Fathers in kind

Today is Fathers Day and as I do most days, I am thankful and glad for the Dad I have!

Many of you know, this has not been the easiest year for us at Serenity Farms. My dad has been there for me and Bill every step of the way (as has my Mom and the rest of our dear families!) Whether it was sitting with me at the hospital waiting on news of Bill; visiting the hospital when I couldn't; offering advice or even driving the hour and a half (one way!) to help me with work around the farm...Dad has been there for me. I have been blessed to have Alex, who came to live with us in January, be able to spend time with Dad and to work and learn from him - most recently it was building fence for new sheep pastures.

Here are some pictures from the family archives I thought you might enjoy. First up, my first day home:



That is Dad, holding me. On the back of the photo, Mom had written "Taken the night we got home, Cary still has the hospital band on her arm...her Daddy was holding her"

And this one, a year or so later:



Notice we had moved up to color film in this photo (grin) A very strong memory I have is of my Dad holding me like that and dancing around the room while Patsy Cline sang "Walkin' After Midnight" and Dad singing along. Is it any doubt that Patsy Cline remains one of my favorites?!?

I love my Dad!

And I love my Heavenly Father, too. I am blessed to have a good earthly representative in my own Dad, of a Fathers love and care for a daughter. I am lucky to have a husband who is this kind of father to our children, grandchildren, nephews and extended family - his and mine combined! I have a little journal with poems and sayings throughout its pages. There are no credits given for any of these, so I apologize if I am sharing something I shouldn't here...I would be happy to give credit if I knew who wrote this. It says, in part:

I am a woman who belongs to the Lord...He is my Father and I am His daughter...He loves me with a perfect love....My confidence is in Him, my covering is in Him...He knows and understands my heart. Because He is my Father, I am secure in His arms and have no fear about my future. He cares for me in complete faithfulness and instructs me with unfailing wisdom. He has ordered my steps and He teaches me His ways. He gives me good gifts and encourages me...I am part of His family and accepted in the beloved. I am an heir and I have an inheritance that is eternal and incorruptible. I am so blessed to belong to Him!

With love and thanksgiving to Dads of all kinds...Thank you ;)

Socks and Flowers

Socks made using one of my favorite patterns, Crusoe, from Knitty.com out of yarn from one of my favorite people (and vendors!) Eve at Simply Divine Fiber Arts Studio.



Now that they are finished I am swatching to chose just the right sock pattern to make with my birthday present from daughter Nakia, a skein of STR yarn in the rainbow color named Fire On The Mountain! What fun ;)

During a rather stressful week recently, my precious daughter and grandson brought me a beautiful bouquet of roses - the most exquisite color! They dried nearly the same color, you can see them below in an antique bowl from my Grandma:



I also treated myself to a gift of blooming hyacinths to grace my kitchen windowsill. Their color and fragrance inspire me!

Shepherds Pi

No, I did not make a spelling error in the title of this post (grin) The Shepherd's Pi I am talking about is my version of the Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi Shawl we are about to begin over at the EzasPi group! This is to celebrate the one year anniversary of the group's beginning.

Why Shepherd's Pi? Because I am knitting this shawl entirely of homespun yarn from my flock of sheep, for me (the shepherd of the little flock!) And it is being worked with many thoughts of my own dear Shepherd, my Lord Jesus. I have felt His hand in mine so often these past days. And so I have dubbed my anniversary shawl my Shepherds Pi....

First I did a little sample - a Snack Pi ;> I was trying to determine if I want to go from dark to light with the yarn, or vice versa. My sheep come in a wide range of colors (see my website, Serenity Farms for photos of the flock) and I want to use a sampling of most of them. I also decided I wanted to knit with singles. Here is a picture of the yarns I used to sample:



Can you see how the colors go from jet black, a warm brown, through shades of grey and then a blend of my whites. (That very silver grey on the bottom right is Hannah)

And here is a close up of some of the knitting of the Snack Pi:



I learned some valuable lessons in this sample....namely, taking care that my yarn overs at the beginning of the row are snugged up so it won't look sloppy. I learned how long it takes to work the border, even on a sample that is only 14" or so wide! And I decided I will probably make the border of the full sized shawl a bit fancier.

