Rufus has been enjoying the weather, but he has an extra layer with all that fluffy fur. The other cats are beginning to venture outside again, but not on days like today. Today it dawned cold and icy and continued to be so all day long. The icicles hanging from the branches and lights were pretty, but honestly, I’m so… Read More »Waiting for spring
It’s almost spring, my calendar says. It’s almost spring, the changing of the clocks tell us. It’s almost spring, according to every clothing catalog that (still! though I’ve tried to cancel most) arrive in my mailbox. And yet, here in Maine, it is very definitely not looking like almost spring. This week brought another Nor’easter, and that nor’easter brought snow… Read More »Oh, the Snow!
We’ve been in quite a cold snap since Christmas. The days when our thermometer hits 0 are “warm”. Because the wind chills are so low, the children have been in much more than out. It has been helpful for getting schoolwork done though, since the lure of outside play isn’t a distraction. The cats are staying in, too. Sometimes the… Read More »Keeping Warm
The theme of trying to live simply seems to be everywhere, except during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Then, simplicity seems to be thrown aside and “buy all the things!” takes over. And then after all the shopping pressure, you add in the pursuit to decorate your home in holiday perfection (what do you mean you don’t have… Read More »Simplicity in Gift Giving
I feel like I’ve been playing catch up. The first week of November, actually, beginning early in the morning on October 30th, we, along with most of the state of Maine, lost power due to an unexpected rain and wind storm. We were out from early Monday morning until Friday afternoon – 5 days. Now for all of you who… Read More »Before We Lost Power – Halloween
Is it just me or is time this summer going incredibly fast? We went from having plenty of summer days left to suddenly arriving in the last month of summer. There are some places farther south than where we are that summer lasts through September, and even into October, but Maine is surely not one of those places. As usual,… Read More »Squeezing in Summer
(Sorry for the picture heavy post.) After getting a lot of outside work done on Saturday, we treated the kids to ice cream sundaes and then got to work dyeing eggs. Over the last few years I’ve seen more and more amazing pictures of naturally dyed eggs, some made with resists created by using found plant and flower materials, and… Read More »Easter Weekend
We’ve had two whole days of Hello Spring! It felt more like summer than spring and we set to work boiling off the last gallons of maple sap, though we still have the final boil to do inside and then canning the liquid gold (pure maple syrup). I had an errand to run with Sophie and while we were out… Read More »Of Book Sales, Garden Cleanup and Adventures in the Woods
This weekend we finally hit temperatures that made it feel like spring outside and the backyard cleanup has begun! And after that, there’s front yard cleanup, side yard cleanup, goat shed and chicken coop cleanup and garden cleanup. But we won’t think about any of those today. We’ll just think about how quickly our snow is (finally!) melting. We’ll think… Read More »Finally Spring!
(I apologize for such a picture heavy post, but I couldn’t decide what to leave out.) Like so many others, you were probably taught that there are four seasons – Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. But you were not taught correctly, because, you see, while those are the seasons everyone knows about, there are others that are not as well known. … Read More »Sugaring Season