Morning Walkabout

June 27, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

This will be a photo heavy post today – just to give you a glimpse of the place right now. It also serves as a record for me.

Each morning starts with picking up my handy bug zapper. It’s deer fly season and this has proven itself to be a necessity.

The patio garden – to my right as I cross the driveway heading for the back forty. This is an old garden, a friendship garden with almost all of the plants coming from people we know. My mother worked on this from the summer we moved in, 1967. It’s going to be renewed this summer since the lawn is really creeping in at this point and things are really crowded.

Towards the back of the garage there is the newest perennial garden and in the foreground is the raspberry patch. The raspberries are in their third year and are just starting to fill in.

We take the road to the back forty, we being me and the dogs. They know the drill and love being out there. On the right is the sawdust building for the sawmill. I don’t think it’s a crooked as it looks in the photo but you never know.

As I walk around what used to be the back pasture the dogs spend their time sniffing whatever went on the night before.

From the same spot (more or less) looking towards a road that goes back into the wood lot. There’s a branch that goes to a stump dump where I’ve taken some very nice compost for the garden over the years. Everything about gardening is waiting – years not months.

The tete-a-tete chair my father made is up there and it overlooks the pasture back up towards the house. It’s the perfect spot to drink a morning cup of coffee or that martini in the afternoon.

As I walk the perimeter I check on the berries, deciding what I will net this year so I get more of a harvest than the birds. These are blackberries and the birds pretty much get all of them – they probably scope them out more often than I do.

This is the view from the back of the pasture – the table was too worn out for the patio but too solid to burn so there it sits. Just one more thing to weed whack.

From the same spot if you turn around you look into the woods towards the wood lot – there are also some old, empty beaver ponds back there as well.

Back up into the driveway I noticed that this summer is the summer of potted plants for me. I love the way they look and I’m here to take care of them now. This is the well by the driveway. Years ago we replaced the wood cover with stone fearing our kids would climb up on top of it and fall in. I think it might be usable in an emergency but I wouldn’t want to drink out of it now.

This is the view from the patio, it overlooks the vegetable garden, the new garden and the raspberries towards the back forty. I have annuals in pots as well and tomatoes and cucumbers.

Yes, cucumbers. I was skeptical at first. Bill brought two pots of these up that he got from the plant gypsy we have come to the shop in Enfield. I told him they would never grow. How wrong I was. Now I’m looking for the seeds for next year.

Across from the patio is another perennial garden that has morphed into all kinds of things over the years. It’s now overgrown as well but I love having the pots for color. It is also a place for the birds that we can watch from the table in the kitchen.

Another crazy potted plant. Its in a pedestal pot so I guess I could take the hanger off of it now huh?

Heading for the front yard and looking back over the gardens – this is the relaxation spot for every part of the day. I swear people that drive by only do when we are sitting in those chairs. I figure they think that’s all we do.

This is the vegetable garden from the chairs. It’s slow but steady this year, about a week to 10 days behind last years. It’s been quite cool.

But the potatoes are doing great!

This is what I look at every morning (even if it rains). I check my plants, take a walk, play with the dogs all in about 20 minutes time. It gives me time to plan my day. Look around at what needs doing and try not to get overwhelmed by the list. Prioritize. Breathe in the fresh air, stand in the sunshine, hug a tree, center.

Coop Down

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

The coop has been part of the landscape here for decades. You see it in the background of photos taken at the turn of the century (1900). When we moved here in 1967 and over a good many years stuff was thrown in there never to see the light of day again. “You never know when you might need it” is the refrain that continues to this day and there may have been once or twice that something was salvaged.

Miraculously the building continued to stand, through some pretty snowy winters when other, newer buildings didn’t fare so well. We always joked that it stayed standing because all of the junk was holding it up.

I finished cleaning it out a couple of weeks ago and stood back to look at what remained.

There were structural repairs made over the years and the only thing that was really holding it up was the metal column in the center.

Yeah, time to go.

Now I have been waiting for many, many years for the tear down of the building. Bill just happened to be driving by on his way to put the tractor away and decided to just knock it down. Damn, I missed it!

This is the aftermath of about 5 minutes of tractor work. Amazingly it collapsed in on itself. Now some real work begins in cutting up the huge chunks and hauling it away to make way for a new building. I think it’ll be one of those little by little kind of tasks. Everyday cut up a few more things into manageable pieces.

There are chicks arriving July 1st but won’t be housed in anything like what this coop was. The only thing in common the new coop will have is its orientation to the sun. Work is in progress but that’s a post for another day. I can tell you this – I did salvage 12 squares of perfect roofing shingles that were stored in a faraway corner of that now gone building. You never know when you’re going to need something.

