Domestications

I see that I had loaded these photos days ago, then not added words.

I'm a bit surprised to see that it has been nearly a month since I created a post.

I've slapped a photo or two on my Face Book page, made a few brief comments, all the while missing the centering that comes from sorting my thoughts into whole sentences and paragraphs.

For over a year now, I've had a sense of striving to keep up--a sense of being unsettled.

We are working on our third house renovation and adjusting to the second move within that year.

I daresay that could account for the scattered and sometimes witless impression of spinning in 

slow circles. 

The heavy crop of strawberries has now finished--it must have been perfect strawberry weather--enough gentle rain, warm days, resulting in berries to be picked and prepared for freezing nearly every day for a month.

We have eaten our share--on shortcake biscuits, on lemon cake, sponge cake--eaten them on waffles for breakfast.  At last count, 50 + plus quarts have been stashed in the freezer to be enjoyed in the cold months of winter.

I have kept the smaller of my two sewing machines [the Elna] set up on the table in the dining alcove.

I unearthed a stack of curtain fabric, losing a frustrating amount of time rummaging about in bins, finding elusive chunks of yardage in the basement room where oddments have been heaped.  These were pieces of fabric which I was sure were in the bins stacked in my yet to be wired sewing room.

The first window to be curtained was the east one in the pantry. The window is not due east--in fact the house sits between the two wooded ridges catty-corner to the points of the compass.

This window does catch the brunt of the morning sun bouncing off the shiny roof of the shop which is a few yards across the graveled drive at the lower level entry.

I dragged out a pair of lined curtains which were made to hang in the entry of our last Wyoming house. I ripped off a border along the center edges of the panels, refinished the lining and hems, and achieved a rather gaudy but effective hanging for the pantry.

The pantry shelves appear to have been cobbled together by someone who was less than a skilled carpenter.

The walls were painted in the ubiquitous blue semi-gloss favored by the Amish, odd bits of 'trim' were haphazardly nailed to support the sturdy wooden shelves.

At some point Jim will rework the shelving for me.

I have always appreciated the convenience of a pantry.

The New England farmhouses of my youth had them--some small and simple, others rather grandly arranged with shelves and high cupboards to hold the stores a rural family needed for the long winters when trips to the market would be few and far between.

Jim incorporated pantries into the design of the Wyoming houses.

My collection of large crocks cannot be arranged above the kitchen cabinets which reach tight to the 8 ft ceiling.

For now, they are ranged on the floor in a corner of the pantry.

The repurposing of the curtains and tidying of the pantry shelves took up most of a morning.

I wish I could account for the hours of other days.

I've  made lined valances for the master bedroom, shortened two pairs of charity shop curtains to fit under the printed toppers--soft creamy cotton in a loose weave.

I made curtains for the adjoining bathroom--while I couldn't match the fabric of the altered curtains, the off white cotton which I had in my stash goes well.

I have sanded and applied polyurethane to two vanities and a set of drawers for the bathrooms of the lower farmhouse.

I have pottered in the garden, setting out perennials.

Fussing over seedlings on the side porch.

My three small rosemarys have been given fresh soil, the tiny lavenders pricked out and established in a motley collection of pots and old plastic trays.

It is a season that rushes from springtime to full blown summer heat.

I cannot keep up!