Tag Archives: Kids

All That’s Fit To Spin

Happy New Year!  It’s been a quiet one for us so far.

The day after Christmas Paul packed up the kids and went to see his parents in New York for 5 glorious, peaceful days. They saw the tree at Rockefeller Center, went ice skating, went to the American Girl store, and saw the holiday show at Radio City Music Hall.

I spent the entire time getting to know my new spinning wheel and catching up on my favorite shows and podcasts.  I watched Broadchurch TWICE.  I’m just that excited for the new season to start in March!

I spent a lot of time watching Top Gear and Doctor Who reruns as well.  Just me, my wheel, plenty of wool and British television.  Bliss!

New Year’s Eve we had our annual tradition of game night with friends, and we’ve enjoyed all of us being home and lazy for awhile.

We are officially back to school this week and it’s not been the easiest transition after such a wonderful holiday season.

As for my spinning, I’d say it’s going better than great!  I enrolled in a Craftsy class for beginners  (“Foundations of Spinning”) and it really made it click for me. I even plied my single spun into yarn! Real, actual yarn!

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This is a mohair blend. It made sense to start with something I have an abundance of!

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With this, I am officially hooked. It’s fortunate I have a supply of fresh wool growing outside!!!


Tagged: Farm, Spinning

Hygge

I came across an article about the Danish concept of Hygge not long ago; about how people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (or those who just hate the colder, darker months) might benefit from adding a bit of it to their lives.

Hygge, as it turns out, is all about the “cozy” in life.  Or, something like that. It’s a feeling that encompasses all of those things that make say, Christmas, so magical. It’s love. It’s an inviting fire with a cup of delicious tea when it’s snowy outside. It’s snuggling with your loved ones – furry or otherwise.  For most of us knitters, it’s an afternoon free and a bag full of fresh-spun wool.  It’s well-being. It’s sanctuary.

When I read about it, I knew it deep it my bones already.  It was in there all along, just waiting for a good word to put to it. Paul has always called it all of my “little things”.  Those things that make you feel at home, that make you happy. It turns out I’ve been practicing hygge my whole life.

December is, indeed, the sort of “holy month” for hygge, for lack of a better term. Think about it: the tree, the lights, the comfort foods, the festivities.  It’s a month where we all know the cold and dark of winter is breathing down our backs but we push it aside to  celebrate joy and warmth and love.

I have it all around me.

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A darling paperwhite bulb in the kitchen window.

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My favorite happy little sparkly reindeer ornament.

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My very favorite tea, which I will enjoy this evening, snuggled on the couch with my girls after a dinner of spicy vegetable soup.

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The soft glow of the Christmas tree, which still smells divine! We sat cuddled up next to it today and watched the classic Baryshnikov version of The Nutcracker.

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These fantastic little heat packs.  Great for cold feet, headaches, backaches, and cozying up your blankets at night.

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A big, furry, polar bear of a dog and a tiny sweet kitten.

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My purry little companion, curled up in a wool blanket.  A wool blanket woven from the wool of the very sheep I can see from my comfy chair as I type.  If that’s not hygge, I don’t know what is!

Go forth, fill your world with hygge!  And even more, allow yourself to revel in it a bit!


Tagged: food, Pets, Seasons

Turkey Day Coma

Have you all sufficiently recovered from the excesses of Thanksgiving? We had a lovely, quiet,  intimate holiday. Our friend Trina was scheduled to join us for the feast, but sadly she came down with the crud.  Unfortunately, Maddie had the crud as well, and  I have come down with the crud now (and am trying hard not to feel too bad about lounging in my pajamas on the couch all weekend) ; but at least I was well for the day itself.

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The kids were happy with a quiet holiday, too.  First of all, we had actual snow the day before.  Snow. In November. In Virginia.

As if that wasn’t excitement enough, they got to spend all morning in their pajamas watching the parade and the dog show, and were thrilled when I agreed to finally putting on some Christmas music during dinner.  Neve has been pushing hard for being able to get out the Christmas movies and music and I refused to cave in to it until the parade at least had ended.

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After dinner our friends Keith and Jessie came with their kids and Jessie’s mom, Joan, for pie. I had made the usual apple and pumpkin pies, but I also tried a new recipe from Cooking Light: Mocha Pie with Coffee Whipped Cream.  It was astounding. However, there’s a tip I should pass along should you choose to make it: don’t take it out of the fridge until JUST before you serve it.  Ours had been put out an hour or so before slicing and it had gotten quite goopy.

