Some of you know, some of you don’t, but we took a grand family journey back to Arizona over the last week.  Good medicine for the slow drag of winter come February.  I feel cryptic and filled with color, a feeling almost forgotten in my three year baby-growing respite from the road.

Simple sensations of home are fresh and wonderful once again.

Touching :: The faces of my sweet beauties, who are upside down and inside out from three days of confinement.

Tasting :: The memory of carne asada.  And salsa.  And fresh tortillas.  Sighhhhhhhhh….

Smelling :: Fresh mountain air ~ clean, campfirey, and instinctively familiar on a deep and satisfying level.

Hearing :: The preening of birds and the purring of cats.

Seeing :: The beloved big skies of home.

Stay tuned for pictures.  Lots of pictures.

I take it back about not making any New Year’s Resolutions.  The other day we were out playing under the blueberry sky again and I stumbled across a solution that solved a lot more than my query about how to make the mountains look bigger with my simple camera…

Aim higher.

The winter lasts a long time in Montana.

A looooooong time.

We are currently in the throngs of Winter 2, the post-Christmas lull before the real deep-freeze madness sets in.

This year we have been graced with plenty of still, blue skies and precocious black birds to waken our dreary eyes.  A refreshing preparation for our next season.

Still Winter.

Hang in there, say the black birds. Make new plans for gardens and summertime frills, fix the parts of your insides that ask for attention still.

Thank you for your message, Brother Birds.  You hang in there too.

Before Annabelle was born, I laid out a plan of what I thought I could actually achieve with an infant and a toddler underfoot.

I knew that physically creating would be a challenge (to say the least…) so while she was very, very tiny and liked to sleep all the time, I learned to make my own handspun yarn.  Once the wheel became too exciting for tiny hands to resist, I moved into the next phase of the plan, switched gears and focused on laying out the website of my dreams.  I have been deeply immersed in learning the skills to make this happen–not an easy feat.  It’s just about there though and I’m pretty satisfied with the overall appearance and set-up (like the bare bones of my gallery!  take a look!)

And so comes another shift.

The time has come for me to drag my mothering hormones away from the children (sometimes kicking and screaming–me, not them) and into the studio for a few hours a week to hit the machines.  We have a summer market coming up you know…but don’t say that out loud because I start getting a little frayed around the edges.  The plan was to begin creating inventory in January and I honestly can’t stop myself.  I just walk into my studio, sit down, and automatically start stitching things together.

Slow and steady.  That’s me.

And that’s a tall order for a woman whose mind follows the pace of the speedy little rabbit.

This year I plan to offer a wide selection of handspun yarns, a variety of knitting and crochet accessories (like the hook and needle cases), and a limited collection of handmade clothing of my own design.

Which just might utilize my skills in hand dyeing and/or applique, like this custom skirt in the works:

And due to the unexpected arrival of the girls last fall, you just might see an appearance of some handwoven goods.  Like belts.  Maybe.

So click your heels three times, whisper a spell and it might come true………

In her true style, Montana has welcomed the dawn of a new season with a christening of snow.  This is a regular event on this side of the Divide, even during Summer Solstice.

It has often been said that those who live here are a tough breed.  Or crazy.  A bit of both is probably most accurate.

While the good-bye to warm weather and sunny skies is a tearful one, we gracefully open our arms in welcome to Autumn.  She brings good things.

Like baking.

And knitting.

And apples.

And hats.

Amidst all of the planning for the summer market, nursing*nursing*nursing, my sad attempts of keeping up with a super lively toddler (remember when he couldn’t move from one spot?  those days are looooong gone), budgeting my time wisely, and just getting it all done, I almost forgot about um, Summer in Montana.  Silly me.

Now pass me a bouquet of heaven and tell me to sit down and enjoy my sun tea.  As soon as it stops snowing, that is.

*And here is another of my summer assignments:  it begins with a colour.  More about that later this week!*

A blanket of snow quietly greeted us this morning…

…and set the perfect tone for some time snatched away to devour a bundle of handspun yarn.