#inktober

Since Mom is on vacation it's a chill night that Dad. He poured us both a bit of Jameson.... his favorite right now. And it goes down pretty smooth so I don't mind it either. We had a  dinner together and he told me of the crazy events at work like a trench that caved in and concrete that showed up an hour early. Between talking of the day we browsed newspapers and magazines that had come in the mail. That sort of thing. I like these easy-going evenings.

Well, there are seriously 100 things I want to blog about. Okay, maybe more like 10... or 20. Haha... but with so little time I figured I'd take care of "business". That is, I haven't uploaded my Inktober drawings yet. In the month of October there's this epic art challenge an artist friend told me about, in which you draw one ink sketch every day of the month. It's always exciting the first day or two when there's time to draw and some thought out ideas of what to sketch.

 I've put off posting the pictures because some of them are just not that great, honestly. You can tell when I had time and when I was in a hurry. BUT.... I'm sharing the good and the bad because it shows the learning process. I made a few discoveries by branching out with ink and trying new things. Discovery is what it's all about. Without further ado, here are my 31 days of #inktober.


Day 1: #inktober. It was fun coming up with creative images for the letters. Though I could have done better on the 'R' perhaps. But seriously.... what makes the shape 'R' in real life?!


Day 2: Cutest poem I've ever heard. My sister taught her daughter to say this when she blew kisses. Adorable! Plus, I've always wanted to try sketching dandelion seeds blowing in the wind.


Day 3: I wanted to draw a shipwreck. I found an image on google that suited my imagination, but now that I look at it I think it's just a whaler ship? I cannot tell. But... you'll notice that in the sea are lyrics to one of my favorite songs, "In The Eye of the Storm". :)

 
Day 4: The family crest. I especially like the motto: "Innocent but not fearful."


Day 5: ...I had no clue what to draw. I was starting to lose ideas. So I began with shapes and odd things. I kind of like how it turned out.


Day 6: Once again, a little lack of inspiration. It was late at night... should have been in bed... Must. Draw. One. Sketch. ....so I found a few items on my desk and sketched them. Shadows and all.


Day 7: Another day without inspiration was upon me. I had to break out of the funk. I took a receipt that I still had from a visit to Chipotle, cut it and taped it to my paper (double-sided tape of course). With the little umbrella girl protected I drizzled ink diluted with water down the paper. One of my favorites from this #inktober.


Day 8: Having discovered mixing ink with water and letting it run down the paper, I decided to give it another go.


Day 9: It must have been debate night. A stick figure was all I had time for. He is a cute version of Uncle Sam, if I do say so myself.


Day 10: Not a great sketch... but an amazing topic. Babies. I think there was a big discussion about abortion around this time, so it was a matter close to the heart.


Day 11: A field down the road full that inspired this one. Pretty simple because I didn't have time for much else.



Day 12: Tried some more ink/water art. This one turned out curiously. I haven't decided if I like it yet... but that is the nature of art.


Day 13: I didn't put a lot of effort into this one. The shading turned out terribly. Wasn't a very comfortable sketch.... but hey, you can tell what it's supposed to be, so that's good.


Day 14: This was 4 failed attempts. Without any more time or inspiration it was all I had for the day.


Day 15: Humming birds. Zinnias. Oh bring back Summer, please!


Day 16: This one is pretty off the wall. Just entirely random. But I was trying ideas and concepts from a little book on how to draw basic sketches. It was pretty fun.


 Here's a close up of one of the random buildings. Almost a little Edgar Allen Poe.


Day 17: It was Elton's birthday. Inspiration enough! I drew an okay likeness... but still. Faces are so difficult!


Day 18: You just can't spend every day making art. A friendly Box Elder Bug was kind enough to pose for this quick sketch. It was more of an exchange, really, as he was late on his rent payment. He payed me with his photogenic modeling services instead. He is still residing in my bathroom and seems to especially like the sink.  


Day 19: It was a busy day. Perhaps the night of one of the presidential debates? This was all I had time for. Officially one of my family's favorite jokes is to say, "Wrong." in a Donald Trump-like manner.


