Loving Life...

Things have been quiet on the blog, but not in life.
We lost a dear friend to Melanoma last week, which just... well, it just sucks.
Life lesson is that life is short. and beautiful. even when it hurts.
That's all I have to say.

I leave you with some photos of life these past few weeks...

Making things sparkle with Jackie Sparkles...

Semi-frozen pond... pretty but. brrrrr (ugh).

Twig star...

Latest Hats~ Zoe's Thorpe hat and Ann's Earflap Hat from handspun~

Maureen is molting. She looks horrific and it's cold. Silly chicken.

Measuring the tree height. Tall man ruler.

Hauling to the tree shaker... where they shake out the critters and dead stuff.

MOM! Stop taking my picture!

Mamma likes the barn siding on the tree farm barn. 

Taking notes for OUR barn/studio renovation coming this spring.

Tree on car!

The tree is still in the barn, in it's stand, still bound, 

waiting for us to dig a hole so it can come inside... perhaps today?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Hanlins!

I had to lead with this photo of Ezmaralda. She was lying next to a pumpkin and I thought it was so Halloweeny and cute... but very early in the morning and dark... 

LOVE how the flash reflected off her eyes. This was not planned.

My evil witchy cat. Love her.

Here is Ann the Diva Witch...

  

Eve the Pirate~

 My tall ladies together...

 The Queen and the Drone~ bzzzt.

and harvest time... Eve's gourds

  and pumpkins

 Last of the zucchini~

 Lotsa beets~

  and I leave you with my man, being silly on his birthday. 

Posing as Farmer Paul, the Happy Man and his farm... love this man.

Be Content~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun has finally come out here in the pnw, and it is so beautiful!

Nature is waking up, and so is my brain~ phew! 

One of our hives sent out a swarm yesterday and we caught it!
So exciting... we will be putting more about it in our bee blog... (stay tuned).
As you can see below, we had a chance to video it!

Cross posted with our farm blog, Peculiar Ambitions~

Happy 12th Birthday Ann!

My youngest turned 12 yesterday and I need to do a post about it.

I remember a day 12 years ago... it was my 29th birthday and I was TEN days overdue and so very huge.

They decided to induce me before she started eating me from the inside out. >:)

She was born the very next day, my beautiful girl.

Here she is a few days ago with one of the baby chickens.

Here she is with her birthday gift, Fern, a bad, bad kitten who rarely leaves her side (sorry baby chickens).

 Happy Birthday Ann!

Happy Birthday to Me~

I love birthdays.
This is my 41st and I am LOVING this decade.
I woke to a kajillion birthday wishes on facebook, and they keep streaming in...
and a lot of phone calls from family and friends.
The best part? Being with Paul and my girls all day long. My favorite people in the whole world!

They surprised me with a HOUR of FLYING LESSONS. Flight instruction. In an airplane. In the air!

Eve & Ann can go with me and I am so excited. ---and terrified. This has always been a dream of mine and I keep pushing it off. fear? dunno... priorities? but...
Nothing like being shoved out of your box on your birthday! haha.

Here are my card the girls made for me. They are going right into my journal.

Dried flowers and fairies! from Ann

Bees! from Eve

 Now? I am going to go sit in my jammies on the deck and knit.

Goodbye Gram~

My gram passed away this morning.

Five days after her 94th birthday.

May 1970 (that's baby me)

August 2010

Here is a memory list I wrote in 2002 about her... 

(inspired by the book "Creative Utopia" by Theo Stephan Williams)

Grandma Kopp~

Taught me to read

Her love of reading and history

Lived next door my entire childhood

Red Hawaiian Punch drunk from a plastic cup with an attached straw

Her favorite color was green

Wheel of Fortune

Fred Flintstone

Antique Shop

Green Car

Unconditional Love

Solitaire & Gin Rummy

Junk drawer in kitchen

Button Jars

Million magazine subscriptions

Flower in her hair

Moccasins

Intelligence

 Dec. 2002

May 2008

August 2010

Gram and Pop-Pop c.1930s

Goodbye Grandma. 

Bertha Agnes Gipe Kopp

April 6, 1917- April 11, 2011

Be careful what you wish for...

'cuz you just might get it.

Hello from Woodbury-Downs...

the protector elf given to us by our friends...

he looks like he is snoozing but if you get too close-- watch out!

You know? I have everything I wanted out of life.... and am very happy where I am.... facing 40 in a month. Love my girls, LOVE my husband, have amazing friends and family.

Life is good.

Ezmaralda the beautiful one in her usual perch on my studio table.

New project I am obsessing on....

prototype #1... plant hanger made from chunky black yarn.

Prototype #2.. made from my handspun with cats applied in place of beads.

meow!

Prototype #3 still on studio table... pics to come when finished.

Yesterday I spent several hours at Michelle's studio, creating and chatting away.

I met two new artsy friends, Janne, who is visiting from Norway, and Teri, who lives locally.

We had a blast...

You can see pics here on Janne's blog...

my camera battery was dead so I did not get any shots.

Finding a new normal...

Things have been so surreal since our attempted trip to PA.

First the whopping 2 days we got to spend there, being back in PA was alone surreal.

Seems like we never left but at the same time like it's been forever since we were there.

Then having to come home so fast, feeling unsafe and violated. I miss our routine and my creative time. and our routine. (did I say that twice? snort).

Here are some fun shots from our brief visit...

Me and my Angela!

Reenie through the window glass....

Dunkin'!

Chip and Me... my bro.

This week I am alone during the day for four days.... I miss the girls (who are at drama camp) but it is nice to have some alone time. weird, but nice.

Today I took some time to paint.

This painting is turning a direction I did not see coming...

but I am loving it so far.

Taking time each day to creative, even if it is only for a few minutes...

What did you create today?