Category Archives: Our Little Home

Pansies

Note: I started this post several day ago, but found myself too busy to finish. So the references to “yesterday” aren’t exactly accurate.
Yesterday I spent a beautiful sunny afternoon in the garden planting pansies.

I had some very eager little hands helping me.


Galen planted yellow and white pansies in pots to decorate the area where we are planning on holding the blessing. After that we planted a bunch of purple ones in the gardens.


It was so satisfying to be out in the sunshine, working with the earth and green living things!


Galen has been insisting on bringing everyone around to see every single little green shoot just starting to poke it’s way up. He never tires of looking at them, checking their progress and sharing his progress reports with the rest of us.


The new growing season has inspired Iain and Elijah also. They both spent a good portion of their afternoon doubling the size of those garden beds that they made a couple of years back. And of course there were pansies for them to plant too.


I’ll admit to having spent a lot of time just sitting around, drinking it all in. Often times I feel frustrated by the slow pace of our home building progress. I want to feel settled, and I want to feel it now! But yesterday as I was looking around and becoming reacquainted with the area surrounding our home, I found myself in awe of all of the things we have accomplished.

(It’s amazing what a difference a couple of days makes!)

When Galen was Màiri’s age, there was no sandbox, no swings, no playhouse, no benches. There were no garden beds. There was no house! Just the “Little House” in a most unlivable state. Perhaps we aren’t moving so very slowly after all.

It’s comforting to know that things are filling in, and filling out, a little bit here and there. Every year we come a little bit closer to our vision, the detail work in the tapestry fills in a little more. We move rocks and move plants and put down roots; our connections to each other and to our home growing ever stronger.

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Gardens, Kids, Our Little Home
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Finally! A Little Outdoor Yellow

Back in February, when I was taking part in “Yellow Week“, Andy posted a picture of a daffodil from his garden and I commented that the only yellow we had outside was the occasional patch of snow and I didn’t think that anyone would appreciate me taking pictures of that.

Well, it’s nearly 2 months and lots of melting later and we finally have some yellow!

Early Crocuses.
No daffodils yet. In one sunny and sheltered spot there are some buds, but mostly they are either just starting to push up or, in some cases, still buried under ice. There are some other little bits of color popping up here and there too…

And so begins that glorious time of year when I get to bombard you all with pictures from my garden, even though you could care less. Oh but it amuses me so you see! Look, look, things growing! Isn’t that marvelous?!?
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Gardens, Our Little Home
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Five Senses Friday: Smelling


The sense of smell is a tricky one for me. As is true for most people, it has the capacity to invoke strong memories in me. Unlike most people, it’s a warning, alerting me to the possibility of becoming ill. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile the two. How I long to be able to sit and smell my Grandfather’s cologne and be transported back to my childhood, laying in his lap in their living room and the feelings of safety and peace that well-known scent conveyed. These days it would trigger the exact opposite; fear and panic. I remember reading a book shortly after I became very ill. I could only read a little bit at a time before the ink would start to get to me, quite the blow for a life-long bookworm. The main character was talking about a package that her mother sent from halfway across the world, how she pressed the skirt to her face and just breathed and breathed because it smelled of her Mama. I remember crying because at the time, the smell of my own mother made me ill.

These days we lead a lightly scented life, full of naturally occurring smells. There are blessings in this too. You really do become more keenly aware of subtle aromas and notice things that might otherwise have gone undetected.


Some of the things I’ve been smelling this last week:
~baking smells; Irish Soda Bread, blueberry muffins at the beginning of the week and blueberry crisp toward the end (my supply is dwindling).

~wood smoke and damp earth

~the warm dusty smell put off by the light bulb in my sewing machine when I run it for hours on end

~the unique scent of different pillows as I cuddle each child before sleep

~cooking smells; stew with red wine, roasted root vegetables, Moroccan Carrot Soup, roasted chicken and Yorkshire Pudding

~Spring carried on the breeze

~baby hair, sweet milky breath

~the old, odd smell of new to us wooden chairs

~wool and lanolin

~freshly split wood

By
Kids, Life, Our Little Home, Thinking/Noticing
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Five Senses Friday: Seeing

I’m taking part in Kyrie’s count down to the arrival of her new little one. Each Friday, for the next five weeks, we’ll be exploring one sense.

I regret that today’s sense is not hearing! Wee Miss Màiri Rose really giggled for the first time yesterday! Up until now when she was tickled or excited she let out this sound that fell somewhere between a scream and a cough, but last night she laughed a real for real laugh. Oh my. Sweet, sweet girl of mine…

~Morning view~

What I’ve been seeing this week

  • Wet sticky snow clinging to trees and later a steady flow of water dripping down from the eaves
  • the occasional rock protruding out of the white
  • lots of work to be done, in the form of piles of yarn and fabric, stacks of books and project lists
  • A little boy, with fixed concentration, very carefully pressing a fork into balls of peanut butter cookie dough, first this way, then that.
  • A sky full of birds heading home
  • sunshine on golden yellow yarn
  • a smiling baby with a cat tail rubbing her check
  • bare forsythia branches, brought in from the snow
  • light lasting well into the day
  • the wood pile dwindling
  • a sleepy head on my breast
  • Big boys rocking a very little girl
  • The biggest boy of all cuddling her to his bare chest at night
  • a different slant of light
  • a little dormouse pointed out by a little goose boy
  • flippy floppy boys bouncing on a trampoline
  • a look of surprise and joy at the first spinning of a swing
  • bright blue skies
  • little ones growing and changing and growing and growing some more.


