Funny Farm Visit

On our way to Rhinebeck, Natalie and I had the pleasure of visiting my friends, Marie and Bob, at their  farm in the Poconos in Pennsylvania. 

But on the way, we had a little mishap. My trailer got a flat, but I was able to pull right off the highway and call for help. While we waited, we got out our stool and chair, knitting and snacks, and got down to knitting.

 It wasn't really so bad but lost about 2 hours of travel time.

 

When Steve arrived I told him he was our knight in shining armor. He said he forgot his shining armor so I said you must have a little cape then, because he really was our hero. I asked him where he got the tire, as it was an off size. He said he just took it off his old Corvette. Whatever works!

We got on our way again and arrived at Marie's before dark. The further north we got and the higher we climbed, the colors just got more magnificent. 

This is looking towards their barn with the big pond in the background.

the house from the back

The chickens had to check out the new tire.

Barn e Cat found the sun in the house and was happy to be indoors.

Marie and Bob have sheep, goats, peacocks, guinea hens, chickens, and sometimes cows and pigs.

The chickens and goats live together.

The peacocks keep an eye on everything from the rafters.

Marie made lots of hypertufa planters this summer.

These are the folks who weave their own curtains, table linens, hand towels and rugs. They make their own cheese, beer, wine, liquor, bread, jams, grow all kinds of veggies and even tobacco, roast their own coffee beans, and even tan hides. They truly work the land. I admire them for all they do.

I'm always enthralled with the chicken plucker, a big blue plastic barrel with rubber 'finger's. When the dead chicken is put in, it gets turned on and spins really fast and within a minute, all the feathers are off.  

After a nice chicken dinner, we got a good night's sleep in a down covered bed. This was the view from my bedroom window in the morning. Always a pleasure to visit my friends on the Funny Farm in autumn. 

Fence Project

My son, Forrest, is home for only 3 weeks this summer. He's spending the rest of the summer in Missoula working with the Dept. of Agriculture traveling around Montana cataloging insects. Part of the payment for tuition at University of Montana was clearing this stand of mangled wire fence, brush and trees into a cleared. Along with his girlfriend, Kim, (also going to UM), they worked side by side in rain, heat and humidity pulling poison ivy out and hauling 8 truckloads of brush away.


This is what it looked like after they had cleared the mess away. So much better. But the old fence and brush worked well while the boys were growing up as it kept their baseballs, softballs, lacrosse balls, volleyballs, and frisbees from going into the road.


Tools of the trade.


But we did cheat a bit though and rented this awesome auger to dig the holes. It grinded through root and shale and I believe we'll never dig a hole by hand again! Houston had to try it out and they had the holes done in just 2 hours.


Here are the two proud workers standing in front of their newly completed fence. Bravo!


After the last rail was pounded into place, we packed a lunch and headed up to Sugarloaf Mountain for a celebratory picnic and hike. As soon as we took off though, it began to drizzle, then rain.


We decided to just eat under the old wood pavilion up there, check out Devil's Kitchen, and come back later when it's not raining (August?)


The mountain laurels are in bloom now, although just past their peak. Sugarloaf is abundant with them and they are truly lovely.


This pic is a bit fuzzy but the undersides of the flowers are really unusual.


They look more like something that you'd find under the sea.


Forrest just chillin' on the rocks, happy not to be working on that fence any more!

Hay Fever

I have to pinch myself because I can't believe I live right across the road from this view! I've always loved fields and especially barns. Growing up in South Dakota, I know a thing or 100 about fields! When I was 15, I had to go to a podiatrist in Aberdeen, 120 miles away from Mobridge, every Saturday for 6 weeks. There was (still is) nothing but fields the entire way. Oh, and fences and lots of pheasants pecking at bugs and corn kernels along the roadway. And a few mid-western barns. I thought it incredibly boring at the time, but now I love the look of a farm field. The one across from us used to have either soybeans or corn for the longest time, but now it's just hay. But in every season, it is lovely.


With all the rain we've had so far, this year has been amazingly great for hay. I have never seen the rows this tall and thick with fresh mown field grass. With the windows open, we can smell that pleasing aroma of mown pasture.


In between the rains last week, the sun shone down on these green meadows against the backdrop of the ultra-blue skies. We don't get many days like this (no humidity) and I spent every minute outside putzing around on the farm.


Every day the bales of hay would be in a different spot, like a giant was playing a game, the field as the game board and the bales as game pieces. Checkers maybe.




