Overheard and Pretty Pictures

Frustrated, tech-savvy son: Why do USB keys keep ending up between my toes?!

And while you chew on that, how about some pretty pictures my daughter took?

Marigold

Cat

Crocus

Whatever the plural of crocus is

More Amigurumi!

 In a June post, I shared with you that my 13-year-old daughter entered a crochet design contest. She didn't win, but that didn't stop her from designing more for another contest. Once again, she would appreciate all the votes she can garner because she would really love to win the prize yarn.

You can vote here.

You will be asked to select your 10 favorite designs and enter your email to ensure no double voting. You can see her fantasy creature designs in the pictures below. This time she created 6 (!) patterns. (Yes, November was a productive month for her; she also took part in NaNoWriMo.) 

Thank you in advance if you have time to help her out. Also, there are some other really cute designs entered you'll need to choose from; have fun!

A goblin

Medusa the Gorgon

A faun

A phoenix

Mothman

Herman the Merman

The Regency Ball

 For the last two months, our family has been preparing for a Regency ball planned by my friend and fellow Jane Austen lover. 

The whole Lyme Disease thing put a serious kink in costume sewing, but the children stepped up to the plate and learned some stitching skills since I couldn't. I should also add that I had two friends donate significant hours to help the kids with the sewing tasks. The last few days I was well enough to do some stitching myself. 

And the last few hours before we had to leave for the ball, I was hearing Mrs. Bennet's voice from my favorite Pride and Prejudice movie shrieking, "Make haste, make haste!" Even as we were driving, we were sewing buttons and hooks and eyes. The children went into the venue to help set up, and I sat in our van pinking seam allowances. 

In the end, the costumes weren't sewn perfectly, but I thought my crew looked quite handsome. And what's more, they had such a blast learning some challenging dances. Little has been talked about since the ball except for the ball. It seems our family wasn't the only one enthralled by the evening; plans are already being discussed for a winter ball. 

My crew

Tea for all! 

This was an occasion to wear his great-great grandfather's pocket watch and chain. 

The only down side for me was my eye. I did dance the first few dances, but then the eye on the paralyzed side of my face became too tired? dry? uncomfortable! to stay open. And since the muscle that closes the eye doesn't work and the muscle that opens it does work (always if I open the other eye), I spent the rest of the ball sitting down with my eye patch on and with my eyes closed. I was still able to hear the dancers' feet get the hang of each new dance as it was taught. That was a neat experience!

I call this my faux-Regency/pirate look. I swear that is really a smile.

Vote for Sea Turtles!

 My dear daughter loves to crochet. She even designs crochet patterns. Today voting for a design contest opens, and she would be thankful for your vote. 

You can vote here.

You will be asked to select your 10 favorite designs and enter your email to ensure no double voting. Helen's design is a sea turtle and her baby, and you'll need to scroll down a bit to find it.

Such cute sea turtles!

If she wins she would get quite the prize package; I think it includes being published in a book and lots of yarn (nothing like feeding the addiction). Thanks in advance if you take the time to help her out. 

A Fine Day

Yesterday was a fine, fine day. The weather was sunny and just warm, not hot. We had wind, of course, but it was the kind of breeze that would have been good for flying kites, if we'd chosen to fly kites. Days like that make everything in life look sunny.

I decided it was a day to take a few pictures of outside goings-on before settling in to wash dishes and start supper.

What was going on? Well, it seems a warm day is a day for bees.

That wind did make it difficult to keep the smoker lit.

Lots of honey coming out of winter

I know it seems like lots of honey would be a good thing, but we suspect something is wrong with that hive because there are few bees. The queen is still alive, but there is little brood. I'm guessing something happened earlier in winter to make fewer bees since there is so much honey remaining. The other hive seemed to be doing well, so that's good.

After visiting the bees, I walked toward the backyard to see what the chickens were up to.  To nobody's surprise, they were scratching about in the leaves, and Chester the Rooster kept his evil eye on me. 

