Sunday Happy

What a week. Cool and dreary with a little sun sprinkled in here and there. I know a lot of folks hate this weather but I love it. It’s my favorite!

Last weeks camping was so good!. We went to our favorite state park, Half Moon, and it was just so nice. Super quiet, the trees were amazing, the temperature was fantastic. We hiked through the woods to a little pond, kayaked around 2 separate ponds, and the rm did some fishing while I did some reading. Everything was just A+. Even when it started to rain in the middle of the night. It didn’t bother me. I guess I told the mr that it wasn't suppose to rain so it didn’t matter and that he shouldn’t put the rainfly on. (My logic is spot on when I am sleeping.). And yeah we got a little wet, but whatever, still was the best. (the mr eventually put the fly on. Good call on his part to not listen to me.)

Then back to the world we came. To the doctors, to work stuff, to siding the porch on one of the houses. All the fun things that was on the list of the stuff to do.

And it was Alex’s 15th birthday (Happy Birthday!!WOO HOO!) so we went over to see him and have dinner and birthday cake. We also went for a nice rainy day foliage drive which again, my favorite weather, was really some of the best fall color we have seen in some years.

After working at the studio on Friday I rushed home fast to make a Pokemon cake for Saturday. Early Sartuday morning we grabbed the little, snagged Barb, and did our annual farm day pumpkin picking, masked and social distancing and all. We took the wagon to the field, they picked pumpkins (they all picked the first ones they saw) and did a little flower picking after. Then back to my house for a birthday party celebration for Coco. Technically his birthday is today (HAPPY BIRTHDYA COCO!) but we did a little party for him yesterday. Ate lunch, played around then surprised him with his pikachu cake. He was so happy! Then we gave him his presents (his own package of his favorite cookies, a hand knitted hat, and a vintage kids accordion) ate cake, and ran around the house playing with the accordion to the point where I wanted to smash it. He loved it all (even loved the hat!) and the accordion is home with him and can drive everyone who lives with him crazy. HAHA!

I must mention one thing. Judah was talking to Barb about her job as a house cleaner and all the things she has to do. He then said he would love to get paid to clean my house because it would be like getting free money cause my house is so clean. That really made my day. With that said, it has been a while since I have had so much cake all over the house. I really don’t understand how they do it. Everyone was sitting at the table and were not being messy or gross or anything but after they left and I started in on my cleaning routine…. cake was EVERYWHERE!. I might just make it mandatory for all food to be consumed outside from now on. Although that probably won’t work either. The littles (and sometime the mr) are slobs and no matter what or where they eat, it will get all over.

And now Sunday. So so ready to get out. Elmore State Park is the destination and we are going to take a good long hike up a mountain while we are there. Hopefully there are not a shit ton of other people around. (Vermont during foliage season is the best time and the worst time.. too many people!) I have a pumpkin packed for dinner, the rain fly (just in case) and the wool blankets. It’s gonna be a chilly one tonight!

Internet from the weeks internet.

-How to Cope When Everything Feels Bad and Somehow It Keeps Getting Worse. My go to is reading. Guess that is why I have been reading 2 books a week.

-Celebrate the House Meal, the Go-To Dish for When There’s No One to Satisfy but Yourself. Sometime I wonder how weird and screwed up my tastes are compared to others but then I think how screwy other peoples are.I think that we all eat some weird shit and the weird shit is almost always the best.

-I would live here. An Architect’s Scandi-Inspired Off-the-Grid Hut

-Sugar bread is not bread. For Subway, A Ruling Not So Sweet. Irish Court Says Its Bread Isn't Bread

-Yes, Halloween Trees Are Officially a Thing, and We Don’t Hate It. But I think I might hate it. At least use a different tree. Geesh.

-All of these floors.

-58,000 Pounds of Carrots Were Dumped at a London University. Could have just dumped them in my front lawn. I like a good art installation. And carrots.

-Vermont proud. Vermonter raises zucchini currently listed as world's largest in 2020

-May The Fattest Bear Win: Voting Opens For National Park's Pre-Hibernation Contest.. Love a fat bear.

