Welcome to Maven Haven....Small Town, Anywhere

I suppose there is still a big part of me that is in touch with my inner child. Christmas always seems to bring it out....I love the decorations, the cookies, the stories, the surprises!....all of it!! One of my favorite personal traditions is the construction of my little town...this year dubbed Maven Haven. It takes me hours to place all of the little pieces. There are two streets in my town and a very rural area just outside. The church is in the hills overlooking the town...next to the mountains that are teaming with typical Pennsylvania wildlife...deer, racoons, owls, squirrels, foxes. There is a small farm in nearby that has a horse, a cow, ducks and chickens. Each year, Santa arrives on one of the streets in town and all the children come running. There are two schools....one in town and one in the country. Of course, school is not in session.....it is always a snow day in Maven Haven and the hills are always perfect for sledding.

Trip to Nemacolin Woodlands

It's funny....I was not that enthusiastic about going to Nemacolin Woodlands last week. Jack had a meeting/conference there and would be busy during the days. What I knew about the place was that it was a spa/golf resort in the middle of just about nowhere! Not being a spa gal, I was concerned that I would not have much to keep me busy during the daytime while he was in class. So, I packed my hand stitching with the intent of getting quite a bit accomplished.

The first day we were there, I decided to do a walk-about and check what the resort had to offer. I had noticed on the map of the place an area labelled zebra habitat and another labelled bison habitat. Curious, I hailed the resort tram and travelled out to the areas in question. Much to my surprise, I found some wonderful habitats inhabited by bison, zebra, tigers, bears, and a few other species. I wandered along the fences engaging the animals in conversation...one-sided, that is. After about an hour of exploring, I again hopped on the tram. The driver suggested that if I liked what I had seen, I might be interested in their Wildlife Academy. Intrigued, I asked him to take me there.

What a terrific facility that turned out to be. This wildlife academy is home to many animals that were once bought by individuals as exotic pets and then were subsequently rescued when their owners could no longer care for them. Amongst the residents in this facility were snakes, giant turtles, a coatimundi, a wolf pup, a Fenec fox, lemurs, and several other species. The wildlife academy is also home to all the baby animals born on the property. So I had the pleasure of bottle feeding and pettin a baby zebra and baby pigs. I also interacted with a baby Mini Jack, a baby bison and a litter of Alaskan sled dog puppies. What was billed as a one hour tour turned into an entire morning of animal babies.....what a blast I had! It was an amazing experience. I have so much more to tell you about this experience, but will start with just a few pictures. More to come....

Encapsulating a Life

Why does it always seem that clarity comes in the middle of the night, when one should be sleeping? I had one of those sleepless nights on Friday. The dog awakened me needing to go outside. When she finally came back in the house, she also needed a drink of water....now you must understand that when a Newfie is thirsty, it needs a LOT of water to quench that thirst. Five minutes and a second bowlful of water later, Maddie was ready to sleep again, and I was WIDE AWAKE!!! So, off to the computer to do a little writing. I needed to write a little paragraph about myself for a journal page for a farmgirl group that I participate in. I set about the task of encapsulating my life into one paragraph. Now, the story of my life has taken 50 years with lots of chapters and twists and turns for sure. But I started to wonder about how much of that we re-visit as we exit this world. So in preparation for my eventual departure, I wrote this paragraph as an exercise in taking stock of my life with the hope that when I do depart this world I will be satisfied with my time spent here.

So here it is....the summary of my life:

"At some point in my life I realized that when all was said and done, I would not regret the things that I had done but rather the things that I had not done. And so it has been my policy to do as much each day as I can possibly do. I consider myself one of the most blessed women that I know. I have known deep sorrow, pure joy and everything in between. I am truly happy. I have known amazing love and am married to my best friend. I have had the joy of raising two unique and wonderful children who are grown and independant. I am blessed with good friends, loving family, and a lifetime of wonderful memories. I have had the luck of good health, the privilege of a good education and the satisfaction of a meaningful job as a nurse. I have had the good fortune to be able to climb a volcano, swim with dolphins, snorkel with fur seals, and crawl a mile down under the ground on my knees and elbows to see a cave of glo-worms. I have been skydiving, scuba diving, white water rafting and hot-air ballooning. There is nothing that I long to do that I have not done."

Gnome's Mittens and Other Magical Memories

Over the past 30 years of adulthood, I have come to so appreciate the gifts that my parents gave to me. They gave me a strong work ethic, a strong conscience and an ever optimistic outlook. They also gave me many other smaller gifts....such as a vivid imagination.

