The Plans To Buy A Sewing Machine ~ The Grass is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank or Something Close ~

I thought I would say hello and especially to those sweet readers who were so kind as to leave me comments of what sewing machine would be best for me. AND I had also promised a gift for the one I chose, sweetie pies that both you and I are.

Then we lost our contract for our grapes. Dear Husband is working the phone like a crazed old-time telephone operator with all those wires and plugs on an "I Love Lucy" episode! It is something he is loathe to do but do it, he must! Poor dear... He is on the phone more than I have ever seen him in all our 40+ years together {even tho I don't look a day over 38.6.4!} Even his IPhone can't help him. And to add insult to injury, the news he gets is far from wonderful.

"There is a glut of pinot grapes."
"There is a glut of pinot vineyards coming into 2010 production."

We do have some advantages however ~~ trying to look on the bright side. We have a well-established vineyard and everyone that needs to know, knows we grow a fabulous pinot. So perhaps we are going to be better off than someone just coming into production with no previous harvest. I hate to look at things that way but my family's needs do come first, and we do have a few needs. In fact, this is probably the worst year for this to happen, as is always the case!

After we received our "Happy Holidays!" message, the messenger was fired along with many employees ~ a so-called "restructuring". Can you imagine doing that just before the holidays? {I am thinking about Lisa as I write that...} He said they had no warning. ALL the wineries are in the same boat. Sitting with barrels full of wine and a drop off in buyers. I hear beer is doing very well...maybe...well, no. Much like any other retail business, the holidays are a telling time of year. And apparently drinking high-priced wine is not high on the average person's priority list.

So we are tightening that proverbial designer belt and not buying anything we don't need. I don't need a sewing machine. I think I can find one in a garage sale, of which there are dozens each weekend. Even whole houses being sold with contents. It's all very sad.

We are far from "out" of this recession and anyone that says otherwise, doesn't live in the real world. I live in an area of "previously" high priced real estate, and houses were being bought all the way to a "significant" drop off in prices, "wealthy-on-paper" buyers determined to buy UP at very high prices. Now they are sitting with homes that are worth hundreds of thousands less than they bought them for and some heading for foreclosure.

Reading the ads for garage sales speaks of despair. I sit in my home and know (knock wood) we won't be faced with losing it excepting by choice. A rancher's money is always in the land, a fact I have not always adored. The old saying "land rich, money poor" certainly holds true, at least the "money poor" part, as our land is worth less too. But I prefer that to losing my house, my job, my control. At least we choose what we do, come what may, and having been in ranching for 37 years in my case and my husband's family for generations. We know all too well it's realities nor stress "too" much about the ups and downs, knowing the obvious ~ we would not choose any other way of life. It is what it is, the crop is going to get what it gets, prices go up and they go down. {At least it's not the beef business, horror stories there...}No one is telling us we must leave our land and that's always the bottom line for us. No one is telling us we have no job next week. In fact, dh has more work to do now! And we are fortunate that we own our land, not the bank. If not, we would be having the garage sale, I'm afraid.

The point of this post is sewing machines among a few other things. Not the economy, something I am no expert in by any stretch of the imagination. So thank you for the sewing machine information, sweetie pies. Now I am equipped with what I should look for at the garage sales and when and if I do find it, I will let the commenter know who suggested it, and send you a fabulously expensive gift. Promise!! It just may be awhile before I actually get it done. I am afraid it has dropped in the priority department...at least for now.

But you never know how things will go. I am the eternal optimist dressed up in pessimist {?} clothing. ;)

The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank.
Erma Bombeck
;)

A Watercolor from Another Time of One More Mendocino Sunset ~

"White House with Mustard"

A Sunset over the Ocean in Mendocino

I painted this watercolor several years ago but, as always, it illustrates exuberantly my unrelenting love affair with color. This is a painting of two very beautiful things that impressed me at the time. One was a painting I had seen in the home of a Finnish friend of a white house on a bluff overlooking the sea and the other was the coast of Mendocino in northern California. And while I could not see the sea from the Finnish shore, I could find it in my own distant backyard.

Mendocino is a magical place. It is a small village, originally an artists' colony, that we would often go to for a weekend away from the kids, not too far from home but far enough. We are lucky in where we live, it is gorgeous everywhere but there are some places that are extraordinary. Mendocino is extraordinary. The village is wonderfully quaint without a trace of cute, and the entire Mendocino coastline is wild, gorgeous, untamed, unpredictable, peopled lightly, and blessed with beautiful scenery everywhere you turn. And it is a place time somehow forgot and didn't at the same time.

