hangin' out at home

The weather has taken a turn for the cold and I twisted my ankle and well, I already mentioned the puppy, all of which are conspiring to keep us at home. I've been reading The Heretic's Daughter, which is excellent, historical fiction about the Salem witch trials written by a descendant of some of the accused and The Magic of Fire, a beautiful book about hearth cooking, with lots of recipes and folk lore. We made cookies and bean stew with beans I ordered from Rancho Gordo.

Rebecca sewed a skirt using the free pattern at http://www.oliverands.com/.

I made 2 pairs of mittens and one pair of fingerless gloves out of felted sweaters. The mitten pattern is from Warm Fuzzies by Betz White.

Sophie woke up one morning recently and said "I want to sew a pair of pajama pants!" And competent kid that she is--here they are.

the girls fiddle at a halloween party for twins and the puppy comes along

Eli was so good and calm in all the noise and chaos of two hundred small children in costume and their families.

Some of the kids were in matching costumes--so adorable!

a blog on a Northstar dog in action

http://charliethenorthstardog.blogspot.com/

Read about Charlie and the awesome work he's doing with his boy Tim in California.

birth bumperstick fundraiser

I just bought a bumper sticker to support birthing women in Africa.

"Keep your kids off drugs....Choose an unmedicated birth" (an adorable pregnant belly drives the point home)!

To buy one http://babysbirthbenefits.com/events.aspx

More info:

My passion for birth has led me to pursue my degree in Midwifery and I'm well on my way!
As part of this journey, I have been offered the opportunity to intern at a hospital in Malawi Africa. Embangweni Hospital was founded by International Health Ministries and is a Peace Corp. partner with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. It serves a rural population and has 2000 births per year. There are only a handful of care providers, and 3 Staff members. I plan to serve birthing women of Malawi in March and April of 2009. In an effort to raise funds for this mission and to bring supplies and gifts, I am offering these bumper stickers for a MINIMUM donation of $5.00 (of course anything over $5.00 would be extremely helpful). If you make a donation, I will promptly send you a bumper sticker. Donations can be made by paypal to liljoy143@aol.com. 100% of your donation will go toward this mission. I sincerely appreciate your support.
My Best and Many Thanks- Student Midwife, LaNette

saw the yarn harlot when she came to town

I saw Stephanie Pearl McPhee in Cambridge last night. Great fun to see her in person! I feel like I know her from reading her blog. I covet her job! My favorite part was the Q and A at the end. My favorite new tidbit--put your keyboard on the floor so you can hit the space bar with your foot while knitting and reading knitting blogs.



Here's what Stephanie has to say about the Cambridge reading:

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

cool fossil discovery

Here's the story on the oldest flying insect fossil discovered in Mass!

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/16/mall_sprawl_site_yields_a_treasure_from_eons_past/
And here's a cool photo of it:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/10/worlds_oldest_f.html

foster therapy puppy

He's here! Our 10 week old Golden foster therapy puppy has arrived. His forever home will be with a teenage boy in Maine who is on the autism spectrum and wants a dog to cuddle. The runt of the litter, he's tiny and he's a cuddler! He came with the name Eli, but that may change. He's part of the Northstar program, http://www.northstardogs.com/, the same program we are hoping Honey will be a breeding dog for.

Sophie figured out how to video on my camera so here's our first uploaded video.

linus blankets

My girls finished their blankets for the Linus Project (www.linusblankets.org). An organization that gives blankets to kids in need (in the hospital, in foster care, etc.). Their blankets are going to a refuge family from Africa. Kids helping kids!

Fall in New England

We're having a glorious fall. Here are some poke berries and some milk weed seeds in midfluff.

The girls are on a walk with Honey to the river today.

We've been drying apples with a borrowed dehydrator. The peeler/corer/slicer is great fun.
Yes, another goat photo . . .

We went up to Common Ground Fair in Maine. All the food there is organic and grown in Maine--no chocolate, no coffee. We had yummy raw milk icecream. These photos are from the farmers market there. We took classes on rug braiding, mushroom wildcrafting. and dowsing.

And what would fall be without apple picking??!

why didn't I think of this??!

A nipple hat--no breastfeeding baby should be without! I can't believe I've been knitting strawberry hats!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_4&listing_id=8421966