The Haywood Family Band

I truly believe that it is John’s utmost dream to one day play in the band that is fronted by his two little girls.  He is getting them started early, and they are loving every minute of it.  They were born with the music of these hills in their souls.  This is why we love the evenings when Daddy is home.  This is the perfect after bath, before bed activity.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Hear John’s music and the legacy that has been with our people for hundreds of years at www.myspace.com/haywoodbanjo or visit his YouTube channel (Renegade Hillbilly) under the links section in my sidebar.

The Uniform

I rarely post a picture of myself on this blog (I think I have 3 times, this being the third), and you can see why.  I am the real frumpy mom.  I am the kind of person that the people doing these makeover shows would shake a finger at, then hug because they feel so sorry for me.  If there is no where to go, I don’t get dressed.  Yes, these are my pjs.

A friend on Facebook posted as her status the other day that she wished she could have a job where she wore her pjs.  I do – mother, writer, and homesteader.  In this particular picture taken yesterday for this post, I am wearing a thermal shirt that happens to be the first present John’s mother ever bought for me.  I have been with John for fifteen years, so there is no need for any math to figure out how old this shirt is.  As for the pants, I have to apologize, I don’t sport cartoon characters usually.  I had nothing else clean.  Both of these garments are more than several sizes too big for me.  My shoes are used.  I am the third owner of them.  First they were my sister’s, then my mother’s, and now they are mine.   The soles are falling off, but they still work good for sloshing around in our current muddy situation (Did you see the dozer?).  My hair, I know you think is lovely.   A twig bun in the back, with no brushing beforehand.  Just up and twig.  Oh, and no makeup.  I rarely do makeup even when I’m getting dressed up.

Now, I have heard people on TV and in print accusing mothers like me of having low self esteem, being lazy, and taking no pride in themselves.  I’m not buying it.  Why would I want to wear my nice clothes to clean house, cook, and tend children, dogs, and poultry?  I don’t.  I’m not putting on an outfit to hang out in the holler.  I might if I’m getting company, but that’s a big might.

I don’t think John cares what I wear from day to day, and I am satisfied in my pjs.  It’s not because I fancy myself ugly.  I can dress for an occasion and that is exactly what I do.  I love comfort and ease.  I have too many other important things to worry about like preparing nutritious meals, homeschooling the girls, doing a yoga session, reading a good book, or writing this blog post.

To Oz

The girls and I bailed out of the cabin on Friday and went to my in-laws for the rest of the weekend.  I had made an attempt to clean some of the mold from the walls and floors, which taught me that this mold likes to give you an itchy sore throat.  With both of the girls sick with what seems like a sore throat/cold thing, I felt it best to get out of the cabin for a few days and search out a dehumidifier.

For the girls, their grandparents’ house is like going into a dream filled wonderland.  They are showered with attention, given too many sweets, allowed to watch TV on demand, and catered to in most every way.  Both of them absolutely love to go and be with their grandparents, and I love that I get to watch them develop the same type of relationship that I had with my grandparents and great-grandparents.  I also love the bit of letting go that I get.  Nothing pressing down on me insisting to be done.  I get to watch the History Channel too, which is always a luxury to me since we don’t have cable.

Halloween night came with a 90% chance of rain, and that it did.  The in-laws went to their church to do Trunk or Treat, and I was left to get the girls ready and walk them around the holler and on up to the church later on.  Deladis had gotten better in the day that we had been there, but Ivy was still sick.  I worried whether or not either of them were fit to go, especially since Deladis passed out on the couch about 45 minutes before time to start getting ready.  I couldn’t stand the thought of missing Halloween, so I woke Deladis and got both the girls ready despite the tears from a tired Deladis who was also very certain that she did want to go.

Taking their picture together before leaving the house was impossible.

Here you have Dorothy Gale from Kansas and a sick little flower munchkin from Oz.  After a few attempts to take a good picture and this being the best of the three, we set out to see the Wizard.

