Woven...

 Here we are, on this spinning planet, all interwoven, especially in our families. I have been blessed with wonderful family members, and I know how lucky I am because not everyone has close, warm, supportive relatives. 

Niece Aimee visits us every few months, which is always a treat. Recently she gave my favorite old footstool a hard look and said, "I could give this a new top." I was resistant. The piece was shabby but light, easy to move from place to place, and oh so comfortable. 

When Rachel was pregnant, she'd prop her feet up on it every time she sat, and when the Owlet was born, Rachel would use it when she nursed. Of course, I used it, too. I looked at it differently after Aimee suggested it needed a facelift. It took me a while but finally, I let her take the precious piece home for a bit. We missed it. (The above picture is a "before" when she was getting ready to remove the tired old top. Inside, she found a small plastic doll shoe, which I posted about previously, several silver hair pins, and a lot of dust and dirt.)

This weekend she brought it back. She had given it a fresh coat of paint, a little gentle distressing, and had begun to weave a new top. She brought it unfinished, so I could see the process. On this lovely fall day, she and I spent a few hours side by side. I was starting a new knitting project, looping yarn over needles to create a blanket, and she was finishing weaving a pretty new top for my shabby old friend. 

She used white rope, and it was an upper body workout for her to thread and pull and work the rope into place. 

The finished product not only looks fantastic but is more comfortable than it was before. 

The Owlet, as usual, spent the night with us Saturday night. She woke up, smiling and cooing. Chris took her downstairs while I showered and dressed. When I came down, this is what I saw. 

My sweet husband lying on the floor with the Owlet, playing. They were both happy. Generations, interwoven.

I did chores, then Chris fed us a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and sausage. It was a lovely family day; all of us strung together beautifully. 

Many things...

 We had a busy weekend. It started with me looking out the window as I milked goats and thinking, "the grass is growing tall. I hope Cheryl's cows will come back." She took them to greener pastures once they had grazed our pasture down. After the field was mowed, we had rain, the grass grew, and I was happy to think the cows might return.  This weekend, I got a message that the cows would be delivered Sunday morning. I did a little happy dance. 

They hopped off the trailer and were led through the backyard to the pasture. 

They settled right in, eating and eating and eating some more. I love looking out the window and seeing them. All of us often quote the movie Twister by saying, "We got COWS!" 

Deb came for a too-short visit. I've mentioned before that she has said her retirement job is to be helpful to people. She is on track!  She brought a fall wardrobe for The Owlet and helped Rachel organize the baby's bureau, sorting too small and out-of-season clothes and filling the drawers with cozy seasonal outfits. I had a hard job; I snuggled the Owlet while she napped and watched as Deb and Rachel held up one adorable garment after another. 

Then Deb came back to my house. As I started a second batch of tomato sauce, she organized my two messiest kitchen drawers. She took everything out, cleaned the drawers, and added a new liner. Then she tried to put in the excellent new organizers she had kindly brought from The Container Store. I had carefully measured the drawers before she bought them. They measured 18 and a bit inches. She got the pretty new organizers, designed for 18" drawers, but they didn't fit, to our horror!  Deb was confident she could make them work with the assistance of a meat mallet. 

This photo is proof that we are sisters. And that we are our parent's daughters. And it makes me laugh. (No, it didn't work, but the organizers were nicely repurposed.) We are determined women, for sure. 

She ran to the dollar store and made magic happen. I wish I had a "before" picture, but I don't. The after images shine, though! Before she was here, I could never find the tool I needed. 

In her spare time, Deb has been volunteering at a thrift shop that raises money for visiting nurses where she lives. Our mom also worked at this shop; those nurses helped our parents in their dotage. Deb often sends me pictures captioned, "Need this?" I DID need this, but she had to work hard to convince me. I'm SO glad she did. It was a lovely $35 investment. 

I love when Deb visits. We are working on a surprise and had fun doing some plotting today. I will post more when the time comes! I hope her next visit will be longer. 

Fallish...

 It's not really fall yet, of course, but the season is changing. I took today to do a tiny bit of fall decorating. A wreath on the front door, a dining table spruce up. 

