Building a community

I have a circle of friends that get together to knit and I refer to them as my "pond".We are from several different towns yet, we consider ourselves neighbors...........all have similar yet different interest and we support each others efforts.It takes work and patience to develop such a community but, the rewards are so worth it.

One of my daughters has taken this to another level.She lives in a small N.H. town that once was thriving and oh so proud of it's people. Time has taken it's toll and like many small towns all over the country, people have forgotten how to be neighbors.Leave it to the younger people to come up with a plan.

A few years ago one of her friends started a tea shop were people could get together and talk about what they wish for the community. There were many naysayers but, he hung in there and kept taking baby steps with his project. He is committed to the project and now..........local musicians pop in to entertain on a regular basis.

Young people come to  share their hopes and dreams for the town and no one thinks that a plan is too small or too big to give it a try.Daughter Sarah (in red) waits her turn to explain her plan to bring DANCE to the area.

A local photographer put together these photos of her company.What started as a conversation with friends is now becoming a reality.

Of course there is always time for a little whimsy and I had to take a picture of these creations from the HEADHUNTER series of Mugwump Made. Artist Kay Koczarski had her knitted works on display,yes,those teeth are knitted.The tea shop is currently closed...........no they haven't given up. They need a larger location to move forward with "the plan". It amazes me what these young people have accomplished. Can't wait to see what the next year brings...........................said the Hobbit

time for friends

This summer we had a 50th wedding anniversary to celebrate Good friends of ours have reached that magic number.Our pastor Father Dan came to participate in the  renewal of their vows and bless all who came to wish them well

Both Chris and John have been involved with farming and forestry.  To this day Chris is  helping   her local 4 H tutor young people in the wonders of  gardening.

  

John worked for our  University forestry Dept. and, he too still remains very involved in his work despite the fact that he is "retired".In their spare time life is focused on their FARM   caring for 3000 berry bushes.Sounds like a lot of sore muscles to me,but, what do I know.What's a party without a cake....Made to look like a slice from a white birch (how sweet is that) the baker  wanted to decorate with pine cones.Pine cones on a white birch??? That must have been what they call "artistic license".The children nixed that idea knowing Dad would have informed them of an "error".

A lesson in square dancing rounded out the event and of course,a good time was had by all as we tried to find the answer to "where did the time go?"                                      ....................said the hobbit

Summer Reading

Just getting started on these books New and Old.Hope to finish by August. That is if I can figure out how to squeeze out a few more hours in the day. Just 2 would be great. I'm not trying to be ridiculous. Am I? Amy Sedaris I like you is pretty funny and informative.It's about entertaining and being more relaxed then "Martha" would have us think is possible. Amy has lots of ideas about using what you have in the house already to get a theme going.It's all very tongue in cheek,and give me the occasional chuckle as I can sometimes take things to seriously. Country Wisdom is for the person who whats to sustain themselves with no outside help. There isn't anything you need that is not in that book. Build an outhouse? Oh ya they can tell you how to do that. Good info if you want to leave the real world for awhile. Sweet miniatures by Flo Braker, my new obsession. Maybe it's because I think I should be downsizing. I'm not sure but,I can't wait to get my teeth into this one. Four season Harvest tell you how to grow your produce despite the fact that you live in a tundra for 6 out of 12 months. Could be useful if transportation take a bigger bite out of my grocery bill. Good Housekeeping circa 1932 I read this just because. No other reason than I have to reassure myself that we are going to survive whatever comes next. As you can see Champignon is still on my blog.He's sort of my conscience.Right now he's busy talking on my new phone. The girls at Stitch and Bitch thought I needed to get with the real world so on my birthday they got together and bought me this phone. Champignon loves it and sends a big thank you to all the girls. I'm hoping to have a chance to try it out if he ever gets off. I think he met someone online I'll ask him when he hangs up. Brings back memories of when the kids were home.


On the farm we are picking our first berries. Picture is a little fuzzy but, I was so excited my hands were shaking. Berries are my favorite. We'll be eating them as is for awhile but I'm hoping to find an appropriate recipe in Flo Brakers' book. Or maybe someone out there has a recipe to offer.
Tomorrow is Fathers Day and it's going to be a busy one so I think I'd better get a little rest. Lots going on.Boys are golfing with Dad, Sarah has her students giving a year end performance. This is her final with this dance school.She is moving on to do more creative work elsewhere but, is finding it hard to say goodbye to her students. So mum will be there for support. Diner has to be cooked and I get an e-mail that my local chickens are ready to be picked up at 11am. Looks like that's on my list of things to do. Well that's it for now Happy Fathers Day to everyone out there, hope it's filled with lots of hugs and warm moments..........................said the hobbit

So Busy.....hurry, hurry

Where has the time gone?? I had every intention of getting right back to you and now it's been days and here I am sitting and blogging with very little time left in the day.

Shame on me for not being better organized. Well it is Sunday so don't be too hard on me.

Craft day with Sarah didn't fly. She has applied to be on the state's artist roster and this involves meetings and seminars and workshops. Crafting was canceled but,

we had supper together and she was able to tell us all about her adventures. The morning started with SNOW which had us worrying since she had a 2 hr drive and has a not so perfect sense of direction .Of course as she stated we had nothing to worry about. We sat down to a simple supper of hamburger, our first dinner from our local meat source Everyone thought it was great and I must sent kudos to our supplier. After hearing all about Sarah's adventures of the day we parted with plans to see her at her dance performance on Saturday. Well let me tell you that was pretty impressive if I do say so.They collaborated with a gospel group and provided us with a full evening of "I feel so good I could cry" moments. Sarah choreographed the first and final acts. The opener I had seen but the finally was a first time for me. It was great .......being the mum I'm a little prejudice but all around me seemed genuine in their enthusiasm.

I did manage to get 2 more tea napkins finished They should show up on Sarah's Etsy shop soon. How do you like them?????? Not too dark for tea and cookies? I hope not. I also made pesto rolls. I used a normal recipe for white bread.It makes 2 loaves so I made 1 and with the other half I made clover rolls with pesto. Just make three balls of dough and place them in a muffin tin let rise for the second time and drizzle with pesto and now you have 1loaf of bread and 12 lovely rolls which should taste great with just about anything. Chanpignon seems to approve as he is singing the praises of the pesto. Well done................Said the hobbit