Gratitude Sunday!

I've been a busy little bee lately, but tonight, it finally hit me. I'm exhausted! I thought I'd sit and knit, but I got restless, as I tend to do when I'm tired (which really doesn't help things), so I figured I would post.

-Managing to get my little Christmas/Yule tree up the night before Thanksgiving. I'll take pictures when I have the energy. I decided to tone down the gaudiness this year, because while I do love glitz, I'm just at a different place in my life this year. I had SO much fun painting pinecones for decorations, though!

- Having a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family. That includes "the hippies" and D-rock. We had a ton of delicious food, more laughter, and even more enjoyment of the company.

-I made it through the Black Friday weekend in retail unscathed. I am super grateful that none of our customers were too crazy.

-Knowing that the only thing I have to do now to finalize plans for my trip to Oregon is buy tickets on Friday. I cannot wait to see my brothers and my wonderful best friend and her lady. It is so needed!

-My mother finally agreeing to help me dread my hair tomorrow. I've been threatening to for years. She's been crying "No!" for years. I am finally going to do it, and she is at least willing to help me out now, and that's great. I plan on keeping them, and there's no one else whose energy I want more surrounding this step in my life.


At the moment, however, I'm grateful for being able to sit on my bed, knit, and watch a show before I fall into the sweet bliss of my bed!!!

Long time, no see!

It has been a long two months. A lot has happened, and at the same time, a lot hasn't. I've been slowly finding my way back over the past few days, sorting my way through the maze, so to speak.

I went out for a walk the other day, sat down and just had a nice, long talk with Mother Earth. She reminded me of a lot of things I had let myself be distracted from, and reassured me that I really am okay.

Among those things that I'd let slip into the background are some very dear friends. I've been doing my best to reconnect with all of them in my own way, and it's wonderful. I can't imagine, sometimes, why they put up with me, but they do.

Most excitingly, however, is that I finally decided that enough is enough, and I'm planning a trip! In the winter, of course, so I'll have the time to go and thoroughly relax and enjoy.

You see, I have three very close friends who all live in the same state. One is one of my best friends in this world, and the other two have been big brothers to me since we met 14 years ago. See, the thing is, with the boys, we have never actually met face to face. That in no way lessens how close we are, but it really is a shame. I plan on fixing that in January. I really can't wait, though I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop hugging them.

Gratitude Sunday!

Happy fall, everyone!

I don't know about you all, but it's quite honestly my favorite time of year, followed closely by winter. Fall, the perfect time for bonfires and treks through the woods. Days filled with that incomparable, rich scent of fallen leaves and the crisp bite to the air... Pumpkins, apple cider, breaking out the snuggly sweaters and rain boots, more pumpkins...

You see, I have a "thing" for pumpkins. There's just something about them. They're so very full of promise - the promise of good food, or delightful jack-o-lanterns, depending. The promise of seeds for next year. To me, the are, above all else, true soul food. I seem to be adding them to my life in other ways these days, in the form of knick knacks and plans for quilts. I have a seemingly neverending search in progress for the perfect pumpkin teapot.

This year, as you know, my pumpkins did not do well at all. I have no shame in admitting that I did cry a little when it became obvious that I'd lose all of the vines. I couldn't help it - I had such plans, such visions in my head of having enough this year to share with others.


Thankfully, as we were driving past a local farm stand last week on the way to the concert, I saw them, all lined up in gorgeous, ripe rows. I went out the next day and bought some! I found my much anticipated musquee de provence, a jarradhale, one whose variety I cannot place for the life of me, and of course I had to grab an acorn squash, because they are such good eating!

I've already put up the mystery pumpkin and the jarradhale, which didn't steam as well as I'd hoped, but it was nothing a little sugar and spice (and everything nice!) couldn't fix. There's a pumpkin cake in the fridge, and I've promised to bake another next weekend for someone special. I couldn't be happier (except if I had more).

On to the gratitude!

-I'm delighting in fall, even if it hasn't turned chilly yet, and the leaves still have that rusty, end of summer tinge to them, it still makes me entirely too happy to see pumpkins and corn stalks everywhere.

-That I both know how and when to devote my time to something entirely selfish, and when to take a breather and be productive.

-Time spent spinning and knitting with Mom and a dear friend of ours. It had been entirely too long.

-That there are only a few days until Saturday!!!

I will post my pumpkin cake recipe sometime later tonight, I think. :)

Gratitude Sunday!

Another week gone already? I would normally be a bit disturbed by how fast it went, but these days, it's a delightful surprise.

Things have been going a bit slowly around here. The only things still producing are the beans and the okra in the garden, and the persimmons in the yard. That's fine by us, as it gives us time to focus on this winter's projects. Among those are fixing up our big shed and turning it into a chicken coop, and plotting out the new home for the garden in front. This week, I need to start on a cold weather roost for our rooster, but that should be fairly simple, as we always seem to have scrap lumber and bedding these days.

