A Rainbow of Photos

On Swap-Bot, there is swap called "A Rainbow of Photos." I signed up for this and went back through my photos to see if I had one photo in each color as well as some photos of rainbows. Sure enough, I found at least one for each category. 

Here's my favorite rainbow picture taken in August 2013. This is looking west from our driveway. I'm so grateful that I was there to take the photo. I don't think I've ever one large and in a perfect position like this over our west pasture. 

August 29, 2013

RED 

June 18, 2021

This red bridge is at the Japanese garden at Normandale Community College in Bloomington. The garden is peaceful and quiet, despite being in the city. 

This is called a Taiko-bashi - a drum-shaped bridge - and its leads to the Bentendo (a hexagon-shaped building on one of the three islands in the Japanese garden's pond. 

The name "Bentendo" is a combination of two words: Benten is a gooddess of fortune and Do is a suffix used to indicate certain kinds of buildings). The Bentendo does not have a function. It's just used for accent in a Japanese garden. 

ORANGE

September 13, 2007

My husband used to grow pumpkins each year and sell them. Sophia and Olivia would help him with the planting, and they enjoyed doing that when they were younger. They especially loved seeing when the pumpkins were ready for picking!

YELLOW

January 18, 2021

When Olivia turned 18 years old, it also was her golden birthday. So, I made 18 yellow window stars. These are 11 of the 18 I made for her. They are made from kite paper, and the points are folded multiple times to create different patterns.

GREEN

August 10, 2019

This is a little frog that was on one of the shrubs in our backyard. I enjoy seeing the variety of frogs and toads we have here at the farm...especially these bright green ones.

BLUE

December 3, 2011

Olivia and Sophia are peeking out from a sculpture at Franconia Sculpture Park. We visited the park in December when there are significantly fewer people out walking and exploring the sculptures. 

INDIGO

October 31, 2021

Olivia took a PSEO class focused on digital imaging during her senior year of high school. One of the assignments was to take photos during the "blue hour." What is the blue hour? It's the time of day before sunrise and after sunset when the atmosphere has a deep, dark blue (indigo) color. 

It's not really an hour. Its exact length depends on the time of year, weather conditions, and one's latitude. When taking photographs, the most important thing is that sun has to be below the horizon and the sky can't have a lot of sunset or sunrise colors...it should be mostly blue.

VIOLET

September 4, 2015

One of many flowers in our gardens at our farm. We have 16 gardens this year - each with a different focus and types of plants (with the exception of the 4 pine trees in the front yard that all have basically the same theme and type of plants - hostas, ferns, and bleeding hearts). 

I like purple flowers a lot and have many different types. My favorite ones in the late-summer and fall are Liatris (Liatris ligulistylis). We have had so many monarchs this year - much more so than in the past. It is common to see 4-7 monarchs on one of these plants. It's just amazing!! 

The monarchs we are seeing now are the ones that will journey to Mexico. So, it is vitally important that they have nectar sources for the long flight. Hopefully, people along the migration path also have planted nectar sources for the monarchs.

RAINBOW 

August 21, 2018

One last photo of a rainbow. This was taken in the late summer four years ago. It's only a partial rainbow because the other part was hidden behind the clouds.  This photo was taken from the driveway - just like the rainbow photo above. 

Hobbies that Begin with "Q" - Blogging from A to Z Challenge

During the 2018 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I will be focusing on hobbies that I have introduced to my daughters to through their childhood and teen years. Some were done as part of homeschooling, while others were areas that we explored because we were interested in the subject or activity. These are hobbies that anyone of any age could try as well.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

There are two hobbies that begin with the letter "Q" that Sophia and Olivia have explored: quilling and quilting.

Quilling

In February 2008 for Valentine's Day, we photocopies our hands and then made different quilled shapes using red and pink paper. Below is Olivia's hand. She had just turned five years old.

Sophia was seven years old.

We still have these photocopied hands with quilling on them, and pull them out to display at Valentine's Day. It would be interesting to do this same project again now that they are older, and see how their hands have changed from when they were young.

