Sunday Light

A little art from Maria.

Our friends have returned from Australia. Michael and Patricia will be our neighbors, again, for a few more days, before they are off on their next adventure. Practically the minute they were in their driveway, Maria and I were over there to hear their sweet voices and enjoy warm hugs. Last night we popped over to keep Michael company around the campfire, and soon there will be a Biergarten Party, where we can catch up with even more friends, and celebrate life's rites of passage.

Sitting around the fire last night, Geoff played a hand-carved flute, and Maria practiced dancing, in the moonlight. She counted twenty days to rehearse before the next garden party. And, I think I need to see about purchasing one of Odell's flutes for Geoff. Seems my husband is a natural... no surprise. He flatters me by suggesting we can duet, together... him on the flute, and me on ukulele! (Jess, if you see this: can we book some more lessons, please?)


Do you know what is a truly wonderful gift? Music in the home is a truly wonderful gift. I miss my brother's piano playing. My own skills were always a bit pedestrian, but I did like playing. I most definitely miss hearing Max play piano. He has a gift. Tamsyn's recent summer visit was a dear reminder of how much I missed hearing her singing in the TreeHouse.


Seems like ever since we've known Eli, we have enjoyed a musical resurgence around here, and happily, it keeps growing. Eli would come by with his ocarina, a funny looking instrument, which he plays beautifully. Then Suki took up the ukulele, and we have had many occasions to listen to her sweet voice and playing. Just hearing her practice, the sounds filling the Bird House, makes me feel lucky, and happy. I think Eli has adopted at least half of the world's known string instruments, and new concerts spring up, with our talented friends keeping the beat... it's fantastic.

If music be the food of love, play on...
~Shakespeare

Sunday Light?

I sat here, in the pale Sunday morning light, and started thinking about all the good things, like Michael and Patricia, then last night, then music, and how live music has become this lovely tune that keeps recurring in my life... and it seems I just let my wandering thoughts play out in this post...

Well, the sun is full up now. The sky is blue, and the happy notes are still playing in my head, so I will go on...

Anna Banana sings. Cristina plays violin. My friends, up north, enjoyed a warm and hearty kitchen concert this week. Caia started ukulele, and I bet she's good, too. Ukuleles, and making music... I keep seeing and hearing this message, this gift, everywhere. I think my friend, Suzie, has a great handle on how easy it can be to embrace something new, like unschooling ukulele lessons!


You know what? We got something really, really beautiful for Christmas. I haven't mentioned it, yet, because it still has me in its magic-grip-of-awestruckedness. Remember the auction for Guitars in The Classroom, and all my talk about Jack Johnson's ukulele, and Tom Petty's signed guitar, and the good we can do by supporting organizations, like Jess', that keep music in our schools? Do yeah? Well. Sometimes we don't even know our own wishes, but someone else can figure it out and make it come true... and that is what happened to me. (I know you can't tell, but I am almost whispering, and my cheeks are rosing up and warm... it's because of the awestruckedness)


This.


Our very own mighty uke. A gift from Ruth, Tutu. She coordinated with Jess during the auction, and with Holly and Rich, too. Holly and Rich gave us the good case, and Ruth bought us the Koa wood, Hawaiian ukulele, signed by Jack Johnson. Thank you Ruth. Thank you Holly and Rich. I still feel Upside Down! (I know you can't tell, but I am crying... it's because of love, and light, and the way music just stirs my tear ducts, and makes me want to be a better person.)

It's tuned, and it sounds lovely. You can strum a ukulele, and it sounds beautiful, even without fancy moves. Easy. You can learn to tune it so you just run your thumb across the strings and it plays a C chord. Suki is teaching me, and Jess gave me a lesson. And I play often. Maria plays our other uke, too.


Jess and Ron, sharing music

Blessed! I know so many talented, generous, kind, thoughtful, warm, funny, creative, inventive, courageous people. Some of them share music, some of them appreciate music, some of them build a bonfire and invite us to join them in the moonlight. I love these people. I love all the notes we play, and learn. I love the light friends and music bring into my days, and nights.

