twice before... and it was Lilla's theater debut. Considering the intensity of the surround sound, I'm not sure it was such a great idea for the little one's ears. But we went and had a perfectly good time munching popcorn in the darkened theater, laughing a bunch and me crying a little too. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Rowan's requested pizza dinner and returned home for a bit of carrot cake and the company of my sister and her husband.
Happy Birthday Rowan!

Giving thanks

Last Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving here, just us. We did not travel to visit family as we normally do and skipped cooking the usual feast to instead eat at a restaurant. All in all a very untraditional holiday, but it is such breaking away from tradition that makes one appreciate it all the more. Too often, amidst life's busy-ness and responsibilities, I forget to feel gratitude for the joy and wonder that surrounds. At this time of the year, I am reminded to pause and reflect on all the happiness in my life: family, friends, the peace and comfort of home, nature's beauty and the bounty of good things to eat. In honor of this holiday, we made a Gratitude Tree using our watercolor leaves painted a few weeks ago and took turns writing what we are thankful for on the back of each leaf.
While the word family was written more than once on our leaves, I was grateful for Saturday afternoon when  I stayed home alone to putter around (very novel indeed!) I even had a chance to play around with the new sewing machine  and paint a bit of my boy's bedroom. And when the kids returned, I was ready to receive them...for a break was just what this Mama needed to feel all the more thankful for these loves of my life.

Happy December 1st!

Outside and in again

After my complaining of the cold and snow flurries last week, we were gifted with one more golden day. Since we had had our fill of tinkering around the house, tea drinking and cozying up to books, we eagerly flung open doors and made an afternoon dash to the park. This two mile city park loop is just ideal for a mama, a stroller, a biking boy and a dog tagging along. Giant turtles...there is a fantastic Children's Garden here.
The last of the fall's burnished glory:
After our joyful day out, the weather has returned to that more typical of November. And I'm returning to cocooning tasks, revamping my indoor spaces for the coming months and trying (this is hard for the pack rat in me) to de-clutter a bit. And for the stuff I can't seem to part with yet, I'm re-purposing with a few little projects here and there... like turning this antique mirror frame into a blackboard. The mirror was long gone when I scooped up this old frame. I had intended to replace the missing mirror, but this pretty thing has just been gathering dust in the basement. I painted the wooden backing with some blackboard paint (I'm a little addicted to that stuff all of a sudden) and now it has a new life in our school area.
And when my children and sewing machine cooperate, I'm playing around with fabric and ideas. Some pillows for lounging- made from an old barkcloth(?) daybed cover:
And there is gift making in the air. But for now I'm keeping those things to myself. Hope you're having a lovely week.

Carrying light

To celebrate Martinmas. The festivities were much the same as last year. Even the menu was alike: curried lentils with baked potatoes. The kids and I also made up some parathas to go with it- whole wheat Indian flatbread- flaky and stuffed with scallions. Rowan and Ava were quite the experts in rolling out the dough. And we had fun sharing the food around the table- symbolically breaking our bread and potatoes in half to share with the person next to us. After the meal, out came the simple lanterns we had made earlier from glass jars covered in tissue paper with handles formed from florist wire. Even Lilla got into the gluing action. And again we carried our lanterns out into the night while singing songs to push back darkness and make way for light.

Nature gifts

Found and gathered:

And steeped to make little jars of sunshine for healing all year long: I like to make a calendula salve to have on hand for cuts, scrapes, and dry or chapped skin. Back at the end of September the calendula blossoms were plucked from the garden and set in a jar to infuse in olive oil for several weeks. Then the good healing oil was strained and squeezed out from the plant matter and placed in a small pan over very low heat. As the oil begins to warm, bits of beeswax are added and stirred in until melted. I never really measure this out, but just add enough wax so the final salve has a good consistency- so it melts into the skin without being overly drippy. If I don't get the consistency right the first time, I just re-melt and add a bit more wax or oil as needed.

We also gathered black walnuts to make an ink and clothing dye. With gloves on, I ripped off the hulls from 20-30+ walnuts, set them in a cloth and tied it off. I put the little sack filled with the hulls into a big canning pot, covered with water and let it sit for three days. Then I boiled up the brown looking soup (hulls still in the pot) and let it sit again over night. The liquid then gets strained out. I use a fine mesh just in case any walnut bits escape from the cloth. Much of the liquid I used to dye some clothes. The verdict is still out on the results of these.