Common sight nowadays

Chickens weren't the only thing I found in the leaves on the edge of the trees.

Hello, crocus! 

And, yes, according to the dictionary, "crocus" is the plural of "crocus." The dictionary also says it would be correct for me to type "croci," but that would just make it more awkward, I think. I've always said "crocuses," but I learned today that I've been wrong all these years. I will probably continue saying the word incorrectly because I like it better. I guess a lovely spring day brings out the rebel in me.

It's Not All About Me

Sometimes I like to highlight people in my life (or people I don't actually know) who are doing things I think are cool, amazing, or interesting. Today is one of those times. (Note that I have highlighted some of these folks before, but if they continue to do things that impress me, why not?)

1.  Creative juices are flowing for my daughter. She has been writing, creating games, crocheting, and sewing of late. This morning she created a blog post about a recent creation.

Cute unicorn gift

2.  I've post before about our first-time beekeeping experiences. My beekeeping son has really put some effort into his endeavors. He's created a YouTube channel, Baroque Beekeeping, to post videos of his bees and to document what he doing and learning. (This is not a homeschool assignment.) I particularly enjoy how he's merged his love of classical (and baroque) music with his love of bees. If you want to try out his videos, choose one of the more recent ones; the quality is better. There's something to be said for experience.

I love the logo he created!

3.  My brother-in-law knits, crochets, and paints. Other people in the family do other crafty things. Last week they created an Etsy shop, Bakerz Dozen Creations, to sell their goods. (This last year wasn't good for the craft fairs they normally frequent.) They don't have everything in the shop the way they want it yet, but if you have a request, they probably can meet it-- especially if you are into amigurumi (that's his expertise).

4. I have two more friends' Etsy shops that I want to share. The first is from a virtual friend, Karen, who I "met" on The Frugal Girl. I love Karen's ability to repurpose and make beautiful, classy, and useful items. Her shop is called Fabric Speaks. (I really love repurposing!)

The second shop also brings to life old things in a different way. I hadn't expected I would enjoy buying, learning about, and selling vintage items so much, but it is another way of repurposing, don't you think?Anyway, my friend in real life, Ann, finds the coolest vintage items and sells them at Annie's Vintage Nook. She takes clean photographs of her items, and I've noticed she has excellent reviews, especially with regards to packing her items carefully. I'm so excited Ann is doing this because she has an eye for beautiful things. (She is artistic and crafty, too, but, to my  knowledge, she only sells her creations at craft fairs.)

And that's all for now, folks! 

Sideling Hill Sunset

 Tonight we saw a beautiful sunset. It is the time of year that the sun sets right in the cut in the mountain. The picture doesn't do the colors justice, but I'll post it anyway.

Five on Friday

1. Bees!  Okay, so not yet. But soon. Soon we will have bees. My eldest son has been obsessed with interested in honeybees for a couple of years. He saved up money, bought supplies, and ordered bees. He also set up a webpage for the whole endeavor. I'm a bit of a partner with him in this, but we've changed roles because he is the boss while I am the underling.

Son-created website

So, if you're interested in following along on our latest adventure, check out Sideling View Apiary's webpage. He will be updating the blog there to document our adventure in treatment-free beekeeping. I'll also put a link in my sidebar.

2. Instagram. I signed up to Instagram today so I can follow my friends. But. I haven't figured out how to post things yet. Someday. (I think a big problem is that I don't have a cell phone.)

3.  Dress. I made a dress for my daughter for Easter. I learned a lot. Unfortunately, I had to learn a lot the hard way. For example, store-bought patterns can have multiple mistakes (I'm talking to you New Look #6427). But my sweetie was absolutely thrilled with the results.

Hand-dyed scarf was made at homeschool group.