-I just really like this. Portable Candlelight

Pictures from the week.

-C

Monday Happy

Last day of summer and guess what, the mr and I woke up to ice all over our tent! Yup. 30 degrees the past few nights that we have been camping. Not exactly what we had in mind this early, but heck, I had the right mind to pack the wool blankets so we were all good.

The week. Well it’s now Monday but we camped Saturday night too so you know, no computer stuff. Anyway, the past week was great as far as I can remember. Camped at Emerald State Park and ddi our usually hiking and kayaking. We hung out with the littles, made cookies, and worked when work was needed doing. Dad Jeff came to Vt and we got to spend the weekend hanging with him. We camped outside, he stayed indoors because well, no one besides that mr and I are into freezing cold camping. We did a long ass rail trail family bike ride, chatting up the nieces and nephews, did a little road side apple picking, and I tried to eat as much hot food to keep my body warm. After Dad left, the mr and I did another solo day of adventure and camped again because that is what we do. We did all the good stuff. I would go into more detail but I am on the trashed side of a human right, my body is freezing and sore, and due to the mr’s ever increasing snoring regiment, I have barely slept in the past few nights so my brain can’t really comprehend much. But yeah, a dang good week.

And whoa it is Monday morning. Just got home from the long camping weekend and now I have gots to get on with the day. The goal is to post this, finish unpacking camping stuff, maybe shower, start laundry, go to grocery store, make phone calls…. The list of things to do keeps growing. But right now I am boiling water and am going to make a hot hot cup of tea and hold the cup , with both hand, until I can feel my finger again. I am still frozen to the bone. And I love it! Oh, and Happy Birthday Jackson!

Some internet that I looked at the past week.

-When I read the news screamed many profanities. I wish was was able to live long enough to see the crazy psychopath fucker out of office. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy, and the future of the Supreme Court, explained. Now lets all pray for sane politicians to do what is right and not appoint another fuckface to the courts…. AGH!

-I love the winter but I am not going to lie, I am a little nervous about this coming one. Fucking pandemic. Good thing I don’t spend time with very many humans.  How We Survive the Winter

-A Reusable Food Wrap You Can DIY in 5 Minutes. I have done this, it works.

-Judah asked mw why Earth is called Earth….I had no idea. Now I can tell him. How Did Earth Get Its Name?

-Have you had this tea? I know it is easy but I love holiday teas but I don’t want to order it unless I hear it tastes good. Christmas in Paris Herbal Tea Stash Tea

-Sure, I’ll live here forever

-I don’t know this existed and nowI want to watch it..eventually when I feel like watching tv. The Soothing 'Great Pottery Throw Down' Makes Great Isolation TV

-I Asked 14 Parents What School Lunch Looks Like for Them During This Weird Fall. Must be such a pain in the ass for some parents.

-Very cool. Bees Encase Raw-Material Embroideries with Honeycomb

-Oh heck yeah. Welcome to my high-fashion, trash shopping mall’

Pictures from the week

-C

Sunday Happy

It is September friends. That is right. And I am not going to be like, wtf, what happened to summer or the past 6 months, or any of that.. No, I am going to be all like, heck yeah! I am excited for fall and looking forward to all the things that I love about this time of year. Apples, pumpkins, leaves, shorter days, hot drinks all the time, and sweaters. SWEATERS! Ooooh, just yes.

We started the past week with 2 car loads full of camping stuff. It was the mr and I, Barb, and the two older littles. We took them camping for their first state park experience. There was fishing, biking, rock skipping, s’mores, fire starting, people (Miley) trying to burn everything, and all the eating. We were all grubby and stinky and happy as could be. Sure the little guy might have had eaten one to many hot dogs and marshmallows and preceded to boot chunks all over the place, but he railed and was all good, maybe even better for it. After we all crawled into our tents (the boys shared and us ladies shared) we all passed out, all woke up at some point to the mr’s load as hell snoring, but had a pretty good night sleep. I woke up hours before everyone else and walked around in the dark for a while then the the mr, Barb, and I went and watched the sun rise while the two littles slept. After the monsters woke up we made a breakfast fit for champions, meandered, packed, and found another river spot to hang and fish at. After a long day, we dropped them off, went home, went to moms for dinner, and I then crashed. So much fun but sometime so much fun really just tuckers this here lady out.

