notes from the weekend...

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... accompanied by those way too many baby pictures I mentioned the other day.
(Because Mel and Jules encouraged me.) (But I already knew they would want to see them...)
(And also just cause, just for us.)

On Saturday morning Jason and the girls went to town to do our errands and pick up our raw milk. At about the time I was expecting them home, they called to say they were delayed. They had to make an unexpected stop, but they would be home soon, and they had a big surprise. I was unable to think of what it could be, for about 2 seconds, and then I realized that they must have found some apple trees.

Apples, apples, apples!!! I nearly danced around the house with Elsa, happily singing apple songs, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the harvest.

There was only a brief moment when I let my enthusiasm dampen, realizing that I could be wrong, and maybe there weren't any apples.

But oh yes, apples apples apples!

Hmm.. You would think I might have some lovely apple photos to share...

You might also think that Sunday was a day full of apple chopping, saucing, etc...
But no, it was not.
I guess it had something to do with scissors, needle, thread. Fabric, sewing machines. Things like that.
Thank goodness apples don't turn as quickly as peaches.
(Did I even mention this year's visit to the abandoned peach orchard?)

Looks like today will be filled with a little bit of homeschool lesson time and a whole lot of apples.
Hopefully there will still be some moments for handwork.

Wishing you all a happy week ahead!

p.s. Babies sitting on top of tables is not very safe. But it is pretty cute. And apparently quite fun for baby.



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moments and gratitude

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So very grateful for...

The gardens. The rain. The storms.

And now you see how wild this corner of our garden became this year. (Or was it last year that that happened...?)

Just hours after taking these (yes, more) photographs of our beloved Swiss chard, a huge hailstorm pounded down on our gardens. The chard actually held up quite well. But oh the poor collards!!!

And then there was the second hailstorm. That pretty much wiped out the rest of the chard.

Gallons of ragged greens were harvested. A giant pot of harvest stew was prepared and enjoyed all week.

Grateful for it all.

Grateful that only the gardens suffered damage.

Grateful the squash are in the greenhouse.

Grateful that the girls made it indoors safe and quickly enough when that last storm came up so very suddenly.

It was not a usual storm.

We saw water flowing on our land where it has most likely not flown for decades.

Oh yes. Grateful to know where the water flows.

Many good life lessons brought to us this past summer.

Grateful for it all.

Grateful that our cat is not 18 years old. That's what I came up with yesterday when I counted the years. Fortunately I counted wrong. I was relieved to figure out that he is only 15.

Grateful for the hawthorne that gave such beautiful berries this year, bigger than I have ever seen. The brilliant red, the glowing gold of the wild sunflowers gathered around, the soft blue of the chicory. I  see out the window the colors now faded, but I will remember.

Grateful for this day.
I wake each morning excited for what is to come.
I go to bed each night with a tingly thrill, knowing that my life is full of love and so very good.

Oh, and one more for now...
Grateful that you all will forgive me when I post way too many baby photos later this week. (Even though I did that last week too...)


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and so many other things...

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When I wrote the other day (weeks ago now!) there were so many other things I was going to say. But then Chessa and I were making that list, and I just went with that instead.


I was going to tell you about the beautiful blue flax flowers...

When Chloe was born, and for her first two years of life, just outside our little mountain cabin grew the beautiful blue flax flowers. And all the sumer mornings, when we first walked out the front door to greet the day, the flowers, the trees... we (I) would say, "Good morning beautiful little blue flax flowers."

We do not live with the little blue flax flowers anymore. But if ever they come across our path we always give them the same greeting.

And someday we shall live with them again.


~ ~ ~


Always, there are so many other things...


I actually started writing this post on paper. I am just more awful than ever about computer time.

(Perhaps not such a bad thing, other people seem to have trouble resisting the computer. I, on the other  hand, can hardly force myself to get anything done on it...)

(Then again, I was just distracted by a lovely Pinterest sewing board.)

Really though I am more of a books and notebooks, pencil and paper kind of person.

But sometimes I miss this little blog space, and often I very much miss my blog friends.

And along comes September, and here am I posting pictures from July.
Which doesn't make so much sense with photos of babies and gardens, cause both grow so so fast.
But at least it's not like knitting, when the baby outgrows the bonnet (socks, pants, etc..) before it is even cast off.


Baby. Gardens.
Knitting. Sewing.
Homeschool planning.
Waldorf happiness. Reading lots of Steiner.


The other evening at the land, while preparing for our camp dinner, Jason said, "If only we had some potatoes." And then we remembered that we did have potatoes, growing in the ground, and we could harvest some if we wanted to. Which we did.


I am going to try to keep up a little better here...


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everyday riches

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Yesterday Chessa and I decided to play a game, making a list of all the things we are rich in.

We are rich in family.

We are rich in love.

We are rich in health.

We are rich in land.

We are rich in trees.

We are rich in candles.

We are rich in flowers.

We are rich in clothes.

We are rich in dolls.

We are rich in cats.

We are rich in horses.

We are rich in dishes.

We are rich in wooden horses.

We are rich in books.

We are rich in notebooks.

We are rich in beeswax.

We are rich in pencils.

We are rich in crayons.

We are rich in fabric.

We are rich in wool.

We are rich in baby.

We are rich in girls.

We are rich in sisters.

We are rich in handmades.

We are rich in skills.

We are rich in gardens.

We are rich in seeds.

We are rich in compost.

We are rich in friends.

We are rich in memories.

We are rich in dreams.

We are rich in hope.

And then Chessa says, "Seems like we're rich in pretty much everything except money."

Sounds pretty good to us!

What are you rich in?


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moments on our mountain with baby and knitting and pine needles

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