The education of me

"It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are."
*Wendell Berry

For a few years now I have been hearing and reading about Kale chips and how awesome they were. And I was skeptical - acutally more to the truth I was a non-believer. That changed this week. I love them. They are delicious. I ate pretty much a whole head of kale in one morning. Yay!

Also, who knew that bean plants were self-pollinating. I didn't. Now I do. A very cool thing to learn.

And finally, not so much as something learned, but something remembered...."Take it on the Run" by REO Speedwagon is a totally well-crafted song that I will always love. Like I said, I may forget some of the time, but somehow it always makes its way back.

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

For what it's worth

Isn't it funny and reassuring that the course of a day can be brought back on the rails by some seemingly negligible event?
My day was brought back in line many thanks to Old Crow Medicine Show....specifically Wagonwheel.

A Monday Giveaway

Many thanks to Julie over at This Cosy Life for organizing a nice intro to the week in the form of Meltdown Mondays.
Hop on over for a chance to win this Mama and baby sheep....handsewn by me.

A breath

Finding myself with a sizeable amount of uninterrupted alone time, the list writing began in earnest.
And then a breath.
Followed by lots of sewing, reading and whatever.
For the first time ever I think, I followed through with what I wanted to do without giving in to the inner voice that was telling me what I ought to be doing.
One long exhale.

Today....

was a cup of coffee in the afternoon kind of day.

Rituals

It's these little rituals that I love most about my life. The hope that springs eternal with the coming of warmer days. The planting of too many seeds for our impossibly small garden. The cycle that is our nature table and how closely it mirrors the outdoor world. Dinnertimes that find all of us together, recounting our day apart.
Yes. When I take the time to notice, I realize that all I need is right here.

Pants

Sometimes the universe speaks to me loud and clear.


In retrospect, the messages were cryptic and gentle in the beginning. Like my sister-in-law getting set to sew up some pants for her littlest based on Soulemama's pattern in The Creative Family. And me getting the spring itch to purge which led me to my bulging fabric stash. How did my sweet little collection escape its neat and tidy dresser and become an unruly mess???



Things moved on to loud and clear with the realization that my littlest is leaping and bounding in an upward direction. And she needed new pants. And it wasn't a pay week. And it is getting harder and harder to find second hand pants for 6 year olds.
Enter universe.



Based loosely on a pattern from "Making Children's Clothes" by Emma Hardy, my vision of pants for my girl came true....in one evening. Despite the naysayer that came in the form of sewing machine needles that insisted on breaking.
I love when things are so clear cut - no pun intended.
Yay pants.

For the moment

Celebrating a weekend of laundry drying on the line, yards worked and sun in the kitchen.
Hope yours was a good one.