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Now that turkey season has concluded we all have turned our attention to all things Christmas, and yesterday was spent obtaining a tree and pulling out all the decorations from the attic.  If you are likewise feeling ready for the holiday spirit, I’d like to recommend taking a look over HERE at the Gavle Goat. He’s a wonderful Swedish holiday tradition, and as long as no one sets fire to him, he should be there for viewing until after Christmas.  I have several Yule Goats I put out for the season, including one that tops our tree.

I’ve also been hearing about the German Christmas markets from my friend Diana, who currently lives in Wiesbaden.

Europe knows how to do Christmas, y’all.

 

 

 


Tagged: food, Seasons

The Wintering

We are all holding our breath these days, just waiting for the inevitable return of winter.  We’ve had several recent days where the sky was grey, the temperature was frigid, and the air felt and smelled of snow.

Like every other year, this is where the last minute scramble to be prepared kicks in.  On one of the last warm days I tipped out the water tanks and hosed the hay and leaves and bits out of the bottom.  Of course it looks today as though I didn’t do anything at all, but at least I tried, right?

I’ll be freshening up the pigs’ barn with a layer of fresh hay to root through and burrow into on cold nights.  The bees have been supplied with sugar water as an extra help for the winter (though honestly they made plenty of honey for themselves over the spring and summer and I didn’t remove any from them).

There’s still plenty I’d like to accomplish (some fencing around the strawberry bed, for one) but as every other year, it’s a race against available time and impending cold.

We’ve also been doing our best to keep Cini in the house as much as possible.  His old bones get achey in the cold and he’s looking too skinny these days.

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Keeping him in allows me to feed him extra treats throughout the day and know he’s snuggled up warm by the fire at night.  He’s not too crazy about the arrangement.  He still makes a mad dash for the door whenever it’s opened and will then take off after the first deer he sees. But happily, he has found a small friend in Piccadilly, who loves to rub her face on his snout and play with his giant paws.

Outside the leaves are nearly down from all the trees and it is looking very much Thanksgiving-y.

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Except…..I was surprised to see this:

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I can barely get this rose bush to bloom in the spring, and I have NEVER seen it bloom in the fall.

As lovely as it is, my favorite right now is the Beauty Bush:

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I’m thinking I need to dye some yarn in these colors. I also should have bought about 30 more of these bushes when I planted this one, years ago.

Speaking of yarn…..I’m done with my secret baby knitting project!

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It needs a blocking and to be sent off, so I will save the details and good photos until it has arrived in the hands of its recipient.  I will say that it was very enjoyable to knit and I used JMF Sabine.  It was knit in bits and spurts mostly during school mornings while the girls were working on reading, or their new project, art journals.

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Neve enjoyed working on her title page, which was all about her and the things she enjoys.  However, when I gave them the task of dedicating a page to all things “November”, the results were less than enthusiastic from my middle child.  It was mostly just a statement written out.

“November is a pointless month holding up time between Halloween and Christmas”.

Well then.

 

 


Tagged: Farm, Homeschooling, Knitting, Pets

Family Weekend

I have just realized, after sorting through my photos from the weekend, that I didn’t really take any.

What the heck, me?

We had my dad and new step-mom down from New York for a visit, and happily the weather couldn’t have been more beautiful.  I made pumpkin ravioli again; why did I wait so long this season?  We seriously should have  been eating it since September.  So very delicious.

Maddie drove up for the day Saturday, which we were thrilled about, since we don’t get to see her very often anymore.  Busy college student is busy!

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She took time to visit with her silver fox, Roquefort.

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Oona showed Julie around the pasture (when she wasn’t being feral and trying to bite me. Little heathen).

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Bertie decided that this weekend was a good time to develop a limp.  Dad helped hold her for me while I cleaned her hooves up a bit.  Luckily I didn’t notice anything much wrong with her feet other than some packed-in mud and poop.  But I gave her a nice trim anyway since we had her there.

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Oona particularly enjoyed being serenaded while we waited for dinner.  It was a lively, cozy evening with music and dancing (Oona, with her skeleton, Frank).

We ventured out Monday for lunch at The Whiskey Jar and a walk along the downtown mall.  Neve kept everyone entertained with her various character voices.

I took them all to UVa to see the section of The Berlin Wall that is on display there.  It’s great to have such an incredible, iconic piece of history so close to us. We spent some time talking to the kids about the significance of it before heading over to walk the lawn (actually, we spent our time sitting on the lawn while Oona raced around us in circles, due to the gelato we’d eaten before we left downtown).

The rest of the visit we spent catching up, remember good times from the past and family members who are gone now.  My dad and I are working on getting reacquainted, having lived so far apart for so many years and seeing very little of each other. His new wife is just lovely and I am glad to have had this time getting to know her. I’m happy to say that reconnecting with this part of my family has been more wonderful than I could have hoped for, and I am looking forward to seeing them all much more often in the future.

