This makes me happy

Fresh strawberries

oranges, bananas

cottage cheese

ice water

+

 British Country Living

=

Happiness

Pots waiting to be planted with herbs in the kitchen window

 question is; what herbs this year?

Library books

The look on these Norwegian dudes

too funny

LOVE this picture
and the projects

I also found a great new blog for arts & crafts

Skip to my Lou

I am definitely doing THIS with my kids for their teachers

  SILVER WARE WIND CHIME

 fun project for Foghorn and me to do for

 Base Camp Cafe

&

the garden

 THIS for my cucina!

I might actually get organized

 these TUNES lately

happy happy joy joy!

Love to all

 peace out

 bean sprout.

Montana Country

Don't expect fashion; do expect character.

 ~ New York Times

rolling hills

big blue sky

soft white clouds drifting

 champagne air

blue birds singing and fluttering about

cattle grazing

 green pasture

 foothills of the Rockies

beautiful old red barns

a home

 a place of birth

 death

and

 keeper

of the farms
story

lodge pole pine, ponderosa, birch, aspen, tamarack

old rusty barbwire fencing

 keeping something in

 or maybe something out...

dirt roads

 leading home

 or

no where at all

the mountains

after all that is what Montana is named after

their majestic beauty

and of course

the wild life!

where folks have grit

love of wide open spaces

isolation

preservation

room to think

and dream

getting yesterdays news

slower pace

bad cell phone connection

 jeans & t-shirt

muddy boots

ample supply of coffee

an occational bear walking thru town

whipping winds

long winters

eternal optimism that someday the weather will get better

with

warmer sunnier days to come

I wouldn't trade it for the world!

I'm in love with Montana.

For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection.

But with Montana it is love.

 And it's difficult to analyze love when you're in it.

 - John Steinbeck

Pipe dream cafe

Yep, it's been a detour alright.

5 months worth

Road closed?

Not a chance

we are battling on.

Endless meetings with the city

people who love to hear their own voices

 jibber jabber

Good Grief.

  3/4 inch water pipe to

a whopping

1 inch pipe

Did you know we are part of the beautification team

of our little mountain town?

somehow we need to pay for all this

so

  Pierre is digging for gold

these are the floor joists

 he had to cut a hole in the floor and dig a 4 ft hole where the pipes meet up

Public parking is next

and here is the motherlode

  the main pipe that they're

connecting too.

ain't this a beauty

 this is the machine that will shoot the pipe right in to connect underneath the cafe

the pipe

the 1 inch pipe.

and we thought we just needed a little renno.

BRING IT ON!

Pierre came home last night after a 12 hour workday

 full of dirt & dust

looked at me

 with a big smile

"I like what money can do

- it gets things done"

Nothing makes me me feel happier than to see my husband happy!

it has been a long road.

 but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel

or should I say water at the end of the pipe?

sTreSSeD OuT KniTTeR

 

Working on my cardi with the over dyed yarn

 Second sleeve

My hands are feeling it.

A lot

 These days I am knitting like crazy- stressed out.

***

Today the $12000.00

1 inch water pipes go in

Base Camp Cafe

 Traffic will be blocked off the whole day in town

I have been waiting for this moment

for over 5 months.

I can't believe that this dang pipe dream cafe of ours is going to take place.

We both feel this town is run my some Mafioso hillbillies.

Good Grief!

Book

 yes,

 not much time for reading but enjoying this immensely that mom sent me

 It is an inspiring Swedish book on interior design (my 2nd passion)

new, fresh and super awesome ideas

"Inred lantligt pa ditt eget satt"

Decorate your own country style

she up cycles, crochet, paints ...oh man everything that I am into

Tack snalla mamma!

This is what I feel my life is right now

Chaos

And I am not going to lie

not the good happy happy joy joy chaos

 the

crazy

messy

exhuasting

 rip my hair out

hectic chaos

A mix of Pierres new buisnes

my dad

kids and spring

I am not a happy camper.

Dreaming of sunshine, turquoise waters, sandy beaches

bikini

and

ice cold ice tea

 Calgon take me away!

Joining Ginny today.

The BET & the " BUTCHA "

So this is our soccer fanatic

 Julian.

before

he made a bet with his teacher that Barca (Barcelona) would beat Chelsea last week.

 Feeling pretty confident this kid made a bet that

 if

 they lost he would shave his head

 as would his teacher if Chelsea lost.

You guessed it!

This explains this horrible haircut.

Sunday evening Chef "helped" Jules get the look

after a delicious eveing meal and a few beers

 he went to work. 

chef...

I mean;

Butcha

 as he is now fondly called-

 needs only the simplest of tools to get the job done

 like  my large fiskars scissors

 no need for delicate fancy sheers here...

2 words:

-  Friar Tuck  -

comes to mind!

 snip snip here

 snip snip there

Good grief Jules...you have no idea .

...well then again, maybe you do!

 Butcha...hard at it.

He even was so impressed with his baber skills
 he was thinking maybe he'd change careers?

gulp.

 By the way- this is how we cut hair Montucky style

 in shorts

on a bar stool

 under the Big sky

 This is our soccer fanatic

~ after

A little morning photo of the oldest and the youngest before school....

-guess who'll keep their trap shut this Wednesday

when Barca & Chelsea  play again?

 all bets are off!

Color me happy Granny!

 Lots of stash yarn can be found around here lately

and I have a thing for granny squares.

"wool"
granny squares.

 not neon colored "red heart acrylic yarn" granny squares.

I finished this 2 years ago

( I think I posted this on Bloom, my old blog)

anyway, it's a favorite around here

 between the kids

dogs and cat

I lurv color

lots of color!

Right now favorites are hot pink, fuchsia

tomato red

so I guess that is reflected in

 this....

 

 

 I am making another blanket

 or

maybe some pillows with my stash yarn

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. 

~Claude Monet

Get off the couch Mimi!

Do you have a stash basket?

Unhurried

Maybe Mrs. Spring has forgotten us here in Montana?

It seems as if she is taking her sweet time
getting here.

I probably have something to learn from her

 patience

" Ta et pust i bakken"

( take a breath while climbing the mountain)

as my dad says.

Weekend warrior mode is on;

painting our bed

and

sidetables

spring cleaning

wash windows

screens

curtains

ready for those fresh warm breezes to enter

...but I guess all in due time

 

Wishing you all an unhurried and lovely "spring" weekend.

 

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. 

~Lao Tzu

Thrifty Thursday

Chef came home yesterday and said:

-Look Honey...I found you a water feature!

Needless to say I was thrilled!

This weekend I had been looking up and down in all the shops in the area with no luck!

I wanted something zen- y for the living room.
  and love the peaceful sound of trickling water.

and it's a beautiful Japanese Pagoda !

Chef couldn't be stopped.

He also found this really cool "thing"

this "cool thing" has a name;

butter bell

they use it in France to keep butter.

" A French butter dish is a container used to keep butter fresh and soft without refrigeration. This late 19th century French-designed pottery crock has two parts: a base with a hollow cylinder attached to it, and a cup that also serves as a lid. The cup holds the packed in butter, and the base holds water"

~Wikipedia

Hip hooray
 for thrify thursday
 and
Hip Hooray for chef!

-Did you find any treasures this week?