It’s Always Something

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140301 RadiatorThere are decided disadvantages to not living in a house full time.  There are squirrels moving into the shed, spiders just taking over each and every room and pipes freezing during subzero nights.  Yeah, the photo pretty much says it all.

This winter is one that will be burned into memory.  It has been harsh.  The cold has been unrelenting.  The roads are heaved and full of pot holes, the house has heaved enough to cause problems closing outside doors.  The oil truck visits weekly, I swear, and there is no end in sight.  Sigh . . .

The issue with the frozen pipe reared its ugly head on Friday – I came up early to warm the house.  I lit the stove and then looked at the temperature in the room to watch it rise – it was 46 degrees in the room with the thermostat set at 54.  Uh oh.  I turned on the water in the sink – nothing.  Beautiful.  I just cranked up the wood stove thinking that I could at least warm the room enough to thaw out the water.  We have a propane heater that we put in the shop to thaw it out another time and that was turned on once Bill arrived later in the evening.  Then we waited.

Saturday morning in the light of day Bill saw the hole in the radiator and called our heating guy.  He lives in town and probably the sound of desperation in our voice sent him over within an hour.  We had put enough antifreeze into the heating system to keep it liquid to 20 below so this came as somewhat of a surprise to us.  Apparently the pictured radiator had been leaking slowly for that past month or two (maybe longer).  The system has an automatic fill on it so when the liquid gets low it automatically refills it.  Enough had leaked so the water to antifreeze level was lowered considerably and it was diluted enough so on a night where the temperature was -8 and the wind coming out of the north the system froze in a room with little insulation.

The fix was something we had been talking about but had put off thinking the antifreeze was the answer.  We rerouted the circulation to a shorter loop that no longer went to the outer room.  In the long run this appears to have been the best solution, now the heat works much better in the kitchen. Unfortunately it took a lot of worry and angst to get us here.  Now I can check that off of the list.

Here’s the thing, it’s always something.  Each and every week there is some disaster (or impending one) whether it’s winter or any other season of the year.  We are caretakers of two very old houses (the newest one being 175 years old).  Things happen, and they happen regularly.  We signed on to the old house thing a long time ago knowing what we were getting ourselves into.  Plans are made for major repairs but it’s this sort of thing that often supercedes those renovation plans.  You end up doing a lot of seemingly little things because of the immediacy of the situation.

Spring is coming.  Really, it will get here and I have a feeling it will be about two weeks long and we’ll be into summer.  Then we can complain about how hot it is and I’ll be thinking about that insulation that needs to go into all those places before next winter gets here.

 

Birthday

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Birthday

I have always contended that your birthday holds the most importance to your mother.  She was the one closest to the event, she was the one most profoundly affected by it, she is the one who holds those memories the closest.  In recent generations birthdays have been celebrated in a variety of ways from a simple cake to a “destination” party.  It wasn’t until I gave birth to my own children that I understood the reason for the celebration.  It’s your mother’s celebration. It’s a day of reminiscing about your birth, the stories are told.

I was always amazed that my mother would remember the minute I was born – 5:31 AM on a Saturday.  She would wake me up often at that time to wish me a happy birthday (although in the back of my mind I’m not sure that wasn’t some evil prank).  There was always a cake and a gift or two, the song was sung.  Our celebrations were always pretty subdued – but the story was told.  It helped shape who I am.

I remember the birth of each one of my children like it was yesterday.  Each one unique, each has their own story.  But, it’s not so much their story as it is mine.  You would think that the older they get the more the memories would fade but it’s in the celebration of each child’s birthday that keeps those memories so alive.  It’s in the telling of the stories that gives the events meaning and importance.

My mother has been gone for almost 25 years but she is the one I silently celebrate this day with, I remember the story.

 

 

 

A Burning Question

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140216 Chester snowshoeChester doesn’t care if the snow is too deep to run in, he still wants you to throw that ball.

The photograph looks a little bizarre because he was moving when I released the shutter.  I typed that line and wondered “Are we even releasing a shutter anymore?”  Are we?  This looks like a double exposure to me but I know it’s not.  Hmmmmm . . . .

