Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Descent...

The little farmhouse was built in 1900.  We have a finished basement, IF the final product was meant to be a medieval torture chamber where milk fed chicks with Scandinavian heritage cannot walk upright and spiders hide amongst the rock foundation and there are ghosts too.  It's pretty scary is what I'm saying.  

The stairs are scary.  The stairs are less stairs and more ladder which maintains that you descend backwards.  That's fun.  Have I ever defined the level of my grace to you?  No?  Well there's a reason for that.  It's undefinable, in not a good way. 

I enter the basement less then frequently but the freezer is down there and sometimes it is necessary to crawl down those cursed steps. 

For some reason this always illicits an audience. 




He calls to his friend...




I can't decide if they are confused as to what I am doing or if they are plotting on how to keep me down there amongst the spiders and ghosts.   Something tells me that if I were to fall, they would just quietly close the door and go about their business. 

Which explains the massive ghost population in my cellar. 


Friday, February 4, 2011

Whatcha been doing?

I started milking the goats...not this one though.  (Story for another post.)



In doing so, I now have to get up at 5:30.  IN---THE---MORNING.  In case you didn't get that.  Said goat needs to be milked twice a day, twelve hours apart.  I saw the sun rise this morning.   Meh, I'd rather be in bed.  Did I mention we have four feet of snow.  That's not an exaggeration, though I am prone to such.  We have FOUR feet of snow.  At 5:30 in the morning.  Are you feeling sorry for me?  Thank you. 



With my first gallon of milk I made cheese.  I used the recipe in LIVING WITH GOATS.  I won this book last year from their blog.  I met the author and her husband at  Goat School where they were taking photos for this book.  I am not in the book even though I was there.  Does it make me vain that I am disappointed that my picture was not in the book?  Probably.  ANYwho...I had some milk and I made some cheese and it was soooo good, I ate some of it.  A lot of it.  Most of it.  All of it...




Then I was bored and started a quilt for Big Bud who has been  having a rough winter.  It has sailboats on it.  I need a new floor in my kitchen.  Hey I never said this post was going to flow or make sense.  FOUR FEET OF SNOW, 5:30 in the morning,  remember?  The quilt will be six blocks wide by eight blocks long.  I have two strips done.  He may get his quilt by next winter. 





Then I was cleaning out some stuff and found two big boxes of photographs of people I don't know.  Old, dead people.  Well they aren't dead in the pictures, but they probably are in real life.    Why do I have these?  I don't know why, doesn't everyone have boxes of stranger's photos in their drawers?  Well you should.  I found this lady and became somewhat obsessed with her. 




Isn't she lovely?  What do you think, probably 1940's?  That's my guess.  I love her eyes and her hair of course.  There is nothing on the back of the picture so I have no idea her name or where she was from.  NOTE:  Please write identifying information on the back of your pictures in case you die and your ungrateful children sell your pictures to some weirdo at an auction.  It would be very helpful.  Thank you.  So how obsessed am I with this lady?  Umm, this obsessed...


I painted a portrait of a lady I don't know.  It's not quite done, and absolutely not quite accurate but it kept me busy for a few hours. 

Oh look, it's 2:30.  In three hours I get to milk the goat again. 

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa