Wednesday, July 8, 2009

A Dream Come True

Here's a picture of the view from my home in the mountains of NE Washington where I live on a 20 acre patch of heaven surrounded by nature and wildlife. It's a far cry from Silicon Valley where I spent most of my adult life, or NYC where I grew up. Even in the Santa Cruz mountains where I used to live the neighbors were all very close. I moved here 4 years ago after being forced into early retirement by a disability. Before that I cleaned houses for a living while raising my 3 children as a single parent, after my divorce. Sewing and crafting always took a back burner to making a living but I did manage to enjoy the chance to be creative and continued to learn new techniques along the way.

Here's a picture of me from years ago when I was also very involved in Northern Breed Dog Rescue and after starting out with one dog, built up a small team of rescued pals and enjoyed some wonderful years and have great memories of recreational sledding, hiking and camping, before my body gave out. My favorite dog rescue that I donate a portion of my sales to on etsy is S*N*O: http://www.siberiansneedingowners.org/ ,go check them out and make a donation if you feel so inclined, as they do great work to help find forever homes for these beautiful dogs who have so much love to give even though some were abused and abandoned by their original owners, they are so forgiving and want only to have a special person to love.

Peter (in the chair) was my first rescue dog and the newest addition to our family, seen here relaxing with him on a warm summer's day is Foley, a very sweet boy I adopted from S*N*O.

It was always a dream of mine to live in snow country for the dogs, and you can see with this next picture that we do have plenty of snow around here for about 6 months out of the year. We love it ...and I haven't regretted a single second, well, maybe some of the endless hours of shoveling snow, but.. it's sure nice to see this view while sitting in front of a nice cozy fire with the dogs all curled up around me and a cup of hot cocoa..



Living this remotely also has it's disadvantages, in the winter I don't go to town more than once a month. If I run out of something, or need a particular fabric or thread I just don't drive the 21 miles down to the nearest market or store to pick some up, and forget ordering in..but I have the Internet, regular mail delivery, and a satellite, so I'm not entirely cut off. I do get cabin fever every so often, so, in the summer I go to town more frequently and get socialized by attending a knitting group filled with other great women who share my passion for creativity and conversation, friendship and laughter. Never a dull moment with this bunch..


And of course there are the dogs who keep me entertained with their hilarious antics and mischief making adventures, like the time Peter burrowed his way to China in pursuit of a wayward chipmunk who inadvertently stumbled into the yard, got trapped under the deck, and eventually made a hasty retreat much to Peter's dismay. He was just so sure that if he dug deep enough the critter would reappear...tearing up much of the flowerbed and rock wall to my chagrin.. Once a husky gets an idea into his head, it's all but impossible to convince him otherwise...

I keep pretty busy between my sewing projects for family and friends and the things I have made to list on etsy.You can see these at : http://www.faeriegood.etsy.com/ , and also at: http://www.chicadolly.etsy.com/



Along with everything else, I love to have a big organic vegetable garden during the short growing season here, and manage to put up most everything I need to sustain me through the winter, besides having all those fresh salads throughout the summer. Nothing beats a ripe home grown tomato freshly picked from the garden!!

All in all, we have a pretty contented life here in the north country and I hope to get a chance to share more of my stories in future posts..along with some of my artistic endeavors and what goes into the making of .. Come visit again and become a subscriber if you like what you see..

Thanks, Carol