We went to a few houses before heading up to the church.  The rain drizzled on us, then sprinkled chubby little droplets, and I tried to make it quick.  There is a sub-division (of the mountain variety) in the holler.  It consists of about 15 upscale houses on both sides of the street.  They were obviously in competition with each other on the treat giving.  Whole chocolate bars, candy apples, and Capri Sun juice pouches soon filled our treat bag!  Deladis said when handed a Mr. Goodbar, “This is the best treat I’ve never had!”  Ivy waved hi and good-bye to everyone from my arms.  She didn’t feel up to walking, but she is always the people person.  The girls received many compliments on their costumes.  One woman even thought I had made them.  I wish I could, though I’m not as cool as Breedermama, I do take costuming very seriously.

Poor Snotty Nosed Munchkin

At the church, we went around to 17 cars with decorated trunks and costumed treat givers.  The church grilled hot dogs and gave out hot chocolate, chips,  and deserts.  Deladis ate like there was no tomorrow after almost fasting for the few days before.  I took the girls inside the church to eat, and Ivy took off her hat, relieved.  After eating, Deladis said she was ready to go home (the grandparents’ place).

So pleased to be called beautiful!

Today, I clicked my heals three times and we were back in Kansas.  I wish it were that easy.  I unloaded and reloaded the truck with our things and the new dehumdifier, drove a fair piece, and walked a bit in the dark to get back to the cabin.  The one thing that I love so very much is that though Oz is such a nice place to be that there is no place like home.  The girls even think so too, and that makes me feel like I’m doing a good job.

Fog

I sat in the living room with Ivy in my lap watching the fog come up the holler this morning, and wondering how the rest of the weekend will play out.  The gas company is still working on roads and new pipeline.  The yard is becoming a mud pit, and I am ready to have the peace back around here.  Today, I caught about five of them hovered around the chicken coop.  One of them was giving one of our roosters hits off of his cigarette.  I quickly went out on the porch to make myself known.  I was about to have words with him, but I was able to restrain myself, and they just as quickly left our yard.  I know that when all is finished, it will be better for us and easier on the vehicles, but right now, it’s hard.

I’m having to keep the girls inside for the most part.  Today, it was so beautiful, we had to venture out for a quick swing while we caught some quiet.  What you see here is the new road.  We had to move the swingset.  The road took our compost pile, all my wild blackberries, and my bird feeders that I made with the girls.  However, it will prevent us driving through a large part of the creek.  Hopefully, we’ll have a bridge over the deepest part at some point.  Right now with the rain, we can’t park anywhere near the house.  We are parking about a football field’s walk in the mud from the house.  The dozers and inloaders coupled with the type of work they are doing has kept us out of the hills this fall.  Usually, we are in them most days.  I had wanted to take pictures of the trees and all their colors.  The leaves are pretty much gone now.  I took this next photo from the yard, catching a patch of trees that hadn’t been so blown by the wind.

I’m trying to look on the bright side of things.  John has described this month as the month from “hell”, and for him it probably has been.  October is my favorite month, so I’m giving its redemption my best shot.   I went to the produce stand on Wednesday and discovered that as long as there is something to be sold and people buying, they will be open!  They carry some local goods like potatoes, honey, sorghum, and other canned items.  The rest of the produce is trucked in from North Carolina, but it is a family business and small.  It is an outdoor stand.  Though the produce is not organic, its flavor is magnificent.

Here are some of the winter items I stocked up on, just in case they close.

In that basket are apples of all sorts, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and butternut squash.  I plan to peel, slice, and freeze some of these apples for fried apples through the winter.  Some of the green ones will make an apple pie.  I have Mutsu and Granny Smiths.  Sweet potatoes are something John and I have never liked until we started cooking more traditional/whole foods.  Now,in this area, most sweet potato dishes that are served are very sweet, almost like a desert.  Brown sugar, margarine, and marshmallows are added along with other spices.  It makes it taste wrong to both John and I.  However, we have found that we love them fried in butter with nothing added except occasionally a little nutmeg or cinnamon.  I thought about making sweet potato chips with some of these, or baking a few.  Yum!  I can just see the melted butter.