I really liked the combination of the large round bales and the small square bales (they're called square bales, although they are really rectangles!).


This is just the first cutting too. They'll probably get two more cuttings this year. It will be a rich, rewarding summer!

Holiday Spirit

I'm just sitting here by the blazing fire, our Christmas tree brightly lit, cookies baking in the oven, with a hint of cinnamon wafting from the kitchen, listening to dorky, smarmy Christmas music. I'm alone for the moment and relishing it but am also looking forward to having all by boys home, about 2 hours from now. I am so into the holiday spirit this year. I'm singing along to the songs (as much as I can sing, mostly humming off key) and I've caught myself dancing through the rooms. It would be perfect if it was snowing. We have more guests coming tonight so have to make beds, make lasagna and salad, bake a few pies and finish the cookies. But for the time being, I'll be in this Christmas moment.


Our tree is hung with mostly vintage ornaments that I've collected over the years. My mom sent me boxes of them awhile back that she picked up at a yard sale. Score! I LOVE these delicate glass globes. My childhood Christmas tree was also festooned with these ornaments.


This is my kid's favorite ornament. It's a farm scene (we think it's our farm) with "Merry Christmas" stomped in the snow and a small airplane circling overhead pulling a banner that reads "Spirit of St. Nick" and a little boy (Forrest, or is it Garrett or Aramin?!) waving. I always hung it on the tree just below eye level so the smallest boy could see it, mesmerized by the plane circling around and around. Now it's above just 5' high so I can see it, since they are all nearly 6' tall.


Here's wishing you a warm, golden, glittery, sugary holiday. I hope you are surrounded by family and friends and hold warm memories from year's past. Merry Christmas!

Winter Solstice

On this shortest day of the year, I'm posting some pics from the last few weeks that reflect the holiday season. My two favorite days of the year are the summer and winter solstices. We are all so attuned to light, whether we know it or not. December 21 marks the changing of light and the first day of winter, when the days will begin again to get longer. For some reason I relish these extra few minutes of light every day. June 21st is my all time favorite day of the year because it's the longest day and the beginning of summer. Above is a window display in Frederick, when some friends and I went to First Saturday. I thought it was a perfect display of wintery wonder.


This is looking out the back window of my studio during our holiday tour. The first 2 weeks of December are devoted to the tour. It was nice to see so many of you during the weekends.


Tasman and Casey are working dogs during the tour. They greet the customers and guide them to the door. This was my attempt to get them to pose for a cute photo. Trying to get two golden retrievers to pose, especially one who has the attention span of a gnat, is really hard. Here they are, not listening and not understanding that I want them to just sit and look adorable.


See any dogs? Nope, that's because they are over to the right wrestling, not sitting quietly by the nice winter display. Grrr!


OK. Here's the best we could do. They do look pretty stylish in their red bandanas though.


Ann and I went over to our friend, Judy's cabin last week. She had fallen the day before and hurt her feet badly. We took her to the urgent care center to have x-rays to see if one foot was broken. Thank goodness it wasn't. She insisted on taking us to lunch in Shepardstown. We chose a Mid-Eastern type place in an historic building with a charming storefront. There was red drapey material on the ceiling, imitating a tent, wonderful mid-Eastern music playing and was quite cozey. We had a great lunch, got Judy settled at a small table in the front with a pot of steamy hot tea and her foot up. Ann and I then walked up and down main street, hopping into stores that caught our attention with their cheery window displays. It even started snowing, adding to the holiday charm. We rescued Judy, drove back to her log cabin, turned on the Christmas lights, started a fire, made some tea and sat a spell, taking in all the holiday spirit of happiness with friends. Above is Judy's tree, alight in the eve.


and this is the same tree and I quickly walked by it.


She had a tiny tree, surrounded by her antique art supplies.


This is blurry but I love her inside window that used to be an outside window last year.


Cheyenne sitting by the tree, enjoying the lights.





For over 20 years, our group of friends out here have had a progressive dinner party that we call 'Eat & Run'. We all start out for nibbles at one house, split up to 3 different houses for a sit down dinner, then come together again for dessert and gift exchange at another's home. It's a holiday tradition and this year 32 people showed up. Above is my dinner table.


Julie showed up with these awesome shoes. She kicks butt!


And this is Tina's charming holiday display in her kitchen. I love this time of year as we take time to enjoy each other's company, reminisce on Christmases past, and look forward to more light and a new year ahead. Happy Holidays!