Cold weather gardening

'Mo-om I don't want to wear the flower tights...someone will say I've got dirt in my shoes'


Thanks Gramma.











I finally figured out my goofy dining room. It was really meant to be a dining room/crafting/sewing room! WhooHoo! I moved the corner bench under the middle two windows and turned the table the long way--it makes plenty of room for a sewing corner.
Now I just have to find where my sewing machine got stashed before Thanksgiving.

OHHHFERCUTE!

I've been studying some exquisite craftiness all around blogland. There is so much loveliness--so much inspiration.

I clicked over to a teacher-created curriculum site, thinking I'd download and print some Christmassy something to color. Instead, I came across this and thought about how much cuter we could do it...and here's the results.

The first two on the string are Mr. Gingerbread Man and our own Kristine (you can't see the braids in the picture, but that's all she'll wear currently). Next is Uncle Chris and Aunt Alyssa made by Alyssa herself (except for Alyssa's right eye--it fell off and I had to substitute something. Sorry Alyssa) Next to Chris is Papa wearing one of his worn out black tee shirts and an outrageous teal blue peaked cap. And then it's Aunt Ruthie in a lavender slip dress and a blocky three cornered hat (where does she get this stuff?).


Dootdoot and Abby are together, with Dootdoot having a good hair day, and wearing an adorable diaper in Kristine's new favorite color. Kristine couldn't remember if Abby had red boots or a red hat and since the hat was easier to make, she has a hat.


These last three are something of a mystery. Kristine says they're twins (the outside two) with their little sister, who smiles bravely despite the deep part in her hair.




And here's the full effect. Except you missed the giggles and snickers and guffaws involved in the making. You'll have to come out and see for yourselves.

Be assured that this is very serious business for the primary artist. Criticism and laughter at the display will not be tolerated. However, if you laugh just for pure joy at the creation, you will be applauded as a true art lover.

Routine

"Monkey?! Get the camera!"

"Why? Is something cute happening?"

"No, just routine"


The fastest tongue in the west (so fast I couldn't get a pictue of it)















The start of something good















duck and goose creche











This morning















4:00 PM or so

A Diller, A Dollar

"You know Mom, when most kids go to school, the teacher's aren't still in their pajamas."

Very, very true.

Jewelery

Ah, well...I guess it's time to write something again?

We've had some life happening around here...Jon's dad, Denis Audet passed away on November 15th. It was an amazing thing--watching him 'decrease' (for lack of a better word) and seeing Jesus 'increase' over the last few months. We were all waiting for the miraculous healing. Waiting for him to wake up some morning and be perfectly healed and fully energetic. And it did happen, just not here. Jon had been there that afternoon and was planning on going back the following morning to do some repairs, and the last thing his dad said to him as he went out the door was, 'See you in the morning'.

And so we will.

Then it was a whirlwind of Thanksgiving preparations and finding ways for all the family to get here for the memorial service and then grieving together when they got here. And then it was the memorial service--a wonderful tribute to a life well lived--and the let down afterwards. And now it's the living without a beloved father.

And so we've kept ourselves busy. Jon's been helping his mom clear out some of his dad's stuff and rearranging her apartment. Kristine and I have gone back to school, and I've realized again how much I have to 'forge' this relationship with her. And how very important it is to both of us that we do forge this relationship.

I don't make many friends very easily. I have just a few very good friends, and I am very choosy about with whom I make those friendships. Not because I'm snobbish--although I've gotten that reaction more times than not--it's just because relationships are precious to me and I'd rather have a few, well guarded, well tended relationships than a hundred casual acquaintances. Just as I'd much rather have 3 or 4 large beautiful gems than a whole bucketful of agates.

