It's New Year's Eve and here we are. No parties, no invites. That's okay, I'm used to it. I can't remember ever being invited to a New Year's Eve party. So what to do? Make my own party here. Matt is ashamed of the farm and won't let me invite any humans until this is done, and that is done, but that is not the reality now, and that's not a problem for me anymore. Life is too short. I don't know who I would invite any way. I have friends at work, at the farmer's market, at sheep shows, but nobody I am really close to. I have lots of friends here on the farm and they think this place is super peachy. So do I. I'm invited to Matt's holiday work party next weekend. I have another invite the following week, from Kathy Herold of the Hamilton Community Arts Center. This amazingly talented art entrepreneur and organizer opened the Arts Center for kids and adults to learn to paint, spin wool, dance, felt and do all kinds of artsy things. I went to a Winter Tamale Party at her beautiful historic Victorian home in Hamilton two years ago and had a wonderful time. The people, most of whom I had never met, were very friendly. I even met a man who went to my alma mater, Somerville High School in New Jersey. Every inch of Kathy's house is covered with plants, color and art. Matt had to pull me out of there. Kathy and her family are good people and I'm thrilled to be caught up in her artsy web. So here we are. Tonight I'm going to do a little bit of all the things that make me happy. Here's a few that come to mind.
1. My farm chores make me happy. I love to put out hay and listen to my sheep and goats munch happily on it. It's very satisfying for me to be able to raise beautiful animals that provide me with materials for warmth, beauty and comfort. Sure there are things that are really nasty, like chickens who poop all over everything, and not having the right equipment to clean out my barn properly, animals that get sick for no reason. That is the dark side.
2. Sit on the sofa with my dogs. When I go back to work I'll be bombing out of here at 7:30 not to return until 4 or 5. Then it's time to make dinner, then it's time for chores, then, finally, I can sit down on the sofa. It's a beautiful thing, but I fall asleep way too fast to savor it for any length of time.
3. Spin wool. Spinning is such a gift and spinning fiber from my own animals is truly sublime. Working with my own fiber is like a potter scraping her clay from the banks of her own stream instead of buying it from an art supply house. I hate commercial yarn, and am spoiled totally rotten by my own hand spun yarn. Oh, it's so cool.
4. Sewing. I have collected some lovely fabric and will do some sewing tonight. My machine is my favorite power tool. I still like sewing my Bundaflicka Knitting Totes. I'm blessed that they are still popular, with Vera Bradley (made in China) and Coach (probably made in China from animals that suffered horribly) and those big tacky bags with all the buckles and zippers, to compete with I remain a simple yet functional local oasis in a world full of metal and gadgets.
5. Have a drinky poo. Matt doesn't drink. He's been dry as a bone for 20 years. I think that's one reason why he married me. I hardly drink at all, which is why it's so nice that a tiny nip sends me to a lovely place. A bottle of liquor lasts me for years. I am truly a cheap date. Coffee is my big deal. Strong, hearty, coffee with lots of hot, foamy milk and a splash of cinnamon on top. Nobody makes it like me and I take heat for it when I ask for it that way God Forbid I should be so annoying thank you very much even when I buy it and bring it myself. Maybe tonight I'll put a splash of something else in it. I would have to call Matt and ask him to stop and pick up some on his way home from Syracuse tonight.
6. Read my new December British Country Living from cover to cover. I sometimes buy my favorite magazine and don't get to it for weeks, if at all, other than paging through it and gazing at the lovely photos. I might even get to the Sunday NY Times, which I purchase faithfully every Sunday - at increased cost due to our "remote" location - and it ends up as fire starter or kitty box material. Not this time! Not on New Year's Eve!
Well, it's dark and cloudy at 9 am this last morning of 2012. I could sit here and write more about what I did and didn't accomplish this past year, and what I am hoping for me and mine this coming year, but I have hungry sheep and goats in the barn, and they are waiting for the barn door to slam.
1. My farm chores make me happy. I love to put out hay and listen to my sheep and goats munch happily on it. It's very satisfying for me to be able to raise beautiful animals that provide me with materials for warmth, beauty and comfort. Sure there are things that are really nasty, like chickens who poop all over everything, and not having the right equipment to clean out my barn properly, animals that get sick for no reason. That is the dark side.
2. Sit on the sofa with my dogs. When I go back to work I'll be bombing out of here at 7:30 not to return until 4 or 5. Then it's time to make dinner, then it's time for chores, then, finally, I can sit down on the sofa. It's a beautiful thing, but I fall asleep way too fast to savor it for any length of time.
3. Spin wool. Spinning is such a gift and spinning fiber from my own animals is truly sublime. Working with my own fiber is like a potter scraping her clay from the banks of her own stream instead of buying it from an art supply house. I hate commercial yarn, and am spoiled totally rotten by my own hand spun yarn. Oh, it's so cool.
4. Sewing. I have collected some lovely fabric and will do some sewing tonight. My machine is my favorite power tool. I still like sewing my Bundaflicka Knitting Totes. I'm blessed that they are still popular, with Vera Bradley (made in China) and Coach (probably made in China from animals that suffered horribly) and those big tacky bags with all the buckles and zippers, to compete with I remain a simple yet functional local oasis in a world full of metal and gadgets.
5. Have a drinky poo. Matt doesn't drink. He's been dry as a bone for 20 years. I think that's one reason why he married me. I hardly drink at all, which is why it's so nice that a tiny nip sends me to a lovely place. A bottle of liquor lasts me for years. I am truly a cheap date. Coffee is my big deal. Strong, hearty, coffee with lots of hot, foamy milk and a splash of cinnamon on top. Nobody makes it like me and I take heat for it when I ask for it that way God Forbid I should be so annoying thank you very much even when I buy it and bring it myself. Maybe tonight I'll put a splash of something else in it. I would have to call Matt and ask him to stop and pick up some on his way home from Syracuse tonight.
6. Read my new December British Country Living from cover to cover. I sometimes buy my favorite magazine and don't get to it for weeks, if at all, other than paging through it and gazing at the lovely photos. I might even get to the Sunday NY Times, which I purchase faithfully every Sunday - at increased cost due to our "remote" location - and it ends up as fire starter or kitty box material. Not this time! Not on New Year's Eve!
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