Now if you’ll excuse me once again….I have a sweet little cousin who was just born that I really need to finish knitting for.


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Pumpkin Day

One of the most looked-forward to days of the school year is pumpkin carving day! We talk about various cultural traditions surrounding this time of year (Dia De Los Muertos is a favorite) and about how they used to carve turnips and gourds before pumpkins became the tradition.  Everyone gets to pick out their pattern and work on their own pumpkin.

This year, little Dilly “helped”.

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I have to admit, it’s nice that my kids are old enough now that I don’t spend hours scraping out their pumpkins for them.

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In the background we play Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and generally sing along with it.

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Oona is finally getting the hang of tracing out the pattern, and carving out the bigger pieces (this year she chose the ghost dog Zero from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and I only carved the ears and nose for her).

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While they scraped, carved and cuddled the kitty, I made cinnamon bread in the Pullman Pan (I added a good 1/2 cup of pureed pumpkin to the cinnamon filling….yum!) and pumpkin-chip cookies (I found a bag of Nestle pumpkin chips at Target with the recipe on the bag).

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The guts went into two big bowls which then went out to the pigs for their annual pumpkin day treat.

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Neve chose the most difficult pattern of the three; “Scraps”, the skeletal dog from Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.

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It took her quite awhile.

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Sorry, can’t help myself. She’s too adorable.

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The hardest part was waiting for nighttime to light them and see everyone’s handiwork.

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Oona’s “Zero”.

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Emily’s Hanging Bat.

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Neve’s patience and hard work paid off. Scraps came out great!

After dinner we all settled in to watch Hocus Pocus and get ready for the big day.

When the kids had gone up to bed I lingered for awhile over a hot cup of cinnamon tea by the woodstove and read a few chapters of this month’s bookclub selection that I am loving. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  It’s delightfully creepy and Gothic, and perfect for this time of year!

Tonight we open a big bottle of Kraken Rum with friends and take the kids round the neighborhood to collect treats.

Happy Halloween, all.  I hope it’s the perfect blend of fun, fear, and festivity!

 


Tagged: food, Homeschooling, Pets

How To Spend A Perfect Fall Day

What do you to to enjoy the perfect combination of a Sunday afternoon, gorgeous weather, and beautiful leaves?

Hopefully your friends have their annul fall get-together/birthday party like ours do!

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Lisa and Will’s farm is seriously scenic and the ideal setting for a fall party.  We sat under these picturesque trees by a fire and feasted on fresh oysters, apple cider, sausages with sauerkraut, and pumpkin muffins.

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Our friend Tanya drove up as well, which made the day even more special.

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Check out the log stools!  I’d really like to do this at our place; Paul’s not convinced (in other words, too much work for him right now).  They made fantastic seating for today, though!

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Oona and Neve wore themselves out running around the farm with all of the other kids, playing on the hammock, and in that awesome hay fort.

Meanwhile, look at the leaves!!!!

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Then there’s the pond…….I’m rather smitten with Lisa’s pond right now.

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I mean, really.

I’m not sure it’s actually possible to get more “fall” than we did today.

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Look at this lovely little road next to the gorgeous pond.  Now imagine walking down it, leaves crunching underfoot, the smell of a wood fire hanging in the air, while you sip your apple cider.

See?

FALL!

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Today I am feeling so very fortunate for days like today.

Here’s so many, many more.

 

 


Tagged: Farm, food, Seasons

Odds & Bits

Wow! I feel like I turn away fro half a second and it’s been TEN DAYS since I’ve written a post!

The good news is I have finished dyeing the share yarn for Juniper Moon Farm.  Between working on that, homeschooling, and furiously trying to finish  a secret knitting project, I’ve been swamped.

There have been little tidbits I’ve wanted to share, I’ve just struggled to find the time to sit down at my desk and do it.  Not to mention the struggle that is Piccadilly.  Our adorable little trouble maker has entered full-on kitten mode, leaving a wake of destruction in her path daily.

Today she woke me up by knocking every single thing off the night stand, including a glass of water.  A few days ago, she greeted me with a ball of yarn dropped unceremoniously onto my sleeping face.  Yesterday we couldn’t get down the stairs because she had managed to blockade them with an impossible tangle of yarn hanging like a drunken spiderweb between the bannisters. Every day she steals something from the table while we are working on school. Is that your lunch? Not anymore!

Then there are days where she has the devil in her something fierce and jumping onto Oona’s head out of nowhere is par for the course.