One jar full of the liquid was saved for ink. Here's my boy trying out the walnut ink, using a feather found at his old nursery school:

What a difference...

...just a few weeks makes. Here we were: watching Rowan play soccer and basking in Autumn's golden light. No jacket required- outdoors and loving it.
Well, fast forward to today: snow. Yes, that's right. Snow. It's not sticking, but the flakes are hurrying down. And I actually have to leave my house. Oh dear. I'm not quite ready for this.

A little gifty

It's a thin strand of Labradorite beads with a pearl in the middle.

It's simple, dainty and has a pearl right in the middle-just like my girl:  Lilla Pearl. Oh, I love it!

Just sitting

Inspired by this flickr group here, thought I'd share my little place to Sit a Spell.

Here you can find me stealing a moment to sit and read or knit. It's not a quiet corner though, as it sits sandwiched between the back door entry and the wood stove, in the midst of the kitchen business and chaos. More often than not shoes, coats and bags get left here before finding their rightful spots on a hook or in a bin. But when the space is cleared and I take a leave from household chores, I like to linger here- with a pup at my feet, the tea kettle at the ready and the stove radiating warmth nearby. Sunshine pouring through the window adds to my delight.
This little second-hand bench has been with me for a while...it's worn many fabrics and seen lots of paint jobs- from green to aqua, red, and then white. The quick and easy nature of changing the paint and stapling on a new fabric seat keeps my fickle self endlessly entertained. Hmmm...what will it be next?

Yes, here you'll find me working on some simple hand warmers like this or reading a great book- Jhumpa Lahiri's "Unaccustomed Earth" is my latest favorite.

Where do you like to sit?

Seeds of change

This is Rowan releasing milkweed seeds into the air: And here's Ava this morning right before leaving for school. Tucked into her bag is an extra matching shirt for her friend to wear. Ava's school holds an election today so the kids can cast their own votes for president. Can you guess who she's rooting for?

Trick or Treat

My loves all dressed for Halloween:
Almost all costume components were scrounged from around the house. The black furry fabric was a left over from years past and quickly sewed up into a tunic, ears, treat bag and tail for my Ava cat. To get the tail to curl and stand up I used an opened up coat hanger, but the thing still had a mind of its own.
Rowan's blue coat was pure serendipity as a trip to the Salvation Army yielded a size six girl's sailor coat. All I did was rip off (carefully!) a bunch of the white trim. His hat was once a floppy brown one of mine, but a bit of dye and a few stitches later it became a tri-cornered hat such as a Revolutionary War soldier might wear. My rendition is a little shabby, but those Minutemen were not known for their formal wear. As far as we're read, they were lucky to have shoes. Lilla's forest elf dress and cape ( I skipped the fairy part because I ran out of time for wings) was created out of my recycled woolens stash, bits from a velvet skirt, brown bias tape and a pair of old curtains my sister (remember these Kristina?) might recognize. Oh, and I was a mama on the prairie, but the only photo of me is a blurred bit of the bottom of my dress (an old Gunne sax dress I've had around for years).

Boo!

Slapdash

Last night I finally began my Halloween costume making. Could I be any more last minute? It all of a sudden dawned on me that I would have to get started sometime as we are leaving town today and not arriving back until Friday afternoon (mere hours before trick or treat time). I'm packing up and bring along the little hand sewn bits I have left to finish off during the long car ride south: the cat ears for Ava's costume, seam binding and fabric leaves for Lilla's fall fairy costume and the woolen hat (which I dyed blue last night!) for Rowan's Minuteman outfit. Right now my sewing space is a wreck with mounds of black faux fur, snipped up woolens, velvet and voile everywhere. I'm saving cleanup for when I return. And what, might you ask, am I doing on the computer right now?

Puppy love

A new little friend for our family. Charlotte's her name. She came from the animal shelter, but before that she was an island girl. A vet brought up a few stray pups from the Bahamas (hopefully the pups don't mind being rescued from a tropical paradise). Apparently there are thousands of these dogs running amok and just barely eking out an existence. They are known as "Potcakes" because they eat the caked-on scraps from the bottoms of pots and pans left out by the locals.
The kids had been begging to get a dog for a long time, but the timing never seemed right. I'm so glad we finally took the plunge...Charlotte is a great little dog.