Wreaths, Rabbits, and Decorating, Oh My...

Good Morning from Maine!!!!

It has been frosty every morning!!! 

It's very pretty though!

Small snow squalls keep moving though!!! I  love to see the snow!  There has not been enough for snowballs and snowmen though!  Thea says that snow usually happens around Christmas though February and sometimes March!

This is the first snowflake I saw!!!

 It was so tiny! But watching them float down in the quiet of the night was so neat!

We have been visiting people and their businesses all over the place this week!  

Monday:

The first place that we visited was Smiths Family Wreaths!!!  They are located in Machias, Maine.

I watched wreaths being made, met a couple of dogs, and found out this is hard work!

I am sitting on a stick of tips!  To get one one of these, someone has to get a large stick about the size of a broom handle, then tips are snapped off of trees (they do not hurt the trees, it is like getting a good pruning!)  The tips are put on the stick and laid on top of one another, around in a circle!  They cannot start the tipping process until it is cold enough.  You are always going to have pine sap, but is has to be cold enough not to be flowing, you would just end up with a mess!  Also, not one wants a dead wreath!  The colder they stay, the longer they last!  They made hundreds of wreaths here, and they spend a lot of time out in the woods gathering the materials that they need!

I am sitting on a wreath that was just finished! The smell is just heavenly!  I think I would like to have a nap here!

Wreaths are made by wrapping tips that have been broken into the right shape, placing them on a thick wire ring, fixing them on with a thin wire that wraps around the tips and the ring.  Every time additional tips are added, the wreath is flipped over so each side is even, and thick with branches.

The types of tips that they use here are spruce, pine, and cedar!!!

They had wreaths piled up on every surface they had in the building!  The work goes around the clock, and napping is pretty much all they can fit in during this season!

These wreaths have moved into the room where they are to be decorated! There are all sorts of different decorations that can be put on the wreaths!!! The selection is crazy!  No one was working in this section when we went in, but we will be seeing some of their finished wreaths when I visit the Historical Ruggles House this weekend!  So, stay tuned!!!

They wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone who would be reading this!!!

We did stop in later to a wreath decorating store.  You can see all of the different types of decorations people order on wreaths!

Pinecones galore!

Need berries, they had them!

I did not know there were so many different pinecones...

Grasses, mosses, pods and angels...

bows..

Way more berries than "you can shake a stick at!"  That's what the sales lady said!

And to finish up, ornaments!  

Tuesday:

We were going to have a very quiet day and relax, do some crafting, and then Thea went out to the bunny cages this morning...they had started to shed!!!

This is after Shanti's (the bunny) brushing, and you can still see that fiber that is coming loose! 

We will have to groom again in a couple of days!

This was three swipes of the comb on her hind end!

This was the amount of fiber that came out in 20 minutes.  After that Shanti became "hoppy!" Her skin had had enough of the brushing, so we stopped.  

After that we also brushed Leo Petit, and Felix!  We ended up with three shopping bags full of angora rabbit fiber!!! Yay!  It is sooooo soft!

We will be brushing again at the end of the week!

That evening it was time to get some more decorating in!

Here's me with one of Ky's nutcrackers, we listened to the ballet while decorating!

We were very quiet while the lights were put on the tree, it was a little frustrating, especially when a whole set was put on backwards, but we go over it!

Lucy had her own ornament, it's Lucy!!!

After the tree was decorated, additional lights, with garland was put up in the rafters! I helped!

I passed up the ornaments and Shawn put them on the garland.  Ky handed them to me, because they go in a certain order.

They always start with this orange ball!  Orange is a favorite color in this house!

Wednesday!

After a busy beginning to the week we took some time for ourselves.  Off to get our backs adjusted, and to make sure we were all in good order!

Found some cool art work at the chiropractors!!! (Look more orange!?)

I found a pumpkin patch in the flower box!

Dr. Nicole, made sure I was well adjusted, and had all of the positive energy I needed for the rest of the season!  (I could have let her do the neck massage for hours!)

This is Babs her dog!  When I first came in she was very excited to see me, so excited that we could not get a picture that was not blurry!  She got settled during our appointment!

While Thea had her appointment, I helped out Lauren, by answering the phone, making appointments on the computer, and meeting new people!!! That place was hoppin'!

Well, there is half of my week!  The second half will be blogged soon! Right now I am off to more festivities!  Check back in soon!

