Changes

 

{Heron playing hide-and-seek}

Although it's been a while since I last posted (as usual), I'm certain most of you remember me saying in my post before last that I would not be going to the lake over the holiday weekend and was not sad about it.

Well, yeah...that changed.

At the 11th hour (a biblical reference, believe it or not), the replacement flooring finally came in, and, in a stroke of luck, the flooring contractors managed to fit the project in within days.

I still had no intention of going, however, because the place was still in shambles - boxes everywhere, the toilet still in the bedroom, the vanity still under the stairs, and the contents of the closets (not to mention the pieces of what once the closet) who knew where.

But my son and daughter-in-law started making noises about going up, and because it would likely be the last time in a long time that they'd be able to go (Baby No. 2 expected any day), plans changed.

I contacted the contractors who had done the original work, and they moved mountains to get most of the things put back into place (i.e., the toilet and vanity back in the bathroom, rebuilt the closet, rehung doors, etc.) Yes, there was work to be done...and heavens knows, a LOT of cleaning, but it would, at least, be habitable.

On the day before I intended to leave, I went grocery shopping (did I mention the nearest town is SWAMPED with tourists and traffic on holidays?).  I was nearly finished when my DIL messaged me and told me they were not coming after all...or, if they came, it would only be for a day.

😖

I decided to go up by myself regardless since I knew I should check on things and that there would be more than a weekend's worth of cleaning and sorting, sorting and cleaning, to do.

(And, after all, I had a ton of groceries since I could not bring myself to put everything in my cart back on the shelves.)

It was good that I went but little cleaning was accomplished.  (Another long tale - this one of having purchased 3 floor cleaners...the first of which was defective; the second of which was stolen by one of my husband's "invitees" before I had even opened the box it came in; and the third of which (which was used one time and one time only) was, it turned out, missing a very indispensable part when I attempted to use it this time - a fact I only realized after spending several hours with the online manual and YouTube videos, and digging in every possible remaining box and caddy searching for said part.

Apparently, the "water mitigation team" (a term used ever so loosely) must have "disposed" of it while doing their demolition "mitigating."

Grrrr....

So that "plan" changed as well.

It was beautiful nonetheless...noise notwithstanding.

The forecast had been for storms and rain, but there was nothing other than a brief shower.

The swans were initially elusive They are recluses, I think, like me, but they showed themselves after the interlopers tourists left and things quieted. They had changes to reveal as well:

Two little cygnets (such a strange word, in my opinion, for a baby swan), although the second one is mostly hidden by the reeds in the photo.

I enjoyed the peace after the days of fireworks and firecrackers and, despite not having the magical part for my floor cleaner, did manage to get some things accomplished.

As I was preparing things to go back to Nod, however, there was the sound of a horrendous explosion. It was louder than any of the fireworks in the past many days...and much, much, closer. 

Have you ever seen those cats in the animated cartoons that shoot straight up in the air when there is a loud sound/bang?

That's EXACTLY what happened with my two cats...despite having been conditioned over the weekend to the noise and sounds of the fireworks they went straight up and scrabbled to hid under the nearest bed.

I ever so tentatively walked around the property in an attempt to determine the source of the noise fully expecting to find something smoking.

What I saw was the old tree that my eagles favored as a roost had snapped in half...

...and one half had landed on my (metal) dock.

So, another change.

(...and yet another thing to deal with.)

Did I mention that the weather at the lake was beautiful? So much better than predicted??

Well, that, too, changed once I returned to Nod.

I awoke a few days after returning to the smell of smoke. 

Like the idiot who ran around the lake house trying to find the source of the "explosion," I was now running around the house here in Nod trying to determine what, exactly, had caught on fire.

This was my view...but nothing was on fire.

It was the smoke from the Canadian...and Minnesotan...wildfires.

We have been on the top of the AQI air quality scale (the maroon/hazardous range) for over a week now.

The smoke has seeped in everywhere despite closed windows and doors and a/c. 

I had an appointment at the medical center and thought that that building, at least, would be smokefree.

No such luck. Even the examining rooms in the far recesses of the building were smoky.  Virtually all outdoor activities and events were cancelled.

By mid-morning, my eyes are so dry and irritated that I wish I could scratch them out. By the afternoon, not only are my eyes suffering, but my head is pounding and breathing gets difficult.

We had a day and a half of somewhat a reprieve but then the winds shifted again and brought more smoke, and we are still under a hazardous air quality alert.

It's unfortunate that this can look beautiful.

Another change: 

The day after tomorrow, this little girl's entire world will change: She will become a big sister.

You may remember that she came very, very, early and things were scary for a long while. Thankfully, she has grown and thrived.

Her mother (and the rest of us) had hoped the second child could be delivered normally (vs. caesarean) given the pain and long recovery time she endured the first time around.