Abundance

June 17, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

I walk the perimeter of the back forty a couple of times a day with the dogs. It’s far enough away from any distractions to make the walk enjoyable for me as well as them. One of our dogs, now elderly, is hard of hearing with bad eyesight and tends to wander in the road. There are usually only a handful of cars that pass the house on any given day but this way I don’t have to worry and he can spend quality time sniffing whatever dogs with dementia sniff.

I’m constantly amazed at the things that grow back there. Blackberries in abundance. I never really get to harvest many of them because there are also birds in abundance – fruit is a big food source for them and I take whatever is leftover.

Blueberries are everywhere around the edges of the mowing. There is one large bush in the open that I net every year and it gives me a good supply of berries to freeze. There is nothing like those wild blueberries in muffins on a cold, snowy morning in January I have to tell you. There are bushes all over but this particular bush I reserve for myself. It sometimes seems as if the birds are waiting when I go down to pick them thinking they’ll just help themselves while I pick. It’s a quiet interlude I look forward to every summer just to spend time in birdsong.

Then there is the pear tree. The lone survivor of a number of plantings on a long ago Father’s Day. This tree has come into its own in the past few years. It’s spectacular in bloom and there have been years where I thought all of the branches would break under the weight of the fruit. This, of all the “free” food that surrounds me, stresses me the most. There is SO much of it. Pears are picky about when they are harvested and ripened and the frost freeze cycle of the end of season can mess you up in the timing of it all. Did I mention there is SO much of it? The past few years there have been enough pears to fill the bucket of the tractor three times over. That’s a LOT of pears folks. I can them, I eat them, I give a lot away. I even used them as place markers on my Thanksgiving table with over 40 guests. There is not enough creativity in the world to deal with this kind of harvest. Hmmmm, pear cider . . .

Being surrounded by the bounty of nature (and perhaps the forethought of many now gone) is really a wonderful thing. In the past couple of years that is how I’ve begun to think about the food I grow. There is always the huge vegetable garden but I planted asparagus last year knowing full well that I would not be eating any of it until the third year. The glory in it is the bed can be good for over thirty years. It’s nice to know that someone will be eating that lovely vegetable in 2040 because I planted it. To me THAT is food security even if it’s only for three weeks out of the year.

Beauty in Everything

May 29, 2014May 29, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 7 Comments

This has been waiting for me for the past week or maybe a little more. I needed to clean out the rest of the junk in the coop so we can tear it down to make way for a new one. Uhm, yeah. Every morning I take the dogs out for their walk to the back forty and I walk by this. When I went out this morning I decided today was the day. I walked closer to check out what I was really in for, bracing myself for the ugliness that was years and years in the making. This is what I saw.

Stacks of old doors, shutters and broken windows.

Walls with holes to the outdoors, random gaskets hanging on nails.

Rusted, broken sleds and bailing twine.

Baskets without bottoms and plants growing through the floor.

The morning light was beautiful streaming through the gaping holes in the walls and through the non-existent doors and windows. There’s a lot of life that was thrown in here through the years and I just had to take one more moment to record what was left before I filled the trailer. I’m glad I did, there is beauty in everything, you just have to look. Little gifts.

Lists

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

The morning walk about is really a double-edged sword. The quiet and beauty is wonderful but I look at this view and think about the to-do list that gets longer each and every minute. . .sigh.

I look at so many things and think about how bad it must look to the uneducated eye. Those who have no idea the work that goes into a place this size. In the next minute all I see is potential. We are all about sweat equity but that can also make the list look overwhelming.

I am a list maker, always have been. The to-do lists are separate – inside and outside. They are broken down by season, then priority. There are some indoor things that can be done (and should be) when the weather is not so great outdoors. So there’s always the list of short-term, little projects indoors when it rains.

Then there are the small, medium and large (read dream) projects outdoors. All of the outdoor projects I have to really break down or I would be overwhelmed. I also have to be realistic about my timeline. I want everything done now but know that’s something that’s not going to happen. I know that there are two more weeks before I plant my vegetable garden so tilling moves up the list. Picking up sticks getting ready to mow should be done right now since the grass is ready to be cut everywhere. There are leaves coming out on the trees and undergrowth that needs to be removed, that should probably be done today. Hmmm, rain, rain, go away . . .

There is a half dressed loom waiting for some attention as well. That’s the danger, all I really want to do is weave, but . . .

I use what I want to do to motivate what I need to do. It’s my reward for getting things done. With that I guess I will don weed whacking gear and head out for a couple of hours of destruction followed by a couple of hours of weaving. That’s the plan unless the sun comes out and I’m distracted by a flower garden.