I can remember the games that I played as a child and they had so much to do with make believe. I had plenty of toys, but what I remember most about childhood are the hours spent in wonderful make-believe worlds. I have my mother to thank for this, I believe. She brought the great outdoors to life for me with tales of gnomes and fairies. She rescued wounded and sick animals and nursed them back to health, giving them names and adopting them into our family. She kept a watchful eye out for Mr. Squirrel and Hungry the Baltimore Oriole. She accepted my dandelion bouquets with delight and calmly fished the nightcrawlers out of my pants pockets when I would come inside for bed each summer night.

Nowadays when I walk thru our woods, I am reminded of those days by the things I encounter there....such as the little acorn hats and the Sassafrass leaves that she referred to as Gnome Mittens. To this day, the forest is a magical place and I cherish those memories that remain there.

Where Oh Where is Maryworth Gingerpot????

Well, it seems our girl, later named Maryworth Gingerpot (see "Not Your Average Charlotte") has abandonned her web and perhaps even passed away. Our beloved garden spider stood guard of our tomatoes for several weeks, systematically catching insect pests within her tenacious web and bundling them in silk for consumption. The more insects she caught, the more she grew until finally a few weeks ago she constructed an egg sac and filled it with hundreds of her progeny. She kept vigil for the ensuing weeks until at last we realized that Maryworth was no longer taking residence in our garden.

All that remains is the safe pouch within which her young are maturing until such time as they are able to break free and exist on their own. We look forward to next summer when Maryworth's children will take their rightful place in our garden, spinning their webs with the zig zag pattern down the middle. Following their ancestors, they will also protect our plants from undesirable garden pests.

We will miss you Maryworth, but we will take care of your children and your children's children for the life of our garden!

Not Your Average Charlotte.....

Over the past 2 days I have spent quite a few hours on my hands and knees in the garden. It seems a constant struggle to hold back the growth of weeds. In the past two months we have seen no measurable rainfall at the farm. We have watch the pastures go dormant and have had to water our vegetable garden, the blueberry bushes, grapes and all of the new trees that were put in this year. But amazingly, the weeds in the garden have flourished. It seems that drought conditions only serve to make the weeds send their roots deeper into the earth....thus making weeding a bit more difficult. Resigned to the work ahead of me, I settle myself down into the straw and begin the tug of war with each dandelion, grass, and clover...not to mention several others that have no name. The work occupies my hands, allowing the rest of my senses to take in the sights and sounds and smells of the garden. As I pull weeds, occasionally my nose is treated to the smell of citronella emanating from some variety of weed. But most of the time I just smell "green". Green is perhaps the only color that has a smell associated with it. I am sure you know what I mean by smelling green.

My fingers busily tug, dig, pull, wrestle......finally, the weed's roots give up their hold. The music of the garden is the non-stop chirping of crickets, the quiet droning of the bees, and an occasional call from a crow. I am aware of the sound of a quiet helicopter hovering just over my right shoulder. I look up to see an insect about 2 feet off the ground with black and yellow-tipped wings feverishly beating to keep it airborne. It is a grasshopper's wings that imitate the sound of the helicopter. A couple of feet away I hear the rustling of the broccoli and out scampers a little bunny. Apparently, a family of rabbits has found that inside the garden with its 8 foot fence is a very safe and comfortable place for a burrow. Ah well, with a garden this size, there is enough food for a family of bunnies, too.

Perhaps the most amazing site today was this colorful enormous spider. She had spun her web between two tomato plants...and I must say....not your average Charlotte....

Moved to Tears.....

Every once in a while you witness something so pure and so beautiful that it moves you to tears. That happened to me this morning. As I folded laundry, I was watching Good Morning America and they did a brief story on a young man that was competing in the British version of American Idol. As I watched the video of his performance I was so very moved by this humble, unassuming man. Please take a moment to watch......

Magic Lives

In an earlier post I wrote of ordinary miracles...the beauty and perfection that surrounds us each and every day. It seems that sometimes we become so embroiled in the chaos and hectic schedules of everyday life that we forget to recognize the miracles that live in stillness. The magic of life eludes us as we chase the escaping hours of each day in an attempt to finish our "lists". This cactus flower appeared Saturday on a cactus that I have tried so many times to remove from my garden. It was quite amazing to see a cactus flower in the middle of Pennsylvania..the perfect sighting to start what would turn out to be a magical day.

