Reflections on 2012

December 21, 2012December 21, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

With the last day of days upon us and the end of the calendar year here as well I thought I would make a list of things that were important to me this year. Then I thought I would post them with photos.

1. Daughter Caitlyn graduated from Springfield College with her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

2. Helped my father transition into assisted living.

3. Took over the care and feeding of Fort Pelham Farm.

4. Learned to hook rugs.

5. Learned to weave.

6. Gardened and canned in competition with sister Sue.

7. Loved my dogs.

8. Watched loons in a sunset on Lake Winnipesaukee.

9. Began blogging more about the past and present.

10. Got a little more serious about eating local food. If I didn’t grow it much of it came from local farms.

The year has been a stressful one but out of that stress good things have come. I have learned a lot of things this year.

I’ve made an effort to learn new crafts and along the way I have met some truly amazing people. Pottery was not mentioned in the list but I have to say that class taught me one thing I really needed to know. I am not a potter, I will never be a potter, move on. I spent great time with my sister this year including the aforementioned pottery class. I laughed a lot. I found out that there are a lot of crafts I know how to do but there are many things that I should stay away from. Textiles are good for me, so is woodworking (your very basic kind). Anything that you can measure and keep square works. Pottery is so . . . uncontrolled.

I have learned that life is too short to have the past get in the way of renewing old friendships. I have been reminded about this over and over and over again. What’s done is done, move on.

I’ve learned that digging in the dirt will clear your head faster than anything else I can think of, plus you end up with something good to eat.

Sometimes you just have to ignore all of the noise. Rowe is the best place in the world for that. No cell service. We do have wifi and currently tv but I think after the first of the year the tv will go. There are always the DVDs.

The next 11 days will be spent disconnected from work, internet, the outside world. What I’m really afraid of is not wanting to come back.

Time for Pie

December 20, 2012December 20, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

There is nothing like pie. Warm apple pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, cherry pie. It’s the total comfort food for me. It’s breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My mother was always the pie baker. She had a reputation. She would make some sort of pie almost weekly, for dessert for dinner on Sunday. We had a neighbor that would show up on a Sunday in the early afternoon with a fork in his pocket. We all loved my mother’s pies. There were times when they weren’t the most attractive pastries but they were always, always delicious.

I probably didn’t pay much attention to her making pies when I was younger because that was just what she did. What I do remember her saying was that she used more shortening than the recipe called for.

My mother passed away on the night of November 16, 1989. When I arrived at the house there was an apple pie on the counter. A few weeks later I remember thinking “Oh my God, who’s going to make pie?” I took out the only cookbook I ever saw her use and opened it to the pie crust section. I remembered what she said about the shortening and modified as I went along. Those first pies were not the prettiest pies but they were good. It’s amazing how there are some foods that just keep you connected.

To this day I make pie often. I use her tools and I only make them in Rowe. There is something about the counter, the rolling pin, the flour shaker – they have the magic that makes my pies my mother’s.

It’s the Process

December 19, 2012December 19, 2012 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

I spent the better part of 4 hours weaving last night. I am half way through towel #2 of 4 that have been warped. They are a twill design which shows up fairly well in the photograph with a colored stripe design that is simple to do yet quite pretty. This is substantial cloth, I can’t wait to use them.

This type of project is very meditative for me. The draft is simple so after an initial start up the weaving action becomes automatic. It allows me to think.

Christmas Eve is our family celebration, it has been this way for many, many years. It is 6 days away. I am not even remotely ready. I’m mostly not ready in my head.

This week has been one of the most depressing weeks I can remember. I’ve tried to stay away from most media because they just can’t seem to stay away from the shooting in Newtown. If it’s not that it’s someone screaming the gun control debate in your ear or how we’re falling off the fiscal cliff. It saddens me that there is no one in our government that can see beyond their next election. Our rights are being taken away from us at an alarming rate. Civil rights or copyrights, I know in the back of my head this can only get worse. The internet is such an ugly place. There are moments of brilliance but I have to say that not being connected is sounding better all the time.