I also got a few huge cabbages for sauerkraut making, and a box of the nicest onions.  The red ones in the picture are the best tasting onion I have ever put in my mouth.  They are so sweet.  The little ones are PeeWee Vidalias.  I’ll have to report back on those.

Before John left today, we talked about cooking.  Neither of us can remember when I made a dinner last.    I cook breakfast every morning.  It is the family meal we rely on.  This month we have been apart most of the time for dinner.  I don’t cook when it is just me and the girls.  They eat so little that we just eat lunch type foods.  I miss dinner.  That is why I bought the butternut squash.  I have never had it, and I want to make something different.  I want to eat things that are in season.

This morning, I made fried apples from the fresh apples I bought yesterday.  The girls and I really enjoyed them.  It is a traditional Appalachian food.  Many families had apple trees on their little hillside homestead.  I’ll post my recipe on the favorite recipes page.

Thanks ladies for the well wishes for the girls.  It is a minor thing – cold like.  I’m thinking either from all the wet weather or the sitting in the car cart at the mall when we went for my birthday.  It is that or the mold issue.  We are still working on that.  The ventilation has brought some help, but not quite enough.  We are looking for a dehumidifier.  If that doesn’t work…  I hope that isn’t the problem.

It is more than a blessing to be able to live in this holler and in this cabin.  It is perfect for us.  Our landlord is a true friend.  I wish so much that it wouldn’t have to ever come to an end, even when things are a bit off kilter.

Trying…

I’ve been attempting to write another post for this week, but life is really hectic right now. We are struggling to find family time because John is so very busy with work and traveling. We are blessed he is able to do so much right now, because usually this is a dry period for us, but it is still hard.
I’m watching the fog roll down the holler this morning, seeing a forecast of rain for trick-or-treat night, and watching two little girls as they seem to be getting sick. I think it is only a cold.
I will be back as soon as I can focus myself to write something worthwhile.

Discovery

The tree next to this rock is my favorite tree in our yard.  I can’t recall ever seeing one before we moved here, but I think I have finally discovered its name – Lynn Tree.  It is a rhododendron of the large variety.  It has lovely white blooms that are larger and less neatly formed than a magnolia.  Its branches twist and turn like my favorite plant the mountain laurel.  This tree is absolutely gorgeous.  Because of an old fence, I have never been able to get close to it, but now that they have made the new road, I ‘ll be able to get a closer look.

My dad took me out for my birthday this weekend.  We took the girls into the city to a Halloween party at the Borders Bookstore and to play in the mall playground.  I got to do a little shopping with gift money for clothes that I have desperately needed.  It was a nice trip.  The girls really enjoy the attention of their grandparents.  But, it was at his house that I tasted Lynn Tree honey and connected it to my tree.  This honey is the best I’ve ever tasted.  It is almost clear, being a light lemony yellow color.  If you could bottle the smell of magnolia and make it perfectly palatable, you would have Lynn honey.  Apparently, it is very hard to find as there aren’t many of these trees left in the mountains for whatever reason.  My dad who is an environmental engineer, confirmed that my tree was a Lynn.  I haven’t been able to find anything about it on the internet.

I was also excited when I went to the calender and found that the end of my 40 Day Commitment ended on my 31st birthday.  It has been a different spiritual experience for me.  I am sleeping better.  I’m off caffeine, at least for the time being.  I am learning how to be still.

The mind is energy.  Regluate it.

- Yogi Bhajan

This lesson has been reiterated to me in so many ways over the last weeks.  What is life, if we aren’t living it currently?  If we are always in the past or the future?