But the most important thing I learned (or should say I was reminded of) is how very much I enjoy working with my own fibers! I will be doing the simple yarn over version of the original Pi Shawl as the yarn is the star of this shawl production - and frankly, I need something a bit mindless right now to work on.

I need to hurry up and finish the second sample, going from light to dark yarn and make my decision of which I prefer so that I can cast on this Sunday, January 22! Sande from the Ez list made an important observation...it would seem that the border is going to get grubbier than the rest of the shawl, and maybe the darker border would be a bit more practical! I think she may be right.

And Jesus said: If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish...Matthew 18:12-14

I look forward to welcoming home my own one lost lamb in coming days...

Socks and Daughters

I'm so proud of my knitting daughter ;) Growing up, she had no desire to learn to knit. Then, a few years ago when she was expecting her first child - my precious grandbaby Mason - the urge hit! Her first project was a scarf, her second project was a sweater! For her third project she wanted to learn to knit socks. Being the cautious mother that I am, I thought maybe she should get some more knitting experience under her belt before attempting small dpns on fine yarn (grin). Well, she got tired of waiting for Mom and showed up one day with a beautifully crafted sock and asked "Does this look right?" The sock bug had hit! Her second pair of socks were a lace pattern (grin). She is now teaching sock knitting classes at one of our local yarn shops and just a few days ago won her first sock competition with this sock:



(The scanned photo highlighted the sock better than my digital camera did) The pattern is Denmark from Knitting On The Road and the yarn is the wonderful Soft Rock yarn (latest in the Socks That Rock line of yarns) from Toni Neil at The Fold, color is Cotton Candy. A close up of the stitch pattern is below:



She also creates the most beautiful jeweled stitch markers...

A special thank you to our extended, online knitting friends who encouraged Nakia in her knitting endeavors (I think you know who you are!)

Congratulations, Honey! Love you ;)

Stash and Resolutions

You know, after following a recent thread on a Yahoo fiber list I am on, I discovered that my fiber stash is basically non-existent – especially compared to what other folks have! This was a blessed relief to me! What I do tend to have are small odd lots of things because I love to experiment. So I have these little groups of 4 or 8-ounce batts or roving in beautiful colors, gorgeous textures and exotics. Along with that I have the roving I had made from the last of Hannah’s fleece.



Sadly, as many of you know, we lost our dear ewe Hannah late in 2005. She is sorely missed, though we have her twin sister Eve and three of her daughters - Abby, Amanda and HannahJoy. Her last fleece was short, to short for me to be comfortable selling though it was strong. There was also only a few pounds total. So I dyed some angora fiber that was a bit short, too, and dear Lynn at Spinderella’s worked extra carefully to card this into roving for me. That is not going anywhere but WILL be a shawl for me, a comfort shawl and not only a reminder of my sweet Hannah but of all of you who had a part in her lift (even via email)



I have a pretty large stash of very, very good quality Angora fiber, mostly white French with very few guard hairs plus a generous amount of beautiful gray (well, it is labeled as Chestnut Agouti but you know it looks silvery gray to me!) English angora. These are such a joy to work with that I am not in any hurry with them, just want to use them to their best advantage! I am thinking of a lacy vest pattern, something that will be pretty and that I can wear but won’t be TOO warm.

What I do have an abundance of, though, is yarn. I sorted through and had two garbage bags of yarn. I further separated these by man-made fibers (one bag full); commercial wool or wool blends and handspun wool (or natural fibers) The made man fibers (acrylics, etc.) are going to be given away. They are nice enough yarns and I am not a yarn snob….except that I do prefer natural fibers. The bulkier handspuns that don’t amount to substantial amounts of any particular color are being knit into a stash-ghan type shawl - just a bulky, warm, homespun feeling around-the-house-comfort wrap.



