Very Pretty Days

Posted on by Sandy Webster

The past few days here in Hayesville have been lovely even though there is such dull color for Fall.

My view looking over where I live when waking up the hill into town.  And later in the meadow the golden rod has burst into fluff.

Some reached for the sky.

And then off through the meadow to the river. I am always happy to take myself on these walks. Never disappointed by the things to see.

The warm glow of the river bottom is reflected in the leaves, the bark and the ground beneath my feet. Such a beautiful color!

Two days ago I finished my carving of this year’s Christmas card.

And then yesterday finished putting my cards together.

It is strange how I will carve an image, print off about twenty, and not til they are all laid out on the counter, do I notice that they could be better. Coming to that awareness never seems to arrive with just one or two prints being pulled. A waste of time, paper and ink must be involved.

I must say that the kitchen island is a perfect place to ink up a block and print an image. With the sink in the center of the island it makes cleanup so easy.

Today I wait for the gas man to come and make my gas fireplace light up. And I will also wait for the builder to come and fix a front door lock that just suddenly refused to go into the lock position. Last night I gave up and propped a chair under the door handle.  Silly I know, but I did not want to wake in the night thinking of some poor old fellow getting his front door wrong after a few drinks with a neighbor.

In reality once the sun goes down, the doors shut. No headlights until I go to the gym at 6:45 in the morning.

Today while I wait for the fixit men I will do more carving on the crow block and sit next to my cats as needed.

Til later…

Turning Cooler

Posted on by Sandy Webster

We are covering up a bit more as the temperature drops.

The walks through the meadow have become more colorful.

This last one is like bits of clouds fell into the meadow.

So more small drawings of the changes go into the Meadow Book.

And yesterday I walked along another side and saw this…dried mud in such a lovely pattern,

And this when I lifted the camera on my iPhone.

Lovely light sparkling on these burst open grasses.

When I stepped back onto the road to my house three women asked me to join them in a lap around the block. It was nice visiting with new neighbors. I am sure to see them again.

This morning my old cleaning lady came by to agree that this house is very easy to keep clean and I am very capable of doing it myself. But she did promise to stop by and check on me once in awhile. She will message before coming so I have a chance to straighten things up just to prove we are both right….I can do this.

Tonight my old neighbor/friend/doctor is coming over when she finishes work to share a pizza and play a scrabble-type game while we catch up.

I might be getting more social.

This morning, right in the middle of making another loaf of banana/pumpkin/walnut/maple bread, our hand mixer finally stopped.

Lee had this before we were married 55 years ago. It has done a stellar job. I went on Amazon to find another General Electric hand mixer only to see there is no such thing. I think the company has been absorbed into something else now. All the other ones looked bigger, heavier and proud of how fast they can go. I like a slow speed to gently get into the mixing up part. More research is necessary.

But the other day I did a drawing for a new wood block and transferred it to the block.

I am in the mood for a crow.

And I also designed a new Christmas card carving for white line printing. It was nice of the mayor to offer to cut my wood blocks into the smaller pieces I want to experiment with.

Yesterday was the first day of early voting. I wanted to see the place crowded with a line but not so. Small town with people taking their time to hopefully make the right decisions for our country.

Til later….

 

Still Settling In

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I tried another outing into the square. This time it was the chili making contest.

I only saw two people I knew…both men from the morning coffee gathering. I put all my tickets in the one jar but found out this morning he did not win. But I did last a half hour smiling and tasting chili and pumpkin offerings.

My walk back down the hill was preferable to eating any more samples.

Past some lovely fall trees.

The night before the chili contest I went with friends to a very good restaurant in town. It was nice to be waited on, have a lovely wine and company before coming back home for more conversation.

Over the weekend I stayed home to work on the garage and locate the last of the books that needed to come inside. I wanted to locate my carving tools because I am getting itchy to make marks in wood. I am thinking that the Burke and Wills Story would be nice done in wood cuts. And now need to find enough small blocks of wood to get started.

Saturday was spent putting things away once they were moved to the house and doing laundry.

Sunday was baking a loaf of pumpkin, banana, walnut and maple bread.

And I got another drawing in the Meadow Book.

The only way to get better is to keep doing it. I photographed this favorite tree that is on my walk the other side of the meadow.

I love how it presents itself to anyone who will look at it. Every single Eucalyptus in Australia does this….leans in and spreads its branches out to get your attention. I used this one for the model of where Burke and Wills spend several years. You can see the door near the base and an upper circular window that Burke sometimes uses.  I wonder whether I am more content being by myself and in the company of a good imagination than out there in the public.

I did try to find out if there was a sewing group in the area. I went to the local quilt store on their day for people to bring in what they were working on and sit and sew. Thank goodness I was smart enough to just go in as a customer looking for thread. You can tell if the store caters to hand sewers by looking over their threads. Good grief!! Only a few odds and ends of very pale embroidery thread. A few balled spools of mercerized cotton…mostly off white but a couple deep indigo ones that I selected one of and headed to the register. All the fabrics, and there were plenty, were those crispy feeling cottons for quilt making. Nothing in there felt good to the touch. There was not even a package of cheese cloth! I paid over five dollars for the one spool pf thread and was told that the store was for machine users only.

It reminded me of when I first moved to the area thirty years ago and was invited to the local fiber group meeting. I was told to bring what I was working on and talk about it. I took the first of the Sarajevo coats about the war going on there. They were passably polite, uninterested and eager to get back to their discussions on craftmanship and marketability.  I slipped into the kitchen to see what refreshments were on order only to find some of their children, that they take everywhere, smearing the cream cheese they had wiped off the treats into the cracks in the floor boards. I did not go back.

Anyway, I am getting myself ready to start carving and pull out my little scraps of cloth to stitch together. I miss working on these pieces from last year.

It is supposed to get quite cold tonight so I will head inro the meadow to see the changes before I get out my necessary tools to start something new.

The crows are gathering so one might be the next addition to the Meadow Book.

I bought myself a steamer to try on my clothes. Even though I love ironing, steaming wrinkles from clothes left too long in boxes seemed a good idea.

More later

Some Lovely Sights

Posted on by Sandy Webster

I caught the full moon this week. Mostly over the roof tops.

And then the morning’s walk up the hill into town.

Yesterday I walked over to the creek and was surprised to find a monarch butterfly. He will go into the Meadow Book for sure.

During the day I baked. Pumpkin Maple Scones and Second Best Malted Cookies I Ever Ate, but with the substitute of a malt extract for beer making. They were not quite as sweet but still very good!

And two days ago I did a watercolor illustration of Burke and Wills looking out their window.

And one more walk to the creek. First heading over toward the bridge to the Indian Mound.

Leaves on the ground.

And the beauty of the massive amount of white flowers supplying nectar to the insects.

I took the scones to the men this morning. There was quite a feast waiting. One of them had brought in donuts and another had a crock pot of his chili we will all be tasting again at the Chili Cook Off Contest tomorrow evening.

Now off to meet a friend for lunch….

Til later..