{This Moment}

{This Moment} A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.

~via SouleMama

Storm Clouds

A storm is looming and a baby is teething.

All in all we had a good day when viewed as a whole.

Robin's Flower Pot

Garden Photos

Rhubarb Harvest.

 

The rest we are leaving to go to seed

The Fully Planted Garden!

Sugar Snap Peas

Sunflowers

Beets?

JD Bed & Breakfast

Cozy Bedroom

This week-end Jason and I celebrated our 3rd year of marriage with a stay at The JD B&B (Stomper went to Mimi and Bumpa's house). We were able to stay for free, with conditions. The first condition was that we do a little shopping and the second condition was that we had to do a little gardening.

Upon arrival JD handed us a short list and told us that we need to do a little grocery shopping. We took a lovely drive through the back woods to Kingfield to go to a local grocery store chain, Trantens. We bought a breakfast full of yummy carbs: cheese danish, orange juice donuts, oranges, and cantelope and tasty super: 1/2lb pork chops and coleslaw (there was already some stuff to use at the B&B).

The Plants

After we dropped the items off we were given directions to a local greenhouse and another list. We took the bumpy truck down a bumpy road and arrived at Robin's Flower Pot. We bought broccoli; brussel sprouts; cabbage; tomatoes: cherry, roma, and big-boy; and pepper plants then while Jason was checking out he also picked up seeds for pumpkin, Buttercup squash, Blue Hubbard squash, zucchini, summer squash, spinach, mint, and cucumbers all for the garden.

Robin's Flower Pot is a lovely place to go and wander around. We found many things we wished we had the money for. Mostly some pretty stuff for around our house and a few ornamental trees for our backyard. I could have spent a little time there using their benches if I had my knitting with me and if we hadn't been starving.

We stopped at a local eatery, The Company, for supper and drinks. They have a lot of beer on tap (if that sort of thing interests you) and a full bar. I had Alfredo sauce and it was good, but not great. Jason enjoyed his scallops, I didn't try them. The fried pickles in their spicy dipping sauce were amazing, as to were the french fries. We had to order fries for me so I wouldn't eat all of Jason's. We would go there again, but I would try a burger.

Friday night when we got to JD B&B we were treated with an amazing thundershower! The whole sky lit up! We stood on the porch, snuggled in each others arms, for a little while until the rain started to come down sideways. Then we watched movies from a bed that felt just like home.

Saturday we woke at our leisure, prepared our own breakfast (JD left as a note telling us we were on our own), and went upstairs to watch a movie in bed. When our movie was done we decided it was time to get to work.

Completed Planting!

We spent an hour and a half putting in all the plants and seeds we had bought. Jason tilled up the Squash Garden while I planted tomatoes. We planted quite a bit! The garden is almost overflowing. We checked out other areas of the garden that had been previously planted and there are little shoots of things growing, it is very exciting.

Saturday afternoon after showers and lunch we took siestas for an hour and a half! In the evening we cooked up the pork on the grill along with some potatoes and onions and had a wonderful dinner together. Late in the evening we went to the movies to see the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean (very good by the way) at Narrow Gauge Cinema, which for being a theater in an out-of-the-way town is amazing and affordable!

We fell into bed sometime around 1am and slept soundly all night.

I was a little anxious for Sunday to get over. I hadn't been away from Stomper in such a long time. I knew though, that we had to wait. Stomper had gone with his Mimi & Bumpa to a family gathering and wouldn't be back until early evening. Jason took me through a drive around some dirt roads to do a little rubber-necking. We ended up at the family campsite in Carthage to see the improvements before heading to a little girls 1st birthday party.

Then, finally, we went to go pick up Stomper.

We had a really good time. It was nice to "get away" even if we did have to work during some of it. Jason commented to me on Saturday: "You are really silly today." I responded, "It's because I am well rested and stress free. Don't you remember me like this?" He said, "I have no idea what you are talking about." (smart man).

Blog Roll Review

I often wonder, when I visit another person's blog, why they follow the blogs that they follow. Many bloggers have long lists of blogs they read, but I'm curious: Why? Why those ones? Are they friends? Did they stumble upon them one day, added them to their list, and then gave them no further thought?

