This Old House 2 – Page 106 – Middle aged musings from farm & hearth

Fall rolls in

The light has changed, a golden slant, earlier in the evening now. Woodburning smoke curls through the air and in through open windows. Heavenly, the scent. Leaves crunch under foot as I make my way to the barn and coop for early morning feeding. Sleep comes easier on these cool early autumn nights. The Mr. insists on an open window as I heap on another blanket. The stew and soup recipes come to the top of the pile and maple cream cookies fill the jar. We have yet to stack wood outside the kitchen door but I eagerly await the first fire in the fireplace. Fall has indeed come to This Old House. How does the season announce itself in your neck o’the woods?

Anniversary flowers!

24 and The Ring

Happy 24th Anniversary to my significant other! We’ve certainly had our ups and downs, but the ride is well worth the potholes here and there. Thank you for being my rock, for being such a great father to our children, and for embracing the many dogs, horses, cats, chickens, fish, rabbits, firebelly toads, rats and wounded critters over the years. (OK you made me get rid of the rat.. And maybe “embracing” is pushing it) May we share many more years together in greater harmony regardless of our political affiliations 🙂 XO

A writer friend I know through our mother’s long time friendship.. wrote this piece the other day on his blog… I loved it, and so I wanted to share it with you.

Click on the link… http://thepitchbaseballlife.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ring.html

Leave him a comment if you are also moved, I think he should be writing a book.

An AA tradition

My cousin is a recovering alcoholic who frequents AA meetings, which have given him a strong support system over the years. I give him a huge amount of credit for continuing to battle and slay the demons that have plagued him since young adulthood… it takes an enormous amount of effort and I think we can’t really understand that unless we are among the afflicted. He was given this plant by an AA member years ago, and my aunt has continued to care for it. She’s moving, so she has brought me the plant to continue it’s care. There’s quite a history in the AA “creeping Charlie” or Swedish Ivy plant.

According to Wikipedia – William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), an international mutual aid fellowship with over two million members belonging to 100,800 groups of alcoholics helping other alcoholics achieve and maintain sobriety.

The Swedish Ivy plants, whose cuttings are given to AA members, are descendants of the plant that was in Bill Wilson’s room when he passed away in 1971 in Miami, Florida. His wife, Lois, took the plant home to Stepping Stones in New York where she cared for it until the mid 80’s.

She gave the plant to her housekeeper who in turn gave it to Michael Manning of Atlanta, George. Lois asked that she pass it on to members of the A. A. fellowship in memory of Bill. Michael has taken pieces of this plant all over the world, she brought it to Washington in July 1998.

This is a true A. A. plant because every time you pass it on, 2 new shoots replace the one that was given away and your plant grows stronger.

This plant is also sometimes called a “Creeping Charlie” plant, and it’s rumored that Ebby Thatcher brought it originally to Bill W. when he was in the townes hospital where he had his original spiritual conversion. Bill supposedly gave it this name after a friend of his named Charlie that kept creeping up on Bill’s back porch to sleep.

The writer of this explanation states: ” I have a large plant of this type that was given to Dr. G. in San Diego in 1973 by Lois W., and then passed on to my first Sponsor Shedrick M. sometime around 1980. I was given the plant, as well as a short letter that’s supposed to accompany cuttings of the plant on July 4th, 1995 on my 20th AA birthday. It’s rumored to be the original plant, though it’s probably impossible too know the truth about it after all this time. The idea of the plant, and the sharing of some of the common threads of our history is what’s really important about it.”

I’ve told you about the 100 year old plants I have on my front porch, Cast Iron plants. They were an engagement present to my great-grandparents and have been passed down, eventually to me, for care. My readers helped me identify what they were. I love having this new addition at This Old House… a homage to all the hard work that people who suffer from and conquer alcoholism put in every day. My hat’s off to those of you who can relate. If you care to share your story, as this disease touches many in different ways… please do so below.

Going to the Dogs!

If you’re local and you have some time this weekend, stop by the Dog Days Estate and Bake Sale at 101 N. Main Street in Essex today or tomorrow, 9am-1pm. They’re raising money for another adoption event and could use all the help they can get. The two puppies you see below are from Connecticut Animal House and are also in need of homes. A big thank you to my blog friend Hilary of Crazy as a Loom for donating two beautiful rag rugs and a looper loom for the occasion.

