How Busy Are You?  Too busy to read this post? (I doubt it)
One thing I am too busy to do is go to Facebook, which I probably will delete soon, after seeing it pop up on all my internet searches.  Enough.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/?ref=opinion

                                              From the NY Times

Sleepers Wake!

Advent begins, and I have this chorale tune as my ringtone, which, by the way awakens me each morning!

Summer

As summer draws to a close it's fun to think of those sweet days.

Teacher Gifts

Gift to Staff: sippy cup with peppermints

This empty bag once held home-made toffee eaten by teenaged daughter while I slept.


Whimsical Quilted Change Purse



Passion Fruit Soap and Moisturizing Lotion







the classic: anti-bacterial soap: pomme/savon

Here comes the fun: Starbucks, Barnes and Noble and Panera!

Vogue Gallery

Vogue Gallery
This is so Christmasy!
Click on Vogue Gallery just above and take the tour.

Hike Lake County!

Maggie and I took our first hike today at Van Patten Woods. Click on the title to link to the Lake County Forest Preserves and join the fun.

The Farming Life

"To many people, the rural life stands for the simple life, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a life of almost
infinite complexity-not the social complexity of the city, but
something no less intricate, no less demanding. So how do I
welcome you here? Perhaps the best way is to guide you
through the chores......" V.K.

Verlyn Klinkenborg farms and writes for The New York Times. He is a scholar, teacher, and keeper of the land. I'm just getting to know him after reading his editorial Water and Grasses in the July 5th, 2010 edition. Here is an archive of articles published in the Times.

However, the most exciting discovery was a link to his
2006 blog entitled appropriately: The Rural Life. This, Reader, is treasure! Here one finds entries from the 1789 diary of Gilbert White, English naturalist, curate and author of The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
placed alongside Klinkenborg's own observations from his farm in New York. This is pure genius and joy. I haven't finished reading it, but it spans a mere seven months until the realities of actually maintaining a farm take over.



Selborne