Word is....

Pow. I'd get in the ring and fight for you. Will you be my Valentine? (You're a knock-out.)

Yo peeps, I signed a paper saying i wouldn't hold anyone liable for my injury or death and BOXED.

I boxed and then was so sore I had to relearn how to WALK. For the next three days I kept almost falling over. Out of necessity all household chores and construction were suspended.

So my loves, with leisure in my heart and a tipsy wobbly walk i went and...

• had soooo much fun at Girls Night Out at her cabin of earthly delights.
• went to her baby shower*. And saw her there with her awesome felted rattles made from local wool.
• supported my friend, Rebecca, at Communal for the grand opening of The Provo Orem Word!
• celebrated my cousin's 2 year old's birthday party which was attended by over 50 people (very Argentine style.)

I feel so filled up on good times with good people! And ready nearly ready to submerge one more time (crossing fingers) into the depths of onerous construction.

Besos!
Quel

* Yay! They're having a baby!!! They're the gorgeous couple with transcendent hair at the bottom of this link.

Defiance

I love defiant things!
Such as this fig tree growing just up the street from me on campus! It's not supposed to be able to grow in our wintry zone 5b/6a....definitely defiant.
Was it defiant three years ago when Ollie and I took some root stock from this miraculous fig tree? Our baby fig tree has a strong lineage (but lives inside during the winter).

Brussel sprouts are supposed to be harvested after one or two light frosts in the autumn. I harvested these stalks yesterday after the harshest part of winter.
After washing and removing the yellowed leaves, look at our brussel sprouts now! They've defied all odds! After a 10 minute boiling they were exquisite!
Notice the trilobyte mortared in our bathroom floor (the full bathroom reveal is coming soon). I bet you had no idea this post was going to mention trilobytes...defiant post! I bought that trilobyte in Tucson and then met a boy who also likes trilobytes...
and then we got married and my trilobytes and his trilobytes are OUR trilobytes.

and there's nothing too much defiant about that. Just wanted to give you a sneak peek of our reclaimed bathroom floor.

besos!

signed,
so much gratitude for it all

Attic Office

Before
Don't let the light-filled glow of the office corner deceive...it was an ill-organized space with no room to work and only one electric outlet. There was no storage space for our papers and the desk top was over-crowded with computer paraphernalia leaving no space on which to lean our elbows or much less be old-fashioned by writing on paper.
During
on the left wall we cut into the attic, laid a salvaged wood floor, erected new walls, and built 4 cubbies and an attic access door. The four cubbies hold the printer, the scanner, discs, and on the left front we added built in files. Not yet pictured: the new electric outlets with surge protectors.Here are the built-in shelves on the adjacent wall.
After
Notice these pictures are dark. It's night. Don't let the dark deceive you. It is bright and cheery and even inviting. Our office is inviting- does that count as a super power?! Imagine the work that will get done! We joined our old desktop to a built-in desk top so its now twice as deep. Our reference books are within reach and the file folders are labeled. Most of the files are empty because we had a big clean out. Empty space means room for a future. What new papers will we welcome to our office?!
I stained the tops of the rolling cabinets. And we can either have them tucked all the way under the desk or roll them out into the room for more desk top space.
Now I need to touch up the floor paint.

And then...?

Mad Dashes About Town

For the last few days besides being cloistered at the cottage while finishing construction I've been on some much needed diversions...
At Provo Town Square I found this cutie and knew he wanted a field trip to Heindselman's Knitting Shop.
where I promised O'lover I would knit atleast one thing per month if he bought me this knitting magazine.My speed walking Momma Mia and I booked it to the HFAC at BYU to see millions of paper cranes.
At the Lady Danburry tailoring shop I took a mini-workshop on appliques and stenciling.Adorable Lady Danburry let me trace her kissing drawing onto my interfacing.We had dinner with some of our favorite Farmers' Market vendors, the Talaveras. Those deep-fried stuffed green peppers- oh my!At the Covey Art Center I enjoyed the refrigerator art by Sharon Gray.Dr. Gray inserted herself into all sorts of famous art works such as Edvard Munch's The Scream. I also loved her as Frida Kahlo.Also at the Covey Art Center this painting by Barbara Wardle. Paintings that can't be contained but runneth over onto the frame thus becoming an art object...? My soft spot!
Beheld the sexy Valentine's window display at Taylor Maid in downtown.
and last but not least got my vitamin c from the rose hips in front of Provo Care on Center Street.
Photos of the last of the cottage renovations are coming up this Monday.