Day 20: This is a throwback. I didn't draw a sketch but this was one I'd deemed unworthy last year and therefore didn't include in my 31 sketches. It was better than stick figures and therefore it was looking great this year! 


Day 21: It was my sister, Emily's birthday. That was inspiration enough. I tried using a grid in order to get the proportions right.


Day 22: I can't even remember why I drew a rose. ...but a few days later I discovered a special lady named Rosie died. It's Rosie's cheerfulness that I remember when I see this picture.


Day 25: Mr. Darcy. Well... or at least that who I was trying to draw. Terrifying likeness. The ink did not cooperate. I put shading in the wrong places.... oh dear. *wince* It really did start with good intentions.


Day 26: During the trip to Colorado we discovered this little inside joke about my uncle. Uncle Mark is the funniest fellow you'd ever want to meet. Always smiling and joking around. Perhaps it's all the weed he smokes... ;)


Day 26: From a photograph I took in Colorado at St. Mary's Glacier National Park. The trees there looked like they were from The Lord of the Rings or some other fantastic tale.



Day 26: 'Lil Bit. The cutest dog, ever. My Aunt and Uncle in Colorado have two adorable pups and so 'Lil Bit was my last subject for the day.


Day 27: Inspired by a photograph of my friend, Courtney! It was a sunset, silhouette shot. I asked her for an inspirational quote to add to the picture and she suggested the song lyrics. Perfect!


Day 28: Snowflakes. They actually just started out as patterns. I was hoping for something much more like flowers or.... I don't know. But I definitely wasn't going for snowflakes!


Day 28: This was an attempt to draw raindrops on a window. Not my best work... haha.


Day 29: I wanted to spend time with the family, so doodling random shapes and designs was the only thing I could manage while also visiting.


Day 31: This concept was burning in my imagination for weeks. I wanted an artist friend to sketch it for an article I wrote... but they were unable. So I took it upon myself. Murica.
By this last day I'd finally figured out that grids make people easier to draw, and I'd discovered a nice Speedball sketching set with pen tips that actually make detail possible with ink. Now I know for next year!

And so that is all, folks.

Elton

Every morning at a quarter to seven, the barn door slowly opens and in walks Elton. He'd had a friend make him a special walking cane that's handle looks just like a hand-held saw handle. He wears glasses, a ball cap (the type all farmers wear), leather boots, a buttoned & collared shirt with a stripped or plaid design and overalls. The coolest thing he wears however, is his smile and his enthusiasm for life. Though signs of age have grown on him you'd hardly be able to guess his age by his attitude.

I've been working at this dairy farm since last October and one thing that I can count on is seeing Elton every morning. I work for Ted and Corey, Elton's son and grandson and when I first got the job dealing with the grandfather wasn't something I'd expected to be part of my work routine. Getting used to the fast pace of their milking set up and learning the ins and outs was hard enough without having to visit with a stranger. I don't think Elton was too excited about me either. In spite of the "inconvenience" I always tried to be friendly and get to know him, and he tried to be nice and friendly with me. Don't get me wrong, he's the friendliest guy you'd ever want to meet.We'd greet each other, comment on the weather. He'd ask if Corey was around and I could usually tell he'd be disappointed to have me to talk to instead of his grandson. Then he'd say goodbye and leave the barn.

It was just hard to get anything more than the business of weather out of him. As the days turned into weeks, I realized that Elton wasn't going be an easy nut to crack and that it would take a little faithfulness on my part to get him to open up to me. I put in a little effort but it never seemed to make a huge difference. Every once in a while he'd come in and forget himself and tell me all about something exciting in his life. So eventually I came to look forward to him stopping by the barn each morning. I'd get to the point where I'd forget I was supposed to be milking the cows because I was chatting with Elton for a few minutes.

Last Fall, Elton and his wife celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. She'd been in the nursing home for 10 years with Alzheimer's and I'm not sure if she knew they'd made it to 60 years. It was a part of Elton's daily routine to go visit his wife. Talk about faithfulness. Well, she passed away a year ago, this past week. I was surprised at how well Elton took it, but I suppose she'd mentally been gone for a number of years already. One morning he asked me if I had any stocking caps, and by this I think he meant winter hats. It turned out he'd brought me a light blue winter hat with dark blue snowflake patterns. It had been his wife's hat. I felt like this was a huge honor that he would give me something that had been his beloved wife's.

