Oh, the smell of Cinnamon....

I have this wonderful hurricane lantern that I bought last year at, I think, Home Goods. I love this lantern. It's suppose to have a big candle in it but so far I have just filled it with seasonal things like shells in the summer and some leaves and buckeyes in the fall.

 Before Thanksgiving it was looking kind of sad and dusty, so I dumped the contents and washed the glass lamp. I had been wondering what to put into it. I love shells and I thought that some big shells with a small battery string of lights in there would look really pretty. Then I was shopping at Walmart one day and I found these...

They are called Cinnamon Scented Mini Pine Cones and they were only $4.00. Well, they stopped me dead in my tracks just because of the fragrance. As I walked down one of  the Christmas isles  the whole area smelled like cinnamon. I started sniffing and looking for what was giving off this wonderful scent and then I found this bag of pine cones. That was it. I was sold.... $4.00 What a deal!  They are so pretty. Some are  red and teal blue and some are just natural.
So I brought them home, put them into the lantern and placed it on my Mom's old table between the couch and the piano.

What do you think? I can take some pine cones out and add some of my "found" treasures from my walks up the mountain, a few sprigs of pine or some oak balls. I could still put some lights in there. I have this 10 light string that I got at Ikea. It uses batteries. It would fit nicely in between the pine cones. I could hide the battery pack with  some leaves near the top. You have to be able to turn it on and off. I'm open to other ideas if you have some. 

Even if I don't do anything more than this.... it will be a pretty addition to the holiday decorations in the living room. I like natural and simple.... and the aroma of cinnamon is amazing. It just makes you happy.

Wordless Wednesday: Child Crossing

Middle Bar Bridge on the Mokelumne River, Amador Co. CA.

A Good Tired

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Gramma, do you know how you and God are alike?"  I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"  "You're both old," he replied.  ~Author Unknown 


I had to laugh when I read this. It's so like a child. It's so like the Bean..  the ability to make you feel like the most important person in his life and then honesty that takes you to your knees.
We had such a good time this weekend. There were moments of "This is how it's going to be, young man." or " We don't touch the computer and we don't throw the dog's bone across the living room and into the kitchen." but most of the time it was wonderful. The Bean is 5. He's learning how to be a human being. We had to give him a little slack. 
He and the Prospector had an ongoing conversation about Cheerios. Papa told him that he thought Cheerios would be a great present for the Bean's birthday in March. The Bean  said "NO PAPA." and Papa replied, " But you love Cheerios. It's a great gift."  The Bean looked Papa in the eye and said...." PAPA, you don't give Cheerios for presents. ONLY TOYS." So Papa, of course, had to keep bringing it up and every time he said something like "How about some Cheerios with your eggs?" or "Would you like some Cheerios with that piece of chicken?", the Bean would start laughing and it got pretty silly around here.
I made this collage to show you the speed with which we moved for 4 days.....

We have forgotten how children are going, going, going.... from the moment they wake up until they finally fall asleep at night.
Yesterday before we left to meet Daddy and little Bean in Stockton, he had one last run with the dogs....

He ran around the yard with the dogs and then he told me that he didn't want to go home. He got really quiet and stood looking out across the hills. He said, " But I have to go because my brother will be sad if I don't come home." I walked over, gave him a hug and said, "That's OK Bean. You can come back anytime you want to, but I agree that little bean will be sad if you don't go home." He gave this some real consideration  and then said quietly, "Yea, I gotta go home." 
So we went to say goodbye to the goats. 

Bart and the Bean had a moment together with lots of eye contact. Brownie grabbed the hay right out of Bean's hand. Murphy and Freckles seems very thankful that they were getting an extra late morning snack. Then we said goodbye to the goats and walked up to the chicken coop.

The Bean found one egg in a small box but there were three hens in the big nesting box so we closed it back up and let them lay their eggs without any of the ladies getting upset. He carried the egg back to the garage and carefully put it in the outside refrigerator. He's getting so good at this.

Then, one more farewell to all.
 We packed up all of Beans toys, special drawings, artwork, clothes, cookies we made and the apples he bought at the store for his family. He said goodbye to Papa and off we went. We drove down to the truck stop on Highway 5 in Lodi to meet Daddy and little bean at the Taco Bell. We had arranged to meet "half way" so the trip would be only 2 hours, back and forth, instead of 4. 
About 15 minutes into the drive, the Bean fell asleep.

