Posts

One chapter (and chicken story) per day

-
Image
Camilla and Cami in front, assorted Barnevelders behind them. Snapped yesterday by my husband. Still reading through Nothing More Complicated . And am happily amused by the silliest chickens in my realm... So, chickens you say! Oh those chicksters.... Yesterday afternoon I was shoveling poo from along the wall, what I do every three or so days. As I shoveled, the chickens dug through the straw, looking for any additional kernels of seed. Occasionally they clucked when my shovel moved too quickly for their liking, LOL. I noticed the dustbath box, or dustbox as we've started calling it, needed to be stirred, so I went for my stick, not shutting the coop door firmly closed. And suddenly I notice Owl Chicken slipping through the gap, making her getaway from the coop. Okay, I thought, you naughty chicken! Then more rightly I berated myself for not closing the door properly. Lol not lol! She was NOT KEEN on being coerced back into the coop, far more willing to explore her newfound freed...
Read more

Five weeks till the solstice

-
Image
This hat comes first because I made it before the other two, and it's already been through the wash, hence the fuzziness around the edges. Because my chickens need some sun! And I need to appreciate the lessening daylight just like I adore the lengthening days.... It's also five weeks until the last Sunday in Advent, but I didn't know that until I checked the calendar, finding that the solstice coincides with Advent. Which isn't so much what this post is about, but it is fascinating. Anyway.... What made me think about the solstice was the chickens. They get so little sun these days, and that won't improve significantly until, well, February. Lol. Poor chickies, not that they know any better, but I do and.... And there's very little I can do about it, other than let them into the garden when the garden is getting sun, then waiting. We live amid plenteous tall trees, and not until this year has the lack of winter sun been an issue, as thankfully I don't suffe...
Read more

Another necessary excerpt

-
Image
Gratuitous chicken photo as Owl drinks from a tub in the garden while Cami gazes to the left. This is from Nothing More Complicated: The Hawk Book Four . Stanford Taylor inwardly debates the need for his soul while his longtime housekeeper Agatha Morris proffers the Alka-Seltzer amid 1962's Christmas preparations..... Enjoy!   As families prepared for the holidays, Stanford took stock of his role as an art dealer. He hadn’t blatantly told Eric he would no longer represent him, but Laurie had made Stanford’s feelings clear to both Snyders. Initially Stanford wasn’t sure how he felt about Laurie’s declaration, but it had eased Stanford’s mind, which was still burdened by all Laurie had learned on Thanksgiving. Stanford hadn’t seen Seth since that day, too busy preparing for Eric’s paintings to be shipped to London. The exhibit in New York would close on Sunday, just in time for Christmas. Then the canvases would head for Britain, and after that Stanford wasn’t sure what would happ...
Read more

When what makes us who we are no longer applies

-
Image
Crystal Manning fabrics (with a Speckled center) from a few years (or more) ago. This will be appliqued onto a light pink t-shirt, once of these days. Gotta fix a cup of Metamucil, then I'll be back to expound upon this ominous title. Okay, so getting used to life without gluten, dairy products, and red meat and NO CHEATING on those edicts has been...fine. Kinda like using Draft2Digital is FINE . It is what it is, and you get what you get and you don't pitch a fit. My eldest granddaughter used to say that when she was little, but now at ten years old, I don't hear it from her much anymore, LOL. I don't mind the Metamucil, although it will be a cold day in hell before my husband drinks it, as it figured heavily in the lives of his elderly parents. It wasn't anything my parents used, and it still tastes like watered down Tang, no big deal. I feel good, have lost six pounds, and my knees don't hurt, so if dairy was aggravating those joints, it's a trade-off wor...
Read more

In the (kinda) warm California sun

-
Image
A chicken post. Because I can't ponder the current state of my nation. (Heads-up: I do ponder it, so if you don't want to read that, stop after the third photo.) We've had some AMAZINGLY beautiful late autumn days recently; sun and slight heat and sun and.... Did I mention it was sunny? The chicken's run is wholly in the shade now due to the towering treeline. But the garden, only a few feet away, gets sun for much of the day! And the chickens seem smart enough to know that sunshine is healing. And yesterday, I sat in the run with them. All eight hens (it's still weird to acknowledge they are finally HENS) having the time of their chicken lives! My husband was there too, lopping dead blackberry branches off the vines that cling to the aged fence. The chickens poked around, scratched in the dirt, managed some dustbathing, as well as sunbathing. They chased each other around when one found a tasty treat, but mostly they pecked at the grass, truly happy in this home aw...
Read more

Lucy Boston Quilt of Grace

-
Image
I'd forgotten I had titled this project a quilt of grace. Stitching on it doesn't bother my right shoulder, and it has been an ABSOLUTE PLEASURE to construct, especially when I remove a safety pin. Every one that goes makes me feel, 'Yup, I'm that much closer to being done.' Not that I want to hurry the process, only it's a big friggin' quilt and there's HEAPS left to stitch, and well.... I've had grace on my mind recently, and this quilt on my lap the last several evenings. The previous two I have been SUPER SNIFFLY, so today my husband moved the sofa, then I dusted the windows, then he dusted above them, then he hoovered the living room. The afternoon was sunny and pleasant, so we left open the windows, hoping to air out the space. I just closed them, and have returned to complete this post. Which was originally going to be about Nadia Chicken jumping the run door, cheeky gal! But instead I thought about this quilt, the only cloth item that lives o...
Read more

So. Many. Blessings.

-
Image
Making some hand-quilting progress on this Lucy Boston quilt. My life, really. My faith. And, well, read on.... I don't want to negate the suffering currently happening not only here in America, but planet-wide. Yet, YET! There is much for which to be grateful. Like my faith. Which I don't discuss too deeply, but maybe I should, so this post can be better understood. Or I could direct you to this page on my blog, which talks about it. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Because for some people faith in God isn't a comfortable subject, especially right now due to how falsely faith in God is portrayed by many in my nation's government. I have no problem saying that because refusing to authorize affordable health care and releasing monies for SNAP benefits is NOT loving one's neighbor. Yet blessings abound, and I would be just as remiss if I didn't denote the goodness of this world. That I'm alive is a miracle. That I can write novels is a marvel. That I mainta...
Read more