Thoughts on Living My Dream

 This view out my window was so gorgeous I wanted to catch it to be able to see again and again.  About a millisecond later, this was my view...

 

Rufio  is my soul cat, and can’t stand to see a camera pointed somewhere other than him!  In fact he is so jealous, if I call another cat, pet another cat, or snap a picture of another cat, he is there quite suddenly, winding sinuously around my ankles.  Me, Mommy?  Me too?

On my walk this morning, I went a bit farther into the woods, and found a great big log section that will be perfect for a table in my to be completed sitting area.  It was hard going for me, I’m glad I took my walking stick.  My two new knees were performing admirably, but my back made everything harder.  Just two more weeks until the, hopefully, second surgery, and then the work of recovery, and then, I hope, normalcy.  Well, as normal as this year can be.  

We had moths in our old place, just one of the many issues that plagued us there.  A very old, very loved hat was one of the casualties.I had to throw out so much wool.  The hole mending was put on hold so as to get better set up in our new home, and somehow it was tossed in the washer!  Oh no, must fix holes!  So I got a little ball of some of my first spinning, and filled the holes.  A little fulling and it will be fixed....

The sun is setting earlier each night, laying its course to the winter solstice.  Each time is rises and each time it sets it slides a little further south for the rising sun, and north for the setting.  I wonder how people, long long ago saw the suns progression. We know they tracked it...not just in the Iron Age, or Bronze, but back into Neolithic time as well.  In Pennsylvania we have one of the oldest sites of human habitation in North America as well as some fascinating petroglyphs and stone stacks, all of which have representations of solar and lunar activity.   I think it must have been comforting to have a stable schedule, a calendar if you will.  It must have been frightening if it deviated. So much depended on the sun.  And the moon....but that is for another post.

Walking Through The Woods on Thanksgiving

 Today I walked a different path than most days, I took a somewhat dubious trail through the woods along and behind my house.  There were lots of deciduous trees and a few pines and firs, and surprisingly, a small fort built with four pallets!  Very industrious, someone was.  I’m not certain if they’re on my property, we have to get a surveyor out anyway, but I can’t tell if it’s in use or not.  Kids I don’t mind, but I don’t want someone lighting a fire there, for instance.  I’ll see if my neighbor or his kids might know the story.  

I also found tree bits with moss and lichens on them, the kind of lichens you can use for natural dyeing, pine cones and a birds nest on the ground, plus several in the trees.  Maybe a squirrel nest too!  But most exciting we’re three turkey hens just walking along, ambling around, and gobbling.  Not particularly scared of me but when I tried to get a photo, by the time I got my phone out again, they were just dots against the trees, not worth snapping the picture.

Over it all, loomed South Mountain, hovering protectively like a huge hen over her tiny chicks....I feel better knowing the mountain is there-  

Sunrise Before the Rain!

It never ceases to amaze me how Blogger switches up the order I do things in....oh well, I’m sure you  can tell what’s what.  We are expecting a rain front to move in, and temperatures to fall.  The last couple days have been mild, and the temps will rise again to mild, but while it’s cooler I want to walk our path into the woods behind us and see what is there.  When we came here it was cold and I badly needed a total knee replacement.  I got that in summer, and then I needed my back fixed.  Half of that is done, the final little surgery is next month.  Now I can walk again, but after that last bit gets fixed, I will be able to navigate the rough paths without so much trouble.  I hope I find enough pine and fir to have my own branches inside to bring in that wonderful piney smell.  THEN I will know I’m officially at home!  It’s been a crazy year, can I get an “amen”?

 

God Paints the Best Pictures!

 His paintbrush makes grand gestures across the sky, no mere mortal can achieve the beauty of the sun as it rises or sets, or the moon shining in a black velvet sky.  

To Be a Cat, is to Be Comfortable!

 Doesn’t it make you want to take a little nap?

Bit of a Blow

 What a lovely sunrise this morning!  Last night  it was a bit of a different story. We had 30mph sustained winds and gusts over 50!  A big tree limb broke and came flying across the yard onto our deck.  Into our breakfast room, where we were sitting! This is our first big storm...I think it won’t be the last!

It snagged on the deck railing, whew!  If it hadn’t, it would have come right through the glass doors.