I find myself falling even more and more in love with homesteading. I love making plans, I love working on projects and seeing that yes, I can actually do that! It may not be a slower life, persay, but it is much more rewarding than simply focusing on my retail job. I am much happier, and much more myself these days.

On to the gratitude!

-Mom is just about back to her old self after the car accident she was involved in last week, and all of that is being worked out by official types.

-I am so happy to have met someone who not only encourages me to be my crazy self every day, but who wants to learn all of this "farming stuff" with me. It makes me just glow with joy to look forward to sharing the learning process with someone I can really relate to.

-October is not that far away! Not only is it my favorite month, but it has great things in store this year. Ohhhh, cryptic, huh?

-This afternoon, I'm heading out to a day of silliness and a concert with a very good friend.

-The weather has turned colder for a bit, and I am relishing the time spent curled up with coffee and a sweater, with no AC or heat blasting down on me. I can't wait until it's cold enough to fire up the wood stove.

Gratitude Sunday on Monday!

It's been a long week, what can I say?

Everything was going swimmingly until Saturday, when I got a call at work to inform me that my mother had been in a car accident. She's fine, if bruised and battered, but it was a terrifying moment in my life. I think I'm going to be putting her in a bubble - a badly broken leg last year, the tornado we weathered this year, and now a car accident? Really?

Tonight, well, this morning, my list is as follows:

I am so very grateful that my mother was in a Volvo on Saturday. The accident could have been much, much worse if she hadn't been.

I'm immensely grateful for one of the managers at work who okayed my going home after I heard, gave me a hug on my way out of the door, made me laugh, gave me more hugs when I saw him again, and just generally made life easier and me feel better.

The opportunity, in a week, to go out for the night and let my hair down with some very good friends at a concert. I can't wait!

And certainly not least, spending a very large portion of time getting to know someone new quite well.

Gratitude Sunday!

It's been a while, again. I know, I know. More excuses? Well, just a little one. We didn't have power in this neck of the woods last Sunday. I know there are plenty of people out there who got the brunt of Irene, and still don't have power. Amazingly, here in the Tidewater, we fared pretty well, though.

On to the post!

It has been an absolutely phenomenal few weeks for me, hurricane aside, so here we go...

I am grateful for...:

-Getting through Irene safe and sound. Even the poor rooster, who was stuck outside through it all, came through it beautifully, and has been "pimpin' it" down the road with the neighbor's hens.

-Having the grace to make it through a rather insane weekend at work through the storm. I wasn't sure I could keep my cool, but I did, and I even managed to have some fun in the process!

-My wonderful, supportive parents, who have been even moreso these past few weeks, though I'm sure I haven't been the calmest person ever.

-Meeting someone I could (and do) spend hours talking to, and still think of more to say. It's been a long while on that one, and it is so very, very refreshing and good for the soul.

With that, dear folks, I am heading to bed. So much work to do tomorrow!

Gratitude Sunday!

Hello, blogworld.

I haven't posted in entirely too long, and I apologize for that. Now, usually, when I don't post, it's because I'm forgetful, or just having a rare, lazy day. Not so, this time!

The origins of the Wren's Daughter:

While I was born a few states over, I spent most of my formative years in various parts of Knox County, Tennessee. I had a very eventful, communal upbringing, for which I am eternally grateful. Before the family moved to New York, there was hardly a day that we didn't have someone coming over for dinner, and normally, it was more like 5 or 6 someones.

Weekends were for bonfires, which we lit on the driveway, out in the country, under the huge maple trees. I grew up around that fire, grew up around people from all different walks of life. Looking back, it's so fascinating to realize the group of people that came together in our little dairy-barn-turned-house were, on the surface, so vastly different, but in truth, not all that different at all.

I have two biological siblings, and I love them dearly, but I also have countless "adopted" big sisters and brothers that I love just as much, and on the 5th of this month, a group of them came to Virginia to visit.

It was so very good to be sitting around the fire again with the people who helped raise me, and seeing very clearly the parts of me I know came from them. Odd, in some respects, as the last time I spent time with some of them, I was still a little bird, and now, they have a little bird of their own. I watched myself go from little sister to big sister that weekend, and was reminded that things really do come full circle if you wait long enough.

This Sunday, I'm so grateful to have had the chance to see Ally, Matt, Kate and Shelly, and the chance to meet Annie (who, by the way, is officially adopted, says me!). It was a crazy whirlwind of a weekend, in which I drank probably more than I should have, spent more than I should have, and enjoyed my siblings' company even more than I thought possible! (How odd is it that now I get to drink with them?)

I miss them all terribly, but I know it won't be long before I see them again!