Last Sky of 2011

The evening sky is reflected in the tiny pond across the road from us. This little pond is usually hidden from sight by tall weeds. This evening I caught a glimpse of the sky reflected in the water, so fought my way through the weeds to take a few photos. Click over to Dandelion Haven's facebook page to see  more photos of the little pond and sky from this evening.

Wishing you many beautiful skies, and peace and happiness in the New Year!

The Truth of You

looking beyond
rigid standards and cliches
black and white dying
into shades of living color

letting go
rigid thoughts fading
gentle breeze blowing
learning, seeking
finding understanding

touching sharp jagged edges
dark rotting hurt
pain so deep it kills
seeking understanding

letting in
raw feelings pain
suffering, darkness
forgiveness,  mercy

standing by another
open heart, embracing
whole person,
pain and beauty
sometimes ugliness

open mind seeking
 the truth of you
beauty and brokenness
perfect in imperfection
a masterpiece

linked to Five Minute Friday and open mic at real Real Toads.

As the Night Falls

Today, at the end of a long hectic day, I stopped for a moment on the edge of a winding country road to breathe in quietness and beauty as the night fell and the colors faded from the sky and water.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Butterfly in April

Last summer I photographed many of the butterflies on our property in order to identify them. One butterfly kept eluding me through the summer, though. I would catch a glimpse of it with the distinctive red-orange bands across it's wings and a bit of bright red or orange on the under side of its wings, then it would be gone.

Yesterday when I was looking through photos from last year, I discovered to my surprise, I had taken a few photos of it on April 9th--on the freshly planted pansies.

Not the greatest photos in the world, but I am happy to have found them and am hoping one of my readers will be able to identify the butterfly for me.

Linked to Macro Monday.

Thank you to Sivinden for indentying the butterfly as a Red Admiral. You can click on this link to see some stunning photos of this butterfly on her blog.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

...and sharing a photo of our tree...

It is a little blue spruce from the tree farm just up the road from us.

It didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned, but I did get to use the pine cones, little baskets, and twig stars, I made earlier. Also added wild rose hips, foxtail grass seed heads, candy canes, and a popcorn garland. One of my patient's gave me the idea of putting our Christmas cards on the tree. I'm still trying to decide if I like the way that looks or not!



We are having a quiet Christmas this year. But it is one that is filled with gratitude and thankfulness for all that we have been blessed with. One of the things I'm thankful for is all of you, my blogging friends, and I wish you all happiness, peace, and joy this Christmas season and in the coming new year.

Christmas Bauble from Mother Nature

My husband bought me a "spare" camera to to keep on hand in case of the tragic event that the camera I use every day breaks. It is a very basic little camera with few features, but is 14 megapixals and does have a macro setting. It was just getting dark when I got home from work. Even so I ran outside and tried it out out on the crabapples that were wet with rain. I judge a camera by how well the macro setting works. And given that this photo was taken in very poor light and in the rain, I would say the macro setting works just fine.

Sculptured Ice Leaf

Found on the bank of a small stream on a frozen foggy morning.

Linked to Macro Monday.

(As always, I appreciate your comments! I will confess I am a little behind on returning them right now, but plan to catch up both with returning comments and reading my favorite blogs in the next few days.) 

December Moon

Deflating slowly

like a tired balloon

worn from night travels

across the frigid sky

the moon let out a little sigh,

and sank below the western horizon.

(photo taken 12/10/11)

Linked (a little late!) to Skywatch Friday.

Angel's Wings

Hidden deep

within each soul

 is radiant beauty

waiting quietly

for gentle light

for warm breeze

waiting silently

waiting to be set free--

free on angel's wings.

Linked to Imperfect Prose. and Scavenger hunt--angels.

Easy Frosted Pine Cones

Last month while I was sitting in a waiting room waiting for a job interview to start, I watched Martha Stewart make sparkly pine cone ornaments. It looked like a quick and simple process and only took a bit of white wax, some wire, and a sprinkling of salt. I stopped on my way home for groceries and  found a couple of boxes of white paraffin wax for sealing jam jars in the clearance bin for only 50 cents a pound. Of  course I snapped them up! Two Sundays ago I collected a bunch of cones from our pine trees and set them aside to dry.

Today I got around to making the ornaments. Like I said it is a quick and simple process.