The smaller gauge yarns are going to be used up in a different and more meaningful way, I think. They are going to become socks and vests for the CIC (Children in Common) project. I want to share with you how this inspiration came about, if you would like to hear the story.

My little grandson is a true fiber connoisseur ;) Since he was a wee baby he loved to hold a ball of yarn, loves to watch the spinning wheel go, loves to tend the sheep. This winter he got a new pair of barn boots, and I discovered that you couldn’t buy a pair of work boots (hunting type boots) for children. Well, this is silly, I thought I can make him a pair so easily. So I proceeded. Babysitting him one evening I was working on his sock and he came over and asked what I was doing. I told him I was knitting and he said back Oh, socks? Yes, I replied, socks for Mason. To say he was excited is an understatement and he had to try them on immediately (easy enough since I knit most socks toe up) He watched me finish working on them, and as soon as that first sock was finished, he insisted on wearing it. I didn’t even get to work in the ends, but he wore that sock around all night, switching it from one foot to the other. He even had to wear it to bed! You can imagine I had to hurry and finish the second sock. He loves those socks and I was so touched by this, and started right away on another pair for him.



They are a fuzzy, soft little blend of yarns. You may notice that the colors in the red-gold yarn is a little different from one sock to the next. This was injection dyed in the center pull ball, and the inside yarn was lighter than the outside. Fine for inside a little boys boots!

Then I happened to be reading one of my very favorite blogs, Stitches of Violet and of course Marguerite is a big believer and supporter of Children in Common projects. Suddenly, a light bulb clicked and I thought of my three-year-old grandson and how his new socks brought him such joy….even with all the other things he has in his life. How much more would a pair of new, warm socks mean to a child who has so little? It made me cry to think of – AND I have this stash of wool and wool blend yarns, good yarns that need to be used but don’t have a lot of yardage in any one yarn – PERFECT for CIC projects!!!!

And so, I have joined the CIC Yahoo list and just in time for a January sock challenge! My first pair is on the needles, with humble gratitude to being something meaningful with both my craft and my stash. In honor of my grandson and of friends who have adopted children from other countries. Following the traditional of knitting prayer shawls, I am praying for the child who will eventually receive each pair and for the people who care for them.

My other knitting goals this year, goals that will work towards using up any quantities of yarn that I have are to knit a Lopi style sweater (I have it already picked out); a Gansey style sweater IF Liz Lovick leads a KAL for one and finishing at least ONE Pi shawl with the EzasPi KAL group. I already have the yarn for each of these projects and don’t need to purchase it, but would like to use up what I have.

So those are my yarn and fiber goals for the year. I hope you have enjoyed my story and would love it if you would share yours with me!

Jacob Fleece

Lets face it - I love wool! All kinds ;) Of course my own breed of Corriedale is my favorite, but I also really enjoy a good Jacob fleece. I am lucky to know a young woman who raises Jacobs as a hobby. Some years I am fortunate enough to get a few good fleeces from her; some years I am not...like last year when the fleeces were stored wet in plastic bags and molded! 2005 was one of those fortunate years and I am afraid I may have gone overboard and brought home more fleece than I need. A familiar story...

This is a picture of one of the fleeces I am working on for myself right now - I love that raspberry rose color!

Now Fathers Day

And of course I am thinking of my dear Dad. Here is a favorite picture of him, actually taken on Mothers Day while he and I went walking in the woods behind their house.



We are very close, my Dad and me. I don't remember a time, even if we were having a disagreement or a fight, that I didn't KNOW without a doubt that my Dad loves me. In my eyes, he is wise and wonderful. Of course he has his faults and makes mistakes, as do I, but that he loves me and I love him is without question. The fact that he loves me even when I am making mistakes...I have always thought that it is easy for me to understand God's love for me, because of the love and care of my Dad. Have you ever noticed how people that have poor or distant relationships with their earthly father have a difficult time realizing the love their Heavenly Father has for them? Well, that is just my thought.

