Happy Halloween

Witch

    With pointed hat and long-crooked nose
    The hideous hag on broomstick goes.

    Flying through the black night sky
    To frighten any passerby.

    An eye of newt and black bat wings
    She concocts a spell of horrible things.

    Her black cat follows everywhere
    Her witch's cackle fills the air.

    And in the murky, misty fog,
    She’s turning princes into frogs.

Have a spooky Halloween night!

Just Hunkering Down

Poor Halloween...a big snowstorm is taking center stage and pushing all the little ghosts and goblins aside!

Instead, we are having a large snowstorm!  Five to ten inches even!

Poor Mr. Sassafras and Winterberry.  He spent the whole day getting the generator ready to hook up.  The lines at the grocery store were out of control.  But, now we have a fire going, stew bubbling, homemade bread cooling, and the flakes are flying!  

I've had such fun with the giveaway...stay tuned for the drawing on Tuesday!  I can't wait!  I was home yesterday with my usual fall cough and cold thing.  We had seven hours of parent conferences the night before and I didn't think I'd get through it.  I did, with only one asthma attack during the last conference.  So, I'm laying low this weekend.  Just hooking, spinning, grooving with the blog, and eating good food!!

My camera has no batteries...and I didn't stock up before the storm...but I have pictures to share for later!

Stay safe and warm if you're in the storm's path...enjoy the weekend!!!

Cheers!

New Yarns and a Giveaway!

I'm nearing that 100 follower mark and think it's high time I had a giveaway!  I've been busy all day, packaging up yarns for the new Etsy shop.  I just love playing with the colors.  Thanks to everyone who popped over to see my new endeavor...I really appreciate it!

I'm so excited that I finally opened my little shop that I thought I'd include a skein of homespun yarn.  It's a rose colored alpaca and Border Leicester mix and it's so soft.  I also have some quarters of dyed rug hooking wool.  The colors are from Karen Kahle's book Vintage Colors.  I just love this color palette and I used them in my flower basket rug.  In addition, there's a dye book by Maryanne Lincoln.  Her recipes are great for shading.  It's even signed!  I threw in a couple of little fun items as well!

I've been so thrilled to become a part of this community.  You all have seen me through some wild transitions in the short time I've been blogging.  I am so blessed to have you as followers and friends!

The rules are simple.  I'm celebrating followers, so the giveaway is open to all followers only.  I'll keep the giveaway open until November 1 at midnight.  Then, I'll pick a winner.  I'm sure I can get 7 more followers in that amount of time!  If you are a follower, leave a comment on this post and I'll put you in for one ticket.  If you post this on your blog, you get two chances.  If you are new, become a follower and I'll include your name. 

That's it!  Enjoy!

Finally Launched

I did it!!  I finally launched my Etsy shop!  I'm so proud of myself.  It took most of the afternoon, but I got three items loaded and I have much more yarn to go.  I even managed to find a banner and get that in place.  I'd love it if you'd go check it out, if only to see the stats grow on the Etsy site! 

(click on the picture to go)

Mr. S&W and I had such a nice weekend.  I'm simmering a bean soup as we speak, and I made a quiche out of fresh eggs I bought off of a co-worker. 

I'm really beginning to bond with people at work.  One nice gal brought me some gum on Friday.  And another wonderful lady stops by everyday.  In my dreams now, I'm dreaming about both work places.   My husband says I'm having reconciliation dreams.  Gotta love it!  I'm moving forward.  Tomorrow I get to go on a nature walk in the morning...nothing wrong with that!

Have a great week everyone! 

Climbing Blue Job Mountain

Mr. S&W and I took some time this morning to climb to the top of Blue Job Mountain which is about 20 minutes from us.  It was the perfect little climb...not too tough, but enough to challenge the "out of shape" body.  The pathway was so pretty, but with all the rain we have had it was like hiking up a stream bed.

There was a wonderful old rock wall crossing the trail.  These rocks were so big and I was so impressed with the workmanship of this wall.  The forest is not that old, really, since there are walls marking farmer's fields in the woods.  

Here's Mr. S&W perusing the stream.  There were all sort of rustic bridges which crossed a lively, babbling brook along the way.

With all the rain we've had, it seemed more like spring, than fall.  The stream was quite full with water...I expected a drier stream bed about now.

Another little bridge

Finally, the view.  This was actually before the summit where the fire tower was.  While we were admiring the view,  a hawk swooped down by us, startled by our presence.

The fire tower was too high for me.  Plus, it was right next to a cell tower.  (Sad, but good too, because I can get cell service up our way)  It was really windy and I don't love a height, so Tom went up alone and told me that I should just stay put!!

It was such a good morning's walk.  Living up here is really great.  We are enjoying finding these little jaunts.

I have been very remiss in showing you a great little prize I won from Teri, at White Sheep Farm.  If you haven't been over to visit...run on over and enjoy a slice of wonderful.  She had a giveaway and challenged us with a little puzzle to guess what kinds of sheep she raises.  Well, I pay attention to sheep, so I won this wonderful little pinkeep that she made.

I sits proudly on my new hutch with my ironstone and a little companion sheep.  Isn't it wonderful?  I love it to pieces! 

Thanks to everyone of you who wrote to support me during the last several months.  You blog pals are the most generous, thoughtful, and caring people!  I am so grateful for your companionship!!

The Long Road Back to Blogland

September kicked my butt!  Really!  I know that I bit off a bit more than I could chew with all the changes over the last six months, but I didn't think it would knock me upside the head!  Well, it did!


I tried to roll with the punches, but the change in job was more than I anticipated.  What a wild ride it has been!  At first, I just went with the immediate tasks at hand, but I really didn't anticipate the grief of missing my old job and old comrades.  I think I mentioned that last time, but it is so real.  I've actually dreamed about the old job many times this month!

Then, the new regime has enough differences that I've been a bit stymied.  In any event, I've finally come out of the fog and darkness and back into the light...think "The Wizard of Oz" and the hear the song...."you're out the woods, you're out of the dark, you're out of the night...."

That's me!  I've, finally...with lots of tantrums, craziness, and many prayers...come into the light!  Things are much better.  I realized that I was drawn to this job to do God's will, not mine.  And I was so wanting to do mine!  LOL  Now, I just go into work wanting to do the right thing for the kids...and it's so much better!  That's why I needed a break from my poor blog.  I thought if I tried to really blog during this time...it would all come out in some horrible way...think Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

In spite of everything, I've been keeping up with the crafts, and I have some stuff to share.  Mostly Halloween stuff!

Happy Jack on the mantle.  (No, I didn't make him...wish I did, though)

Pumpkins in the wooden bowl.

Pumpkin roving...

...to pumpkin yarn

I've been spinning up a storm...(it's cheap therapy) and I want to really, truly launch the Etsy site.  I tried to dye some roving recently...only it kind of felted...alright, not kind of...but really felted.  So, I'll try again and attempt to not mess with it as much!  

My darling boys came up to visit over Columbus Day.  They took a train ride up from Boston.  My sons are so great, both of them.  So grown up now.  They wanted to go antiquing...how great is that?  We poked around a shop for a bit.  I had to laugh at some of the stuff they wanted.  I got Ben a cookbook and Sam some wine glasses.  Sam brought me 8 packs of Starbucks coffee.  Love it!!!  I felt so blessed to spend time with them. 

So, life in the light is pretty good.  October is ablaze with color up here!  I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.  My house is wonderful, my kids are good, my husband is great...I am a lucky girl...even with all the crazy changes!