It’s snowed all but one day (at least a little) since last week’s snowpocalypse non event here. This storm seems to be making up for it. About a foot on the ground so far with no stopping in sight. Ahhh, the snowshoes will be coming out! It’s the only way I’ll get to the bird feeders and they are wondering where I am.
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Baby It’s Cold Outside
I went to bed last night with the temperature around -5, this morning it was -8. I lit the stove with the coals remaining from the overnight burn and sat down with my morning cup of coffee. The temperature in the kitchen was a balmy 59 with the furnace running almost constantly. Ahhh, the joys of living in an old house.
I’ve heard comments about the cold all day yesterday and last night. They cancelled school for today in Boston because of it. Yes, it’s cold but the wind should stop today and the temperature will rise to the more seasonal teens and twenties by the end of the week. I feel like people have forgotten the winter of ’14. We had this bitter cold weather for weeks at a time. For us frozen pipes were a weekly problem with repairs that were continuously made to the heating system. Yup, its cold – it’s January. It’s the time of year when handwork seems to be the best option. There’s nothing like having a heavy hooked rug sitting in your lap on a cold winter’s day or doing some kind of project that calls for a physical workout. Think I’ll warp the loom today, that’s always something that heats me up.
Being the multitasker that I am I’ll bake some bread and a goody for the rest of the week. I don’t usually eat most of what I’m cooking but there are always people to share it with that appreciate it. It will also heat up the kitchen.
So I’m off to feed the chickens and gather their eggs with Sophie following along. If I’m bundled up enough I will stay out longer than necessary. There’s something bracing about breathing in air that freezes your nose. The squeaking, crunching snow beneath your feet is something I love the sound of and I’ll use the opportunity to fill the bird feeders. God knows they need that seed just to survive the cold this time of the year.
I’ll come in, make a little soup and bread for lunch and wind a warp. All in all a perfect winter day for me.
A side note. There will probably be an inordinate number of sunrise pics this year. I made a commitment to photograph it everyday (even on cloudy days) to watch the sun move through the sky. Little things in long spans of time – must be the gardener in me.
Ice, Ice Baby
So this is the view from upstairs this morning. It looks a little worse now. The weather predictions were right so far and I have done a little planning ahead. I’ve been watching the squirrels slide on the ice below the feeders and Sophie walked herself this morning (with difficulty) because I wasn’t going to venture past the shed door. I loaded up the chickens last night, bought some groceries in the afternoon ready to hunker down and stay put.
I absolutely LOVE these days, especially this close to Christmas. This year all of the gifts I give (well, most) will be handmade. My list is not long but as with everything else I wait until I’m under a lot of pressure before I do anything.
I’m still playing with chainmaille, it’s so calming to make and so beautiful when finished. I can do it while having my morning coffee or pick it up when I have a few minutes. It’s one of those things that is mindless, repetitive. Another form of meditation.
Then there is this stack of wool. I’ve been mulling this over for a couple of weeks now. I finally have the patterns I need and all of the material gathered in one place. I see sewing in my future.
Snow/ice days are such a blessing of time for me. They are extreme crafting sorts of days. It may be a throwback to childhood when you had the day off from school and had nothing but the day ahead of you to do whatever you wanted. There were games, books, the great outdoors. It seemed as if those days were gifts allowing big blocks of time for pastimes you only had minutes to usually do.
The other aspect is having blocks of time before the holidays. It’s a time when I do the most baking. Snow outdoors? Bake some cookies. Smells of cinnamon while warming the kitchen to a cozy temperature, something that’s more of a treat than the norm.
So I will be the ultimate multi-tasker today doing things that need to be done (laundry) interspersed with things I love to do. It makes me think the weather should last the rest of the week. Just think of what I could accomplish!
Winding Into Winter
The temperature was at freezing this morning. I lit the stove using last nights coals and made my coffee. The morning temperatures have been in the mid forties for the past few weeks but I start the stove every morning to take the chill off. I love the cheeriness of that fire when I walk into the kitchen.
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity as it always is when winter approaches. Most of the wood is in, the fall cleaning is finished. Things are moved around (like sleeping areas) to be the most comfortable for the winter. We do not have heat on the second floor of the house so the electric blankets went onto the beds.
Everything left was dug out of the garden, a bumper crop of carrots this year both Danvers and Atomic Reds. The Atomic Reds were one of this years experiments and I would plant them again. I was disappointed that they don’t stay red when they are cooked much like those purple beans.