So I weave. I knit. I hook rugs. I get out of my head with the use of my hands. My projects are becoming increasingly complex, I have to think about the process instead of what is going on around me. When my little projects are done I usually give them away and people are amazed. They don’t understand that it’s the process not the product.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

December 18, 2012December 18, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

After getting our Christmas tree in Heath a week ago I was thinking about our first Heath tree. The living room had been in the process of rehab and I forced everyone to make commitments to get things done by promising a Christmas Eve celebration when the walls had very large holes still in the drywall, nothing was painted and the plastic had not been off of the floor for almost 3 years. There’s nothing like the thought of 20+ people coming to your house for dinner to get things done.

Russell was to finish a paneled wall going over the huge hole above the fireplace. The entire room, walls and trim had to be painted. The baseboards had to be trimmed (another job for Russell). The plastic had to be pulled up, the glue from the tape removed from the floor. Furniture had to be rearranged throughout the house – it had all been in one room since we started this project. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

Christmas fell on a Friday that year. When I arrived the Saturday before the panel was on sawhorses in the living room – unpainted. They needed to “acclimate”. I believe the woodwork had one coat of paint and not all of the walls had any paint at all. To say I was a little stressed is an understatement.

Russ and Carmen insisted we come and get a tree for the room. I was thinking, “Is it going to be big enough to cover that HUGE HOLE above the fireplace?!?” Russell just smiled. We spent the morning hunting for trees, eating, socializing. We came home to see that my brother in law had finished painting the entire living room while we were gone (he’s a painter by trade). The girls pulled up the plastic from the floor and we moved and cleaned for the rest of the day. And the first tree in over 20 years was put up in front of the bay window. The vintage Santa took his place and it seemed as though we could pull this off.

That Monday the panel was primed and placed above the fireplace. When I arrived it was just a matter of a few decorations and some major cooking. Large candle sconces went over the electrical boxes on the walls. We put candles everywhere. Cait had made 80 luminaries for the driveway. Candle carriage lamps lit the mantel covered in fruit, nuts and berries. Every place at the table had a candle and there was very little electricity used that night. People were charmed, enchanted by the soft glow. Those of us that had pulled this off were just thinking, “It’s all theater.”

I had just spent the past couple of months working at Old Sturbridge Village when all of the events were by candlelight. Initially we had an event where people took guided tours at night to see how people saw things in the 1830’s. It was all a matter of social standing. If you were poor you saw things by the light coming from your fireplace. As you moved up on the social ladder you may have had candles made from tallow or beeswax. Those in the fine houses with money had oil lamps in addition to the firelight and candles. So you saw a progression from poor to rich and it got brighter all the way.

I think the house at Fort Pelham Farm saw a complete progression. I’m sure many candles were used but they were used in a much more judicious manner than that Christmas Eve in 2009. We’ve come a long way in our creature comforts but there is nothing that says Christmas to me more than candlelight.

Running in the Grass with Your Bare Feet

December 17, 2012December 17, 2012 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

If you watch any media at all you are bombarded by negativity, death, destruction, fear, fear, fear. I’m not sure what purpose all of it serves but I do know that I am capable of turning most of it off and tuning it out. I have to admit that I do keep up with current events and can get caught up in many things political. This past weekend I turned it off. I cooked, baked, cleaned, kept busy all the way around.

It sometimes feels as if the world around me has really gone off of the tracks. If you listen to the media or Facebook or Twitter you begin to imagine that the horrors of any particular news cycle are happening in your back yard. Sometimes you have to say enough.

I have a theory that one of the reasons there is so much absurd craziness is that people have become too disconnected from the natural world. They have lost that reverent respect for life of all kinds. I believe we are effected by everything surrounding us. Years ago I lived in a medium size city on the north shore of Massachusetts. I was surrounded by concrete and pavement. There were a few large maples on my street but they were surrounded by concrete as well. I would watch the children playing outside on the street or their paved driveways and was always struck by the fact that they never touched the earth, no playing in the dirt. I would then walk a mile or so to the end of my street where there was a huge, old cemetery, it was like a big, beautiful park. I would take off my shoes and walk in the grass.

