A beautiful day

     When I was younger I didn't live so much in the moment - always worrying about choices, relationships - the good ones and the bad ones, finances or lack of them, my young family's safety, health, the list goes on and on. While I'm still and always will be a chronic worrier,  ( Heck, I just stopped having "I didn't do my homework" dreams about five years ago)  I have learned with age to live far more of my life in the moment.  And... I don't give as much of a f*ck about trying to please everyone all the time, or even if someone likes me.  I have finally come to that place where I know in my heart of hearts I am a decent soul and I like me... maybe even love me.  Sounds silly, but that knowledge comes hard to some of us, and maybe you know the woe.  This was a day when I sat completely comfortable with myself and content with my life's direction. 

    Yesterday it seems everyone in New England was out and about, enjoying the beautiful 🌺SPRING🌸  day - temps reached 61 degrees!   On the road, some of my fellow Jeepers had their tops off and down at Stella, island folks were beginning the Spring ritual of opening up and airing out their cottages.  My daughter and I spent some time at the show barn with Leah - and I got to take her for a spin around the block a few times myself. 

  As I watched my daughter go 'round the ring practicing for the first show of the season, the warm sun beaming down on our faces, I was reminded again of all she has overcome, how lucky we are to have these experiences after all.   

    After time well spent at the barn, I headed down to the cottage where the Mr. was working with two of his crew to replace the split railing we initially installed at the waterfront.  When sitting on the blue stone patio, what greeted  seated folks at eye level were  clunky cedar beams.  It was a nice rustic look but took away from the water views.  So we've installed wire which will keep people from falling over but doesn't block the view.  It's almost invisible. as you can see in this photo. 

   We were so pleased with the effect, we decided to take the waterfront railing section  of the deck out and replace it with the same wire.  We have a lot of summer meals up on that little deck and the view now when seated will be a much fuller waterfront scene. That deck comes in handy as a "playpen" for Frasier and Sally as well - they are safe up there with a gate at the stairs, and someday the same will be true when and if we're blessed with grandchildren. 

     We brought some dirt from the farm down to the shore - we'll spread it in the waterfront part of the little yard to fortify the grass and level the footing some.  If you can believe it,  M wants to plant a little vegetable garden down there as well as the one I keep here on the farm.  The bunnies are prolific on the island-really-a-peninsula,  he'll have to put a little fencing up if we are to eat any of that produce. 

   

Frasier, Sally and I took a walk  after inspecting the new fencing... we are on a cove in the Long Island Sound - which you can see in the distance here.  The crocus have arrived!   And they tell me the peepers too, and while I can't hear the actual thing, I hear peepers 24/7 with the tinnitus and hearing loss, go figure - 😂

  I can usually find at least one piece of seaglass on each walk.  This one was a very pale blue, my favorite color.

The water hasn't been turned on yet so the cottage can't be given a thorough Spring cleaning, bed linens aren't re-washed or beds made  until April 15th or so, when the water is turned back on.   We don't spend too much time here until then, no toilets!   The new gas stove does a fantastic job of heating up the space when the nip in the air needs tucking.   Sally approves. 

    When the chill came in off the water with the setting sun I came home to feed the horses and chickens and clean the new chicks water for the tenth time.  Have I mentioned how piggy chicks are?  All doing well, by the way.  The  good weather had us all in high spirits, and it was evident in the people we encountered throughout the day, too.   I always hope that kindred spirit spreads far and wide. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a blanket of good will to cover this entire planet - think of all the problems we could solve, what a wonderful world this could be if only.   It was a restorative kind of day that I sorely needed.   Today I'm wishing the same for  you - 

 Till soon - 

Karen 🌷

Heated Exchange

      When we bought Stella two years ago, she had been much loved by the previous owner but also neglected. We kept all the rustic charm, she is still a very 1930's summer cottage, but the things that really needed fixing got fixed and an interior wall was removed so that the tiny  kitchen was open to the seating area that looks out over the cove.  For more details, search the Once Upon a Tide post labels where you'll find posts on her restoration. 

       At the door to the back deck was the only source of heat,  a gas operated heating stove, one we couldn't use because it didn't vent to the outside and so the odor from the burning gas flooded Stella's small interior. A few days ago we had a new one installed with a vent pipe that goes through the roof.  It still needs to be hooked up, but it will be a beautiful sight to see on chilly spring, summer and fall evenings when we want to take the nip out of the air inside the cottage. 

 The original... 

The new model

      The cottage and surrounding island , or what's really a peninsula despite it's name,  have a different vibe in winter months for the obvious reasons - and the cold inside the cottage is bone chilling.  The unmade beds, empty refrigerator and food pantry underline and highlight it.  When we began Stella's re-do, she was infested with rodents - mice droppings fell from the curtain tops and were embedded in the toaster left from the previous occupant.  There were nests in the seat cushions.  These things in particular freaked the Mr. right out, so he made sure she is now almost airtight, and we don't have meese in the rafters or the cushions or the toaster anymore. 

