Archive for the ‘Photo / Video / Music’ Category

Well, our little garden is just over a month old, and there’s a lot going on!

The Good

Wolf is putting up the trellis frames. since our little plants are getting tall enough to need the encouragement. We’re using salvaged pipe for the sides, and a pressure-treated board across the top, then I’ll tie the guides with twine.

We also removed the “grids” we’d made to keep our square feet separated until the plants were visible enough to be able to tell. Did I mention that those were made from foraged cane that we cut in a vacant lot down the street?

We also have some happy recent additions to the garden.

This little herb garden (four different varieties of basil, plus dill) is from the over-abundance of sprouts a 4H friend was trying to adopt out.

We also have a baby Blue Spruce tree, courtesy of Lowes’ Earth Day promotion.

And look at the pretty little flowers my bush beans have sprouted:

The Bad

Yeah, nice, huh? That is… or was… my watermelon plant.

Not quite sure where to go with that one.

The Ugly

Wow.

The aphids apparently really think Thomas Jefferson’s cowpeas are tasty.

Obviously, I’m not running out to grab any toxic chemicals to spray on the little nasties. I’m looking into diatomaceous earth, as well as some essential oil options, thanks to suggestions from my wise gardener friends on Facebook. I’ll keep you posted…

[Post and photography by Nick]

We were gardening yesterday, and I got a little trigger-happy with the camera.

This is our garden.

These are the first strawberries our plant has produced.

This is the first corn sprout we’ve seen.

This is the first lettuce sprout.

This is our mixed onion and garlic patch, with the bush beans visible through them.

These are our black-eyed peas, with the onions visible behind them, and my sister visible behind them. I like the forest effect the onions make.

These are our potatoes.

This is another onion forest picture, with the strawberries visible behind them.

So, here’s some of my photography. I’ve done most of the pictures of the garden, and just wanted to show some of my more superfluous pictures.

Wolf decided he wanted to build a treehouse for the kids.

We’ll only be in this house for another 18 months at the most, probably… But he really wanted them to have this.

His theory was that he could build it in a sort of modular platform setup, and then we could take the components with us when we move. It’s all built with treated wood, so it should hold up well.

There are two big trees close together that are the base. For the Littles, there are two (low) platforms and a walkway through between the trees, with a ladder up on one side. Railings are next on the agenda.

The plan is to put a platform about 12′ up, for Nick. He’ll have a rope ladder, or some similar type of access that he can control.

The dew on the strawberry leaves gathers into sparkling little droplets on the tip of each point. Amazing!

Click the image to see it bigger… Although it still doesn’t do it justice.

The happy interesection of a chilly night, a child who wants to wear those pajamas (even though they don’t have feet), and two orphan socks whose mates were eaten by the Bermuda-Sock-Triangle.

Join us on the journey – Seven Days in a Dress.

Here’s the links to the history, so you can read any of the previous installments:
Take the Challenge! (Introduction)
Day 1 (Sunday “Go To Meetin’ Clothes”)
Day 2 (Shoe Musings)
Day 3 (Family Photos)
Day 4 (Work Day)
Day 5
Day 6

Today is thus actually the eighth of nine postings for our seven days. The Introduction preceded it, and we will follow up tomorrow with the review and reflection…

As I mentioned, I am photographing the outfits one day ahead, for ease of posting – so this is actually Saturday’s outfits. I am also preparing this post Saturday, as we will of course be celebrating Sabbath tomorrow. Nick will be singing with the Youth Choir, so it should be any extra joy-filled service!

Tiffany is wearing a cotton print jumper (which is really, really NOT winter attire!) with a coordinating light blue long sleeved blouse. White head covering, socks, and Keds-like shoes complete the outfit.

Jewel is wearing a fun new (to us) winter jumper, with a white long-sleeved shirt, woolly tights, and black boots. She has colorful rubber bands in her ponytail, and a bright red headband.

Enjoy your Sabbath in a skirt… You are honoring the femininity with which the Lord blessed you!

Please use the linky to share a link to your blog post, a public photo, or an album – along with a thumbnail photo. We can all use some support and inspiration along the way!

Seven Days in a Dress. It’s never too late to begin your own Challenge!

Click to read any of the previous installments you may have missed:
Take the Challenge! (Introduction)
Day 1 (Sunday “Go To Meetin’ Clothes”)
Day 2 (Shoe Musings)
Day 3 (Family Photos)
Day 4 (Work Day)
Day 5

Today’s photo shows us – in profile! The bright sun was tormenting us, so we told it to “talk to the back”!

Tiffany is wearing a denim skirt (note that this is not the same as the denim jumper!), a navy/green/brown/cream striped sweater, a navy head covering, and brown socks and shoes.