Until then...
Besos!

p.s. GrittyPretty is on Cjane's Guide to Provo! Check it out here. Thanks Cjane!

Art Lovers of Provo, it's a Battle of Wills

Provo's FrontRunner station is going to be adorned with the following sculptures by Don Mitchell:
a clock tower
and two greeters holding a destination sign.

After an open call to artists, an agonizingly long selection procedure, approval by committee, seeking funds from the city council (who unanimously approved the sculptures) the Daily Herald is now asking YOU. Weigh in on the sculptures at the Herald poll.* And this is what Mayor Curtis has to say.

signed,
foreseeing Provonians enjoying many photo ops with these two sculptures. i own stockings just like the 11 foot giant on the right...=)

*And normally this post would be over but........currently voters are deeming the sculptures too expensive!??

I wholeheartedly disagree!

RANT RANT RANT RANT (imagine about three paragraphs of well reasoned rant deleted 'cause even well reasoned rants hurt my eyes. ouch.)

these giant sculptures are NOT expensive!!

Remember when Provo thought the Academy library was too expensive? And it was an uphill battle to preserve it?

Wait a sec...that was another rant!

Go vote.

Link Love

I've decided I can not be happy until the cottage construction projects are over.

So this is me not being happy. UNhappy. Impatient. I tried pouting.

Dear Construction Projects, are you over yet?

Nope. They are still there. Pouting had no effect.

So dear reader while I roll up my sleeves and give another heave-ho please notice I just added some link love to the right margin of this blog (under the farmers' market poster).

Also, I checked traffic sources to the blog and found that mormontimes.org has linked to me. This is what they wrote: check out Gritty Pretty, a fascinating but fun blog mixture of topics that comes out of Provo!

(maybe i am reading too much into that exclamation point but why are they surprised that grittypretty comes out of provo?) And, thanks for the link, MormonTimes!!

Signed,
A daughter of Provo who is not leaving the cottage until everything is tidy again. Except to walk Farmer to kiss the horses.

Haiti and Roadtrips

Hey y'all. Two things:

First, my friend Rye, Mr. PhD of Water, is going to Haiti and sent this e-mail:

Hey ra ra. Who do you know in Provo who is going to Haiti? I am putting together a rapid response team. We are looking for partners and any info that we can get before we leave.

So dear blog-o-sphere...perhaps you know someone who'd qualify to be part of a water and sanitation team? Or people from the local area who want to partner? If you know anyone who is going or wants to go please e-mail me at grittyprettyatgmaildotcom and I'll forward your info. What an amazing thing to have the skills to contribute! I'm so proud to know people who are dropping everything to go help!

Second, remember the VW Bus ornament I sent for my sister TamTam's Christmas tree? Here's some pics of the real thing. They do a good job of demonstrating the concept that even after all these years you are the same person you were as a child.
I totally am exactly the same person.
Here I am being overtaken by the beauty of a blade of grass. We were somewhere in Central or South America.
I still can't get into a car without feeling a pull to deep slumber. Remember when we didn't have to wear seat belts?!

signed,
totally willing to wager that you are the same person you were as a child too.

Unimagineable

Ollie's brother served in the Peace Corp, in Haiti. He has people he calls family there. And that's all I can say about the suffering. My brain can't begin to wrap around it and I just want to hold people close.

