moving toward the light

dear friends, this has been my blog home for such a long time... but lately i haven't been feeling it.  i think that with my papa's passing, i've gone through kind of a metamorphosis... (no, not into a cockroach!)!  i may be back in this space, or not..

here's some little bones to leave you with (obvs i'm still working on cleaning them)... from one of our roosters who met his demise... from all-natural causes known as our dog betty :(  

here's to better days ahead!

aprons

this week, i will be updating my vintage etsy shop with tons of adorable vintage aprons!




i just have to repost this from the lovely heather of true stitches:

I don’t think our kids
know what an apron is.
The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons required less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing
hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.
Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma’s aprons.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

— from Heather’s Mom

Birth Announcement

Daisy hatched 14 little baby chicks!

Griselda is intently sitting on another nest.

Castro, proud papa, is overseeing it all.

Chicken Dance

I've had chickens for years, but this little hen named Emma was the last of the line. She's survived over a year on her own, after her consort Nacho died. She's at least five years old, maybe more. Then we just inherited three birds who were left in the woods here by someone who had a chicken-lease on some nearby land. We are getting to know this trio, including a beautiful rooster we named Castro and his two lovely ladies. Castro is pretty young, he just started to crow last month. It's so good to have a rooster crowing once again. Makes it feel like home, like I can relax, finally, stretch my wings. In the words of OCMS,

I ain't a turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more.

We were finally able to find and fetch Emma, and this was her first meeting with her new friend. He performed for her, circling her, crowing, and dragging one wing and then the other. But he but was quite the gentleman.