Churning ahead.

This week was just so busy. It was a blur. Next week promises more of the same.

Today is MW's birthday. LW's birthday is early next week. I baked a cake for MW, which he liked mightily, and treated him and LW to lunch out at Manna House (Korean cuisine) after stopping at the Farmers' Market.

Everyone at the Market asked me why I wasn't at the Fiber Twist. I groaned and told them it was complicated. Which it very definitely is.

We have postponed LW's birthday party until next weekend. It was originally to be held tomorrow, but the forecast is for rain all day. Not good for an outdoor party! Hoping for better weather next weekend. Plus the delay will give me a little more time for preparations.

We and the livestock are all enjoying this colder turn in the weather. Feels so good! I am just no good when it's humid and hot out there.

The black walnut tree is dropping nuts all of a sudden. Now that the tree is mature, it's producing greater numbers of nuts each year. This year looks to be the best yet. Our apple orchard is a wash this year, though. All the apples are wormy. We're feeding all of them to the livestock, not enough are salvageable for apple sauce or baking. Rats.

I hope the rain doesn't knock down all the leaves that have started to turn color on the trees. I asked LW today what is her favorite season, she said "Autumn, because it's so nice and cool outside." That's my girl.

Autumn is here!

And it's a race to have the farm ready for winter.

Yesterday we re-floored the hay shed. Now all we need is for the hay to be delivered. It's due to arrive this week.

Our heating oil is all pre-bought for the fall, winter, and early spring. We've got a spanking new chimney. I feel much more secure than I did two weeks ago.

We did stop at Ikea on the way home, and I picked up items I'd been needing for the household. I also fed all of us for exactly $4.01 at the Ikea cafeteria. The food was so good. MW and LW had a blast playing with all the displayed products in the children's section.

Afterward, we scooted under I-95 to the waterfront. We walked over to the wharf where Amistad and Quinnipiak are moored. Amistad was not docked, must have been out on a sail, but Quinnipiak was there and she is a beautiful ship. We watched seagulls bickering, cormorants diving for fish, saw schools of fish below the water's surface, sailboats coming in an out of the harbor, a giant oil barge delivering its load, people fishing on the jetties. We found a little spit of sand, and we collected shells. This was LW's first time ever seeing the ocean. She loved it.

It's always strange for me to go back to New Haven. I lived there for a long time before we moved north, and sometimes I miss it very much. Other times I miss it not at all. I'm glad I lived there, ultimately; I had an awful lot of fun in that little city, and it's where I met MW so it's an important place for me. Ikea, by the way, is located only a couple hundred yards from the business where MW and I met, and from Long Wharf Theatre where I was working at the time.

Here's a spider that has set up shop in our overgrown flowerbed by the house. She's a gorgeous Shamrock orbweaver spider, Araneus trifolium.

Speeding along.

Holy smokes, time is compressing and yet there's still so much to do it makes my head spin.

Invitations for Little Woodchuck's birthday party have been sent. I resorted to e-mailing them, tacky I know, but for some kids and their parents, an e-mail address is all I have.

The party is fully planned, now I have just have to buy all the stuff that needs to be bought, and go down my checklist. I've recruited my mom to bake the cupcakes. I am providing her with mixes, and I'll make the icing the day before and send it along with the mixes.

I have almost everything for the children's goody bags. It's fun to give those out.

* * *

I've been working my tail off, between my paying job projects, at getting the hay shed ready. I completely dismantled it this year. Fortunately my mom has been around to help. Just holding things in place while I use the tools is extremely helpful. The shed has been reassembled as of yesterday, and today we're going to skin it as much as possible and finish up on Sunday. The hay will be delivered early next week.

(ETA: We skinned the hay shed completely, finished up at 6:00 p.m. It's a good thing my mom has gotten all modernized from years of working at university before she retired, because I muttered out a few solid cusses during the shed skinning process. And she didn't get shocked at my cussing at all. I love my mom.)

We're heading out to visit Mister Woodchuck's mother tomorrow. It will be an overnight stay. I've got folks lined up to feed the livestock. I'm looking forward to the time away, despite how it will snafu my work schedule. We might even stop at the Ikea on the way, which is an absolute thrill for me!

The Speed of Life.

LW and I drove up to the fairgrounds yesterday afternoon to pick up my entries. LW was pensive. "Mommy, we missed all the fun." I felt terrible, she was right. We were too sick to go to the fair this year, and she had been looking forward to it for weeks.

I got a third place ribbon for the Christmas stocking I made from a felted sweater and embroidered and embellished. But I got a first place blue ribbon for the cute play dress I made for LW! The judge had also commented on the back of the entry tag, all praise particularly about my finishing details on the dress (it's all French seamed, which takes time but makes for a better garment) and that made me feel very good.