My O'lover did the sweetest thing. We've lost the vast majority of our digitally stored photos on count 'em, not one, not two, but THREE hard drives. So O secretly solicited photos from friends and surprised me with a slideshow. Here are some of what people sent (THANK YOU!!!):

On our own little parade...flower petals strewn in our wake.
I wish i could have my niece, the Scootch, surgically attached to my hip. i love that kiddo! And i love my mister's dimples.my only request for my bridal shower was that it was skankilicious. so i had a cowboy stripper (i dare not post photos of that!) and a man cake (i got the best piece!)The dream team of downtown Provo...i love these dear gals.
harvesting honey...
Rachel, now of LA, and I used to braid our hair together so we'd be conjoined twins. We'd have slumber parties and I was always the first one to fall asleep (no matter what i can never stay awake!!) so sneaky Rachel would apply loads of makeup on my face as I was snoring away. In the morning I would have mirror shock. I got accustomed to never knowing what eyeliner tattoos i would wake up with. i don't have pictures of all that but i now have these:Cottage update:

• major construction underway (as always!!)
• i forfeited the game of Christmas chicken with my neighbors and packed it all up.
• making lots and lots of winter squash stews and pumpkin custards
• watching the entire British series As Time Goes By with Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer
• contemplating my huge crush on Mandy Patinkin from Yentl and Criminal Minds
  

besos,
grittypretty

Four Things

First, my new strategy for gift giving to my nieces and nephews...Art Supplies All the Time!

I bought huge sketchbooks, art chalk, and drawing pencils. I couldn't find any bags big enough to hold the sketchbooks so I made some. The cotton fabric was on sale at the Fabric Mill on Center Street for 1.98/yard. The bags are reversible.
This side of the bags say quotes about painting and sculpture. Um, perfect for my intentions.
Second, I am moving ahead with my boxing ambition. =)
Third, all my new dolls have good homes. I have two more dolls coming up.
Fourth, the cottage only has one built-in closet. It wasn't big enough to store our steam cleaner and vacuum. Our bedroom was the default janitor's closet.
Not anymore! We took out the back wall and our closet is twice as big. The nook under the stairs is cleaned up and repainted. There's a second rung to hang our little used rain gear and we have space for everything, even our ironing board.

And that's all.

Review of Handmade goods - part 2

Candy! We made up the recipe but the main ingredients were: soaked and roasted almonds, rapadura, cream, homemade caramel and chocolate fudge and then we rolled it all out and cut into squares and edged in coconut. All organic goodness.
Something a little lighter...teas!
This is my new favorite cottage industry. I usually drink looseleaf tea but ollie found some tea bags at the health food store that you fill with your own herb and then iron the edge closed. All the teas were from the garden and included: raspberry leaf, echinacea, spearmint, pineapple mint, rose petal, sweet goldenrod, feverfew, yarrow, lemon balm, and chamomile. Of course more handmade envelopes were involved (yippee!). Since this year was my first time I stuck with doing simple one ingredient teas. Next year...tea blends.

The wreath was a gift to a very kind neighbor, Edie. The wreath is from the Flower Basket and I am claiming this as homemade because I glued that pretty bird onto it. Haha! So simple. The bird is from that one antique shop next to our favorite antique shop, The Cat's Cradle.
We bought bunches of mistletoe to adorn the presents to encourage lots and lots of kissing.

By the way, we're in a bit of a time warp at the cottage. It's still Christmas over here! We're playing Christmas chicken with our across the street neighbors (they don't know this). When they take down their outdoor holiday decor, we will too. But not 'til then!
Besos!

Review of Handmade Goods - part I

First the wrapping...we used old prints & maps, fake tattoos as gift cards, and drawings from the Sophie and Hobo movie we made. My new thing this year was to glue feathers randomly on everything. I really wish now that we took more pix. Wrapping is one of my favorite things!


For two of the family gardeners I made seed boxes.
I made envelopes out of old art prints and vellum. The vellum envelopes are strong and water resistant. It's always good to have some water resistant envelopes around when you're exchanging seeds.
I made slightly larger dividers out of old prints from art school and labeled them warm weather crops and cool weather crops.

more to come...

