in the studio {fox shadows}

Getting back "in the studio" again after a looong break...now with a sweet baby at my feet! Here are a couple snippets of a new wedding cake topper in the works...another foxy couple. I don't think I've lost my touch (I was a little worried)...but it feels nice to work with colors & papers & glue & wire again!
I have more ideas than I have time now, but that's okay...life moves at a different sort of speed right now and things will eventually happen when they can, so I jot them down for later. It's a good time right now, full of change & joy, baby laughter & smiles...so I want to enjoy every day, every moment with my little one!

the last of summer...

enjoying the last things of summer lately...like the first tomatoes, homemade basil pesto, pushing a baby stroller on a sunny walk, snipping the last blush roses from our bushes out front to bring inside.

and enjoying the first freshness of fall...chilly evenings, the first fire, harvest moon, pushing the stroller on a cool day, cozy sweaters.

and always enjoying some baby stuff too...like seeing him use the things I so lovingly made before he was born, before I knew him...like these socks, and this quilt....and finally, enjoying the ideas brewing for new things to make to decorate his nursery walls...like incorporating the vintage frames (above) that I just recently thrifted.

nine roses...

And not just any roses...but the most beautiful, big (I mean "big-as-cereal-bowls" sized) pretty pink roses I've ever received. Hub gave them to me one week ago today to celebrate and signify nine wonderful years together. And as we start year ten with a new addition to our family, we're so excited about this "new chapter" (as hub called it) in our marriage. I feel so blessed!

at the lake...

we recently squeezed in a mini late summer vacation...it was fun to do a first family vacation with our new little one...i even cracked out my knitting needles again after a long hiatus...it felt good.
and i vowed not to do any laundry while there (even though we have access to washer/dryer) and that felt even better! ;)

some other things we enjoyed... picking wild blackberries (which were the most bountiful we'd ever seen them here)

catching a glorious sunset over the lake (the only one I made it out of the cabin in time for...)

eating some (okay lots of!) delicious seven layer bars (I made them for the first time ever especially for hub's bday...we kinda got hooked on them from the bakery of our local fancy grocery store as a little indulgence after the baby was born...much cheaper to make them myself. I sort of followed this recipe but used 2 cups of graham crackers and a smaller 8x12" pan so the bars would be thicker. oh, and I poured the milk over just before finally adding the coconut...not sure just how important the order of ingredients is but that's what I did! They remind us of these "aloha bars" we'd get in Kauai at the Java Kai coffee shop...I think sometime I might try making them with white chocolate chips & macadamia nuts instead for even more Hawaiian flavor.)

fishing off the dock (hub likes to mix and match his plaids)making delicious gooey ooozing smores (hub kept making them for me while I held baby...not a bad thing at all!)

taking little walks, breathing in the fresh air (I always think its neat how a lot of the cabins up north make their own little signs with their last names on them)

just being together, enjoying the simple things...like finding a pretty blue feather in our path...

wild raspberries...

On sunny Saturday, Hub slid into his waders to trek into our wet woods a bit in order to get at the wild raspberries...
It always cracks me up just a bit when he puts them on.
And he's such a good sport (because you know that it was I who politely asked him to do this...all for the love of wild berries ya know).
He spied a pretty dark butterfly too.
I picked a few raspberries in the drier places, but mostly stood by offering encouragement from a safe (dry) distance...
...since I was not as well attired as Hub. And we (he) did okay...a little bowlful of berries, better than none!

some thoughts today...

Life with a little one is SO busy. I think my idea of what it would be like to have a baby and actually having a baby of my own is so completely different. I don't think anyone or any book or any amount of preparation can really truly prepare you for so radical a life change. Although I think it is the hardest thing I've ever done, I'm loving every single minute of it. (Just don't ask Hub at certain points in the day when I'm extremely sleep deprived and a bit snappy!) But as we're starting to have a tiny bit more of a routine, getting comfortable with each other, I'm just starting to be able to carve out little moments for myself (that don't just involve laundry or dishes) and feel some moments of normalcy...normalcy being what life was like pre-baby. Perhaps for others having their first child isn't such a major adjustment, but for me it really has been. As Hub sometimes tells me, I don't do good with change. And this has been a huge change in every way possible...yet the very best kind of change too. I don't often put personal/people photos on this blog, but I loved this recent photo of us together... It was little baby's first "wild blueberry hike." I pointed them out as Hub picked them. And baby slept through most of it all. What a special time!

wild gooseberries...

I’ve always liked the idea of finding edible things in the wild…such as berries like raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or the currants I discovered growing in our woods a couple years back…or morel mushrooms (a very rare find!)…and there is nothing quite like the taste of wild asparagus, so tender and fresh! So I was especially delighted to find something new this summer growing on our property...wild gooseberries! Earlier in the season, I thought they were a type of currant and I was waiting for them to turn red...but they never changed color. So recently, after doing a little research online, I found out that they are actually smooth, green gooseberries. I think I'll freeze them to use in smoothies...as there aren't too many and it sounds like they can be pretty tart on their own unless cooked into a pie or jam or some other sweet dessert. But still exciting, oui?! :)

a tiny nest, still summer...

While holding my new little baby outside last week, I noticed a tiny Chipping Sparrow building a nest within one of the little Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees we have in our landscaping right up by our house where I was sitting. The bird would work its way into the dense tree carrying one tiny twig in its beak at a time. Just yesterday I carefully pulled back some of the little branches to spy the momma bird sitting upon a tiny nest. After looking at it from another angle, carefully moving more of the pokey branches, I must have scared her off the nest for a moment...but then 3 very little pretty blue eggs were revealed. They were similar in color to Robin eggs but so much smaller.The momma bird hopped about on the ground near my feet and jumped up on our porch, never going very far from her precious little eggs. And we let her be then so she could get back on the nest. Being a new momma myself, I now fully understand not wanting to be very far from my little newborn.
This little nest made me happy too...to know that it's still summer...birds are still building nests. Because I've been in a haze of newborn-ness lately (a very good haze of course!) and I'm sure this summer will whiz by without many of the usual hallmarks of summer for me, as tending to my newborn is shifting all other priorities or things I used to do, but I'm realizing nothing is more important. And no other summer will be quite as special in this way ever again.
.....
P.S. On a totally different note, would you like to see a few photos of a recent lovely wedding? It just so happens to be a Minnesota wedding too. The bride ordered a LillyBonBon cake topper for her wedding cake and you'll see a photo of that as well, all right here!