Pleasant View Schoolhouse

We are in the throes of practicing our basic domestic survival skills, as our vacuum cleaner died right before Christmas, and dishwasher die...

While attempting to pin darts into the back of a blouse I was wearing (not successful), I decided the time had come for a dress form that ac...

The holiday festivities continued today with a big lunch in honor of Head Coach, my younger brother who was in town briefly. Of course he wa...

Let fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy. Christmas was lovely. We had our fancy, junky dinner on Christmas E...

We had such a peaceful, pleasant day today. This morning I did all my prep cooking for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Then Daisy went d...

Time to get serious about Christmas food! The Composer is German and loves German food, so we do a German Christmas dinner. I love this men...

Maybe we're too picky when it comes to Christmas cards, but every year it seems like there are fewer good ones out there. I don't wa...

Frank Devol and the Rainbow Strings: Christmas doesn't get any more fabulous than this! The Composer brought this vinyl album home from ...

Eating by the seasons makes good sense for many reasons--it's cheaper and things taste better when you eat them near the time they'r...

My brother Josh bought a new house in town and yesterday was moving day. The Composer and the big kids worked all day, along with friends an...

In honor of Felix we took an afternoon boat trip at the state park, looking for bald eagles on the lake. We scored--we saw their nest, and a...

Daisy and I practiced being home all by ourselves as the rest of the family was in the big city buying ski gear with Grandpa. A test run for...

This summer's geraniums, brought into the house in October, continue to flourish in this east-facing window of the dining room. I think ...

Last week I sewed for the girls again, a flannel dress for each from my old favorite Butterick See & Sew 4099 . This time I lined the bo...

*Giles*

Today was tree day at last. We like our tree to reach to the twelve-foot ceiling, so there is no stopping at the grocery store parking lot t...

Today we finished about half of our cookie baking for Christmas. When I was a teenager, my mother did elaborate gift baskets for a long list...

Snow is such a treat here, and we got half an inch last night. Felix planned ahead to give himself a snow day and did all of today's sch...

(Photo credit to Giles.)

Which is why travel was on my mind yesterday! My next younger brother (we'll call him Head Coach) took his high school football team to ...