I decided that I will give a review of each of the blogs I faithfully follow. The few blogs that I am anxious to see new posts from and wait impatiently for them to write more! I will be telling you, my reader, how I found them, why I follow them, if I know them personally, and why I think you should read them.

There are seven blogs total that I would call my favorites. There are dozens that I follow, but these special seven are on my must read list. I could do one a day, but I think that is too quick. I will write one a week for the next seven weeks starting Monday, June 6th. The first one is Inspired written by Melissa.

Check back next Monday to read the review!

{This Moment}

{This Moment} A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.

~via SouleMama

Things Remembered

I had entitled this post Mission Accomplished because I got a lot done today in a short amount of time (laundry folded, packed, and put away; diaper table re-organized; clothes line used, adapted, and fixed) but then I was sitting out on the porch with Stomper, watching the clothes float on the breeze, and some memories came back to me and suddenly what I had done today no longer seemed so important. 

As a teen I sometimes hung the laundry out on the line for my Mom (I believe there was a chair involved). One end was tied way up in a tree and the other end was attached to a post on the deck, but the deck had become rotten and removed, hence the chair. First the jeans went on because they took the longest, then the towels, then the t-shirts. I remember thinking how foolish it was to hang laundry since we had a perfectly working dryer, but Mom insisted. 

I remember, when I was around 7 or 8, riding my bike around and around the house, ducking under the laundry lines (there were two at one time), and being fearful of getting caught on it. My Dad, I believe it was him, always warned me not to pull any of the laundry down. As a child, the vague threat meant I'd receive a spanking, but now as an adult I wonder if a less harsh punishment would have been doled out. 

I am thankful that my Mom used a clothes line and cloth diapers (though I wasn't so keen on the idea back then). Now, today, as my dryer sits in my kitchen still not working, I can revive old skills and put them to use. I know to put my t-shirts inside-out so they won't fade and that I can hide my undies behind stuff so the neighbors can't see. I know that dunking the diaper in the toilet will remove the solids and that the washer can do the rest.

As I sat there with my son, him holding on to the rails of the railing practicing standing, me telling him about my childhood I recalled summers at Grandpa and Grandma B's house. Every summer for two weeks I'd go and stay with them. One week we'd camp and the other week we hung around the house. I would help Grandma with the laundry on occasion when I was bored. We walked through the back porch storage room (usually a place forbidden) to the back yard where the clothes lines were. 

I remember the smell of warm metal and mint. Warm metal from the sides of their trailer and the funny paint that rubbed off on my fingers and the loads of mint out where the laundry hung. When I was little I got to hold the bag of clothes pins, but as I got older I got to hang up towels (just the towels). When we were done Grandma and I would pick up mint and rub it between our fingers to release the smell. She never let me chew it, not sure why. 

With our work completed me might take a look at the garden and pick a few cherry tomatoes (they planted a whole plant just for me) or try and sneak around to the front of the house to see some birds up close.

I hope that as my son gets older he will have many fond memories of his grandparents. I feel blessed that both sets love him so deeply and dearly that even at the age of 8months they want him all to themselves some days and ask for a "Mimi & Stomper Day" or "Grandma & Stomper Day". The grandfathers look more towards the future for having him on their own, when he's potty trained. I've already been told about fishing, smelting, and hunting trips that Stomper and his Bumpa will take and Grandfather will teach him out to make maple syrup and build things. I am excited for the childhood my son will get to experience.

New Tags

In an effort to stream line my blog and clean up some clutter 

I am instituting a new method of tagging my posts. They will tagged:

Mothering - anything pertaining to my son (including his adoption), being a parent, or caring for my family

Gardening - anything to do with gardening, canning, harvesting, weeding, or taking care of gardening tools

Knitting - anything I knit, am thinking about knitting, yarn, customers, and patterns

Living - everything else, cooking, church, vacations, travel, thoughts, ect.

Knitted Together

I am blending my two blogs together into one blog.

What you will now see in this new and (hopefully) improved blog will be more than just knitting.
I will keep updating on my knitting and what I have for sale, but I will also write on my family life.

You can expect to see posts on "Stomper" my son, what I am cooking up in the kitchen, the garden, things I am designing, and other parts of family life.

I hope you enjoy the new format!