If your cat is snoring…

May 12, 2026May 12, 2026 ~ carin ~ 1 Comment

Farmers’ Almanac notes found while clearing out files:

Get the compost off to a good start, add wood ashes from fireplace.

Air bubbles in seawater over clam beds indicate rain.

Expect good news if your right knee itches.

A baby causes its parents to lose 450 to 700 hours of sleep in its first year.

It’s good luck to meet a chimney sweep on the way to your wedding.

If your cat is snoring expect foul weather.

Rain is on its way when chickens roll in the sand.

The narrower the band on the wooly bear caterpillar, the harder the coming winter.

To soothe an ant bite rub it with a slice of cucumber.

To avoid nightmares, smell your socks before going to bed.

To remove rust stains, boil rhubarb for 20 minutes then remove stalks, add garment and let soak ’til rust disappears, then wash as usual.

If windy on St. Stephan’s Day (December 26) it will be a bad year for grapes.

A dream of doughnuts may mean you will soon be taking a trip.

Groundhogs can climb trees.

Rub knife with cooking oil to prevent sticking when chopping dried fruit.

A shark’s favourite sandwich is peanut butter and jellyfish.

With thanks to WikiCommons for the image of Rosanna Forster from Kent, England, a chimney sweep, carrying on her husband's business while he serves abroad during WWI.

summer postcards: I saw these questions somewhere and answered them because I love everything about the Where and the How of the places each of us live and could talk about it almost endlessly (but not to worry… I’ve kept this short)

July 24, 2022July 24, 2022 ~ carin ~ 6 Comments

curtains - Copy

One thing you love about your house.

The curtains billow in a breeze.

One thing you’d like to change about it (that is changeable).

If my bathroom was bright green and white or turquoise and white (or possibly bright yellow and white) tiles I wouldn’t complain.

And one thing you’d like to change about it (that is not changeable).

A place to put up an indoor winter clothesline (but that would require a proper basement and one of the things I love is the rather improper basement).

Where does the sun rise and set?

Rises behind the forest across the road where I’m told there used to be a mill — the millpond is just around the corner and has a bench for sitting and trout for fishing. I can see the sun rise from my bedroom and the light also floods the living room and greets me in a most delightful way when I go downstairs. It rises above 200 berry bushes and a meadow of wild thyme.

What does your kitchen most often smell like?

Currently possibly cat food as our cat recently had dental work and there are sometimes six bowls of different flavours and textures (pate, gravy, gravy and chunks) spread out for her to nibble on as she fancies. This is the equivalent of giving ice cream after tonsils.

Where to do you like to sit (or be) when it rains?

In the cottage, attached to the kitchen. The cottage is where the curtains billow.

Do you have a small sanctuary of your own, a chair, a window, a room?

Many. Each serving a different purpose.

How do you know you’re home?

I read something once that said the trick is to find a place where you fit. That’s the whole enchilada right there. When you fit, everything feels right and looks beautiful. And the thought of bathroom tiles is insignificant to the pleasure of being able to breathe. When you fit, so does everything else.

♥

wordless wednesday (summer postcards)

September 18, 2019September 19, 2019 ~ carin ~ 4 Comments

I have so much to say about the joys and benefits of hanging laundry… the memories of the line between two pear trees in the backyard where I grew up, the way my mum would hang tea towels and shirts and sheets a certain way that seemed ridiculous to me at the time and how I now do it exactly as she did. How there are ever fewer lines in the world and where did they all go and why, and how delightful and healthy it seems whenever you see one, whenever you see a tiny slice of someone’s life on display… that sense of connection… if only by knickers and tee shirts.