This is another picture, taken that day we went for a walk, of the land that means so much to my Dad. This is one arm of the creek that runs through the property



And here is a Jack In The Pulpit, growing nearby. They grow all over in the woods there



Finally, I think of both my Grandpa Sam - he is my step-grandpa, but as dear to me as any Grandpa can be and I love him greatly and my Grandpa (my dad's father). I miss him. Today, June 19th, would have also been his and Grandma's wedding anniversary. He could tell the funniest stories, he hid candy to give to us kids, he could hunt and fish (I love to eat bluegills thanks to him!), he farmed and loved sports and my Grandma. Recently, I was reading some thoughts that Grandpa had put on paper, about his children and our family. I thought I would share them here to close. This was written in 1944, during World War II. He writes:

"My children are equally dear to me, but if you ever raise a family...you'll find that each child calls for a little different treatment. Or I think they do....I hate carelessness worse than poison and/or laziness...I am not mean but I want every one dear to me to get ahead and be somebody. I don't mean rich, I mean respected and I want to tell you that my family is respected as being honest and good workers.

Our family is very close to each other yet we have very volatile tempers and are pretty high strung so occasionally the lid blows off but it doesn't last long and they are very loyal. If they like you, okay, if not don't try to live near us - ha! We hate just as hard as we love, maybe harder. Now...my idea of Utopia is for all of my kids to live close to me and all work for each other. In this world we do not all have the best of luck and so I want everyone to help the other and it really pays to work together, in farming anyway..."

Wise and loving words from a dear man. There is more, but that would be sharing something private...yet, I thought these two paragraphs showed a little insight into the family I grew up in. Lucky me!

More Mom Stuff

I have the most beautiful, talented and wonderful Mom in the whole entire world!

Okay, so maybe I am biased about that, but I am pretty sure that she is the best mom for me (grin) Following Mothers Day, I thought I might show some of the things she creates. First of all, I wanted you all to see what I brought home...something she did for me on my workhorse, plain Jane, Louet S-17 spinning wheel (this is the bargain wheel that Louet offers). I asked Mom to paint just a few sheep on it for me and here is what she did:



And then a closer look:



In the photo above, the white sheep appears to be smeared, but it isn't...maybe it was a reflection with the camera? Anyway, I put a clear finish over the wheel after mom painted. I sell Louet spinning wheels from my home, Serenity Farms, and wanted to offer these inexpensive wheels, but also wanted to have one on hand for customers to try. This is it! Thank you Mom!

My Mom makes exquisite quilts, hand appliqued. Here is a photo (below) of just one of them. My own personal quilt was made with dozens of pansy flowers all over it, my favorite flower.



She also makes birdhouses out of recycled materials - old barn wood and fencing materials, tin, etc. Each one is different from all the rest, one of a kind, and all different sizes. I have several in my garden, this is just one of them:



My Mom is the world's best cook! This past weekend, she was making cinnamon rolls with a third generation - as my grandson Mason (her great-grandson) watched carefully and then sampled some of the creation.

I love my Mom and am thankful that God gave me to her, or her to me. He always knows what He is doing, doesn't He?

Mothers Day Memories

I am so fortunate to have fantastic grandmothers and a wonderful mom to remember and enjoy today. I wanted to share some pictures from my past of me with my grandma's and my mom.



This is my first birthday party and what strikes me about it is how the adults are all dressed up (even jewelry!) and the tea/coffee service is all put on with the little cake! This was 1960, different times for sure. I remember when Alex saw this photo, he asked if my mom was a movie star! Well, in my eyes (smile) I have a cool mom, all my friends wanted to visit my house and sit next to her when she came to school to help out - called a Room Mother, if I recall. We didn't have tons of money when we were little, but we didn't know it, not really. She woke us up with a face washing and a kiss, packed us lunches in paper sacks that always had little drawings on the front with our names and often notes inside. I adore her more today than ever! And my Grannie....my moms mother! Oh, there aren't enough grateful words to say about her! I learned to knit with my grannie....she didn't teach me, she didn't know how either, but when I was about 12 and having those awkward teenage years she decided we would take a class to learn to knit and so we did! Love you Mom and Grannie!

