Can you feel it?

Cool mornings and evenings, an orange full moon, Halloween junk filling up an aisle at Wal-Mart--yes, my favorite time of year is here, and the Vernal Equinox is tomorrow.  Autumn has finally arrived!  And my friend Deb, proprietor and alchemist behind Twysted Thystle , has her autumn line of products on sale through this weekend.

Trying to slow down time

It has been a busy week, and it has just flown by with breathtaking speed.  Most of my weeks seem to do that, and I don't know whether it is just the busyness that makes it pass to quickly or just age.  More and more I see why at a certain age one is "over the hill", and I think it may have something to do with picking up speed and momentum at some point.  It seems that every Friday I find myself asking, "Where did the week go?"  Ah, for a month at the beach with no schedules, no appointments and no agenda...!

The highlight of the week was on Wednesday when I declared it a No Computer Day.  We would not even turn the computers on.  The decision was based on the fact that everyone was making too much use of the computer, not excluding myself, and I just thought that the time being wasted on reading this article or looking up that movie review could be better spent.  I also declared it a day off from school, although learning continues all the time.

I read picture books to the Gemma and Dominic, and played Chutes and Ladders with Gemma.  I played Wildcraft! with the kids, and we a balloon powered rocket.  I pulled out my old collection of postage stamps, and looked at the pictures on them with the little ones.  We baked cookies.  I'd hoped to get around to reading The Hero of Bremen, which I picked up at last week's library sale, but ran out of time.  Again, too few hours in a day.

This morning I awoke at 3:20, and after lying awake for a few minutes, I decided to get up.  I had things to do before we go into Bowling Green this morning, and I didn't want to feel rushed.  I just want to be able to slow down a bit, take in moments and live mindfully, rather than dashing from one thing to another, but I don't know how to do it.  Things need to be done, and believe me, I already try to eliminate as much as I can of what is unnecessary.  I do spend time each day--even if only a little--doing something I enjoy, like reading or knitting.  But there is still so much to do, and I don't see any of it going away any time soon!

Well--enough wasting time time here!  I'm off to shower and rouse the kids.  Have a good, slow, easy Memorial Day weekend!

[By the way, I just linked the Wildcraft! game to it's site, and they are selling it for nearly 50% off through May 30th!  I highly recommend this game--it is cooperative and the kids have learned a lot about healing herbs and identifying them.  It is the game we play most frequently in our house.]

Sunday afternoon at the creek

One of the joys of rural summers is a trip to the creek when the heat and humidity become appalling.  We pile towels, drinking water, inner tubes and the inflatable raft into the van (it seems a well-chilled watermelon is prerequisite, too), and drive about 15 minutes or less to our favorite creek.  There are other creeks around here, and a bit further off there is Barren River, but this one seems to have everything the kids could want.

We hope to come back a few more times this summer...

The Miscellany Room

When we moved to this house, we turned the carport into an addition, and this we divided into two "rooms" separated by a bank of cabinets.  One side was to be the school room and the other my bindery.  Four children and 8 years later, not a whole lot of bookbinding has been done here, but in the interim the room has become the room that holds all that cannot be held elsewhere.

Plastic bins of out of season clothing.  Piles of ironing.  Things to put up in the attic crawl-space.  My yarn stash.  My fabric stash and sewing machine.  Drawers of beads, boxes of papers, crafting items of every conceivable type.  Herb seedlings, bags and boxes of things to donate to the local thrifts.  Home schooling materials that are currently not in use.  A cheese press I've not yet tried.  A box I fill with gifts made and purchased throughout the year, and a container of wrapping paper, ribbons and gift bags.  A box with my Etsy stock and a corner crammed full of mailing supplies.  Cardboard for shipping larger items.  Things that need to be repaired by Bret or by myself.

It is a mess, and every time I manage to get it cleaned up (usually before Christmas, because the room becomes "Christmas Central" every Advent), it rarely stays that way for more than a couple of weeks.

Still, this addition, with the cheery walls and floors and the many windows, is my favorite part of the house, having been designed by yours truly.  And it holds makings of many, many creative pursuits.  When my children have a desire to make something, the items they need to make it can frequently be found in here.

I groan at the mess whenever I have to do something in here, but I find it a better thing to spend a few hours making than cleaning...and as long as the mess is confined to this part of the house and not the living room or dining room, I can handle it.  It is, after all, not a mess of neglect, but one of activity.

What does your creative space look like?

I am linking this post to Nicole's Keep Calm, Craft On post...in which she shows a bit of her own creative mess!

