Smiling Pancakes
May your pancake smile upon you this morning. This is what you get when you let Hannah cook pancakes!
Sugaring: Tapping Maple Trees
We have been planning our entry into the world of Maple Sugaring since we purchased a book on sugaring last fall at the Common Ground Fair. Intending to start small, we purchased a dozen stainless steel Maple taps, plastic tubing, and saved gallon...
Feathery Felt Barn Owl Ornament
This little barn owl is my favorite felt ornament yet. With individual feathers and buttons for eyes, I can imaging her perching on the barn rafters. If we had a barn. Click here to download the pattern. If you make this little owl, please comment...
Shadowy Self Portrait
Me, in my PJs and fleece, walking Hannah to the meet the school bus this morning.
Another Winter Sunset
Creamy Asparagus-Potato Soup
On Sunday, the wind was howling outside and all three of us were at various stages of "under the weather" with colds. It seemed like a good soup day. With potatoes beginning to sprout in the pantry and asparagus that had gone almost forgotten in...
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
It's February and we're in Downeast Maine. And this crazy little Viola? Yesterday it was t-shirt weather. Today it's bitter cold with winds howling through like a freight train. Yet signs of Spring are waging an impudent challenge to the calendar....
Armchair Birdwatcher
I’m an armchair birdwatcher. This winter, the only regular visitors to my birdfeeder have been Mourning Doves. I snapped these pictures this afternoon from the coziness of my kitchen. This is the real reason why I removed all the screens from the...
Bold Blue Jay Felt Ornament
A Blue Jay that won't raid my bird feeder and scare the dinky birds away. You can download this Blue Jay pattern here. If you make this little guy, comment herewith a link to a picture of yours!
A Buff in the Box Revisited
Here's a little camera experiment to compare my new cool SLR camera to my old cool camera. This is a buff in the box picture taken a week or so ago with my Kodak Z981 set on automatic. This is a buff in the box taken yesterday with the new Canon...
Downy Woodpecker Felt Ornament
On our walk through the woods yesterday the only bird we came across was our resident woodpecker. He gets the honor of being featured in my felt ornament collection. You can download the pattern here. I'd love to see your ornament. If you make him,...
The Ultimate Granny Gadget Gift
My cameras have always been point and shoot. Recently, I told Mom that my next camera would be a digital SLR. Shortly after that conversation I received an email from Amazon - a Canon Rebel EOS T3i had been shipped to me, courtesy of Granny (and...
A Winter’s Sunset
Duck Tracks
I went out to check for eggs this afternoon. This was my first clue that the ducks were not tucked away safe and sound in their yard. I followed the tracks and found a duckie super highway. They had been very busy ducks. It didn't take great...
What little visitor is this?
These are cute little tracks leading right up to the edge of the house. I'm just hoping whoever it is hasn't taken up residence!
Yummy Split Pea Soup
Snowy cold weekends are the perfect time for one of my new favorites - Split Pea Soup. I made this for the first time last year after many hints from Paul who loves Split Pea Soup. Me? I'd managed to avoid it for all of my years. I had no idea what...
Longing for Spring Felt Robin Ornament
It's going to be some time before Robins make an appearance here. Spring is a ways off - according to the calendar and to Mother Nature. A snowstorm has everything cancelled in our little corner of Maine today, so I whiled away the afternoon making...
Baking Egg Bread
This recipe has been on my mind for a while now since I've been looking for recipes that use eggs. A snowy Saturday seemed like a good time to finally make Challah, or braided egg bread. I studied a number of different recipes and worked up this...
Scrambled Eggs for Chickens?
There seems to be something fundamentally wrong about feeding chickens scrambled eggs. The thing is they love them! Today is only the third time I've offered this treat to The Girls. I’m not so taken with these chickens that I cook for them on a...
Looking Tough
She works her way up the court - a scowl on her face - a fierce competitor to be reckoned with. She looks like she's one tough cookie. The truth is she's such a nice kid that she worries about being aggressive on the court!
Choose My Plate for Healthy Eating
As part of her seventh grade health class, Hannah created an account at ChooseMyPlate.org. Choose My Plate is a web site produced by the USDA that helps you track your meals and encourages you to make healthy eating choices. It dovetails well with...
A Solitary Stroll in the Woods
An odd thing happened today. I found myself home, alone, and all caught up on my work. Amazing. My conscience said that I should use the time to catch up on housecleaning, but 40 degree temps in February lured me outside. With cell phone and camera...
Great Horned Owl Felt Ornament
We share our property with a great horned owl. On nights when the window is open and I'm doing my 2:30 a.m. night owl routine, I can often hear her "who-who-who." Despite my searching, I've yet to spy this elusive critter. This little felt owl may...
Rooster Wearing Out His Welcome
Pepper, the Banty Rooster, is close to loosing his happy home. He’s one of two roosters in the Banty B&B. I think Pepper has a Napoleon complex – little in stature and big on aggressiveness. He cock-a-doodle-doos at o’dark-thirty - before the...
Oscar Laid an Egg!
Oscar laid an egg!?Turns out Oscar is a girl. A renaming may be in order. Oscarina? Not sure that works. I think she'll be forever Oscar to us. Here's her egg along with a Bantam egg (green one), Buff Orpington egg (brown one), and the beautiful...