And Grandma Wilmore - all the warm and fuzzy memories of my childhood pretty much include my dear Grandma and their farm house. Grandma made bread, had jam and iced tea, was always up for a walk back to the river to explore (something I realize now was most likely very painful for her) and would let me read to her for what seemed like hours. With Grandma (and Grandpa) Wilmore, you always felt safe and important. I was so blessed to have been born on her birthday and I think that might have changed the course of my life! If I remember right, the dress she is wearing in this photo was deep teal green and felt so silky. She never wore pants till she was quite old, that I can remember. Sometimes in my dreams and memories I hear her voice and it always brings such longing to me... she left such a legacy...I miss you Grandma!



And with all of this, I have an amazing daughter and adorable grandson that are a major part of my everyday life ...I am a truly blessed woman today! Happy Mothers Day!

Dyed Samplers

Yesterday, I spent an enjoyable morning showing my friend Maple (who raises Alpacas) the basic of using Acid dyes on fiber. We focused on Maple's fiber, but I got a few samples in, too, of course!

First, though, I had to show this snapshot - the yield of a recent dye pot ... there was a pound of Border Leicester lamb curls that I had fun dyeing in a wide variety of colors, and carding into spinning batts as accents, bright jeweled bits of color! This is all that was left...Rose, Peach and Spruce. They are now on their way to a new fiber home.



Below is Old Poppies, because the intense and bright colors remind me of the common field poppies that grow in many gardens - scarlet, orangey-red, the deep purpley black and even yellow gold.



This next lot, Highlands Grass, didn't want to photograph well, the colors are dark...teal, spruce, a burgundy raspberry and marine blue. I had some white areas left in this roving that give it an amature look. They actually are very subtle raspberry pink and don't look as stark in the actual roving as they do in the photograph below



And then, just to exhaust the Marine blue dyepot I threw in some of my bulky grey yarn and got this intense color (of course I wish I had dyed more!)



Now I have the strong urge to dye more fibers, but where to find the time? Incidentally, the roving I used in the above samples are from a fiber blend I just got back from Zeilingers...a mix of Finn-Cheviot, Border Leicester, Lincoln lamb, some Corriedale and maybe even Romney. I thought it would make a nice strong sock yarn (wish I would have added some mohair that I had on hand!). Though I haven't had time to sample it for socks, it did seem to take the dyes brilliantly. When I spin these samples up, I will post a photo of the resulting yarns.

The yarn is some of my bulky Corriedale yarn, available for purchase (and on sale now!) from our farm website Serenity Farms

April Showers?

If you look back a few days to my entry for April 18, you will see a bright sunny picture of my Spring Garden Yarn socks, in my garden...

Well, below is a picture of that same spot in the garden, taken Sunday morning, April 24! Pretty funny, eh? Or just Michigan - I guess we are used to it!



Surprisingly, just two days later we are back to mid-50's for temperatures and warm sunshine, gentle breezes. Even the magnolia does not seem to have suffered loss to its gentle pink flowers, though it looked pretty sad on Sunday and I was certain it would be gone



I would love to recreate those colors in a roving...hmmm, might have to give it a try! Happily, my peach tree seems to have survived as well...you can just see the barest hint of the pink buds in this picture



Well, we needed the moisture desperately and now things look so bright and green! AND the storm seems to have zapped the pesky bugs that had already hatched.

Look for the silver lining in every cloud ;)

Garden Notes

On the CA list recently, we have been discussing Spiderwort, Pinks and Rabbits.

