Opal

We lost somebody very special this week when my Aunt Opal passed away. She passed on as she lived, with dignity and surrounded by people who loved her.
One of my earliest memories of her is at a family reunion. We were visiting at Grandpa’s farm and her twin daughters woke up from a nap, about 2 years old, and came to find her. Without a pause in her conversation, she just shifted in the rocker and took one warm, snuggly little one on each knee and pulled them in close in that timeless comforting hug-but this time magnified by two. What a lot of love she had to give, and there was always extra to share.
At that same reunion, she was working in the old kitchen at Grandpa’s place, where the drinking water came into the kitchen in a bucket from the nearby well and you ladled it out with a dipper. She had a big old enameled dishpan and was making a huge batch of the best feathery light, delicious cinnamon rolls with the stickiest frosting ever. Heaven!
She and Uncle Ray spent their off time hunting in the mountains of Montana, and we always heard stories of how much she enjoyed those times in the woods. One of her favorite trips, she told about bringing an elk back down the mountain on a toboggan and riding along as it slid downhill. She could cook anything he shot, and deliciously too!
In their later years together, they camped near a beautiful lake, going out to catch their limit of fish in the morning, back to the camper to clean, cut up, fill canning jars with the fish, and process them for later eating, then going back out onto the lake in the afternoon to start over. That fresh clean water salmon was delicious, right out of the jar.
She sewed anything, from sleeping bags to wedding dresses to underwear, and with style, too. In later years, she became an avid quilter, and made and gave away hundreds of quilts. It’s really nice to think of all those quilts that she made out there in homes, bringing warmth and beauty and good memories to all of us who treasure them, and her.
I’m lucky enough to have two, and they’re among my most prized possessions. The first she made specifically for me. It’s huge, big enough for a king sized bed, and she made sure that I knew that this was to be USED, not saved for good. One side was a sedate, cool pastel green floral pattern, and the other, my favorite, is a riot of colors and shapes. Bright vivid reds and all kinds of varied designs. She told me the story of each patch, including the red, white and blue flag patch she made on 9/11 while watching the stories on tv of the disaster. So much life in one place.
The second quilt is a smaller one, that just fits on the bed in our camper, so it goes with us on every trip we make. She made a quilt each year to bring to the family reunion craft exchange and last year in Montana I was lucky enough to be able to snatch up that beauty and bring it home with me.
She has known for a while that her health was failing, and made the decisions she needed to make to face it in her own style. When the end came, she was surrounded by those she loved, all who could make it there, and with church members singing her favorite hymns in the background.

What a woman! What a life. We'll all miss her. I know there’s nothing I can say to ease the pain of her wonderful, caring family, but hope they know that our thoughts are with them, and our love.

It's time to send a message! March 28th EarthHour

On March 28th, millions of people around the world
will send a message that it is time for climate
change solutions by the nations of the world,
by turning off their lights at 8:30 p.m. for one hour

This is a lead up to the global Climate Change conference.

The World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour campaign need
you to turn off your lights and also to watch the
new Earth Hour music video at
www.Youtube.com/Earthman
.

Our goal is 1,000,000 views by March 28th. Spread
the word. Sign up at
http://www.Earthhourus.org

Miracles, All Around us!

I've always said that I could never move away from this old place in the spring. There are too many miracles happening all around us, every day. I just thought that I should go out and get a few pictures of the greening here and in just a 10 minute walk around this little three acres I saw: a barred owl sitting in a tree who flew silently away when I came too close and tried to get a picture, the snowbells growing under the maple tree, the green chives coming up out in the woods, ready to add to tonight's salad, a deer scrape on the path, where a buck was leaving his scent to attract the his lady love, a pool of water next to the blueberry row that's feeding the future blueberries, and a flock of sandhill cranes overhead, calling their ancient warble as they wing slowly north.

All this on a soft spring early evening when it's warm enough to go outside in short sleeves. What joy is around us. St. Patrick's Day this year was bright and sunny, so I planted 3 kinds of radishes and lettuces, potatoes, edible pod peas and regular peas, onion sets and seeds, carrots, kale, collards and chard, so all that goodness is still hidden underground, just waiting to pop out and feed us so many delicious meals.