A trip to my favorite farm stand made me happy. Stacks of colorful pumpkins, squash, and gourds mingled with piles of juicy apples. I do love autumn!  

This past weekend was a good one. Chris has somehow convinced our daughter and son-in-love that they should join us for family supper every Saturday night. We sweeten the pot by offering to let the Owlet spend the night with us so they can get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, something they still struggle with since the Owlet hatched. This week Chris decided to go with a southern theme. He played traditional New Orleans jazz as he cooked up a spicy pot of jambalaya with fried okra on the side. I made cornbread. I love to watch him prepare a meal he has planned and is excited about. If that whole "love language" thing is true, Chris speaks by cooking. The Owlet was a fan of the spicy dish and ate with gusto. 

Friends grew more Roma tomatoes than they cared to can and gave me 25 pounds of extra they had on hand. It took some time, but I turned them into quarts of sauce that will taste like late summer on some upcoming winter day. 

Meanwhile, my kitchen smelled like a high-class Italian restaurant. 

I got three articles written and submitted, rode my new exercycle multiple miles, read, rested, and reveled in some lovely days "off." 

Out and about...

 We had a peaceful Labor Day weekend, including lunch at a favorite spot yesterday. It's an eat outside overlooking the water kind of place.  I best like sitting at a little counter they have with great views. Those seats were taken, so I grabbed a table while Chris ordered. The sun was hot, so when I saw the people sitting in my favorite (shady!) spot leave, I nabbed a couple of chairs. I happily surveyed the view my seat afforded me, and there, not far from me, like a gift, was a beautiful Osprey with freshly caught fish. 

I watched it eating for several minutes. And then it lifted off and was away with its prize.

Today, I had a chance to go to an Amish farm. A beautiful, peaceful place with stunning Jersey cows, Suffolk Punch horses, and a sweet litter of Corgi puppies. 

Later Chris and I had a movie date, the first in years, and saw Top Gun Maverick. We saw the first Top Gun as newlyweds and loved it. This one was even better. I'm not a big movie person, but I'd see this one again. 

I will start this week rested, with a richness of idyllic memories. 

Lucky...

 We often say it to each other, waking as the dawn brightens the curtains, and we untangle our limbs before starting the day. "We are so lucky." 

Late afternoon yesterday,  the sky darkened as heavy clouds rolled in from the west. Rachel and I dashed out to make sure the new flock of layer chicks were tucked up where they would be warm and dry. I peeked into the little coop where Thedonald and his ladies live, and one lady was missing. I hoped she was under the coop and dashed inside as the skies released a deluge. We watched the torrent from the kitchen, and soon... 

A double rainbow, the colors from the brighter one ending in front of my trees. My very own treasure, right here. 

At dusk, after the goats were milked, I checked on the Cochin's again. Thedonald and two ladies were in the coop. One still missing. Were the remaining birds acting a little subdued, or was I reading into the situation? These are small chickens; one could easily have been lifted off by a bird of prey. I looked in all the obvious places to see if there was evidence in the form of a feather splash to tell the story of her absence. There were no tell-tale signs, so I locked the coop with a sad sigh. 

It rained more in the night, and I fretted a bit about my missing hen. This morning as I did chores, I cast a hopeful glance at the coop, wondering if she'd found her way home and was loitering by the door, waiting for her family to join her. I was disappointed. 

When every animal had been fed and watered, I walked the pasture, looking again for a sign of a chicken's demise. On this first day of September, the air was cool with the slightest hint of a crisp fall morning. Spider webs spangled with dew decorated the fence, songbirds called, and the air smelled clean and fresh from the rain. And then... movement where it wasn't expected. Far from her coop, around the side of the paddock, a bedraggled gray form was poking in the weeds. 

She had somehow been separated from the rest of the flock. She survived the storm and the long night outside her safe coop. I can't say she was as happy to see me as I was to see her. I swooped in, scooped her up, and carried her across the wet pasture and through the gate. I snuggled her in safely with her family, and she tucked into breakfast. 

We often say it to each other. When the last guest leaves and the kitchen is stacked with dishes, when our hearts are full from the fun of sharing a meal and the chatter and laughter that ensues, "We are so lucky." And we are, every grateful day.