Quilting

Quilting has been a significant hobby for us throughout the years. When Sophia was 7 years old, she made her first quilt and entered it in the county fair. She was competing against youth who were 7-16 years old, and won third prize.

July 31, 2008

The following year, Olivia wanted to make a quilt. So, at 6 years old, she began her quilt.

July 22, 2009

Sophia was making a quilt at the same time.

July 22, 2009

They needed to take turns at the sewing machine which was a bit challenging since both of them had twin-size bed quilts.

July 23, 2009

Olivia used fabric that she bought in Pella, Iowa, when the girls and I traveled with my parents there to see the tulip festival. So, the quilt has special memories attached to it.

July 27, 2009

Sophia's quilt, like Olivia's quilt, went on their beds and were their comforters for a long time.

July 27, 2009

One thing that Olivia wanted to make was a small circular quilt similar in design to one we found on Flickr (the place to go to for ideas before Pinterest). This was difficult because there was no pattern.

So, it was a good lesson on creating a pattern and hoping it turned out like it was being envisioned.

June 6, 2010

During the 2010-11 homeschool year, Sophia took a sewing/quilting class at the homeschool co-op. She learned how to make six different patterns. She sewed them together to create a quilting sampler.

June 10, 2011

A large quilt that Olivia made was a horse-theme one. The center had an embroidered image of horses and the rest of the quilt was a patchwork - some with horse-printed fabric.

July 4, 2012

She tied this quilt - just like she saw my mom do with the Angel Quilters - a group of women at her church who made quilts for people who were homeless, a victim of natural disaster, or who was going through a domestic violence situation.

July 5, 2012

Olivia entered her horse quilt in the county fair. A teenager offered to hold it up (on the left side) and Olivia was holding it up on the right side (she's standing up behind the table so only her shoulders and head are showing).

July 11, 2012

The girls also made paper quilts one year. They were learning about math and symmetry.

April 16, 2013

It was something different to do in terms of designing one's own quilt block.

April 16, 2013

Also in 2013, when she was 12 years old, Sophia created a table runner. She was comfortably using a rotary cutter and cutting mat by this point.

July 15, 2013

By cutting the nine-block squares, a new pattern was created which looked more complicated with all the smaller pieces.

July 15, 2013

In 2015, Olivia undertook a major project - creating the Washington County Barn Quilt Trail. The designs were based on the book The Quiltmaker's Gift - a favorite book of the girls when they were growing up.

Each of the designs for the 8'x8', 7'x7', 4'x4', and 2'x2' barn quilts were sketched out and colored on graph paper.

May 21, 2015

Olivia took the designs to Sherwin Williams to pick out paint that most closely matched the colors she used for the drawings.

May 21, 2015

The first barn quilt that was completed was installed on a two-story barn at Gammelgarden Museum. It weighed over 100 pounds and huge 6-inch lag bolts hold it in place. In late May, a few days after it was installed, my mom - Olivia's grandma - came to see the first barn quilt thanks to my nephew driving her to the museum.

May 28, 2015

Even though she was almost blind, she was able to see the big quilt. Being an avid quilter and sewer her entire life, she was so excited to see the barn quilt and know what the project that Olivia was working on looked like.

May 28, 2015

A couple days later, the second barn quilt was installed. This was a wrap-around design which worked perfectly with the design of the quilt.

May 30, 2015

Olivia's favorite design was Bear Paw which we installed on posts at the corner of our farm. She painted the barn quit herself - all 7'x7' of it! 

June 7, 2015

Sophia attended 4-H quilting camps for a couple of years during January. One year, she made a quilt top (which she later finished at home) using a variety of batik fabrics.

January 9, 2016

After doing the first round of barn quilts in 2015, Olivia designed ten more barn quilts in 2016. She involved more volunteers to help with the building, painting, and installation of them. For the second round, we were able to paint the barn quilts indoors because they were smaller (4'x4' or 2'x2'). 

July 3, 2016

While Olivia was working on the barn quilts, Sophia was working on an ambitious quilt that used about a dozen different colors and patterns of fabric that were cut on the diagonal. 

