Happenings at Merry Wind Farm

Life changes and sometimes you have to move on.  For the first time in years, Merry Wind Farm 

is without horses.  Yes, I'm sad, but sometimes things have to change.

They have gone to a good home, the farmer who does my hay.  He has grandchildren that

have more time to play with them.  His farm is only up the road about 5 miles so

I can visit any time that I want.

At this point, my number one priority is to hold on to my farm and hopefully have  more

time to devote to my reproduction sampler business.  And it seems like there should be 

some way to make some money off of the farm.  

I now have two big empty barns.  At least I can use them for RV and boat storage this winter.

This was the horse and hay barn.  

This is the second barn, the one where a wedding was held a couple of years ago.  To turn it into a permanent wedding/special occasion barn would require a lot of work and money.  Between the 

barn and the fence is one of the two pastures.  What to do with them?  Keep them mowed (lots and lots of mowing).  And should I take some fences down, or just the gates?  Keeping fence rows 

trimmed is a lot of work.

The hay fields, after one last cutting of hay the end of May, are now planted in soy beans.  Maybe I should remove this fence too.

Perhaps it is ridiculous to hold onto to 15 acres and this enormous house, but I'm just

not ready to make the change.  I love my historic house, the privacy, the gardens, all the birds and wildlife.  I can sit outside and hear orioles, blue birds, cat birds, tree frogs, and owls and coyotes at 

night.  It is a heavenly place to live, but lots of work.

This is Ginger, a very special little cat.  She is the only one that when strangers come is out and

about begging for attention.  Two weeks ago I got up in the morning and she couldn't walk, she would fall to the right side.  I thought she had a stroke, and was prepared to lose her.

A trip to the vet, and a very abnormal neurological examination.  Blood tests

didn't reveal much of anything, except elevated white blood cells.  I brought home 

antibiotics, and after two days of hiding and $300 of vet bills and some antibiotics,

she went back to normal!  What on earth could have been so wrong that she couldn't walk

and then cured with antibiotics??

In my hoop (and nearly finished) is Miss Mary Ann Bournes from Hands-Across-The-Sea Samplers.  

This beauty was their very first release.  She is stitched on 32 count lambswool linen 

with DMC and a few colors changes to work with the linen.

Also recently finished are The Chase Sampler from Scarlet Letter and Sarah Talbott.  Sarah is on 36 

count Liberty Gatherings Gray from R & R which I had a terrible time trying to see.  

I made so many mistakes that I finally just gave up trying to stay true to the chart.

My next reproduction sampler from Merry Wind Farm will be Leah Gronow 1872, another Welsh folk art sampler.  Leah was born in December 1864 in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales.  She never married and sadly died at age 25 in 1889 never having left Pontypridd parish.  The charting

is nearly complete and hopefully the linen will arrive Tuesday and I can begin

stitching the model.  Welsh samplers appeal to me for two reasons, firstly because my grandmother was Welsh (Evans), she gave her son (my father) the middle name of Evan, and I named my son Evan, and secondly because they are simply stitched on smaller

count linen, quite often using wool thread.

 This is the other Welsh folk art sampler that I have released.

Ann Evans.

Watching and cheering on Justify today made me want to share this photo of Blizzard Babe

racing about 20 years ago.  She was filly of the year in Michigan.  She looks like she's floating!!

Take care,

Melinda

xxx