addendum....fawn update

Sometimes stories have a happy next chapter!

And so it is with the prior post...."beyond my reach".

I received a message at my office this morning from Dave.

He had stopped at our neighbor's place this morning.
They spend many hours on their porch, with an avid eye
for the comings & goings of farm & wild life.
They knew the doe had been hit....

And they shared that her twin fawns had been out in the dusk since,

playing in the soy beans across the road from our farm & near a creek.

My day begins & ends with a happy heart!

This little fawn is a 1948 Gilbert Boese paperweight.

beyond my reach

Earlier this week, a doe was hit in front of our farm.

I heard the thud, Dave checked in with the truck...they 

were fine, the deer was not.  Remarkably, Dave noticed all of our
barn cats out in the front yard in the dusk...near to where the
doe died.  He said it felt quite odd, like perhaps they had heard her
last call & come out, checking on her too.

The next morning Dave moved the doe to the woods across from us.

That evening, just after dark, he heard a bleating sound coming from the 

corn field near our driveway, near where the doe was hit.

We are certain she left a fawn.  

We sought out a nature rescue in Colfax equipped to accept orphaned deer.

She advised us on how to contain the fawn, what to give it (Gatorade),

and to call her if we found it.  

Dave walked the area where he heard the sound the next morning.  Today, I 

walked the corn field and the meadow at its edge.  Walking, calling out softly, 

looking for any sign of trampled ground, of a scared fawn.  But there are acres 

of corn planted in tunneled rows.  There is dense growth at the edge & around.  

To find an animal, even the size of a fawn, is like seeking a needle in a haystack.

So we wait & listen.  We will wait & hope.  Nature cannot be controlled, 

it moves in its own way.  It breaks our heart when we are helpless.  Like that nest blown 

from the treetop, that rabbit in the tallons of a hawk, that mother combing the

fields for a speckled baby.  

little things

Anyone who has been to my home, seen my case at

the Hixton Antique Mall or attended one of our Barn Sales

know I have this affection for little vintage finds.

I love them...so much that they often are changed for each 

season & celebration.  They make me smile, just do!

Here are some little German made girls.

My ode to our farm's history as a dairy farm.

Bunnies that have yet to hop away since spring.  

These two are German candy containers.

I am drawn to smalls....so was delighted to attend an estate 

sale this past Friday with home owners with the same affinity.

I left with a box full of little finds, many that traveled to my 

case & booth at Hixton on Saturday.  

apple box storage

I had this blue metal shelf for sale at my last

October Barn Sale.  It didn't sell, so we took it 

to my booth at the Hixton Antique Mall.  I placed a

fruit box I had for sale on it and realized that this could be 

a fabulous storage shelf in our laundry room.  So I 

"bought" it from myself!

I left it at the mall for a few months with a "sold" on it.....

It added some nice color & display space.  We brought 

it home this past weekend & I gathered up all the fruit 

boxes around the house.  It fit perfectly where I had hoped

it would in our laundry room.  It now holds all our "smalls" 

for the antique mall and our pricing tool box.  We now have

a tidy area to store our items before they travel to be sold.

I love the color of the end labels on the apple & pear boxes...

and they hold a lot!  

This old shelving has the added bonus of folding 

up flat.  Dave & I figure if we ever become flea market

vendors, it will be perfect to sell from too!

Here it is looking quite happy!  The table at

the front is the work table in our laundry room.

farm kitchen redone

I have this thing for blue & green....

And cows, tin, actually.....my list of likes is large!

So, on a stop at T.J. Maxx on Friday, of course 

the blue & green tablecloths caught my eye.  I have

learned that tablecloths or shower curtains are a much

cheaper mode of acquiring great fabric.

By combining a table runner & tablecloth in the same fabric,

I was able to quite easily make a new sink skirt for our original sink.

*The trick is to save/use as much of the hemmed edges in your work!

Although I am not one for matchy matchy, right at this moment

I like the matching tablecloth on our kitchen table.

All the fabric was about $25.00 ~ including the tablecloth.  And I 

know it will be happy in the washing machine too...as it was all 

meant for table use.

Another view of the table...the chairs are all painted

with scenes from our farm.  The large jelly cupboard in the

background is about the same mid-1850s vintage as our farm...

it is our kitchen pantry.  

And here is the sweet sink again, all dressed up with a new skirt.

I attach all my sink skirts via Velcro, so this can be swapped

out with the previous one when desired.

Close up of the fabric.  Will work nicely into Autumn!

How about you, what are your current "go to" colors?

clip clip here

Whenever I give my summer plants a "haircut", I

try to just toss the excess in my clipping bag.

But every time I do, I end up seeking out all the

little blossoms, untangling them from yard clippings...

And into the house they come.

Seeking a bit of morning light to capture these sweet pansies.

And what little nose is to the right?

My August Rose is always curious!

Sweet little faces!

on letting go

I feel quite reflective...it was just about a year ago that

I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I will never

forget the haste my primary doctor used in scheduling

a mammogram & ultrasound at Mayo for the day after my

physical.  When they asked me to step in for a second 

ultrasound that day, I figured it was not a good sign.  I sat 

alone in a waiting room with a woman with a rich Russian accent.

I will always remember her saying, "don't cry".  Couldn't 

promise that, wasn't sure why I had chosen to go it alone

that day......the independent rebel in me I guess.  

Lesson one, letting go may require some support.

So there it is, this journey called "life".  I do believe one lesson we 

all face as part of our test is to let go.  As someone who likes a tad 

bit of control, letting go is a hard lesson to learn.  But I've done it...

we all do it.  Call it faith, hope or simply coping, we do it.

Through letting go as our children leave home.  Through letting go as our parents 

pass on.  Through letting go as age visits us and easy endeavors are 

less easy.  We learn this lesson over & over until we figure it out.....kind of.

As a teacher, I knew the importance of celebrating arrival & departure with my

kiddos.  We always had some routine that marked the start & end of 

our time together.   We needed to honor each "hello" and each "good bye". 

I would help them learn about making choices, doing it by themselves and 

how to move on to the next adventure.  I travel these same lessons to 

my parenting...and relish when my Ian still calls home for advice on starting

or ending an adventure.  

I always figure it takes a full year after a significant loss to begin to let go.  It

feels like we have to carry it through every season, introduce the change to

each ritual, to each holiday, to each month.  Testing how the change effects

us, similar to putting our toes in the water.  Once we get through the year, it

still remains with us, but perhaps in a new way...a life affirming way.  It can 

actually make us wiser, stronger, and ready for what awaits us next.

Letting go.  Living on a farm has also tested my resilience & calm fortitude.  When

you watch a storm build across the fields & head in your direction, you can only

"batten down so many hatches".  At some point you have to let go.  To know 

that this is bigger than you, out of your control and that you will get through it.

So, what are the lessons I feel have gotten me here, a year later....changed, but perhaps 

a bit stronger:

1.  Storms happen. 

2.  The only way through loss is  t h r o u g h  it.

3.  Letting go does not mean giving up control, just changing our perspective.

4.  Kindness matters.

5.  We make it.  We all will & do.  And it will change us.

6.  Finally, celebrate the journey, through each arrival & each departure.

little flag boy

                   adore this vintage picture....

             little guy on a crate in front of a flag!

             

                      Happy July!