Making Dreadlocks Using a Tool
I can hear the soft hum my machine makes while polishing some of my stones. My daughter and I recently went through my stash, as I was was heading in the direction of a hoarder. There she sat going through “rock” after “rock” insisting …
When I got pregnant with our first child, my husband and I started talking about what kind of traditions we wanted to start. As DINKs, (Dual Income, No Kids) we had no traditions. We pretty much did whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. But now I love that we have several. We have donuts most Saturday mornings, go to the park Sunday afternoons after church, and every fall we take a big family trip to an orchard out in the country. It’s kind of a big deal.
We try and meet up with my husband’s family for breakfast, then drive a winding country road lined with trees in beautiful fall colors to our destination. The boys feed some goats and llamas and marvel at the colors on the exotic chickens. Before we go we ride the little train that goes around the apple orchard, down the ravine, past the pumpkin patch and back up by the pony ride.
I’m not a country girl by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s just something about sitting on a hay bale listening to live folk music as a gentle breeze makes the gold and crimson trees dance with the tune. I sit with a hot cup of apple cider as the steam wafts notes of honey and cinnamon in the crisp fall air. We always leave with apples, maybe a pumpkin or two, and tons of great memories.
Fifteen or so years ago (boy am I getting old) I had dreams of owning a recycling business. Reusing old scrap metals wasn’t quite as fashionable here in the midwest and neither was the idea of women driving dump trucks. Back in the day, my …
Some of you guys live in the most wonderful places. I remember as a kid being fascinated by elves, dwarves and fairies in the enchanted forest. You know the familiar story lines of little girls and boys taking a passage through the woods to get more quickly from point A to point B. Well this summer I had an opportunity to walk a trail as beautiful and lush as those in fairy land.
First let me say I have a fear of heights and I don’t like narrow trails. Especially, those where one side is a vertical mountain wall and the other side of the narrow path is a shear drop. When I first stepped onto the path the sounds of the city were ushered out only to be broken by the gentle sounds of water and the occassional singing of birds. It’s hard to describe but in this particular set of woods I felt as though I was being hugged and loved as I was greeted by the heavy fragrance of fresh pine. I had entered the enchanted forest were the pine trees were mighty and the fallen were covered with with thick moss and brillant fungi and lush ferns. It’s indescribable.I love you Seattle…. Lake 22….. I’m not saying I made it all the way up to the top….but it was beautiful none the less.
What made it more special was to see one of my favorite endeavors being passed on and made better. Other than the creator, my family gets my best. It seems my love of nature was passed on to me by granny Rena and so it continues….
My Son
Mt Rainier
One day while checking my facebook (which I know I do more than I should) I noticed a post about the latest twitter war between rappers. So I had to google it. For the next 20 -30 minutes I read about the major players, their …
I know you have all seen the articles encouraging us to share our space with house plants. Those stories typically stay by listing all the reasons for poor air quality and resulting health hazards then recommends one large plant per room. The first thing I do when I come across these stories is replace my overdue furnace filter, but on this day I happened to walk by the house plants and these two little guys spoke to me.
Well, I’m not a green thumb, as my husband will gladly point out. But I grew up in a house filled with plants larger and older than my brothers and me, so I’ve tried with mixed results. We will see how well I do keeping them going.
I stopped for a moment to try and keep the sweat from dripping completely in my eye. There it was, a perfectly round drop precariously dangling from my lashes. It’s not quite 7 am, but I’ve been out pulling weeds from my neglected flower beds. …
