If...

If I were a Magi, I would have left the Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh at home.

I would have brought Him coffee. Dark roast. Organic.

Meanwhile...

Down in our canyon... the Beaver Family has been busy.

Just a few months ago, the view from above our bridge looked a bit like this:

It now looks like this:

Talk about a Front Row Seat! To be able to meander down our road and see nature at work right before our very eyes is pretty cool.

We are being much more watchful of this new development than usual though, because they are building such a system of new dams that there is potential for our road to get flooded. As our only connection with the other half of our property, we're not thrilled with the idea.

The Farmboy already has a plan of action figured out in case he has to do a bit of de-construction.

There's also a new dam built just below the bridge and around the corner... where we used to have a gravel bar perfect for rock-skipping...

 we now have rising water.

Our fascination with these incredible Beavers is growing. We hope we don't have to tamper with their industriousness, because we want to remain Good Neighbors.

In honor of our farm mascot, I picked out a special ornament for the kids' 2012 Christmas tree...

Can you even believe how perfectly adorable they are?

The etsy artist who made them was so easy to work with and quick to get them finished. She even offered to add the thread loops for hanging when I told her they were to be ornaments. Go check her shop out, and if you can't resist one of her offerings, tell her I sent you!

For Reals

Many, many years ago... can't remember exactly how long, but most likely before our firstborn... a friend from church gave us a sad little root-bound shrub that her nursery-owning father was going to throw out.

She told us it was called a Glory Bower.

We kept expecting it to die. But it grew, slowly but surely, and now is taking leaps and bounds each Spring.

We never did much research on it, just waited to see what it would do.

A few years ago, it put out its first blooms, pretty little white pods that opened into fragrant starburst blooms.

That was the year we noticed that the leaves smell like Peanut Butter.

And this year we spotted something new.

This.

For reals... I did nothing to re-touch these photos.

Have you ever seen such a combination of colors? Other than in some tropical climate, I mean? This is the Pacific Northwest, after all.

Right now, at the onset of the season of bleak colors, to see such vibrance is absolutely delightful.

It took a long time, but this fabulous shrub is certainly living up to its name.

Read more about it here.

Happy Monday!

May your day be filled with unexpected smiles!

A New Kind of Advent Calendar

I saw the idea a year or so ago, and immediately started planning to implement it this year. Instead of a traditional open-a-door-each-day, or other type of Countdown to Christmas, this "calendar" consists of a stack of wrapped books, each one telling a tale about Winter or Christmas.

It wasn't very hard to accumulate enough titles to make up the 25 days. I know... traditionally there should be 24, but I have 25, which means the last one gets read ON Christmas day. Its more about the fun of building excitement and learning all at the same time.

My stack of books is partially random, having accumulated about half the number needed over the last several years, gifts from friends, thrift store finds, hand-me-downs. The remaining books I chose based on reviews read online. I've read about other families who have the same tradition, but borrow the books from the library instead of purchasing them.

Each day between now and Christmas, the kids will get to choose a wrapped book at random from the pile, and we will read it together as a family. I can hardly wait to get started!

I figure that as the kids get older, we'll probably swap out some books for others, but a good portion of them are going to remain staples of this tradition.

If you want to see the list of book titles, I created a shelf over at Goodreads for you to peruse.

Do any of you have a similar tradition? Do you have favorite Christmas stories that I don't have on my list? Have I inspired you to start the same tradition?

In the Dark

Hello my lovelies. I'm so very sorry I've been away for so many days in a row. I fully realize that your day does not HAVE to have me in it, but I try to be present most days of the week just as a matter of being fully engaged.

But I've allowed myself to become overwhelmed with little and big things, and somehow the blogging has fallen by the wayside. And it may remain spotty for the remainder of this year... or at least until puppies have grown and gone to their forever homes, and the festivities of the Christmas season have been fully enjoyed.

Here I offer a glimpse of what my world looks like in the wee hours of the morning. What I see each night around 1:30 or 2:00 am as I take my one shift to check on welfare of Mama and pups.

Bright stars some nights (Orion! there you are... shoot that arrow far), with frosty crunchy grass underfoot, bare branches of our Anniversary Tree seen silhouetted against the dark, pale glowing window from a nightlight inside.

And on my return trek, with motion-sensored brightness at my back, bed calling loudly.

I haven't posted many puppy pictures, as this has been a challenging litter to raise. Born early, and lots of them, we lost a few too small, too fragile, too underdeveloped. And the clumsy Mama, despite our around the clock vigilance has accidentally been the cause of a few more lost lives. So hard, this part of what we do.

But the remaining puppies are getting stronger by the day, and have begun to romp and play in such an endearing way. Practicing their fierce growls and barking so suddenly, so loudly, that they knock themselves off of unsteady feet. We will welcome the first of their families as they come visit this weekend. We look forward to meeting these people for whom we have put in the mid-night hours.

And I look forward to your Hellos, left in the comments and my email box. Always so happy to know that you're out there.

Meet my Neighbors

 

Aren't they Purty?

I'm not one to wish for horses myself.

Well, at least not anymore... when I was a girl, it was all I dreamed about. But now, there's just not enough time in my days for the caring for and riding, and all that being a horse companion entails.

But I do love looking and watching.

They offer such an idyllic and peaceful vision for my busy eyes each day.

So Much to be Thankful For

Wishing you a day spent remembering your blessings, 

while in the company of those you love the very most.

Pile of ...

The boy child was at school. The girl child was taking a nap. I was out on my umpteenth trip to the kennel for the day. The sun broke through the clouds, and suddenly I had the unexplainable urge to rake the leaves.

Can't remember the last time I raked leaves.

Usually the wind sweeps them away or we bag them with the lawnmower and dump them in the compost pile.

Well...

With part of the yard raked somewhat neatly, and one last check on the pups before heading up to wake girlie from her nap so we could go pick big brother up from school, I emerged from the kennel to find She was already awake and standing with a huge grin, at the base of my pile.

(How's that for a run-on sentence?... not even going to try to fix it.)

"Mama! Da best fing dat I wuv about the Autumn is a big pile of weaves dat I can jump into!"

(Whatever... she's never had a big pile of leaves to jump into... must be PBS kids' programming influencing her brain.)

"Can I jump in, Mama?"

Oh, for Pete's sake, how could a sane person resist such adorableness?

 And there she went, wholeheartedly, with complete abandon and glee, up, up, up into the air, and straight down on her hands and knees.

 Followed by a bit of rolling around.

 "Can I do it one more time, Mama?" She asked.

It was literally right at that moment that I remembered the pile of doggie doo that was buried somewhere down in the bottom of the leaves.

Who's handing out the Mom of the Year award? I'm ready.

Ordering Finished Mugs

Well, just when a girl thinks she has her audience pegged, you surprise her! Many of you have asked if you could just purchase a finished mug instead of buying the graphic to do it yourself.

The answer is yes! I will not be ordering a bunch to keep in inventory, but rather will order as-requested and have the finished mug sent directly to you from the manufacturer.

You can contact me either via email or through an etsy convo to get the order set up.

Cost per mug will be $14 plus state tax (you'll have to provide the percentage of your state) and shipping is $4.95 for the first mug, $1.50 for each additional mug... don't worry, I'll do all the calculations for you and send an invoice to reflect the total... just wanted to give you the ability to guess a ballpark figure.

So... if you've been wishing... contact me now! And don't hesitate to ask if you want a particular design other than Baby Its Cold Outside on a mug. I can certainly begin to offer other images either digitally or on a finished mug.

PS. That's a Pumpkin Streusel cake in the background. Want the recipe? I'll be posting it in the next day or two. Yum!