But she is also the loviest of loves if you can catch her at the right moment, and it’s nearly impossible not to completely and utterly forgive her many transgressions against our property and persons.

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I mean, really.

Aside from dodging naughty kitty activity, we’ve been enjoying the serious transition into fall weather. The leaves are glorious, and the persimmons are on the trees!

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To be honest, we don’t actually like persimmons. We let the squirrels and chickens eat them, and we enjoy them as heralds of our favorite time of year. They look lovely covering the trees, and it means it’s nearly Halloween!

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This little beauty has bloomed all by its lonesome in the back garden.  I planted about 6 of them in the spring, but sadly it appears this is the only one that took. Perfect color for this time of year, don’t you think?  I may have to do more soil amendment to coax more of them to grow.  It’s been rough overcoming our terribly unfit dirt here.  My neighbor Joanne seems to have made a good job of it, however, as she recently gifted us this giant beauty from her garden:

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She explained that she put down cardboard over the winter to discourage weeds, and then had to keep adding good soil on top of the planted sweet potatoes because the soil was too hard for them to grow downwards. I say the proof is in the pudding, and I’ll be doing just that next year!

Lastly I wanted to share a snapshot from last week.  It’s not a great photo; the sun was far too bright and I couldn’t get close enough without frightening them off.  BUT, my butterfly bush was alive with Monarch butterflies.  They must have been migrating, and I was thrilled they stopped here.  I haven’t seen Monarchs in ages and ages.

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I hope this becomes a yearly thing!

Well, there you have it. A small window into our lives for the last ten days.  Soon I will be busy dyeing sock yarn (hopefully after completing my knitting!!!) and we will be celebrating Halloween!

Slow down, fall!

 


Tagged: food, Garden, Homeschooling, Knitting, Pets

Wet Weekend Inside

The leaves seemed to have gone wild and vibrant overnight, and I’d like nothing more than a weekend being productive outside in that beautiful blaze of color.  Alas, it’s super rainy and gross out, so we’ll be spending the weekend inside.

Which is soooo much more than okay, because I have a few new toys to play with. Chief among which, is this:

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That, my friends, is a beautiful Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel. I am beyond lucky and spoiled to have some incredibly wonderful friends, because this was given to me by my friend Kris, who is downsizing in preparation for a move.   I’ve been spending a lot of time playing with my drop spindle, trying to get the hang of proper drafting.   It’s paid off in the sense that I knew the mechanics of working with a wheel and how twist works, etc.  Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m any good at it.  I’m still working on getting the knack of making yarn that is uniform and not too thin, too thick, or weirdly bumpy.  Fortunately there are many, many excellent tutorials on the internet and I have a whole rainy weekend in front of me to work on it.

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Neve is trying to get the hang of the drop spindle now.

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Of course we have plenty of “help” from the cutest kitten in the world.

I’ve got some yarn dyeing to finish up, but I am happy for it to rain, rain, and rain some more, because a lot of my weekend will hopefully look like this:

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Tagged: Spinning

Oktoberfest!

This past Saturday we headed out to the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Va for their annual Oktoberfest celebration.  It seemed especially fitting this year as our dear friend Diana recently moved to Wiesbaden, Germany, and has herself been enjoying Oktoberfest.

Granted, there was no way our Oktoberfest experience was going to surpass hers.  Still, we had never been to the museum before, and it seemed like a perfect way to spend the first beautiful October weekend.

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We met our friends Jessie and Keith and their two kids and sampled some German food and beer before heading out to tour the homesteads.

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To be honest, the food and beer were a disappointment; there was very little to be had and the beer was all American mass-market. Thankfully, the music was fantastic and our company was fun.  The kids had so much fun wandering though all the museums that the rest didn’t matter.

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I loved this lovely stone wall and gate.  I want it at my farm!

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I also love these windows!

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Check out the chimney!  I could very easily live in this old home from 1600″s England! (You know, until it gets too hot, too cold, or too spider-y).

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The Nigerian Pygmy goats were Neve’s favorite.

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Happy Sheep!

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The 1800’s American homestead could easily make a cozy home as well! It was a little more buttoned-up against the elements than the English cottage.

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Look at that lovely wide-plank floor!

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Unfortunately the view just to the right of this, where the barn and cows stood, was marred by a giant “Cracker Barrel” sign rising up on the other side of the highway. I couldn’t manage a decent photo that didn’t include it.

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This cow was such a love!  He licked Neve’s face and let us all pet him to our hearts’ content.  I was ready to bring him home!

The kids have already asked to go back again, so I foresee a new October tradition!


Tagged: Seasons, Trips