FuoriBorgo

From the Dutch countryside

Meet Pien:

 

(all photos except for the last one are Pien's)

She's not afraid of cold or snow!

   

She's not afraid of sharks.  Especially the kind her husband bakes for their son's birthday.

 
And she's not afraid of work, either.  This is a detail of one of her handmade dresses - just look at the choice of fabrics, and how she worked on matching the colors of the seams with the embroidery (more here). 

Pien and her young family have recently moved to the heart of the Dutch countryside, to follow their dream of running a small farmstead and living immersed in nature (you can read about them here).

And a few weeks after I received her handmade bag, another package came for me in the mail, containing a most unexpected present: a collection of unique fabrics and ribbons which Pien spontaneously sent me, with a note suggesting that I "have fun with it and make some more pretty things."  This tells you the kind of person Pien is!

For my crochet hooks

An amazing package came in the mail for me. 

Packed inside a bulk box of Sun Maid raisins wrapped in out-of-date maps was a gorgeous crayon caddy, that Nicola of Which name? had hand-made out of salvaged eucalyptus wood (here 's where she tells how it came about).  And I must have raved about it so loudly, that she very kindly sent me one.  My very own crayon caddy.  

Except that I don't use crayons all that often, so I gave it to Rebecca for her crayons.  But, truth be told, I wasn't entirely happy with this arrangement.

I really liked that caddy, made by a friend.  True, I don't use crayons all that often, but I do crochet a lot.

 

 

So I reclaimed my present.  I think it looks perfect: my very own crochet hook caddy, handmade by a friend.

And Rebecca?

She can always find something to play with and be happy about, this girl of mine, and old family doilies stacked on top of her head made her quickly forget that my crochet hook caddy had briefly been hers.

Nicola takes custom orders at her shop here.  

One full year

One year and 238 posts later, and I've loved it all.  I've loved it because of you, who take the time to come here and read and look and share your thoughts in your comments.  Thank you!

When I started blogging a year ago I was just coming to the end of a long and difficult tunnel: stillbirth and pregnancy loss (here), Rebecca's premature birth (here) and her life-threatening health issues (here).  I never imagined how blogging could rapidly become a meaningful part of my day: how opening a window from my isolated rural village onto this virtual community would help me connect with so many special people I've come to care deeply about.  People who voice their thoughts in memorable images, deep and moving narratives, funny stories, creative projects, and quests for improving their lives and the world.

Visiting your blogs is for me like spending moments of my day sitting with a friend.

Discovering flowers

Maybe because I was poor, there were no flowers where I lived.  The first to bring me flowers was Bella.  Then, in France ... One can reflect and think at length on the meaning of flowers, but for me they are Life itself in its luminous joy.  It's not possible to do without flowers.  Flowers can make you forget a dramatic moment, but they can also re-evoke it.

Marc Chagall, 1931

As we learned at the exhibition we saw the other day, Marc Chagall, who was born in a poor Jewish family in Belarus, only discovered flowers and rich colors when he moved to the Mediterranean.  It was then that his art truly bloomed.  What a wonderful journey through life Chagall had, following flowers and color in his art! 

Driving back home through the cloudy, brown, bare, wintry landscape, all those luminous flowers and vibrant colors were still fresh in my mind's eye.  Once I got home, I started searching out all the flowers in our house.

 

 

And as the flower mood continued, I baked some flower-shaped cookies, while reading Chagall's autobiography.

I think we can always discover flowers of one kind or another, even in the middle of winter.

Under my tree: from my blog friends

Under my tree this year, I had a couple of packages that came through the mail from blog friends.  Can there be a better surprise than a package that comes from far away, and travels clear across the world to reach you? 

 

Lecia's calendar with her spectacular photography didn't stay under the tree very long.  It was immediately displayed on a wall, then taken down moments later by Nicholas so that he could fill in the birthdays and ages of our family and friends (Lecia's calendar is available here).  Always interested in numbers and dates, he's been filling in our calendars for many years ... In fact, I'm pretty sure this is how he started to learn his letters and numbers!

 

The sweetest little package from Ida also came in the mail, in a box decorated by lace:  it was a locket, with one of her photos inside.  Rebecca found it wonderful - a necklace with a secret inside - and immediately put it on, and kept opening and closing it (fortunately, it's delicate but sturdy!).  Because she was a little worried that I might take it away from her, she refused to model for a photo: to see more of Ida's lockets you'll have to go here.

I wonder whether my far-away friends knew that the packages addressed to me would be so appreciated by our whole family! 

When less is more

 

It's a new year in agriculture, too, which starts with the pruning of grape vines and olive trees on the local hillsides.  As I was looking at the vines behind our house, shears in hand and ready to start cutting, I realized how much 10 years of gardening and growing in this place have taught me about life.  And it struck me that this process of cutting back the vegetation so that the plant can thrive and yield a bigger crop was, in fact, an important lesson to start the New Year with.  I'm posting on When less is more: pruning at the co-op today.  

Crafting Christmas decorations

This weekend started a festive month of celebrations for our family, which begins with Rebecca's mid-December birthday, continues with Christmas, and ends with Jeremy's birthday in January.  Now that Rebecca has had her big day, we are turning our attention to the upcoming holiday season.  I'm posting on Crafting Christmas decorations at the co-op, where I'll be honored to feature creative projects by other bloggers.

Morning magic

These days I wake up before dawn, when the house is asleep, dark and cold, and the owls are still hooting outside.  I go to the kitchen and start a moka pot of espresso coffee.  While I wait for it to be ready, I build a fire. 

And then my day begins: a hot cup of espresso in my hand, the fire crackling tentatively in the fireplace, I look out the window and watch the light change, as the morning comes.

In the still gray sky, over the sleepy dark mountains, the first ray of sunlight touches the tip of a birch tree, where a sparrow always likes to watch the everyday morning magic.

Then it reaches the hydrangea bush, making its now wilted flowers glow.

And only moments later, the full sunlight floods across the valley and illuminates the loquat tree and its fragrant white flowers: the last flowers of this season, and the first to bear fruits in spring time.

Everyday I watch the magic of fall sunlight wake up our world, as I wait for the fire to grow and warm up our house.

On Halloween

Remember the wild boar mandible the boys found in the woods (here)?  It's still with us, and tonight is its night!  I'm posting at the Co-op on Simple, Green, Frugal and Festive. 

When heating with wood

I'm posting over at co-op today on our experience with heating with wood, and with making our homemade firestarters here.