Gifts of Art

O'lover and I were the lucky recipients of many fine works of art this Christmas. The above piece is an ink drawing of Hildegard von Bingen by Rosi Hayes. This is so special to me! I used to carry a book of Hildegard's visions around as my security blanket (her many visions were an inspiration) and I wanted to name a daughter Hilde (pronounced hildee).

Ollie and I have a goal to celebrate this year at every opportunity. We will have a mini-festival for devout Hildegard on her feast day, September 17th.

The Brothers gave us works of art that I LOVE. When you visit the cottage and see their art you will be stunned.

Yang for the New Year!

I'm setting up boxing matches. Anyone want to fight?

(And by "fight" i mean design cool satin shorts with your initials appliqued on them and attached sequins to t-shirts. Oh! and no hitting each other's pretty noses OUCH!...but YES to floating like a butterfly and stinging like bees. Have you ever been stung by a bee? It is not that big a deal and I've been stung by five at a time (we've had bee hives.)

Actually I'm slightly allergic to bees and I swell up when stung but it's still not a big deal.

Back to boxing.

E-mail me and we'll put you on the schedule.
If you have an idea about how we should wear costumes while fighting even BETTER!

There's a girls boxing club in sugarhouse called Boxing is For Girls. It's run by Eliza who could kick ANYONE'S trash. Remember Ivan Drago, the blonde russian from Rocky IV? Who struck fear in all our hearts and made Rocky IV the most popular in the franchise? Eliza could kick his trash.

So these are the people that i challenge to fight and notice i'm picking people who are tough:

Churnings and Burnings
NoelleO Designs
Independence Andi
You

so e-mail me and we will discuss when, where, and decide all of the details.

signed,
laying off my new eggnog habit and saying yes to jumping rope

Merry

We made this last night for you, our family and friends. I wish you were all here making crazy music with us.

Neither Here nor Hair

A few things...
First, late one night...
This is merciful O'lover saying "go to bed. i will finish building the winter home for the hens tonight so tomorrow we can go on a little trip."
Here's the new winter home for the ladies. It's insulated with rigid foam sandwiched between plywood and metal roofing plus it has a hinged roof.
Now we just need to put in the roosting bar and move it to the coop. It has a cute door (not pictured) that will connect it to the chicken tractor.

And then we went on a trip.
There are lots of bones in the Boulder Creek wash. Growing up I used to collect bones from the wilderness and store them in boxes in my closet. I don't know why I did that. I just really liked bones. Ollie's mum told us to keep an eye out for the bones of Everett Ruess.
And on to more hairy matters...
My hair is slowly becoming less like hair and more like rope. I love it. It has a ways to go before it catches up to the fine ropes of my bro-in-law.
Lastly, my youngest bro-in-law bought this 'stache from a gas station near Scipio on I-15.
Question: Could i pass as the sixth Callis brother? (Ollie says no.)

Go Dog Go in the Treehouse

My best AJ organized a Go Dog Go party in the treehouse. She made hot food, hot drinks, and her specialty...wool hats. AJ is a woman of many many talents. Here she is handing me one of her felted hats to wear.
All of the partiers are mountain guides/ice & rock climbers/trailwalkers so there were no worries about anyone falling off the icy ladder or sliding off the snowy observation deck. I trust them completely but still had to warn: "please maintain three points of contact at all times while climbing the ladders."
And then we had a tour of the Mothers Cookies van which is a really swell dwelling. It's huge and has a sleeping loft and the inside is powered by solar panels.

AJ is moving to the virgin islands soon. She's heading up the textiles department at an Eco resort. She'll be doing a lot of wax resist dyeing. I will miss her sooooo much. Sob. She has been staying in the treehouse every other week when she's not camping in the snowy unita basin. I'm not the only one who will have AJ withdrawals. And i quote Oliver when asked about how he will feel when AJ is gone for so long: "That's gonna suck."