But like most things, as the years pass, people find the quiet gems hidden within wild heath and broom pastures, behind gray picket fences and wander rural roads of twisting, stomach churning beauty. And as people come, the prices rise as well. A small rented cottage overlooking the sea goes from a couple a hundred dollars to a thousand, kind of taking the fun of shopping out of the equation, if you have any sort of budgetary limitation at all! So it has been a few years since I have been back up there. But it doesn't leave your senses, the beauty that is the northern California coastline. I have a few paintings that are of Mendocino and they are each very different from each other. I think that attests to the fact that it is a place of many faces and many angles to be seen and felt, all of them achingly beautiful just the same. And the sunsets are in a league of their own...

This is a painting of just one more sunset in Mendocino. That amazing light on the water, glowing through the mists, reflecting upon itself and magnifying everything through a million drops of water. It is a like seeing through tiny invisible prisms where rainbows are everywhere but you are conscious of none of them. You only know you are seeing color in a way that deviates in a beautifully compelling way and one that you never forget. And if you are a painter, you must somehow try to get it down while you are starring into it... again and again and again.

As Channing says below, it is as a symphony.

To live content with small means;

to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion;

to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;

to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart;

to study hard;

to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never;

in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common ~

this is my symphony.

William Henry Channing

1810 - 1884

This Will Make You Feel ... Something Wonderful... ♥

I am on satellite so my bandwidth usage is always a problem when it comes to youtube, something I could spend too many hours on but it eats up my usage time. So I watch select videos recommended by others. This one came from a tweet I saw when I was deleting all the people who follow me and I have no idea who they are. {Just one step away from deleting twitter --and facebook-- from my life as extraneous nonsense.}

It's a fabulous one, something to get you up and moving a bit, with power and energy that jumps out and grabs you...watch it and see if you don't agree.

Have a wonderfully relaxed and peaceful weekend everyone....as for me, I hope to act like an artist for once in several months!






Give All to Love
Obey thy HEART~Friends, kindred days, estate, good fame, Plans, credit and the Muse, Nothing refuse.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Farmer's Life ~ Are We Disappearing Along With The Family Farm and Cattle Trucks, Clotheslines and Homemade Jelly? Does Anybody Care?

On this blog, I have shared with you a small part of life as a farmer, our working ranch. I know it looks idyllic at times.

But there is a dark side all farmers must live with.

Weather.

Harvest.

Buyers.

Contracts suddenly Cancelled.

Prices dropping to the bottom of the well.

Keep reading and you will learn what it is like to be a farmer these days, when times are tough. When your contract is cancelled by the likes of the following, with no warning or reason. And you have nowhere to turn and a crew starting to prune in three weeks. With families, bills, needs they will be at least partially expecting to meet through working on our vineyard. Our vineyard manager has six children and his job has basically ended, as dh will have to do it instead. Gone are the days of someone else working the vines, at least for the foreseeable future.

Please share with me, your thoughts...

These are the companies the vineyard grower often works for today...

Givenchy ...

Fendi dragging shawls on the ground

a look we all aspire to.

and so many more...

From Wikipedia:

LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A., usually shortened toLVMH, is a French holding company and one of the world's largest luxury goodsconglomerates. It is the parent of around 60 sub-companies that each manage a small number of prestigious brands. These daughter companies are, to a large extent, run autonomously. The group was formed after mergers brought together champagneproducer Moët et Chandon and Hennessy, a leading manufacturer of cognac. In 1987, they merged with fashion house Louis Vuitton to form the current group.

The group is partly owned by the Christian Dior group, and Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of both companies. His successful integration of various famous aspirational brands into the group has inspired other luxury companies into doing the same. ThusGucci (now part of the French conglomerate PPR) and Richemont have also created extended portfolios of luxury brands. The oldest of the LVMH brands is wine producer Château d'Yquem, which dates its origins back to 1593.

In 2001 De Beers launched a joint venture with LVMH in order to establish De Beers as a retail brand.

Bernard Arnault

chairman and ceo of LVMH and Dior

And in the real world,

we have had shattering news here on Vulture Peak.

That would be

Vulture Peak Vineyard, Mr. Arnault.

Domaine Chandon,

owned by the conglomerate, LVMH,

has bought our grapes for the past 12+ years but has decided they will not be renewing our grape contract.

That means we have no buyer for our 2010 harvest of pinot and most certainly will be in the same position with our chardonnay in 2011, when that contract comes up for renewal.

Selling grapes on the open market, during harvest, is a very risky way to make a living, most certainly cutting the price, if you get one, by 2/3 if not more.

Most simply leave the fruit to rot on the vines to save the expense of picking.

