SUMMER 2009 UPDATE #4

1. Gutters on the barn cleaned out and washed. Thanks, Joe.
2. Back porch washed and cleaned. Thanks, Joe.
3. Yard mowed, trimmed, and raked.
4. College visit to Miami (OH) University with Eliza. Had a great tour guide, learned a lot, impressed with the programs, many opportunities available for students, including an equestrian club so Eliza could ride again. A really good Mom and daughter day.
5. Samuel moving to Washington, DC today. Leaving Boone. Lots of tears on his part, my part, Petie's part.
6. Trying to sell ads for the Evergreen Arts & Humanities Series.
7. First tomatoes in from the garden, and man, are they puny!!
8. Great dahlias in bloom.
9. Feeling like the summer's moving way, way too fast.
10. Dinner with Sherm and Beth tonight.
11. Corgis and kitties adjusted to Rufus and his bumblings.
12. Won't be going to Miami....Will be going to Boone again in the next week of so.
13. Celebrating the life and love of Aunt Lib, who passed away last week.
14. In love with life...many, many blessings to count...
15. Knitting needles in action....see below....

SUMMER KNITS

1. Finished the handspun purple wool scarf I started in the winter. Color of photo not so good. A really warm, somewhat scratchy scarf that will be great over a turtleneck.

2. a delicate fan and feather patterned scarf, knitted with organic cotton thread. Color bad in photo...it's a pretty light, chartreuse green.


3. a diagonal patterned scarf (now completed) for Aunt Lera done in organic cotton. Color not good in photo...it's actually a beautiful periwinkle that will go beautifully with her white hair.

4. The color here is really off...this is a salmon-colored bouclé organic cotton that I'm knitting on different sized needles...A Farm Mom originial pattern...Prettier than it looks here.

5. a longer moss stitch with yarn over pattern knitted with an organic cotton / silk yarn. Soft and pretty...more of a teal than the photo shows.

When Joe comes to the farm, nice pottery comes along with him.

And, while the rest of us putz about doing our respective thing around The Farm, Rufus saws logs!! You gotta love those ears!

SUMMER 2009 UPDATE #3

1. Garage cleaned

2. Basement cleaned

3. Tree that had fallen in back field cut up, wood gathered and stacked

4. Lots of good, fresh veggies gathered and cooked

5. Plans for the barn in the making

6. Lots of walks with Annie, Molly, Rufus, and cats

7. Lots of teenagers coming and going

8. Dahlias slowly blooming

9. Sammy getting ready to move to DC in a week

10. A couple new sculptures around the farm thanks to Joe

11. Moving my body a bit more

12. Moving into summer mode with a bit of work pressure brewing in the background...

SUMMER 2009 / FARM UPDATE #2

I've noticed several of my blogging friends have written fewer posts during the summer, so I'm not feeling all that guilty. With gardens to tend, yards to mow, books to read, scarves to knit, trips to make, funerals to attend, moves to make, and visits with friends, time flies by...really flies by...

So, here's what's been happening here at The Farm...

1. Rufus and Joe and getting ready to move in and set up shop at The Farm. Rufus (seen below) just completed his 6th week on the planet and has already traveled across the country in Joe's truck as they made their move from Utah back to Marietta. In these photos, the farm basset hound seems a bit lethargic, but he was on the tail-end of getting his second parvo shot, and I think the medication made him a bit sore and sleepy.

2. The Shook / Michael family reunion took place on July 4th, and it was a huge success. Approximately 175 people came, and some folks saw each other for the first time in 50 years or more. It was an afternoon of good home cookin', warm embraces, and wonderful memories. All who attended voted to get together again in two years. (photos and a post devoted to the reunion will be up soon....)

3. A couple of dear friends have lost loved ones this past week. Diane Bosley's grandmother, Gracie, passed to the spirit world last Friday, and the celebration of her life brought back the love, family closeness, and sadness of Grandma Ruth's leaving the earthly plane. Stories from the funerals were quite similar, all centering around the love of family, the family dinner tradition, and spunky women who had seen the world change enormously over more than decades. Sweet, elegant, dignified, and salt of the earth women, Gracie and Ruth, will forever live in our lives and hearts.

4. Eliza has finished three weeks of an intensive Chinese class. Wan-nu-dze, as she became known to her teachers and peers, learned a heck of a lot and was the star of the class. It's not cool to show enthusiasm about learning Chinese, but I know she had a good time....I heard her telling someone it was "really neat."

5. Weeds abound...Dahlias are beginning to bloom...The tomatoes look puny....Volunteer dill's overtaking the garden...The roses are fragrant...Lilies are waning...Sunflowers are huge and happy. Collards, spinach, kale, lettuce and broccoli have been overrun with cabbage butterflies.

6. Skunk fragrance seems to be the vernal perfume of choice for the aging corgis...Chipmunks and mice fill feline bellies, except for the little gross parts the cats pass on and leave for me to step on outside the doors.

7. Samuel moves to DC in a couple of weeks. WOW...it's really happening...!

8. I'm not yet totally relaxed into summer, but I'm making headway....

Stay tuned....