Wednesday 30 November 2011

last day of Novembrrrr.....

sunrise one morning this week--and yes, it rained most of the day

Adam made a plaster cast of his hand last year in school, and it is quite creepy, but also intriguing to look at.  I put it on top of the piano some time ago, and recently hung an old rusty chandelier with beeswax candles above the piano.  I wired some 'holey' stones from the beach and some blown glass discs to hang from the bottom and somehow, one of the discs got caught in his hand

time waits for no one....especially not me & my amaryllis bulbs.  They are still sitting in the shipping box waiting to be planted, and one has sprouted and curled over to meet the light

"Let me back in the barn!" When you are a 31-year-old Shetland pony, winter and wet snow don't excite, not even with a cozy blanket on.  Thunder is very anxious to get back under cover and have his daily dose of glucosamine.

love his eyes

a good day for soup; the base of the soup being Ontario field tomatoes (yes Ontario tomatoes picked green in October and allowed to ripen in a cold greenhouse)

a fall vegetable stew with lentils. Wonderful with a nice glass of wine (am I the only one drinking here?)








      

Sunday 13 November 2011

Adam & his butter sculptures

On Friday, I went to Toronto to surprise Adam at the Royal Winter Fair, hoping to catch him happily sculpting butter in the cooler.  Thanks to texting between siblings, it didn't work out to be a surprise, but it was a great visit.   There were some beautiful sculptures in the slippery substance, and Adam won 1st prize for his barnyard animals.  He was busy sculpting a rooster when I arrived.




I've had a little time to do some additional dyeing of the handspun wool--on the left is the zinnia dye, the centre skein is dyed with fennel in the dyepot and a few rusty screws for iron, and on the right a rich brown obtained from sumac flowers & wild grapes

some gorgeous lichen on a birch log

Sunday 6 November 2011

Lauren's finished cape

Lauren was home for a whirlwind visit, and she finished her 'Woodland Hoodlet' project that she started in July.....https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7AODko_qdDIAz7QcFbOcTSeYmZvFisRVNPK1RLDMo7F1jumsoLhZElXDSbKRrI93C3RYraX5_CE6Qf7n8wjiPOU2j_UaEm0HBDbLu5d0RyKhdVAIh9Ia-TNdEdHgWoDY6i6AbLtpMYQY/s1600/IMG_3573.JPG

....what a dreamy cape!  She started a new pale pink mohair sweater on teeny tiny needles.....

......and we had time to make a batch of Pear Vanilla Jam laced with dark chocolate just before she left.  The pears were Flemish Beauty from Moore's Orchard down the road--the perfume of the raw pears in the house is enough to make you weak. I found the recipe in 'Fruits of the Earth' by Gloria Nicol, but used only 150 g. of grated chocolate per 8 lbs. of pears.  It is a little sweeter than most of the jams I make, but we thought it would be perfect spread inside a crepe, tucked in a 'poffertje', or spread on a warm croissant