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I always knew I’d land in Purgatory

I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints…the sinners have much more fun – (On a side note – I’d like to thank Billy Joel for a truly great song, it always gets me in a good mood)…

Of course, I’m not there YET , although on some days that’s debatable… but one of my “shoes” hoofed it to Nova Scotia, and that’s exactly where it landed.

This is the screened porch of Sara Harley of Dream Big, an artist in several mediums that has a very generous heart. Visit her blog and check out her Paws for Charity work. You’ll also see her incredible stained glass window creations and calendars. I think I have convinced the husband that we should take a road trip to this beautiful land some time in the near future so that I can purchase one of these windows and call it my very own. Plus, have you seen the rugged beauty of Nova Scotia? Sara also wields a mean camera, her photos are beautiful.

The Best Gift of the Season

So.. as I ponder this particular holiday season, for as much HO HO HO, Good tidings and JOY it’s supposed to bring upon you, what’s more realistic is the angst about spending money, buying the perfect gifts, trying to get a card out, wrapping all the presents, making all the lists, cooking and baking all that food and missing the people who aren’t with you for one reason or the other. I see it clearly on facebook and the blogosphere (although bloggers tend to be happier people, I’ve noticed.. more griping goes on in the Facebook world and I always think that’s a mistake).

Today, although I have all of the above to worry about, I did nothing in particular of very much importance. What I did do.. was appreciate the family all under one roof, untethered to work or school projects or activities. There were no tragedies or emergencies. School is out for the holiday and it’s so nice to have both chicks in the nest. I didn’t even mind the bickering between them, which was minimal…and I suspect they like having each other around too. I love the gift of this ordinary day, and I don’t appreciate it often enough. There have been times when we have not had that luxury and I should know better.

I hope you’ve had an ordinary day too, and I’de love to hear the kind of day you cherish most.

You can please some of the people some of the time

It may appear that This Old House and it’s acreage is way out in the middle of nowhere… however we’re just minutes down the road from the center of what I can describe as a small New England town. We live on a scenic rural road, but to the right of us when facing the house, up on the hill abutting one of our fields is a subdivision of luxury homes. This is the view of that subdivision from our dirt driveway that leads to the back fields.

Our farm has been here for 200 years. The subdivision is about eight years old. We have been informed this morning that a formal complaint to the town has been filed by our closest neighbor in that subdivision because they can see our farm machinery from their house, see above. Their property line is right at the back of their house. They happen to have a beautiful view of our fields. You can see from the pictures below that these fields are well maintained. There is an entire field, treeline, drive and two stone walls between their property line and the machinery parked at the back of one of our fields. Said machinery is still 50 yards behind me when I took this shot aiming at their house, above. Am I clear on how far away from their backyard this equipment is located?

This view below is what they are complaining about. I was standing on the wall on our property line when I took this picture this morning. I had to see for myself just what they were complaining about. Click on the picture to enlarge.. you will see the tops of our equipment, and a few extra trucks are there today because we have men here helping Mike spread organic fertilizer over the hay fields. The healthy stuff, not a chemical we could have chosen.

What disheartens me the most is that if they had any gripe at all, we are neighbors. In my opinion a decent neighbor, one you might want to have a decent relationship with simply because you live next to each other.. oughta pick up the phone and talk to each other about whatever the complaint may be. They had no problem stopping by to ask if their child could use our fields to cut through to a friend’s house, and they had no problem asking if they could rebuild a portion of rock wall that is on our property but they consider a part of their yard. WE had no problem oblidging because we are, afterall, neighbors.

Well today, as we begin spreading that organic fertilizer, we will surely fortify the field that is directly behind them right after lunch. I hope they appreciate that it is all organic and will make that hay field look even more spectacular come Spring.

This fertilizer spreader is from the 1970’s… still works beautifully.

They don’t make things like they used to.

Rum Balls

These are really easy, really delicious. No baking necessary! When you’re having company over or visting someone else for the holidays, just set a plate heaping full of them out and watch them disappear. It’s best to make them atleast a week ahead of time, put them in a tupperware container and set in the refrigerator to “season”.

Rum Balls

2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup light rum

Powdered sugar

Line airtight container with wax paper. Set aside. In large mixing bowl, combine wafers, granulated sugar and walnuts. Add butter and rum. Stir until well blended. Mixture will be crumbly.

Shape mixture into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet and let stand for 1 hour. Re-roll balls in powdered sugar and place in prepared container. Store in refrigerator. – Allow to season for alteast one week. Rum flavor improves with time.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

This one’s been around, but it still makes me laugh.