I was happy to be led to a new online journal of Appalachian literature – Still: Literature of the Mountain South.  It is edited by mountain writers, Silas House, Jason Howard, and Marianne Worthington.  It is free to read.  I loved all of their reasoning behind their naming it Still, but this one, again, brought my lesson to the forefront of my day.

To be a writer is to learn how to be still.

Take a moment and do some reading here.  I’m celebrating this journal.

I’m excited that at the end of this week will be my favorite holiday – Halloween!  I can’t wait to write about it.

Corn, Ventilation, and New Roads

I’m dropping in for a few minutes to write in the midst of a crazy busy week.  As I mentioned before, the gas company is building a new and improved road on our property.  Dozers have been up and down this creek everyday as early as 6am.   As soon as the dozers and men are lurking around, our three rooster have a crowing competition.  The two little guys are trying their best.  It is hilarious.

The days are beautiful and the fall atmosphere I know is back again.  It’s a relief because we also have some folks helping us eleviate the mold problem in the cabin.  We are getting ventilation in the roof!  It woke Ivy up from her nap today because it shook the whole cabin.  She ran to me scared and crying.  I showed her the men on the ladder, and she laughed.

We’ve gotten out a little more, but still not as much as I would like.  I turned the compost pile today, but learned that it might get covered with the new road.  John hasn’t had the time to help me move it, and I have neither a shovel or a pitchfork.  We are great at planning ahead – homesteading without a shovel or pitchfork is a fabulous adventure!  The road has already taken all my wild blackberries.   I froze quite a few bags and I plan on making some blackberry dumplings soon.

Deladis with our dolls

We made the simple cornhusk dolls this week in our homeschool as per the directions from Little Acorn Learning.  I think I modified the arms a bit because I didn’t quite catch on to the instructions and there wasn’t a picture of a finished doll.  It turned out great though.  Deladis loves them, and she picked the smallest of the two for herself.  The one I intended for Ivy.   This was a project I could see myself taking up as a hobby.  You know, in my other life, when the days are 48 hours long.   I’ve always admired the elaborate cornhusk dolls you see in the Appalachian craft shops.  These simple ones are beautiful just as they are too.  I really appreciated the Iroquois story of the Corn Spirit and the Creator included in the curriculum.  It explains why the doll has no face – vanity.  I love sharing these types of stories with the girls – one because of our own Native American heritage (Cherokee) and two because it shares with them an American culture that is more than consumerism.

My birthday is only a few days away, and Halloween is next week.  John is busy preparing to leave, and has finished several gorgeous paintings to take along.  Despite all the business and busyness, I think we’ve found a Halloween/Fall family event to go to when he returns.  It is close by and not expensive!  The scarecrow walk at Buckhorn Lake. There is a lot to look forward to, while trying to live in the moment.

And It Goes

This is my final week of being thirty.  At the end of this week I’ll be thirty-one.  A few days ago I discovered my first real gray hair.  It is long and sparkly.  I wonder what my gray hair will be like.  I’ve seen some women with the most beautiful long and luscious gray hair.  There is a seventy-one year old woman in Yoga Journal magazine this month with the greatest head full of gray curls and two cute little braids on each side.  She is so lovely.  So far, I don’t mind getting older.  The thirties have proven to be a very different time for me as of now.  I hope it continues in the direction it is going.

The weather broke today, and we had a lovely day of sun.  It is too bad that John is so busy preparing for the next two weekends of traveling to Memphis for River Arts, and then Louisiana for the Blackpot Festival.  He’ll be missing my birthday and trick-or-treat.   After this month, our dry time begins, so he has to try to earn as much as he can while there is the opportunity.  Whoo-hoo for self employment in the arts!  Really, he loves it and it allows us a unique lifestyle that is both hard and wonderful.