You will need:

Pine cones

Florist wire

White wax

Salt

Cookie tray and parchment paper

1) Place wax in a small pan and carefully melt over low heat.

2) While the wax is melting, cut florist wire into 5-6 inch pieces and attach to the bottom of the pine cones.

3) Cover cookie tray with parchment paper.

4) When wax is melted, dip each pine cone in the wax, gently shake off excess wax then set, bottom side down on the parchment paper.

5) Let cool for a couple of minutes, then redip each pine cone, but this time, sprinkle each pine cone with a small amount of salt before the wax has a chance to cool.

6) When the wax has cooled, gently shake off the excess salt and your frosted pine cone is ready to use in a garland or on your tree!

I don't know if I will have time to make them this year, but here are a few ideas I'm tucking in the back of my head for future use:

These rustic wooden ornaments from Heidi at White Wolf Summit Farmgirl  would be perfect for a nature themed Christmas tree.

Teresa at Eden Hills Farm shows us how to make adorable little boxes using old (or new!) Christmas cards.

Trina at All that is Good shows us how to make vanilla extract--what a great idea for Christmas gifts, plus it would be easy and cost effective to make enough for your own baking for the rest of the year.

And last but not least, I love this post from Pieces of Contentment showing how nature decorates for Christmas in Australia.  Quite a contrast to the snow covered trees on my side of the globe!



Linked to Virtual Christmas Ornament Swap and Homestead Revival's Barn Hop. as well as Christmas Ornament Scavenger Hunt.

Magic in a Corn Field

Dried silk on an ear of corn is turned into a shimmering tangle of stars by the frost and rising sun.

Photos taken on my walk this morning. I think we can say winter has arrived. Temperatures were in the low teens this morning and I nearly froze my fingers and nose trying to take these photos!

Linked to Macro Monday.

Garden Photos from December 2nd

So I'm spending one more night holed up in a hotel room. I get to go home tomorrow, then start seeing patients in the area I live in on Monday. Can't wait to get home and stretch my legs and go for a walk again in the country. It has been getting dark as soon as we are out of class. I am reluctant to go for a walk outside in the dark in a city I am not familiar with. There is a mall close by and I thought about going for a walk there, but I think that might defeat the purpose of walking--at least for me. When I walk it is to renew my energy by being alone and outside. Walking in a mall this time of year would be a big energy drainer for an introvert like me. So hopefully I'll get outside tomorrow evening when I get home and will have some fresh nature photos to share this weekend.

In the meantime, let me share some photos of my garden that I took last Sunday. Once all that snow melted, there were still some green plants. And  while I was taking photos I harvested some vegetables to cook and take with me to eat during this week while I am away from home.

The broccoli raab is still going strong. I picked all the mature buds on Sunday and there are plenty of small buds still forming. If only we get a few more warm days, I might be able to get one more harvest in. I've noticed that the flower buds are getting more and more mild in taste as the weather has gotten colder. This year was my first time growing this vegetable. The spring and summer plantings were complete failures (the plants went to seed while they were still small), but the fall crop has been both tasty and prolific. I will be growing this again next year.

The caraflex cabbage plants are still pumping out miniature cabbage heads.  I've lost count of how many little heads I've harvested off these plants, but they have kept us well supplied with tender, sweet cabbage through the fall, and if the weather holds up until I get home, there are still a few more to pick. Caraflex is definitely on my list of vegetables to grow next year. I have been impressed in every way by this sturdy and productive summer cabbage.

Red Russian Kale has long been a standby in my garden. It is easy to grow and the red tint to the leaves and veins is very pretty. In my opinion, it is one of the tenderest and tastiest of all the kales. It is very hardy and I usually harvest it through December, then the plants bounce back in the early spring for fresh greens as soon as the weather warms up.  

And then there are Brussels sprouts. I try growing Brussels sprouts each year, because they are one of my husbands favorite vegetables, but I can never quite get them to mature. The plants grow strong and beautiful and healthy, but the sprouts never get any bigger than a marble. They hold up well in freezing temps, though and I will harvest some when I get home, but  I am always disappointed that they never get plump and large like the ones you see in the grocery store.

I can't remember the name of the Brussels sprouts I planted this spring. ( I will have to look that up when I get home). I always buy seeds for the ones with the shortest days to maturity, though. If any one has any ideas on what I can do in the future to encourage my Brussels sprouts to mature, I would love to hear from you.