I turned in one major project to my client, it's all finished and ready to go to the printer. Phew! Now I have smaller projects due by the end of October. That's a lot, but I can do it if I work very, very hard.

We're going to dash down to Connecticut on Saturday to visit MW's mom. We'll stay overnight, then race back Sunday morning. I've got folks lined up to care for the livestock Saturday. I'm insisting that we make a quick stop at Ikea in New Haven, as I need to pick up a few things there.

Our chimney will be finished today. It's a thing of beauty. Jim the mason says, "Perfect chimney for Santa Claus!" with a twinkle and a smile directed toward LW.

I bought all the felt for LW's Hallowe'en costume, and took her measurements yesterday. I need to get to the Textile at some point today to buy pattern tissue; I like to work things out on the tissue before I take scissors to fabric. Time to dig out my French curve, too.

And the preparations for LW's birthday party continue.

The Chimney Man is Here!

"The Chimney Man is here, Mommy!" quoth Little Woodchuck.

Yes, Jim the chimney mason arrived yesterday with scaffolding and bricks and tools. He managed to get the scaffolding set up before the downpour yesterday, and then showed up bright and early this morning to do the old chimney demolition. The top portion was so loose he just lifted off the bricks--yikes--but now he's smacking the middle portion and the house is shaking in an exciting way. LW is riveted to the window near the chimney, watching Jim work. This is huge excitement for a toddler, even one who is sick.

We've asked Jim to inset a ceramic tile with the image of a dragonfly on it about 6 feet up the chimney from the base. It should look nice and will add a tiny bit of whimsy to our shiny, new chimney. We like whimsy.

I've got a wracking cough now, and couldn't sleep last night lying down. I had to wedge myself upright on the couch with pillows to sleep at all. Reminded me of my bad old pregnancy days. Shiver. Those were very bad days. Last night I also had a pile of fever dreams that were very, very frightening. I sure was happy to wake up from those.

Today I have to set my paying work aside and clean the house. Shocking how dirty and messy everything gets when Mommy is sick for three days.

I can't wait to be over this flu.

Quarantine!

Well, we're all sick now. LW, MW, and me. MW is the least sick, so he's making a grocery run for sick supplies.

This is acting an awful lot like H1N1... My biggest worry is for LW, as she's just a toddler.

So the household is in strict quarantine. I'd like to personally dope-slap rather hard the mother who was at the Library on Tuesday, coughing all over the place. I believe she is the culprit.

We won't be going to the Fair, I think. I'll pick up my entries and ribbons if any on Monday. Sigh.

Just to make myself feel a little better, here's a picture we took of a Papilio polyxenes caterpillar we found near the house. Also known as Black Swallowtail butterfly. It was flaring its osmeterium at me in the image. That's a scent organ just behind the head. It smells awful! But that's the whole purpose.



I found the cat's pupa a couple days later. Can't wait to see the butterfly emerge!

Bits and pieces.

Yesterday I went to the fairgrounds and submitted two of the four items I'd planned to enter for judging. Time just got away from me for the other two items.

It did seem that there were fewer entries at the Roundhouse than in years past. I left the place around 5 p.m. and there were only a few more hours to drop off items. I think the new pre-entry system probably scared off many entrants. We'll see when we get to the fair this weekend if the Roundhouse filled up with items.

This afternoon my mom gets her skin cancer biopsied.

I stopped by the Turners Falls Salvation Army yesterday and bought four sweaters. Three of them I'll convert into garments for LW, and I'm wearing the fourth right now. I washed everything as soon as I got home. I also bought a cute book bag for LW, and a colorful beach bag for carrying groceries. Mister Woodchuck went to Salvation Army in the afternoon and got himself two sweaters and two sweatshirts, which he was sorely in need of. He wears out clothes faster than anyone I know.

By the time I went to sleep last night, I was sniffling and coughing and slightly feverish. First cold of the season. Oh joy. MW is heading out in a few minutes to pick up some cold medicine for me. I am in dire need.

Tomorrow is the 8th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in NYC. We'll keep off the radio and teevee, and keep the house quiet in remembrance of MW's cousin, a NYC firefighter who died there that day.

Fall projects.

I'm trying so hard not to be overwhelmed by the enormous pile of autumn projects I have to accomplish. It's pretty damned daunting.

First and foremost I have to get through the next six weeks of work. At the same time I have to oversee the replacement of our chimney, I need to take down and reassemble our hay shed, and get the winter hay delivered. Those are the biggies. The rest are small and more manageable.

I've nearly finished sewing a cute play dress for Little Woodchuck for next summer. It's taken longer than I expected; I'm paying extra attention to the finishing details. Today Mister Woodchuck, LW, and I drove down to Hadley--MW needed to pick up something from the mega-bookstore there. I veered us briefly to JoAnn Fabric to look for buttons for the dress. I had picked up some at The Textile but, frankly, their button selection is the pits. I wanted something special. And today I found the most perfect buttons at JoAnn. Happy sigh.