Mom, when you come here in March... bring your uke. Let's strum together.

Saturdayness and Finishing Touches

When I made Sanka's new and improved bunny loft, it was less a matter of 'new construction,' and more a case of strategic alignment. I placed a small chicken coop, constructed from an old Ikea picnic table, on top of a four foot by four foot raised garden bed. Then I found scraps of lumber to cover the gaps, where the coop didn't cover the bed.

Have you ever heard the word cattywampus? How about wonky? Yeah, those are applicable to a lot of things I do. But it was, no doubt, an improvement, and all it really needed to make it a whole lot better-safer-prettier were a few thoughtfully placed wood screws...


Hello, Betty.
Hello, Zelda.

No one was happy about the noise of the power drill, least of all Sanka. But I did thank Geoff for helping me get the finishing touches complete on the bunny casa. And now everyone is happier, and safer.


Sanka sat close, and we chatted together. Well, I chatted, and pet her, and she listened attentively, and her nerves settled.


And then she had to dash... something about burrowing, tunneling, digging, hopping, and other bunnyness.

And your Saturday morning, what's hoppin-ing?

{this moment}

A single photo - no words* - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
:: Inspired by Soule Mama ::

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

*Thank you for the positive feedback. Alex's painting and collage was hung in the student gallery, last semester, and I managed to get a shot of it, with my not very great camera. It's hard to photograph. I am looking for posts that demonstrate its origins, and progression.

Scroll through this post, and you can see it began as an ink drawing on butcher paper.


I am happy to have this photograph of the ink drawing, finished. He does not use any tools, other than his imagination, hand, paper and pen. I love his mind, and his art.

This is Winter!

Happy Groundhog day!
Feliz Día de Land Beaver!
Merry Whistle-Pig Day!
Good Imbolc, to you and all of your kin.

Last night, Groundhog Eve, if you will, we had an unexpected and welcome encounter with nature, when there was a neighborhood power outage.

Sudden darkness. What a thrill! We scrambled around, opening our smart phones, which was not very natural, but it was seriously very dark and we needed a bit of help to find matches and candles. Once we had enough candle power going, the fun began in earnest. We wanted it to last all night. We wanted it to be widespread. We wanted school to be canceled! What we got was a little less than an hour of being in the same room, enjoying the same amusements, and time to reflect on our anti-zombie fortifications.


So, it seems we are in for six more weeks of winter. Well. Not much to complain about, here. Goodness. We've hardly had any winter to speak of. It's been all blue skies, and cool nights, breezes, beach side burritos, and flowers blooming. Personally, I would welcome the break from yard maintenance provided by a nice deep snowfall, but the most we can hope for is rainfall. Rain would be nice.

Not for Zleda, though. She looks frightful in the rain, when all her fluff gets muddy, and droops. But, rain or shine, she loves to be afield.


Here comes Puff, with her daughter, Kamen, a step behind. All the chicas are out, and loving our barely winter weather.


Photographing chickens? Not really very easy. They are on the move. So even though this is a bit out of focus, I love the poultry in motion, of She-Bot, the mini bot, dashing across the green.


Well, Chango. What do you think? Spring won't be here for quite some time. And you will have to endure these days as best you can. Nights, well... those will pass with you sleeping between my feet, curled 'round yourself, snoring.


And you, Benjamin Franklin Thunder Cat, Cowboy and Explorer? How much more of this can one kitty take?


No more bobcat attacks, thank goodness. Hopefully, this is the result of our new security measures, and the effects will be lasting. Bobcats and coyotes are more nature than I want at the Bird House Farm.

The chicas are happy, and calmer, too, now that Son of Zoltar has been relocated. I was very sad to let go of our last little rooster. He was nice enough to us people, but he was getting really abusive with Betty. She was becoming a battered and fretful hen.

These days, our most exciting chica events are about finding their eggs. They do lay in their box, but they also find new crannies and spaces where they like to nest. So, some days we get to enjoy an egg hunt. Even the youngest chicas are laying, now. The three baby hens are called Penny, and Little Debbie, and Little Debbie. The Debbies look just exactly alike. The sweeties-pies.