Unfortunately, that's not to be and while one child came out "under-done," this one is turning out to be "over-done."

A decision has been made that, for the safety of mother and child, the child be delivered sooner rather than later via caesarean.

Prayers for a safe delivery for both mother and child would be most welcome if you're so inclined.

Oh, and for me...Gigi duty is going to test me this week as we're embarking on very new territory.  

This one has never spent a night alone without one of her parents present.

😬

Back in the Land of Nod

{The sweetest little collage picture was a perfect gift from Lauren (Rugs and Pugs)}

It's the 20th of July and I feel as though I've been gone - or preparing to be gone or unpacking from being gone - for most of those 20 days.

I spent some time at the lake over the 4th of July holiday.

The days were mostly temperate, but the lake was unsettled and moody.

A few days later, I left for my (now annual?) trip to Country Sampler in Spring Green. 

The skies were hazy from the Canadian wildfires but the rich colors of the fields and 

hills were vibrant and entrancing all the same.

For those of you for whom the names are unfamiliar, Country Sampler is a destination quilting/stitching shop in Spring Green - a village in southwestern Wisconsin. Although small (1,500-people small),

Spring Green may be recognizable to some as the home of the estate and 800-acre sanctuary of Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin.

And Taliesin has a famous (and infamous) history all its own.

While "reincarnated" several times, and steeped in history of many sorts, Taliesin's most unfortunate claim to fame is being the site of the tragic murder of 7 people, including Wright's then-partner, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, and her 2 children in 1914.

A disgruntled servant, Julian Carlton, set fire to the living quarters while Wright was away on business and bludgeoned those who attempted to flee with an axe.

While there has been speculation about the reasons for the attack, no motive has been definitively established.

So much unrest in such peaceful surroundings.

But, as usual, I digress.

The purpose of the trip was stitching...and shopping.

I spent a few days with my sister-in-law and her friends, staying in the rooms above Country Sampler.

For my stitchy pals, here are a few snaps of some of the design models that caught my eye:

{Love the Fraktur folksiness of this one! It is "Fraktur Friends" by Shakespeare's Peddler}

{Another Shakespeare's Peddler design: "Mary Bate 1796." This was just beautiful, and I loved the verse. Hopefully you can enlarge to read it?}
 

{"Christmas in July" by Plum Street Samplers - top half of pattern only.}

{"Sesquicentennial Alphabet in Blue - 1874" by Thread Milk Design. This pattern may have come home with me. 😉}

Personally, I, of course, got little accomplished stitch-wise. Nothing to really show there. But I did finish the stitching on this before leaving:

"My Country" by La-D-Da.

I'm working on one more small patriotic piece while I mull over finishing options for both, then I think it will be time to move on to a different topic for a while.

All in all, I've decided I'm much better at shopping than stitching.

I hope all has been well in your corners of the world.

There's Just a Little More Magic in Some Days Than Others...

{Angel with Scandinavian Woven Heart}

Those kind of days are rare; but like anything rare, they seem mercurial and vanish quickly leaving the person experiencing them doubting their existence in the first place.

Despite my misgivings about this new year (being 2020-too and all), I have been blessed to have had several of these most magical days in this first month of this new year....

While seeing an eagle is not uncommon here (especially at the lake as we have a nest in the tree outside the front door), one does not always see two together (I believe the adult inhabitants of our nest)...keeping each other warm...on a frozen lake...during a storm....

Then, one late afternoon/early evening after returning to Nod, I looked out my front window and saw something that seemed out of sorts.

I initially dismissed it thinking it just a strange agglomeration of snow from the most recent snowfall - one that would be there in the same place the next time I glanced out until the sun found it.

But as I continued to look out, I realized what I was looking at.

{Pay no mind to those strange glowing eye things in the trees behind him...}

He stayed until the sun set and the gloaming began.  His wondrous white stood out against the darkness.

And he was huge...as were his antlers.  (I eventually dug through several closets and came up with a pair of binoculars...unfortunately, you can't take photos with binoculars and his magnificent rack is lost in the photos.)

I have heard there is a "pocket" of albino deer in these parts and have seen them on others' trails cams and photos, but had never ever seen one in person. Now I have.

Legend has it that one who sees a white stag will have good luck (and woe be to anyone who harms one).

 I guess there are perks to living in Nod after all.

Marly's Minestrone & Other Stuff

I am still holed up at the lake. 

The snows have stopped so I will need to take my leave while the leaving permits.

But it is cold...wretched, burn-your-nose, make-your-eyes-water, skin-sticking, cold.

So I believe I will wait this patch out and hope for a warm-up. Just thinking of loading and packing makes my teeth chatter.  I only hope it doesn't get colder yet and those "feel like" temps become the actual temps...'cuz you know what will happen to the "feel-like" temps then.