The rest of the week went with no big biggies. Lots of studio work (Lots of mugs and I am making ghosts and they make me smile), harvesting all the goodies from the garden, doing a massive purge of shit that I don’t want, and reading as much as I can outside on the front porch. The weather had been of the upmost fantastic this week and I am sucking it all in. Other then that, not a whole heck of a lot.

The mr and I are out come 10am. We plan on a good long hike with a picnic lunch on a mountain, some kayaking, land looking, and camping. We are not staying at a state park due to that fact that there is not an empty site at any of them, but better off for us cause we are just going up to Belvedere and pitching the old tent with not a person around. And I get to wear a sweater all day long. That is probably one of the things I am most excited about. HA!

How I internet this week.

-Don’t be a dumb ass, for everyones sake. Coronavirus updates: Labor Day could fuel another rise in infections if people aren’t cautious, experts say

-ARe you a little nervous about apple picking this year? I know I am not going during peak times, thats for dang sure. Pick Your Poison.Fall activities like apple picking and leaf peeping are generally considered safe, but with record crowds and a COVID surge expected to collide this fall, locals are worried

-Kevin Costner’s New App for Road Trips Tells You About the Places You Travel Through. Although I am not an app person, I might just download this (someday). Kevin Costner is dreamy and I love me some history when traveling.

-But is is magic? David Blaine: Daredevil takes flight with helium-filled balloons

-My computer has been making some noises of late. It freaks me out What is it is about to explode, or worse yet, it just stops working? What various weird computer noises mean for your machine

-Walking Is Increasingly Deadly, and Not Because People Are on Their Phones. Seriously. I hear about people getting hit all the time. It is actually a fear of mine.

-London Artist Sophie Sellu’s Functional Wood Sculptures. I really really like.

-Would you live in a neighborhood like this? This sustainable neighborhood of the future is designed to manage both climate change and pandemics

-I mean, we all thought this would happen. If it works now, then way bother going back. Generation Work-From-Home May Never Recover

-I am dreaming of vacations and road trips. Landed on this. What is a Dude Ranch?

Pictures from the week

Sunday Happy

Hello there friends! How is everyone holding up? Are we good? We are good. Good good good. Good. Haha!

The mr are back at it for the rest of the summer and into the fall. We will be camping and kayaking just about every weekend from here on out. Back to Belvedere because it is just the best. The weather was great, world was quiet, and we were just happy as clams. And then we came home. Which is nice yes, but really, I should just live in a tent, or like a cabin in the woods. I think it makes me a better, happier person. It’s gonna happen, one way or another. Life goals we are working on.

So home and the rest of the week went as usual. Busy. The mr and I seemed to be running around doing all the stuff and working all the workings. Nothing big happened, it just seemed like there was always something going on that needed immediate attention. Oh, we did have a freak storm that knocked out the power for hours and knocked over a bunch of big ass trees so that happened. And we did have the littles and Barb over for dinner, ice cream,and camping trip planning. Miley brought her new cell phone over with her and preceded to show everyone she could the text I sent her when she got it. I might have said something on the lines of “I am so excited that you got a cell phone!”. She screened shotted and is now using it against me. What can you do?

I also fired and unload a bisque kiln of mostly all my pieces this week and that was a treat for sure. I have never had a kiln (mostly) all to myself and I got to tell, it was pretty freaking fantastic. I can’t wait to have my own kiln.

Toward the end of the week Judah come over for a sleep over where we tried to tear a stump (unsuccessfully) out of the yard, ate so many cucumbers, and watched Ace Venture. I made the normal pancakes for breakfast followed up by bean and flower picking at the farm and then whatever else he and the mr were up to when they go out and do stuff. I came home to clean up their mess and place pretty flower arrangements all over the house. And eat beans of course.

