So today, stuck inside with the rain driving down outside, I have spent the day in the kitchen. We started with hashbrowns made from our russet potatoes that DH dug this morning, fried in lard from our neighbor’s pig. Those were pretty dang good. Then for a late lunch we had twice-baked potatoes with smoked sausage, also from our friends, and cheddar cheese. Wow, were those good! But now, being a little burned out on the (admittedly delicious) combination of potatoes and pork, I’m making homemade pop tarts, some chocolate, some blueberry.

Here’s hoping the sun comes out tomorrow.

Our neighbor brings us a generous bag of paw paws every year. I love them—it’s a magical thing, these tropical fruits that grow here in the mountains. These are the few that are left—we’ve been eating them alone, and putting them in smoothies. I hate to see the last of them—I’ll miss the way they perfume the entire house!

A friend stopped by with these goodies for the pigs. I think they’ll enjoy some of this deliciousness with their daily ration of milk and produce!

Even though the world changes like cloud formations
all that is fulfilled returns home to the changeless One.
Above all the turning and changing
wider and freer, remains Your Song,
God with the lyre, God with the heart.

Sufferings have not been learned,
loving has not really been learned,
and what separates us in death
has not been unveiled.
But the Great Song above the earth
hallows and celebrates it all.

- Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Br. David Steindl-Rast

Last week was a hard week. The untimely death of a friend, and the death of an uncle have brought up a great deal of…stuff. Introspection, musings on mortality, wondering what it’s all about—you know, the usual.

It has also become increasingly apparent that Bernard needs more than she can get from home schooling. She seems to need more mental challenge and certainly more social interactions than she’s getting here with me right now. We’ve been planning for her to go to the early college program starting next fall, but there turned out to be an opening for her right now, so she’s starting tomorrow morning! We’ll take her in tomorrow and get her schedule set up, but after that she’ll be taking the bus. I’m so very happy for her, and so grateful that this program is available to her, but it’s going to be a big change for all of us—I’ve been homeschooling since 1996!

The other change around here is that we’ve all decided to get off facebook for a while. Bernard because she is going to need all her focus for school for the rest of the school year, me because it triggers some addiction part of my brain, and I can’t leave it alone, and ED because she doesn’t really care about it. I’ve just got too much going on to get sucked in on facebook during the day—one of the problems with being at home all the time!

I just got an email from a friend who is putting together a group Fedco seed order, and I feel impatient and ready to turn my thoughts to spring and the garden. I have the familiar feeling of relief that Christmas is over and now I can get on with my life; we made it through the darkest part of the year, and although there’s plenty of cold ahead, the light is increasing. I’m grateful for friends and family with whom to celebrate the Solstice—it makes the dark so much more bearable!

Happy New Year everyone!

Our farmsitter did a great job, as usual, though when we first got home, there were some little…mysteries. First, all the clocks in the house were missing, and were later discovered locked in the girls’ bedroom. Second, the lights and fans in my bedroom were all unplugged from their outlets. And third, we found a couple of labels in strange places: A label from a pair of new Schmidt work pants out by the puppy pen, and the label from a bottle of Rebel Yell whiskey on the floor in the kitchen. Interesting, huh?

Thanks so much!

Our friends from central Florida were here for ten days, leaving yesterday. It is so hard to see them go. We’ve known them since ED was two, and we see them once a year at most.  Maybe this will be the year we can get the farm settled enough to go visit them in January!

While they were here DH and Bill started an exciting project: building a stone hearth for the little Jotul heat stove. DH had promised to have it installed last year before the first frost…maybe it will be in this year before frost!

Also this last week, ED turned nineteen. She’s wonderful.

But really—nineteen years?