We were talking about the different names of this favorite and fragrant garden perennial - I like Cheddar Pink. I have it in several colors in my garden, but I think this traditional pink with blue green foliage is still my favorite. I use the flowers in many bouquets in the house for the delicious scent. It is pictured below when it was still a young plant...it is much larger now and gets loaded with blooms:



My friend Eve shared that she had found a rabbits nest in one of her nursery beds. A few nights ago while I was poking around the vegetable garden, I nearly stepped on this visitor:



Or maybe I was the visitor to her garden?

You can see a picture of the flower of the Spiderwort plant at Deborah's blog. She mentions that it grows like a weed in her Florida yard. I have it in three colors, the most common purple, also white and my favorite a wine red. I thought it might be fun to show what spiderwort looks like in my April garden in Michigan...



Quite different than Deborah's blooms! Soon though, to the delight of the bumblebees that love them, we will have flowers blossoming, too.

Not One, But Two

April 19 dawned another sunny day. As I was walking back to the barn from feeding the rams I noticed a commotion far back in the pasture where the broodmares are and I glimpsed a flash of bright white...a new foal I thought, and ran to the house to get the field glasses. Sure enough, Stella had a foal already up and nursing!



Bill and I watched for awhile and finished the other chores before driving back to check on things. In the meantime, I noticed another mare laying down and as we drove back the driveway, we pulled up to see that Stella's sister, Sally, had her foal on the ground as well!



In the first picture of Stella and her foal, you can see Sally in the background with her foal just born - she hasn't passed her afterbirth yet! So, two stud foals, nearly identical! The flash of white I had seen from the house was the big white star that they both have. No troubles, no complications...the perfect way for foals (well, any livestock) to be born - as God intended.

A good day.

Sheep Magnolias and Garden Socks

What a peaceful site....peering through the budding Magnolia tree to watch the ewes and lambs resting in the mid-morning shade!



I also have a Finished Object to report for Show and Tell! Finally finished the few inches I had to go on my Crusoe Sock from the January Socknitters SAM. I love this pattern, I love this yarn, I love the way these socks look!



The pattern is here at Knitty, the yarn is from Fancy Image Yarn and I think you will agree they look lovely posed here in my spring garden with the naturalized hyacinth and the chartreuse shrub that I can't remember the name of...actually I may have never known the name of the shrub as it was probably one of those seventy-five cent clearance pots at the end of the season.

Same Day, More Fiber

I decided to get creative myself, with so much inspiration around me!

This roving is something I blended on my drumcarder from fibers I had on hand - aiding in my goal of de-stashing (grin) and combines silvery grey Corriedale; hand-painted silk in a combination of blue, yellow and turquoise; and just a touch of green/blue Firestar. I call it Reflecting Pool, though truthfully it reminds me more of Lake Superior the morning after a storm, when the water is all stirred up but reflecting sparkles when lit by a brilliant ray of sun!


Close up of Reflecting Pool

You see from the photo that I have not mastered spinning the blend quite as fine as I would like it to be, and it is a little inconsistent. But it is so pretty. While the close up photo taken above in sunlight more accurately shows the colors of the roving and the sparkle, the photo below - taken in the dappled sunlight of one of my shade gardens - reflects the soothing effect of the blend. Funny that both the grey and the yellow stand out in the brighter light (above) while the blues and greens are what you see in the shaded light (below)

So interesting how light changes reflection! I hadn't intended to sell this fiber, it was just an experiment to aid in destashing - but it has been spotted and sold! So it will be a project for someone else. Still, I enjoyed doing it and hope you enjoy looking at it.

Reflecting Pool - Wool, Silk & Firestar 

Silk, Wool and Light

It is wonderful to have talented friends! The fiber in the photo below comes from my friends Sharon and Eve. Sharon in Ohio is responsible for the dyed wool roving - there are two different colorways there - Dreamsicle (with the frosty touches of pale pink) and Mango Lily (has more pale peach and apricot colors). The handpainted tussah silk, across the center of the photo is called Ambrosia and comes from Eve at Simply Divine Fibers in New York.