While at JoAnn, I also grabbed a couple yards of black felt, some white felt and yellow felt yardgoods. LW has informed me that she must be Bad Badtz Maru for Hallowe'en. I've already sketched out the costume design, and hopefully it won't be a disaster. Toddlers are pretty easy to make costumes for, thankfully.

And the county fair is coming up this weekend. We're all excited about that! I loves me a fair, 'specially when I win blue ribbons!

A Drive-by Post.

I'm so busy, this one's going to be quick.

I just learned my mom has skin cancer. She goes down to Northampton for a biopsy on the 10th, and surgery will soon follow. I'm freaking out.

I had insomnia last night. So I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog four times through. It is simply brilliant.

Must dash.

It's going to be a long six weeks.

I'm so tired. I'm deep in the middle of one of my two busiest times of year, paying work-wise. The other time is always from January to May. Between those periods, work is steady but not usually overwhelming. Right now, I'm overwhelmed, and I've got a solid six weeks to go on this autumn's tsunami of work.

Because I work from a home office, Little Woodchuck is with me all the time. When I go through one of these crazy-busy stretches, she can barely stand it. I can't give her the attention she's accustomed to, and deserves, and by the end of the day we're both exhausted. Me moreso than LW, of course, because she gets a nice long nap in the middle of the day. Those two hours while she naps are my most productive. I quite literally crank like hell, and count every precious minute.

And at the end of the next six weeks, I'll be faced with the ambulance chase that is getting the farm ready for winter. I'll catch up on my much-needed sleep sometime in December. In the meantime, it's two pots of coffee per day and elevated blood pressure. Sigh.

Over the weekend, we found a gorgeous Papilio polyxenes caterpillar wandering around in the flower bed in front of the house. It had been feeding on the wild Queen Anne's Lace that had managed to find a foothold in my sadly neglected flowerbed. This cat was looking for a place to pupate, so we left it alone after taking a few pictures.

This morning I found its pupa!!!!! I'm going to move it to a safer place, it's in a vulnerable spot right now, and either in two weeks or next spring a Black Swallowtail butterfly will emerge. We've raised hundreds of native butterfly and moth caterpillars of many species from hatchling to adulthood, and swallowtails are easy compared to some other species. Last year I raised at least two dozen Monarch butterflies from hatch to emergence, this year not a single one. It was not a good year for the Monarchs. Too much cold, too much rain.

The Season of Sorrow.

I love autumn. It's my favorite of all the seasons, and here in New England autumn can be pretty spectacular. Makes up for all the snow and the awful, humid/hot summers.

But for some reason, as soon as we get a couple cold nights and cool, sunny days, all my sorrows past and present get dredged up and I have to grapple with them afresh. Mister Woodchuck has learned, after our fifteen years together, that September marks the season of sorrow for me. He does his best to cheer me up, and I appreciate the efforts on his part, but every year is the same.

I can't even quite put my finger on why September makes me so blue. I suppose that a good many of the most unpleasant episodes in my earlier life happened in the autumn, and then there was the dreaded back-to-school business. School was, for me, horrible and filled me with dread. It wasn't until I went off to college that I began to look forward to new semesters.

January always brings on depression, but that's something I'm able to deal with on a practical level using my lightbox. I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I can usually head off the worst of it with daily sessions with my lightbox and by March, it's over.

* * *
On a more positive note, Little Woodchuck is still reading! It's slow and steady, and wonderful! Yesterday she started trying to tell time, and she's doing pretty well. She looks for clocks everywhere we go, and reports the time displayed as the closest hour. So far she's amazingly accurate. I have to keep reminding myself that LW is still just a two-year-old, and that these things she's accomplished are not typical of children her age.

We're taking a hiatus on potty training. LW and I both need a break. We'll try again in another month and see how it goes.

MW took LW out last night and tonight to look at Jupiter, some star clusters and galaxies, and the moon through his telescopes. He sets them up in the back yard in the afternoon, they cool down nicely in this dry air we've been having, and by 8:30 p.m. the two of them are out in the dark looking through the eyepieces. I have to say that having a husband who owns two high-end telescopes is very, very cool. We tucked LW into her bed by 9:00 p.m., and MW went back out to the 'scopes for a couple more hours of viewing. MW had to sell off one of his telescopes last year so that some bills could be paid, and I know it was hard for him to let that third 'scope go. Hopefully he won't have to sell off the two remaining 'scopes: he's got a beautiful Newtonian and a super-nice refractor that I believe is Russian. There's also a suitcase full of fantastic eyepieces that he's carefully acquired over the past decade.