Foothills Folly

When we bought our house in the mid 70′s, one of its charms was the old, well built out-house.  The owners had used it to store hand rolled newspaper ‘logs’, which they burned in the little Ben Franklin pot-belly stove in the house. We replaced the stove with a heat producing Rite-way wood stove, which I still use. The out-house maybe was used infrequently, though never by me. Then it became the sturdy end of a glass-working studio by my son.   And this is what has become of it today:

The Ash tree that is taking it out is still alive, but began to lean a few years ago and hasn’t stopped. It’s somewhat held up by neighboring trees and may just reach the steps to the barn loft, but won’t do any damage, (I hope).  More firewood. More summer sunsets.

I’ve been bitten by the genealogy bug. Perhaps I always had it but now it’s flared up.  This early photo I scanned at Ted’s two years ago.   I had decided they looked like farmers dressed up for the photographer. The hand written label said “The Phelp brothers, I think.” Last week I found the Phelp brothers, relatives of my grandmother’s stepmother, and yes, they all were farmers, in Pontiac, Michigan, in the mid-1800′s.

I am going to try to get some daily discipline in my painting. The easel is right there, set up in the kitchen, in a toasty spot not far from the wood stove. I want to develop that illusiveness in my painting that I can sense but not easily recreate. Practice, practice. I shall also practice photographing; here are some closeups of yesterday’s work on a 5″ x 7″ panel. Trying to use bigger brushes; trying to get the camera to focus.

This has been a cold month—but the best winter for snow. I shovel a few times a week, and feed the birds a few times a day.

Love it.

I really have not done enough to get ready for winter. The Fall equinox was over a month ago, and it’s obvious that colder weather is just around the corner.  I have windows to seal, leaves to rake up, pots to empty or turn over so they won’t crack, a bit of a Siberian Iris to dig and mail off, bulbs to buy and plant, and wood to stack.

Aaron stopped by and was helpful in cleaning my chimney—the cap was completely plugged.  And since the leaves are still falling,

I’m working on stacking the leftover wood. Three new cords will come in a few weeks, so the old wood needs to be out of the way. Today I got one row on the pallets  filled:

And if I am still able tomorrow, and I intend to be, I’ll get the next row done too.

I’ve agreed to hang paintings in the Town Hall in March. It’s a corridor without much viewing distance. My paintings look pretty pathetic up close, but they slip into a more cohesive whole when seen at a distance. Oh well, I still hope to have some new less finicky canvases done, and just let them be whatever they will be.

I closed the frame shop for Jan/Feb so I could catch up and clean up, and  now I’m putting my energy into painting — I never have been too good at planning ahead. It’s going to come down to the last few days and I will be in a state of dump-madness.

I am plagued with wildlife here in the country. Some of which I like well enough, the daily birds and butterflies,  the occasional bobcat, the snakes , toads, and frogs. But the deer and woodchucks are too much, and destructive of most gardening efforts. So this year I put in a garden bed meant to keep them out— welded wire stapled together on the ground, stapled to the wire that rises vertically. Raised beds of two layers of concrete blocks. More wire on the sides. It is working!

It is small and compact; here are the little asian greens just set out. Flowers, herbs, some onions and scallions fill in the holes on the borders:

Next photo is the lettuce patch; we’ve been eating from it now for a week or so. I’ve got more little lettuce seedlings to replace them, and figure it won’t be too hard to put a shade cloth up next month. I think this garden is going to be a bit toasty come summer, but the back yard has gotten shaded out by all the trees.

We’ve had a nice long spring–many of the old tulips put on a good showing this year:

The tree peony bloomed with a lovely dinner-plate sized  bloom– and then got trashed by the rain.

And the iris my dad hybridized has made a huge comeback out by the mailbox; I once thought I had dug it all out of there—and look what remains!

7:44 a.m. this morning.  Spring arrives.  Snowdrops in my front yard.