Today, we started a week around the theme of corn with Little Acorn Learning.  I’m excited about it.  Tomorrow we are going to be making simple corn husk dolls.  For breakfast in the morning we’ll have cornmeal pancakes and fried apples with some sausage.  I can’t wait.  I loved showing the girls, today, about shucking corn, removing the kernals and grinding meal.  I wish we had a hand grist mill.  They are so expensive though.  I saw a coffee bean grinder in the Michael Olaf catalogue Child of the World that was very inexpensive. I wonder if that would work for some flour making?  If I had my preference, most every gift the girls got would come from that catalogue.

There wasn’t much time for being outside today.  We went to the library after spending a half hour at the pharmacy and found some great corn books.  Our library is only one room, but the librarians do their best with what they have and seem to genuinely love their job.  We love the library.

I’m not sure that we’ll have more outside time tomorrow.  The gas company is working on the new road and gas lines on the property.  They have a huge dozer parked in our side yard.  I’m not sure how safe playing outside will be until they are finished.  We are going to work on winterizing the cabin.  We have a condensation and mold problem.  Bad mold problem.   Tomorrow we will be covering the windows with plastic and getting a dehumidifier.  I’m not sure what else will help.  We’ll see.

So, October is going by.  It’s not the best October by far.  We’ve missed going to the Louisville Zoo for trick-or-treat for the first time since Deladis was born, there has been too much rain, and John is so busy.  Yet, it’s okay.  We make the best of things and it works out.  I watch the wonder in the girls’ eyes and try to remember to keep my heart light.  I rested this weekend at my mother’s while John was away.  Deladis got to ride a horse at a birthday party for her friend, and we got to spend my grandmother’s seventy-fifth birthday with her.  Those are great things.  My biggest lesson learned this month is to stop fighting.  Stop trying to make life into something, but experience it as it comes.  Be still.

Cease striving and know that I am God…

- Psalms 46:10

Rainy Week Blues

This last week has been pretty blah weather wise.  I feel like I’m right in the middle of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.  Sure there is beauty in it, but I am very unprepared for cold weather as far as dressing myself and the girls.  The everyday rain has made it even more difficult.  Without rain boots or coats and hats, we have had to stay indoors and give up our nature walk until the weather breaks.  There are no places to take children to play indoors in such a rural area.  This is especially hard on Ivy who lives to be as physical as possible.  She has cried, tantrumed, and gotten into so much trouble.

This morning Ivy discovered that she is finally big enough to use the rocking horse, and got it going pretty good until I decided to take her picture.  The joy on her face was a relief.  Her face has been drawn and aggravated so much this week.

Deladis has been antsy too.  I thought she was going to explode when I told her we were going to be going to dance class and church yesterday.  She started jumping on the bed and nearly landed on her sister’s head.  I’m hoping I can hold off her incessant questioning for two more hours before we leave for our homeschoolers group meeting today.  I’m thanking God we have some place to go.

This all has really been trying my patience.  A trial was just what I needed to put all my work in that area to the test.  I’ve failed more than I’ve passed, but it’s okay.  It keeps me in perspective and lets me know where I am.  Absolutely not the perfect temperament.   Not able to withstand a trial on my own strength.  Right where I’m supposed to be.

I’m missing my coffee these days too.  I’ve had a headache for about five days now, and I know that a good cup of coffee would either take it away or help me deal with it a whole lot easier.  I have been sleeping better since giving it up, but my mind is still working at ninety miles an hour.  I could definitely rationalize why it would be perfectly fine to start drinking coffee again.  Should I?

As far as school goes, we’ve been forced by the weather to take a fall break.  Not having good access to the outdoors makes it hard to use our curriculum.  I’ve been keeping to our rhythm fairly well over our break, but been much more lax.  I’m finding that I really need a solid plan in order to be productive because of my flitting mind.  That is something I aim to work on this weekend.  Planning for the next few weeks, our schooling, activities, meals, housework, etc…

It is these days when there is no quick remedy to our dilemma that I really feel the crunch of financial choices.  Winter/Rain attire is usually acquired over a period of a few months as money comes in, but it’s supposed to snow Saturday or Sunday.  Where is my October of yore?  I’ve got the rainy week blues.