Spring Has Begun

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unnamedFor those of us now anxiously waiting for spring yesterday was not what we needed to see.  It snowed, it snowed like crazy.  Those torrential downpours you see in the summer?  Yeah, that’s what happened here only snow.  Six inches in less than three hours.  We just cleared away four or five in our yard on Sunday.  I’m just tired.  And cold.

This morning the sun was shining brightly, it was 18 degrees.  I opened the door to take Chester out for his walk and the first thing I noticed was birdsong.  Not just any birdsong but spring birdsong.  Robins, woodpeckers, chickadees all singing their spring twitterpated songs.  A robin was sitting on a branch of the cherry, a flicker was chipping away at an old maple in the backyard, cardinals were fighting over territory (there’s nothing more beautiful than cardinals in the snow).  Chickadees were singing their spring phoebe song.  Sigh, they know.  Even though there’s over two feet of snow in my yard today and most of the tree limbs are covered just hearing them makes me smile and think warm thoughts.

Time to stop listening to all of the bad weather hype and listen to the birds in your backyard, they’re telling you that spring is just about here.

130606 New Garden

Weaving Wednesday – Huck Warp

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140211 Huck warpThe newest project in class for me is Huck lace.  I was threading the warp last night with 10/2 mercerized cotton.  The pattern is simple although a little time-consuming with so many ends, there are 552 in the warp.  Fortunately it’s easy to stop and pick it up from week to week.  I left class last night with about 50 or so ends left to thread, I stopped there because there weren’t enough heddles on shafts 1 and 2.  I just wasn’t going there once I figured out there weren’t enough to finish threading.

Adding heddles isn’t difficult to do.  I should have counted first and had everything set before I started threading them.  Once you’re in a rhythm in threading you just want to keep going until it’s done.  This is what I love about weaving, there are defined steps that are taken in sequence for the set up to be right.  There are little nuances that make it better or worse and knowing your particular piece of equipment helps.  It’s a long process learning this craft – there is so much information, so many ways to screw up.

Each project I do, whether on my own or in class affords me the opportunity to learn something new (sometimes many things).  I think this is why I love weaving so much.  Other crafts afford challenges but most of the challenges for me have to do with perfection and not actually the mechanics of the craft itself.  With weaving the perfection enters a little but it is really the mechanics that I love.  There are so many things that can go wrong – or right.  When it all comes together I really feel as though I’ve conquered something.

Having an instructor like Pam feeds right into this for me – each project is about a different structure in the weave.  I could see myself doing overshot or twill for the rest of my life because they are comfortable and there are a million ways to change the project within one of those structures.  The classes push me outside of my comfort zone.  It also allows me to do finer work which is a challenge in and of itself.

At the moment I have three looms with wildly different projects on them. Depending on where I am I work on what’s available.  That can be a challenge in itself, but a most welcome one.

 

Fogged

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140112 Titmouse (1)It has been a struggle for me lately to post to this blog.  I’m sure there is enough to say but I’m feeling as though I am in a thick fog.

I’m going to chalk it up to the weather and a lack of interaction outdoors.  The seeds have arrived and I look out the windows at the feeders and the huge snowbank covering half of the garden and think, meh, I’ll just sit here and think. I seem to have been immobilized by the weather – it’s too cold, too windy, too blah.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  The days are getting longer and the sun is warmer.  I will have to get things together to start my plants for the garden soon and we will start to think about sugaring in another couple of weeks.  All of these things are huge harbingers of spring.

Yet each morning I get up, look at the thermometer with its single digit numbers and I just want to get back into bed, roll up in those quilts and hibernate for another couple of months – until the leaves are out and the perennials are coming up.  Maybe I just need to visit a greenhouse somewhere and breathe in the air.  A short term fix for what feels like a long term problem.

Flashback Friday – Water

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900704 Girls TubingFor the past thirty years or so weekends in the summer have been spent on water.  Our daughters know nothing else really, their entire childhood summers were spent in a boat, on a beach or in a lake somewhere.  The photo above is a testament to their lack of fear.  Cait was three years old giving us a thumbs up to tell us to go faster.  The two of them were born to do this.  Fast forward a few years and Cait is still about the speed (so in Amanda) with her whole goal being able to stay on the tube no matter what her father throws at her.

090712 (84)It’s always fun to watch and photograph.  Twenty years of experience has made for some crazy rides.