Savoring summer

 I am seriously glad that I have not implemented a lesson plan this school year.  It is the first time I have done so, and rather than getting frantic and bent out of shape, as I thought would happen if I was to not have a plan and a schedule in place, I am finding it is quite the opposite.  Without a plan, I am able to say, "Yes, go down to the pond and go fishing this morning," without feeling that my well-laid plans are going to fall apart and there will be no catching up.

 We are really enjoying these last official days of summer, and yet looking forward to the wonderful season of autumn at the same time.

The worst of the heat has passed, along with the largest of the tomatoes and my basil, which went to seed a month ago already, in spite of my constant pinching back.  We are emptying the freezer of ice pops, and are less apt to opt for smoothies for lunch.

The pastures are looking a bit burnt, having lost their lushness.  We will bring in hay for Nuala, Fiona and Ruthie Weedeater soon.  Soon is the time for making Christmas lists and gifts.  Very soon will be the time for menu plans full of soups, stews and delights still warm from the oven.  Soon we will look for frost on the grass in place of dew, and  think about pullovers and hot cocoa and tea.

But not today.  Today we will eat ice pops and have an icy beer while hanging laundry in the bright sunshine.   Today we will delight in the taste of ripe strawberries and relish the cool darkness of the house after getting hot and sweaty outdoors.  Today we will savor the last days of summer, and hold on to their sweetness just a bit longer.

Seven Quick Takes Friday--Volume 57

One.
Bret has a few weeks' work lined up, about an hour away. The upside is, of course, money and the ability to pay our bills without depleting our unimpressive savings account. The downside is that he is working today, and we were hoping to go to Mass for the first Friday. Oh well--maybe we will renew our attempts to do the nine first Fridays in the spring, as there's a good chance that one of the upcoming ones would be thwarted by icy roads anyway. C'est la vie.

Two.
The altar Bret just finished for the tiny mission church of Our Lady of the Caves in Horse Cave, KY is great. I think there are still a few little details to be finalized by the couple who did the wonderful pelican plucking its breast in the center of the altar, but Bret's part in it is done. Pretty nice, don't you think?Three.
It looks like it is going to be a beautiful weekend--mild and fairly sunny. If you are anywhere in our area (north-central TN or south-central KY), do think about coming to tomorrow's conference at the Fathers of Mercy in South Union, KY on the life of Mother Teresa. Information is on my sidebar (just click the image of the Come and See poster). The Chapel of Divine Mercy is beautiful, and worth a visit in any case. We will be there. To find me, just listen for the loudest three year old, and follow him...

Four.
Geography is fun, but would be more so if we lived in a city. I love rural life, but when it comes to cultural stuff, forget it. We have been studying India this week, and our little library has nothing--I mean, like two kids' books on India! I've been hunting our shelves for folk tales and other resources, and found a thing or two from Netflix, but I'd love to have access to an Asian foods market (Nashville is a bit far to go for a few Indian items) or deli. We have also listened to some Ravi Shankar sitar music (I remember my mom had LPs of his when I was a kid) and it was lovely to hear it again after so many years.

Five.
Gemma, happy sweet, little thing that she is, is killing me. She naps in her co-sleeper by day, but will not go into it at night. She screams if I put her in it. And she will no longer take a pacifier, nor will she sleep without nursing. She is pretty much attached to me all night long, with the result being that I am tired, sore and Bret and I forever have a baby between us! I tried letting her "cry it out" before Bret and I turned in, and she did finally pass out, exhausted. but within an hour she was up again. I'm not sure what I can do about it until we get her out of our room and into a crib, which Dominic is still using and reluctant to give up. Because of her slow weight gain, I am willing to put up with it for a couple more months (until I start her on solids), but Bret is less than pleased at the thought of having her in our full-sized bed for much longer. It is a tad tight in there for the three of us...

Six.
Speaking of slow weight gains, I have been too nervous to weigh her. I'm afraid of her having gained so little that I will be a nervous wreck. I can't imagine that she is starving, however, as she doesn't seem terribly hungry during the day and is quite happy to grasp at her toys and coo at us from her bouncy seat for long periods of time. Still, I look at photos of babies like Grace's Fiona, who just started solids recently at 8 months and who is fat and gorgeous just on mama's milk, and I feel a twinge of envy! My kids are all pretty lanky as toddlers (Gabe was the exception), but by four months have always been delightfully chubby.

Seven.
I am already plotting to figure out if there is some way I can spend Sunday afternoon just knitting and sipping tea. When I am nursing, I am often on Ravelry, browsing through patterns for baby knits.

Well, that's it for today's Quick Takes from Patch O' Dirt Farm. Join Jennifer at Conversion Diary to see more Quick Takes on Friday or post your own. Have a blessed weekend!

