Digging in the dirt

I managed to carve out a wee bit of time this past weekend for some much needed garden cleanup and fairy house building. Somehow that half hour felt like much longer. It was so restorative on many levels.
I started cutting back the grasses and noting which ones would need dividing this year. Instantly things looked more orderly and ready to start on another season of growing. Then Hazel and I proceeded to build a fairy house amongst the soon to be popping up Forget-me-nots. All our supplies came from our tiny postage stamp lot which made me realize how much stuff we have going on in there. Enough room for as many fairies that grace us with their presence....birds and bees and children too.

One moment in time

Life springs anew

The natural systems are truly a marvel. Birth and death, old an new...the wonders never cease. This picture reminds me that we are but one species sharing (??) this planet.
Enjoy your day.
Karen

Out with the old

Down came the old curtains. Or should I say tea towels that were quickly sewn into curtains when we moved into our home. After 4 years of dutifully serving their purpose, I decided that new ones were in order. Fabric was ordered during the February blahs and as of last week our windows are now covered in a lovely springy happy fabric (Robert Kaufman Dill blossom flower blossom in red if anyone happens to be interested). They make me smile every time I enter the kitchen...especially when the sun is shining and they impart a lovely reddish hue everywhere.

Have a great week everyone...even if the warmer temperatures have gone away for a bit.
Karen

March 20

"This is for those who have gone before
flower petals falling on the altar
this is just a gift
this is birth and this is death
all in the same breath"

Jason Collett - We all lose one another from the album Idols of Exile.

I know it is a day late....I wasn't able to access a computer.
Happy birthday my friend. I miss you.

Karen

I didn't realize...

I love winter, or at least I believe that I do during it. If you were to ask me what my favorite season is, I would say without thinking that fall and winter are. However, this week has made me realize that what I really am is an all-season kind of gal...how I don't think I would be happy anywhere without distinct seasons.
Right now, I am loving the feeling of freedom that comes along with spring. No need to worry about hats and mitts, the sun takes care of the warmth.
Also, the hopeful feeling of it all. Everyone seems lighter. The flowers are poking through. The cardinal is singing its lovely song. The world is colorful again.

What about you?

Hazel - collector of things

Note to self:

Remember for ever and ever how sweet girl brings home bits and pieces of her natural world...how she hands me something she has found "because she knows I like it"....how we have piles throughout the house of these things.

Happy Friday all.
Karen

Garden planning

As it is for many others like me out there, I find myself spending more time than I have in awhile staring out the window at the canvas that is my yard. Invasive shrub removal here, native bittersweet vine planting there....raised beds along the side of the house for tomatoes.....a living roof planted on the garage. So many ideas, so little time to implement them.
I love the garden that I have created around my home. When we bought our house, there was nothing but lawn and mud around it. Not anymore...now there is no more room. Everything will need to be divided this year. Something has got to give...hmmmm, I know...maybe the driveway.

Spring...is that you?

It is impossible to believe, yet everyday I find myself getting closer to believing. A certain amount of me is skeptical, the rest of me is getting really close to peeling the plastic off our windows and cracking them open. I have been drying laundry on the line all this week, woolens are being washed and put away slowly, I am fighting the urge to start the spring clean. Could it be true...is spring actually on our doorstep? Or are we being lulled into a false sense of security only to be ambushed by another dose of winter? Time will tell.

It is a reassuring thing to mark the path of the sun through the house...early morning in the living room, late day in the kitchen. This is the same path I will walk everyday as I move little seedlings in time with the sun (we have no south facing windows that do the job). Hazel and I have planned our garden based on her favorite book at the moment called "The Gigantic Turnip" by Aleksei Tolstoy...although turnips are not a veggie of choice for her, so we will stick to the others; potatoes, beans, peas and carrots.

I do so love the change of seasons.
Happy weekend everyone.
Karen

The origin of a name

It seems to be the perfect descriptor of things....sheepish.

Turns out that while I love to make things and would love to make a living making things, I am not very good about advertising said "things". I was hoping this blog outlet would make things easier for me in that department....not so.

The above picture is one of many of my blankets fashioned from old wool blankets and sweaters...this one sits on Hazel's bed all fall, winter and spring and is sadly put away each summer. She never needs more than this blanket, even on the coldest of nights...one of the many perks of good old wool.

The mobile that hangs in the header of my blog is another one of my favorites. The kind women at Red Chair Kids have taken a chance on these and are selling them at their lovely store.

There, now I have done it. It is out of the way.
Yay sheep.