Be sure to check out this giveaway hosted by Millie, the matriarch nanny goat at Eden Hills Farm. You have until Saturday December 10th at noon to enter to win your choice of handmade goats milk soap or other skin care products from the newly opened Eden Hills Market. (Go to the tabs directly under the title to see handmade products and the popcorn grown on Eden Hills Farm.) To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment. It couldn't be easier, so go on over and enter!

Linked to Farmgirl Friday. and Garden Life.

A New Nursing Job

Chickens in the barnyard. Photo taken 12/4/11.

(This week I've been calling my husband morning and evening to remind him to let the chickens out of the coop in the morning and then lock them up for the night. And to tell him I love him, of course. :)

I started a new nursing job on Monday. This wasn't a planned change. At the end of October the home health care company I was working for made the unexpected announcement they were closing most of their Michigan offices, including the one I worked out of. That left all their employees scrambling to look for new employment. Thankfully for most of us, this turned out to be less difficult than we had initially expected.

The company I now work for was looking specifically for a home care nurse to cover the area between my corner of the county I live in and the the medium size town about 25 miles away. When we moved out to the country two and a half years ago, I had resigned myself to the idea that I would be driving a good distance to any workplace and as long as I am in home care, I would be driving hundreds of miles a week. That is the price of living far out in the country and since I love doing home care, I just put a smile on my face and gas in the car. Then I soaked in the beauty of long drives on country roads and enjoyed spending time getting to know patients who often lived far out in the country in crumbling old farm houses. It was not unusual for me to drive over 1,000 miles a week in my previous job.

With this new job, I am hopeful that I can still enjoy the beauty of country roads and visiting with elderly farmers and country folks---but it sounds like I will be able to do it in a smaller driving radius, which means less driving, more time to finish charting on the job, and maybe getting home earlier and spending less time finishing charting in the evening. One can always hope and once again try to be more organized and efficient!

The next several months will tell. In the meantime I am spending this week in a hotel about 85 miles from my home in a classroom setting, learning the ins and outs of the new company. Next week I will be back in my own part of the country seeing patients. While this was not a change that I was looking for or desired, it certainly does appear to be a change for the good. I am looking forward to seeing what the future brings!

(Snow covered teasels--photo taken this morning at the edge of my hotel parking lot.)

A Bittersweet Sunrise

....a frosty curlicue from a bittersweet vine sparkles in the sunrise...

To see more bittersweet sunrise photos, check out Dandelion Haven's facebook page.

Linked to Macro Monday.

A Snowy Day in Silver and Blue

 The day before yesterday we woke to a glorious white mantle covering the world.

The sun rose bringing with it blue shadows and thousands of glittering ice diamonds in the tree branches.

Later in the day as the silver sun began to set in the West, the silver and blue of the snow and shadows deepened.

Linked to Sky watch Friday.

Gray Dogwood Baskets

This basket is woven from hand spun wool and gray dogwood twigs and has a wild grapevine handle. I boiled the twigs to make them pliable enough for weaving.  Grey dogwood is an invasive shrub that we are working on eliminating from our property.

I made these tiny baskets from the leftover twigs. I'm thinking they might make it on to my nature themed Christmas tree later this month...

Linked to Farm Girl Friday.

Sunshine after the Rain

Today has been a cold dreary, rainy, raw day. We are supposed to get a heavy snow overnight and I'm looking forward to it brightening the last of these November days. In the meantime I've spent a good part of the day inside in front of the wood stove sorting through photos. I cropped the above photo out of a corner of a failed macro I took a few weeks ago. It was taken on a pleasant evening with the temperatures in the 60's. The sun had suddenly come out after a drenching rain.

Simple Twig Stars

The past several years I have decorated my Christmas tree with edible ornaments--cookies, candy canes, apples, oranges.  This year I think I am going to skip the cookies and probably the candy canes and try to decorate my tree using simple ornaments from nature.

I don't usually set up my tree until close to Christmas, but I thought it would be fitting on the first Sunday of Advent to go for a ramble through my woods and collect twigs, pine cones, moss, and berries that could be potentially made into Christmas tree ornaments.