The month of October was also a time of connecting with friends, both old and new. A very dear friend of mine stopped in to visit me while on a trip here from New Mexico. I haven’t seen her since 1995 yet we picked up as though we’d seen each other a month ago. It was wonderful reminder of how dear my old friends are.
Our 2nd Annual Harvest Party was a success other than the weather, but all that really did was keep us in the house. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon – eating great food with great friends and family. This event is always an interesting mix of old and new acquaintances. It’s always fun to rehash the day with newcomers who are trying to learn who the players in my life are.
Then there are the newest “friends”. My cyber community has evolved into the most interesting ways in the past few months. I have become acquainted with a few like-minded people who are working towards some self-sufficiency. They are craftsmen, farmers, artists, renovators. They have similar interests and through our frequent posts we get to know a little about each other. This has offered me an opportunity to learn a lot about some of my interests. They are generous in conversation, answering questions I might have about weaving, gardening or livestock. The readers of this blog offer words of wisdom in situations I write about. It’s a little support system.
The changes in the past few months have been interesting and not always as expected. Rowe is an isolated area and you have to work harder at being social. I’m not always able to leave and the ability to converse over the web has in some respects kept me sane. It keeps me connected with my kids, spouse and friends – old and new.
As we wind into winter, a time when serious arts and crafting come into full swing I’ll continue to share interesting tidbits of what is happening here and welcome the interaction of those who read it. I’m looking forward to the down time. Having the quiet and solitude always turns my mind towards creativity – I’m always thinking, planning. There just is never the time during the warmer months for sitting at the loom or hooking a rug. Winter will offer a respite from the yard work and gardening, it will allow me to recharge and dream about spring. By the time it arrives I’ll be ready.
Yikes!
We were moving wood from our wood pile into the shed yesterday when I saw this. Fortunately I was by myself at the time because I screamed good and loud. It really caught me by surprise. I must confess my initial thought was what creepy monster is this?!? Actually I envisioned R.O.U.S. from the Princess Bride.
This poor, little opossum had found a nice, dry den in the center of the woodpile and apparently thought we couldn’t see it if it didn’t see us. Initially I thought I would stop moving wood for the day but it wasn’t aggressive in any way and we really had to get the wood in. I carefully removed the wood from above it so the pile wouldn’t collapse onto it, then began to take the wood out around it. It tried to move deeper into the pile but eventually decided to move on.
This morning I decided to see if having an opossum in your wood pile is unusual and found it was not. The website Living with Wildlife was pretty informative and made me feel better about moving this poor critter along.
I think this is my favorite part about living in a rural area, there are always creatures to surprise me.
What’s for Dinner
My husband is part Lebanese and grew up with the food of his Middle Eastern relatives. He has fond memories of his Sito (great-grandmother) making food for them on Sundays after church. She didn’t speak a word of english but food is love and that message crossed the language barrier.
My mother-in-law taught me to make these dishes when we were married. These tried and true “recipes” are served for holidays and special occasions. It is the food of my children’s childhood and of their father’s.
Today is a cold, dismal day and I just happened to pick up some lamb for stew yesterday. Loubieh b’Lahem is what’s on the menu – Lamb and Bean Stew. This is how it was concocted today.
I browned about 2 pounds of lamb neck bones and stew meat in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. You want some bones in this to impart great flavor. I chopped an onion and threw it in along with a can of stewed tomatoes and a pint jar of my canned tomatoes (yes, you have to use the stewed ones). Salt and pepper were added along with a scant 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Cover and let simmer for about 3 hours or until the lamb is falling off of the bones.
At this point I always remove the meat from the bones and return it to the stew, made with love don’t you know. Add about a pound or so of fresh or frozen green beans and cook until the beans are tender.
I made some rice pilaf to serve this over and it was amazing. Probably because I haven’t made it in such a long time or possibly because it’s the perfect meal for a cold, wet day.
Finishing Up
The sunrise view from my current bedroom window is amazing, especially in the spring and fall.
The dumpster project, now affectionately called, is almost complete. Two more days before it goes. It’s been a crazy journey.
The attic was finished Saturday morning. Everything that was going was pitched out of the window a few days before and I spent the last two days sweeping, then vacuuming with a shop vac. During the sweeping phase I finally decided to wear a respirator, the dust was extreme. My father and I figured the last time it was swept was around 1946 – no lie.