  While the guys were installing the new stove, I took a walk around with camera. 

 Stella from the road

 ... and from the waterfront 

    Meanwhile, we've had some glorious sunsets that 

I've captured with the good camera here on the farm

   As I type this, it's snowy-raining outside and the horses and chickens are waiting for their breakfast -  Spring is just around the corner, you can see it in the light cast across the fields at the end of the day, in the diamond sparkles on the water.  Just don't look on the ground, where there's still some of the white stuff that doesn't scream spring.  Out into that stuff I go..... 

Frosty and Sweet

    As soon as I open my mouth about bringing Spring things in, Mother Nature tells me to curb my enthusiasm. 

  Snow falling on Cedars -  My chicken coop pictured below with the cedar forest a very philanthropic woman named Elizabeth and her husband Ed planted many moons ago here on this little farm. It was upon her death at the age of 95 about 16 years ago at the estate sale that I first laid eyes on the inside of our 1835 farm house and the surrounding grounds and fell in love.  A lot has changed here in the ten years we've owned the farm - including the complete resurrection of the house.  One thing that is absolutely as it was - are the cedar forest on the left of us and Pine forest on the right, minus a few trees lost in storms.  I love them 💗 they remind me every day of the thoughtfulness and generosity of the previous occupants of Grace -  (This Old House)   We've paid it forward, so to speak - by planting many sugar maples along the dirt roads on the property.  Someday someone will enjoy the shade and glorious colors  and perhaps the syrup made from the the sap of the Mighty Maples we've planted. We will at least get to enjoy them as juvenile trees.

  Speaking of Maple Syrup -  I've been collecting the sap  from some of our ancient maples when the weather conditions encourage the sap run, and the boys have been dropping the buckets off at the Sugar House at Parmelee Farm.   It's balm for the soul, this community project.  Residents of our little town have been collecting sap from their trees to add to the big barrels at Parmelee,  helping to fill the distiller,  they've been volunteering to fill and label bottles, some even dropping off cookies and snacks for the volunteer force to enjoy while they work.  The Boyscouts and Girlscouts have visited to learn the ancient art of syrup making, as have science classes from the middle school.  All sales of the limited supply of syrup are applied to sustaining the farm and sugar house.

  That label being applied is one I designed for the project -  I'm no professional, but I think it came out pretty darn good in the -winging it- department.

      In these times of truly ugly politics, this community effort for a worthy cause is a beautiful thing indeed.  If you're feeling discouraged for whatever the reason, I strongly recommend finding a project or organization in a field of your interest that is doing something good in the world - no effort is too small, the commitment does not have to be huge, so don't let work commitments and the lack of free time discourage you.   It's balm for the weary soul. 💗

      Till soon, friends... 

Fake

       Along with some of the stuff  around This Old House, I put Spring in my blog header yesterday - just in time for more snow.  I'm not complaining, though - as we've honestly had very little snow accumulation this winter. While I love the beauty of it, and it is indeed coming down in a gentle flurry as I gaze out my office window this moment,  I don't like the work it creates for me on the farm or my boys on the job sites. 

    My mini horses, Coady and Lacey, like living up at the big barn now that they've taken over Opie's stall.   In the photo below they were begging for peppermints - spoiled kids, they are! We all  still miss my favorite redhead, probably always will.   Opie was certainly the leader of the herd, and that's more evident now than ever.  The other two Max's... our retired show horse and my friends horse seen in the pic below, still look out over the fields wondering when he'll come trotting over the hill.  They don't venture into the upper pasture without him - they walk up to the opening in the stone wall but they don't go through it - as if they're wary of what could be out there.  Or what's no longer out there to protect them.  Without his leadership they seem a little lost, a little adrift.  They don't particularly like each other, these two old men - and so more often than not, they stand  grazing or gazing, far apart in the field, where they used to tag alongside Opie wherever he went.  

   

    Coady and Lacey have each other, crying for the other if we separate them for even a few minutes.  Animals form relationships, they care about each other, they miss each other when one leaves - don't ever doubt it.

 Every so often,  our Max hears something on the wind he must think is a whinny from Opie, and he returns the call, over and over again until finally no answer brings Opie back and he gives up.  Breaks my heart.

   It does my soul good to give this old man the retirement he so deserves after many years as a faithful servant to several different showfolk.   I wish his buddy were here to enjoy that retirement with him.  We were supposed to grow old together, me and that redhead -  Wouldn't it be something to be reunited with those we loved and the animals that were also a part of our lives, when our time here  is up. I'll continue to hope. 