SARAH PALIN: The chicken crossed the road because gosh-darn it, he’s a maverick!
Honey, where’s my gun?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where’s my gun? And where’s Harry Whittington? Is that a quail?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not …cross the road… with that chicken.

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some chickens of color.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a NEW CAR so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road..

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he’s guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer’s Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can’t you people see the plain truth? That’s why they call it the ‘other side.’ Yes, my friends, That chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the Liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like ‘the other side.’ That chicken should not be crossing the road. It’s as plain and as simple as that.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish it’s lifelong dream of crossing the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2010, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken2010. This new platform is much more stable and will never reboot.

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

For the Love of Dogs

For those of you who have been following along here with me for a while, you know I take pictures almost daily. Recently I was asked by a dear friend to take pictures of her three month old niece. This baby was the most beautiful thing, she has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes – and the holiday outfits made her look like a true Kris Kringle baby.

Out of respect for the family I won’t share their full portraits, but I did get permission from my friend to show you the picture I liked the most, seen below. Our photo session was held at her house, and she was so generous in letting us dismantle her living room for pictures. While she and her pup, Izzy, observed patiently on the sidelines, Izzy fell asleep in her “mothers” lap.

If this isn’t a portrait of real love, I don’t know what is.

An Irish Christmas Tale

Paddy was working in his woodwork shop making toys for the lads and lasses. He was hover’n over a saw machine when a wood piece slipped and he cut off all of his fingers. Off to the hospital rushed he.

The doctor asks him “Did you bring your fingers?”

Poor Paddy in tearful pain says “No.”

Doc says “Ah now Paddy, with our modern medical technology we could’ve sewn them back on as good as new. Why didn’t you bring the fingers??”

And Paddy looks at him and screams “How de feck could I pick dem up????”

Rain, darn it.

Oh, how I wanted snow. The husband not so much. He’s probably doing a happy dance as I type, because when it snows, for him it means a lot of plowing.

This is what I see as I look out my office window… we are blessed with a neighborhood full of older colonial homes and I am grateful daily to be surrounded by the old New England charm.

Although it’s hard to see in this photo, when we look out the back windows we have Mrs. N’s awesome log cabin up on the hill. Our previous home had beautiful grounds, but it was set way back off the road. What I find I am enjoying most in our move to This Old House is the proximity to neighbors… seeing lights on across the street or over at Mrs. N’s.

See the dreariness of this morning? For all of you who are complaining of snow…

YES, send me that semi truck full. I’ll accept the delivery.

The eldest child is home from college for winter break

and she has joined me in making cookies

for the christmas cookie collection.

We tried something new this year and it came out delicious!!

Have you seen these in the store?

You should be able to find them in the baking section.

Recipe is on back, similar to Choc chips.. YUM.

More Blog Love

See the button on the right over there? Everybody needs a little…

Yeah, well no one needs the aggravation of trying to figure out how to make the “codes” of a blog button work if you don’t really know what you’re doing. So after two hours of cursing the machine, I went to the expert – Di of The Blue Ridge Gal. She saved me with the flash of an SOS. Go ahead, click on it.. it works! The jingle, by the way, is a song written and sung by Mikes partners son, James. Not bad, huh?

Thanks, Di –

And.. look what arrived in the mail from Misha in the Tennesee mountains!…. a moose, a snowman and a PEACE pillow. Misha, your christmas card was beautiful too, Thank you.

We had a serious winter sky early this evening… I’m hoping for snow.

The Reason

I was asked recently why I like to blog.

“What’s the appeal? You’re having mini conversations

with people you don’t even know and might never meet!”

The appeal? It’s the human connection…the commiserating, shared creativity,

virtual visits to parts of the world and occupations and customs

I may never experience in person.

A room with a different view.

We laugh together, cry together and sometimes for each other.

We share ideas and recipes and remedies.

Blogland is a village of sorts, complete with idiots,
but I try to avoid those.

I received cookies in the mail today from Hilary of
Crazy As A Loom ….

…not helping me with the “Lead me not into temptation” thing…

but these sure hit the spot with a nice cup of tea

on a bone-cold winter day.

Thank you, Hilary.

Looking around This Old House, I see I may have gone hog-wild with the decorating and I’m wondering, too late, who’s gonna help me put it all away. My family finds 2,000 things of more importance to do when it comes time to take it all down.

I found this sign at one of the casino shops last week –