Love Lucy!!!

Can you guess where I went next?!  It is another type of farm!!!

Thanksgiving Day!!!

Wow!  This has been a long, crazy, and wonderful day!

Thanksgiving was more than I thought it would be!

This is what time I got up!

OMG!!! But Thea had the coffee and tea going already, so I thought, yeah I can do this!

Then the cooking began!!!

Veggies in the food processor, I also got a bit of carrot to get me going! I was in charge of pushing the buttons!

Thea got the turkey out, cleaned it up, and put all of the right spices on it! I spread the veggies around it, added some stock, and in the oven it went!!! For three hours!  I was wondering what we were going to do so early in the morning...

I took little cat nap...with Maxwell! No worries, he went right back to sleep!

Back up again a little while later to check on the turkey, take off the foil so it would brown...

...and them made the apple pie!  Ky and I got to carve the design in the crust!

Another break from cooking, and into the craft room we went.  My shawl as dry, and ready to go! Awesome!!!

I worked on my project and Thea got some work done while we waited for the food to finish! It was hard to wait, the whole house smelled yummy!

Three hours later everything was cooked, and ready to go!  Then I realized that we had a two hour drive to get to the home that we going to eat at, and had to smell this yummy food the whole way!

When we got to Ky's Uncle Phil's home I met all of his kids, and his wife Amanda!

Here are Alex, Jackson, and Arianna!!! They all loved to play with me, and made me feel very welcome! 

We still had to wait for another hour for all of the food to finish cooking, but boy was it worth the wait! They had all my favorites; carrots, snacks, pie, and cheesecake!!!  

As the meal was being served, we went around the table and said what we were most thankful for!  During this trip I have done so many things, and met so many people, I was not quite sure what to say! So, I thought really hard for a while, and when it was my turn, I said that I was thankful for my opportunity to be there,  everyone being so nice, the food that was on the table, and more than anything for my family at home that will always be there for me!

They did not have a traditional meal, there was turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, and green bean casserole.  However, they also had prime rib, curried vegetables, and chipotle sweet potatoes!  There was a lot more stuff, but I cannot remember it all...I drank from the wrong eggnog bowl and ended up...

So, then I took another cat nap!

Don't worry Mum, after I woke up, I redeemed myself by helping with the clean up! 

After a lot more play, talk, family stories, and laughing, it was time to go home! I snoozed the whole way home!

It was a great day!  And to Mum and family, and all of my friends, thank you!  I am most grateful to have all of you in my life!

Love Lucy!!!

The Day Before Thanksgiving!

It's me Lucy from the kitchen, and craft rooms of The Lamoureux's, here in Maine!

There is a lot of prep to this Thanksgiving holiday, we have had to start a day early! 

The first thing that we did today when we got up was take the turkey out of the freezer, and tomorrow we will have to get up just at early to start cooking it!  We are going to Ky's Uncle Phil's for Thanksgiving!  He lives about two hours away, and had decided that prime rib was going to be his main course this year, so we are bringing the turkey for those who do not eat red meat! We are also bringing the apple pie!

This is the filling that Ky's Mum, Thea canned this fall (I've had some on ice cream, yummy!)

I have also been crafting with Thea in the last week! We had a mess to sort out to start with...

...but, we got it sorted out in the end! (Yes, I fell asleep, right there in the basket!)

Thea also gave me the supplies, and help I needed to get started on a project for my Mum! You will all have to wait and see when Mum posts it, it's a surprise! 

Love you Mum!

I received a present of my own today!  Thea made me a shawl to keep me warm!  I am not used to weather this cold, and as I am shedding for a thicker, warmer coat, I am not quite there yet! Here I am handing her pins so that we can block the shawl!

Here is a close up of all of the wonderful colors in my shawl!  Very autumn like! Having a hard time being patient for it to dry!

Just wait until you see it on me tomorrow!

The last little tid-bit for today...their dog is also named Lucy!!!

She's one of the best dogs I've met yet!  We get along wonderfully, she has my name, and she will sit with me for as long as I want!

Lucy the Dog, does however like to eat her Mum's wool! So, I have to watch out for her antics when wool is left about!

I saved the yarn Thea was plying today when post came!  Just a little slobber on the end of the spindle! Phew!!!

Cannot wait to show you my Thanksgiving Day!

Love Lucy!!!