Love, Creativity and Beauty

Forgive me for this somewhat lengthy post. I was making something for the kids a while back, and these thoughts kept bouncing about in my head, and it became something of a meditation. It's not very polished, but I haven't had time to do much more with it, and I really wanted to put it up for my one year anniversary on the blog. I dedicate this little rambling to all those creative mothers who have made beautiful things and beautiful families, and who are an inspiration to me.

Love, Creativity and Beauty

We mothers frequently complain of never having time enough to get things done, and yet most of us with the ability will easily give up a portion of our precious time to such activities as knitting or sewing clothes for our children--even when we can pick up a nice thrift-shop baby sweater for a dollar, and if you look at the investment of time, quilt-making is not really a cost effective means of keeping your child warm at night. The investment of time is like the planting of a garden, and we hope that our efforts will show themselves in a colorful bounty. Love is the force behind Creation, and it displays itself in a blossoming of Beauty.Love is the cause behind a man and a woman becoming a father and a mother, the cause of another person coming into creation. And what, one may ask, of children born into loveless situations, such as are a result of rape or casual fornication, with violence or lust as the motivation rather than love? Even when love is not present between man and woman, God’s love is there, ever desiring to pour itself out into the creation of a soul, a soul He wishes to embrace and shower in His graces, wrap in His beauty.
We desire to give ourselves to the beloved. In marriage we forsake all others in order to give ourselves exclusively to the one we love. As our Lord taught us, sacrifice is the very nature of Love, the ultimate outpouring of the heart. Mothers do this naturally, giving our bodies to our unborn babies and nursing infants, putting their needs before our own, continuing to give ourselves throughout our lives to the families we so love.

Love desires to bestow beauty on the beloved.

This is the impetus that lies behind such wonders as Chartres Cathedral, Corelli’s Christmas Concerti, the Taj Mahal, The Song of Songs and countless other masterpieces of art, music, poetry and architecture. It is also the cause behind the creation of the universe, made in love for us, our Creator’s beloved children; beautiful in its dazzling variety, from galaxies and nebulae down to each little beetle and Forget-Me-Not. Proof of God’s love for us.
Having been made in His image, we also have this desire to create beauty and surround those we love with it. If we are endowed with some God-given talent, we knit, sew or paint. We write poems or compose music. We put much of ourselves into our efforts. If our talents lie elsewhere, we still strive to create order and beauty in our homes, and we point it out to our loved ones wherever it is to be found--in music, beautiful books, in butterflies and daffodils. And we are delighted when our little ones begin to point it out to us in return.Why are so many works of art, architecture, music and literature in our day lacking Beauty? Simply because they are not created out of love. They are created out of a desire for fame or fortune, a desire to be “original” or to grab attention. They are not about the outpouring of one’s self for the beloved, but about self-aggrandizement. Has Satan’s envy of us something to do with God having given us this beautiful world? No, of course not, for the Enemy already has possession of so much of it, and in any case, an immortal being is hardly impressed with finite things that will pass away one day. No, his envy, at least in part, has to do with us being endowed with our Creator’s gift of creation. We love, and we create. Hatred is impotent. This is why Satan has so distorted everything having to do with creation and made it sterile and ugly, attacking marriage, fertility, parenthood and the Arts.God wished to give us, His dear children, beauty and to give us Himself. And He did so, giving us the epitome of created Beauty in Mary, and then giving us Himself in Jesus Christ. As we are made in his image, we find ourselves compelled by the same urge to give beauty and ourselves to those we love.

Christmas

I'll admit it, I am wiped out. But I got the cards out, the decorations up, the gifts wrapped and 8 varieties of cookies baked. I got the house cleaned and 2 casseroles and pies and a ham made for Christmas dinner. My sister and her family came over for dinner, as did my mother, and we had a wonderful time.

I am soooo wiped out. I would love to vegetate today, but the laundry was piling up and jars of cream were taking up too much space in the fridge, so I had to wash a couple of loads and make butter.

Here are a few photos to share with you:

These are the gingerbread hands that I made for the children's stockings.

The kids, all cleaned up for Mass.
The tree, looking pretty good, even after Dominic knocked it over.
And here are a few of my favorite ornaments (I have so many favorites, most of them hand-sculpted and painted by my sister, but I could spend hours trying to photograph them and get them uploaded):

Here is Puss In Boots, made by my sister,

Here is one from my childhood in Germany, the Holy Family in a nutshell,

A very old, tiny nutcracker, with a functional jaw,

And a fairy-baby I made, complete with real butterfly wings. Click on it for a larger image.

I hope everyone had as pleasant a Christmas Day as we had. Now that the Big Day is done, I'm going to try to enjoy the other 11 days of Christmas in a slightly more relaxed manner!