My loom

Women have been weaving for thousands of years and until recently they all used what was around them to build their looms with. It is possible to still do this today. This loom is a discarded picture frame and the remaining loom components are various weights of cardboard, string, and masking tape- things I already had. The loom is sitting on my kitchen table and the weaving is 3" across. It is a rug for my daughter's dollhouse. Sent from my iPhone

Mittens and a saw

Bob Dustrude's quick action buck saw is a wonderful tool however I find the square tubing uncomfortable to hold with bare hands. (I have average sized hands.) I knit these mittens from two strands of leftover worsted wool using 2.75 mm double pointed needles. They are very heavy and they are perfect when I need to use this saw in the winter months. The saw is foldable and built to last- I have given it plenty of use this winter after having to recut much of my firewood. Any blade will do although it would be wonderful to find a blade that I could resharpen myself - instead of the disposable blades which is the only option I have been able to find. There is a wooden tensioning device not shown at the top of the photo to tighten/ loosen the blade.

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Snowed in

On Thursday after pushing the wheelbarrow home from town I saw three robins in the yard. Are they not the harbinger of spring? I hope they quickly turned around and flew back from where they came from. On friday it started snowing. It snowed and it snowed until the roads became impassable and than it snowed some more. There is no snow plow on the island so it will not be removed until it melts. With the freezing temperatures it has stuck around longer than I can ever remember. There is no vehicle traffic and no boat traffic either but there is an abundance of tranquility. This makes me so content. All I hear are bird wings, snowflakes and silence.

"We need to find God and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature- trees, flowers, grasshopper grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence......We need silence to be able to touch souls." Mother Teresa
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The fridge - part 1

Propane fridges are truly wonderful because they are silent but they are also expensive to purchase. An electric fridge isn't an option because they use too much electricity- which is something I have very little of. On Jan 21 my old and used propane fridge quit working. I cleaned the chimney out but that made no difference so I put all the remaining food outside on the deck in totes. The weather is close to the same temperature as a fridge and that is a blessing. Another blessing is that this happened shortly before a planned town trip and no food was wasted and I thank God for that. However, I postponed a town trip so we could eat all the remaining food up. Both gas servicemen are on holidays so there is little to do except pray, wait and trust God. Whichever way this goes I have complete confidence in God to provide because that has been His track record. For anyone who is facing uncertainty I find Philippians 4:6,7 to be a gem. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." I am living in that peace and it could only be given by a God who loves and cares.

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