I took (very important word as we often say we do not have the time....sometimes the time must be "taken")...anyways, I "took" the opportunity to relax for a while Saturday afternoon in the cool shade outside our farmhouse. I sat there watching a light wind blow through the flower garden lifting and carrying butterflies on it's gentle current. I felt the coolness of the air on my skin as the tiny hairs on my arm bristled like the slender needles of a pine in the breeze. The air was filled with sweet bird melodies and the hollow "tap,tap,tap" of a woodpecker in the distance. The fragrance of newly mown hay filled my nose as I gazed into the sky. I remarked to my husband how rare it has been to see Baltimore Orioles in our area. We had seen one weeks before, but that had been the first in nearly 4 years. As I spoke the words "Baltimore Oriole", incredibly, one flew over at that very moment as though I had summoned him. We both chuckled at how coincidental that had seemed and went on with our conversation. A short while later when describing that serendipitous occurrence to some guests, I again pointed to upwards and described how an oriole had flown over as I had raised my hand to the sky. Again, on cue, I caught a soaring orange bird in my field of vision and pointed to it as it crossed over our farmhouse. Ok....once is coincidence. But twice is....well, nothing short of magic. Again we all laughed at my good fortune. Convinced that it had been a magical experience, I decided to try my luck yet one more time. I know that you will at this point think that I am telling tall tales, but I swear to you, dear reader, I am no liar....that bird made yet another appearance when spoken of again! Now if I said that it continued to happen, you would think me crazy and my story completely incredulous, so I must say that at that point the phenomenon stopped. Truthfully, however, that Oriole flew overhead each of the three times that I spoke of him.

Perhaps birds are the closest living creatures to angels, I don't know. But I do know that there is so much magic in this world....we just spend most of the time blind to it. To me, the lesson that I learned that afternoon is that I miss far too much magic by allowing myself to be swept along by the busy rhythm of life and the lists that I impose upon myself. Perhaps it was a sign to me that there is so much more than meets the eyes....if we would only fully open them and then take the time to sit quietly and see what is there......the magic of life!

Tending My Garden

Spring is about the most exciting time of year for me. All winter long I look forward to the hours spent caring for my gardens. Each day brings miraculous changes. As the sun warms the earth, the plants respond by bursting forth into bloom. The colors are so intense...as if in soaking the energy of the sun, they transform it into electric color. This same world that was so cold and sleepy a few short months ago is teeming with life! Insects are fervently rushing about...cramming so much activity into their short life cycles. Bees are busy pollinating. Rabbits, squirrels, and birds are remodelling their homes and tending their young. And I have the pleasure of watching the drama unfold.

As I walk through the garden, embracing each new sign of life, I reach down and pluck each emerging weed; knowing that if I am not vigilant in this matter, the weeds will gain the upper hand and overtake my precious flowers. It's good to be Queen in this tiny garden dominion!

On Motherhood and letting go........

So many years have passed in my sojourn though Motherhood. I remember each moment... each day...each year. If there was nothing else that I was truly meant to do, I do know that I was meant to be a mother.

Yesterday as I watched my last child unfurl his wings and take that final flight from the nest(college graduation), I felt a deep tearing at my heartstrings...knowing that from that moment forward both of my children would be journeying down their separate paths toward the futures that only they control. Have I taught them everything they need to know to get along successfully in this world? Will they remember all of the lessons I so carefully taught?

In the offchance that my children take the time to read this, it is my desire that they know how much joy they brought to my life. From the first moment of feeling life within me to the present day as I look upon two beautifully grown adults....I have loved each moment and will hold the memories tenderly within my heart for eternity.

Today you wished me a Happy Mother's Day....and I want you to know that my Mother's Days have and will always be happy ones. I will stand in the wings now and proudly watch your futures unfold; but always know, dear children that I am here for you if ever you need me.

Just promise me.....eat balanced meals, drink moderately, don't smoke, take care of your teeth, drive safely, budget your money, pay your bills on time, save for your future, stay in touch.....and: forgive me; it is so hard to let go.....

Backyard Memories

While walking on the farm, this weekend, I was reminded of my childhood twice. The first instance was the sighting of a beautiful orange Baltimore oriole. It had landed briefly in a tree outside our farmhouse. In the past five years it is only the second oriole we have seen...so you can imagine how excited we were! That sighting brought back the memory of a time when I was a very young girl. We had found a baby Baltimore oriole in our back yard. We spent days nursing it back to health, feeding it milk and bread by hand and then eventually feeding it lunchmeat. Amazingly, our little "Hungry", as we named him,lived. He spent the summer in our backyard and would land on our shoulder to take bits of lunchmeat out of our fingers. Hungry migrated in the winter and much to our amazement returned the next year with a mate!