We love ADORE you AJ.

i'm practicing bidding farewell to 2009.

This is me with two honeys before 2009.Hello self from before this year,
you had no idea. 2009 kicked your ass. 2009 is going to make you feel like you've lost your identity, you'll say insane things (more than usual), act erratically (more than usual), spew bitterness (what?!), lose the vision you have for yourself (panic!) and why you're here (no way!).
So sorry,
quel

Dear 2010,
Phew! Thanks for a clean slate. This will be a smooth ride. I've got boundaries and i know how to use them. I might have better perspective. I'll develop a new vision and it will include wondrous things I've never imagined. And 2010, if you get testy like 2009, that's okay too. Testiness can be incorporated, you can thank 2009 for that.
love,
quel

remember, the moon is waxing full and now is the time to ask for what you want to come to you. (i'm asking for a lot.)

I sent my sister a box of ornaments including these three that I "made". TamTam is staying home for the holidays and this is the first year she'll have her own tree to decorate.

I strung up the baby blue VW Bus because my parent's drove one like it for 18 months all over Central and South America when we were little- that road trip is the reason my baby sister was born in Argentina.

The model house belonged to my dad. He started putting together tiny houses when he was young and one of his childhood friends died. He made a little house for her spirit to live in. He never stopped making houses.

I hope that these ornaments will help my sister's children remember these stories about the grandpa they've never met.

And the "Elvis Lives" ornament?
Just 'cause. =)

A Look About Outside

Right before the blizzards I picked the last of our parsnips. We've been having lots of parsnip curry.
Hens can be kept outside all winter with no problems. But at our house I couldn't sleep at night with worriy that their heat lamp will die and they might be cold. So I built them a strawbale wing to their chicken tractor. I used an old window for a skylight. But a week ago the forecast for our zipcode was -1 degrees so I moved the ladies into the greenhouse. Oliver is drawing up construction plans for me to make them a winter home that's tall enough for a roosting bar and will allow them access to the outside. The ladies have made it clear that being stuck in the greenhouse is a bit dull.
Unlike the ladies I love being cooped up. The cottage, though small, is never dull.
Besos!

A Look About Inside

Sometimes you must put up your feet and take tea in the cast iron bathtub that took nine (strong and heroic!) people to lift through your upstairs back window.
Everything in our upstairs bathroom is salvaged. I love the serendipity that happens when you set your intention, and plow ahead determined to find all your materials secondhand or free. Friends gave us leftover tile, a brand new wall mounted toilet, and even the drywall! We got the brand new Kohler yellow tub, our awesome bathtub faucet, light fixtures and pedestal sink (not pictured) from ReStore.
The tile shelf set along the tub serves a dual purpose. It's a place for candles and the faucet hardware is in the middle so that you can recline on either end of the tub without a concussion. Cast iron tubs hold heat really well plus we insulated the underside and all of the plumbing in the wall to the hilt.
I'll show you the rest of the bathroom soon. The plumbing was by far the hardest, most time consuming part of the process. Thanks to everyone who helped! The rest is so close to being done!

Still upstairs... the nursery corner is sponsored by my mum-in-law. She lends us the crib every time we have guests with a baby. Notice the NoelleO banner from the Beehive Bazaar. I need to find a safer place for it but for now its draped on the crib.
Our next project is the office corner which will become an inset office nook. We will dig into the attic for more space ala sewing nook and book nook. For those of you who have visited the cottage please notice that we finished the guardrail and banister! We also painted the stairwell. it looks so fresh and clean!

In The Night Kitchen with Torin

*eating a cupcake you made

Dear Torin,
You LOVE In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak. Everyday you like to say "Eggs!" "Mickey!" and chant "Stir it! Scrape it! Mix it! Bake it!" And so we did! You made cupcakes, and scrambled eggs, and quesadillas. Only we were really careful and you never fell in the batter or got put in the oven like Mickey. You like washing your hands like a doctor does (all the way to your elbows). You are a good chef. I love you and miss you and wish you the happiest 3rd Birthday ever.
xo,
Your Auntie Quelly

The Cabbage Junkie and It hasn't only been Construction Around Here...