It was a sentimental journey through the rooms on the third floor. Sentiment mixed with disbelief that so much stuff was just thrown up there and forgotten. Houses had been cleaned out. Things I recognized from my grandparents homes and some from my great grandparents. Fear not, most of it was categorized, packed and stored away.
There were treasures. Big boxes of crap that had to be gone through, piece by piece because there were treasures. My grandfather’s Hamilton pocket watch, a makeup compact from the ’20s belonging to a great-aunt, a small model train engine, books from childhood. Photographs tucked in with report cards from my father’s elementary school days. There were scrapbooks and letters and journals from my high school years, reminders of a distant past now seeming like someone else’s life. Toys, games, puzzles, all holding memories for me and my siblings of rainy days spent together. I don’t think anything was ever thrown away.
It has also lifted a great weight. It had felt as if that third floor was crushing down on the rest of the house. A job I knew I was going to have to do in order to make my childhood home into the home I will spend the rest of my life in.
The last few days have been spent cleaning out and moving things around on the second floor. All of this with the knowledge that we will be dealing will structural issues in the bedrooms, mostly crumbling lathe and plaster. Nothing at all has been done up there since the early ’70s. There isn’t heat up there (and currently it’s without power – a story for another day). There was water damage years ago so ceilings are beginning to go. These are the photographs you won’t see, unless I’m getting ready to do something with a pry bar and a hammer (respirator in place). The photos recording before and after.
The grand motivation to all of this has really been the need I have to transform a room into a place to put my looms, my fiber, my fabric, my books. Creativity for me doesn’t happen without making a big mess but I need that mess to be contained in it’s own space. I brought home a third loom (yes, I now have three), last weekend. It’s so large and heavy it will have to remain on the first floor so the two on the first floor will have to move to the second. Along with the last two looms I’ve brought home has come their previous owners stashes of fiber. Fun stuff but if you can’t see it you don’t use it.
I use situations like the looms as motivation to deal with the things I don’t want to do. It really works for me. That and having a 20 yard dumpster dropped in the side yard. I work well under pressure and having that there really did the trick. Although the past couple of days have seen decision fatigue set in and it’s become easier to throw things away. Fortunately I also have that saving gene and understand the importance of seeing the handwriting of my ancestors. Things are categorized and saved and put back into the attic. This time with some notes attached so in another 80 years or so when someone feels the need to clean out they will have a better idea of why this stuff was saved.
Getting Serious
We moved into the house at Fort Pelham Farm in 1967, I was 11 years old. The house has a huge attic. It has two rooms that are finished on each end and open space surrounding it. No one ever goes up there. It’s not that it’s creepy, it’s just the repository for the things no one can part with.
When my mother’s mother broke up her household in the early ’70s boxes of things were brought up there. Wedding gowns, the winter clothes, toys, games, all of the stuff from my father’s childhood room and home. Papers, photographs, vintage containers of all sorts. Furniture, good and bad. All of it found its way there. To my knowledge nothing that ever went into the attic ever saw the light of day again.
There are also a few things that need to be taken care of – restoring power to the second floor, dealing with bad insulation, cleaning up a mess left by masons years and years ago. All of these little things go hand in hand and I have to get rid of stuff in order to tackle those jobs. Painters will soon be here to scrape and paint the peaks of the house repairing the third floors windows at the same time. I don’t think they can get to the windows right now, sigh.
It’s starting to feel like I will be staying here for quite some time – it’s taken a while to feel that way. I have made do with the second floor as a place to sleep with my clothing piled high on spare beds most of the time. I visit our home in Enfield and recently have begun longing for a cozy, comfortable place of my own here. The first floor is comfortable enough but it has always been more of a place to entertain rather than live.
The second floor has peeling wallpaper on every wall. Carpet over wide pine floors dating to 1970 or so. Plaster falling from ceilings reminds me of a Dickens novel I once read sans the cobwebs.
There was some furniture that I wanted to move to the attic and I went up there yesterday to check out the situation. (Yeah, it could be said that I’m part of the problem but I can’t part with the antique rockers that my grandfather brought up here). The stairs leading to the attic are more like a modified ladder they are so steep and narrow. Once up there I realized what a real problem the mess is. I had thought I could just pitch stuff out of the window onto the lawn but that was before I realized just how much stuff we are talking about. Did I really want to handle any of it more than once?
A 20 yard dumpster was put next to one end of the house about 15 minutes ago, it will be here for two weeks (or less if I can get things done). I’m sure I will feel as though a great weight has been lifted. Now I just have to muster the energy.
Fort Pelham Farm 