Let there be light!

Wow... I can't believe I have been struggling so long with taking photographs of my work. In general I am pretty happy with my photographs which is why I continued so long as I had. But it all depends on how much natural light I get. And a dark rainy day or evening doesn't work well. So that meant I was waiting for good light.

On Monday when I had no time and was pretty much overwhelmed with my custom work, Christmas holidays (I haven't even started on presents yet), house chores, taking children to orthodontists .... I sat down for an hour and made myself a light box. Such a simple thing gives such awesome results. I just took a cardboard box and cut out large squares in the sides and top. Then I cut white fabric sections to cover these holes and glued them to the cardboard.

Now I can take photos anytime of the day. I can't believe that I have struggled so long without this seemingly simple tool.

Saturday morning was breakfast with Santa at the elementary school. My daughter sang in the choir.



We have our Christmas tree up! Up to now I have felt that I've been too busy for Christmas. But just seeing the tree puts me in a good mood. Saturday at 4pm we went out up to Ashby and to a local farm. I miss the beautiful snow scene we enjoyed last year but it was nice to take home a dry tree. Of course we were practically choosing our tree in the dark (it was difficult getting everyone to agree) and it was dark by the time it was tied to the top of our van.

Our town Christmas tree lighting ceremony was Sunday evening. We gathered at the common to sing carols and then after the trees were lit all went to one of the local churches for more music and after hobo stew. Like all years we really enjoyed this simple moment of community.

Holidays ... on the way ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

Its been some time since I last posted. Life got a little crazy when my husband was off to the emergency room with chest pains. And after all this time we still haven't figured out whats going on. In any case the symptoms he experienced haven't reoccurred recently so we all feel a bit relieved.

We had a lovely and quiet Thanksgiving with just us. I think November was overload of activity not to mention the medical issues.

As always I am busy creating and trying to balance a busy family life. Not an easy task sometimes. In the coming year I have promised to lighten my custom work load so I don't feel overstressed. As much as I love doing them there just is only so much time in the day.

Tomorrow afternoon we are off to get our tree. I'm not nearly ready for the holidays though but I guess they will come anyway. So its no use putting off getting the tree. My daughter joined a small chamber music group so now my husband and the older two girls are off in Boston at the New England conservatory until 3 in the afternoon. I can't say I'm too thrilled about the arrangement as it seems we have little family time on the weekends now. With the holidays coming this will be difficult too. I need to start planning our baking projects for the Norwegian lefse and cookies.

Here are a few photos of some of my latest projects...

an oak leaf pottery ring bearer with little brown birds





More of my cute little bird cake toppers...

Fall fun activities

Last weekend was a busy one for our family. On Sunday we woke up early to visit with the other families that went to China with us 11 years ago. Yes, 11 years ago we were in China waiting to adopt our daughter along with 2 other families. Each year we get together around this time to celebrate family day and get all the kids together for some fun. One of the families graciously hosts our gathering at their house each year.


Each year goes by so fast. Its nice sharing the stories of the year and seeing how much each child has grown.

On Monday, Columbus Day, we were off early to King Richard's Faire in Carver MA. The girls were excited about dressing up but tired from our busy Sunday and late night return.





Our knight for the joust was the obnoxious one though he did well in his fighting. The food was expensive and its amazing how fast the money goes with the games and five kids. The kids did enjoy the mud pit show but lets hope they don't repeat any of the words we hope they didn't understand.

Tree chickens ...

Yes, we were chickenless for nearly a month but shortly after my last post five chickens found their way to our home via some friends. They seemed to settle in nicely and enjoyed our little pen and chicken house. But one evening not a chicken was to be found. I searched the yard while my daughter hunted around the pen. After almost giving up we found them up in the trees surrounding the pen. Now its a regular event and I am determined to clip their wings soon when I can corral them and an assistant to help. I suppose because I hate doing it I am procrastinating a bit on this chore.



The girls have all adjusted well to school. Highschool is no longer a scary place and second grade and middle school is just fine too. My youngest is "composing" a Halloween song on the piano and has devoted hours of time doing this project. Of course we are the hostage audience to hear this song repeated note by slow note as the song is added to measure by measure. I do love her enthusiam though!

In my shop I am working oh so hard on my custom work and am just getting around to listing all my hand built pottery and chickens that I made earlier this last summer. I am taking a class on wheel work which I have only limited experience on so I am really overloading my time now. I will be working late into the evenings I imagine.
I do want to share a few photos of my latest birds too...

Another thread pulled from the weave

There isn't much I can say. A neighbor and friend died this past weekend. I feel such sadness for the family. Friends form the weave of my blanket called "home". Its such a shock to loose them. Its difficult to accept and yet what choice do we have.

One of those days...

Yesterday was just one of those days thats just completely unsettling. I didn't get much sleep the night before -- too much caffeine too close to bedtime and a child up with nightmares.

Our homeowners insurance was sending someone out to "inspect" our house -- or at least that was how I felt. With three busy kids in the house and all their toys and creative "projects" our house is never in a perfect state. They drag all their toys and toy produce downstairs with the cash register to play store. They cut up paper plates, cardboard, straws and use much tape to create all sorts of things. There is a constant arrangement of artwork of theirs on the floors in various states of completion. All good things to keep them busy and creative. And of course there is me too with all my projects and my custom work area. So ours is a busy but not always neat house.

This inspection was worrying me. We have lived here nearly 18 years now and I have never heard anything from the insurance. So I wondered what they were up to. And I guess having a stranger come uninvited to look at the house really made me anxious too. So after a morning of running around frantically trying to neaten the house including stuffing the unfolded clean clothes -- back into the dryer, I managed to survive the visit. But after all this I still don't know whats up with them and why the visit.

I did manage to get a little dyeing in just before he showed up so my kitchen counter was a little messy. I was trying to match two colors -- a dark green brown and a yellow orange brown. I must admit it is a little fun playing with the colors and I am a little amazed sometimes at the success. The colors really looked pretty together. Here are the wool eggs and silk ribbon that I dyed...







My own camera went for a ride in my husbands car trunk for the day and this didn't dawn on me until I had searched frantically for a while. Where did I put it as I was "cleaning" up. Maybe it was stuffed in the dryer? No -- just kidding. Eventually I gave up and borrowed my daughters camera which turned out to be an awesome discovery. Using the close up mode on her camera I was finally able to get close up photos in focus. Wow! Of course now that I have my camera back I notice that it does have some obscure little button with a flower on it that probably puts it into close up mode. I know that this is such a little thing but what a big help this will be for all the photos I have to take each day.

Back to school .... again

The summer is once again over. That seemingly endless expanse of days .... poof! Where did they go?

The girls are off to school again with two moving up into new schools. My oldest is beginning her first year of highschool now. When she was a baby in my arms I could never imagine having a teenager. That time seem so far off in the future. And yet here we at that milestone in hardly a blink of an eye. I'm glad that she is enjoying it and excited now.

My days continue to be filled with hours and hours of creating. Never did I imagine I would be so very busy. Here is another composite of completed cake toppers...



My ring pillow was included in an Etsy treasury by happygirlgreetings



And finally a little chicken fun in memory of my lost chickens. Yes all my chickens were EATEN by some wild creature while we were camping in Maine. I miss them so much I can barely enjoy walking in the back yard.