I spent a lot of time on this, so I haven't made much headway on the Great Clothes Heap Challenge. However, I like to think I learned skills that will come in handy when I try to repurpose that huge pile of unwanted stuff and make it useful again.

4. Soap. Remember how pioneer-y I was feeling a few week ago?  Well, the soap didn't come out perfectly. In fact, when we flopped it out of our primary mold, it wasn't ready and cracked and generally looked ugly. But it'll be okay. Today we cut it into bars. We put all the ugly ones and pieces into a container; these bits and pieces will become "hand-milled" soap later because my daughter wants to make "flavored" soap. (By "flavored," she means "scented.")

Ugly soap

5. Spring. It's still a bit chilly out sometimes, but spring is here. It's fun watching spring creep up Sideling Hill.

I'm looking forward to getting more things planted outside. One of them is this beauty a friend gave to me.

I have just the spot for this on the east side of the house.

That's all for now. How's your week been?

What Happens When. . . ?

What happens when a big Nissan van. . .

meets a tiny little killdeer?

Killdeer intimidation

Well, in our van vs. killdeer matchup, our big van backed down.  Why?

Well, that's not close enough for you to see, is it?

How about now?

Well, hello little mama bird!

The tiny little nest was so hard to see in my father's driveway.

Well-hidden nest

Little mama bird protected her three little eggs fiercely. Good job, mama bird!

Sink with a View

I need to clean my kitchen window, but the view still makes me pause and admire every time.

Kid-Created, Mother-Approved

One of our little girls started doodling this all over church bulletins.

We thought it was just too cute and asked one of the (barely) teenagers to scan it and digitize it and fix it up so it could be printed out (because evidently crayon doesn't scan and print well). He did, and I just uploaded it to our Etsy shop as an instant download to print. 

It's not made by a professional graphic designer, but we're pretty proud of their youthful collaboration. 

Recently we found more of her lovely doodles when we were cleaning her room, so big brother is working on them. However, they actually are on church bulletins and overlap with some of the words, so it will be a little more challenging of a project.

At the beginning of our homeschool journey, I was worried about teaching the children technology, but I've found that the children teach themselves. I certainly don't know how to do what my son is doing with all the digit image manipulation. 

Anyway, if you know somebody who likes this sort of thing, send them a link!

Five on Friday

1.  Things Kids Say, Part 1. After reading a fairytale ending picture book (at the got married and lived happily ever after part), my 4-year-old said, "I would punch him in the stomach!"

Surprised, I asked, "Why? Don't you want to get married when you're older?"

Her reply was, "When I get married, it will be to somebody who is nice and kind and drinks coffee with me!"

I can't say I don't agree with her.*

2.  Things Kids Say, Part 2. Let's go to the other end of the age spectrum. Overheard recently, "Great! My least favorite-- negative cosines!"

I can't say I don't agree with him, too.*

3.  Misheard Lyrics. I found out Sunday night, thanks to the display on our van's dash, that The Marshall Tucker Band sings the song "Heard It in a Love Song"-- which I always thought was "Purdy Little Love Song."

I was inexplicably so let down, disappointed, etc.

4. Black Beauty.  Although I used to watch the old tv series on Nickelodeon early in the morning when I was a kid, I'd never read the book. Since we own it, I thought several years ago I might use it as a read aloud, but somewhere on the great internet I read how snooze-worthy it was. It remained untouched by me until we chose it as a homeschool book club pick.

This week I picked up the book and enjoyed it. Was it my favorite book? No. Was it a little bit preachy? Yes. But still, it was enjoyable.

5. Random Picture. Because I think I'll never catch up on what I want to post on this blog, I'll throw in a random picture that's been waiting on the desktop.

Amazing lightning storm in summer

*Yes, these are things I wanted to share with my mother. I am so used to grabbing the phone when the kids say or do cute things. I don't think I'll be saying this with every blog post because 1) you'll think I'm depressed, 2) I want to focus on a few things that aren't tinged with sadness, and 3) it will get old real quick-- BUT there's a whole lot of sadness blanketed over everything for me right now. If I'm not missing my mother, I'm missing our dog Calvin. 