I think everyone needs to be grounded to the earth. As crazy as this sounds I believe we attain some sort of energy from the earth itself whether we are walking barefoot in the grass, planting a garden or swimming in a lake. I think we take something with us every time we do, like charging a battery. I think the disconnect is growing. The calmest, most sane people I know have some connection to the earth and understand that even in a subconscious way.

I think we should all spend some time running in the grass in our bare feet.

Hearts Bleeding

December 15, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

There is so much noise going on over the shooting in CT that I have had to stay off of the internet for the most part and turned tv off altogether. I’ve just returned from breakfast with my younger daughter. The restaurant was packed so we sat at the bar. There was a giant tv overhead with the news on with closed captioning. I watched for a minute. NBC news with continued coverage of the Newtown shooting. Seriously? Continued coverage?

My heart goes out to the people of Newtown. I just want to scream at the media to leave them alone and let them begin to heal. I read an article in the NY Times this morning where they had 8 reporters covering this event for one article. The madness on so many levels in that town is unbelievable to me.

What have we become? Jenna Woginrich of Cold Antler Farm mentioned the celebrity we give tragedy. “It is news the first time you hear it, sadness and silence. It becomes pornography for the fearful shortly thereafter”. How can we not think that sensationalizing this type of thing does not make it worse?

The internet and all other forms of “communication” are so good in some ways but in others they are so evil. I’m not sure we need a debate of any kind about anything right now and being on any social media just begs you to jump on board.

I will spend my weekend with good friends and family and I’m sure discussions will be had but I will be with people I love, in a place that is quiet and peaceful. I will walk outdoors with my dogs and smell the fresh air. I will think about how fortunate I am in what I have and send my thoughts to the parents of those children because they have just experienced a life altering loss that I can’t even begin to imagine.

It’ Just a Dog

December 14, 2012December 14, 2012 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

From time to time people tell me, “Lighten up, it’s just a dog,” or, “That’s a lot of money for just a dog.”

They don’t understand the distance traveled, the time spent or the costs involved for “just a dog.”

Some of my proudest moments have come about with “just a dog.”

Many hours have passed and my only company was “just a dog,” but I did not once feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by “just a dog,” and, in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of “just a dog” gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it’s “just a dog,” then you will probably understand phases like “just a friend,” “just a sunrise,” or “just a promise.”

“Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy.

“Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person.

Because of “just a dog” I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future.

So for me, and folks like me, it’s not “just a dog” but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past and the pure joy of the moment.

“Just a dog” brings out what’s good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that it’s not “just a dog” but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a human.”

So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog.” just smile….because they “just don’t understand.”

– Anonymous

Craft ADD

December 13, 2012December 13, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

Ok, I admit it, I have a crafting problem. Isn’t the beginning of a recovery admitting you have a problem?

Currently I am knitting socks, weaving towels and working on 2 rug hooking projects at the same time (one in the planning phase). The weaving project(s) are the same but one loom is at my class studio in Brimfield, the other is waiting to go onto the loom in Rowe.

The holidays are rapidly approaching and all I can think about is where am I going to get that green color wool I need for the tree tops in that rug or I’ll go to class early and finish the warp so I can weave the rest of the night or if I just sit and knit for a couple of hours I can finish this sock and knit the other by Christmas.

In the back of my head I’m thinking – if I clean out that room upstairs we can gut and redo it. I’ll put in that shelving that I need to get my fabric stash out in the open and start sewing all of those quilts that I have so much fabric for. All of my tools and equipment will be in the same place to look at and think about what other projects I want to do. My teddy bears can have more friends because all the mohair will be put in a place where I can see it and be next to a sewing machine (or two)!

I go out in the back forty and see all sorts of scrap metal things that would make great garden sculpture, maybe I should take a welding class. If not I’ll just spend the afternoon photographing it.