Recently, while still in Chicago...
In this snapshot I'm carrying a sleeping and bundled up Baby Zigzag. She looks like my very own head of ornamental cabbage, don't you think? Zigzag's mother gave me the hat to bring home as a memento; she's keeping the baby (alas!)The night I flew back into Provo City Ollie's family took us to Communal for a belated birthday dinner. We ordered one of everything!! The tastiest farm food EVER and within walking distance of the cottage!
In hind sight I should have suspected something when Ollie's mum told the server we weren't ordering dessert. NO DESSERT?! Who doesn't order dessert?
But I didn't suspect a thing.
The cottage was dark and Ollie opened the front door for me....

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(you saw that coming? i didn't!)
the cottage was full of lovely friends for a surprise birthday party. happy shrieks!

Andi made some Obama bread!
Ollie made me a book full of photos and drawings contributed by friends near and far (including a Mark England original!). It was a magical night full of warmth! Thanks for taking some photos Melissa!
I will always remember my genuine surprise and am so glad for such a thoughtful husband and generous friends.

Thinking About...and Fair Notice

"The beginning of wisdom is to get you a roof." West African Proverb

"Never let them see you sweat." Dry Idea deodorant commercial

This weekend Ollie and I tore off the leaky roof from my studio (our back garage). And reroofed it!!! We finished at 2 AM during a snow storm. Then I had a nervous breakdown because we had taken a load of old tar shingles to the dump that day and did you know that everything you're wearing at the dump is automatically contaminated with grossness? Even the clothes that didn't technically come in contact with anything? But our clothes washer hasn't been working. And I was so tired! And the laundrymat was closed! But then I remembered Momma Mia had grown up hand washing her clothes. So I threw our clothes in the bathtub and handwashed them. But couldn't wring them out by myself and O'lover wasn't feeling the urgency. And I noticed that the clothes weren't clean after all my scrubbing anyway. This month both our furnace and steam cleaner had broken so "broken" was fast becoming the household state of normalcy. This story ends with me having a bigger fit which Oliver says I should be excited about because "breakdowns always lead to breakthroughs" which included finding out that our Asko washer is still under warranty and we will have it fixed this Monday. (Don't worry, the furnace was replaced with a much more efficient model and the steam cleaner repaired.) Seriously, there had been so many times during construction that I have wanted to go all Henry David Thoreau and live in a simple small box.

So YAY!!! We are starting studio renovations! (Thanks O'lover!!)

P.S. To whomever left their paragliding gear on our back patio,

Unless there's an explanatory note, things left at the cottage get used.

Like how this fall a convertible BMW was parked in front of our house for three weeks. I used it to go walnut harvesting.

I really hope the paragliding gear is my size. Last time I used someone else's paragliding gear it was way too big and the enormous harness kept falling to my ankles. but i took it to rock canyon park and ran back and forth until i caught a bit of lift.

buzzzzzzy

dear reader,
i'm at the cottage covered in drywall joint compound and tiling mastic. no time to visit with whoever is knocking at the door or upload photos from my camera or eat properly or comb my hair (yay dreads! my hair is seriously becoming a handy repository of pencils and small tools). i only have time to think think think and finish loads of construction. and think think think some more. i hope to be done with all this thinking (and with putting in our upstairs bathroom) in time to go to the beehive bazaar this weekend.
xo!

