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Growing up on a hill where
sweet summer breezes were like Dr. Jenkyl and Mr. Hyde come the month of
September. The same winds that cooled and made life so pleasant on the
highlands of Osage County during the warm months suddenly became not a
pleasant dream but something rather akin to a nightmare. These memories
make me ever aware of what is coming and every year creates a flurry of
activity lest I be caught with undone chores. The month of October to most
folks is a time for fake scares of Halloween but for me, it is a reality
of fearful winter miseries in an almost abnormal activity. Large, cold,
drafty houses of my youth left such an impression on me I’m like an ant
hurriedly carrying large loads on my back to a nest at this time.
Here are some pictures of
the work I’ve been doing on the back porch. I’ve been so delinquent with
correspondence while I was doing all this fall cleaning of closets,
pantry, sewing room and fabric room. Hopefully, this will redeem me with
you. All I need to do now, is to work on my crafts and I’ll send along
photos as I go in hopes you can use something for an idea.
I pulled the curtain out over the top of the
chest freezer so you can see that I have lined them with this black
fabric. I'm hoping this will draw the sun to heat the windows here. The
top of that storage chest was painted black for the same reason. The
curtains can easily be partially pulled back during bright sunny days. You
can't see them but I used those long flat hooks in order to give a space
behind the curtains so the air will heat up and flow upward and then drop
back down into the room. I learned this neat trick from Lil from my
homestead group. It is a clever way to use solar heat. She's a smart lady
so I'm counting on this to work. That is the kid's artwork on the side of
the freezer. The fabric has simply been staped on to the front of those
shelves. One end was stapled and then the other end. I pulled the fabric
in half and stapled it in the middle and then just went along doing the
same thing and it is fairly equally gathered without a lot of guessing and
fuss.
This is the other side of the room. These windows make a wonderful, warm
place to rest my tired back by afternoon. The place is a bit like a
sunroom when the curtains are pulled back. I made that quilt couple years
ago and a friend quilted it for me on her machine. The colors are dark and
go well with the chest and plant I brought in from the patio. Mother
always enjoys this place, too.
We have had some light frost but some how these lovely roses on the west
front side of the house have survived. |
