Eggs for Marianna

This is for my dear friend Marianna. She has been asking for some of our brown eggs. I would dearly love to deliver some but she lives in Virginia! Road trip!! The basket is a handmade buttock egg basket. I love this style of basket for gathering eggs. Once the two sides have eggs in them the others just stack right in there and nothing rolls around. I think this style actually originated in Europe and then came over with the immigrants.
Hope you enjoy the eggs, Marianna. Miss and love you.

Taking longer to do less

In our world today the emphasis is on multitasking and productivity. I could drive myself into a frenzy trying to do everything all at once. More and faster can sometimes be counterproductive. Talk about ending up feeling overwhelmed. LaVern tends to do this more than me. (sorry honey, but you do!) Installing the wood floor in the kitchen has turned out to be quite a task and he is concerned about everything else that needs to be done; garden tilled, garden planted, fruit trees purchased and planted, tack room to build, building to be torn down, new chicken coop built, more fence put up, and on and on. We can all relate, right? Instead of trying to squeeze more tasks into fewer moments, decide that for today you'll do a little less and take more time to enjoy what you have chosen to do. That is why we are in town and not working on the floor. He worked on the floor this morning and then with the rain we decided to come to town as couldn't work outdoors. It was satisfying to get alittle more done on the floor without interruption and not worry about the other projects. We will get to them eventually..........may have to extend our 5 year plan but that is okay. Living for today and taking joy in every moment.

New Wheels - Dream Come True

Peggy Sue, 7 years old and a dream come true for me!! It has been 30 years since I harnessed and drove a horse but it all came back! I bought her at the Draft Horse and Mule sale in Maryville, Mo. Pretty risky buying that way but just could not find anything else. I did manage to track down the seller. A nice older gentleman from Norfolk, Ne. He told me all about her. She is awesome hitched and traffic safe!! That alone is priceless. The harness was made by one of my Amish neighbors. Harnessing with a collar was all new to me. I ended up loading her in the trailer and hauling her over to get measured for a collar as I was clueless. Need to get some shoes on her now. I took LaVern on the first buggy ride. Drove over to our nearest Amish neighbor, about 3 miles and had them look everything over to be sure I had straps where they belonged. This is a regular buggy horse harness and she has it maxed out but I know she will drop some weight once we hit the road. She is a Belgian (draft horse) and paint horse cross! Don't know how she came out a roan! I am sure that in a year or so I will want to upgrade to a FASTER model but she is the speed I need now. She actually gets down the road at a pretty good trot. Today we came in to town so that I can check out the businesses I shop at and find the places where I can tie her up. Will have to visit with my Amish friends and find out what they are doing. I told LaVern he can give my car to one of the boys now. I had my new wheels!!