this morning...

this is t, our large black cat, napping in the sunshine.

...it was biscuits, sliced fresh strawberries and a cool cup of herbal tea to start the day. still the sky threatens rain; we've had so much more rain this year than last and i think we're on the verge of being out of 'drought' status! the flowers, herbs and veggie plants (and the abundant, verdant grass) are all so very thankful---so are we, the people. this means an end to water restrictions; not that i mean to just haphazardly use water in whatever amounts i feel like, but we can actually water the garden adequately and not worry about everyone else having enough water, too.

memorial day was spent with friends having a cookout at their house. we were introduced to their five-year-old's new pet, a rat named cinco. very cute, for a rat! we spent mother's day seeing my sister married and then driving to my in-law's house, so both mothers were visited and loved and hugged.

now our time is filled with some deep spring cleaning, gardening, a bit of landscaping and enjoying the transition from Spring into Summer. relaxing into a routine not ruled by a school schedule is very, very nice.

pictures from Summers past

here are some lovely pictures from Summers past; enjoy!

our garden the first year; we moved in during the summer and let it lay fallow.

our storage shed. the other outbuilding is a root celler, partially built into the ground.

our rabbit statue, standing guard under the dogwoods and young black walnut trees.

saturday is here again

it's saturday, once again, and i feel worn down to my bony bits. we went two very cold days without kerosene for our monitor heater and two of the coldest nights this Winter (the first night was down to 10 degrees and the second one was down to 11 degrees; the highs for both days were below freezing). so we did the best we could: we shut off the rooms without water pipes, ran the small ceramic heater non-stop near the bathroom and had the oven on for nearly 48 hrs on warm. i DO NOT recommend heating the house with an oven; it is VERY dangerous and a FIRE HAZARD. but, with no other source of heat, what were we to do? sleeping under so many covers/quilts reminded me of staying over with my mamaw as a girl. in her house, many quilts were the norm, even in the Summer (though not as many as in the Winter).

on a very happy note, we had kerosene delivered yesterday (hoorah!) and today is near 60 degrees outside (!). i also noticed our daffodils beginning to peak out of the ground by the st. francis statue outside the kitchen door. there are several spring/summer birds beginning to return to the feeders. slowly the season is changing from Winter to Spring. i'm pouring over seed catalogs again, trying to choose a good variety of vegetables and herbs that i know we'll eat and use. pictures of sunflowers go a long way to cheer one up.

this evening is dinner with our neighbor, with perhaps a game of cards or a board game over after-dinner tea. right now i'm taking a break from house cleaning for tomorrow's Sabbath. my prayer is that all would enjoy a peaceful day of rest and worship. let us not forget to count our blessings!

a new year

happy new year to everyone!

we passed new year's eve and day with family and had a wonderful time cooking, playing games and visiting together. it is good to be able to offer hospitality and to give of one's self. i find that each time i'm able to do so i enjoy it more and more.

today is a rainy day and we are hopeful that the groundwater and rivers/lakes will be more replenished with this rain. i also hope that the rain will make a difference with the garden this year. last year it was difficult because of excess heat and not enough rain. we were on water restrictions and did our best to water the plants sparingly. evenso, we had a fairly good harvest, all things considered.

i leave with some of my favorite verses:

"...But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing."
1st Thessalonians 4:10b-12

i hope everyone has had a blessed LORD's day and are looking forward to another week of blessings from His hands.

this past week at the cottage, i've been busy trying to do above and beyond normal cleaning and maintenance cleaning. i've found that if i do the bigger tasks in smaller chunks that i don't get as overwhelmed with them or discouraged at the list of them. so cleaning out the fridge for a good scrub turns into several sessions of cleaning and scrubbing the various levels. some tasks may not be suitable to being broken down into smaller ones to be done over a series of days, so reserving one day as a day to do thus-and-so is also more pleasant than fretting over the list of ones not tackled just yet. it was very refreshing to rest today and see how much i've accomplished.

another task i've been busy at is weaving. the next project i'll warp the loom for is a Harvest Home tablerunner for my sister, as she is hosting her first family Thanksgiving this year. she has recently expressed an interest in and discovered a talent for baking, so i think she's looking forward to cooking a meal for us all. i'm also trying to make as many Christmas gifts as possible this year and am trying to outdo my previous handmade gift tallies.

the garden is still giving veggies, mainly yellow squash. there are some pumpkins still growing and i discovered several cantalope as well. the dahlias are still blooming, as are the zinnias. the leaf color is deepening and spreading, making every day a pallete of brilliant golds, reds and greens. how blessed i truly am!

saturday-preparation day

it's been a while since i've posted here and there have been some changes. the garden has been having a tough time due to the lack of rain and water restrictions (and, to be honest, the lack of attention from the resident gardeners). however, we are still getting some eggplants, peppers, squash and okra; there are also some baby pumpkins! i've been trying to weed and water when i can, in between sorting through possessions to sell, take to the thrift store or throw away (a never-ending task, it seems).

the weaving is going much, much better than it was earlier in the summer. i think that's in part due to a shift in my attitude; as Autumn approaches, i can feel a quickening inside me. i think Autumn is my favorite time of year, with Winter a close second (then Spring and then Summer). i do have to say that i missed having at least one good, solid snow-fall this past Winter and i'm already hoping and praying for such for this one! but back to the weaving; i finished an order for the gallery where i have some of my things and took it over. they're a nonprofit organization and August plus the financial situation 'round the country wasn't too nice to them. so the director let me know that payment may be a bit later than normal. so that got me thinking...

