A Long and Lovely Weekend. Again.

I love three-day weekends. While this one was not so restful as the last, it was still long and delicious. And satisfying. There were slow cups of coffee and tea in the morning sunshine, September weather (my favorite by far – at least until April), and the deep satisfaction of organizing my basement. (Finally!)

Loads more projects began or ended this weekend too. You will see more of each and every project below in the coming weeks, but here is a preview…

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…the first steps of making fiber dye from black walnuts.

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Plenty of food preservation and the thrill of counting my jars (yes, thrilling! I know. I'm a super-geek.) and finding that – not counting frozen or dried foods or jars we've snitched out already – I've preserved 169 jars of goodness for the winter. So far.

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There was some sewing for my girl for a crown tutorial coming in October on another blog, and some applique work for a project I'm volunteering on here in Viroqua.

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And while the two photos above may be the most boring to you in this post, they are the most thrilling for me. Because I've hated our deck. For five years. Rough, cracked, crooked, and icky (as the lower half of the photo above will testify). Pete was replacing a few boards and got the idea to flip the rest over, revealing solid, smooth decking. With some prodding/encouragement/begging from me, he worked from Sunday evening straight through until Monday night, pulling nails, reinforcing posts, and all around being a superstar with a hammer, drill, and crowbar. The "new" deck is beautiful! Solid, smooth, and lovely. I'm beside myself. Truly.

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And to end it all, we enjoyed a long soak in our wood-fired hot tub in the cool of our first real September weather. Hot tub season is finally here! I love you, September.

Not to bad for three days work and play.  Not bad at all.

16 thoughts on “A Long and Lovely Weekend. Again.

  1. susan says:

    are those walnuts in the top picture? I need to hear more about those… because we just moved to Eastern Kansas a couple months ago and those things are EVERYWHERE.

    I also really like the pantry shelving that you gave a little glimpse of above – did you guys make that yourselves?

    And I will echo your sentiments… Yay for September!

  2. Rachel Wolf says:

    Susan,
    Yes, they are black walnuts. We like to eat them and use them for dye. The are so versatile. Beware – the husks will stain your skin, shoes, and clothes. The shelf game from my grandparents house. I think my uncle made it back in the 60s. We love it!

  3. Kim says:

    PLEASE tell me that you can’t even imagine doing this with a 3 yr old and an 18 mo old. I want so much to be able to put food by, but it’s all we can do to survive the days unscathed! 😀

  4. Rachel Wolf says:

    Oh, good gracious! I havent canned since I became a mama until this year. I was lucky to sweep until recently (and mine are 9 and 4). In truth, Im still lucky to sweep. Youre doing great! Give them a few years. 🙂

    Rachel

  5. susan says:

    Yes, I’ve had the walnut husks dropped on me from above by nibbling little squirrels, so I learned fast that they stain 🙂

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