So it’s Sunday which means we will be tossing the tent and kayaks into the truck and heading out into the woods for another camping adventure. It’s crazy how much camping we do and how I still get so very excited about it. Again, I should be living in the woods. 🏕

Stuff the internet had on it this week

-What the heck is happening with the Postal Service? Not good stuff.

-The mr was on the news! Little Free Pantries pop up around Burlington

-2020 Is the Year of the Freezer. The mr has been bitching at me for years about my freezer game. He can’t ever again.

-Underground gyms. I had a feeling this was going to be a thing. Secret Gyms And The Economics Of Prohibition

-Have We Been Thinking About Pain All Wrong? We should be grateful for pain? Kinda yeah.

-I completely agree.Don’t Be Shy—Paint Your Ceilings. We have painted out bedroom ceiling gold. It was 100% best choice ever.

-This L.A. Ceramicist Embraces the Strange. She has a treehouse for all of her ceramics. I should do that too.

-Say no to the undies!. This Gynecologist Wants You to Go Commando During Workouts — Here's Why

-The Escapist Land Of 'Cottagecore,' From Marie Antoinette To Taylor Swift. I guess when you don’t live in Vermont, well then you need the pictures. Ha

-I have a pie dough waiting to be filled. Everything You Need to Know About Par-Baking.

Pictures from the week

Sunday Happy

Last week the mr and Barb approached me about getting a cat. A mutual cat because they both wanted one and I am still not ready for new animal in my life. I was open to the idea, maybe in a month or two or at some point but that was not exactly what they were thinking… Yup. they adopted a kitten this week. Her name is Gigi and she is 9 or 10 weeks old and is so freaking cute. She lives with Barb full time at the loft but the mr is there everyday too (he basically lives at the shop which is attached to the loft). Yup, a new kitten. So that happened.

As for the rest of the week, the mr has been really busy with so many projects, bigger ones too, on top of spending a lot of time with Gi, so he has barely been home. Me, I have been trying to get as much clay work done as I can, tending to the garden, doing random acts of cleaning, and trying not to feel all the feelings at once and not rip my hair out. I don’t know what is is about the past week or so but I am feeling more crazy then ever. Probably heat related and world related.🤦‍♀️ I also took Barb bean and flower picking then defrosted her fridge, had a picnic dinner with the mr, and went to the doctors for my yearly blood work. That was just the most fun! Haha, no.

And a week has gone by and we haven’t seen any littles and I miss them all! We have been staying away and canceled plans due to us (more the mr) being busy plus we were being cautious because a couple people we have been around have been sick and were being tested. (Everyone is good, no COVID). Hopefully the week coming up will bring a back yard camp with the little monsters. The mr needs his ass kicked!.

Today the mr and I are going for a picnic and then to take the kayaks out into the waters. Which waters, we are not sure yet, but I need some quiet so defiantly not the lake or anywhere where there are people. Calm and secluded and hopefully a bit cooler then here in town. It should be a good day.

Internet from the week.

-Everyone should know this. How to Outrun a Dinosaur

-There are some fantastic photos. Prize-Winning Phone Pix Dial Up Moments Of Freedom And Serenity

-The grocery store is full of Halloween candy and it made me wonder, will Halloween even happen this year?COVID-19 claims another victim: Halloween

-Protecting nature could prevent the next pandemic. Yeah, no shit.

-The chicken cutlets made me gag, but hahaha. How Cakes in Disguise Got Out of Hand

-Americans Are Spending Billions on Unnecessary Dental Treatments. Sounds about right on par with our culture these days. So ask yourself, do you REALLY need to spend that 20k on those pearly whites?

-I’ll take this house, this house, and this house.

-And I’l take this cabin as well. This ‘Bookworm’ Tiny Cabin’s Purpose Is To Give You a Peaceful Place to Read

-Playful Ocean Life Sprawls Throughout Mulyana’s Immersive, Knit Installations

-A long read about Brittney and some crazy ass shit. Why Britney Spears’s fans are convinced she’s being held captive

Pictures from the week

-C