The second memory that came to me this weekend was brought back by the sight of wild Violets blooming. One of my most pleasant childhood memories is that of my big backyard. I suppose it was because I was so little, but our backyard seemed immense. It always felt like an hour's hike just to get to the end of the yard. I would take off from the back door in the cool spring evenings after dinner was finished. I would hike beyond my sandbox, my swingset and our beautiful blossoming red-bud tree and set out for the outer reaches of the yard. There, I would be met by a lush carpet of wild Violets in many hues from almost white to the darkest of purples. With my chubby, sweaty little fingers I would pluck the most beautiful bouquet and hold them tightly as I ran back to my Mommy. She would greet me at the door and recieve my precious gift as if it were the most beautiful she had ever seen. She would place the blooms in a vase and set them on the windowsill...a gentle reminder of the innocence and wonder of childhood.

In those days my whole world was our backyard...I needed to go no further. That yard fueled my imagination and taught me an appreciation for nature that would stay with me throughout the rest of my life. I think back now to that simpler time and am filled with a rush of nostalgia....so many life lessons learned....in my backyard.

Ordinary Miracles

Last weekend we watched the newly released video version of Charlotte's Web and at the end there was a video by Sarah McLachlan entitled Ordinary Miracle. The lyrics are as follows:

It’s not that unusual
when everything is beautiful
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

The sky knows when it’s time to snow
Don’t need to teach a seed to grow
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say,
wrapped up for you everyday
Open up and find a way
to give some of your own

Isn’t it remarkable
like every time a raindrop falls
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Birds and winter have their fling
but always make it home by spring
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

When you wake up every day
please don’t throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
cause we are all a part of the ordinary miracle
Ordinary miracle, do you wanna see a miracle?

It seems so exceptional
that things just work out after all
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

The sun comes up and shines so bright
and disappears again at night
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

It’s just another ordinary miracle today

It seems that we so often ask God for miracles, but don't recognize that we are surrounded by them each and every day. So much of what we take for granted is indeed miraculous in itself. Surely you've had the experience of finding a newly spun spider's web, glistening with dew in the early morning sun and wondered at the magnificent perfection with which it was constructed. Or perhaps you've watched a colorful swallowtail butterfly float through your garden, stopping to drink the nectar from each of the brightly colored flowers.

There are so many amazing miracles around us each and every day. You need look no further than your own yard. If you search for proof that God lives, open your eyes. The proof of his existence is a evident as the sunrise. This beautiful world of ours cannot be explained so simply as scientists and mathematicians would have us believe. There surely is a chemical and mathematical explanation for everything that occurs in our universe. Scientists can answer the where, what, when, and how. But the why remains a mystery. Things are because they are....simply. And then there is the beauty of it all.....and that is where God lives....in the ordinary miracle.

We hold the fate of the world in our hands......

We do not own Mother Earth, but we do call her "home". In exchange for the privilege of inhabiting her we were appointed her protectors, her caretakers. Are we failing her? Dear Reader, consider your own lifestyle. Do you do everything in your power to make this world better? Or, have you become like so many of us....parasites, sucking the life force from her? We can no longer bury our heads in the sand thinking that what we do individually doesn't matter. It does! I challenge you today, on Earth Day, to look at your daily habits. Are you faithfully recycling? Are you making efforts to reduce your energy consumption? Are you trying to live more "greenly"? If you can find just a few simple ways to reduce your energy consumption, you have helped to make a difference. Mother Earth thanks you.

A Case for Free Will....

Every so often I run into someone who in conversation will remark about the Will of God. That person may state that a certain event occurred because it was God's Will or they may remark that something might happen to them if it is God's Will. In my usual non-confrontational manner, I usually do not respond to their statement. However, in the wake of the events of the past 24 hours, I will respond now. Yesterday, on the campus of Virginia Tech, a 19 year old college student walked into a dormitory and shot and killed 2 students. He then proceeded to a classroom building, chained the doors shut and opened fire on countless more students. When the shooting was over, 31 more students lay dead on the floor including the shooter, who had taken his own life. Where was God's Will in this incident?

