hello from sunday evening

quite possibly the cutest cauliflower in the world.

there's a cabbage in there somewhere.

eggplant-to-be

and more eggplants. we like them.

these will be sweet red peppers.

sunset, golden, but with the slightest tinge of autumn.
the air still and clear after an early evening shower.
a calm has settled over the house.
our visitors are all gone.
there's laundry in the washer and dishes in the dishwasher.
everyone's showered and scrubbed and relaxed.
we feel sated after a weekend filled with good conversation, good food and good weather.
it's hard to imagine feeling more relaxed.
so bring on august.
we're ready.

deed to a treehouse

DEED

sabin hereby purchases poppelvej 24 (our old address and what she decided to call her treehouse), y17 belch city (bøvseby) for the totally crazy sum of:

25 danish kroner ($5)

according to the transaction and ownership of the above-named, the following apply:

~ a key will be delivered with the deed.

~ adults may enter the property, if they ask nicely and bow deeply.

~ the fireplace (outside, in front of the treehouse) may be used by the owners of the adjacent property if they bring a small oak tree as thanks.

~ no trumpets may be played after 5:23 p.m.

~ no cows, horses, buffalo, starfish or whales may be kept on the property.

~ air balloons may not land on the roof of the building.

~ the building may not be moved to ground level, but must remain a least 1.5 meters over the ground, but no higher than 30,000 feet.

~ only far (supermann) can make structural changes to the building.

~ sabin may decide the interior decoration of the building and outdoor areas and does not have to do what her mother says with regard to these areas.

~ the building may be painted on the outside if far (supermann) says that it's necessary. sabin can choose the color, but it must be either swedish red, black or green.

when everyone has signed below, and the 25DKK is paid, this deed is in effect.

signatures from buyer, the king of belch city (bøvseby) and the sweetest mother in the world.

*  *  *

husband is such a keeper.

the treehouse has already been taken into use as a center for secret potion production, harry potter-stylie.

radical change

i've been coloring my hair blonde since i was a junior in high school.
that was a long time ago.
today, that all changed.

and i have to tell you that i feel incredibly liberated.
who knew a color and cut could free up so much baggage?
baggage i didn't even know i was carrying around.
and definitely didn't attach to my hair color.

i seriously feel like a new person.

mostly it feels pretty good that i finally really dared something.
and it feels like just the beginning.

~ photos by sabin.

fizzy

 

not long ago, i had a conversation with a friend about how ideas can sometimes be paralyzing. and that's how i felt at that moment...paralyzed. but the paralysis is suddenly gone. cleared. tho' i don't exactly know how that happened (perhaps the weekend away?), i'm going with it.

whereas the ideas felt all bottled up and piled on top of each other, with nowhere to go with them and no clear picture of how they fit together, now, they're sort of fizzing and popping. and i can begin to see how they all fit together.  and most miraculous of all, i can see the clearly the next steps to take to move towards bringing the ideas to fruition.

i'm trying not to dwell on how this happened and just go with the flow, but some part of me wants to know what cleared. and perhaps how to make it happen again, the next time there's a block. of course, it could be that whatever cleared it this time wouldn't ever work again, so maybe it doesn't matter.

what do you do to not get paralyzed by your ideas?

a change of scenery

a lovely couple of days with friends and family.
in the midst of it, the sad and shocking news from norway.
which i'm still finding quite hard to believe.
it seems so unreal somehow.
incomprehensible.
like everyone else, i'm still processing what i think and feel about it.

but otherwise, i'm feeling relaxed.

it's good to get away.

but it's good to come back home -

to animals

and garden

and one's own bed.

time for reflecting on this project of ours.

this old farmhouse.

this garden, this simpler life.

and feeling at peace with it.

feeling it's right. 

even if it seems overwhelming at times,

how much work it will take before we're really there.

sometimes it takes talking about it.

and sometimes it just takes living it.

but best of all...

i feel a new surge of energy.

new ideas are being discussed

and some old ones are coming to fruition.

sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery.

even just briefly.

on the streets of oslo

"rebel against this"

there's poetry on the streets of oslo. so it seems like terrible things couldn't possibly happen there.

it's shaping up to look like the work of a deranged local lunatic, but it's tragic nonetheless.

and so hard to comprehend. 

thinking of all of my friends in norway this evening.

unexplained

no explanation really, i just liked this.

in for a tune-up

do you ever feel out of alignment? unfocused? out of sync? 

if so, i suggest that you go get a quilt (it's ok if your bunnies have chewed a few holes in it),
spread it in a shady spot (but not too shady) on the lawn,
fetch a couple of pillows and a good book
and maybe a tall glass of iced tea.
talk the cat into curling up at your side (oddly enough, he'll do this for cookies).

now proceed to spend the entire afternoon right there.
and don't feel guilty about it for a second. 