       So why the post title, FAKE?  let me 'splain.... I took a walk on the wild side and ordered the cowhide rug I've been coveting for many years.  Something about that look has always appealed to me but we didn't have quite the right spot for it or the appropriate decor and no one else up here in this house approved.  One other little detail... I couldn't get past the idea that I'd be walking on and looking at the actual hide of a cow - one who walked the earth and cherished his or her life as much as I did mine.  That's kinda silly and hypocritical thinking, since I've certainly owned leather shoes and jackets, gloves, and I eat meat.  Still - I couldn't do it, go figure. 

   Until... I saw these on Overstock for a decent price.  

 ( I love the abode depicted in this photo but it's not very cozy, is it. Seriously... who's gonna sit in that hard little chair and settle in with a good book or  watch a netflix original?  That chair right there reminds me of the little desk chairs in grade school that most of us couldn't wait to get out of) 

   Fake cow hide rugs! that actually look real... LOVE! 💗  They come in a few different hide patterns, this is the one I chose.   Now.. I don't have the magical touch some designers have where they can through a whole bunch of different elements and styles and vintage and new pieces into a room and it comes out looking fabulous. But.. what I do throw together at least I hope looks inviting, or warm, or interesting, or something along those lines.  

   It was delivered today in all this snow, and here's where I threw it.   The Wingback chairs were given to us by the previous occupant of  our home and have moved around the house periodically - not of their own steam, thankfully.  What do you think?   I'm still not sure it belongs, but who's writing the rules, anyway?

    

Fresh Air

       While it's still definitely winter 'round these parts, and I'm about to trudge out into my "morning commute" in hat gloves, two jackets and boots to prove it,  I've been freshening things up inside Gracie (this old house). I asked my mom yesterday whether it was too soon to put out the Spring Things - and she said "no, I've put away winter already, it gets old, dull".  

     

       So I did just that - and  then drove to the nearest crafts store - which is Joann's Fabrics.  Their Spring Things are already 40-50 percent off, so I decided to make a few wreaths for the front double door, and I scored a few ready-made wreaths for my mom and I, too.  (Because MOMs... you only get one, and mine is my very best friend).  

 I'll share the finished product when done. 

My ready-wreath find... 

 Last week we repainted the bedroom -  it used to be a celery green.

Now, what Benjamin Moore calls Cake Batter, a soft buttery off white. 

I replaced the bedding too - going for a very neutral look

Belgian Flax Linens - a combo from Pottery Barn and Pine Cone Hill

The lamps replaced a few we've had for many years,

now living in the dining room.

Hard to see in this photo, but they are glass wrapped in a light

 black chicken wire.  Inexpensive finds at HomeGoods, 

and I love them. 

The drapes - Restoration Hardware - also belgian linen, lined, 

Keep heat in and cold out,  but they

do let some light in, which is what I was looking for. 

They are an investment, I usually go with cheap curtains,

but they'll last if cared for properly. 

 Frasier approves. 

 The painting above the bed I found last week browsing a nearby antiques mall. 

It is an original painting by  Robert C. Benham...

a New England artist in the early to mid 1900's. 

His paintings usually go for around $300-$400 if you find one,

and this was leaning against other stuff on the floor, dirty, with a chippy frame.

I love chippy frames - and the grime comes off with a good

careful  wiping down... 

So I offered $170, and the offer was accepted. 

These bits of paper are taped on the back. 

The painting depicts

"Trail to Burnt Head"  - which is located in Maine. 

      So, while Gracie is sporting a little Spring Bling inside... outside is quite a different story...  The view out my kitchen sliders below.... 

        And if you peer out my kitchen sink window,  my favorite doves are giving me that look -  "What's wrong with this picture, Karen.  Seed's awful low". 

Notice the maple syrup collecting bag and buckets are empty right now... in order for sap to run, we must have cold temps over night, warming up during the day. If  temps remain cold, the sap remains dormant. 

So up to the barn I go, to tend these family members...

Coady is sporting new shoes -  his soft ride gel boots, which

help him  be more comfortable with a condition he's had for years -

 Cushings Disease with a side of laminitis flare up caused by it. 

   The girls hunting for tidbits in a fresh little hay pile. 

 Just one more thing... 

Have you seen the movie - A Star is Born - with Bradley Cooper and Lada Gaga yet? If not, you must -  WOW, do they have chemistry and talent.  And I'll warn you - it is indeed a tear jerker.  When she first made the scene, I didn't like her.  Meat dresses?  Condom costumes?  But.. as she grew into who we came to know, she is truly a decent, caring, honest soul, a real talent on multiple levels.  She's a song writer, a singer, a philanthropist, she's an encourager, not a breaker-down. (those are real words here anyway...lol).  

Wishing you all a good day - 

and thank you for stopping by