Sunset

-dana

These mountains under a darky and moody sky

These green and blue mountains. These rain forest mountains. These dry, parched mountains. Sunny sky. Cloudy sky. Moody, temperamental sky. There is hardly a day that I don't round a curve and catch my breath at the view.

Hurricanes and presidential elections. It all feels like too much. I'd rather nestle down on a quilt under the vast open sky. Feel the cool breeze blow across my face. Watch the leaves turn from green to orange.

And just feel rooted. Right here.

-dana

It's sprung

It's sprung in our neck of the woods. And it feels really good to be outside around 4pm and feel the warm sun on my face. Green is exploding from the earth and the Peepers are singing each morning as we head out the door. Still in the dark but not as dark as just a few weeks ago. We planted lettuce, Swiss chard, radish and carrots. Still eating the kale planted in the greenhouse that we've eaten all winter. The wild grape hyacinths are blooming. As is the forsythia. We weeded the strawberry patch and this year should be a very good crop of berries. The blueberry bushes are loaded with buds and even though I don't look forward to covering the rows with sheets when a frost threatens, I know that in July I will be so glad that we did. Soccer practice. Play practice. Clogging practice.

Go, go, go.

I'd rather sit among the flowers and feel the warm sun on my face.

-dana

Patience and timing

I ran outside and snapped this photo of the daffodils reaching for the sun. In January.  Like they do every year. We've lived in this house 11 years and for many of those years I've stared at those January peeking daffodils and fretted. Worried they were too soon.  That they would freeze and the beauty would be wasted that year. But they are never wrong.  They burst from the frozen earth in the coldest month on the calender. All to bloom for a fraction of time in early spring.

Every January they remind me of patience and timing.

Nature is cool.

-dana

And so we hiked

Everyday has some place to be. Something to do. Soccer practice. Or games. Clogging. And Razor is training for a marathon which requires lots and lots of time running. On this day, he called me over lunch and suggested we pack sandwiches and go for a hike. Oh, I said. It is our only free evening in forever. Wouldn't you just rather stay home? Maybe, he said.  But the skies are clear and we will be able to see for miles.

I'm so glad we hiked.

-dana

The Old Red Barn (Let's Build a Forest) -- children's book about eco-responsibility

Image from the children's book The Old Red Barn written by Kevin Kelly and Chris Laingen. Find them on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/207485744/the-old-red-barn-lets-build-a-forest.

You've heard of Google Alerts right?  You know, where you enter some parameters and then any time that word combination pops up on the Internet it will alert you and provide a link so you can go check it out?  I've got one set up to send me alerts for the words "Old Red Barn" cause, well, I have a company called Old Red Barn.  Plus, this blog is titled the same thing. Plus I happen to love old red barns and I get links to lots of cool articles about . . . wait for it . . .  old red barns.

Well, early last week I got an alert that sent me to a kickstarter page detailing a new book written by Kevin Kelly and Chris Laingen about an old red barn.  It's a book for kids teaching them about eco-responsibility and for every book sold a tree will be planted.

That is if they meet their kickstarter goal of $30,000.

$30,000 is a hefty sum.  And I sure hope they meet it!

Check 'em out here.

-dana

P.S.  Those fellas have no clue I exist and I am in no way associated with them.  I just like their idea and thought you might too.

P.P.S  Strike that first sentence.  I'm pretty sure they've Googled "Old Red Barn" and probably know I exist.  However, one has nothing to do with the other.

P.P.S.  Peace out.

Total Room Overhaul Finale

Since January we've slowly been working on redoing Licious' room.  This is how it started.  And this is a look at it's progress.

Razor built this dresser/bed combo that holds a twin mattress on top and has these four humongous draws underneath.  How humongous?  Let's just say that these drawers hold everything that her two dressers used to and one is still completely empty.   Plus, the cubby system holds everything that used to be in bins on the floor.

Speaking of the floor, it is a snap together cork flooring that we bought here.  We choose cork for several reasons.  It's an awesome green alternative considering the cork tree is never felled and, with proper cork harvesting, can live to over 100 years.  Also, this room was a former front porch and the insulating qualities of the cork will help her room feel warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

That mirror is such a statement on the opposite wall from the bed.  I found it at a thrift shop a few years ago and the orange really makes it sing.

I'm thrilled with the result.  I think it's perfect for a ten year old and will still be perfect when she is eighteen and beyond.

She happens to love it as well.

-dana

Grateful

Friday nights at our house usually mean pizza for dinner and lounging around on the couch.  And this past Friday started off that very way.  But the television was honed in on the Weather Channel as we watched super cell after super cell hammer our region.

At around 8pm, a tornado warning was issued and Razor ushered us into our cellar.  This was the first time our daughters had ever had to go to the cellar to wait out a storm and they shook with fear.  And tears spilled from their eyes.

We barely heard rain or saw flashes of lightening.  We lit candles and told ourselves that even though we hadn't seen a drop of hail at least we had put the cars safely in the barn.

We live in a small, rural town that doesn't have it's own television station and only a small weekly newspaper.  But, our radio station keeps an up-to-the-minute Facebook page that over the last year has become the absolute go-to spot for news, reports, photos, videos and eye witness accounts of even the littlest of local happenings.

We sat in the cellar on Friday night and soon got word via Facebook and text that a tornado had touched down in our town.  The National Weather Service later confirmed that it was an F2 tornado and thanks to Facebook I've seen aerial photographs depicting it's entire treacherous path.

We are fine.  Our community has pulled together and I can gratefully say it too is fine.  No one was injured or killed.  The storm shelters opened by American Red Cross are already closed.  We are a resilient, hard working, little mountain town and are ready for a new day.

And this family is looking forward to a much quieter Friday night this week.

-dana

Weekend Postcards

Mild January temps.

 Like minded friends.

Special forests with two of my favorite things to spy on a hike.  Razor and Running Pine.

Yummy food.

Postcards from my weekend.

-dana

It gives me hope

Young asparagus

I worry sometimes.

A lot of times.

About our planet.  Climate.  Energy.  Life. 

Only it's second year.  We must be patient until year three.

Sometimes I feel an overwhelming sense of dread.

Helpless in finding answers.

Cures.

Solutions.

Blueberry

I drop my kids off at school and someone walks up to my car to talk to me through the window. 

My car is running.

And I think about the fuel I'm wasting.

And the air I'm polluting.

Instead of really listening to what she has to say.

Lettuce

Modern media has educated us of the problem.

And yet I sit and wait.

Wait for the world to change.

Raspberry

Global problems that take an entire globe to fix.

Leaving me waiting.

And worrying.

Rhubarb

And . . .

Strawberry

Hopeful.

Here's to clinging to the hope my generation will find a way.

-dana

Just like in the olden days

We got together with friends over the weekend. For sledding and hiking and cooking on the bonfire.









One of the dads wanted to teach all the kids about how people made fires before lighters and matches. So he led them off into the woods to find lighter pine.




And he made them gather kindling.









And started the fire with his homemade bow drill.

I was impressed. I appreciate fire more than I ever did before.






And matches. I really appreciate matches.


-dana

P.S. Oh. And just so you know, I could totally win Survivor now.