What a place we live in. The forsythia are turning yellow as the buds slowly swell and ready for the annual silent firework display in brilliant color.

The big old rhubarb rootstock a friend gave us from his garden is starting to grow already, with the big green leaves just beginning to unfold and reach out into the spring air.

The maple syrup is done and we ended up with 9 one cup bottles this year of the sweet stuff. It's especially good and clear this year, not very dark at all, and with a great clean taste.


And in the greenhouse that Jim's building, another small miracle. We thought we lifted all the bulbs and growing things out of that space and moved them elsewhere, but all through this little space, spears of daffodils, glads, tulips and crocus are pushing up through the hard packed earth and reaching for the sky. I guess we'll just let them grow for now, and move them after they're done. Life will have its way, no matter what we decide! Life is very good.

It's Spring!

Remember that old saying about April showers? We're getting them early this year. Just as the last of the longstanding, dirty, nasty snow was melting off and leaving us with our annual mudfest, it started raining. Not just a gentle, wash the world clean rain, but a days long deluge of constant ongoing wet stuff that's left our driveway a bottomless pit of quivering mud. We've gotten two cars stuck in it so far that needed a push to get out.

We did have the maple trees tapped for making syrup, and had gathered some sap, but the rest is all watered down and diluted even further than its usual 40 to 1 dilute ratio. Since it's warm and staying warm, the sap stopped flowing and just stayed in the top of the trees. I decided to try to boil down what we have collected on top of the wood stove in shallow pans and have burned up every piece of dry wood around the place and got it mostly evaporated. Now we're finishing it off by electric cooker--it was that or start breaking up the furniture!

So, since the whole place is flooded, Jim decided to try his hand at lawn fishing. Didn't catch much, but at least he got outside for a little bit. I took this picture while hunkered down inside the greenhouse, sheltering from the rain. Jim's much hardier than I am.

Happy Spring everyone!

'Tis the Season

Yep, those are our toes, keeping warm in front of the wood stove. These days, it's our favorite place in the world, because it's COLD out there.

Pretty though. It's like a church out there, and quiet and beautiful. I just got out quickly to feed the so hungry birds. Jim got out and took pictures in the fresh bright morning air. It's just beautiful, and a day and a half later, the snow's still on the trees. It's amazing, and sure does put you in the holiday mood. Merry Christmas to our friends and family.

It's Going to Be a Greenhouse!

Jim and I have had this project in the plans for quite a while now, and it's finally coming together. We're adding on an eight by sixteen foot addition to the south side of the house to be a combination greenhouse, sunroom, solar heat collector. Since we don't have a lot of building experience, there's a lot of time spent just planning, reading and studying options, and talking over what we really want from this space. It has taken several months to actually get something started, but Jim has kept drawing and redrawing plans, and it's finally happening.

Our goal here is to have a place to collect solar heat during the daytime and vent it into the house to help out with winter heating bills. We'd also like to use it as a solar room in the winter time as a place to sit in the light and help fight the winter blues, and also to extend the growing season here in Northern Indiana. If we could harvest some winter veggies, or salad greens, it would be wonderful too, but we're not sure just what to expect. Anyway, it's very much a work in progress, but here are some pictures so far, and it's just wonderful to be able to see this much happening at this point. Hopefully we'll have the roof framed in by the end of the week and be able to at least drape it in plastic this winter for some solar heat gain.

The pictures, in order, show: the footers laid out with Jim fastening the last of the rebar to reenforce the foundation, Cement truck delivering the wet cement, Jim adding bolts to the wet footers to bolt the sill plates onto, fitting sill plate boards into place, side wall framing and door framing up and Jim leveling the door frame out.