May 6, 2017

Once she sewed the top and backing, she brought it to a place that quilted the two layers and batting using a long-arm quilting machine. Sophia finished sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. It was a big project that took a couple months to complete.

July 21, 2017

The 4-H sewing committee wanted Sophia to show her quilt at the quilt and fashion show at the county fair. Above, she's describing the process she went through to create the quilt.

Both of the girls want to make a quilt this year and enter it in the county fair. It will be interesting to see what patterns and fabric they choose.

Source

Outdoor Mom's Journal - January

During our outdoor time this past month we went....outside infrequently. It was frigidly cold during January with many days with double-digits below zero.

We started out the month with frozen pipes and a burned-out well pump which meant no water in the house or to the barn for several days.

Thankfully, there was a company that came out to replace the corroded pipes and well pump; and the electrician who did all the work for activating the new pump on a very cold day. After eight hours of working on the well, we had water.

In the middle of the month, we spent about an hour or so touring Northwestern University in St. Paul. It was a nice day to explore the campus.

We've been seeing flocks of turkeys along the highway. We originally thought that someone was putting seeds down for the turkeys. Realized it was someone with a manure spreader who was creating areas for the turkeys to feed. They pick out the seeds that aren't digested by the cattle.

Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)...how do you tell the male and female woodpeckers apart from one another? I learned that the female downy woodpecker does not have the red spot on the back of her head like the male does.

In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting....nothing in terms of planting or harvesting. I want to look at improving two gardens in the backyard. Rather than doing small transplants or seeds, I want to invest in larger plants so that the garden is filled and weeds kept at a minimum.

There's a garden I pass each year that is all purple flowers. It's just beautiful; and many of them attract butterflies and beneficial insects. I'd like to do something like that - perhaps with a few more colors - so that we can see more butterflies.

I added nature journal pages about...winter colors and birds at the feeder. Was able to see a variety of colors - even in January - which surprised me.

For example, blue jays that visit the feeders a lot. There was a loud flock in the pine trees next door one morning. Red berries are still on two trees. If they last until spring, the cedar waxwings and robins eat them.

Many sunsets have beautiful shades of purple, blues, and magentas recently. The purples are, by far, my favorite color.

White clouds and snow: the snow has "diamonds" that glitter when the sun shines. Beautiful!

The sun is getting higher in the sky and gives of a bright yellowish-white glow. There's 21 more minutes of sunlight now (on January 17th) than on December 21st.

In terms of the birds at the feeder, the black-capped chickadees had the most visitors. Also saw the American tree sparrow, nuthatch, and downy woodpecker on the 13th-14th.

I am reading...a book about birds called Flights of Fancy. I've had it for a while now from the library and need to finish it soon.

I am dreaming about…warmer weather where things aren't frozen in ice.

This winter has been particularly difficult for me. Even temperatures in the 30s would be much better and easier to handle.

Of course, we can't see ice sculptures, but I'm okay with that. I'm ready for flowers and grass.

A photo I would like to share...on a day when it was bone-chillingly cold, we went to an open house at a local art center that's celebrating its 50th anniversary.

There were sled dogs that took people on short rides. Olivia had fun going on a ride.

It would be fun to have a sled for our dogs. However, I would imagine we would be going on a ride with death with Cooper who would be more interested in chasing squirrels and rabbits than taking us on a nice ride.

Thank you to Barb the Outdoor Hour Challenge for the idea of doing an Outdoor Mom's Journal.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - December 13, 2017

I've taken a break from doing the Wednesday Hodgepodge due to a rather homeschool-intensive Fall. Am happy to be back this week to read what others have written and answer some questions.

1. 'Hurry less, worry less'...what's your strategy for making that happen this holiday season? How's it going so far?

I've intentionally been trying to scale back this year and be fully present in each activity. Although we have done something holiday related almost every day so far this month, it's not an excessive amount of activities like we have done in the past.

As for worrying less...that, unfortunately, is not something I've done well with this year. It's been a challenging year and medical bills have certainly affected what we are able to do and purchase. I haven't even begun Christmas shopping yet and am not sure when that's going to be possible. It looks like it's a certificates-for-something-in-the-future and homemade-gifts-with-what-I-have-on-hand type of year.

