"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to the body and soul.” -- John Muir 
Chers Amis,
Happy February! Happy 2010! To say that I am behind a bit on the blog front would be an understatement, but life goes on au moulin and each day seems to leave a bit more moss on the wood and a few more cracks in the drive. The old lady is getting a bit tired and needs some work so dh and I have decided to take the plunge and do some much-needed bricolage and limited remodeling in 2010.
We have dubbed it the “Year of the house.” We have so much we need to do and a very limited budget considering the scope and even less time (and experience), so this will be an adventure. I use this half optimistically, half sarcastically. I really want to try to share some of our projects, resources, and results. It should result in a positive transformation. Here are our basic projects in no real order:
- replace crippled, aging garage doors and add second opener
- Have house and front porch painted (this will NOT be DIY given the 3 stories and large amount of carpentry needed due to bees, trees, and woodpeckers. No joke. I’ll take pictures. I should have known that the gentle tapping last year was not just Robert Downey trying to get the ladies’ attention)
- stone path from garage to deck
- redo roof of deck overhang (part of our deck is covered)
- re-gravel and grade driveway
- replace drafty, moldy! windows in Master Bedroom and Dining room
- hardwood in dining room and kitchen
- add wainscoting in dining room
- make new window treatments for DR
- paint all downstairs molding and doors white to match new windows
- add new decorative moldings around entryway
- move Washer and dryer to basement from pantry
- redo kitchen – gut totally saving only dishwasher and fridge.
Whew! I am tired already, but excited. The first project – garage doors!
à la prochaine!
–Marjorie
PS – This picture was taken of the end of our drive on January 8th when Atlanta received a stunning (ha!) 1 inch of snow. Unfortunately, it did leave a thick coating of ice on our road that did not melt for 5 days and almost trapped us in the neighborhood!
Chers Amis,
On this Feast of the Guardian Angels 2009 I thought I would replay a post from 2007 about a beautiful craft the girls and Pippin did with their liturgical Craft Club. Like most of my posts from my Typepad days, all the photos had ‘fallen out’ so I have reinserted them. If you are looking for a fun craft for this day or looking for something you can do for Christmas, I highly recommend these plates. Ours were small for display, but you could easily adapt this for a larger serving platter as a gift. I hope you are enjoying this special day!
–Marjorie
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Chers Amis,
Our Liturgical Craft club met for the first time in late September to help the girls prepare to celebrate the glory of the (then) upcoming feasts of the Archangels and Guardian Angels. The hostess had chosen to present a lesson on the hierarchy of angels and to teach the children how to make a beautiful decoupaged glass plate. It was such a
wonderful craft that I had to share it, late though my posting may be.
The goals of the club are to teach the children about the liturgical significance of the coming month, provide an opportunity for them to get crafty, creative, possibly messy, and enthousiastic about their faith surrounded by good friends, and to make something beautiful that can be displayed on family altars/mantles/shelves during October as a reminder of the season/teacing. The monthly themes were selected to match the dedication of the coming month and paired with a picture book from Cay Gibson’s fantastic Catholic Mosaic reading list. The decoupage plates decorated with emblems of our was a perfect project to go along with My Guardian Dear. Disclaimer: I did not lead or organize or design the cool craft/activities for this month’s meeting. TOTAL hat tip to Lisa G. who graciously opened her home to 13 sticky, glitter encrusted, paint splattered children and their siblings. She did this with great grace and aplomb despite the fact she was headed out of town for a camping trip in N. Georgia upon our messy departure. Lisa, you are awesome!!! ) 
For complete instructions, click on the link in the first paragraph, but here is a quick overview.
- Select a glass plate and measure the diameter of the center and width of the border/rim.
- Find a picture/motif to serve as the main theme for your plate and any extra embellishments. We chose angels. If necessary, resize to fit and cut out.
- Clean any residue from plate surface with rubbing alcohol and let dry.
- Apply a thin coat of modge-poge or similar decoupage glue on the BOTTOM of the plate. The design is applied so that it is visible through the glass. DO not apply glue to the plate’s surface
- Place your picture/motif FACE DOWN on the glue. You should see your design through the top of the plate. (Don’t think this is obvious to a 4 year old who already her sights on the glitter.)
- Use the same technique to add any other paper embellishments or glitter.
- Let dry and apply a second coat over the back of the picture/embellishment.
- When dry you can over any empty space with either colored tissue paper with another coat of glue, or try your hand at painting the glass with enamel glass paints from your craft store.
