"Baby, it's cold outside.."

Wow, are we in a deep freeze. I woke up this morning to a thermometer that read -9 degrees. Now that's cold! It's not neccesarily a bad thing though, it's gotten my creative juices flowing again after a holiday burn out.

A large pot of an old family favorite of Polish Chicken Soup should warm the body and soul tonight. Plus it is making the house smell wonderful!

I have pulled, from my stockpile, some project I would like to complete this week. Some wonderful patterns and kits I have collected. Plus some new gourds that need to be cleaned and dealt with. I ordered these from the Welburn Gourd Farm in California. My gourds are still drying in the barn and will not be ready until mid summer. I'll deal with them then.

And I finally got my rear in gear and used some of the wonderful yarn I have been collecting. I've completed one sock, a simple, single crochet pattern that I added a little ruffle edge to. At least one of my feet will be warm and happy now!

Now I have to get to work on the rest of it. Laundry is waiting as well.

Enjoy and stay warm.

Embrace life

I just need to talk....

After a phone call with a friend, a story I will get to in a minute, I just sat down and watched Barbara Walter's special with Patrick Swayze. I had recorded it last night, not wanting to get upset before I went to bed, knowing I would have time to watch it alone with my tissues this afternoon. I have been a fan of his for years, ever since I was first introduced to him in Dirty Dancing. I've seen and liked almost all of his movies. An incredibly strong person, he always plays strong, yet soft and caring, characters. It is hard to see him now fighting for his life. Seeing him looking so frail in the interview just brought back images of my Grandfather, a once very proud man, reduced to the shell of who he once was prior to his death. Patrick is fighting his cancer with every ounce of his being and with an aggression and obstinance that I hope he can hold onto for for a much longer period of time so that he can beat the odds. The world would be a lesser place without him. In my time, we have lost too many other greats, people I grew up with. Jim Hanson, Michael Landon and many others. Patrick, I wish you the best and keep fighting, we are not ready to loose you yet.

Now, back to my friend's phone call. She and her family had moved to Texas this summer and now live on a fairly quiet street. She happened to look out the window and noticed a few police cars in front of one elderly (at least she thought so) neighbor's house. A few moments later an ambulance arrived and more police. It was obvious that something was wrong. She later found out that this so thought elderly man had been found dead on his property. He was described to me as a man so protective of his privacy that his neighbors had been trained to leave him be. He was not unfriendly, just wished his privacy be respected. So as they drove past his house, out of respect for him, they did not look down his driveway, or glance at his house. If they had, he may have been found. See, he has cut down a tree in his yard, which fell across his driveway, hooked up his tractor and was in the process of pulling the tree to wherever he had planned to dispose of it. Something tragic occurred, most likely a massive coronary, and he passed away on his tractor, tree still attached and blocking his driveway, very visible from any car passing his house. This, according to the coroner, happened on either Thursday or Friday. He was found by a friend, after not showing up for a scheduled meeting, outside, on his tractor, on Monday! This poor man so secluded himself from society that even once he passed away, he was not noticed by neighbors that drove past his house daily and out of respect, did not pass a glance in his direction. I have to stop and wonder, was it worth it?

Take a minute and check up on neighbors. This man was assumed to be in his mid 70's. In reality, he was only 57! Too young to die alone and unnoticed.

Welcome 2009

As the sun rises on this, the first day of 2009, I am forced to look back at the happenings of '08.
The year began uneventfully, my husband, son and in laws all had their snowmobile trips planned and were anxiously awaiting the departure dates. On the eve of one such trip, a poor, elderly man with much of his mind stolen by age wandered into our basement at the wee hours of the morning. It was a freezing night and he had nothing more than a pair of pants and a dress shirt on, bedroom slippers were his shoes. He met me at my basement door around 7am and as I was shocked and terrified to find someone had broken into our home, I was also heartbroken by this poor man. He made me thankful for the family I have, and made me vow to take whatever steps neccesary to keep them safe (sorry mom and dad, you may be committed!).

Spring arrived with an onsought of Easter Basket orders that threw me into such a panick and stress that it brought on a relapse of my MS. With my back in spasms that would not relent even to some heavy drugs I forged onward...we had a wedding shower to plan.

In May, my sister in law married a wonderful man and we inherited two wonderful nieces. It was a glorious day, perfect weather and a wonderful time was had by all!

Summer was filled with camping trips and craft shows. My business was growing and so were the kids. It is amazing how things happen when we are not even looking! My son was starting to read and getting ready to start school. My daughter was starting the potty training process,

Fall arrived with the weekend frenzy of craft shows, business was so good I could barely weave fast enough to keep up the inventory and fill orders. Griffin started school with a smile on his face and Machaella was beginning to start skipping naps. My babies are growing up so fast, even thinking of it now brings tears to my eyes!

Winter brought sleighrides, snowmen, snowmobiles and get togethers with friends.

I want to thank all those who supported me over the year with the building of my business, I am finally making a profit!!! My family, you know who you are, for the ideas, push and drive (and for buying baskets!!!) Mom, for always making me believe in myself. Dad, for the encouragement. Ryan, for your never ending support behind the scenes, I could not have done it with out you.

This year I will do more and do better. I will be a better wife and mother, daughter and daughter in law. I will make more time for friends. Ryan, for you, I vow to clean up my reed and not let the rat's nest spread around the house.

