Good morning sunshine

from my house to yours

and Happy Birthday America!

the art of letter writing

there is nothing better than "good mail" in the post

a fine letter from a good friend

i sit down immediately and devour its contents

i have just sent letters off to my nieces at camp

their first summer in the woods

i loved camp and so did my daughter - she is a counselor now -

how time flies...

we sent goodies...

take a peak...

i also sent each girl a camp journal

i created these each summer for my daughter

and now i sell them in my etsy shop (see left margin)

their mother suggested that the girls complete their camp journals

as a birthday present for her...

which is the day the girls arrive home from camp.

i hope they do.

such wonderful memories ... look at all these camp journals from miss is

No rain on Sunday

Tent left over from a shindig the night before.

Ambler Farm: one of my favorite places.

Here is my winter post on the farm.

To celebrate the fine day -

the first day sans rain in ages,

miss is suggested a picnic

then a walk.

This is heaven for Libby.

Her ears flapping in the wind,

looks like she could take flight.

Here is our double figure 8 loop

and looking back.

Beautiful.

I just love the lollipop trees.

We picked dessert right off the blackberry bushes.

delish

headed for the second loop

watched these gorgeous butterflies connect

then visited the animals

new chickies - I counted 28

Libby loves the new lambies

they're old friends now

Next weekend: the garden.

We buy wonderful organic veggies here all summer.

This is where the knit wits scarecrow will reside.

The knit wits are at it again

What's this you say?
A template for our next charitable project.

The knit wits are creating a scarecrow for Ambler Farm here in Wilton.

It will make its debut at Ambler Farm Day, October 3 2009

We were inspired by this scarecrow from Atlanta

created by the Atlanta Knitting Guild

and donated to the Atlanta Textile Museum.

Here is a picture of Ambler Farm - to be continued -

It's that time again

another installment 

from Maira Kalman's

Pursuit of Happiness

click here

or get a taste from below

Curiosity is the key to a wonderful life

and don't forget to take good, long walks

and reading

lots of summer reading planned

Thict Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen poet, says "the most valuable gift you can give someone is your attention".  This I learned recently from the blog entitled Hygge House.

The danger with our new technology is that you become less available to your children, your spouse, your friends and partners in your real-life world.

So as Summer begins: 

listen to hear what people are saying 

pay attention to the people you are with

consider mindfulness

Lady Slipper from garden of earthly delights - 

taken at RDC during the Squam Art Workshops.

I can still remember seeing my first lady slipper

as a young girl,

while playing in the woods 

in the Boston suburbs. 

A lady who was hiking nearby saw me admiring the flower 

and told me it was a rare flower

and warned me never to pick a Lady Slipper,

even if it was for my mother.

The next Lady Slipper I saw was about 35 years later while

hiking in New Preston, Connecticut

with my daughter who was almost the same age as I 

when I first discovered the flower.

Round and round the circle goes.

The Lady Slipper is the state wild flower of New Hampshire.