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Showing posts with label cabin fever. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cabin fever. Show all posts

Friday, October 26, 2012

Judy's back

 
The coming of Autumn and the imminent threat of snow means it's time for Winterizing the Wall Tent Studio, Second Edition.

It's hard to believe that another winter is upon us, another year embarked on with this great adventure of wall tent living.  But, with my experience form last year under my belt, I'm confident that I will be able to do this again.  It's not easy... it's often downright miserable!  But it's what I have to do - and I plan to make the very best of it that I possibly can.

Last week found me with a can of sprayable high-temp blacking paint, which I found to be even better than the rub-on stove blacking I used last year.  Judy, my faithful little 624 king woodstove, had acquired a bit of rust and dirt over the summer on the porch, but she was soon in top form, iron gleaming black and ready for work.  I fired the paint with the first light of the year and fell in love all over again with the indescribable, irresistible beauty of crackling flames.

Mildred the kitty appeared from nowhere, ready to take up her winter abode at the foot of my bed.  The sky was the bluest blue after a small hailstorm and the air carried a breath of snow.  Autumn leaves gleamed in the low light of late afternoon.

Next - chop, stack, chop, stack wood on the porch, and rocking by the fire, hot chocolate in hand.  
No, Rosie, you adorable tornado you, you can't come in.  Not even with that face.

But I'll go on a walk with you, because soon I'll be snowbound in canvas once more for the long, long winter.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Out of a blizzard

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I'm off on a mini vacation tomorrow!  It's masquerading as a house sitting job - but I know better.  This little break from the Battle to keep the Green Tarp Clear of Snow is most welcome;)  We got another five inches today - I was out wrestling with the snow this morning with my trusty spring rake.  Three hours later, and I was at it again, scraping and beating at another two inches!  But all in all, things are still perfectly cozy once I step inside my warm canvas, out of sight of the blinding whiteness.
 
 
However, a little break is most welcome, and spending it in a real house has me really excited!  I adore house sitting.  No internet, but copious amounts of tea, and solitude - reading, sewing, and... movie watching;)  I have a nice little pile of classic Hollywood in my bag - especially looking forward to seeing Laura (1944) and Christmas in Connecticut (1945), both for the first time.  Have you seen them?  What did you think?  
And my friend's German Shepherds will keep me company.  And bark at mean things.  And I will look at the horses over the snowy hill through the window and feed them out in the whiteness.

And speaking of my bag, I just whipped up this tote about half an hour ago... I've been meaning to make it for ages, but the sudden need of something to put my articles in gave the extra initiative needed;)  
It's enormous.  Just what I wanted.  And the thrifted vintage peony patch is really a perfect pocket for holding embroidery. 
 I think Mildred has taken a liking to it... :)
And... my sisters will have a grand time keeping my hearth fires burning... I have a feeling my tent will be one big dollhouse all weekend;)
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Have a wonderful and cozy weekend - I'll be back soon!

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Durward + Hot Chocolate


Just sitting.  
10:00 in the evening - work done.  The world is still.  Fire blazing.  The rocking chair swings back and forth to the gentle rhythm of my foot.  Vintage Corelle tea cup filled with that most comforting and splendid of beverages, hot chocolate.

But waiting, just on the other side of that page, lies a world of intrigue, suspense, valor and honor.  Disguises, monarchs, a mysterious lute-playing damsel, and of course a hero in the bonnie Highland laddie.



Thank you for another wonderful evening, Sir Walter Scott!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Snowbound In Canvas

Snowbound In Canvas ~


.  I created this treasury a few evenings ago, inspired by the whole mood of my little canvas cottage that night.  The hot tea, warm fire, pile of wood drying under the stove, and kitty snuggled on the bed, combined with the dusky, deeply white world outside, all seem embodied in this whimsical and cozy treasury.  This evening is much the same, except the presence of my four sisters, grouped on the bed and rocking chair.  We are listening to What Katy Did Next, and I'm loving the slightly Swedish accent of the reader!   (Edit: Ch. 3 has a great Aussie reader! =)

Well, my little corner of the world just had not quite two feet of snow dumped on it in the last three days!  I've been wrestling with my tent fly with all I've got the last three days, pushing, pulling, scraping the snow off... I'm starting to get exhausted;) I need to come up with a better fly system, and I think I've come up with a reasonably good plan - I'm just kind of in survival mode until my dad can get time to help me =)
And survival mode isn't so bad, once the outside chores are done - I slip down a deep, snowy path and through the fabric door onto my (now covered) porch - off with boots, scarf, coat, and all, in the dark, frozen but dry little room, then through the tent flap and into my warm, golden-lighted, cozy cave:)
I constructed a porch cover out of free cotton to keep snow from blowing onto my wood pile - now every time I go in or out I have to summon all of my sense of humor to be able to look at it.  You see, the free fabric consists of not one, but three different prints/colors - a peach and light green striped, a dark hunter solid, and, get this - a mid-blue liberally strewn with comical-looking santa clauses!

