Micro Worlds

Making coastlines and seas. Fun with water and chunks of, well, the patio, on the patio. Photos taken with 100mm Canon macro zoom lens.

Dear Vermont, Today I Forgive You For Winter. . . Even March

I spent a half hour yesterday afternoon in the garden with my family taking photos and had this moment of realization. This is why I live here. It's not the six months of winter with another month of absolute yuck on either end. It's not because I love driving forty-five minutes to a decent grocery store, or thirty-five minutes to daycare. It is true that Vermont is not always the easiest place to live. But in brilliant summer moments like this one it is a very easy place to love.

Morning Visitors

Loose cows, what passes for excitement around here. Just look at those sweet faces. We called the police, because who else do you call? It's all sorted out now.

The Sweetness of Summer in Vermont

There were definitely a few desperate moments this winter when I was pretty sure there was still going to be snow on the ground in June. But summer has finally come to the shire. The flowers and lush greenery are amazing, and the stark landscape of winter seems lightyears away. These are pictures from around the yard yesterday afternoon, just after a rain. These days are so luscious, and so few and fleeting that sometimes they have a sweet sadness to them. It is something we didn't realize during our first summer in Vermont after Brooklyn. We traveled, and we were busy, and it all slipped by before we realized it. Now we stay put, and travel in February like sensible Vermonters.

  You may already be sick of Peonies, but ours just came into full bloom yesterday, so I am still in love.

This is actually deadly nightshade. . . TH was a little worried to hear it was growing in the garden. . . don't know why. . .

River Luna Art

My new prints from River Luna, in the great hanging frame TH bought me at the Pear Tree.  I am so pleased.

Egg in Vinaigrette Toast

It's not very often that I see a recipe on the internet and immediately get up and make it for lunch.  That happened to me the other day when I saw this recipe for Egg in Vinaigrette Toast on my Facebook feed from the food blog Food52.  It's a dressed up version of a toad in the hole, with the addition of vinaigrette, which gets made richer with the runny egg yolk, and some healthy greens.

It was delicious, and super easy, which is the name of the game around here these days with the little baby causing all kinds of disruptions during meal times.  I overcooked my egg a little bit, since I got all excited about taking pictures for you people, but tonight I'm going to make it again for dinner and really get it right.  And tonight I'll also do a more substantial salad underneath with spinach as well as arugula.  I have a feeling this dish is going to be in regular rotation in our kitchen from here on out.

Recipe link here.

Welcome Ellery!

Our new little boy Ellery Standish H. was born on Saturday February 15th at 6:25 in the morning, weighing in at 8lbs 4ozs, 21 inches long, and the picture of health.  He is now 9 days old and has so far been doing lots of great eating and sleeping, minimal yowling, and we couldn't be happier with him.

  Here he is settling in at home on his first night, cozied up to the heat of the wood stove.

And here he is this morning, snoozing in the sun, which of course woke him up right after this picture so he ended up here:

He is very soft and snuggly, and still has that new baby smell.

Emmett is adjusting very well, and handling all of the new developments very cautiously, in true Emmett style.  So far I think he's touched the baby twice, but at least now he will be quite near him, and likes to check on him all the time and make sure he has what he needs.  He is being very helpful fetching and carrying things for his Mom who is often trapped under a nursing baby, and has also been so nice as to read books to us while Ellery is nursing.  He has also fully committed himself to the world of Legos in the last couple of weeks, and so has been spending every possible waking hour obsessively building Lego machines.

So far the transition to life as a family of four has been very smooth, and somehow it feels more balanced to me to have two kids and two parents.  I'm still working on why that is, but I think it has something to do with making space for each other, and understanding that no one person can have all of the attention all of the time.  Of course it has only been nine days. . . and we have had my mom here the whole time to help ease the transition.  So I'll have to get back to you on this idea a later on down the road.  But for now we are hunkering down for the end of winter and looking forward to some sunny spring days soon!

Nursery Sneak Peek

Our new little guy will be arriving sometime in the next few weeks, and we have been having a good time with giving Emmett's old baby room a facelift for its new occupant.  We are still awaiting a lot of the accents and details that will give the room some more color and pattern, like the bumper and crib skirt, fabric for the roman shade, changing pad cover, and lots of other art work and accessories.  But here is a little peek at how it is looking right now, which feels very calm and serene.  The basic bones are the same as Emmett's nursery (the crib, nursing chair, white walls and giant wall shelf) But TH painted the wood floor and wall shelf grey, and we have a new wool rug from Ikea as well as a new wider dresser to hold all of the baby things as well as act as the changing table, also from Ikea.  Our design theme seems to be thrift store finds meets Scandinavian, which was partly conscious choice and partly what we can make fit within our budget.  I took a page from what we learned from doing Emmett's new room regarding the use of color.  Once the room is full of books and toys it can be quite cacophonous, so we are keeping the bigger pieces very minimalist in order to preserve a calm feel.

Once we have a few more of the little details in place I'll do a more complete post including a few before and after pics.  But this is as far as we have gotten so far. . .

Oh Chalet for the New Nursery

In case you haven't heard yet, we are expecting another baby in February!  Another little boy, so Emmett will have a little brother to boss around, which I think will suit him just fine, as soon as he gets over the shock of the whole thing.  And we are just now starting the fun work of getting a new room ready to welcome the little guy home.  Pinning things on Pinterest for his nursery was of course the first step. And then I saw this little painting by Caroline of OhChalet on Etsy, and immediately knew it was going to be the foundation piece for the nursery design.  

First of all I love the colors: grey, teal, light blue, sand and white, with tiny pops of orange and yellow.  And I also love the spare yet homey feel of the composition.  It is cozy and comforting without feeling cluttered.  

One of my favorite things about ordering things directly from artists on Etsy is seeing how each unique purchase comes wrapped and packaged. It is so personal, it just makes opening up the package that much more fun.

So now we are off and running!  We can choose paint colors, rugs, bedding and all of that fun stuff.  It's maybe a little funny to base a whole room design on a 5" x 7" painting, but I feel ok with it.  And now we just have to find a place and a way to showcase this lovely little piece so that it doesn't get swallowed up by the rest of the room.

Hallway Renovation Featured Today on the Barn Light!: a Peek at the Before and After

 There is a nice feature of our hallway renovation on The Barn Light today, which is the style blog for Barn Light Electric, where we sourced the fixtures we used in our renovation.  It is always so nice to take a moment to step back and take a look at where we started, and all of the hard work we've done!  Here are some highlights from the feature, and you can always click over to read the full piece.

We love what our fixtures do for our space, and how they help accentuate the unique character of our converted barn home.  Thanks so much to the folks at Barn Light for getting in touch with me about a feature, and for encouraging me to finally take some photos of the finished hallway before we mess it up!

Oh, and shield your eyes a little, but here is the before image, just for fun.

When we first pulled up the carpet and discovered this green floor I kind of loved it.  But man did I get sick of it, and I sure don't miss it at all!  Sometimes I don't really realize how much my surroundings effect my state of mind, but looking at this old photos make me remember how I think I kind of closed my eyes in the hallway a lot, to pretend it wasn't there.  But since it is the central part of our home, there was really no way to avoid it, and I'm really glad that we have now fixed it up.  It is a relief to the eyes!