How Things Change

April 11, 2014April 11, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

I don’t sleep much these days. I wake up early in the morning (often very early). I squint at the clock to see if it’s too outrageously early to get up. My rule is if it’s before 4:30 AM I have to stay in bed.

Getting up really early affords you the opportunities to see the sun rise. It seems like I take a photograph from the same spot looking out the living room window a lot but in doing so I’ve seen some amazing sunrises. Yesterday was a perfectly clear beginning to a beautiful spring day. Finally! It has been one long winter.

With spring also comes some huge life changes for me (all of my family really). After spending the past 30 years travelling from Enfield to Rowe and back I will be moving there full time in May. Unfortunately I will be moving there without most of my significant others. They will continue the weekend commute.

This was not an easy decision to come to. Dad will be coming home and I will be staying with him. Every single person that hears about it has asked me the exact same question, exact same words “So, how is this going to work?” I tell them all the same thing – “I won’t know until I’m in it”. You do what you have to do.

It seems as though everyone I know my age is dealing with the same issues that we are. We are all caring for our aging parents in one way or another. I’m not sure most of them are living separate from their spouses for days at a time but our relationship is strong and we look at it as another thing to work through. I am fortunate that my father is pretty capable at this time. His health has stabilized. He’s pretty sharp as well. Throwback Thursdays could take on a whole different tone with him telling me the stories behind the photos.

I think the loss of sleep comes when I wake up and start thinking about what I take with me and what I leave behind. I look at it as leaving things behind because I will be leaving a large piece of my life in Enfield. Don’t get me wrong, I will not miss Enfield for a minute. I will miss my home, my bed, my furniture, my tchotche. This is the part that has almost immobilized me. I wander around the house at times and think “Should I take this?” I packed a few things and brought them to Rowe at the beginning of the week. When it came time to unpack the box I just wondered why I packed what I did.

My life has been so different in one place or the other. I guess I didn’t realize how different each life was until I had to think about walking away from one. I moved to Enfield when I married Bill. My kids were born and raised there. They are grown and I went through the empty nest thing years ago but I will be leaving the Mom part of my life in Enfield – at least the biggest part. Not sure that makes sense – suffice it to say that this will probably be the biggest change I have ever made.

Time will tell. I was horrified when my father was in rehab and then moved to assisted living. I couldn’t imagine my health being bad enough for someone to move me away from a place I loved and had lived in for 50+ years without so much as a discussion. I knew that if his health stabilized I would bring him back to Rowe. He’s counting the days, for different reasons I’m sure.

I take comfort in the fact that I will be able to garden more, walk in the woods, sit and soak in the birdsong, play with Chester. Compensation for being put into a somewhat difficult situation. I will also be able to see the sun rise from the same spot every single day.

Throwback Thursday

April 3, 2014April 3, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

This is my favorite photograph of all the ones I have from my father’s side of the family. A few months ago I was thinking about our connection to water, swimming and boating and thought about this image. I went looking for it in the place I last remembered it being located and it was missing ( along with a lot of other memorable photos). I came across them a couple of days ago – woo hoo!

This image was taken on Holland Pond in MA around 1936. I really don’t know any of the story around it. Who’s boat was that? How far away was the photographer (no long lenses then)? Was this vacation?

My father has been filling in details as photographs have been coming out from family members recently. He told me that every year his father had vacation in the first weeks of July because the mill shut down. This is when they went to Canada to visit family and took time to do vacation sorts of things.

My father looks like one happy kid in this photo. I recognize that smile – our children were brought up on water and in boats. They always had that same smile while they were on the water.

They also took the photos with each other. Vacation photos. Take my picture photos. It’s nice to see that has happened for as long as there have been consumer cameras. Now these common photos are family treasures.

When I go through my archives and now with new images coming to light I know that this was probably my grandfather’s 1928 Chevrolet Coupe. My father tells me about an accident they had with it in Canada. It’s funny what he remembers (everything).

It’s funny how things repeat themselves over and over again, generation after generation. My parents always took vacation the last week in June or the first week of July. We always take ours around the first two weeks of July. Maybe it’s a regional thing because of the weather but I’m willing to bet it has more to do with your upbringing. Just as I’m willing to bet these take my picture moments are half done out of the notion that it’s what you’re supposed to do while you’re on vacation.

Sunday Morning Bird Watch

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

Okay, not just birds.

I’m going to miss the feeders – if spring ever arrives.

Fogged

February 10, 2014February 10, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 6 Comments

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

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

For 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.

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.

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.

And 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.

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