Ice Storm

When I posted on Tuesday, schools were dismissing early due to inclement weather.  While the forecast said a coating to an inch of snow, this is what it looked like here by the time my husband and children arrived home in the early afternoon.  I just happened to create a new chalkboard design that day, and once everyone was home safely, I felt I could display this and mean it.

When the children went to bed that night, they were hopeful they'd be on a 2 hour delay the next morning.  I told them not to hold their breaths because it was supposed to warm up and start raining by midnight.  Instead, we got the call at 5:30 AM Wednesday that schools were, indeed, on a two-hour delay.

Shortly after that, schools were canceled for the day due to the 1/4 inch of ice that coated everything overnight when the temperatures didn't rise as predicted.

I put my Yak Trax over my hiking boots, picked up my new camera, and headed to the woods.

If I stayed off our lane---which was a thick sheet of solid ice that my spikes couldn't penetrate---I could safely hike and photograph this winter wonderland.

Things were just starting to melt as the clouds began clearing, but I managed to get some photos of ice stubbornly clinging to everything around me.

A strange fog sort of hovered near the tree tops, and the sun never shone fully that day.

However, it did warm up A LOT as temperatures reached the low sixties yesterday, and everything completely melted.

But I am so glad that I braved the ice and took some time out of our busy, noisy, bustling house on that snow day to slow down and be in the moment and notice the small, simple, beautiful gifts that surround us here on the mountain.  Above all else that I hope to accomplish this year, choosing to be still and aware and present tops my list.  

And now, to finish this week on a totally different note, here is a peek at our kitchen at the end of day three of the renovation.  We all wait until the evening when the carpenters leave for the day, and then we practically run to those doors and have a look inside as we watch it transpire.  I've been visiting a local antique mall looking for farm treasures, and my Pinterest boards are expanding as I peruse the farm kitchen pins.  I think it's safe to say a trip to Home Goods and Pier 1 is in the plans for this weekend.

May all of you have both moments of excitement and stillness this weekend. 

A Winter Walk on a Sunny Day

 

Our New Year's Day was relatively warm and sunny here in the Alleghenies.  After Mass and lunch, I decided to go for a little walk through the woods and experiment with my new camera.  Thanks goes to our teenage daughter for the above shot; I made her come with me.

 

 

The pond was still partially frozen and looked mesmerizing with a layer of ice floating on top.

 

 

I took so many pictures that it was hard to decide which ones to include and which ones to delete.

 

 

 

We are so fortunate to have both a creek and a pond just below our property.

 

I don't know why, but I loved the way the leaves looked as if they were fossilizing in the melting ice on the creek.

 

 

On the way back up to our farmhouse, we stopped to see our goats, but they ignored me to eat the grass that had been covered in snow and ice for a week or so.

 

 

As I walked, and sat, and peered through my camera lens at this microcosm of my world, I knew what my New Year's Resolution would be.

And it's not to write more lengthy to-do lists.  It's not to stuff my mind with more news updates and images from social media.  It's not to have a greater number of projects to fill my days.  And it's not to come up with more events to fill our calendar.

It's to spend more time being still, reflective, and noticing the beauty in the simple things around me.  To be completely present in each moment.  To not be thinking of my checklist while I'm playing with my children or walking down to the mailbox or petting our goats.  To just be at peace where I am and still enough to feel the presence of God.

This will be a huge challenge for my busy mind and rather noisy house, but that is going to be my daily focus for 2017.

Why We Moved to the Country---in Pictures

 

It's been ten years since we've lived here, and we still occasionally get asked why we left our southeastern suburb to move to a rural area up north.  "You're so far away from everything," they say.  "But there's nothing there," I hear from others.  "You mean that even the nearest Walmart is twenty miles away?" they gasp.  As incredulous as it may seem, we chose to leave a beautiful, safe, preppy suburb in a warm climate to move 700 miles north to a quiet, sparsely populated, mountain farmhouse amidst the old-order Amish.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let this week's photos describe our reasons for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and these were all snapped from my Samsung Tracphone.  No photography equipment or skills necessary out here in God's country.

What Mother's Day is Like on a Mountain Farm

 

Before my husband took the kiddos to see the new Captain America movie, they asked me what I wanted to do on Mother's Day.  I told them I want to sit in my comfy chair, watch old episodes of Fixer Upper, and have the laptop to myself so I can blog.  Technology has not been cooperating with me, however.  The camera's battery was dead, so I had to charge it before I could load pictures.  Google Chrome is not working under my user account on the laptop, so I'm having to settle for Internet Explorer, which has none of my settings saved.  And Chromecast isn't working from my devices, so I'm watching Fixer Upper on my 7" tablet instead of the wide screen TV while I blog.  In addition to that, the laptop's battery is dying, and the charging cord (or whatever it's called) only works if the laptop is sitting on a flat surface and the cord is arranged just a certain way.  It doesn't work from atop my lap in my comfy chair.  So...I'll have to make this snappy.

 

 

This Mother's Day, I've received the kinds of gifts that only God can give, and I can't imagine having them anywhere but here on our preppy mountain farm.  Last night one of our mama goats had a single baby boy.  We named him Asiago, and he seems to be doing quite well in the barn up close to his mother.  He's the first kid in two years born on our farm, so I've been taking lots of photos.  All of our children went out to greet him first thing this morning---some of them were still in their pajamas.