- Let dry Turn over and enjoy.
All the kids were thrilled with their creations and the moms were pretty impressed too. When we got home I sprayed a final coat of gold paint over the back of the plates to cover and protect any exposed paper and fill in any gaps. It was great fun and like our decoupage craft for the Assumption, this could be used for any feast day or season. I can already see handmade Christmas gift possibilities . . .
PS – Leslie, post pictures of your glittery creations and I’ll link to them!
Chers Amis,
My dh has worked hard to rebuild the steps to our front porch. The pre-paint construction is finished except for a small piece of m
olding that will run along the bottom. My job last night was to measure and mark the molding. Just as I was finishing, a small movement on the underside of the cedar-siding caught my eye.
It was a gravid female praying mantis laying her egg case, her ootheca. Isn’t she a beauty! Now imagine this upside down. I flipped the picture so you could see her more easily, but she was actually holding on to the wood and carefully sculpting her egg case upside down protecting it from wind and water during the winter.
We have found numerous oothecas around the moulin before on dogwood bark, between the slats on the deck bench, even stuck to Scarlett’s beach towel, but we have never seen it being laid! Very cool. I sat and watched her for several minutes. She had two finger-like appendages on her abdomen near the ovipositor that shaped the foamy material in successive layers like a horizontal cake. At first I was afraid my camera might frighten or distract her, but she was single minded and intent on her precious duty. How fascinating to see her craft this delicate package. How perfectly her future offspring are wrapped in weatherproof insulation. How anxious I am to see them emerge to meet the warmth of a welcoming spring.
–Marjorie
What a crazy week! If you have seen any news lately you probably know that Atlanta was hit with a deluge that resulted in major metro-area-wide flooding. Notre moulin did not totally escape the water. We were lucky that we did not have to evacuate after all and the damage is not as bad as it could have been. but I am still very leery about any rain on the horizon and in denial about repairs.
For a little perspective, Pippin and I went on a soggy, but lovely nature walk last Wednesday at a local creek at the day use area before the deluge. (Local ladies, it was across from the WC Library area, you probably have seen the gravel lot on the right). Here is a small collage of some of the fantastic lichen we saw on our trek. ( I WAS going to do a great post on lichen. I really am fascinated by lichen, but I digress. . . ) In the collage you can see Pippin poking around at the creek’s stony edge. It had been a rainy week, the ground was saturated, but the water level was normal and calm 
Over the weekend we received somewhere between 14-17 inches of rain according to reports from CoCoRaHS the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network from stations within a 5-10 min drive of our house. Our rain gauge died sometime during the drought (remember that?) and was never replaced. It seemed irrelevant, like that silly flood insurance. (ARGH!) (HT to Wayne at Niches for this great site. Wayne also has a great graphic of the hardest hit counties correlated with high density population on his post today. Interesting. Don’t miss his pictures of the turtle hatchings earlier this week either!)The rainfall total I found was for a nearby weather station. Above is a graph from the USGS for the creek level gauge taken where Pippin and I were hiking. You can see the creek rose to above 20 feet by Monday afternoon. That creek is only 5 min drive from the house and our tiny creek that runs north-south along our property empties into that larger creek.
By Sunday afternoon our tiny creek was at the top of it’s banks and rushing hard. Our yard is on the top of a north-south hill so water drains from the street and our house to our back yard and a gulch that runs east-west into the side creek. But the hill we are on also runs east-west so some of the water coming down our gravel drive runs through our front garden beds and down our front walk before rejoining the creek. All was wet, but well Sunday night. Dh took the kids down to survey the creek. Fun.
Monday morning we awoke after a night of more torrential rain to find Chez nous, about an inch of standing water in the basement area near the back door. We thought it must have flooded the dog run and come in under the door so we removed the area carpet, opened the door, pushed the water out with my beloved squeegee, and dried up the rest with the wet vac. All better. Not. I came down after breakfast to find a new puddle and realized that ground water was seeping in our basement and running across the floor. As the rain intensified and the thunder crashed around the house I had the back door open and I pushed out the water as fast as I could for hours w/o stop. It was a constant 1 inch – unless I stopped. I can only imagine how much flooding we would have had if I had not been home! Caddie was home sick so she and I rushed to get everything off the floor and onto tables, empty the book cases into laundry baskets, unplug the computer and place it on the desk. When I could no longer keep up with the rising water I called Dh and he came home from work to help. We still had no pump to remove water and about 1:30 we looked out and saw that the tiny creek, usually invisible through the woods, was now far out of it’s banks, raging with waves crashing around the trunks of trees. All the while it is POURING! The water was coming closer and closer and we decided to move to evacuation mode. Anything of value went upstairs, the box with our important papers was positioned by the car, laptop packed. I was truly frightened. Then the rain slowed for a few minutes and there must have been some shift in debris because the creek level dropped suddenly and never exceeded the banks again. The rain returned as did our pushing it out. DH and I went outside and dug trenches in the front yard and built gravel dams on the drive way to divert water away from the sidewalk. It now looks like giant moles invaded our yard. Tant pis!
