Life is a balancing act for sure.

With the parent's permission, the training wheels came off the bicycle.
{the dirt bike is next!}

Good thing there is always help when we need it....

...and a little teamwork to get things done.

Now, if I could only figure out a way to balance all my Have To's to create better moments for my

Want To's.

The Happy Side of Bitter Cold

Sparkle

I don't possess  the camera skills necessary to capture sparkle.

At least not the beautiful sparkle of this morning's snow.

My rosemary looked as if someone had sprinkled glitter on it. Pity is doesn't show.

A newly engaged couple's sparkle...

My Andy and his Kathleen

That I can do.

It's Official

A name for our farm.

Complete with a sign.

A happy, unexpected, well thought out Christmas gift from my husband.

Designed in conjunction with his long time friend Rob of Old Town Signs

and made from copper recycled from a pub in our city place neighborhood,
it is perfect.

Lindenberry, as my daughter noted, was the place where we grew our family and grew our dreams for a piece of property in the country to call home.

So despite all the other options that had been tossed about, this one just seemed right.

Of course, the most photographed tree on the land makes an ideal crest.
An amazing surprise Fritz! 
Well done.

Happy New Year!

~Joan

Home

The long wait and fearful moments are over.

Just in time for Christmas

Granny Day Camp

Helping my mother make her fudge for all of her grands and great grands. All 22 of them collectively.

That would be a lot of fudge.

Then combining our Christmas treasures to decorate our home.

The tree and poinsettias are mine, the angel and Nativity hers. 

My MIL helping me make Christmas cookies.

We find it best to keep her mind focused on short repetitive tasks.

She is glad to be useful and I am glad for the help.

Just sad that this moment is already lost to her memory.

But then...

sooc

...a reminder that the sunsets of our lives are beautiful no matter what. 

Sometimes a waaaayyyyy slow internet is a really good thing.

 Like last Saturday when we called the provider to get our line checked and they sent out Darren The Cable Guy pronto (not next Friday or two weeks from Tuesday, but right away!).

Darren the Cable Guy arrived in the midst of yours truly attempting to bone a 15 pound fresh ham on it's way to becoming prosciutto. He was in and out, inspecting wires, hooking up test equipment, talking GTO restorations with the husband, observing me wrestling with the beast and then told us that we really should come to his friend's family Two Day Pork Processing Event just down the road this winter.

An opportunity to learn and to meet some more members of our community.

Win.

I went on to rubbing down said ham with loads of garlic and cinnamon and cloves and other good stuff while Darren the Cable Guy untangled the maze of wire in the cellar and got us back up to speed. Before leaving, he noticed my vast array of mason jars and canning supplies and asked me about some of my colored jars. That lead somehow to talking about honey and hives. Of course it did.  It seems Darren the Cable Guy is also treasurer of the local bee keepers guild. I will be joining the group in February when they start up for the new year. 
More to learn with help and support.

Win, win. 

We got the would be prosciutto all salted down ready to go into the press that Fritz had fashioned up, when Darren the Cable Guy showed back up an hour later.

With a gift for me.

A jar of his own home grown honey.

 It is good sometimes to have a waaayyy slow internet connection.