 

 

He looked a little cold when I went out to see him even though it's about 65 degrees.  I think he'll be fine as long as he stays near his mother and burrows down in the hay.  We'll keep our fingers crossed.  The first few days after birth, I'm always nervous for mother and baby.

 

 

Speaking of the weather, we had 9 straight days of rain here.  Yesterday was the first day in a week and a half that the sun came out for awhile.  Last night it rained yet again.  But this was our view from the highway on our way home from Mass this morning.  Yet another wonderful Mother's Day gift that only the Divine could give.

 

 

Our chicks are now 3 1/2 weeks old and aren't so little, cute, or fuzzy anymore.  They were trying to fly out of the trough in our house, and we had to cover it with a screen.  They also eat way more now and make way more messes.  Which means they stink.  Yesterday they entered our chick relocation program and got a much bigger home in our garage where I don't have to be disgusted by the odor or the tremendous amount of dust they create by digging in their wood shavings.

 

 

When I went out to check on them, they were huddled under the heat lamp.  But as soon as they saw me, they went scurrying to the far corner away from me.  All 15 are doing great, but one looks a lot like a turkey.  Surely the hatchery wouldn't make a mistake?!

 

 

Lilacs are my absolute favorite flowering bush, and ours began blooming this weekend.  How awesome of a gift is that?  I'll have vases of them all over my house.  When I was a girl, I used to sit under a huge one while I read books in the summer.

 

 

Finally, we've been finding---and eating---lots and lots of Morel mushrooms.  We've been back up here in the Northeast for 10 years now, and this is by far the absolute best Morel season ever.  Dipped in egg and bread crumbs, then fried up with a little bit of garlic, Morels are the delicacy of the foraging world.  At least around here, they are.

 

My battery icon at the bottom of my laptop is looking very low, so I'd better close for now.  We've got another goat in a kidding stall in the barn looking like she might soon give birth, so I think I might take a peek.  Typically, I stay away until after she's finished because its' so hard to watch them be in discomfort during labor.  I used to play goat midwife and help pull babies out if the mother seemed to be in too much distress.  But now I just stay clear and let her do her thing.  I think it makes them more nervous to have us standing around while they're trying to focus on the task at hand, and their bawling makes me nervous too.

 

Wishing all of you readers who are mothers or mothers-to-be a very Happy Mother's Day.  I hope your day is filled with as many natural gifts of life as mine has been.

 

What's Happening Around Here

The month of February just flew by, didn't it?  After a freezing cold spell over Valentine's Day, we have had temperatures in the sixties the past two Sundays, necessitating several hikes through the woods.  Last weekend, our woods looked like this with the snow turning slushy and the ice starting to thaw.

The children were actually sliding around on ice patches while wearing t-shirts.

Over the past week, we received a lot of rain and wind, and everything melted completely.  

Today no snow remains anywhere, just mushy grass and lots of mud.

The only downside to this is that the melting snow and heavy rain meant lots of water rushing down the mountain...and into our basement.  So our rustic farmhouse cellar is now covered in water yet again.

 Along with getting more exercise now that everything has thawed, I have also been on a quest to lose a few pounds this year.  This has proven to be way harder than I ever would have imagined.  I am trying to eat more healthy foods and cut back on desserts, but I'm not sure if the above combination of Nutella and dried banana chips counts as a healthy snack or a dessert.  All I know is that I was looking for something sweet to eat one day and there was not a cookie or dark chocolate in the house, so I dipped a banana chip into the jar of Nutella when no one was looking, and I thought I had just discovered the greatest thing ever.  This is now one of my favorite treats, and I've decided to include it in my healthy foods category.

While I'm on the subject of sweet treats, our teen daughter spent Sunday afternoon baking and decorating fudge marble cupcakes for a poetry reading party her English class is having Monday.  We won't be getting any of those, but I suppose I should be thankful.  I'd love to go to a poetry party and eat cupcakes though; how about you?

Friday night our youngest daughter and her daddy went to a Father/Daughter Dance at her school.  She returned from it late that night all hyped up on sugar, chocolate, and excitement about dancing for hours and doing the Hokey Pokey with her dad.  I think Hubby was just relieved he didn't get dragged onto the karaoke floor to sing a duet of some song from the Descendants movie.

Now that we are in Lent, I have finally put away my snowmen and any remaining winter decorations.   I have also given up checking my blog stats until Easter.  Since I'm trying temporarily to not look at them, I've realized just how often each day I had been studying them.  This is not a good use of my time, and as you can see, Google Analytics reveals a rather small number of users, sessions, and page views---much lower than what Blogger stats show.  This just depresses me, but I'll save that monologue for another time.  For the next four weeks, I will be fighting the urge to check out how popular or unpopular Preppy Mountain Farmhouse actually is and turn my attention elsewhere...

...Like starting a new cross-stitch project.  This time instead of a Christmas ornament, it will be a baby bib.  And you know what that means!

And while I am working on my own projects, my husband and eldest two sons have been working on finally installing a new shower in our cabin.  God willing, it will be up and working and not leaking for our next round of out-of-town guests.

This morning after returning from Church, I noticed these snow drops blooming in the flower bed next to our driveway.  They let me know that we are definitely coming to the end of another winter, and spring will soon be here.  Yeah!