To me, cold weather and soup go together like dandelions and daydreams (and, where I live, there is much more of the former than the latter). So soup it is. 

As a disclaimer here, I am a bit of a soup snob.  My mom made the best soups in my world.  So while I LOVE soup, I expect 2 things from them:  (1) That they be homemade; and (2) that they be good...really good.

(Throw in a hunk of good homemade crusty bread and you will have a pal for life.)

I decided to finally try Marly's (Samplers-and-Santas) "Upstate Minestrone" soup.

For some reason, I have never been a huge fan of minestrones but, oh my heck....this.minnestrone.I.LOVE!!!

An unassuming tomato and beef base, complimented by hearty Italian sausage, zucchini, cabbage, and beans, quickly and effortlessly secured it a spot in my top 5 of soups.  Added bonus:  It reheats wonderfully and, like many soups, gets better with each reheating.

You really need to try it if you're a soup person.  You can find Marly's recipe here:

Marly's Upstate Minestrone Soup.

It's hard to believe I have been here 2 weeks (??) already.  Time seems to evaporate here.  I did bring my hooking project along with the thought of, if not finishing it, getting close to finishing it.

But I haven't even put it on my rug frame.

This is where I left off:

{"Simple Santa" by Therese Shick.  Sorry for the wonky photo but it is laying on the top of a curved trunk and I was too lazy to move it.}

I did start a new stitch:

{"Noel Sampler" by Brenda Gervais - With Thy Needle & Thread}

It was a gift from my sister-in-law and I am joining her in a "stitch-along."  Those participating stitch on this design from the 25th of each month until the month's end.  Those participating started already on December 25th (it's a Christmas sampler...get it??), but since I did not get the gift until after the new year (and since I stitch like I do most everything...slowly...) I decided I was entitled to "catch up" out of synch.

And, of course, I'm reading.

I am not certain what drew me to this book as it is not the genre to which I would typically be drawn.  I guess it goes to show how eclectic my taste can be.

It is the, unfortunately, true story of the Galvin family - a seemingly "all American" family with 12 children.  However, over time, 6 of the 12 children are diagnosed with schizophrenia.  The story interweaves the family drama and struggles (and, trust me, there IS drama and there ARE struggles) with the medical field's quest to unravel the how's and why's of the disease in the hopes of developing an effective treatment, if not cure.

I am nearing the end, though, so another reason I need to leave.

But not tonight....not tonight.

Stay safe and warm...and thank you for your companionship during my "purdah."

A New Year

In between the storms this past week, I bundled Snowdog, herded the cats and headed to my quiet place.

I wasn't here to hear the lake make ice this year.

I missed her other-worldly moans as she surrendered to winter's bitter caress.

She could not wait for me.

She is asleep now, her secrets safe as dreams

The snows have since stopped; it was brutal cold that saw the new year in.

I wish you all a new year ahead filled blessings, joys, magic, and miracles...and a measure of good madness.

(Is it just me or do you hesitate calling the new year "2022"?  It scares the dickens out of me as it sounds like "2020 too" ya know?)

 

The Mind is its Own Place

"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven." 

This is one of my favorite quotes from John Milton. 

I typically dislike it when authors mess with perfect quotes, but Sarah Collins made me make an exception when she elaborated on this one in The Confessions of Frannie Langton by saying "How does it do that? By remembering or forgetting.  The only tricks a mind can play."

These words have settled in the hinterland of my soul and I know them to be true...so very true...both Milton's and Collins'...and on any given day, I can be both in Heaven and in Hell and usually am, albeit more in the latter than the former it seems.

Snowdog can no longer travel comfortably (even if I can get him in the vehicle), but I felt the need to take him to the lake he has come to love at least once more.  So he and I headed north last weekend.

{One of the eagles was waiting to welcome us...and all the time we were there entertained us by dropping from a tree far above us to snatch a fish from the water in front of us.}

There was both Heaven and Hell there as well.  Another story for another time...or perhaps not.

Other than that, little is new.  I have wanted to do a post for some time but it seemed I had no words.

It seems I have not found them still.

I have stitched only a little, and hooked not at all...and finish/finished anything? Ha! Don't bother wondering.

This is about all I have accomplished:

It is a quick little stitch from our own Marly of Samplers and Santas.  I need to antique/distress it some so the numbers stand out a bit more and then, yes, FINISH it.  But Independence Day is past and my mind and ambitions have already begun to wander.

I have little else to show or say, but wanted you to know that I am still here and think of you all often.  I will leave you with a few photos of some of the more "heavenly" moments of my days.

Otherwise, there are days that are someplace between Heaven and Hell...where we neither remember nor forget....we just are.

If only we could be whole there.