After receiving this hat I decided I wanted to thank him in some way. His birthday came and he turned 88 years old. To do something special for him my mom, sister and I whipped up a little dish of lasagna for him (because I'd heard he was a fan of lasagna). He stopped in one morning, about a week after his birthday, and I snuck out and put the dish and a birthday card in his truck. Later that morning he returned to the barn (which is unusual) with a big grin on his face. He thanked me for the dish and it turned out he'd brought me another gift. It was some coats that had been his wife's! Almost a year after her death I suppose he'd decided it was time clean up the house. I felt extremely honored once again.

Yesterday morning, Elton came into the barn as always. We talked about the weather. As always I asked him if he had big plans for the day... to which he sort of grinned and said, "Oh no." He chatted with his grandson a bit about the latest small town gossip, crops, tractors, etc. Then before he left he let me know that he'd put a bag of clothes in my vehicle. Some more things that had been his wife's. I'm not sure why he's chosen to give some of her things to me and I don't dare ask. I take it as a huge honor. Though he's not my grandfather and I'm simply the milkmaid on the farm, it's a sort of sweet, unspoken friendship we have. It's these little, unexpected relationships in life that bring warmth to the long days and spontaneity to the rigid schedule. No words needed... just giving, sharing and being. The sort of person you never expect to meet and can't believe you'd missed out on knowing for so many years. It makes my heart full.

Pies, Pies, Pies.

I'm waiting for the kitchen space to open up. The little farmers have come inside from their chores and are just now eating breakfast, so I must postpone my baking endeavors until they've been fed. It didn't work out for the motley crew to feast yesterday so we're having Thanksgiving tomorrow and baking today. This arrangement works out wonderfully actually because of the three siblings with significant others. We miss my brother Daniel and Jacqui and their two boys but we heard they had a nice day of Thanks in AZ (where they live) and are headed to the mountains today for a mini vacation. Channing was gone yesterday to celebrate with Rachel's family. It will be a beautiful day when I can call her my sister, but I'm excited for now to have her come today/tomorrow to celebrate with my family. 

In spite of the fact that we're baking today, we are also having a family gathering with my mom's two brothers. One family will be coming from Minnesota and will be sharing tomorrow's festivities with us. Then there's my other Uncle and his family who live across the valley. We can see their house from ours and it is a pleasure to have relatives so near. Yet, as our families have grown it makes it difficult to fit everyone into one house on thanksgiving so we haven't had thanksgiving with them in a few years. Tonight we'll all eat soup... something easy with minimal prep and clean up. This is fine by me as it affords more time for visiting. Visiting is far more important to me than any pie or turkey.

Anyways, I know the rest of the world is frantically hitting the stores for some black Friday shopping, decking the halls and listening to the beloved Christmas melodies, I am relishing this Thanksgiving.

I like to think about the Pilgrims and the Indians. The hardships they endured, their different way of life, and their focus on God's blessing. They'd come to the new world to seek freedom. Freedom to serve God and to raise their families in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

William Bradford wrote this of the first Thanksgiving feast,
"They begane now to gather in ye small harvest they had, and to fitte up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health & strenght, and had all things in good plenty; fFor as some were thus imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute codd, & bass, & other fish, of which yey tooke good store, of which every family had their portion. All ye somer ther was no want. And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besids water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they tooke many, besids venison, &c. Besids, they had about a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since harvest, Indean corn to yt proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their freinds in England, which were not fained, but true reports."


Gotta love that old English!
Until this year I had not read Abraham Lincoln's proclamation for the United States of America to set aside one day of each year for Thanksgiving. Not only do I love the eloquence of the words but the gravity of their meaning. How has America strayed so far from this state of reverence for our Creator?

I've shamelessly copied and pasted the proclamation from this website, which says, "The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln's secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops."


Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Happy Thanksgiving, my dear friends. May God bless you in this next year with the grace to appreciate all the good you've been blessed with and the strength to find joy in times troubles as well.

A Friend's Poem

My friend Courtney wrote this poetry. It's beautiful, so I had to share it.

You Are Here - by Courtney Jo

I looked around me, and alone I sat.
My troubles, my joys, my thoughts: my life.
Many asked of me where you were- and to which I could reply so easily for though they cannot see you, I can.
You are here in the stitches of my socks, keeping my feet dry and warm.
You are here in the tinted colors of my scarfs shading the yellow sun in my window and becoming my curtains at night in my room.
You are here in the scents of oil that you spread upon my face.
You are here in the morning with your sweet hellos and you are here at night with your goodnight prayers.
You are here in the food upon my table which you graciously provided.
You are here with your love, care, and sweet memories.

Though they cannot see you, I can see you all around. My love, my all.

You are here.
I've been able to listen to the sermons by David Jeremiah again, each morning after work. For a while work was taking longer due to the harvest. It was a bummer to hop in the car only to catch the tail end of a message. Right now Jeremiah is teaching out of Philippians. It's crazy... I don't know why but each message is exactly what I need to hear each morning. I'll be dealing with an issue and boom! There's the solution. God is always here, and He provides these little things, little blessings, each day.

As it says in Philippians 4:19,  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.



It's funny because I never used to listen to Christian radio. My oldest siblings always did... and when I became interested in music there was a disconnect. Maybe it was a change in churches? Maybe it had to do with where my older siblings were at? We listened to a lot of country music. There was still a lot of mention of God and faith in the country songs which was really cool. Then there was some pretty neat pop music and indie music. I especially liked the mellow, acoustic artists like Jack Johnson, Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers. I still love these other forms of music and listen to them regularly, but it surprises me that I never gave Christian artists a chance. The two hours of driving each day have really given me more time to tune into radio programs.

I feel like I'm just discovering the tip of an ice berg, but one must start somewhere. Here are three of my favorite Christian songs right now.

And this last one I heard when I went to church with Courtney this Summer. I keep forgetting the name of the song and having to scroll through our many text messages to find the link she shared with me in July. Trust me.... that's a lot of texts.

It is a blessed thing to have friends.

Experiencing The Harvest

Soybean byproducts are in everything. Our food, our cosmetic products, the feed for our animals. Early records show that soybeans were grown and used in Asian countries as early as 1,100 B.C. and these “Chinese Vetches”, as they were called, were first brought to the American Colonies in 1765. It took over a hundred years for farmers in America to really incorporate soybeans into their crop plan in the late 1800's.

For as common as soybean fields are now, did you know that soybeans haven't been a part of American agricultural for much more than three quarters of a century? Lance Gibson and Garren Benson of Iowa State University, Department of Agronomy, wrote, “Most of the early U.S. soybeans were used as a forage crop rather than harvested for seed. There were only 1.8 million acres in the United States in 1924 when the first official estimate became available. At that time, most of the crop was used for hay.” Which is totally crazy. I can't imagine using soybeans for a forage. Anyways, soybeans didn't become popularized in the United States until WWII created a need for alternative sources of protein and oil.

As this year draws to a close it is interesting to look back on the bountiful harvest. In many areas it was an exceptionally good year for growing crops. With plenty of rain and extended moderate temperatures many farms were eager to measure the season's success. Instead of driving past the fields and busy equipment this Fall, I had the pleasure of experiencing the fieldwork firsthand. I was able to ride along in the combine as my boss was harvesting what for him is a cash crop.

It was exciting riding in such a big machine. Clipping along at such a laid-back pace but requiring so much precision from the operator. 

Even more incredible, was the ability to contrast the modern equipment and technology with the technology farmers were using when soybeans first came onto the scene. It was like stepping back in time because a large plot of land adjoining my family's farm was recently bought by an Amish family. The Amish planted and harvested the soybean crop with horses, old style equipment and lots of manual labor. In fact, one day I drove past and noticed 6 or 7 men and boys going down the rows, pulling the weeds by hand. This was after the soybean plants grew to tall to use a cultivator.