Not What I Expected

We had a doozy of a storm last night... high winds, torrential rain... I should have seen it coming... But still, somehow, waking to no power caught me unprepared. A storm like this in November would have had us filling the bathtub with water, getting the old corded phone plugged in, and getting our showers ahead of time. But on the last day of February, our hearts are set on Spring, I suppose, in denial of the wintery weather we have been getting.

I watched a big, beautiful, fir tree fall this morning, back along the treeline, accompanied by a *crackle* and a *CRASH*... and now, although the power is back on (only 5 hours without... not too bad), it is a blizzard out there, snow piling up faster than I've seen in months.

We made the best of our dark morning... never have I been more thankful for a woodstove to heat water, a collection of antiques, including a working burr grinder, and a ginormous french press hiding in the back of my cupboard.

The kids were full of questions, wanting to know how the grinder works, and can they please help? Exclaiming over and over about how much they LOVE grinding coffee.

Asking if, the next time the electricity goes out... can they PLEASE grind coffee again?

Then, we all enjoyed a spot of our special brew together. Can you tell which is mine?

The remainder of our morning was spent watching Dumbo on the portable DVD player and stitching by the fire.

Sometimes, embracing the unexpected leads to the best kind of happiness.

Picture of the Week

Friday

Its 17 degrees outside.
My feet are cold.
And I am drawing a blog blank.

So, you get to see kid pictures.
Everyone loves kid pictures, right?

All Boy...

All Girl...

And "they" say that it is social conditioning that causes the genders to behave the way they do. All I can say is that I never taught her to like pink (ew!) and I never taught her to play with dolls (boring!)... but I DID teach him to enjoy playing in dirt (yes!).

“The grand show is eternal.
It is always sunrise somewhere;
the dew is never dried all at once;
a shower is forever falling;
vapor is ever rising.

Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming,
on sea and continents and islands,
each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

-John Muir

What I'm Working On

Two main projects have been consuming my creating time lately...

The first is my current sampler, which I am having such fun stitching. I, of course, have a constant supply of my own designs to stitch, and I must confess that some of them feel more like work than others. I often will be completely consumed by creating the design itself on my computer and thoroughly LOVE the end result, then find that I don't enjoy the stitching of it nearly as much.

Other times, I become so taken with a sampler that from start to finish it is a real joy. I won't tell you which ones are which, because it doesn't seem to matter that much in the end; other than the fact that some don't get set aside ever, and others get set aside multiple times.