Sometime in the afternoon the rain stopped and we finally used the wet vac to suck up the last of the water. What a day! Thanks to my squeegee the water never exceeded an inch in depth except for a few seconds here and there and because it was clean ground water there is no mud! I can see that the drywall was damp up about 6-8 inches but I don’t know if we will have to replace it or not. I am in denial for a little while I deal with a family outbreak of H1NI. After all the media hype the ‘piggy floo’ seems so trivial compared to the events of the last few days. I consider us lucky. Our basement is drying out, we have health insurance (don’t get me started on that one!), and soup in the pantry. Not so for so many others who saw their houses and businesses filled to the gables with muddy water and debris or who lost loved ones. To them I send out my heartfelt prayers for healing and clear skies.
–Marjorie
Chers Amis,
Is this not the most stupendous caterpillar you have ever seen! Pippin found this crawling in the pine straw by the edge of our driveway Saturday afternoon when he and his dad returned from the Great Lake Clean-up. He burst into my kitchen without a “Hi, Mom, we’re back,” and proclaimed that he had found a “huge caterpillar – the biggest EVER!”
Big yawn. Okay, I am tad jaded about caterpillars au moulin. Caddie and company COLLECT tent caterpillars during their infestations and wear them about, dangling from hair, shoulders, and fingers. So Pippin’s announcement received a distracted, “Mmm hmm, that’s nice. Please go wash your hands for lunch.” Short for, “Can’t you see I am cooking and I rather doubt your giant caterpillar story.”
Pippin insisted I come look and bring the camera. Hmm. That is usually a signal of veracity. This is what I saw – a hairy, brown, 6 inch long by 1 inch wide caterpillar with black horns and bright neon yellow/white spots. 
Of course Caddie was holding it. Dare I say, petting its furry back. Now little caterpillars are one thing; massive beasts like this are another. At first I was afraid its bristles could sting or irritate Caddie, and then that the handling would not do the caterpillar any good. He looked rather inert – until we put him down. Could he move! Quickly.
After a few obligatory snapshots for scale and documentation we released him into the underbrush. Looking back, it might have been interesting to contain him, keep him well stocked with a diet of sweet gum leaves and watch him pupate and emerge next spring. But perhaps it is best to appreciate these creatures from afar. Somehow having a bratwurst-sized caterpillar around seems odd even au moulin.
Here is a photo I took of an adult Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) a few years ago at Red Top Mountain State Park in Georgia. Adult moths can have a wingspan from 3 1/8 – 6 7/8 inches (8 – 17.4 cm!
Pippin and I will be doing a bit of nature study on caterpillars this morning. I found this excellent caterpillar Anatomy diagram put out by the USGS. Caterpillar Anatomy. I like that it is much more realistic than typical caterpillar coloring sheets. For a more information on the Imperial moth click over to Tales from the Butterfly Garden’s Imperial Moth page or a slide show of the development of the Imperial moth from egg to moth at their Scrapblog Have a great day and never doubt your nature nuts when they tell you they have made an incredible find.
–Marjorie
PS – For more outdoor experiences click over to A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday. You’ll be glad you did!
Chers Amis,
Autumn is calling. Are you still indoors? Are your windows open with a cool, edgy wind speaking to you of spiced apples and burning leaves? Have the colors started to shift from green to gold in your neighborhood. If so, it is a good day to get outside and breathe deeply of the seasons grappling with the reins.
Over the Labor Day Holiday, we decided to quitter the ever “Hotlanta” and meander up through the green hills of Northern Georgia to visit a good friend outside Asheville, NC.(C’etait Bruce, Helene) This is a semi-annual pilgrimage for my dh who went to school in North Carolina and dreams of returning some day to build a cabin in the mountains. I’m not sure I am of like mind about moving- but the land is intoxicating! 
