Anniversarie Celebration!

my dear friends,

oh, where does the time go?

It doesn't seem that so many years have passed since I first came to Deerfield Farm as a new bride. Where we made a home for our family & where the very first Deerfield dolly was made for our first Christmas tree angel.

~~~~~~~

I have been so very blessed...and now I must

thank all of you,

my wonderful friends, old and new...

who have met me with such joy, such wonderful support and love and enthusiasm for my little dollies & me over these past 20 years.

and so

In Honor of celebrating these 20 years of my dolly making that has been done here under the old Deerfield Farm sign above my door

I am offering a most Wondrous Doll as Grand Prize in a drawing that I will be conducting.

I will be accepting entries from today until

September 30,2007.

On October 1st, 2007, we will draw 5 different names,

4 of which will be awarded

lovely prizes of Wonderful Goodes

made by myself just for this Anniversaire Celebration.

The Grand Prize winner will be given

a most Wondrous Doll

that I have made just for this most Special Occasion.

Please EMAIL me with your full name and email address if you would like to be a part of this most Special Anniversarie Celebration. Your entry will be put into the old top hat.

My little grand children will be drawing out the names and the winners will be announced on October 1st.

I hope that all of you will enter, especially those of you who have given homes to my dollies over the years.

I'm so happy and pleased to be doing this as a small of offering

of my sincere thanks and humble gratitude to all of you.

with love,

Christine

Deerfield Farmhouse

within her heart

she stood quiet

and let the gentleness of early light fall across her breast.

she closed her eyes

and she knew that no rusted wire or torn fragments of paper'd treasures, nor tatter'd relics of silken gowns

could cease the warmth within her heart from flowing out onto all that passed by her....

~~~

Dearest Friends,

News of

my

Celebration Event

will be posted over the coming weekend

~~~

I thank you for your kind patience.

~view from my sewing room~

passing on memories

The old trees have a few deep yellow leaves, the wild roses by the front gate are covered with beautiful crimson red rose hips...and I'm feeling like another time has passed by me...

yesterday as I carefully washed and dried each piece of my very first set of antique dishes to give to my son & his wife, I felt an unfamiliar twinge of being the one who is passing on a legacy....and odd feeling when you consider yourself still a young woman,

not the Mother and grandmother

that I really am.

These old dishes were given to me by Bryan & Katie's grandmother when I first became a part of their family, many years ago now. I know they had no money for such things and yet they found these and bought them to give to me for my first Christmas with them. A set of indigo blue Staffordshire dishes called Calico. Such a loving and giving family, I never knew such generosity and love in my life than I found in this family..... ..now I'm passing them on to my Bryan and his Nita for their home.

These lovely old bits of deep blue graced our table for many meals together, from Lucky Charms and Cheerios to bouillabaisse and tea parties. For wedding showers and baby showers, for birthdays, for Christmases long past....for potluck suppers and Thanksgivings. I know that my children hold them dear in their memories, maybe even as much as I do.

They know the significance of them and all the feelings that go along with them.

I know that these old cups and plates and bowls will grace their table for many years to come and for their little ones birthdays and Christmas dinners, for Cheerios and pancakes....and

they will know the story about their great- grandma who found these and gave them with all the love her heart could hold...

hand in hand

And hand in hand,

on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon,

the moon, the moon!

They danced by the light of the moon.

my son Bryan & his beautiful Nita

Happiest Anniversary

oh...thank you

I have to say that I was more than a little surprised to find that I had 3 of these in my mailbox all at once...that's a huge surprise and pretty humbling for me.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Lately I have been thinking so often of all the special women I have met throughout my life and work and especially those truly wise & wonderful, genuine and giving women that have touched my life in such a way that it changed my life forever.

Some are now long gone, or moved away as their lives changed,

and some are still there every day, a note in my email or a phone call...a letter...all like the fragrance of flowers coming through the window on a soft breeze.

How they have touched my life, whether it was a kind word, holding out their hand in true friendship, just being by your side when you needed to know that someone was there.

You never know whose life you touch as you go about each day.

Every woman deserves to know how very special they are.

and I thank you for this.

This is for all of you.

just the woman for the job

Farmer Boy has called me to the fields...he desparately needs parts from town and it seems that he's the only one that can handle this job....too many odd numbers to relate to the parts man behind the counter or something to that effect... besides the fact that he occasionally needs a break

from running the combine for hours on end...

so...sweet wife that I am...

I've come to "spell him off" for awhile.

now where is he?

there he is "ok honey", says my Farmer Boy.... "just finish up this little dab and I'll be back in no time!"

what a sweet talker he is.... and off I go..... and you thought I sat on the porch sewing a fine seam & playing dollies all summer... to be continued...

finding peace and quiet

in the early morning quiet of my kitchen I have my coffee and enjoy the peacefulness of my little farmhouse.

it's a lovely cool early morning here. the light is amber and the shadows are long. I've been out walking in the orchard in my nightgown, the hem drenched with dew.... and listening to everything waking up. I can feel fall coming in the soles of my bare feet- The doe and twins are down in the trees, ears perked and watching me, blackberries hanging from the branches of the red bud tree, the vines have twined up into it as a make-do trellis.....it's beautiful. the workers are down in the garlic fields, picking and trimming in the cool of the early morning...their straw hats bent...

my little rooster,Winslow, is letting us know the sun is nearly up...

this is where I can breath and find my peaceful self. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, in the meantime, I want to assure you,

my Dear Friends,

my quietness does not mean idleness, oh no!

My days are spent working & planning

and getting ready for my

Celebration Event

for all of you to enjoy & be a part of.

I'll be announcing the date very soon!

Please email me if you would like to be added to my mailing list for this

Wonderful Celebration Event!

I hope you all are enjoying these quiet & peaceful late summer days.