Sheesh. I can't stand it when life throws the bad things at you so fast. It was about 17 years ago that both of my grandmothers passed away on two consecutive days. Throw in a couple more deaths that year, and it was just no fun. 

So why am I telling you all this? Well, I guess I know life goes on. Somehow God will carry me through it all and fill me up with joy. Eventually. If you're in a similar situation in your life, hang in there; He won't fail us.

Good Morning, Sunshine!

I tried to capture the beauty of the sunflowers as they saluted the golden morning sunshine, but I failed. I hope you enjoy the picture anyway.

Neglected Summer-- Spider Webs

When I was younger, I walked back and forth on our dirt road to the school bus stop almost every day. I didn't live in town, and I was constantly surrounded by the beauties of nature, but I can't remember ever noticing them.

Now, however, it's as if I've awakened to the wonders in this world. My children often point them out to me, but just as often I notice things first.

I don't always make the time to run inside for the camera, and I certainly don't know enough about photography to capture the wonders wonderfully, but sometimes I can't help myself.

Back in June it was my turn one morning to take our dog Calvin outside for his first walk of the day. I tried not to hurry him inside so I could capture the beauty of the spider webs which covered everything. There were hundreds all over the field, in the grasses and weeds, on our fences. I wonder why this morning?

I learned something about photography that day; spiderwebs are tough to bring into focus! If I ever think about it when I have a moment, I'll do an internet search about taking pictures of these delicate works of art.

Neglected Summer-- Growing Things

The title of this post might be a bit misleading because I feel like I've truly enjoyed my summer so far. However, I've neglected to post about it. I found a few snapshots of my summer that I wanted to share.

1. Snow peas.  We had an overabundance of them. My children may never want to see them again.

2.  Garden with new electric fence. Everything newly planted and few weeds. I definitely need to update this picture!

See the not-quite-completed yet bike shed in the background?  It's still not completed, but it does house a little bird's nest complete with eggs.

3. Clematis in full bloom. I love this every year and must always take a picture of it.

4. Butterfly weed. This one has such pretty blooms. It will be featured in a less glorious state in an upcoming post.

 5. Rose. This is a less glorious state of a rose if I ever saw one. I need to read up about taking care of them. I'll bet the library has a book for that.

 6.  More from the flower bed. Why, yes, that is my mum peeking out from between the lavender blossoms. It over-wintered quite well. Perhaps I'll be smart and take a picture of it now that it's flowering.

 7. Blueberries. Almost ripe. This little miniature blueberry bush is not the only berry-bearing plant for us this year. The blackberries outdid themselves. We were able to get a few pies out of them plus plenty for eating. There's still not enough for putting up without robbing us of the joy of eating them fresh. No complaints.

After writing this post, I realize I need to get outside with my camera for a few before-and-after pictures because these were taken in June-ish, and it is most certainly July-ish. What a difference a month makes!

Emu- Up Closer and More Personal

My five-year-old woke me up on Friday morning with, "Mommy, the emu is still here!"

At a decent hour, I called the farmer and let him know the emu was back. I left a message, but he was in business meetings all day and couldn't get back to us until the afternoon. He was going to pick up a  friend's trailer to retrieve the emu, but he wouldn't be able to get to our house until Saturday morning.

Most of Friday the emu amused us with his antics. Once again, he disappeared in the later afternoon and came back in the evening. Once again, he was there in the morning. On Saturday morning early, Mr. Emu decided to hang out even closer to the house and even on our front walkway. He even strayed down near the cemetery again.

One thing we learned about emus when all was said and done was that emu feathers have one central quill (?) that has two floppy feathers attached. 

Tune in tomorrow for the final installment of our riveting emu drama!

To Be Continued. . .