That Sunday we wound up Mount Pisgah to go berry picking. That always means a quick stop at the Pisgah Inn to inhale the heavenly view, (use the bathroom shh!), browse the gift shop for local crafts, and enjoy lunch or a snack in the restaurant. The dining room has a panoramic view of the mountains. Gorgeous! This was not an original idea though, much of Western Carolina followed us on the Parkway, so we breezed in and out, imagined spending a night in the hotel perched on the ridge, and went in search of undiscovered treasures away from the crowds.
Once we parked the car the kids – now shoeless – ran ahead Into the woods to find any bushes that hadn’t been plundered. Richesse! Blackberries and blue berries by the stained and grinning mouthful filled our bags as I cast a wary eye over my shoulder every few minutes. Bears like berries too, you know. 
Bags full, it was time to explore the hillside, so off the girls went through the underbrush with no thought to paths or direction. Just the pure joy of wandering without design. Soon, I could hear excited call to “Come see! Come See!”The girls declared that we had entered a portal to Middle Earth.
Perhaps Mirkwood or a hidden retreat in Ithlien.Beneath the dark branches of the hemlocks at the top of a knoll ghostly racks of white coral fungi glowed eerily in a strangely silent gloom. Even the sound of our footsteps was absorbed by the deep layers of fine needles beneath our feet. But…
Just beyond the tree line the landscape opened up and the late afternoon sunlight poured a liquid gold over the mountainside revealing a meadow flush with autumn color. Paradise. Maybe my husband is onto something.
–Marjorie
PS – For more outdoor experiences click over to A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday. You’ll be glad you did!
Chers Amis,
Ok, I have absolutely no time to be on-line right now, BUT the head of our parish’s Elijah Cup program for vocations sent me a link to this short, powerful video of a recent ordination in NY. Take the minute and a half to watch it. You will wish you had more sons. you will remember how much you love the Church. You will wish you could lie prostrate there before God. I did.
Have a very happy Labor Day weekend. I HOPE I will find the balance in my new schedule to get back to blogging soon!
Love,
Marjorie
Chers Amis,
I hope you can help me with an identification. Pippin and I found this object on our back deck this afternoon. It was roughly 1cm by 1 cm, bilateral, light aquamarine. Sugar ants were trying to take it away. When I first found it it had these feathery appendages extending from each side of a central line. I tried to pick it up to move it for closer examination and it broke into pieces. Each piece is at most 5 mm long. I noticed that the dark ‘feet’ were slightly sticky and clung to my pencil tip. Does anyone have an idea what it may be?
–Marjorie
Object from the underside
Chers Amis,
Where were we? Oh, yes. It was summertime and my hard drive died unexpectedly so I retreated to le moulin to bricoler un peu (fix things up a bit) and enjoy a longish visit with my mother. I must say it looks much better, almost, but not quite decorated in spots. Helas, Ma mere est partie last Saturday, the summer is waning, my computer has returned from the shop (enfin), and school starts for us next Monday. Caddie and Scarlett had new student orientation at their new school this afternoon and my basement floor is strewn with locker supplies, book covers (new to me), graph paper, and binders in jellybean hues.
I am excited and nervous about the coming year. Excited about the girl’s new adventures and my one-on-one time with, Pippin and nervous about starting a very rigorous academic path for the girls with all the social pressures that come with being 11 and 13. But, I am NOT mopey, or melancholy, or deprimee du tout. I am sure that this is what we are being called to do right now and that they will be at an EXCELLENT school under the watchful eye and tutelage of a beautiful, holy group of Sisters. We haven’t moved to the moon, the girls will be at our own parish school and still on the same Lego Robotics team.
So why the toad with this post? Because Pippin, who has never been my outdoor child, came running into the house this morning shouting, “Get your camera, Mom! I found a teeny-baby toad!” Et, voila, un tout petit crapaud arranged artfully on a dogwood branch waiting for its ‘close up.’(Probably petrified by the height.) Pippin was pleased as could be as he has adopted Caddie’s habit of capturing and naming all wildlife found in the yard. I am warmed to the heart that I will have special time with my baby, who is no longer a baby at 8 and a half, to explore his interests this year, and relieved that the love of nature hasn’t left the house with Caddie and Scarlett. Life would be so boring without toads.
–Marjorie
Chers Amis,
Sorry so quiet, my beloved laptop died last week and will not return for a week or so. Alors, I am not on-line(save for a few minutes here and there on the kid’s basement desktop) but out in the yard, down at the river, and generally enjoying the summertime! A bientot!
– Marjorie