Oh my.  I said it.
Don't hold it against me, but remember instead dear Necessity, the mother of Invention.  Because my covered porch is really a very wonderful thing. =D

Well, I shall now retire to the rocking chair myself, to roast my toes and indulge in the venting of a (slight) case of Cabin Fever by getting out the accordion and singing some silly songs with my sisters at the top of our voices.

I'll be back soon!
Keep warm, friends!

Love,
~Me~

P.S. There's still plenty of time to get in all of your entries in the Ginormous Giveaway!  Have you?


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Snowbound


I did Chinese with the girls today - we made flash cards with the chinese character on one side, and the English translation on the other.  I passed each girl a little stack of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, then we each took turns creating sentences with our words.  It was hilarious - one of mine read "Three old men of the population sold cow's milk and candy to the King's seven running daughters."  Then I attempted to say it in Chinese.  Ever played Mad-Libs?  Try it in another language.  It's ten times the fun=)  
However, I'm not up to saying much away from my books, so please don't ask me any words just quite yet;)
Snow fell in a furious, blinding mass most of the day - Aubrey got out the tractor to plow the driveway, and I went to help him with something to get it started.  I was only outside for about fifteen minutes, but by the time I came in, I was completely, deeply, covered with snow.  And how! :D
Now, the driveway's plowed.  The snow's still howling though.  Animals fed.  Dinner cleared away - wonderful egg noodles from a family-owned factory in Montana, and topped with homemade garlic scape pesto. . . mmm!  Butterscotch pudding stirring on the stove while little girls hurried to get ready for bed, then a special treat - a Harold Lloyd silent movie=)  We were laughing so hard - I'm afraid I slapped my knee in a peculiar way that I have so hard that it's bruised:)  Completely unladylike. . .
After the movie, I finished up another apron for the shop - now to get pictures of my entire apron stash and list them!
Well, I've been enjoying each and every entry in the Literary Heroine Blog Party so much.  Thank you to everyone who's entered so far!  And if you haven't yet, why not head on over and join the fun?  I'd be thrilled to have you!
Auf Wiedersehen, Meine Freunde!
 So long, friends!
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
Well, no sooner than I finished typing the above, that the real excitement of the evening occurred.  It's much later now - and I have a whole 'nother story to tell;)
Current weather forecast:
-*---*---*-

It was really my fault.  I brushed my teeth.  
And as the water has to be kept constantly running or freeze in the pipes, I wickedly forgot and turned the water off when I was done.  Then I sat down to make my nice little post above.  And just as I typed the exclamation mark, my Mom spoke the dreaded words: "The water's stopped!"  I ran to the tub, the lowest part of the water system, to see if it was still running there, but nothing was coming out of the faucet.  Alright, one drip.  Then nothing.  

I turned on all faucets, then called poor Aubrey on the phone, who came running from his little bus to save the day.  He got out the propane torch and tried to light it, but the wind was blowing too hard to light a match.  I got a wad of napkins, lit them with a match, then shoved it out the door to Aubrey and the torch, which was then able to take hold and light.  Aubrey thawed out the frost-free outdoor water faucet, then by a miracle got the hose, which was already almost frozen through, working again.  I was hunched in front of the indoor pipes, with the blow dryer trained on them.  Then, that joyous sound - running water!  Pouring out from every faucet!

You really cannot truly appreciate something until you've had to do with out it.
Praise God for everything, and in everything give thanks - running water is a blessing, but God is still good when it ceases to flow.
Aubrey came inside and I fixed him some hot chocolate and cheese-and-crackers as a peace offering.

The end.
I know, I usually don't share stories like that here. =)  Well, I've decided that I've not been sharing the entire picture on this here web journal.  You might as well know me as I am, not as I "type" myself up to be.  I'm sure none of us intend to portray ourselves in a different light in the blogosphere as we are in real life, but it to happens to every one of us sometime or another.
I want to make an effort to charge that - I want to be able to truly share what God has been doing in my life, so that others can be edified.  
To God be the glory!
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