Tuesday Tunes

I held the stars to light where you are
When your unfeigned heart called to me through the dark
Soaked in the sound that rose from the ground

To Be With You - The Honey Trees 

I climbed this hill watching so still
I took to the fears of all I held dear
But up on this height, a majestic sight
Flooded the skies
And how I could feel you near

Oh I could sail the world
Search through the darkest waters but
I'd never find
These golden eyes

I held the stars to light where you are
When your unfeigned heart called to me through the dark
Soaked in the sound that rose from the ground
There I could feel
I felt, I felt you near

Oh I could sail the world
Search through the darkest waters but
I'd never find
These golden eyes

Oh I'd wait for the seas to part
To be with you

Oh I could sail the world
Search through the darkest waters

Oh I could sail the world
Search through the darkest waters but
I'd never find
These golden eyes

It's Getting Hot In Here

We've dreamt of the prospect of putting a wood stove in the house since we moved in last summer.  Tim & I both grew up with wood heat and have fond memories of the big wood stoves in our homes cranking out nice, comforting heat in the middle of winter.  The power outage on Halloween last fall reminded us that a wood stove would be a nice, almost necessary addition to our home.  Our first winter here, and the propane bill bumped the wood stove up to Home Improvement #1.

With some great help from the folks at The Stove Shop, generous recycling of unwanted tile from other friends, and Tim's DIY hearth tiling, we welcomed our wood stove this week.  Below is the chronicle of our wood stove installation.  Who knew some peace of mind could be this comforting and pretty?

Toddlers are really handy helpers.

 Goodbye Carpet!

 Laying the cement board.

 Tiling!!! 

 Grouting...I did not envy Tim at this point in the project.

 Almost finished hearth

 

  Our new chimney.  

Our woodstove!!! Nate calls it the Wood Oven, Syda calls it "HOT!"

(Yes, we are going to finish the hearth.  It needs a border around the edges and it'll be done)

Tuesday Tunes

I Found A Body - Tan Vampires


This is a great song on its own, but I also picked it because it's from a local band. So, for those who can, get to Fury's on Saturday and check them out! Another bonus for me is that this video features our old haunts. See that big pile of scrap metal to the right of the bridge at about 1:07? Behind it you can see the river, we lived on the other side of it. I think our roof is probably in that shot somewhere.

Playground FTW

Ostara

The earth is cool and dark,
and far below, new life begins.
May the soil be blessed with fertility and abundance,
with rains of life-giving water,
with the heat of the sun,
with the energy of the raw earth.
May the soil be blessed
as the womb of the land becomes full and fruitful
to bring forth the garden anew.

~ A Garden Blessing for Ostara

It certainly feels more like the Summer around here lately than the first day of Spring, but we'll welcome the sun in any way. We didn't do our traditional celebration today, it felt too rushed with Tim's work schedule and Ostara falling on a weekday (though it often does). We've put off our celebration with eggs, dinner, and such until this weekend, but we certainly did welcome Spring today.

We spent a lot of time outside, working on reclaiming our yard, pushing the dead sticks and trees into the woods and carving out some space for ourselves. We also started our first seedlings for our very first garden. We'll see how it all works out, I do not expect much success the first year or even the first few years, but it feels good to be starting. Those first few scratches into the Earth, rain boots covered in mud, the first glimpses of buds on the Lilac trees...all promising signs of what's to come.

Nine

I'm going to try not too much about Ben's birthday. It's starting to feel a little strange writing about him on here - since he's older and this blog gets shared via Facebook (that may change). I don't want to ramble on here and embarrass him and at the same time, I use this blog to mark the big milestones in our life. Hmm, the quandary.

For him, it's a birthday - a big deal, a fun day, an excuse to eat lots of sugar, the fun of receiving presents and everyone celebrating HIM for the day. I'm so thankful for Ben in many ways that I never expected to be. It's just a day for him, but for me, it's the day that marks the start of our family. The day is still all about him, but when it comes up every year I can't help but take a minute and look at all of us. Thank you for bringing us here Ben. Thank you so much!

Finally