I stand by my belief, as I always have, that God has given us an enormous gift. That gift is one of Free Will. We do not live our lives by a script; but rather, each day are given the opportunity to write the book that is our life. We write it with our own hand, with our own words. Random acts of violence are not God's will, they are the will of an individual....an individual who has chosen the wrong path for his own life. War is not an act of God. It is the result of a collective decision of men who chose to solve problems through violence. Natural disasters are not acts of God...they are the natural occurrences that happen as a result of our Earth being acted upon by physical forces both internal and external.

The only act of God that exists in these cases is the original one.....that of the gift of free will. God has given us this Earth, our life and all of the faculties to make of it what we chose. We are not his puppets. We are his children. And just as we can teach our own children right from wrong, it is ultimately their free will that determines their choices. And so God watches.....and prays that His children use their gift of free will for Good. But it is not always so.

Today, we mourn the loss of our children who were so senselessly struck down, yesterday, just as we continually mourn the loss of our children all over the world who die in random acts of violence or war. We cannot make sense of any of this if we chalk it up to God's Will.

But just as we cannot blame God's Will for the evil in the world, we cannot also say that good things will come to us only if it is God's Will. No, if we must take responsibility for the bad, then we must take responsibility for making good happen also. We must take hold of our own lives and steer them toward the destiny that we want. We have been given the ability to end life if we chose. Conversely, we have also been given the power to create a glorious, positive, loving life. It is time to take responsibility for our destiny. Perhaps if we all felt that power, we would be more inclined to try to move the mountains that presumably stand in our way(or at least that stand in our minds).

We have been given an amazing gift....Free Will......but if we do not use it wisely, we pay the price.

What's the buzz?

Ages ago when our God the Father and Mother Earth handed our beautiful planet Earth over to us humans, they entrusted us with the care of all of the species of living things beneath our feet. They gave us the amazing gift of free will to use our world to sustain us. But, they also gave us the job of stewardship. I am afraid we have not done such a good job of watching over that which was so lovingly left in our care. I awoke today to the sound of Mother Earth weeping..........

If you read my Farmgirl Ramblings blog, I posted a section entitled "Where have all the bees gone". This addresses the current situation that researchers have called Colony Collapse Disorder. For some unknown reason, bee colonies all over the world are disappearing. This is potentially catastrophic to our world and to ourselves. 80% of the world's agriculture is dependant upon bee pollination. In other words....no bees...no plants. No plants...no world. This may seem oversimplified, but it is an illustration of just how critical this problem is!

As I was enjoying the honey in my tea this morning, a news segment aired saying that a German study has early evidence showing that cell phones may be the cause of our honey bees' demise. If that is the case, the problem is huge...and very scary. In light of how the present Bush Administration has handled the evidence that global warming is a major threat to our planet (by denying its very existence), I am afraid that if cell phones in fact are the cause of this current dilemna, again nothing will be done to correct this potentially devastating situation.

We can no longer allow our politicians who have sold their souls to large, powerful corporations to destroy our world. And we can no longer sit by our televisions and watch complacently as countless species disappear forever. With each disappearance, Mother Earth grows weaker. We are failing her....we are failing each other...we are failing ourselves. How scarey does it need to become before we can convince the individuals who enact policy that changes are needed? At what point will it be too late?

Earth-friendly consumerism

Dear reader, I am asking you to change the way you shop. I propose that you begin with one new change each time you grocery shop. I would like to suggest that you begin with your household cleaning products. There are several lines of household and laundry products that are earth friendly in their ingredients. These products are made from vegetable based ingredients rather than petroleum based ones. I, personally, have switched to Seventh Generation laundry soap. If my laundry is particularly soiled I add some 20 Mule Team Borax to that load for an added boost. I feel like this is a step in the right direction. Now, if manufacturers could come up with a different type of packaging material that would not add such a large load on our landfills, that would be even better...but at least they come in recylclable containers.

I have also begun purchasing Mrs. Meyers cleaning supplies....dishwashing and dishwasher detergents, window and countertop cleaners and scrubbing powder. They come in a yummy, fresh lemon verbena fragrance, so the house smells terrific.

It is a small change, but it makes a difference. First of all, with these products you are no longer dumping toxic phosphates and petroleum products back into the water supply. Also because petroleum is used in the manufacturing process, we can reduce our oil consumption with these products. They are milder on your skin and they are pet friendly. There are no toxic fumes being released in your house to degrade the air quality. The list of advantages goes on and on. I thing perhaps the only disadvantage might be the price. They are a little more expensive than the run-of-the-mill off-the-shelf brands, but to me it is worth it in the end. I would pay a little extra to help protect our environment. Will you please consider it, too?