{pretty, happy, funny, real} Fort Smith Edition!

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Brought to you by Like Mother, Like Daughter

It's been over two months since my last {p, h, f, r} post! Ridiculous!

We spent our holidays over Christmas and into the New Year in my hometown of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories! (For Christmas pictures in particular, see here.) It was a wonderful time with lots of family and lots of fun in the great white north.

{pretty}

Pretty is the winter view from Mom's kitchen window. This is the view that I know so well, from the frosty glass to the ever-present squirrel on the birdfeeder, and the "high noon" sun that just makes it above the peak of the garage roof.

And pretty are these Arden-sized moccasins, a northern gift for a northern Christmas. They are made of moosehide, with rabbit fur trim and traditional native beading.

Of course, the model is quite pretty too!

{happy}

Happy are the children playing in the snow, despite the cold temperatures.

(I think it was only in the -20s celsius this day, which is why we decided it was nice enough to take everyone out for a walk! It had been in the -30s a few days earlier.)

Arden and her cousins are enjoying a most satisfying game of "Jump, Jump, Splat."

The Jump. And yes, both feet are up in the air in this one!

The Splat. Best part, of course!

Getting up giggling, ready for another round or four. 

Here is Arden in her "I know you're taking my picture and I'm ignoring you for that very reason" pose!

And happy is the Mom who gets to see her daughter having such fun with her cousins!

{funny}

Funny is the attempt to take a picture (five minutes before we have to leave for the airport) of all the cousins at the same time. Here are just a few of the takes!

Child wrangling. Should be an Olympic sport!

Emma was the one deciding not to cooperate this time! Jack seems most amused. 

I laugh out loud at this one!
Riley is not impressed. Jack is focusing on whatever Hendrik is holding in such an unenthused fashion. Arden just wants to eat her apple and Abby is valiantly struggling to hold a screaming Emma. Priceless!

She escapes, to laugher all round! 

And now for the best shot of the bunch, which is actually quite good, all things considered. . . .
TA DA!

Mostly smiles! These cousins sure do love each other. 

{real}

Real is winter in the NWT. I still love it better than the wet, unsettled version we get here on the east coast!

The house I grew up in. Still feels like home to come back. 

The Slave River, frozen solid except for the very powerful Rapids of the Drowned. 

Such beautiful hoar frost.

There you have it, a little taste of contentment from the Northwest Territories! We are so blessed by the people and places that have shaped our lives, and by the love that links us all together.

Happy New Year to everyone!



~lg

Christmas in Fort Smith!

We spent a lovely Christmas surrounded by family in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories!

The jellybean queen!
(Counting beans to go in the goodie bags for church)

Good times with coffee

Decorating the Christmas tree

Double-barrelled coffee king!

Getting ready to go the Christmas Eve service

Candlelight service at Fort Smith Pentecostal Church
(Christen on the piano, me on the drum, back with the angels, of course!)

This little boy slept in Grandma's arms during the service

A tired little girl came running up to see me when the service was over

My cute boy!

Family photo on Christmas Eve

Some fun before bedtime with Auntie Christen

Late night, last minute stocking sewing!

Our humble spruce tree, looking quite its best

Guess who came to visit Christmas morning? (This little set travelled with us from PEI, as it was Arden's favourite thing to play with in the weeks before Christmas.)

Jack's first experience with Christmas presents! (The shiny paper was a big hit.)

She wasn't feeling her best that day, but a snuggle with Grandma's big dolly helped.

Don't even think about taking these toys away!

Chief turkey carver!

Just some of the present opening. I had to include this picture because of the bugle on the table, Hendrik's prized present! We had a grand carol sing later in the evening accompanied by this bugle and a few kazoos! 

Shall we gather round the WiiU?

Arden's northern gift

  ~lg

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Master Bedroom Challenge Edition!

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Brought to you by Like Mother, Like Daughter

Today I am joining in Leila's master bedroom challenge!

This little cross stitch was a wedding gift. I love its simplicity. 

But, oh, what a week it's been! It has been utter chaos around the house, all because of something, or rather some things, I can barely see - fleas. We discovered them in our house last week, and since then it's been a whirl of vacuuming and hot water laundering and pest control and more laundering. And I had just started to implement Auntie Leila's laundry sorting system too! Then suddenly I was faced with the prospect of washing everything, all at once, as soon as possible. There are still piles of clean laundry on the dining room table, but now I feel I'm at least on the winning side of things.

The silver lining in all this cloudiness was that I had to empty practically everything out of our bedroom anyway, which meant I had a fresh slate to start with. Auntie Leila's challenge came just at the right time - a glimmer of hope and a bit of focus.

Here is the before, taken a few days ago, mid-chaos, gross lighting:

Floor cleared, rugs temporarily removed, random stuff piled on surfaces. 

Not a pretty sight. Not our usual bedding either. 

{pretty}

And now when I walk in, it's a little haven of calm in the storm. :)

(I wish I had a sunny day to take pictures, but it's all rain and grey and gloom outside today.)

A clean, made bed. I also brought in that chair to put next to my little bookcase. 

The room is still missing a few elements due to cleaning in progress - a large area rug, the bedskirt, some pretty extra pillows. But I took the opportunity to hang a few things on the walls! I've wanted to get that little cross stitch up for quite some time, and this was just the motivation to do it. I also hung one of my small moosehair tuftings from up north.

The curtains are washed - but I can't decide whether to hem them up to the windowsill level (like in the before picture) or hem them to the floor. All I've got to work with right now is that tension rod to hold them up. 

By the way, I painted the bedroom floor this summer! It was a deep pink before, and latex. Now it's oil. I don't even remember what this colour is called; it's one of the historic colours from Benjamin Moore. (It looks different in real life. So do the walls, I think.) It was a bit of a fiasco because I didn't know what I was doing, but it turned out ok in the end!

Dresser cleared off! The dressers, which match, were got in two different provinces! This one we bought when we moved to PEI because it matched the one we already had, picked off a curb in Ontario! 

Micah's dresser, but my things on top of it. (Good thing he doesn't have too many things.) Micah's night table has his Grundig radio and a picture of us taken the day we were engaged, along with various electronic cords. 

I think the overall effect is quite pretty now, and I can tell you, it's also pretty clean!

{happy}

This week of clearing out and cleaning up gave me a good opportunity to decide what little touches I wanted to have in our room. I focused on the things which tell part of the story of "us," and also decided to bring in some of my treasures from the Northwest Territories, where I grew up and where my family still lives. I know they are only things, but they bring happiness because of what they represent.

This bird is actually a jewelry box! Lace from one of my sisters, I think from Italy? 

Wine bottle from our engagement picnic, picture of wild roses from up north, and a shell with dried lavender from along Hadrian's Wall and a beaded hair elastic also from up north.

My birchbark containers - one with porcupine quill detail and the other with
moosehair tufting, both from Fort Smith. 

Why did I take this blurry picture?? Oh yes, I was trying to focus on the picture in the mirror! 

Now when I look around I am reminded of who we are and where we've come from. Hopefully this room can be a sanctuary, a place of peace from which to go on together where God leads.

{funny}

Someone wanted to be in the pictures! This little one loves jumping on our bed.

{real}

I had a small stroke of genius which falls into the beautiful and useful category. One of the things living on the dresser before was a box of nursing pads. I had the great idea to put them into one of my birchbark baskets! So simple, so nice, so useful.

So, there you have it. Life is not quite back to normal yet, but our room feels lovely, and that makes a big difference! Thanks for the challenge!



~lg