The snow has been coming down all day. It is quiet and peaceful here in the woods, although I do hear the regular rumble of the plows down on the road. The little card in the second photo provides a contrast to the current whites and grays. Could that green exist in this same place? I love this little card. It was sent to me in a package when I ordered from an etsy vintage shop.
I hope you are enjoying the snow if it has come your way.
❀ Maribeth
It is all green here. We are settling into summer. The first round of lettuce and radishes are just about done. The peas and string beans will be harvested in a couple of weeks. One more day of walking the kids to the school bus stop. I have been enjoying these walks, the morning air so full of life. We have a very long driveway, so there is always something interesting to see along the way. My son and I saw a coyote on the driveway a few weeks ago.
Here are some lovely things for you:
♥ Chinelos de Trapo (don't you want a pair?)
♥ Kettle's Yard (let's go here)
♥ Sonia Delaunay at the Cooper Hewitt (too good)
Bye for now.
I'm spending very little time online lately. Instead, I'm finding myself outside as much as possible. Gardening, hiking, watching softball practice and games. This has been a good break away from screens for me. When I'm outside, I see the long distance, the big picture. When online, I can develop tunnel vision. Does anyone else feel that way too?
The top photo is my lawn. I love that it is an incredibly weedy lawn because we get blankets of dandelions, violets, thyme, and moss.
The two middle photos are of a recent hike on Pine Cobble. The top of the Cobble is a jumble of stone. I love the cairns that have been built out of this jumble. Nature's altars.
The bottom photo is of the little parade that opened the Little League season. My daughter marched with the band. I realize that I am thankful to live in a town that closes a main street so that baseball players and the school band can march to the ball park.
Yes. There is more snow this morning. Heavy and sticky. Some vanilla frosting for the trees.
A knitting project almost completed.
A new doll. The figures I am painting have inspired me to translate them into cloth. I am making removable clothes for it.
An old print of forget-me-nots hanging on my daughter's bedroom wall. You can see her violet collection on the windowsill. My grandmother grew violets as a hobby. It makes me happy that Miriam enjoys keeping them too.
A niggly migraine hanging about my head for the past few days. Goodbye to it already.
It is a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness. (Pema Chodron When Things Fall Apart)
We are in the grip of hard falling snow. Again. Maybe two more feet before it is over.
This excessive amount of snow, and a case of crazy cabin fever, has led my family to jump off the roof. Our house is of modern design, with a flat roof. (In New England? What was the architect thinking?) We have to shovel the snow off the roof, and this has made great piles of snow around the perimeter of the house. It is into these piles that the jumping occurs.
Of course, I was not home for the first episode of jumping. I'm sure I would have given my husband the evil eye and put the over-protective mother kibosh on the whole affair. I've relaxed about it now, though.
I think taking (controlled) risks can be good children. Gaining a sense of mastery, and overcoming anxieties, can mature a child in a healthy way. There are so many unhealthy risks for children to engage in. Perhaps building safe risk-taking into my children's lives will make the unhealthy risks unnecessary and less attractive.
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Do you know about wingsuits? Humans flying? Watch this:
I went for a snowshoe on the mountain behind the house last weekend. As I came back toward home, I found that my husband and daughter had come part way up the trail on their skis and left this snowman and the little message written in the snow with the bottom of a ski pole.
We have two more feet of snow on top of what you see in these photos. I haven't seen so much snow in years.
My painting of a crane.
I hope you have a nice weekend.
I have been moving slowly along with my goal of making a granny square crocheted afghan. I am enjoying the process, and I think I have gotten far enough along that I am now very motivated to finish. Since I started without a specific pattern I am making things up as I go along. Luckily, the granny square is very forgiving and flexible.
I went to the yarn store last week to purchase more yarn for the afghan. While there, I saw one of the most beautiful scarves I have seen in a long while. The store owner handed me the pattern and directed me to the Noro yarn that I would need. You can see the skeins in the above photo. I will hopefully cast on this weekend.
In the third photo you can see another corner of my work room. I really love the prints of models for wooden toys that I bought from here. I framed them in inexpensive frames I bought at Target.
Today we were hit by a large snow storm. The kids are home, and I have my friend's kids here as well while she is at work. Busy!
Mr. Spoqui is having a contest. Toilet paper tube characters. Make one and enter before Friday. Even if you don't make a character, go see Mr. Spoqui. It is a wonderful place.
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It snowed. A lovely blanket of white. Deep and fluffy. Venturing out was an adventure, the world transformed. Very little traffic on the road, mostly snow plows. Ice on the pond perfect for skating.
The warmer, rainy days we had early this week have changed to snowy, bitterly cold days. There is a saying here in the Berkshires: If you don't like the weather, wait a minute.
Our wood pile is stacked and in active use. Our fires are comforting in the evenings, now that the sun is disappearing over the mountain by 4:30 in the afternoon.
Speaking of cold and snow, I was surprised and pleased to find this post featuring my work, Lovely Polar Bears, on the blog A Polar Bear's Tale. This blog is written by Aputsiaq in Copenhagen, Denmark. She makes lovely fiber creatures herself. Thank you Aputsiaq.
My watercolor circles. Very cheery against the white of the snow.
My daily theme of late has been gratitude and generosity. Narayanan Krishnan is my new hero. I cried when I watched this. Please take the brief moment it takes to watch this.
I'm a little late for GardenMama's Wandering Wednesday, but here is my go at it.
We've had quite a breeze over the past couple of days, and there is tremendous windfall off the apple trees. The deer are happy.
An old pine came down earlier in the month. The clean-up is almost complete. The stump smells of the sweet scent of pine forest.