~sketches and notes in my note book on plans for little wardrobes for the coming seasons~

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Kids, Life, Our Little Home, Thinking/Noticing
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Babymooning

Thank you everyone for all of your kind comments, welcoming our new little one. Steve and I have read and enjoyed every one of them.


Runny, dripping, rambley, postpartum-y thoughts…

This sweet girl of mine was in no hurry to see the outside world. At 42.5 weeks, this was my longest pregnancy yet and the nearly 24 hours of labor was double or nearly double all but Iain’s birth. I was honestly starting to think that she wasn’t coming at all. At 38 weeks, a new baby felt eminent, assumed, a foregone conclusion, by 42 weeks the thought of actually bringing a new little one into our home was somewhat unfathomable.


Oh, but she has been worth every second of that wait. She has the longest fingers I’ve ever seen on a newborn. And the most perfect little ears. You really forget how tiny they are just at first, and Màiri isn’t exactly small by newborn standards!


I’m kind of obsessive about hats on little, little ones. My babies wear them constantly, except for the occasional picture (and immediately after it gets slipped right back on!). Oh, but her sweet dark hair! I keep sneaking my hand up underneath her cap to feel that darling soft fuzz. Her smell is simply intoxicating. Sometimes she will sit all curled up in my lap, leaning into my belly and I hold her close and think how strange it is for her to be in this space on the outside when it only feels like a moment ago when she was here on the inside. Maybe I was the one that needed the extra time. Perhaps I wasn’t quite ready to release her to the world just yet. All I want to do is lay and watch her and not miss a single moment. Oh, but I am a mother of 4 now. Four! And I don’t want to miss anyone else’s moments either!


So strange to have a daughter after three boys! For the first day and a half or so, I was genuinely concerned that we had made a mistake! I kept thinking, “We didn’t look that closely.” And then thinking how embarrassing it would be to have to go back and explain that to people! “Uh, yeah, no, sorry about that, we just missed a little something on our first check…” I’m fairly assured of her reality now. :)


A week or two before her birth, a friend of mine told me about a very peaceful and lovely dream that she had where I was giving birth (to a baby girl) and that during the birth I had literally hundreds of friends around me, singing, baking and cooking, running me baths, knitting clothes for the baby. And I really feel like that’s just how it was. We’ve had two dear friends come to bless us (bearing blessings from others near and far). Two more friends, both far away geographically, but very close in my heart, sent the most wonderful care packages, full of woolens and toys, play things and clothes for the boys and the little hand-knits that their own daughters had worn. The greater on-line community that they are a part of, who kept vigil for us during the birth and offered words of support and advice whenever needed. The birthtub, loaned to us by our neighbors and delivered to our front door. My midwife friend who came and brought us a bunch of extra birth supplies, just because, and preformed Cranial Sacral therapy on me before the birth and then came back a few days later for another long session with both Màiri and I. Oh we’ve been blessed. There was my doula friend who offered us free services, that I honestly never thought I’d take her up on, and then in the final half-hour or so decided that I would really like the extra support. I’m not sure that I would have made it through without her. And our dear sweet neighbor who took the boys and tried hard to make Iain’s birthday a special one in our absence. Including giving him a very special book that he had been coveting, that I know must have come from her own collection. Even B the Builder, who was at her house working, when he found it it was Iain’s birthday, went straight to his truck to see if he could find a little treat to give him (it ended up being a cherry Lara bar!). It was such a comfort to know that they were all being cared for and loved, even when I wasn’t able to be with them. And when they came back home, after just a couple of hours away, they brought with them a huge “Welcome Baby” banner that they had painted in their absence. And both our doula friend and our neighbor friend stayed with us for a while and made sure that all was settled and that we had everything we needed. And my own husband who built up the fire and heated water and lovingly washed my hair in a basin because a shower we unavailable to me.


And now, still now, we are being supported and nourished and cared for, by dear friends, bringing us fabulous, incredible meals…lentil soup and squash muffins and stew, salads, fruit, casseroles, so, so much abundance! We were always very isolated with the births of our other children, for various reasons and this has just been such an amazing and heart warming experience for us. There really are no words, but ever so much gratitude.

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celebrations and festivals, Kids, Life, Our Little Home
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Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve

::hanging stockings::

Have I mentioned that December 24th is also our anniversary??

::Anniversary flowers from my love::

::Baking cookies::

::Cake by Steve and Galen. I know it looks plain, but it’s quite rich!::


::Everyone in new jammies::

::Putting out cookies and milk for Santa, and a carrot for the reindeer, of course!::

And a few from Christmas Day

::First taste of a candy cane::

::Playing with new toys::

::Opening gifts::


::Dinner on the best dishes, while still in jammies! (he’s drinking organic sparkling grape juice by the way and obviously dinner involved a lot of tomato sauce!)::

I’m excited to finally be able to share all of the top secret crafting that’s been going on around here these last couple of months! So, just as soon as I get a few pictures…

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celebrations and festivals, Kids, Our Little Home
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