~Gnomes~Textures~HandWork

I'd like to eat this plant.

I saw it at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which was stunning even in November. They have a reflexology labyrinth made of stones that you are invited to take your shoes off and experience (M&S: we are going there together next summer when you visit!!!!) and a beautiful children's garden. Not to mention a stunning art show by dear Toki!

I finished Jared Flood's Cobblestone pullover, which you may have seen bits of along the way here. It is my new favorite weekend cozy thing to wear, knit from SeaColors by Nanney Kennedy. I like the side detailing in garter stitch.

Friends: I miss you.

Here I was spending time in this new gorgeous kitchen around dinner time with my dear friend B.,: two mamas and a 5 year old and a 1.5 year old, trying to navigate a beautifully photographed recipe for a garlic/goat cheese tart. Two adults felt like the bare minimum: baby holding, recipe reading, snack giving, chopping, etc.

This pot rack was made by my crafty, hip friend, B.---and she made the light fixtures too! With the red colander! Love. It. Helpfully, the kitchen includes a little workspace for small helpers: this creation turned out to be a Vegetarian Compost Tartlet made from scraps of dough and veggies.

My own Tomten (brought back from Sweden) has been awaiting this mushroom for about 30 years. It is perfectly sized for him. And how could I resist a craft kit of little Amanita Gnomes to go with?

Sylvan, mad crafter himself, has been busy writing instructions on how to make a Pine Cone Balm (Bomb) with earnest and fabulous invented spelling:

And some kind of circle weaving, good for making bracelets and anklets.

The craft is returning. Eichenlaub Annual is on my mind. Family photo calendars too.

hands, etc.

The new life feels crowded and often unbalanced. But there is still room for the occasional moment for a girl and the camera.

I still love hands, little and big. I still like a good apple fresh-picked from the tree. I still love the golden light of fall the best.

Hayrides and apple-picking. Hikes. Hanging the occasional load of laundry. Cooking yummy food on the weekends together.

I appreciate my good, dear, and patient family and miss them.

This is how I feel sometimes, turned upside down and clinging on:

Moosehead Annual Report

~favorite shot of Moosehead 2011~

~This post's for you, Joanie. Busy hands.~

more leaping

organic u-pick raspberries: $2.50/pint=a steal

You know how when you are about to give birth to your first child, you know your life is going to change pretty radically, and you've read all you can, and you've folded all those baby clothes, and you can demonstrate all those nursing positions you read about, and you're as ready as you can be...BUT.

You have absolutely no idea what it will really be like. Leaping blindly into the unknown.

I'm having all that all over again and this time, it's not a baby, but a new chapter in my librarian life that I am preparing for. I've been hired to be a district elementary librarian, starting this fall. This is just what I have been working for in my master's program, it's exactly the field I want to be in, and the benefits are many.

I have also left behind a fabulous part-time job at my beloved Rockport Public Library: the people, my colleagues, my mentor and leader (boss is the wrong word), have all helped me become this professional person who I am. It's kind of weird to leave a job I love so much.

But now, this summer, I am folding all those baby clothes, excited and a little scared and having no idea the directions my life will have to change and re-form. I am reading a lot of kid lit and school library materials, preparing benchmarks and lessons, creating systems, and doing what I can to make this transition smooth. I'm sure I've overlooked some really big deal thing that will blindside me in the fall, but oh well. I am doing what I can.

After that first child is born, you can't remember not having him in your life. What did we DO before parenthood, we ask each other, what did we TALK about, and think of the TIME we wasted! I'm thinking of my family, my boys who are grown up enough to do a little bit more for themselves, but I know they'll still need me as much, in different ways. I'm thinking of Mr. Crafty, who is ready to step up his already-significant involvement here at home and bolster me up and give me ideas, the way I have done for him these past 12 years. For my part, I am planning our fall menus at least through October. Because that is a complete creativity-suck for me.

And as for the creative endeavors part, that's part of the mystery. I know a lot of creativity will be in my work life: creative organizing, teaching, and managing. I'm stepping out of my home life and into the workforce, full-time, for the first time. I will always be a Maker of Things, it will just be different now than it has been.

I'm waiting to see how it unfolds.

Speaking of unfolding, this quilt will be a gift for my eldest who will turn 13 this December. Check out the Yellow Submarine-inspired fabric in that lower left corner. Love. It. And I love the boy who it will snuggle. SHHH! It's a secret!

Blog Readers: I'm asking for any advice you might have about making this transition. Thanks.

leaping

People are living in their bathing suits around here. And you know I couldn't resist these little ruby slippers, tossed off under the restaurant table.
Must be summer. A little crazy, a little sanguine, like this pile of noodles: colorful disarray. Everything wonderful, intense, and schedule-less.

Slipway in Thomaston:

best seafood around,

great location

If you live in Maine...

You probably didn't move here for Hot and Humid reasons. I, for one, did not. You are already familiar with the fact that Hot and Humid are not my friends. So when it's like this, I can tell because I am wilted and grumpy, and I end up washing a lot of towels (single use only or they smell funky because---surprise---they don't dry) and a lot of linen clothes.

The dress that you can see, above, is pretty much a glorified nightgown that happens to be appropriate to wear to work. When I put it on I always think: "Hmm, am I really just wearing a brown shapeless sack?" Not that I care, on a day when I am preparing to stand in the heat at work and attempt friendliness and patience all day. I'll take anything that helps (mint water is a good plan also). But surprisingly I get a lot of compliments; the buttons down the back elevate it from brown-sackdom.

Today: utter bliss. Waking up, instead of icky damp hotness, to clear, blue skies, and clean-feeling air. Laundry day. I feel like the universe is sending me a Valentine on days like this ("really? you love me this much?").

This is My Weather!

And may I introduce you to my hand-me-down pink, cheetah print, synthetic summer skirt? Pretty much the opposite of the linen dress and not something I'd opt for in H & H weather or for work. But she rocks it in a whole different way. She's sort of a home skirt, an over-the-bathingsuit skirt, a garden skirt.

Note to self from the boys: "these are the only good sparklers to buy, so don't be cheap and buy the lame ones ever again."

Summer. Sigh. Now I need to go out and hang another load on the line!

(Thanks for the nudge, Hilary S. xo)