Jewel also has on a denim skirt. She’s wearing a brown long-sleeved t-shirt under a pink sweater, with pink tights and brown boots. The pink knit cap is a popular item lately, too – she also has gloves! I’m sorry you can’t see the tights or the shirt layering in the photo… It’s really very cute!

Okay, hold on…

Well, at least you can see the tights!

So, how are you feeling? We’ve come most of the way through a week already… Was it harder or easier than you thought?

Please join our fellowship! Use the linky to share a link to your blog post, a public photo, or an album – along with a thumbnail photo.

Seven Days in a Dress. It’s never too late to begin your own Challenge!

Click to read any of the previous installments you may have missed:
Take the Challenge! (Introduction)
Day 1 (Sunday “Go To Meetin’ Clothes”)
Day 2 (Shoe Musings)
Day 3 (Family Photos)
Day 4 (Work Day)

It was chilly, I tell ya! But bright sun causing squints, sorry…

Jewel wears sporty pigtails with her blue skirt, and a black long-sleeved t-shirt under a colorful fleecy pullover. Black tight and her black dressy shoes round out the ensemble. We typically save these shoes for dressy occasions, but Jewel wanted to match with the tights and look good for 4H, so we went with it.

Tiffany has on a black/grey/white striped “cargo” skirt – not my favorite, but good for variety. I found a black tank top to wear under this black sweater, the very one I wasn’t able to wear last Sunday because I felt the weave was too loose to be modest. The accessories are a white head covering, black tights, and my white “Keds” sneakers (these are pretty beat up, and I’m trying to decide if they are a good thing or not worth replacing).

So, how are you feeling? We’ve come most of the way through a week already… Was it harder or easier than you thought?

Please join our fellowship! Use the linky to share a link to your blog post, a public photo, or an album – along with a thumbnail photo.

We had a cute idea for our family portraits this year, in keeping with our fun and wacky ideas from years past: Wolf and Nick in their uniform blues, and the Littles and I in ABU fabric clothes.

I got hold of a chunk of fabric at a great price on an online marketplace, and had a nursing jumper made for me by my faithful friends at Katie’s Mercantile.

At the base uniform store, they sell a kid sized “uniform” set – pants, “blouse” (jacket), and hat – for a quite reasonable price. I grabbed one for R.T., and I was thinking I’d get one for Jewel and split the pants out into a skirt. They didn’t have her size, though, and kept telling me it hadn’t come in with the order that week…

Finally, as the picture date drew neigh, I realized I was actually going to have to just sew her something from scratch. And she really, really wanted it to be a jumper (“like yours, Mama!”), not a skirt.

Enter I’m-not-actually-good-at-sewing panic, with a hefty dose of I’ve-never-done-that-before perfectionist panic.

PANIC, I tell you!

I pulled up a free pattern/tutorial for the “Juniper Jumper” that I had picked up from Ditty Pop on Etsy (although last time I checked it wasn’t listed, she’s promised to put it back up!).

Clearly, though time was short, I needed to make one out of “disposable” fabric first. I had no idea how the pattern would fit, on top of having no idea how badly I would mess it up.

Another part of me was horrified at the thought of a “throw-away”… I mean, if it comes out alright, you want it to be a fabric that she would actually wear, right?

So we picked out a fabric that I was willing to throw away if it was ruined, but that Jewel was willing to wear if it worked out.

Then, the ordeal began.

I do not fault the instructions in any way. After all, one has to assume some minimum level of competence to complete a project, or else spend dozens of pages defining vocabulary words like “scissors”…

Truly, I would not have thought it possible to make as many totally different mistakes as I did, on such a small area!

I completed the bodice, and the first tier, and tried it on my model. (Please excuse the pajamas and bed-head – I was on a time schedule!)

I had used a size 7, and it seemed like we definitely needed a size 6. I also didn’t like the way the bodice hung on the sides, though, and felt it would be easy enough to make the bodice a bit longer to give it more substance right there.

Oh sure, the lady who knows nothing thinks modifying the pattern would be easy!

Anyhow, I did this to double the length of the side pieces:

And then, without further ado… And without even sewing the bottom tiers on the “draft” jumper…

I cut the fabric.

I just cut out the bodice and the first tier. I had lengthened the first tier, and planned a lengthened second tier rather than the three in the basic pattern instructions – but I thought I’d wait and measure a desirable length once I got the first parts done.

Really, after making all those mistakes on the draft jumper, you would think it would have gone smoothly with the real one, right?

No.

Just… no.

Broken needles. Layers missed in joining. Ran out of thread. Could not get the serger working at all. Elastic breaking. Corners not lining up… I suppose I could go on, but you get the idea.

I did, eventually, manage to get it done. Literally while she was putting on her shirt and tights for the photo session!

There are things I would change, still, and things I may go back and fix…

But she looks adorable in the pictures, if I do say so myself!

I guess I need to go finish up that “draft” jumper, too, now that the pressure is off. It is, after all that, in the process of being eminently wearable!