honeyflake

winter: owling

destination: empty, beach dunes.

researching the field guide.

snowy owl patrol in action.

focusing...

at last (yes, really, that smaller than small white spec is the owl)

some wintertime fun. the three of us... amidst the brisk beach conditions... with binoculars in hand... moving at nature's pace... hoping for a rare snowy owl encounter. wandering the dunes, looking around, letting our eyes adjust. so exposed to the season's elements that we can't help but be aware of winter's presence... and we embrace it. feel the cold. breath it in. you know, when the snowy owls fly down from the arctic to our beach, we're so there (we heard there had been some sightings this year — they haven't made an appearance here in five winters). yes, excited at the news of their return we swung by our beach last weekend. surrounded by the chilly open environment, that is the winter home to this nomadic creature, we enjoyed the moments that only winter can offer. so sure that this is definitely not something we can do here in july/august/etc... when these guys are back up north. eventually, we spotted one, white as a clump of snow, close through the binocular lens (so much better than my camera lens could capture!)... turning it's head, quietly sitting on the cold ground. reminding us that yes, winter's here and even though it 's a bit cold it's still oh-so good out there. 

and once we were back inside our winter home? this experience was now inspiration for drawing pictures, owl facts, making a book (you can imagine), requests for reading this and this from our book shelf and now even seeing if i can track down this book at one of the local libraries.

frozen and thawed

we knew this day was coming. way back in june, when we tucked a bunch of fresh picked organic berries into our freezer, we knew that someday down the road, hopefully a chilly winter's day, we'd be taking them back out, warming them back up on the stove (with a little bit of sugar and orange juice) until bubbly then serving them over piles homemade pancakes... we've been waiting, and saturday was the day... 

 

spring? is that you? how nice of you to make an appearance on our breakfast table. (hmmmm, pretty amazing since outside there's still snow, ice, crisp winds, and refreshing temperatures below freezing aplenty) yes, spring came in from the frost, leaving it's snowy boots at the freezer door and paid us a quick, scarce, delicious visit. so nice. our wintery weekend-morning selves couldn't help but enjoy and savor every bite. (if you happen to have a few berries of your own stashed away? this is the way to go!)

yes, so nice to reminisce with spring... however we're far from from wishing for the end of this season. we are really not in any rush. we're still very much in winter. truly embracing the cold and all it brings. the things that can only be done in this chilly season/january (aka: right now!)

i think coming up i'll be posting a few of our winter outings together. reasons why i'm not wishing winter away just yet. i know spring's sweetness is up next, as the berries reminded us, but first, winter... 

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in the mood for a quick batch of pancakes? 

here's our favorite:

combine:

1 ¹/4  cup flour (mix of organic whole wheat and white)

1-2 Tbs flaxseed meal

2 ¹/₂ tsp baking powder

1 Tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

mix:

1 egg beaten

generous 1 cup milk

generous 3Tbs melted butter

then add liquid mix to the flour mixture. stir until smooth. cook pancakes as usual... spring berries optional but very recommended!

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unique

falling everywhere this sunday morning. beckoning for us to come out and play.

hop, skip, jump

some links to hop, skip and jump over to...

{1} a little zen parenting {2,3} organic garden for the white house {4} summer tour 2009 (love, love, love this trailer) {5} and summer tour 2009 {6} nienie {7} a little motivation {8,9} eating green and a trip to river cottage. links 8 + 9 found via {10} gastrokid.

crafty holiday memories

so the new year has rolled in. the house is in order... bringing a fresh sense of calm and space here. mmmm... love that. we're back to our normal daily rhythms. the pace is so very different from just a few weeks ago. remember the holidays? the excitement? the comfort? the joy? the creating? the knitting, sewing, journaling and whittling (oh yes, at our house this year there was whittling)... it's sort of strange how one minute it's here and the next thing you know the sounds of the season playlist is giving way to all rebel rockers... i don't know, perhaps its just the pine-withdrawal talking, but how about a little handmade gift retrospective for the gift-giving season of 2008? sound ok? wonderful... 

let's see. i think i began with the knitting. several surprise pairs of toasties knit... different colors and yarns for different people. i wanted to blog about some of the wool and this pattern back in december, but then that would be it for the "surprise" factor. so here they are just before being given...

i loved working on this knitting pattern from leslie each time around...

 

ok, next... remember i mentioned last month how i was very inspired by some of the toy crafts in living crafts? chuck and i both loved their cover idea of making this hobby horse simply out of a pair of socks, wool and a fallen branch. margaret has always wanted one of these, so chuck gave the project a whirl. (this was where the late-night whittling came in. some pre-christmas night's i felt as if ma and pa ingall's had just moved in and replaced us.) here's the finished horse (aka: old paint).

then of course there was some handmade from santa and the elves. for margaret there was this knitted organic wool doll sweater. looks like they too were inspired by the same magazine (downloadable pattern designed by waldorfmama).

(apparently he loves his sweater so much that he hasn't taken it off since the 25th). now to close out this little (not-so little?) crafty review... there was a new santa-made supply of doll clothes. (pretty sure he got the patterns from this book). a couple of simple dresses and pants for margaret's wee friends. 

well, thanks for coming along on this holiday recap. the end result of an ever evolving list of creative ideas/to-dos during the month of december. hope you've enjoyed seeing some of our projects (be sure to check out the links) and here's to the spirit of christmas crafting big and small.... 

 

celebrating two

on this day in blog history, january 6th, 2007... i typed up my first blog post for honeyflake. and wow, here we are two whole years later. yes, we. me + you. all connecting here in this space. thanks to you for taking the time to stop by, check in and especially for leaving comments for the past two years. that's something to celebrate.

happy

wishing you all the sparkly best in this new year.