Randomocity

Did I just make that word up?

Did you watch that ABANDONED program about the vacant Johnsonville

that I heralded last night?

It wasn’t all the great. They didn’t highlight half of the village’s appeal,

nor did they discuss much of the history of that oddly wonderful vacant village.

If you did see it, the fellow that was haggling over the prices of “stuff”

with the shows host… was the guy who I bumped into when I went

trespassing on the property to take pictures.

He was reluctant,but then allowed a few shots…keeping an eye on my whereabouts.

That school house that was purchased on the show still stands..

so if they really bought it for the reported $5,000., they haven’t taken it yet.

The show was mostly about junk hunting, which disappointed me.

Frasier wasn’t impressed either.

This is a bouquet I picked from the backyard gardens before the storms the other night.

Even though these flowers are all out there for everyone to see…

ALL SUMMER LONG…

the husband and child thought they were store bought,

shocked that they came from our own yard.

For a minute I think they didn’t believe it.

Now why would that be shocking?

Every morning I’m up at 5:30 am… the dogs go out,

then the dogs come in to be fed.

The manchild is awoken, much to his chagrin,

and then I head up to the barn and coop to feed..

while she takes him for a walk..

…in rainboots.

Keeps the ticks off in the tall grass, didn’t ya know.

***

Warning: If you’re easily offended, look away now.

Finally, a few words about politics and living in a house divided.

It ain’t easy.

Enough said.

Don’t Miss it!!

Remember the abandoned village I photographed HERE?….

Thanks, Tim G. , for reminding me that tonight the special airs on Nat Geo regarding that very abandoned village! Click on the link below for more information.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/abandoned/episodes/connecticut-ghost-town/

This morning I’ll continue my college conversation with the kid. See below, any pointers are greatly appreciated… 🙂

No kidding

Me: Hey dude, keep in mind.. pretty soon we should start looking at colleges.

Maybe we’ll start with Sunny Valley U. Whatdaya think?

Him: Not going.

Me: The hell you aren’t.

So I’ll call and see when there’s an Open House

and we can take a tour.

Him: It’s such a waste of time, I’m busy!

I’m not going.

Me: How are you going to know what schools you’d like to apply to if you

haven’t been to them to see what they’re all about?

Him: Just google the ones that have a good weight lifting program

and show me the pictures. Then I’ll pick.

*sigh*

Black & White with a splash of color

I’ve always admired this technique, but never looked into how to actually DO it. I figured it was pretty technical and I have the patience of a -gnat- when it comes to fidgeting around in the various photo programs.. especially Photoshop. (talk about confusing!.. am I the only one who feels this way about photoshop?)… Give me picmonkey any day.

But Picmonkey can’t DO this thing, and I saw on a post the other day that a blog friend of mine, Ms. A, figured it out for herself. I asked her for a tutorial. For some reason I couldn’t apply her method on my computer, which frustrated the h*ll out of my impatient self. So I googled and found out exactly how to do it in the dreadful Photoshop. Much easier than I thought! Not perfect, I need more patience… (ha!)… but for now, not bad either.

Now if you’re into this kind of thing but haven’t tried it yet yourself..

here’s the tutorial I found on the net and used for the Photoshop method.

” One of the techniques people most often ask me to teach them is making a photograph like the one on the right that is black and white with one other colour. There are a few ways to achieve this effect but here is the one I find easiest for Photoshop users:

1) Open a suitable photograph, this can be any subject but ideally it needs an area of bright colour that will have an impact when it’s finished while the rest of the photo looks good in black and white.

2) Select IMAGE>ADJUSTMENTS>DESATURATE to turn the photo black and white. But don’t take the photo out of RGB (i.e. don’t convert to black and white or mono) or the next step won’t work.

3) Select the history brush from the tool menu on the left of the screen (usually the fifth icon down in the right hand column), set hardness to 100% and choose a suitable brush size to work with on the section of the photo you want to put in colour.

4) Now use the brush and go over the area you want in colour, the brush will erase the black and white and bring back the colour. You may need to zoom and work close up on some sections. Take your time and change brush sizes if you need to.”

If you do try this, I’d like to post your finished work here… send it to karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com in the next week or two and I’ll do a post if I get some from any of you. I’ll give you two weeks to give it a go.