For The Love of Trees

I am not sure quite how it happened but I grew up knowing next to nothing about the natural world.  Aside from an interest in all things animal-related, I was completely ignorant.  I mean, until a few years, I could not have distinguished between an oak and a maple tree.  Really.  Nothing.  


Now my kids and I are making up for lost time.  Recently, I have become fascinated with all things tree.  On our recent trip to Vermont, I picked up a pocket guide to identifying coniferous and deciduous trees and took it on a hike with us.  Wow are there lots of species of pine trees!  And they all look so similar to these amateur eyes!  Every day I "discover" a new to me tree right in my neighborhood.  Yesterday, a Tulip tree and today a Gingko.  


Amazing what we can find when we open our eyes, isn't it?  There is so much beauty all around and if we can just escape through that gate, that bolted door in our head, get out of our mind and into the world--we can really live, even if only for moments at a time.

Collecting Herbs

This spring I planted various herbs in the ground, in pots sitting by the window sill and in our raised vegetable beds in the backyard.  This fall I am taking note of what worked and what did not work so that next year I will know better.  Sadly, my kitchen herbs (those on the windowsill) suffered an early demise despite my best efforts.  Those are still a mystery to me considering how much attention I gave them.  


Those that I planted in the ground along the side of our house had varying degrees of success.  I planted three varieties of rosemary and none of them grew vigorously.  Rosemary has always been a hardy one for me so this came as a bit of a surprise.  Our Lavender, on the other hand, as grown splendidly--we have loads of it stored up for the winter already.

The Lemon Verbana, an herb that I knew nothing of before this year, has completely cast a spell on me.  I love everything about it--it's woodiness, the spring greenness of its leaves, and my oh my, the smell...

Reorganizing the Playroom

Our playroom, especially the art department, has been in desperate need of some tender loving care.  With one child who needs to express herself on paper every single day, another who likes to follow her lead and take some creative license of his own, and another who loves to put small things like crayons in his little mouth, the art department sees a lot of wear and tear.

The cool weather is keeping us inside a little more these days and it is so nice to spend time in a well-organized room with thoughtfully placed materials, rather than in one where you have look underneath the play kitchen, for example, for the material you need.Alas, one school day last week, I found myself at home with two of my littles at school and one playing peacefully.  I seized the opportunity.  Here are a few shots of our new and improved playroom.

Done: Twirly Skirt

I bought a fat quarter of Heather Ross' Far Far Away last year with the intention of making this for my little girl.  I absolutely love the fabric--all of it.  It was on the top of my stash and whenever I wanted to feel happy in my sewing room, I held it.  You can not feel bad with this stuff in your hands.  It's lightness permeates into the air around it.  It seems to me that this kind of fabric belongs on a body, on a four year old body spinning into the wind, and now that this where it resides.  


I purchased this pattern from my local fabric shop.  Patchwork is new to me--I have never quilted.  In fact,  I am only now starting to appreciate the look and feel of patchwork goods.  I am not sure I will ever grow to love them but you never know...


The skirt has many many imperfections--the endless errant strings , an uneven hemline, squishes and squenches here and there, but this girl of mine does care about any of them.  She just twirls...

Kidless in Vermont

My husband and I celebrated our 6th anniversary a little early.  Last weekend we drove to a little town in southern Vermont to catch a glimpse of the leaves at their peak and spend some much overdue time alone and together.  Oh how nice it was.  I felt some anxiety leading up to the trip, but magically, before we had even driven off our block, I was light and clear blue and windy.  We got yogurt before we left town and talked for 48 hours about nothing and everything.  We sat in silence, we walked in deep deep darkness, we took trembling steps in and out of the woods, we laughed sometimes awkwardly, and we laid close warmed by the other.

This experience away gave me a new sense of the art of the possible in our lives.  Yes, we have three small children and yes it is indeed possible, and even fun, to leave home.  Next weekend, we are headed to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival so we are going to explore that "art of the possible" with the five of us in one hotel room.  I hope it still seems so possible next Sunday...

Sprucing Up Our Food

I have been bored bored bored by my food choices for the family as of late.  I am not sure what it is--maybe I am tired of our garden produce (our garden has saved the family heaps of money over the summer.  I just walk on by the vegetable section AND asparagus sure does sound good.  I am going to buy it guilt-free once the garden retires for the year) or maybe I am just plain tired.  Probably a little bit of both.  There has been little that has crossed our table that I am actually wanted to eat--until this little number a few days ago.  Black figs, french bread, melted brie, and bacon all topped with a drizzle of honey.  Outrageously simple and unbelievably good.

Done: Bunny Snuggley

My knitting is starting to pick up again as the gardening is less demanding.  I do miss being out there in the dirt with my kids, digging dirt out of one's mouth, prying another away from her mud pie, and trying to round up a third who is flailing some dangerous garden tool around as if it were made of cotton.  But for all things there is a season and the season of knitting is upon us, right?

I love this little snuggley bunny.  Kelly sent me one last for the Seasons Round Exchange (pattern in here).   This one is going to one special baby living across a big ocean--someday soon I will get to snuggle her in person.  For now, Snuggle Bunny will have to do.