On the other hand, there are people who I would not call 'very good friends' (in a tea sharing, woe bearing, laughter living friendship), but are people whom I love very dearly nonetheless. These are the people who consistently live out Christ for everyone to see. They never fail to encourage me even when they have no idea that they have and continue to do so. They don't burden me with their own troubles, and they don't expect me to care (but I do, just because they are so precious), but they want to know mine and, somehow, lift me up. I sometimes look at these lovely people from (as I perceive) afar, and wonder how I could add their graciousness, their sparkling sweetness to my own 'collection' of gems and really envy the people who do 'own' these friendships. And it's just then, at that very moment that I'm gazing wistfully at their charisma, that they, in unconscious charm, tell me what a precious and beloved friend I am to them. And I feel myself the richest girl on the planet.

Den was one of these jewels. He was wonderful here. It was so much fun to see him sparkle as he shimmered and reflected light with his faceted character. And all I can think of is Malachi 3:17. "They shall be Mine," says the Lord of hosts. "On the day that I make them my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."

What a beautiful sight it is! To see all those jewels--those saints who have forged a relationship with the King--shining, reflecting the light of the everlasting sun.

How good and sweet are the memories of Den's life. But how much better is the knowledge of his future!

Snow-covered dirt clods and etc.

We has a sprinkling of snow this morning while I was milking. Kristine came running from watering the goats: "Mama, Mama! It's snowing! I TOLD you it would!" I had nay-say ed her earlier after looking out the window.

We like to celebrate the little things. So since it was snowing, we had to make some Snow-Covered Dirt Clod cookies.



















There really wasn't very much snow--so the sprinkling on the cookies had to be suitably sparse.









She's been just a little bit sick, so I'm not sure what that look on her face is meant to convey. Eating cookies under duress, maybe? 'It's going down, but then...?' LOL poor girl slept this all morning, and only rallied when the cookies were in the making.



This is Allie the Alpine (goat) and Opal the Himalayan (rabbit). They are both very sweet and friendly and perfectly tame. Opal loves to sit on Kristine's lap when she gets a chance and to dig burrows in the garden. Allie won't eat apples, but likes carrots. She's bred and due to kid in February.









And here's the trampoline. This is where Kristine can be found on any sunny day. I've been known to join her from time to time, and we have fun counting how many 'knee-up' jumps we can do in a row.





She also works and works to come up with a new trick to show. This one's a somersault. Very nice.



She really doesn't like the cold, so she pretty much lives in her long underwear. I think she put it on sometime around the first of October and hasn't had it off since. Smart kiddo.

Lena, Midas and Milk

Here she is: Our little Lena. She's a LaMancha, Alpine, Angora cross. You can clearly see the LaMancha in her tiny 'elf' ears. LaManchas are known for their great quantity of milk along with their very sweet, personable disposition. Lena would rather be with a human than with the rest of the goats! She's so-o sweet. She loves to be petted and coddled and generally babied. She won't be old enough to breed until next fall, and then we hope to have a saanen buck to breed her.

Don't you just love that face? It's pretty weird to get used too, but once you've met her you don't even care. Kisses and nuzzles and alfalfa-sweet whuffles are her favorite things. Her face isn't really that puffy--it's her shoulders you see just below her jaw to make her look like she's really got a mouthful.

The angora in her will give her a nice winter coat. All curly ringlets. I hope we don't have to shear her in the spring.

And here's Midas:

King of the Buff Orphingtons. He has a beautiful comb and wattle. Pretty docile too, as docile as a rooster with a harem gets, I guess.

And here's the in-house seniority:

When I bring the milk in to strain and cool,the cats and dog come and arrange themselves decoratively around the kitchen and dining room. Selah the calico usually sits as close to me as she can--preferably on a high stool--and makes the casual comment that perhaps I would be so kind as to share the wealth. If she doesn't have the stool to sit upon, she does her best to weave the message between my legs until I relent out of concern for my balance or irritation at her insistent, repeated demands. When the milk is placed on the floor, she delicately laps as much as she desires while Charley and Bootsy look on anticipating how much she will leave for them. They never challenge her right to the first share and don't complain if she leaves nothing for them. When she has finished, Charley takes his bit and maybe finishes it off. If he's not finished it, and even if he has, Bootsy cleans the little bowl very carefully.