Monthly Archives Nov 2009

A birthday, holiday, long weekend... done

November 30, 2009

I'm exhausted tonight, vegging out in front of the computer going through my photos from the past few days. So thankful that the living of the those days is now through. If you are a mama you know how much making birthdays meaningful is a huge (and for me daunting) ...

Season of Light

November 28, 2009

Today is blustery as all get out, no snow unfortunately. A good day though to cook and bake, which is exactly what I'm doing. Yesterday we spent the day creating, together as a family, gifts for grandparents, aunties and uncles. With Thanksgiving come and gone it seems Christmastime is truly ...

my beautiful boy

November 24, 2009

It seems a bit odd to write a post about my son the day before my daughter's birthday. But I just happened to take a couple of these photos yesterday and they melted my heart. Laurent was a challenging baby. In retrospect he was probably allergic/sensitive to something in my ...

November Sweet Stuff

November 23, 2009

Thanksgiving week; a week of cooking, traveling and/or hosting, preparing and cleaning up. We are going to friends to help them eat a home grown bird (or two). But in addition to the usual day of thanksgiving and harvest feasting we will be celebrating Brienne's 7th birthday this week - ...

November hike-u

November 22, 2009

study in contrasts orange blaze, cold river, gray bark November beauty And not related to the above poem (which I composed while hiking yesterday) but sort of... I have no words today to explain how the mountains, rushing rivers, bare trees and sunsets give me life. Call to me and ...

I wear the (yoga) pants in this family

November 20, 2009

I suppose that title is misleading on a couple counts. Firstly, I don't practice yoga. Nothing against it, I just don't exercise in general outside of my normal life routine. Except for that time during my mom's March visit when we watched a yoga instructional video and I laughed through ...

How to make an herbal salve

November 19, 2009

This is a giveaway post, as well as a salve making tutorial. The giveaway is now closed. Years ago I bought a large pre-mixed package of arnica flowers, St. John's wort and cayenne pepper (aka: Miracle Herbal Rub Mix) from The Bulk Herb Store. I used it to make a ...

shooting the sunset

November 19, 2009

How to Shoot a Sunset Notice the gorgeous sky, for days on end, as the sun is setting and I am starting to prepare supper. Wish, wish, wish I was on a mountain top, somewhere, anywhere but the kitchen during this golden hour of the day. Check the weather and ...

Monday morning kitchen counter

November 17, 2009

Early morning as I start the laundry and make my coffee I watch the sun rise over my neighbors' roofs and tree tops through my kitchen window. Much later I can watch it set from the other half of the house, through our learning room window, near my desk. But ...

Vanilla Extract ~ An easy handmade gift

November 13, 2009

Vanilla extract is a very easy homemade gift to make someone (or someones) for the holidays. It's just as easy to make a large quantity to be given to many recipients as it is to make a small batch.

November looks like...

November 12, 2009

new knitting and crochet projects the last of the yellow leaves sunlit grasses and warm afternoons the last of the light as it bleeds into dark fresh chard from our raised bed orange blazes on weekend hikes the last bouquet of the season from my frost hardy chrysanthemum The color ...

If you're happy and you know it don't go shopping

November 10, 2009

I rarely shop, weekly produce and monthly groceries aside. And of course the once a month family date night at Home Depot or Lowes doesn't count either. Damien takes care of our family's clothing and outdoor gear purchases and most of those are bought on-line with little or no involvement ...

True Health Care Reform

November 9, 2009

Update: After writing this post I was asked to submit it to the weekly blog carnival Prevention Not Prescriptions at The Kathleen Show. Speaking of Kathleen, she is the writer & director behind the movie Side Effects, a great flick that we watched a couple years ago. Having had no ...

A failed batch of peppermint mocha cheesecake ~ and other soapy fun

November 8, 2009

I made my Christmas gift soap this week. Problem is I won't be giving it for gifts. What I had planned to be such a luscious soap - peppermint scented, coffee and cocoa for color with chunks of real chocolate turned out crumbly and is now getting all white and ...

My first professional project

November 6, 2009

I feel a little silly putting this out there because I'll probably look back in a couple years and shake my head. You know how when you start doing something you are so proud of your achievements and then as you get more skilled you feel foolish about your early ...

4 Steps to Making Homemade Soap

November 6, 2009

I've been blogging for many years and for a couple of those years I went through a soap phase, writing about soap making. This is one of those posts. I still make my own soap but I don't write about it much these days. Some of the information may be ...

these golden days

November 4, 2009

In the past few days I've noticed that although the night comes so soon now (it's dark when we sit down to eat supper) the days have been lovely and golden. Gone are the fiery reds and in their place are burnished coppers, yellow and bronze. These golden days.

my first knitting project ~ done

November 3, 2009

It only took me 8 months but I'm done my first ever knitting project, a little shoulder shawl. SouleMama talked about this pattern ages ago and I fell in love with the striped effect and thought "that's looks easy enough for me to do." Well it was easy, but time ...