Smatterings

  • where was I..

      P1010403..when I last visited.  I had to go back to my last post to remember.  It was spring.  Show season hadn't begun, but I was preparing.  Mornings were cold, days warming up. It was much like it is now.  The trees were leafless.  I often think of the seasons as to their color, and structure and smell.  Now is a golden time. When I last posted, it was a time of hazy lavender, shades of browns and sparks of chartreuse.  The woodlands were still showing their bones, only a hint of softness.  Like this time of year but in pastel.  

    I didn't know that I'd be taking such a long break from blogging.  I'd wanted a real break for a while, just didn't know that would be the start.  It just happened.  Dial up internet is a great excuse.  This fall, when someone stopped by the Ball and Skein booth and asked if I had been saying goodbye in that last post, I didn't know how to respond.  Turns out, I'd said this is the end.  I was speaking of the snow and the seasons, at least that is what I thought I meant.  Funny, these things. 

    So, here I am again.  Today with pictures of light..

     

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    and pictures of color.

     

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    Knitting will follow.  I never stopped knitting.

     

     

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    Despite feeling a bit rusty, it feels good to be back.

     

    11 responses to “where was I..”

    1. cyndy

      🙂
      Yay! You are back! And your woods are beautiful in that light…

    2. Carole

      I never doubted that you’d be back.

    3. Katie K

      Thanks for sharing your world.

    4. Cookie

      There you are! I figured you were just crazy busy doing your thing. I guess I was right. ;^)
      Lovely photos!

    5. Jean

      The photos are stunning, it’s such a treat to visit your blog.

    6. Lynn

      It’s lovely to see you again!

    7. Manise

      So glad to see you back here again! A Wednesday never escapes without me thinking of your Walk With Me Wednesday blog posts. Our never ending fall has been a treat with all of the fall colors still hanging around. I love how light plays on the trees with those dark moody skies as a backdrop! Love your photos. I see new colorways in them. 🙂

    8. Laurie

      I’m happy to see your voice again. I like seeing how you see things. And what you are doing. And how you are doing.

    9. Beth in Maryland

      Welcome back! I especially missed the wildlife reports. How’s the pond?

    10. Cathy

      Gosh, I missed you but thought, sometimes it’s easier just to let go.
      Don’t let the blog become a burden even tho it’s a joy for your readers.

    11. rosanne

      I was that someone who stopped by your booth. Glad to see you back!

  • No doubt about it..

    this is the end…

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    ..considering the size of the piles this winter, a small reminder of what was. 

    Isn't spring grand?

    Drying sweaters outdoors is SO much easier.  I finished my Dark and Stormy over the weekend, weaving in the last ends this evening after packing the truck for the NH Sheep & Wool Festival.

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    Out on the pond, the Canada Geese have nested on the smallest of the islands.  Most years there are two pairs.  This year, if the other couple is around, I haven't seen them. 

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    Look carefully between the two evergreens.  She's sort of hard to see.

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    Momma's looking away from me.  Dad chased away two Canada geese that flew in the other day.  Couldn't have been the other pair, they've aways shared parenting chores.  Very strange. What has happened to them?  The geese must miss them, too.  They've let a lone Mallard Duck take turns guarding the nest.  If only I could chase away the beaver that is hoping to make his new home here on the pond as easily.

    The blackberry patch has dried enough to get in to thin out last year's canes.

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    It's a prickery business that leaves me looking like the loser in a cat fight.  But, it isn't a job that I mind.  Something about it, working in the sun, one of the earliest gardening chores of the season.. I don't know.  Look how rewarding, see how nice it looks afterwards. maybe it looks good to me because I know what it will become.  I can taste the berries.  (Probably from breakfast, there are still loads in the freezers.  We love them in yogurt.)

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    While the native landscape hasn't shown much bright color, the transplants are brightening it up.  Another thing to put on my list.. learn how to prune.  It isn't in my nature.  The bushes are wild, out of control.

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    Don't be fooled by the next picture.  I am NOT silly enough to think that there won't be more fires in the woodstove this year.  But, for today..

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    7 responses to “No doubt about it..”

    1. knittingoutloud

      Beautiful photos Judy! It is gorgeous where you live!!!