This photo was taken in the sunlight and I think shows the color to the best advantage, though it is actually a much closer match than it appears here. My daughter, who is not really fond of pastels, walked into the house and saw this combination in one of my spinning baskets and declared that she loved it and had to have something spun from it! She is an accomplished knitter but does not spin - yet!


Hand painted fibers in the sunlight

It makes me feel good just to look at these fibers and think of my friends, Sharon and Eve.

Next Generation

Truly Grandma's boy, he loves to dig in the dirt, rearrange plants and find small flowers!

Thoughts of Gardening

This post is dedicated to my Christian Artisan sisters, who have been prodding me for a long overdue update to this blog.

Spring seems, as usual, to be slow in reaching my part of the midwest. I grew up an hour and a half south of where I live now, and yet it seems as though I were in a different climate zone there. In my younger gardening days, peas and potatoes were planted around Good Friday. Main crop of vegetables were nearly always in the ground by Mothers Day. Now, living as I do in the middle of the mitten of Michigan, I dare not put tomatoes and peppers outdoors till the first weekend of June. In the twelve years I have lived here, we have had snow on Memorial Day weekend twice and killing frosts more often than that. The ground is even to cold to encourage the cool weather crops like peas, lettuce and spinach.

So I content myself with starting seeds and tending seedlings indoors, though I don't do nearly as many as I used to.

This past Sunday, while poking around and picking up the yard I did discover a pleasant surprise - two little daffodils blooming above the wine red of the sedum my daughter and I call "Jelly Toes" (not its proper name I know!) Even the daffodil is a bit stunted from the up and down temperatures we have been having.

April Daffodils

April Daffodils

On The Eve of Christmas

Ah, December 24th! I have been terrible about updating this blog, which was meant to be a journal of sorts. I hesitate to say that I will make a New Year's resolution to post on a regular basis...our life on the farm, along with full time babysitting of an active 22 month old grandson does not allow for "regular" scheduling - LOL!

But, my farm business did make a new purchase for me this week - finally, a digital camera that I am determined to make very good use of, and that will make adding photos to both this blog and the website much easier - I hope and pray ;) As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so hopefully there will be many good picture/words in the future of this blog.

First, I think I should try to master the side bar and links and such. My blog friend and fellow Michigander, Marguerite, has sent me some tips that I believe will help me out.

Merry Christmas everyone! Since rededicating my life to Jesus in my adult years, Christmas and Christmas Eve have taken on a much more satisfying sense of awe and anticipation of the symbolic day. A few years ago, I heard a pastor preach a Christmas message that raised the question of what the atmosphere and attitude in Heaven must have been as Jesus prepared to come to earth as a baby born. I think on that sometimes....

More pictures and regular posts coming soon, I think (hope)!

Gregory and Gabrielle

I have been thinking today of my special friends, Gregory and Gabrielle and their folks Kurt and Deborah. They lost their home to Hurrican Ivan. We were blessed to have them visit Serenity Farms during the time of the storm and I can say truthfully that they have forever changed my life. So today, I am posting a couple of "hello" pictures to them.



This picture is for Gregory and shows the outside of "The Round House", a grainary converted to cabin on our property. Although he didn't actually get to spend the night there, he seemed quite taken with the peace and tranquility of it, so I thought he might enjoy seeing this picture. One day, if his family gets to come back for a visit, maybe they can camp there ;)

These are Zinnias from my garden. Gabrielle and I gathered zinnias for bouquets to put on the table while they were here. She has quite the eye for color and for flower arrangement! I have saved seeds from this years flower crop and those will go to Gabrielle when time and place comes for her to have a little flower garden to remind her of Michigan

God's Weaving

I have a dear friend at church, Robyn, who is the head of our Missions program. In a recent Missions Newsletter, she included this writing...especially appropriate for the knitters, spinners and weavers I know and certainly for our day to day life journey! It has no author credited to it, if anyone recognizes it and knows the author please share it with me.

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily,
Oftimes He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand,
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned - Anonymous