i do enjoy having my handwovens in a local gallery and i'm committed to supporting this gallery as a nonprofit and its role in the regional arts community; so i'm not going to stop taking orders from them! however, another venue through which to sell would be wonderful. so i'm taking another look at using etsy. i still haven't made a decision, but if i do open up a store, i'll post a link to it from here (and vice-versa). i've got to take some decent pictures of my items, to start with. my camera isn't top-of-the-line, but it was free and i'm very thankful to have it and to be able to take digital images. i just need to figure out how to maximze its capabilities.

we are also being blessed with 'free' free-range eggs from our neighbor's chickens. they have decided to hang out in our yard and lay eggs on our front and back porches; never very many but still, free eggs! i think we've collected six in a week. they're funny animals and the cats enjoy watching them through the windows. yesterday i actually heard one of them sneeze; how many people can say they've heard a chicken sneeze?

today i've been busy with cleaning the house and then trying to plan an afternoon activity, or rather pick an activity from the many on my list that need to be done or started or advanced. an order of yarn came in the mail today for some placemats that one of my mom's coworkers ordered; so i need to dress the loom for them soon. i'm looking forward to tomorrow as a day of resting, relaxing, renewing and contemplation.

things have been busy here at the cottage, so i've not been online or posting very much at all lately. the garden is in full swing, with blooms on many of our plants (except for the tomatoes; they're having problems) and the herbs we've planted are thriving (although i'll have to stop picking leaves off the catnip for a bit, much to the disappointment of three kitties). weaving is coming along well, with a new warp in the process of being wound on and an order from the gallery in the wings as well.

the things i've been struggling with, though, are heavy. i've been at a loss lately in terms of faith and have really felt dry and parched in my committment to Christ. i should confess that i've not helped myself very much in this area; instead of praying more, being more vigilant about avoiding known temptations and calling on a few trusted friends for prayer/advice, i've been just moping and wallowing in despair and dallying with temptation wherever i've come across it (and, yes, sometimes i've actively sought it out). i would like to write that my faith, perseverence and pray are increasing and strengthening, but i don't know that they are. for today, however, i'm making a conscious effort to turn to the LORD, in confession, in petition, in praise...in faith.

it's a good thing that i'm not too terribly afraid of questioning beliefs and having doubts; i went through such an incredibly intense period of that during my late teens/entire twenties that i'm sure God got tired of me obsessing over the same issues for literally years. thankfully, He used that time to gently guide me into new ways of thinking based on His Word (renewing the mind, anyone?) that otherwise i would've laughed off as stupid (yes, i was young and arrogant even though i was confused. now the 'young' has disappeared and just left 'arrogant'!)

there are some blogs i've bookmarked specifically to help me through tough times, either from external persecution (from misunderstanding, well-meaning people) or from internal doubts; these fall into two different groups: gentle blogs and right blogs. the two categories are not mutually exclusive; the gentle blogs are homemaker blogs that address practical issues, as well as marriage ups-n-downs and spiritual ones, too. the right blogs give rebuttle to feminist arguments, with the theology and Scripture behind the answers clearly made plain. both sets of blogs are used by God in my life to encourage me to press on towards the goal.

preparation day

"She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands." Proverbs 31:13

saturday, filled with chores and preparation for the LORD's day...we planted the sweet peppers, muskmelons, bee balm and some basil seedlings. in the flats of seeds we planted earlier in the week, some seedlings are already showing. i'm hoping for a quite a few herb seedlings as well. cleaning today includes the bathroom, changing out the linens, washing several loads of clothes, vacuuming/sweeping, taking out the trash and working in the garden (with dishes and food preparation, of course). if everything goes fairly smoothly, there may be time for some weaving in the early afternoon.

adventures in homemaking-gardening

we've been doing quite a bit of gardening lately, as the last frost date has finally past. after clearing the plot of weeds, we hoed it out due to not having a tiller. we've planted four tomato seedlings, two straight neck sqash seedlings and have sweet pepper and cantalope (muskmelon, mushmelon) seedlings to plant as well. i'm going to try to plant some more bee balm, as the bee balm trying to grow at the moment is really struggling (i think it took some hard hits with frost earlier on).

i also have planted a kitchen herb garden in containers for the back porch, which is just off the kitchen. thyme, oregano, sage, chives, marjoram, basil, mint, lavender and dill will hopefully begin to thrive soon. i've also a small rosemary shrub in my favorite decorative pot. i'm looking forward to making my own seasoning combinations from fresh herbs. two cookbooks are also helping my excitement over the kitchen herb "garden": the home cook book, a canadian classic cookbook from 1877 and artisan bread in five minutes a day; the first one i own and the second one i checked out from the library recently.

planting, weeding, watering, aerating the soil are just some of the tasks that will keep us busy for the rest of the growing season. guarding the garden from the mowers will also be a weekly task; our landlord has a local lawn service come and mow, which is very nice so that we don't have to worry about it. however, the mowers seem intent on hunting down and mowing over EVERY piece of green in their reach, including in the garden bed and flower beds. so, we've also been working on a very clear delineation between the garden and yard, with stakes around the edges and a decorative fence of white painted wrought iron with suncatchers in the center. hopefully these implements will keep our tender seedlings and lovely flowers and flowering shrubs safe.