Merry Christmas 2021

Merry Christmas my friends. I apologize for not posting a lot this past year. Covid has affected a lot of our lives and my blog has been one of the casualties.  My life has slowed down and I haven’t felt much like blogging. Even our Christmas was very quiet with just Chris and Wendy coming up for the weekend. Chris even commented that I didn’t even take a picture of the lovely spread that I put out for Christmas Eve.  Wish  you could have seen it. 

   

A neat tissue holder that looks like books. 

Wendy loves cats and puzzles. 

Don with his favorite...malted milk balls. 

I had a nice surprise from Don. Chris brought us an electric player piano a few months ago but out old piano bench was not high enough for me to play comfortably. So Don gave me an adjustable bench seat. Now I will really enjoy playing.  I hope to do more of that this new year. In fact I want to make more time for painting too. And reading. I think I might enjoy this quiet winter. 

I hope you will have a safe and healthy new year and we will defeat this Covid once and for all. 

Poetry

 

Wherever you go…

 Starting here, what do you want to remember?

How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?

What scent of old wood hovers, what softened

sound from outside fills the air?

 Will you ever bring a better gift for the world

than the breathing respect that you carry

wherever you go right now? Are you waiting

for time to show you some better thoughts?

 When you turn around, starting here, lift this

new glimpse that you found; carry into evening

all that you want from this day. This interval you spent

reading or hearing this, keep it for life -

 What can anyone give you greater than now,

starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

 William Edgar Stafford

1914-1993

she said it better

 I always wished that I was a writer. Words seem to flow from others and they have a way of expressing all the emotions held inside. But that was not a talent given to me. I write in simple sentences usually just describing my day. Then sometimes I come across someone who speaks for me on their page. They exactly express my feelings and I end up saying I wish I could write like that. I found a new blog today called Collage of Life which took my breath away. Tahilla Farm is the most stunning New Hampshire property, where Jeanne Henriques offers retreats on different themes, that she calls Tahilla Gatherings.Her blog is full of stories and wisdom. Today I am stealing her words about books because they exactly say how I feel. It's as if she opened my head and looked directly into my mind. 

Magic Carpet Ride

There are times when I just want a book to whisk me away to some place exciting. I don’t want to think too hard but I want to be entertained, I want the words to take me on a magic carpet ride and return me to a safe harbor, one that I know well. No need to rock my world and turn it upside down, just get me back to where I started.

The Weight of Words

Then there are the books to feed my reading soul. I want those words to wrap around me, pull me into a comfy chair and let me stay awhile. When that happens, it’s me and the book and no one else. I am open to possibilities, I am ready to travel, I want to connect and feel the weight of the words…wherever they happen to take me. As I turn the last page of that book, I want it to leave me wishing it wasn’t so, as I shout “Nooooo, please don’t go”. I will think and ponder and perhaps shed a literary tear and when that happens I wrap the words within me and start anew.

Outside the Book

The other reading space for me is one where I can distance myself from other worlds and just stick to the one I am in. I want to learn, to expand, to think outside the book and feel energized. These books feed my self-help curiosity and when the mood strikes, it is the only place I can exist. Once the author taps into my questioning soul and provides answers, I will be ready for the next book, for either a magic carpet ride or holding the weight of words.

And that my friends is how I look at reading.

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A fall walk

I am lucky to have walking trails very near my home. The other day I was enjoying these last lingering warmer days of fall before we lose al the leaves completely and cold weather sets in by walking the University trail. 

I used to feel funny about posting pictures of myself but one time I took a photography course on self portraits and realized that I should celebrate myself. 

Miss Makeup

Sara Has loved playing make up since she was very very young. She’s 11 now and just loves to put make up on people.  She has loved playing make up since she was very very young. When we were visiting in Tennessee she gave me a facial. And painted my nails green. Woo woo!

Tennessee troubles

Yes this is Sean who fell and broke his arm at scout camp. It was a very bad break both bones in the lower arm. One came out through the skin. He’s had a lot of trouble he had one surgery. Then he had to have a second surgery because of infection. Then he had to have a third surgery to put in a pick line in order to go home. He’s been treated with antibiotics through the pick line twice a day. He said quite a time of it. He went to the doctor Monday. He got on a removable cast so that they can keep an eye on the infection. If he’s better on Thursday he may be able to switch to oral antibiotics. Of course he hasn’t been in school for two weeks and can’t go back until this is taken care of. He’s been a trooper through it all.