I am not feeling very well, Mr. Arnault.

But I doubt you are listening...

Apparently nobody's drinking champagne these days ...

nor doing much celebrating...

It is not well known that most {if not all - it is hard to get that information} of the"boutique" trendy wineries in Napa County are owned by very large conglomerates who could care less about

the farmer who produces the crop.

As you can see, they do not remotely look like they come from these parts.

No lined faces, etched from the sun.

No look of concern or care

for land and crop, animals, weather.

No sun-bleached hair, brows and lashes,

wives worrying over sun spotted skin,

from years beneath a yellow sun

toiling rather than sailing.

I wish I were bigger..today I feel small.

My voice too soft to be heard.

The photos I have included were protected

but I won't be stealing that design, mr. lagarfeld,

so don't you worry that pretty, tight, unlined face of yours.

The above is a very small part, sorry mr. lagerfeld, of what this company is known for, what they sell, how they make their money but it is on the back of the farmer that they are able to fund many of these enterprises,

"luxury goods"

so needed by a starving world.

A world starving in more ways than one.

A photograph of a time lost perhaps?

... lost to large greedy conglomerates ...

is that

ok

fine

right in your world?

not mine...

the farmer and his wife

circa 1993

~ New Post on The Bath Blog ~ Go! See! Well, Those Who Are Interested, Go, See! If Not, Well, I'll Deal With You Later...

~♥~

I have written a post and it took some doing to get it done...

I need readers over there, dear readers ... so be a love and toddle over there sometime, if you are remotely interested in those girly kinds of things, well, this isn't exactly girly but if you go read my post, then you won't be in the dark now, will you...

kisses

~♥~

and thank you, sweet people... you know who you are~

The question is

not

what you look at

but

what you see.

henry david thoreau

Good Stuff Sunday ~ Good Stuff All Week ~

Hoping everyone ate enough over the past few days! And...had a lovely time of it besides! :)

Now to get you back on track, I thought I would offer you something else to chew on...I mean, since I'm chewing on it, you might as well be chewing on it as well...

And don't let the word "guru" put you off, it's a better way than sifting through all the millions of youtubes and besides, this came right to my inbox, so that's not so bad. I even think I will register, something I almost never do!

♥

I am a tad depressed, missing my little grandkids...

~♥~Happy Thanksgiving~♥~

~♥~♥~♥~

Let me share with you a bit of gratitude...

~♥~

Yes

I know what some of you are doing about now~

I don't envy you much in THAT department~

I hope you had your strong horse

and enough baskets

to carry your grocery harvest home with no spillage~

~♥~

And then there's

the cooking that never seems to end

{about now, for me, it would be the pies~apple for two picky ones and pumpkin too!}

the meal that is gone too quickly

the clean-up that comes too soon

{and lasts too long}

the sore feet

the aching back

the extra five+ pounds you{I} really didn't need!

~♥~

However if you are with your loved ones,

be they one or one hundred

give thanks for their being by your side,

for that is the true blessing of this day~

~♥~

In fact, give thanks for them everyday

for they are the treasures in your life~

~♥~

I have spent many years,

let us see, about 35 years,

cooking a Thanksgiving meal~

I almost go on auto-pilot when it comes around

even though this will be a year when our house will be quiet

we will be having something a little less cumbersome and time~consuming to prepare

a small meal rather than one that took a week to get on the table.

~♥~

I miss those days and then again,

know that, as the seasons change, so does life.

In my life,

children grow up, have families of their own

sometimes, sometimes,

they cannot come "home" for one day of feasting~

the entire family gathered around

a food laden, candle~lit table.

~♥~

I am thankful for them and will miss them tomorrow like I miss them everyday~

well, maybe a little more, because they are what always makes Thanksgiving day special

for me.

And so to them ~

Brian, Corissa, Michael, Camille, Tyler, Janae, Peter, & baby Jacob,

~have a wonderful day

{and I hope there's pie}~

This day is about love for those we feel closest to,

family and friends,

the intangible sweetness that never dissolves at the end of the day~

even a day filled with all things

"delightsome"

Be Thank~Full

~♥~

And to you, my sweet readers~

~have a wonderful day~

I am grateful I discovered blogging

because of every one of

YOU!

~♥~

I Need A Sewing Machine ~ Any Suggestions {contains bribes}?

~Lady Caroline Dester~

Lady Caroline Dester of "Enchanted April", my all time favorite movie, and

The World's Best Known Flapper Until NOW!

This is my Aunt Sis

~or Alice~

I am not sure which she preferred, probably "darling".