No Rain!

 This sky, the blue that is seen at this time of year, shone in all its joyousness.  It was a welcome relief from the rains, but tomorrow will be rainy again.  It fills our reservoir and softens the ground for winter crops, but I do enjoy a brilliant sunrise.

There are blossoms on my impatiens!  A gift from a childhood friend of HD’s that he found lives just down the road!  They hadn’t seen each other for more than 60 years! Finding an old friend is so good for him, as an extrovert, he has suffered more than I from near isolation.  

Sourdough Is.....Messy!

Cover it, they said.  Keep it warm, they said.  Ha!  Well, we’ll see how it turns out, it’s in the fridge now.  No yellowing clear liquid yet, but it’s only been in there a couple hours.  
I am figuring out the wood stove, little by little.  After the initial burn, as above, I can keep it going with just one or two pieces of wood.  Still puts out lots of heat.  This winter it will be nice to have a wood stove, it’s been way to long.  Decades.  Funny how the place I’ve lived the longest is the place I liked the least.  Ah well, now I am home at long last. 

Apparently I live in.....

Brigadoon!

 The mist was rising slowly, revealing the hills and dales of the South Mountain Range.  Each sunrise is a wonder, even grey and rainy days.  It’s amazing how much lovelier the countryside is than the crowded, overpeopley area I came from.  There must be beautiful sunrises there too, but I never saw one in amongst the buildings and noises.  I have waited way too many years to come home.  

I discovered a wonder today.  Off season, there aren’t as many people working at the smaller farm stands, and my favorite one, the one that has the Best Eggs Ever, was not staffed when my dh stopped in for eggs. On the counter was a box with money in it and thank you written on it, and it was self service.  Having spent the last 25 years in suburban hell, it was a joy and a pleasure to see trust in our neighbors.  After he had paid the owner bustled in with produce, unworried over the money.  In northern VA someone would have taken everything portable, including the money box.  I live amongst humans again!  

It is much too rainy to make bread today, and we finished our loaf this morning (good pain d’or) so I stopped in to a larger farm stand.  Really a sort of farm type convenience store.  As I was leaving with tonight’s soup and bread, the clerk stopped me and asked if I was a veteran.  When I responded yes, ten years in the best Navy worldwide, she handed me a bag with a half dozen apples and chocolate!  A material “thank you” indeed.  

The leaves are about down now, and I can see South Mountain through them.  This is the view out my sewing room window.  The shed we are using for storage, but will be used for dyeing fabric and yarn too. I have a lovely camp kitchen inside just waiting for a propane stove and hanging racks.  I can’t wait! It’s been far too long since I’ve spun and dyed and woven.  

 

 I have not been here in a while, FB and Instagram sort of coopted my time.  In the hiatus, many things happened. 

 I retired! I May teach but no more standing 8 hours a day.  

I had knee surgery! Twice!  I now have a matching pair of bionic knees.  So so good!

I have moved!  From Northern Virginia to south central Pennsylvania.  It is like leaving an overcrowded jail and going to Paradise!My new house rock, and because it faces east I get to greet the day each morning.  Even when it is foggy or cloudy, the sun still shines on  me.  

And I am now treating my back, since my knees are done.  Not surgery, not that, but shots and in a week, radio ablation.  I am so hopeful the ablation works.  There are still more things to do if not, but I am hopeful.  I can't walk far, and the road we live on has fast traffic, so walking on the side of the road is a bit scary, so if my back responds to the ablation, I can start on my recumbent bike again.  I moved JUST before the lockdown, and I am afraid the homemaking includes baking, and I have....grown.  Sideways.  Sigh.

My best friend lives just 14 miles away, and has been such a blessing.  Not only were both my surgical recoveries done at her house to avoid stairs for three weeks, but her husband replaced two tub/shower combos with easy to enter showers.  He does all the little things (and some big) that Gil and I can't do.  

Oh yes!  Today I am getting a new stove/oven!!!  I can't tell you how exciting that is...the one that came with the house doesn't close all the way and we are bleeding heat....and therefore propane.  Man, cooking on a gas range ROCKS.  

Time to get the stove unhooked from the propane.... more when I figure out how to get my Mac to share my iPhone's pictures!