And I  took the photo late in the day; they have been more open:

And actually I saw them first 10 days ago; but today is the first day of Spring!  Hooray!

I’ve been scanning old family photographs, not sure why,  but it seems like a good idea.  But what a headache!  iPhoto won’t read the scans, then it will, then it won’t, then it will.  Can’t get the Flicker uploader to accept the scanned photos.  Uploaded some with their old online uploader and the pictures have a little copy of the image in the corner. Grrrrr!  I’m about to try here.  I don’t know if this part of my grandparent’s trip in the 20′s is in New Hampshire or Maine.  I think they may have driven past the ‘Old man in the Mountain’, so perhaps NH:

There were actually others on the road!

And here it seems they stopped for ice cream:

And the last photograph is of their destination, near Middle Dam in Maine, the Anglers’ Retreat. I think this was a publicity photo they got there, not taken by them:

There are others of brooks and lakes, the dam itself, and a lake steamer— but I am tired of trying to make these images behave!

I see I’ve put a vertical border to the left; I’m afraid if I take it out I’ll lose the text and photos.  I can only get photos that I’ve scanned into Flicker, and thus into here, by taking them from iPhoto, putting them into the Preview app, save them, and lo!  then they can go in the uploader. I even downloaded a new Uploader for Flicker, and it sure is nicer then the one I was using, and the images now don’t have the little copy in the corner, but it won’t accept the scans either.  Maybe the fault, Dear Brutus, lies with the scanner. Tried to take the line out, now there are two! (Ah! I have made them go away!)

I used to win a lot of things from WKZE our local radio station. A trip (Key West), money ($1000.00), and lots of tickets to shows (Meatloaf, Van Dyke Parks, Odetta, Richard Thompson, Emmy Lou Harris, etc., etc.)  Then the station moved over to NY State and I just hadn’t been trying. Thursday they said, “third caller, 1-8whatever,” and I thought I’ll give it one try. And I won!  And I know the duo, I have their music!

 I have wanted to see this newest oldest venue (a music hall since the end of last year, but a great building, shingle style, built 125 years ago.)  So, with so much framing to get done that  I could have worked the night through, I went to Norfolk.

 And had a great time. A wonderful evening time. Beautiful restoration. Great photos in the entry. Two classy bars, one up, one down. Only 300 seats.  Welcoming eager staff.   Sound about right for my old ears, but I might try those ear-protector headphones, like some fellow in front of me had, next time.

 The Nields were so comfortable and sang such lovely harmonies, I was glad I had forgone the work to come.  And a p.s., I was able to shop at a grocery on the way home! (Our local store has closed).

 So what do I do?  Get home and immediately buy a ticket for Richard Shindell, and Leo Kottke, and Judy Collins, and Greg Brown.  And this from someone who has stopped spending money. well, almost.  I can not praise the fellow who has put this together (Dan?) and the great staff and the wonderful restoration and the good vibes enough — really, if you are in the area, Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk Connecticut will not let you down and ought to have every music lover’s support.

And in addition to the tickets I purchased, I’m aiming to win again once the 30 days are up!

I picked up my Craig’s list find yesterday.  Actually it was a search Craig’s list with Craig’s list ‘helper’ as it was out of my local region, so it meant a day’s road trip on a great sunny but cold day.  The loom is a Harrisville Design T36 with the extra treadle kit included.

 I am having trouble posting to the left side; how little I understand about wordpress and blogging; let’s just keep going and see what happens.  The loom is in like new condition though it was made 40 years ago; Harrisville Design has kept making a good thing over the years; I may order the new tie-ups from them when I put on the new treadle kit; and maybe if I can afford it, the friction brake. But if I shorten the spring on the back brake, I may not care. First, though, I am making myself a warping board. I have the dowels and today picked up the lumber for the frame. If I am distracted from picture framing tomorrow I will put the warpping board together.        Okay, the formatting is wonky, but I will post it anyway.