I have a serious problem, but I’m fortunate to know a lot of people that have the same one and on Tuesday or Thursday nights we sit behind our looms in class and talk about what our next project is going to be.

Adams

December 12, 2012December 12, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I took this photograph last Sunday just before we went to get our Christmas tree. I’ve been thinking about what makes a person feel at home, safe, secure. I’ve always known that the place where I feel the safest is Rowe but I started thinking about why Rowe does that for me. It’s because very little changes. Sure the faces have changed over the years, the zoning, the politics but very little else.

This is Adams Mountain. It’s a small mountain – elevation 2,110 feet. This view has really evolved over the past five years or so. Bill has done a tremendous amount of work to clean up what was once a pasture. The only time we can see it from the back yard is when the leaves are off of the trees but I always know it’s there.

In May of 1961 we moved to Potter Road in Rowe. At the time there weren’t as many trees as there are now and the trees that were there were much smaller. You could see Adams from the house. I started school in the Town Hall that year but moved into the new elementary school in the spring of 1962 and you guessed it, the school was right across the road from Pelham Lake and Adams.

All the time I was growing up so much of what we did had Adams in the background. School, the beach, Old Home Day, the library, the town hall, everything you did had it in the background. In the summers many families in town would sponsor a Fresh Air kid from New York City. I remember once one of them asked me as they looked at the mountains and hills around them, “How do you get out?”. I always thought that was a funny way of looking at things, I felt secure, they felt trapped.

I think it’s good to be attached to something so solid. It has evolved ever so slightly over the years but all changes have been at the hand of man. I think of everyone who has ever lived in this house, worked this farm, made a life in Rowe and they have all had the same view. Sometimes that’s difficult to wrap your head around. Adams has been sitting there for thousands of years and I like the idea that my family, potentially for generations could be looking at the same thing from the back yard.

Bad Boyfriend

December 11, 2012December 11, 2012 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

I often talk about how sweet Chester is but he is also referred to at our house as the bad boyfriend. One of our neighbors in Rowe has a rescued heeler, her name is Jolee. She came to them a couple of months before Chester came to us. We really didn’t know she lived there, she’s insecure and likes to stay around her people. When Becky (her person) saw us playing with Chester she would bring her over in the field in between our houses so they would play together. Jolee would only play with Chester if Becky was with her. Now Jolee is a very high energy dog so we thought if they would play together it might tire her out a little. Becky would bring Chester with them on hikes, he’s always open to an invitation to tag along on an adventure. After a few months Jolee would stand next to their house on the field side by herself and wait for Chester to notice her in hopes that he would come over and play. A little longer after that she would bark so he would notice her. If Chester went over they would run around the field until Chester got tired and came home. Jolee never has enough, she would play for hours straight and never breathe hard.

A few months ago we noticed that Chester had a few more toys in the back yard than normal and began to wonder where they came from so we started to watch him. Apparently there are many times when Chester just does not want to play with Jolee, she runs him ragged. Now Jolee really wants Chester to play with her so she started baiting him with her toys. He’d see her with some great toy and would go running over to see what it was. He would then take it away from her and bring it over to his little side hill toy spot in the back yard. He knows Jolee won’t come that far into our yard to get her toys so his collection grows. I will sometimes sneak her toys into the car and toss them out in her yard on the way by or we put them on some high spot and Becky will come get them. Our daughters dubbed him the bad boyfriend after watching Jolee make numerous attempts to get him to play one weekend only to have toy after toy end up in our yard.

We spent the long Thanksgiving weekend in Rowe and Jolee was away on holiday somewhere. Chester spent the weekend a little forlorn wondering where his girlfriend was. Needless to say he was a much larger pest because he wanted US to play with him in her absence. We end up throwing tennis balls for hours, he loves it and sometimes you do what you have to do.

Last weekend this is what we saw.

She’s becoming bolder. She had just come over the bank with a stick when I took this photograph. Just waiting for Chester to come running over to take it away from her. Later Bill went out to throw a tennis ball for Chester but this time he brought an extra one and I believe Jolee brought it home.

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