Quite a surprise

This was quite a surprise. Don has wanted a player piano for a long time. We had one when we were first married and spent many nights pumping the pedals and singing along to the piano rolls.  We even moved it with us to this house almost fifty years ago. Eventually it wouldn’t work correctly and we got rid of it. Later Don got me a regular piano for Mother’s Day one year which I have enjoyed playing for years. He recently told Chris that he only wanted two things..a player piano and a dog. Not just a dog but another Jack Russell. It’s been over two years since we had to put our beloved .

Sadie down. I don’t want another dog which would be a lot of work for me since Don wouldn’t be able to help me with it because of his COPD. 

  So when .Chris pulled up the driveway towing a trailer I didn’t know what to expect. He had found an electric player for his father. We saved many piano rolls and tomorrow we will try playing some of those. 

Hurd Orchard

Today the sisters and I had a wonderful time at Hurd Orchard.

Although it is a two and a half hour drive to Holley, NY just west of Rochester it is well worth the effort. It was a rainy, cool day with a lot of wind but that didn’t stop us from enjoying a lovely luncheon.

While we were waiting for the opening of the barn we pursued the fruit market/gift shop. After lunch we went back where Diane bought some fig/pear jam, Vermont cheese and Harvest Lentil dry soup mix. 

Finally we entered the enormous barn with dried hydrangeas and other flowers hanging from the large beams. Just entering the barn is a feast for your eyes. In various parts of the barn were large tables containing vases filled with seasonal flowers and foliage.

A large harvest table had arrangements of flowers and a ladder hanging with lanterns above. 

Everywhere you looked there was glorious color. 

The owner of this business which included large orchards of every kind of fruit and even 20 acres of flowers explained a little about Hurd Orchard to us. Then she tantalized us with a preview of the menu for the day. When the food arrived it didn’t disappoint. 

We started with a small jelly jar of freshly pressed cider from their own apples. Next the bread basket came out containing warm corn bread with caramelized onions on the bottom and sautéed apple slices on the top. Also in the basket was an applesauce bread. We devoured that so fast we didn’t even take a picture.  The salad had a little greens with slices of fresh peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, and raspberries with a homemade raspberry dressing. 

Our main course which was served on mismatched vintage china was ham slices with peach sauce and a fresh sweet corn soup which we had to get the recipe for. 

Hurd orchard part two

I had to break this up into two parts because there were so many pictures. 

Dessert was a warm peach pie with whipped cream. Yum yum!

The inside of the fruit market had baskets hanging all over the ceiling. And lots of apples. 

Birthday

Gorgeous birthday flowers from my husband. He never forgets. 

Fall decor 2021

I began my fall decorating.  I’m so ready for the heat of summer to be over. In Bradford we are not used to temps consistently in the eighties. Thank goodness for central air. It has been a blessing. Especially for Don with his breathing problems. I started by going through the bins in the storage room down in the basement. Then I carried everything upstairs and sorted again. I decided to start in the living room with the mantle. This past weekend when I was in Camphill I bought this beautiful sunflower picture. It just set the mood but I was trying to convey. The rest of the decorations came easily and blend it in with my blue and white chinoiserie China.

On the mantle I also put the water fountain. I’d love to hear it’s tingling is it drops water from one leaf to the other. I’ll have to remember to put it on a timer so it doesn’t go all night. I’m a big fan of timers. We have a lot of lights on the timer so when we go to bed at night we don’t even have to worry about turning off the lights.

I made The autumn sign many years ago. Some of the sunflowers are newer others are very old. They never go out of style.

Pay attention

“Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it.”

       —-Mary Oliver

“To discover the divine, we must see the ordinary with new eyes of appreciation.  The sacred is found in the seemingly mundane”

Something that sparkles....

As seen through the eyes of someone else....

Something you can only find in this season...

Something that touches your skin...

Something where it is dark....

The face that greets you in the morning....

Words...

On your kitchen table...

Something that you only notice in silence...

Amish adventure

Although when you think of Amish people you probably think of southern Pennsylvania there is quite a big Amish community in western New York. 

We had a delightful day learning about the Amish when we visited a relative of Lisa’s who spends the summer at her home in Little Valley, New York to get away from the Arizona heat. 

Jeanette lives in a cottage which surrounds a small lake. She invited our coffee group for lunch and a tour of the Amish country 

We first enjoyed a lovely lunch on her screened in porch before venturing out. 

Our first stop was her local roadside stand where we all picked out goodies to take home. I brought home small cucumbers, a very large tomato, some zucchini, corn and of course two bouquets of gorgeous flowers. 

At the Amish furniture barn we were astonished to see a baby fawn just walking around. The farmer told us that she comes every morning to get water. She didn’t mind the three dogs that were there and they didn’t mind her, even when she went right up to them to sniff. 

Every place we stopped the flowers were outstanding. It was a super trip topped off with a stop for ice cream on the way home. 

Portrait

Portrait