2. Do you have a list of to-dos that need accomplishing in order to prepare your home and/or property for the winter season? What are some of the jobs on your list? Are you a do-it-yourselfer or do you hire someone to accomplish these tasks?

Much of what needed to be done to prepare our home and farm for the winter season is done back in the Fall - before the snow falls. That being said, there are still some jobs that need to be done now that it looks like the cold weather is here to stay.

The most important things are to cover the rose beds and flower bulb beds with straw. With 50 degree weather up until about a week ago, it wouldn't have been good to cover the beds with straw. Now that it is down in the 20s, it is good to do that.

One of the lilies we grew this summer.

We also didn't cover the beehive yet. Again, the sporadically warm weather would have made the covering we put on the hive too hot for the bees.

We also have to get the snowblower out of the barn and closer to the house; and cover it with a tarp so that it is ready to be used for the season.

I also would like to clean out the barn completely before it gets too cold and get all new wood chips down for the horses. Will need to order a shipment of chips while I'm at it.

These are all jobs that we do on our own. We don't hire people to do things that we are capable of doing. We hire people for doing things that are out of our skill set and/or requires specialized knowledge - like electricians and plumbers.

3. According to dietitians surveyed, the most popular health foods for 2018 will be: turmeric, sprouted foods (bean sprouts, breads with sprouted grains, etc), veggies in place of grains, dairy free milk, and pulses (lentils, chickpeas, etc).  What's the first thought that ran through your head when you read this list? Of the foods listed which one might you add to your regular diet? Also, can milk really be dairy free? Is it still milk?

Some of the items are consistent with the Whole30 program and others are not. I did the Whole30 back in October and will be doing another round in January. On it, there's no sugar, grains, corn, beans, soy, or dairy. Basically, most processed food is out and all homemade food is the norm.

A typical meal on the Whole30 program.

I felt great while I was on the Whole30 - more energy, no digestive issues, and lost 8 pounds. Re-introduced foods in November and December that were not part of the Whole30 and noticed that the same challenges I was having before have come back. So, there's definitely food that I can't eat if I want to feel healthy.

Fresh fruit also is good on the Whole30.

This was a combination of strawberries, peaches, and lychee fruit.

So, out of the 2018 health foods, turmeric, bean sprouts, vegetables (with the exception of corn and beans), and dairy-free milk (that has no sugar added and isn't soy or rice) would be fine. I probably wouldn't drink the dairy-free milk as a beverage, but would use it in recipes as needed for liquid.

4. The Pantone Color of the Year for 2018 is Ultra Violet. According to the Pantone site 'Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking pointing us to the future.' What say you? Do you like the color purple? Did you see the movie or read the book-ha!?  Is purple a color you wear often?  If you were in charge of such things what color would you select for 2018?

When I was 8 years old, my family moved to a new home. Each of us kids could choose our own bedroom color. The color I picked: violet. As a teen, I stenciled purple flowers around the top of the walls near the ceiling. There was even purple carpet. 

My bedroom was changed into a sewing room after I went to college. 

The carpet was replaced at some point too.

However, the walls and stenciling - and

even the purple blinds remained.

I still like the color purple, though I would use it more as an accent color than an entire room's color at this point in my life. We have African violets which bloom purple.

I did see the movie The Color Purple when I was in college. It was very moving.

In terms of clothing, I had a purple sweater. However, I donated when I was streamlining my closet using the Konmari method.

If I were in charge of the color selection for 2018, I would pick a color that was unusual. It would be visually pleasing and have a memorable name. "Ultra Violet" seems like such a mundane name for something that's supposed to communicate "originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking."

5. Favorite book read this year?

I've read books this year, but there isn't one that stands out as a favorite one. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Olivia put together this 2,000-piece puzzle last month. It shows the wildlife that is typically seen in each state. There are pictures on the map that show the animals; and charts around the perimeter of the U.S. that name particular animals and what region(s) you can see them.

She glued it together and it is being framed so that the puzzle can be kept in good condition. She likes having a map on the wall plus loves wildlife - so this is the perfect thing for her bedroom.