Boating is about a lot more than pummeling your kids on a tube behind a speeding boat.  It has always been about friends and family for us.  Our vacations have always been spent on water with various other people sharing our experience.  Some of them are avid boaters and have brought their own boats. Others spend a weekend on the water as a first time experience.  These are the best times for me – introducing them to the joys of floating on the water on a hot summer day.  Showing them the beauty of “our” bodies of water.  There truly is nothing like seeing the landscape from the middle of a lake, it opens it up.

080831 Lake (4)This is what boating is all about for us – gathering many for a day of fun and relaxation.  Finding a beach, setting up your chairs, worshiping the sun, listening to the birds, reading, laughing.

080709 Dogs at lakeAnd it isn’t just the kids that enjoy a day at the lake.

So it’s 14 degrees this morning and we had over a foot of snow two days ago, that could be why I’m waxing nostalgic.

 

 

 

 

When the Weather Starts to Warm

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This winter has been brutally cold so far this year.  This past weekend the temperature rose to the mid to upper 30’s and it felt like spring was on its way.  It was the kind of weather when staying indoors is not an option and Bill decided it was time to cut trees.

Saturday’s tree is along the ridge going down to the back forty.  The trees there have always been too close together and because they are on the east side of the garden and quite tall they shade the southern half of the tilled area until almost noon.  There is a tree that we will keep for it’s shade and I will just plan the garden accordingly but this will begin to bring earlier sunshine where it’s needed.

The first thing done when felling trees is to look it over to make sure you have a good idea where it it will fall.  This tree only had limbs on one side of it and was leaning over the bank so it was not difficult to discern where it would go.  Bill made the first cuts on the side the tree would fall then sawed the other side as you can see in the video.

The next phase is to cut the limbs off of the tree

IMG_0099Once that was finished we use the logging winch on the back of the tractor to bring the log up to the spot where we will chunk it up and split it for firewood later.

Okay, originally I thought that this was a really pricey add on to the tractor but after about a month of tractor ownership you realize if you are going to use the bucket for anything you need weight in the back of the tractor.  If you are going to work in wet, muddy areas you probably are going to need to winch yourself out at some point. If you are going to cut down large trees using a winch becomes a safety issue at times. It turns out that what I thought was a pricey toy really is a workhorse and we have never looked back.  As you can see from the last video it has made Bill’s life a lot easier.

A New Way with Cauliflower

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Buffalo CauliflowerCauliflower is an amazing vegetable, it takes on the flavor of pretty much anything you cook it with.  You can cook it soft and mash like potatoes, rice it, eat it just with butter.  I read a recipe last week on Leite’s Culinaria for Buffalo Cauliflower and knew I had to make it.

There is nothing simpler than this recipe, really.  I had a large head of cauliflower so it took closer to 50 minutes to roast and probably continued to cook a little as it cooled. It was that delightful crisp tender texture when I cut it into pieces.  I used 1 cup of Frank’s RedHot Sauce and skipped the Sriracha (because that’s what I had).  I also had some blue cheese dressing so this was truly the lazy man’s way.

Instead of wings on Superbowl Sunday I had cauliflower and didn’t miss the chicken at all.

 

You’re Never Too Old

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I received a link to an article about a nursing home’s calendar project.  They had photographed their residents in classic film roles for each month.  It’s awesome.

I worked with the woman who sent it to me a few years ago in a therapeutic rec. position in a long term care facility.  She and I did an event weekly for a while that we called “Glamor Shots for the Elderly”.  Once a week we would bring in our boas, hats, jewelry and makeup and doll the girls up for their photo session.  The room we used had ceiling high windows facing south so I used nothing but natural light.  I have to tell you this was a huge hit, not only with the residents but with their families.

Tony DepinMany of these residents were on a hospice wing.  They were all more than game to play dress up with us and would pick out their best outfits to come in for their “photo shoot”.

AntoinetteWhat started out as a lark turned into something that they really looked forward to, and gave their families a photograph of the playful side of their people.  We made them feel beautiful and special for an afternoon and I believe we sent prints of the images to the families for holidays.

Dot BI have to say this was one of the best photography related things I have ever done.  Maybe not so much for the images as for what it did for the people we photographed.

It’s been a long time since I’ve worked in long term care but my friend’s message, “Joanne, when we run our own LTC center we are totally doing this!” made me think I should really think about doing this again.