I didn't take a nap! I wanted to sleep too. Oh, how I wanted to sleep.... but I didn't.
Bean woke up to his brother crawling across him saying. "Hey, wake up. Do you got any candy?" He didn't, but he had found a rock that looked like a number "1" on our walk Friday that he had saved to give to his brother. It was amazing that the flat shale rock was shaped this way but little Bean was not too impressed. He like a red sucker better.
We transferred everything from one car to the other and said our goodbyes. My son gave me a hug and said "Thank you, Mom." That made the tiredness go away.
I gave the boys a kiss, waved goodbye and got into the car and headed straight for Starbucks.

My plan was to drive on into Stockton and see my Mother-in-law. She fell and broke her shoulder and hip a few weeks back and has been recuperating in a convalescent hospital for over a month. Last Wednesday she was able to come home. She has family there 24/7 right now. 
She is doing really well and looks good. She is a "trooper". It has been a very hard recovery for her and she is not happy about all of this but she is trying to be patient. She's 89 years old. She has always been so active and in good heath.  She has always had more energy than all of us put together.... no, wait.  Who I'm I talking about? The Bean has that energy too. His great grandmother must have pass all that energy on to him. He must have inherited the Energizer Bunny Gene. The Prospector has it too. It looks like a small animal attached to the DNA with a leash to keep it in place. It's a wild thing. I've seen it. I know it's habits.... intense, active and a mind of it's own. Can be combative and hostile sometimes when it gets loose and runs amuck
I left Stockton and drove home, up into the lovely mountains. I ate dinner and was in bed by 9:00 p.m. I slept for 10 hours straight. UNHEARD OF!! I'm usually a "night owl". The Starbucks latte, the black tea at dinner and the chocolate for dessert didn't even touch the depth of tiredness I felt. 
Today I just took it easy. The dogs keep looking for the Bean and in between they take naps. I'm still tired..... but it's a good tired.

Help! We've been taken hostage by a 5 year old...

Our oldest grandson, the Bean, is here. He's five years old. Brought him back on Thursday. Haven't stopped moving since. He goes home tomorrow. Can't talk right now. Very busy.  More later.

Frozen Beauties

Woke up to 26 degrees this morning. This is a big deal for parts of the lower California Foothills. Before the sun melted the frost, the dogs and I dashed outside with my Canon Power shot A520 and took these pictures. I love this old camera. It's a trooper and proves that less expensive cameras can capture the moment just as well as the expensive ones. (My Nikon was out of power. Must remember to plug it in before tomorrow.)

A frosted world of loveliness beckoned, in lieu of the snow I had hoped for. I'm trying to appreciate the beauty that is, rather than what was hoped for. It's not hard to do early in the morning on the day before Thanksgiving.

Matilda thinks otherwise. She had that look that said...."Damn, it was cold last night. I think I just laid a frozen egg."
Time to make Cranberry sauce and cookies for tomorrow.
Have a great day....

Sunday morning.... rained all night.... cold outside.... LOVE IT!

 " And this our life, exempt from puplic haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." ~William Shakespeare~ 

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul."
~Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

The careful insect 'midst his works I view, 
Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, 
With golden treasures load his little thighs, 
And steer his distant journey through the skies."
~John Gay~

These photos were taken a few days ago when the sun was shinning and the bees were frantically doing their work. The air was buzzing with activity. They paid me no attention and continued on with what they needed to do. It seems so focused and important a task for them.....
I think there is a lesson here.

Why I Walk

Yesterday I took a walk. They tell us that a storm will move in from the north and we will get cold rain all weekend. So I wanted to go for a walk before the rain.
We only have two flat places on our property: One is where the house and surrounding areas are and the other is a knoll up the road where we have a small orchard, the septic mound and where Maggie is buried.

The rest is lots of up and down, steep ravines and old mining roads that follow the easiest routes to the places that use to be occupied by tents and folks looking for gold. You can find a few old shacks. mine shafts, rusty pieces of equipment and stone foundations, if you look hard enough, hiding beneath old dead oak trees and grass but mostly there's the beauty of untouched land that gives me courage to walk by myself on our property and our neighbor's land above us. I never run into anyone on my hikes. It is a place empty of people.
I love these walks. Time to think and look for the true inhabitants of these foothills who usually disappear into what Mary Oliver calls the "impossible trees" when I'm there. I know they watch me from a safe distance.... The crazy, noisy human who smells dangerous and carries a black contraption around her neck that makes a click. How would they know it's not a rifle or a gun. It's best that they hide. Others are not shooting with a camera. Others, as I hear a shot in the distance, would aim and fire death.
So I travel over to the other flat area on our property....

past the burn barrels and the Minnesota mound ( our very expensive septic system that was required before we could build a house here.).....

and the Fox den.....

and down into the grove of Manzanita that feeds my soul. The twisted trunks of red. The sinuous serpent branches of this beautiful tree always gives me a feeling that I'm not alone at all, just a different DNA, a structure of a different sort that has more mobility. I feel like Dorothy in the apple orchard waiting for the trees to come to life and being surprised when they start talking to me..... reprimand me for taking some of their bark and capturing their souls in my little black box that clicks.