i guarantee you'll feel like a new person.

what might seem like wasted time to an outside observer is likely to be the best time you'll spend all week.

you'll be rejuvenated, realigned, refocused and totally in sync.

so what are you waiting for?

it's quiet around here

sabin is sailing.
it's endlessly raining.
it's awfully quiet around here.
i'm enjoying it less than i thought i would.

but there moments.
i get to finish whole thoughts.
all in my own head.
usually while sewing.

and that's a very luxurious thing.

i've also listened to regina spektor's far about 600 times.
because there's been no one to complain about it.
(husband has been in his workshop, listening to endlessly to eliza dolittle.)

and that's a very luxurious thing.

on friday, we'll go get her.

but in the meantime, i read this. and i'm reading this. and next i'll read this. (i'm loving the library.) you can read a lot when it's quiet.

but i'll be glad to have her back.
noise and all.

so i'm counting down 'til friday.

a little in love

a walk.
golden light.
birdsong in the air.
cows munching.

they're not our cows, but they're in our pasture.
and i'm a little in love.

did you know that cows are friendly?
they come running over when we go out there.
full of unrestrained cow joy
at the sight of us.
and wanting to say hello.

tho' they're strangely afraid of the cat.
and he only wants to play.

our couchsurfer sang to them in norwegian.
you should have seen them.
they were transfixed.
and a little bit in love.

one of them has a heart-shape on her forehead.
i'm a little in love with that.

but it's easy to fall in love when there's a few moments of sunshine.

*  *  *

a most beautiful blog post.

the swans have it

a week ago on sunday, we had a friend and her two children visiting. we declared the day to be a totally analog day. the only digital photos i was allowed to take that day were of the filling of the jars of honey. other than that, it had to be film or not at all. and wouldn't you know it, my friend and i walked down to the lake and i saw the swan couple that lives there parading their five beautiful children around the still and beautiful lake which was bathed in the golden light of evening. and me without a camera. so i was forced to take a photo of it in my mind. "click" as my nephew would say. but it made me determined to go back down there with the camera.

of course it's pretty much been raining since then, but i decided not to be defeated by the rain and so i went down to the lake, camera in hand (well, camera mostly under my raincoat, actually). and although it wasn't as picture perfect as it was on the day that's preserved only in memory, it wasn't half bad. but those swan parents are seriously protective. as soon as they saw me, they lined up the crew and headed for the other end. and so i stalked through the wet grass and headed them off, sending them back up to our end of the lake.

i'll want to be able to herd them into the ark we're building you see....

silent sunday: infant veggies

a house in the trees

the child is away for a week or so, out sailing with friends, so her far is working on putting the finishing touches on her treehouse. work was a little bit abandoned when i bought the chickens and they needed a proper domicile.

we've also had a lot of rain of late, so that has slowed things down as well. but today, the sun shined and the last siding was put into place around the windows - which were rescued from a dumpster at the recycling center (with permission, of course).

while it was raining, husband made this two-part door. it's repurposed from the zinc covering of an old refrigerated container that was on our property. he kept some of the picture of a canned ham, which i think looks pretty cool.

the view from the back, where there's another window that lets you look out over the field (where we've got cows at the moment - not ours, they belong to a farmer from up the road).

and a gratuitous shot of chez poulet, our posh chicken coop, where the improvements continue and you can now see the beginning of the shelter for our coming pigs.

oh, and what doesn't show is that he's building a little pond. because chickens need a pond. right?

and a shot with all of the siding in place. we hope to have it all ready for her to have a housewarming party when she gets home in ten days or so.

hope you're using your weekend for good! :-)

getting out of my own way

i've been mulling these little dresses over for awhile now. they're very simple and they're reversible. and they're made of the beautiful organic cloud 9 cotton (this is from heather moore's gorgeous cut out & keep line) . this is my prototype, but i've cut out more fabric and i'll be sewing all weekend - making some modifications, adding vintage buttons, pockets and maybe something that's only a vague notion in my head at this moment.

i have a friend who has a toy store and she also sells children's clothes, so they'll be available there, as well as on beecharmer. and i'm even pondering turning a little room at the front of our house (currently where we house our couchsurfers) into a miniature shop (saying it here because writing is the new praying).

if anyone is interested, i'm happy to make whatever size you'd like. sabin wants one too, tho' this prototype is for a 2-year-old. (note to self: find a two-year-old to model it.)

the wind was blowing, can you tell?

this is one of the many things i've been procrastinating, waiting for precisely the right picture to appear in my head. today, i just got out of my own way and got stuck in. i'm pretty happy with the result. and working with these organic cottons is like a dream.

i should do that more often.

(thank you, michelle, for our chat last night, it helped.)

*  *  *

by the way, this is awesome.