And...I will spin. My baskets have enabled me to buy my first wheel. Now I just need to decide what kind of wheel I want.

Happy New Year everyone!

Winter Serenity

It has been months since I have felt compelled to share but the last snowfall and being home alone seemed to have done the trick.

The guys left my daughter and I home alone while they went to upstate New York to snowmobile. We were virtually snowed in as I could not get the snowblower started and the snow on the driveway was way to heavy to shovel, thanks to the rain that fell inbetween the bands of snow. So we decided to go out and play and enjoy our property instead. It was so quiet and peaceful, it reminded me again why I love this time of year so much. My father and I used to go out on winter evenings, shovel and clean snow and then just go for a walk, listen to the snow squeak beneath our boots, the falling flakes and the distant sounds of others doing the same. My father taught me to enjoy these simple things, something I will pass on down to my children, the beauty of Nature!

We grabbed the camera as mother and daughter went off to do our daily barn "chores", I call them chores but it is really a labor of love. There are very few places I would rather be than in a barn feeding and cleaning stalls! Call me crazy!!!

My beloved hay burner Abby. My best friend since I was 14 (that's only a "few" years ago). We have been through the loss of friends, college (yes, she went with me) and too many other challenges in life to even mention. She has been one of the few constants in my life. A true friend I can always count on! I love you girl!
The twin Black Walnut trees that proudly stand along the cornfield and provide bountiful harvests every year. We do not eat them, however I do collect them and make a stain for my baskets.










This is one of the old outbuildings on the farm. It used to house some of the horse drawn farm equipment and the work harnesses. It has pigeon coops/nesting boxes in the loft and perches and holes for the birds in the rear. Sadly it is slowly sliding off the stone foundation and unless we do something with it in the near future, it may be lost.



This is the old Spring House. Even in the worse droughts, this never runs dry. We have used the water out of it during power outages to flush toilets and such. Old Mrs. Moore used to store her eggs and the spring water she sold inside here with a money jar. Everyone around would come and take what they wanted and leave their money in the jar. When she passed, it was said she had a secret bank account with thousands in it, she never told anyone she was squirreling the money away! Crafty little lady, wich I had the chance to meet her.




My youngest's first snowman. We had to go inside after this and watch Frosty and drink hot chocolate together. She had a ball!

Where does the time go?

This past week we celebrated my daughter's 3rd birthday. The day was cold and miserable, most people around us were getting snowed on, yes, in October! It made me think back to the day she was born and how beautiful it was. It was a very warm monday morning when I arrived at the hospital, with my husband, to bring our little girl into the world. I was only wearing short sleeves (and I am ALWAYS cold). What a difference three years can make.

We had a scheduled C-section and everyone was calm and relaxed, very much unlike the birth of my son. I remember talking with the anesthesiologist as they were doing my spinal, which I was terrified of. His name was Michael and as we knew we were having a girl and had our name picked out already, he was joking how we named her after him. It very much lightened the mood and got me through it. The surgery was quick and uneventful and then we caught our first glimpse of her, how beautiful! She looked just like her brother!!!! We were overjoyed that day and everyday since. With her addition to our family and our little prince at home, we now had the perfect family.

My children are the love of my life. Yes they are challenging at times, and there are times I really wonder what I am doing, but on days like this I cherish those trying times. The times goes too quickly and as we sat last night watching my now 6 year old son reading to the family, I got tears in my eyes. They are growing up too fast, I want to just scoop them up and hold on to them, stop them from getting bigger, stop them from needing Mommy less and less. I know the day will come when they will grow and leave our home to start their own lives, but I am going to prolong that as long as possible. The time will come way too quickly.

I love you two!!!!!!

Autumn Inspiration

Here is the outcome of the inspiration created by the fall colors and temperatures. This is a basket designed by a wonderful woman named Venie Hinson. She lives in eastern Ohio and I had the chance to take a class with her in April. She designs wonderful baskets using hard woods like black walnut, cherry and maple as accents. This particular basket is woven with black walnut and maple as well as rattan reed. It is called Black Walnut Special and was a real pleasure to weave. I wove this basket while camping in Bennizet last weekend with my family, surrounded by bugeling elk. One of which almost joined us at the picnic table while we were eating dinner!

Fall Harvest

Hello again...

With fall here I spent the afternoon and evening with the kids, gathering what I can to be used in my baskets. We picked up more than enough black walnuts to start a dye bath brewing in the barn for the winter. Then the kids and I vented our frustrations and maybe caused some more as we pulled and pulled on wild grapevines. There was one huge one growing up a black walnut tree in our hedgerow that I was after in the worst way. I had cut the stem, down by the root. See I want the thickest part for a ribbed basket handle, the middle for the rim hoop and the smaller, thinner pieces for the ribs of the basket. We eventually gave up, as it was firmly attached to this walnut tree, and enlisted the help of my husband. Although he was happy about us picking up all the walnuts (they become deadly when run over with a lawn mower and take flight), he was less than excited about my efforts with the grapevine, especially now that it is draped out all over the lawn as I begin to untangle the mess and remove all the little twigs that came down in it's grasp. But we won and the vine is mine!!!

Thanks Mother Nature for the wonderful gifts!!!