On the drive down to the Pig Roast Friday I completed the little knitted baby hat for Caps to the Capital. I have so much yarn left (of course) that I'll be able to make several more hats to send along. I will mail half of the left over yarn to my daughter and she will crochet several baby hats for the campaign.
My husband helped start a local Habitat for Humanity chapter in the county where our farm is about twelve years ago. This area of the country has been experiencing an economical and population decline for quite some time, so the work done by the local Habitat for Humanity is even more important. Shortly after we arrived home following our honeymoon (which was only three months ago) I took a look at the web site the group had, and by their own admission it was sad. They had no resources to hire a professional, and no professional had stepped forward to volunteer services. I took on the project of redesigning and rebuilding their website, which was fun and rewarding.
I was surprised when the president of the chapter sent me an email saying that she had feared recently they were on their last leg, but that after seeing the new professional website her morale was boosted and she no longer had such fears. I would not have expected what I viewed as a small contribution to make such an impact on the pulse of a worthwhile organization like that. I suppose the lesson here is that you never know the true impact of some small action you take to help another person or to volunteer or contribute somehow to life outside of your own bubble. Even the smallest gesture might create a profound effect that gives someone hope or makes them feel loved just the right amount extra at a particularly crucial moment. You just don't know ... therefore, it is worthwhile to do what you can even if you never know to what end your effort went.
The weather over this past weekend in the area of New York we went to for the Pig Roast was spectacular. The first night was nippy and got down to about forty degrees overnight, but Saturday was gorgeous and perfectly delightful. The skies were deep blue and decorated off and on with cartoon looking clouds blowing down from Canada.
My husband took me out on a four wheeler Saturday morning to give me a tour of his nephew's one-hundred acre farm ... my first four wheeler excursion. The newphew's farm is situated at the top of a long slopping hill overlooking a valley and other farmland on the hills and mountains across the way. A large lawn area slopes downward to an area planted with corn, and beyond the corn and further down the slope is a wooded area. We went down through the corn fields and out into the woods, even into the dark, dark woods. The air was crisp, the ride was exciting and the woods were quite deep and lovely.
I shot more than 600 photographs over the course of the weekend and am even waiting right now for them to download to my hard drive.
The cold air Friday night reminded me to order some wool yarn and knit myself up a scarf, some mittens, and a hat and anything else I can think of that might help me get through my first winter in upstate NY as contrasted with my last thirty-six years in Los Angeles. I will have to do some shopping around online today and see what my eyes and dreams land on. We slept in a tent, as did quite a few guests, and it was definitely a cold to be reckoned with for all of us not just for me.
His newphew certainly knows how to throw a great outdoor farm party. There were close to a one hundred people who showed up, the pig roasted outdoors all day long, my husband made twenty-five pounds of salt potatoes, I don't even know how many ears of corn they grilled, children played hit baseballs to their dads and uncles, blew bubbles, and ran away from large dogs whose only crime was an over abundant interest in finding someone to toss a tennis ball their way.
After dark one fellow put on an impressive fireworks display and though some of us turned in after that, you could hear music playing softly and good natured beer drinking viisiting going on until the wee, wee hours of the morning. A large flock of geese even managed to fly over head after midnight kicking up such a ruckous the dogs started barking and didn't stop for another three hours. Though the night of the party was sleepless for most of the campers who stayed overnight, all in all the party was a relaxing success and a happy country experience for everyone concerned.
Time for me to start earning some income. Meanwhile, I wish you a wonderful, creative week ahead.
~firefly
On the drive down to the Pig Roast Friday I completed the little knitted baby hat for Caps to the Capital. I have so much yarn left (of course) that I'll be able to make several more hats to send along. I will mail half of the left over yarn to my daughter and she will crochet several baby hats for the campaign.
My husband helped start a local Habitat for Humanity chapter in the county where our farm is about twelve years ago. This area of the country has been experiencing an economical and population decline for quite some time, so the work done by the local Habitat for Humanity is even more important. Shortly after we arrived home following our honeymoon (which was only three months ago) I took a look at the web site the group had, and by their own admission it was sad. They had no resources to hire a professional, and no professional had stepped forward to volunteer services. I took on the project of redesigning and rebuilding their website, which was fun and rewarding.
I was surprised when the president of the chapter sent me an email saying that she had feared recently they were on their last leg, but that after seeing the new professional website her morale was boosted and she no longer had such fears. I would not have expected what I viewed as a small contribution to make such an impact on the pulse of a worthwhile organization like that. I suppose the lesson here is that you never know the true impact of some small action you take to help another person or to volunteer or contribute somehow to life outside of your own bubble. Even the smallest gesture might create a profound effect that gives someone hope or makes them feel loved just the right amount extra at a particularly crucial moment. You just don't know ... therefore, it is worthwhile to do what you can even if you never know to what end your effort went.
The weather over this past weekend in the area of New York we went to for the Pig Roast was spectacular. The first night was nippy and got down to about forty degrees overnight, but Saturday was gorgeous and perfectly delightful. The skies were deep blue and decorated off and on with cartoon looking clouds blowing down from Canada.
My husband took me out on a four wheeler Saturday morning to give me a tour of his nephew's one-hundred acre farm ... my first four wheeler excursion. The newphew's farm is situated at the top of a long slopping hill overlooking a valley and other farmland on the hills and mountains across the way. A large lawn area slopes downward to an area planted with corn, and beyond the corn and further down the slope is a wooded area. We went down through the corn fields and out into the woods, even into the dark, dark woods. The air was crisp, the ride was exciting and the woods were quite deep and lovely.
I shot more than 600 photographs over the course of the weekend and am even waiting right now for them to download to my hard drive.
The cold air Friday night reminded me to order some wool yarn and knit myself up a scarf, some mittens, and a hat and anything else I can think of that might help me get through my first winter in upstate NY as contrasted with my last thirty-six years in Los Angeles. I will have to do some shopping around online today and see what my eyes and dreams land on. We slept in a tent, as did quite a few guests, and it was definitely a cold to be reckoned with for all of us not just for me.
His newphew certainly knows how to throw a great outdoor farm party. There were close to a one hundred people who showed up, the pig roasted outdoors all day long, my husband made twenty-five pounds of salt potatoes, I don't even know how many ears of corn they grilled, children played hit baseballs to their dads and uncles, blew bubbles, and ran away from large dogs whose only crime was an over abundant interest in finding someone to toss a tennis ball their way.
After dark one fellow put on an impressive fireworks display and though some of us turned in after that, you could hear music playing softly and good natured beer drinking viisiting going on until the wee, wee hours of the morning. A large flock of geese even managed to fly over head after midnight kicking up such a ruckous the dogs started barking and didn't stop for another three hours. Though the night of the party was sleepless for most of the campers who stayed overnight, all in all the party was a relaxing success and a happy country experience for everyone concerned.
Time for me to start earning some income. Meanwhile, I wish you a wonderful, creative week ahead.
~firefly