Around Home: Moved to France!

This will be a quick post, mostly to tell everyone that the posts will probably slow down a little bit this school year.  This is because my husband and I are staying in France from now (we've been here one week already) until the end of next May!  I'll try to stop by when I can with crafty news or photos from France.  For now, here's a couple photos from our first week here.

The very friendly local cat

The cathedral St. Pierre in Montpellier

The Esplanade

Around Home: My Parents' Garden

Here's an update on my parents' garden!  It seems that every year at this point in the summer, the garden has started to look awful but continues to produce beautiful fruits and vegetables.  Have you experienced this too?  The squash leaves have all turned yellow and withered, the tomato plants look wilty and unruly, and the watermelon looks like it died (actually, it may have.  My mom stopped watering a few days ago because a rabbit had three babies in our melon patch!).  Not to mention that squash bugs and Mexican bean beetles have unfortunately moved in on the zucchini and green beans.  Nevertheless, the harvest I made on Thursday shows that things are still going strong.  I got a large bag of tomatoes, three cucumbers, four eggplants, some unchewed green beans, two green peppers, a handful of jalapeno peppers, a butternut squash, and a watermelon!

Around Home: New Place

It has been quite an eventful few weeks!  We moved out of our townhouse about a week ago, and have come to live with my husband's grandmother for the rest of the summer.  It was physically and more-so emotionally challenging to pack up all of our things and move.  The home that we had "woven" together since we got married seemed to be unraveling in many ways.

I have been strongly reminded, however, that a home is not the physical surroundings of a place as much as it is the love that fills it.  I am comforted that although our location has changed, my home, my LIFE, is firmly rooted in my faith.  Home is wherever I'm with YOU, God!  Although I just can't seem to find our laundry hamper among the pile of boxes in the garage, I am still blessed to have the things I really need - my faith in God, my health, my husband, and my family and friends.  God's love and the love of our family and friends still comes with us and has filled this new living space too.  What a comfort it has been!

In the same way, the pillows and rugs, scarves and gifts that I have made do not have much value on their own - it is the love, time, thought, and creativity that I put into my projects that make the special.  I always hope that recipients of things I make can understand this.  I'm working on a few gift projects right now (posts to come once they've been given!), and it is such a joy to think about and pray for the recipient while I work.

This transitional period for us has its challenges, but all in all we feel very blessed to be so well provided for.  Here's just one photo to share - a photo of the beautiful new view I can enjoy while crafting.

Blessings in all your projects and home-weaving!

Around home: My parents' garden

Keeping with the gardening theme from the last post, I wanted to show off my parents' garden. We convinced them to start a kitchen garden last summer as an experiment, and this year they've really run away with it! Last year the garden amounted to their neighbor tilling up some sod, planting some things, and putting a rough metal fence around it. Of course, the squash and weeds took over. In an attempt to keep things more orderly and accessible this year, my parents put in raised beds, simultaneously making it more permanent, beautiful, and organized! They daily receive accusations disguised as compliments about the "best looking garden in the neighborhood." Who knew they'd entered some sort of unspoken small-town contest? Anyway, the garden has really flourished in our hot weather. Check out the photos!

The garden on June 19.  Looking orderly and hopeful.

The garden on July 1. Looking like the squash are already taking over!

More photos below...

Around Home: Patio Gardening

Things are starting to pick up here as we approach mid-summer. We will be moving in less than two weeks, staying with Grandma for the rest of the summer. Before our big move, I wanted to document what's going on in our humble little patio garden. Enjoy!

The whole patio crew. Rosemary, basil from seed, basil from starters
(we got impatient!), spinach , cilantro, lemon thyme,  super sweet 100
 cherry tomato, angora cherry tomato, and rutgers tomato.

More photos below...

Around Home: My Parents' House

In the fall of 2009, my parents sold their 21-year-old house and moved into a 175-year-old house, fulfilling a long-time dream of theirs to fix up and live in a historic home.  The house, a Dutch colonial style built in 1835, was originally a general store and was converted to a house a few years after it was built.  My parents have been working one room at a time to restore it.  Here are just a couple photos from the main floor entryway and living room.  Enjoy!

Just Around the House

Just want to share a few things that are going on around here.  First of all, look at the new spools of yarn I bought for $3 each at an antique fair!

The blue cotton is already being worked into a knitted scarf for me!
Also note the beautiful antique embroidered tablecloth that my mom gave me as a wedding shower present.

Another project that I've been meaning to blog about (but probably won't do a full post on now that it's so late in the season) is the garden we've kept with my parents.  It's been a joy to see such a full garden grow from just tiny seeds.  The squash has really taken over this year!  We've learned a lot from doing a garden, and have had fun using the produce.  Tomorrow I'll be making pesto with my mom, and Wednesday I'll be learning to can tomatoes and salsa with my grandma.  Anyway, here's a couple photos of the small harvest we took home with us after a weekend at my parents'.

Acorn squash, watermelon, spaghetti squash, crookneck squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, banana peppers, and carrots!

Look at these crazy colored carrots!