Home for Christmas

We have been waiting for the deer to spend more time here at home since we moved here in the fall.  Neighbors have told us that they always camped out in our yard, but alas, we have furkids and they have been a deterrent.  My friend with a flower garden has them eating lunch and dinner in her beds and really doesn't welcome them.  So this week, the herd came "home".  This little buck came to the Mr.'s coyote call, nearly up to the back door. We had over 20 here yesterday.

 After having lunch last week with old friends, I was requested to post pictures of the outside of our home.
We had snow this week and lots of cold temps, but the sun was shining yesterday, so I trudged through the snow to get a couple of pictures.  We are out in the country, although we are only a few hundred yards from the highway that leads to both Saratoga and Encampment.  It takes about 10 minutes to get to either town.  We have experienced a recession here as work has mostly depended on the saw mills in the past.  The mill here has been closed since we have been gone, but is now preparing to open with new computerized equipment and with the hiring of 60-80 people, we are hoping for change.  We have been seeing old friends left behind when we left and since this is our third time to take up residence here, we are finally feeling like we are "home". 

It looks a bit barren here with just a few leafless trees for the winter rest, but it is serene and relaxing and especially cozy this Christmas.  With friends and neighbors heading off to work, (we are a bedroom community with people traveling several miles to their workplaces) before the sun is up even, we are blessed to be able to enjoy our warm home and the only thing that could be better would be to have our children here at Christmas.  But again, we are thankful that they are able to be with friends and family and that they have their health and are "home" for Christmas. 

Lessons in glass and life

One of my good friends here and I started a project over 5 years ago, probably closer to six that she had seen  somewhere.  Although I have been dabbling for more years than I can remember in stained class,  this one was one of her first projects.  She had done a smaller piece at the studio we are so very lucky to have here.  We were using my equipment and since we were living over 2 hours away most of the time, it was nearly impossible to get together.  These projects take hours and hours.  There is perfecting the pattern, which we collaborated on, choosing the glass, cutting the many pieces, the hours of grinding each piece to fit perfectly, the foiling of each piece, transporting the project so she could do most of the work without get the pieces out of order or lost, tacking the pieces, soldering both front and back, adding patina and cleaning.  We chose to embellish to add structure to the piece and found a chain with which to hang it. She was a great student!!

The pictures really don't do it justice, photography isn't my strong point, but finished, it is lovely!  Good job girl!!

As I went to the door to let my furkids out today (15 degrees on the thermometer) this is what I saw.  No pretty sunrise as it was too early.  Just a sliver of the moon with one star shining.

As children, we were given lessons on the constellations.  I do not remember the details and do not have the interest that my dad had, but I remember many evenings sitting on the back slab of cement we called a porch getting these lessons.  My dad only had a 10th grade education, but he was a very intelligent man.  He knew the names of these constellations as well as their locations in the sky and how to find them.  We usually started by finding the "dippers" and the north star and from there we would navigate the sky as the early sailors must have done.  So daddy, I hope you realized wherever you gaze today, I treasure those memories on the porch as we had our schooling.

"We will be victorious if we have not forgotten how to learn." ~ Rosa Luxemburg

Bagged,tagged and.....

 Both the Mr.and I grew up in families that hunted.  Wild meat was a staple for our winter table!  As we raised our children, we continued to hunt. No longer do we apply for that license, and we do miss the meat, but it is hard work. We used to load our game and it was "bagged, tagged and gutted."
On occasion, we would also buy a tree permit and hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. That also was hard work!!  The tree always looks so perfect in the forest and after searching for the very best tree, it was cut down, dragged through the snow, (there was always lots of snow), loaded and hauled home.  Beauty is only skin deep thank goodness as these trees were always much more ugly when they were actually in the stand in the house. But they were fresh....not a month old as were those at the local tree sales.  So........this year, since we are so close to the forest, our friends and neighbors wanting a fresh, fragrant tree urged us to go get a tree with them.  With permits in hand (they are only $10.00) and lunches packed we went to breakfast first for a great start to the day.  The Mr. always questions what MARVELOUS adventure we might have.  We have always made it home, but we have been in some tight fixes over the years embarking on these adventures.  We have encountered bears, been stuck and cold and come upon fires in the forest among other things. We have no snow here...No moisture which is badly needed and the temps are moderate.  So as we made it deeper into the forest, alas-snow! We hunted in a large clearing, finding several candidates, but decided to go further into the snow covered roads.  Finally, as the snow deepened, it became apparent that we should go no further.  Although we got the truck turned around, it slid into a ditch..stuck.  Chains---yes, shovel..no!  Who doesn't throw in a shovel?  So after much effort (I won't go into details) and a few laughs, not to mention wet clothes, we were back on the search.  Our two men have been stuck a lot and have much experience at getting un-stuck.  We finally settled on two trees, but the chain saw did not want to cooperate so that provided a few laughs so we headed home with our trees in hand, bagged, tagged and GUTTED!

Our redneck tree is decorated below the elk horn mount with it's holiday lights and we came to our home and ate our peanut butter "sammies" and laughed about our adventure.