Zigzagging

My days in Chicago look something like this:
Baby Zigzag and I take the pinkline to Damen. Aside: Everyone says my niece Zigzag looks like me. It's true! Her eyes slant up just like mine! It's a recessive gene thing.
From the Damen station we see hoophouses and compost bins on a new roof top garden. I'm impressed because I can see they plan to heat the gravel under their hoophouses with warm air passively pumped through a tube.then Zigzag and I paid a visit to SLOW, a gallery started by SAIC/BYU alumnus Paul Hopkins. We came after hours so we'll try again...through the windows the show looks good.
Then we went to the Textile Discount Company- an enormous warehouse full of absurdly discounted fabrics!!! This is where the burlesque/belly dancers get their costume fabric. I know this because I read the online reviews.
The warehouse is endless, 3 stories of cheap cheap beautiful fabric and trims of every kind. So cheap they might as well be giving it away. I did not leave empty handed.
Then we zigzagged to my sister Tam's research lab so that she didn't have to pump but could get some quality feeding time with her babe. My little sister is awesome.
It was already dark when Zigzag and I picked up Mr T from his school which is very close to this Dubuffet sculpture. This is Mr. T right after his Gym Stars class. Mr. T combed his hair forward with his fingers to do his "shimmy shake" dance.
This is Mr T's friend who really wanted me to take a picture of him.
And then we zigzagged home and Mr. T did the shimmy shake about 10 times before bedtime. And Zigzag? She just looks around with her slanty eyes...being cute.

Besos! and Happy Friday the 13th! and Happy Birthday to Heather of Moonshinejunkyard!!! and Christian from TheOtherSampsons!!! I wish my birthday was on Friday the 13th!!!!! (but it's on Saturday the 14th). =)

Thank You Doll

Short of tattooing "thank you" on your forehead because you mean it so earnestly...
Mostly this doll carries her thanks inside her marsupial pouch but sometimes the thanks are uncontainable and she earnestly flies her gratitude at full mast. She is small enough to fit inside an envelope and mail.

This thank you doll went to Lillian, my grandma-in-law. Lillian is on grittypretty here and here. She's a vigilant watchwoman of the environment and supporter of all that is good in the world including...the arts, the farmer's market, and the wilderness. Plus she brings us tasty buttered popcorn almost every day.

Lillian is marvelous. And I thank her.

Besos!

heading out to the midwest

when i get back i expect the neighborhood to be in a deep chill for thanksgiving. so for contrast here's a wrap-up of recent cottage warmth and sun...and more harvest.captain tallulah on top of the treehouse pirates' nest.harvesting
baby LOVES fresh apple juice (from the cider making party)

a sampling of our home grown and dried goods. we labeled everything this year.the family portrait. i miss O'lover already.

hasta...

Autumnal...

....reflections
...feather headbands and a ride in the bike trailer
...jars and jars of bone broth
...late season wildcrafting...motherwort, mugwort, elderberries. stinging nettle, hawthorn berries,
...fogged up windows and swollen cupboard doors from all the canning humidity. Almost endless chopping...


And a little cake to go in the hot oven.
besos!

Halloween highlights...

include dancing in duane's studio til i got so hot that my wig and wings had to go. 10 points
For the Call's Halloween Eve party I was the Angel of Death and Oliver was an Amazonian Shaman. This year's costumes were home made with stuff we already had lying around the cottage including a speedo and a set of curtains. 10 points.The next night for Halloween Proper at the Farmhouse we wore the same costumes but this time I was a Dark Angel and Oliver was a Luchador. Ha! That's called re-purposing! 10 points! We made my wings from baling wire and stash fabric. Another ten points.Oliver's beak was made from paper scraps. 5 points. Oliver wearing a speedo in public...10 million points. (Thanks Ollie!)Hot trekkie sighting...10 points.Tabitha casts her spell with a wink....10 pointsand a bottle of beer...10 points. Me not knowing what duff was...minus 20 points.We had the after-party party at the cottage. The robots seen below were some of the main people behind the movie Killer at Large (think Food, Inc.) It was so cool to talk to them about about a shared passion...local food! 500 points!!!
We scored this halloween!
Wearing my wings everywhere i go for the next few days? 10 billion points!!!!!!!!!!!!
Besos,
gp