(this moment) - dalas (finished!)

{this moment - Inspired by Soulemama. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.} 

(at the workbench) - he will return

in the back of my mind even as gorgeous autumn is still in full color, thoughts of him linger...with all his mightiness and reach... king winter like no other tells us we must prepare for his return... i share just this one quick picture for now as all things are swirling faster like the falling autumn leaves caught on the wind...sending you warming wished wherever you may be!

(glimpses) - inside the ice fortress

so this is what winter's become, the perpetual digging of trenches in the deepening snow banks …with winter's storms, flus, sniffles and coughs coming from inside what has become an ice fortress. but spring must certainly be waiting (somewhere in the wings) for its time of return…though inside this winter nest, I've been at work on something that goes beyond the cold and winter weariness…

I started these little tins of fragrances earlier this year… within each little tin I imagine a memory, feeling and far away place one could travel to (no matter the weather is outside)

nag champa is a place of peaceful and deep meditation …it's a blend of patchouli, sandalwood and dragon's blood

middle earth is the place where the forest floor still blooms with its native spring flowers, the air is fresh and crisp with the scent of evergreen pine and cedar, the earth is a deeply awakened moist and growing! there is a sense of a  distant, hidden world of fairy tales, elves and ancient creatures, and deep roots that is revealed … 

goodness is the memory of simply joys…. morning in the garden, soft with gentle mix of flowering blooms, the sweetness of sun-warmed strawberries and mixed with sweet musky tones and vanilla which remembers something that is so tasty and special treat


and lavender, the place of deep calm drenched in summer-born flowers with underlying scent of rose geranium that hints it's earthy undertones of citrus, mint and spice.

these are now available online here. I hope to have other in-stock items listed here and easily available on my square marketplace site. the perfume fragrance tins ship at a flat rate of $3.20 domestically regardless of the number of perfume tins ordered. 



Keeping warm thoughts nearby until spring arrives! 

(glimpses) - quiet hours

we have felt a bit the like bears during these past short days of frigid hibernation, except for the addition of …

evergreen boughs that welcome us at our door ….



































and toasty fires we sit nearby to talk and play games … resting and catching up with too many days of lost sleep…

settling in with unpacked fancy china found unwanted several summer ago…while tasting well-spiced cookies that only seem to exist for this short time…

 

and all the pretty little lights that have been brightening the long dark nights …

































and slowly again back into a very cold but sunlit world of routines, work projects and school work….all the best wishes to you for the new year!!

(glimpses) - neutral ground

it is a brown and neutral time of year...


we find ourselves thinking of what is coming ...

often looking for the smallest of changes...
like seeing  the newly-hatched wolf spiders streaming
out of the mounds of winter-dried grass in the fields...

and noticing who might come to visit the bird feeder



this year again I keep an eye open for April ...
though I have not seen her yet this year,
I know that she has been at my workshop door

is it even possible that I am missing woodchuck?
everyday now, I think he might come out to graze...
though still no sign yet


we see what is blooming ...
though not quite a blossom,
it also is a welcoming sight at this time of year....

(this moment) - late winter portrait

{this moment - Inspired by Soulemama. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.}

(glimpses) - a little yarn

between these days....where seasons change and are somehow unknown....

with winter-filled autumn days of snow and falling leaves.... and autumn/spring-like winter days, when even snowflakes question whether they should themselves be little raindrops or freezing rain....

 inside we are beyond all these undecided seasons and weather ....

 


with a few balls of yarn, there are many stories waiting to be told ... between days spent sick in bed and both sleepy  and sleepless nights ...




























from these squares and blocks have begun... little repetitions and clusters newly learned .. .while I wonder listening to falling winter rains,  what the fisherman's wife was dreaming while mending his nets late into the fire lit winter long evenings ...
.

(glimpses) - between worlds… and waiting for spring

Some of the trench digging has long been abandoned ....   the mighty orange shovel is not so mighty after all (but perhaps it is me ... tiring)

Spring will help clear a path to the front door,  past Mrs. Robin's nest still covered deep in winter snow... We two are encouraged by little thaws to go venturing into the still deep whiteness ... in search of something that might let us know that Spring is on her way...

we find that Goldenrod's head is not so golden ...  what signs are there?
 

we lay down these little things we have found on the table ...

little treasures found in the still nearly constant whiteness that has been set aside in little places ...

and with a lesson or two ... (did I once know how ?) ... I am taught how to knit pine cone brown while we wait a a bit longer for Spring. ...













Sometimes it is enough that the old King Winter is companioned by golden sunshine to make us smile while we wait for Spring.

(around the table) - deliciousness …part 2

the weekly blizzard have now turned into every other day blizzards and weather .... and in the meantime ... good things are happening indoors ...

Homemade Ri-Cot -Ta (or ricotta) ... the recipe is too simple


 2 quarts whole milk
1 cup cream (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 table spoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Bring milk (and cream) and salt to gentle rolling boil in a 6 quart heavy pot over moderate heat. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice and reduce heat to low  and simmer for about two minutes until the mixture currdles.

Pour into cheese-cloth lined sieve and let drain about one hour. (it's all ready for a warm winter meal or two... maybe lasagna ... we made manicotti, homemade ravioli and white pizza)


while pretty stitches practiced keep sewing needles comfortable and cozy.....

even for a little teapot enjoys handmade coziness as the snow falls

I  wonder if King Winter has know our wearied selves too  well ... and laid down blanket after blanket of winter white snow ....  that we might inside our warm homes a bit longer stay so that might rest and enjoy more deliciousness....

(this moment) - and then some

{this moment - Inspired by Soulemama. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.}

around the table - Randomly Christmas

as she sat ... taking up knitting needles that had been set aside ...



 

a passion took hold ... her knitting quickly growing and flowing over her in the cozy corner she has made for herself

 

so determined to finish ... it is not certain that she saw the magic taking hold...  as her knitting came to mimic the very same corner of our home she had made for herself ...

those self-made wooden knitting needles had been set to work in the same way  ... tirelessly ... two year's past as the great storm passed our way

... while in the quiet night came pouring down a torrent of liquid ice that froze all of our world crystalline all through.

a new knitter then ...  she had taken up the making of brightly colored red and yellow scarf  for me.... when all else had stopped ... the clocks, the lights, the furnace, the stove,  the water,  the roads, the shops, the pumps, our town and the towns beyond us too... all frozen as if in the Snow Queen's realm ... she went on ...






keeping ourselves warm as best we could for nearly two weeks as Christmas approached.... by a little wood stove that we left only to sleep in a bed mounded with all our quilts and blankets ...

cooking pioneer meals we have come to miss... while the lilac trail hedge bent in compliance to the storm and Christmas lights were silenced in the same deep darkness that had come with the powerful storm ....

and she sat in the big green chair knitting ... even as the daylight faded quickly into the darkest night ... and the candle's light saw little in the deepening approach of  winter.


there is much gratitude even in drastic times ... to come to know Night so intimately .... in a way that can only really be learned in the absence of light  ... when no switch can turn night to day ...

this was how we had met the darkest days of the year then... 

today though ...have I mentioned the cookies...
yes, they have finally been made... and there still may be time for a few more....

the house smells good with baking and beeswax and a pretty balsam pine that is our honored guest....

Wishing that you are warm and cozy and that your Christmas is wonderful! ... Happy Holidays!!