Little Debbie, is that your tiny, brown egg?


Today we will bake something in honor of the long winter ahead.
Does anyone, please, have a chocolate-beet cake recipe?
Or zucchini-chocolate cake, please?


This sweetie pie is Penny, as shiny, coppery, and small as a lucky penny. She is the chic-petite daughter of Zoltar and Zelda.


Still filling in her feathers, but her limp is almost imperceptible. I need to find the picture Maria drew of Kamen battling the bobcat, and all the other chicas cheering for their fearless sister.


Puff, with stuff in her fluff. She seems to kind of take after me, and is never quite as tidy as her sister hens.


Weazie Ratty-Rat doesn't mind winter, as long as her house can stay in the garage, where she is warmer. In summer she will enjoy cooler nights sleeping on the porch. Sanka's new bunny loft is still the best in luxury lodging. She is as happy as ever.

Many of our trees are blooming, and we planted a guacamole tree. I don't know how long it will be before we are picking avocados, but I know it will be worth the wait. My copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens arrived, and I have been enjoying it, very much. I'll share my thoughts soon. And hey, you still have time to enter the Timber Press contest, and win a book, seeds, and chicas of your own.

What have you done lately, today, to enjoy nature, to relish your own climate, season, and local weather? After school today, we will enjoy some more of this Groundhog Day, and our delight in making something of nothing. I hope you find reasons to celebrate, too.

The Bird House, On the Corner of...

We've moved around a lot.
Some would say, Too much.
Guess it was just as many times as it took,
To come home.
And it's starting to feel like home, here.
Right where we are.


Familiar.
I don't mind waiting, as much as I used to.
Feels like there's time to settle into our selves, our space.
Every time we make something the way we want it, fill it, cover it, embrace it as our own, I smile and think home.
However long it takes.
I don't mind the wait, like I used to.


And to settle in, to grow in one place, sometimes you water your roots.
And sometimes it requires concrete.
It cannot last forever, but I am loving it right now.

Needles Pulling Threads

A tisket, a tasket, a happy gingham basket...
I am forever trying to be a good bag lady... to have a properly stocked, well-organized purse, handbag, carry-all. My latest obsession has been edging everything in sight with simple rows of crochet, so my latest bag is geared toward sewing and crochet.


I fiddled around with the idea of sewing a fabric roll to secure tiny scissors, needles and pins. I thought the wool scraps I have on hand and some folksy embroidery could combine nicely for something compact and convenient. But the muses would not join me, and it started to become one of those spontaneous sessions of senseless frustration. It's not a bad idea, but I wasn't giving it the planning and thought it deserved. Maybe some other time...

So. Sew. I pulled Maria's little felt heart out of the jumble, and tacked it onto the lid of my thrifty basket. Instant needle station. The sturdy basket is small enough to keep things from getting lost, and sturdy enough to keep me from stabbing myself with scissors. I can just fit my essentials... lipstick, id, and camera + supplies to play with, like cotton Perle, crochet hooks, my strawberry needle sharpener, and a bit of fabric.


I blanket stitched this napkin, from the clearance bin. Next came a row of single stitched crochet, and now I am going around once more with a double stitch. But. I am out of DMC 5 cotton Perle #502. Last time I shopped I got the last skein from their inventory. I wonder if they've restocked, yet.

What do you think of my clever thread bobbin? The clothes pin is a nice weight and size for this purpose. I can slip the informative sleeve over the handle, so I know what color number I am using when I need to refill, and the loose end of the thread keeps from unraveling when I slip it into the clamped end of the clothes pin. I may forever struggle with being an organized bag lady, but I think this solution for embroidery floss and Perle, is my forever plan.


When Maria found the heart she stitched in my basket she was tickled.
Hmmmmm... maybe my budding seamstress needs a sewing basket of her own. Wouldn't that make a happy Valentine gift? Or, better still, a great project for her to assemble and make?