It didn't take long to turn a handful of twigs into these pretty stars. With all the stresses that come with  the company I work for closing most of its Michigan offices and having to find a new job, I'm having a hard time even comprehending that Christmas is just around the corner. I hope these simple stars will remind me to prepare both my heart and my home for the Christmas season and remind me not to worry so much about what the future may hold.

For  directions on making the twig stars, click here.

(Note: I wired mine instead of gluing them, but next time I am going to try using hot glue, as I plan on making a bunch of smaller ones for the Christmas tree.)

Linked to Homestead Revival's Blog Hop. and Virtual Christmas Ornament Swap. and Hidden Treasures Christmas blog party.

Golden Raindrops

Today was a beautiful warm day that ended with a light drizzle and a high of 59 degrees. The warm weather has extended our growing season a bit and I'm still picking spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli raab, kale, and brussel sprouts from the garden and still have a few random flowers blooming. These rain drops are on bok choy flowers.

Linked to Macro Monday.

Wild Crafted Cattail Basket

So I started this basket last December. I got it half way done, then set it aside for months and months. Yesterday I finally picked it up and completed it in a couple of hours. One of my goals for this coming year is to not let months and months go by without creating anything. Yesterday I gathered grapevine and gray dogwood twigs to start another basket. Hopefully it won't take me 11 months to post a photo of the finished basket!

This basket is woven of twisted wild cattail reeds and hand spun wool with a wild grapevine handle.

Wishing every a happy Thanksgiving! I will be back to the blogging world on Friday.

Sugared Rose Leaves

Linked to Macro Monday.

November Daisy

A lone wild daisy, still holding up her petals in the November rain.

Embrace the Storm

A tree that grows alone
is battered and shaken
by the storm
 but it grows stronger
and more graceful
in form
as it bends
and dances with the wind

I pray that
like the tree
I may grow stronger
and more full of grace
as I embrace the storm
and dance
with the winds of life.

Linking up with Five Minute Friday over over at Gypsy Mama. Today's prompt is "grow'.

Silent Beauty in Earth-hues...

"A sun-drenched sky

on windy autumn day;

out across open fields

passing clouds make shadow play.

Silent beauty in earth-hues

but ominous in a sense;

for though today be delightful

darkness soon gains precedence."

-Author Unknow

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Dew Drops and the Rising Sun

I've been making a concerted effort these days to get out and take a quick 2.5 mile walk each morning and watch the sun rise before I run off to work. It is hard however for a walk to be "quick" when you keep getting distracted by things like these dew drops on a bittersweet vine against the rising  sun.

(You can see more photos from my walk this morning on Dandelion Haven's facebook page.)

Even a Mud Puddle....

...can be a work of art.

The Easy Way to Plant Potatoes

When I was growing up, planting potatoes was my father's way of opening up new garden space. My dad would winter the cows in the plot he wanted to turn into garden. A thick layer of straw, hay, and manure would build up on the ground over the winter. Come spring the cows would be moved to pasture and the plot were they had over wintered would be staked out in straight rows for potatoes. Planting the potatoes was as simple as tucking the seed potatoes under the mulch every 12 inches or so. Harvest was just as simple. Come fall, all we had to was rake back the hay and straw and harvest the potatoes that were laying under the mulch, but on the top the ground.

Now I don't have cows, but I can still plant potatoes using the same principle. This weekend I prepared a row in the garden for the potatoes I will plant next spring. I cut down the corn stalks that had been growing there and removed the bigger weeds such as yellow dock and thistles. The smaller weeds I didn't worry about. Then I put down about six inches of partially decayed wood chip mulch.

 Next spring all I will have to do is is tuck a potato under the mulch every 12 inches or so. No digging, no weeding. I may have to add more mulch next spring depending on how much the wood chips have settled. But that will be it.

Growing potatoes couldn't be easier.

You can do the same thing using shredded leaves, straw, old hay, or other mulch.

It was another beautiful day today with highs in the high 50's. The honey bees were out in my garden working the remaining flowers.  (Yes, we still have some!) This bee is on  a bok choy flower.

Linked to Homestead Revival's Barn Hop.

Melting Snow

We had our first snow on Thursday. It came down fast and furious for about an hour and covered the ground and trees and stayed over night. On Friday morning the sun came up and the snow melted and was quickly gone. Today was 60 degrees and I worked outside for much of the day in a short sleeved t-shirt.