"Excuse me, but you dropped these on the ground and I only want a few. Please don't be angry. I will leave you a gift in exchange......"

"It's a strange expression that , in human language, represents greeting and well-wishing. A word that says... hello you lovely trees, bushes and leaf covered ground. I have been here today. I will come back soon. Take care of the others who come here. Let them see my sign and not be afraid. I will not speak loudly or take what isn't mine. I only want to be a part of this. I only need to know that this is here."
As I walked back up onto the road near the orchard I heard a rustle in the trees. Could it be that after I left, all the little animals came out of their hiding places to see what the human wrote in the leaves. Do you suppose they all gathered in a circle around my word and talked about it?..... Do you think the Manzanita told them that I was all right.... that I would come again? That the word was an offering of love? I hope so....

Wordless Wednesday: Poverty Flats Rd. near Roosville, MT. near the Canadian Border

( I just have to say something here. The Canadian border is out in that field. Do you see a fence or the border patrol? Did any one stop us and ask my friend and I why we were taking pictures? No.
Our government seems to have horse blinders on when it comes to keeping our borders safe. Maybe the Canadians don't want to come into the United States but there is sure nothing stopping anyone else from riding in on a horse or hiking into the United States up there. I was aghast at the lack of any visible safeguards. Maybe there was an electrified fence that we couldn't see. Maybe someone had us on surveillance cameras. I kind of hope so.... but maybe we were on the wrong side, so it didn't matter. Still, it does give you pause for thought.
This horse could care less about the whole thing. He is a horse without borders..... friendly and welcoming, as you can see. But I did wonder if he was Canadian or a citizen of the U.S. I didn't ask for his papers.)

I had a remarkable dream last night.

"  Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"  ~ e.a. Poe~ 
 

Within each one of us there is another whom we do not know. He (she) speaks to us in dreams and tells us how differently he sees us from how we see ourselves. When, therefore, we find ourselves in a difficult situation, to which there is no solution, he can sometimes kindle a light that radically alters our attitude, the very attitude that led us into the difficult situation."
Carl Jung (1875-1961) 

The Fun never ends.

I have some new decorating ideas . What do you think?

In the spirit of Simple Living and doing with less, I have condensed the living room and the kitchen into one room. This way we can watch television and eat without getting up or walking . It's a little tight but I think after the initial "getting use to it" period, we will find that we can all live with less sq. footage and our efforts to do this will give us a sense of helping the environment.
Yea! I know. You don't believe this.....but....
I ask you to Google "Tiny Houses" and see what others are doing to live smaller. At least I'm trying.
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The truth is that we are having the rugs cleaned today at 1:00 p.m. and everything had to be off this rug so a guy can come out and beat the old rug to death with soap and water, in hopes that he can restore it for another year.

Poor rug is getting old. Each time it gets cleaned I think that this will be the cleaning that will finally destroy the last standing fibers and the whole rug will say "I give." and fall into long shreds of defeat. We never move the piano or the glass front bookcase so the rug under those two pieces is really good but the rest, after 13 years of dogs that "live in", is pretty well depleted.
I keep saying that this will be the last effort. That I won't clean it one more time. I WANT NEW CARPET. Then I think about the incident that precipitated this cleaning event.
Cutter ate something he thought was wonderful outside and promptly came in and decided it wasn't so great. He left it all over the middle of the carpet. Then when it rained last week, he decided that he just couldn't go outside to do his duty. It was just too scary for him out there. And then Carl, my wonder dog, ate the same irresistible "whatever" that Cutter ate and lost it on the rug too.
I have been through this before. Cutter is our 5th dog here. So I shouldn't get so upset. Cleaning up throw-up and other body functions is our middle name around here. Puppies and old dogs don't seem to appreciate my efforts to maintain a lovely house while living on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness Brownie hasn't won the "Why can't I sleep in the house?" argument or I'd be cleaning up little round balls of Goat scat to. That's were I draw the line.
I'm thinking that maybe new carpet is not the answer. Maybe I should look into these new laminate  or engineered wood floors. They would be easier to clean and the living room wouldn't look like a map of our odd, obsessive-compulsive desire to live with dogs.
Anyway, the house will be a mess for a few days. I'm not going to have the carpet in the guestroom cleaned. ...

It's the dog's domain this week and where would we put all this stuff. Please don't call and say your in town and need a place to stay. I might be a bit lacking in hospitality....
Somehow, I don't think I'm ever going to achieve a state of "simple living" in this lifetime.