    2. Manise

      Spring certainly has sprung in the Northeast Kingdom! I love forsythia yellow. I really lights up a room. Mine are on their way out. 🙁
      Congrats on the sweater. Bringing it Saturday? I’d love to see it in person.
      I didn’t know that geese allowed a mallard to help guard the nest. Interesting factoid.

    3. Shelagh

      I loved Kristin Nicholas’s (Getting Stitched on the Farm blog) photo of rhubarb leaves in a vase. Picked some, ate the rhubarb as a cobbler, and have the leaves in an old enamel coffee pot on the screened porch (for the bears, don’t you know). See you tomorrow, looking forward to Dark & Stormy. Cheers, Shelagh.

    4. Jo-Ann

      Love being able to sneak a peak into your world 🙂 We’re heading north this weekend to open up the lake house – not looking forward to the work, but as you say, the reward is key! Love the forsythia!

    5. riverrim

      Your forsythia is coming as mine is leaving or shall I say leafing?
      Your Dark and Stormy looks fantastic!
      Have a wonderful weekend, wish I could be there! Heard (a rumor?) that Habtrot spindles will make a debut! What fun!

    6. jessie

      Beautiful pictures. It seems it doesn’t rain all the time in your world. Lucky.

    7. Cathy

      Love the sweater – and so true about drying outside. And pruning. This week we have rain – lots more for our arid country.
      Have fun this weekend and if you see Deb Robson – be sure to get a copy of her new book!!

  • color me gold

    The first days of spring, when everything is about to pop, are my favorite.  There is color but still transparency.  Magic. Use only your eyes, leave memory and expectation for another time.  This is a fleeting vision.  Today you see it, tomorrow you don't.  Today you don't see it, tomorrow you will.

    I prefer walking in an open wood.  Fall, winter and spring.  Summer closes the vista, sometimes to inches, barely feet.  Today.. yesterday.. I can still look into the woods and see the contour of the land.  The sound I hear, I can see to be a squirrel.  Next week, I'll wonder.

    Because I know this season has nearly ended, almost as soon as it began, I've upped my hiking to 3-4 miles.  I'll need to carry this time with me until autumn.  I don't bushwhack as often in summer, too many briars, thick undergrowth, already mosquitoes.  Yesterday I took as many side trails as I could manage before Chris (who has taken to walking with me occasionally) and my thighs complained.  This is hilly terrain. 

    Exiting a wooded trail, we came to an open field of spurge, its musty odor reaching us before the view. I'd have expected dandelions, so much gold!

     

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    I apologize for the picture quality.  It was warm and I slipped only my cell phone into my back pocket, no room for a camera. 

    Back at home, the finches have brought their own bit of color. 

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    That was yesterday.. the world around me gold. Today, not so.  I'm just now back from walking.  Green is the color….

     

    7 responses to “color me gold”

    1. Carole

      I know just what you mean about the colors in early spring. The maple buds are my absolute favorite and they only last for a couple of days before they turn into yellow pollen all over my car – and everything else.

    2. cyndy

      The coltsfoot is showing gold around here …soon the canopy will be open!
      3-4 miles! woot!

    3. Manise

      Great photos. I love that chartreuse-y yellow/green. Field mustard is like that too and love to see it. As a kid it was interspersed with bright red poppies covering acres and acres of fields. The forsythia blooms are waning. My sweet birches have popped a whole bunch of catkins all over before spewing their yellow pollen this week. This morning they had no leaves and this afternoon they do. Spring has quickened its pace. I long for it to slow down now so i can take it all in. Savor it. The hills sides are coloring up beautifully and my cherry tree started to bloom today. The dark gray sky is a perfect backdrop for all that pink.

    4. gayle

      I love the day when everything starts to leaf out, and suddenly the world is 9000 different shades of green…

    5. jessie

      We had a pair of goldfinches at the feeder the other day; when I was younger they flocked to the feeder. I believe these are the first I’ve seen in over a year…
      Good luck with the hiking. I’m hoping the weather clears for the weeekend; we’ve been stuck inside with only about three decent days all spring (two were last weekend!).

    6. Cindy D

      Lovely post! Love the description of the transparency.

    7. Cathy

      Oh man – how much I would love to walk with you!!

“Our lives are dyed the colors of our imagination.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

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