Dandelion Haven is now on facebook! Click here to come over and visit!

Linked to Macro Monday.

Unexpected Love

I had stepped beyond a broken family
Needing healing from a painful past,
Letting time and silence heal a broken heart
Love came quietly and unexpectedly
It was an unlikely match,
He came from a past of hurt and pain
Anger and dysfunction
But an unexpected love for each other
Brought both of us wholeness again

Linked to Five Minute Friday. and Imperfect Prose.

Turnip and Pork Stew



We had our first snow this afternoon--a wet heavy snow that stuck to trees and leaves and covered the ground. It was the perfect day for a hearty stew using some of the turnips that I harvested two weeks ago.

Turnip and Pork Stew

Makes about 4 servings

2/3 pound boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning mix
2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
½ cup chopped yellow onions
¼ cup chopped green bell peppers
¼ cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 pound turnips, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Toss the pork in the seasoning mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and brown evenly.
Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery. Season with the salt and cayenne. Cook, stirring, until slightly wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the turnips and the broth. Stir to mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from heat, add the green onions, and serve over rice if desired.

Linked to farmgirl friday. and Garden Life.

Country Road to Home

A glimpse of the road that passes by our home on a frosty morning.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Toto Blackeyed Susans

It was a beautiful 64 degrees today--and I even have flowers still blooming!

Tree Frog

Linked to Macro Monday.

Upside Down Sky

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Only a Person Who Risks is Free

As a daughter in my parents' home, being female was all about being protected. Protected from the world that wanted to steal my mind and heart away from my parents. Protected from men who apparently think only of raping and kidnapping girls and young women. Protected from having to make my own decisions. Protected from falling in love and ending up in a bad marriage or with a broken heart. Protected from the need to support myself.

Men were supposed to be the protectors, the leaders, the breadwinners. A woman who stayed within the protection of her home and under the authority of her father (and then the husband that he approved for her) was safe and cared for,  both spiritually and physically. Only a rebellious woman would dream of stepping outside of those boundaries.

For someone who is shy like me and a bit hesitate to step beyond herself, there is a certain kind of appeal in a life where there are clear boundaries, in a life where as long as you follow the rules and stay under your God given protector, you can't mess up. In  way, how I grew up, was for me, a risk free life.

Except it wasn't. Because only a person who risks is free.  And the lack of freedom didn't save me from falling in love and ending up with a broken heart. It didn't save me from loosing faith and belief in God. It didn't make me grateful to those who were protecting me. It didn't make me a better person or a better sister. I was stifled, unable to grow emotionally or spiritually. All it got me was a life of despair.

I traded freedom for a risk free life, and in giving up freedom, I took the biggest risk of all--that of not being willing to risk anything. It almost killed my soul, and in the end, it led to me contemplating taking my own life.

The first decision I made on my own, was the scariest one I have ever made.  That decision was to walk away from my parents' safe little world that had all the answers, into the unknown world. It was my first attempt at doing something risky. For me it was a huge step of faith--like stepping over a cliff in the dark and not knowing if something would catch me before I hit the bottom.

I had given up on God when I made that decision to walk away. But the great thing about God is that he is willing to meet you where you are, you just have to step out in faith.  He was there, in the darkness as I stepped over the cliff and he caught me.

I discovered that when I stepped outside of the protection of men, I stepped  into the arms of God and into his protection. In a life lived only under God's protection there are risks and responsibilities. There is no one but yourself to blame for your failures and mistakes. But it is a very worthwhile trade, for under God's protection there is also life, freedom and happiness.

Today I contemplate which direction to turn as turn as my dream job goes away and I face different options for work, and even the possibility of unemployment for the first time in my working life.  However instead of being fearful with these changes and the decisions I must make, I am excited to see where this will go. I am embracing the opportunity for growth and once again stepping beyond myself.  Whatever I end up choosing, there will be risks involved, but I know that God is bigger than me and he knows the big picture. I know he will be there at the end of my decision and in the unknown, waiting for me.

 "The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing,
has nothing, and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live."

--Author Unknown

Linked to Imperfect Prose and Life Unmasked.

River of Blackbirds

A rustle breaks the silent dawn

the rustle grows to rumble

then to a thunder

 twisting, turning, dancing

sinuous dark cloud

a river of blackbirds

crosses the sky.