pining and stitching

After I got the back of the quilt done, I got to pining.  Pinned the whole quilt.  I have learned that it is really best to start from the middle and work your way out.  In the beginning, it feels like the pining is going very rapidly, but by the edges I always start to wonder how much longer it will take.

Once all the pining is done, the stitching starts.  With where my head is right now, this is about where my thought process is.  The nose running away from me appears to have turned into an ear infection and maybe even a summer cold.  I feel like crud but a bit of stitching helps.  I feel bad about being in the kitchen with the amount of sneezing that is going on!

craving kneading

Since we have been back from our land, it has been hard on me.  There is always a craving to make bread but that craving to get my hands in dough was even more extreme then normal.  I put a galette bressane together the other morning and was telling my Beloved how I wished I could start every morning kneading bread.  He said we have friends who would appreciate the donations.  He is right!

I put together more bread dough and was kneading it last night.  It was bringing calmness to my life.  

And then I had small hands help me.  Small Mister finds this process quite fascinating.

A bit of calm.  A bit of meditation.

forge turned to canning kitchen

I thought today was going to be about sewing but I was wrong.  Living where we currently do, I have no way to preserve pumpkins in a root cellar or someplace cool.  There is no place cool unless you are in an artificial environment.  I had to can pumpkins.  It was time.

I spent six hours cleaning, peeling, and "cubing" pumpkin to go in jars and to be canned.  My Beloved told me to close my eyes at one point.  He brought in another eight pumpkins from the garden.  He says there are still more.  He set up a turkey fryer base in his forge and watches over the pressure cooker for me.  

I told him I took over the forge and made it a canning kitchen.  He said that was always the plan!  I could not gotten through this day without him.  He is a most beloved Beloved.

This is two thirds of the pumpkin I canned.  There are nineteen more still processing.  So far, everything has sealed.  The canned pumpkin will make wonderful soup.  I will need to cook it down to make good pie or bread but that does not surprise me.

My knees, legs, and feet are stiff from standing.  My right hand is swollen and both hands are stiff.  They would be much worse if I had not been using my Beloved's knives!  But for today, the canning is done.

Guess what is for dinner.  Pumpkin soup!

just had to share from our northern backyard

We took a little holiday one day.  My Dad had come to see our land and once he left we decided we were all done in.

So we took a little drive in our "backyard."  Mt Baker National Forest.

The Tall Short Person had never been.  She actually took all these pictures.

And she had a fabulous time doing so!

This way you actually get to see some pictures of me.  The temperatures were in the low 70's but there was still much snow.  Small Mister did not like it!

The dog thought it was pretty cool though.

My Beloved, Bandit, myself, and Small Mister.  We rarely have a picture together.

And this is Mount Baker.  Beautiful.

We actually are on one of the ridges of Red Mountain.  About as far north on Red Mountain as you can get in the United States.

Can you tell I am missing working outside everyday?  And missing temperatures that are not triple digits?  We will go back soon just because there is that much work to do.  That is life and the care of the land.

working in the country

I am back in the world of internet.  I found out that the cell phone connection I had out in the country was actually an international connection so I decided not to even try.  Most of the time, all our phones did not even connect.

My family and I spent the greater part of four days clearing this road.  By hand.  My brother asked if we brought a bulldozer in.  No.  It was a Stihl weedwacker and clippers.  The weather was great.  I needed to wear a sweater for most of it if I was not working.

The Tall Short Person weed wacked most of this.  She decided she liked the weed wacker.  My Beloved used the chain saws.  I forgot to take the pictures of the wood piles and the clearing we created.

This was one of my favorite places to sit.  I had Small Mister on my back most of the time.  I was only who did not use power tools.

Once Small Mister realized he was going to the woods everyday, he loved the back pack.  

He liked seeing what every one was doing.

Especially when he was on longer on my back.  I am considered the short person in the family.  He was taller with everyone else.

There is much work still to do but I could go back today.  

Going back into an office setting today was MOST interesting!