Yes, the flapper with a divorce under her belt by the time she was 25! Those flappers... Can you imagine the scandal? Well, to this day, if my grandmother was still around, there would continue to be gossiping, clucking and eye rolling to

"beat the band, I tell you!"

~Linda Sewing?~

Is a woman's work EVER really done??? Well...IS IT??!

Alice's days of flapper~hood, far behind her, she spent her daze doing this...

poor dear. No wonder she collected all that Grand Baroque sterling, sending me ONE spoon every birthday...I have lots of spoons and nothing else in that pattern, woe is me~ {again? oh for god's sake, linda, get it together!}

fast forward to modern day~

I had a wonderful sewing machine for years and years and used it so much, I eventually, quite literally, blew the thing up! One day, I put pedal to the metal and poof! Black smoke and sparks billowed forth from it's innards and she was done. No more sewing for me and frankly, minus the drama, black smoke and all, I was quite done myself!

It was a Viking and a wonderful machine but even in those days, some 25 years ago {dare I say?! I can hear the quick intakes of breath!!} , or even more, it was very expensive at about $1200. That's not what I want today. I want a machine that will simply sew backwards and forwards, maybe a button hole though I can do them by hand, no fancy computer stuff or stitches because they won't get used, just a very very very BASIC BUT WELL MADE and NOT SEARS sewing machine and I don't know what or where to begin looking. I don't know what brand{except no SEARS} to even consider, it has been sew~~oops~~sooo many years ago now. I have lost touch of the sewing machine world and all it's gidgets and gadgets.

Sew~~oops~~ :) anybody have any suggestions for me? Please? I would pay but you know...I just bought, yes bought, a lovely website design...I don't know what you call them but they make your website AND your blog so they coordinate, isn't she a sweetie?, and everything eventually will look quite spiffy. But it was pricey.

The place I found this lovely and I warn you, there are plenty, is The Avalon Rose. She makes the most original and pretty website designs but I suppose I "could" keep looking but frankly, I think I have found and/or seen the best of the best. The other one I mentioned turned out to be a BIG FAT NO! As luck would have it, I told her I loved roses and birds and she just happened to be debuting a design that seems perfect. It is a bit premature as I keep changing the name and haven't really settled down to exactly what my particular most loved bent is, other than pretty and fragrant and bath and recycled and organic and 'feathering of nests' and have~to~be~the~most~lovely containers and jars in the world{Spain to be exact} that are recycled and recyclable, and, let's not forget, price price price price price price.

However, her designs are OOAK ~ meaning: one of a kind. So my house will be the only house on the block that looks like that. Period. Now I like that way of thinking and one must pay a few pennies more for that option but I think it's worth it. It is very elaborately decorated but I think you will open the door under all that loveliness, with the little ringer over the door that tinkles when you step inside onto the floor boards and simply swoon at what you find inside. At least that is my vision. Can I make money with such a vision and no real live door, door way, windows, shelves, walls other than my pantry and me to make it work? Who knows... in the meantime, I shall paint and while away my time trying to stay somewhat healthy! And those plans include a sewing machine. Why? Because I want to make dolls again. Pure and simple. I want to make a doll for my little granddaughter as well as clothes now and then for her and maybe me, if I can remember how and find one of those stuffed figures that you can mold into your shape to pin things on, along with everything else you pin on them.

Scheveningen Woman Sewing

~vanGogh

Sew~~~so, there you go. Your lesson/plan for the day is #32, leave me a comment on what you think is my best way to go with a sewing machine. And in return, I will send you something lovely if you come up with the best and most affordable, with the most bells and whistles, free they must be, machine for me. Bath salts in dozens of types {well 6!} fragrances, soaps in the making as I write, and potpourri delicious, stewing along famously, as it is very famous you know. I plan a post but the sewing machine and the painting of the quail really should come first...

If you have one you no longer need and want to give it to me, I will pay shipping~~is that a lot? Well, if it's not oodles of money, I WILL PAY TO HAVE IT SHIPPED TO ME!! Sew, help me out, dear ladies{or handsome gents}. I know you are out there, reading this right now, thinking how demented I am but you do have that sewing machine just sitting there gathering dust that is in perfect working order....want to give her a good home? OR, do you have a suggestion for me? PLEASE??? I will send you a sweet gift if you win the prize and and tell me what you think I should buy and I go out and buy it!

You just can't lose on this blog!

And why's that?

Because I have the BEST, most GENEROUS and INTELLIGENT READERS EVER!

And they are so sweet, they come and read these rather long posts and say nice things about them besides!

So Guess What?

I keep writing them! :)

“There is always some madness in love.

But there is also always some reason in madness"

Friedrich Nietzsche