Autumn Miscellaney

Boy, does time pass fast! Seems we just got back from Vermont after a marvelous visit and we had to hurry into all those tasks involved in closing down the house for winter. Preserving the last of the goodies from the garden; finding delicious magical pawpaws hanging ripe on the trees along the road; burning the brush pile out back to clean up the summer's prunings and dropped branches, and filling the woodpile for winter's warmth.
And then all of a sudden it's snowing, and Jim and Anna are outside dancing in the snow and catching flakes on their tongues! Holy Cow the time goes fast!

That lounging picture of Anna is how she reacted to her new little chair and the big fluffy warm robe to keep her comfy. What a ham!
I'll just post a lot of pictures without much explaination, and let you sort of catch up with our lives.

As the weather gets colder and snow piles up outside, our lives contract and the center of the house becomes the comfy chairs in front of that glowing warm stove, and each day ends with a glass of wine and some time to just watch the flames.

Of course, that's in between Jim's greenhouse project and carrying in wood, and selling on ebay and......subjects for the next posting.

Life is very good these days.

Last Day in Vermont

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and even we wanderers have to get home to Indiana. We spent a last day visiting, helping a little more on the house, Jim got to hike a few miles on the nearby Appalachian Trail, and Lora and I went to a few yard sales to find some bargains. After meeting up one more time at the house on the riverside, Lora and I explored the outside of Wilson Castle, a beautiful old home on the outskirts of Rutland, while we waited for the restaurant to open. It was really something in its time, and even though it's crumbling, still something to see.

First find was a huge old Douglas fir, I think, which prompted the usual reaction in me---Gotta go hug a tree! Where's Kim when I need my tree hugging partner? It was so big that the branches sheltered a 20' in diameter space underneath with room for two picnic tables and generous space to spare. Lora snapped my picture in this necessary ceremonial getting in touch with the soul of yet another big tree.

I'll just post the pictures without text between, but they show fancy brickwork, wearing away, vines growing through a basement window, the main entrance, with eagle statue guarding it, and the side entrance, with beautiful blue stained glass above it. What an amazing house that was, and today, it'll make the perfect place for the haunted house they're planning soon.

Beautiful Vermont-Water on Rocks

What a gorgeous day! We all took a ride on a pass over the mountains, a place called the Kancamangus Highway, or something like that. With frequent stops for photos, we took our time and explored so many different versions of water-running-over-rock.

Just beautiful! It was a cool moist day, which brought out the best in the amazing fall colors we saw.

In these pictures are, Jim wandering to the top of a waterfall, John at the bottom of the same waterfall, Lora in her usual pose behind a camera, and lots of beautiful places. The last one is of Rocky Gorge with an incredibly rushing narrow plume of water. We read a story of a young woman swimming champion who was drawn into the cataract, and trapped in a space under the falls, to be held there for hours as the cold water rushed past her. She was finally rescued, almost by accident, when the rescuers were searching with hooks for her body and brought up her almost dead body and were able to revive her. Brrrrr.

The Beautiful Spot by the River

This place that John and Lora are building their new home in is just the most beautful place in the world, or at least one of them. We spent one whole cool, sunny day working around the place, and I had time to wander around with my camera a little. The first thing I notice, each time I step out of a car at that place is the noise of the river. It's constant, and changing, and just a joy to be near. As I move along the bank, it's quiet here, rowdy there, shallow and trickling or rushing between two big rocks with a roar.

It's wonderful to think that these two people who are so dear to me will have this joyous music to accompany their lives as long as they're here. And it's even better to know that we're always welcome to come visit.

The river is different each time I wander near.

John and Jim worked together to put up the heavy beam braces for the deck, and Lora and I spent time prestaining the soffet and facia boards green.

Lora planted a lot of wildflowers around last year and they've come up beautifully. I have no idea what most of these are, but they're all just wonderful. Look at the strange red seed head! Gotta look them up yet.

I even found my own thinking spot. There's a short moss covered stump, near the tiny feeder stream that wanders around their property before emptying into the river. The tiny brook is only about a foot across at this point, but has its own little chuckling rapid as it pours over some smallish rocks. It makes a very comfy, quiet spot to stop and think about ..... stuff.