Category Archives: country living

The big wind

Posted on July 20, 2025 | 2 comments

The locust took out some of the persimmon trees nearby, too.

We’ve had a little too much excitement here lately. Saturday of last week, we had a big straight line wind blow through. The grandkids and I were taking a rest after our yard chores when I heard a huge noise outside and noticed that the power had gone out. An eighty foot tree had crashed down, of course, right on the transformer, taking out the power to the whole neighborhood, plus pulling all the lines down from the house. What a mess!

I quickly called the Rural Electric Coop while my son jumped in to cut up the tree. Later, after the REC arrived and began putting things back to rights, he finished cutting the tree into logs, and then using our old tractor, pushed them out of the way for future use as firewood. Limbs are still getting shaken down with each wind.

The unfortunate part is that although the REC got the rest of the neighbors back online, the line from the transformer to the house is the responsibility of the homeowner, so one needs an electrician for that. No electricity for us until the next morning. Reading by oil lamp, just like Abe Lincoln.

Of course, our local electrician was out here first thing so we got connected back to civilization quickly. Unfortunately, no internet for several more days. I’ve been having withdrawal. And a very slow cell phone connection remains. Well, so much for living the pioneer life in a 140 year old house.

Anyway, this happened when Hurricane Ike rolled through many years ago. A big wind knocked down several trees that time, and the electricity was out for nearly a week. Much less of an inconvenience this time. Be prepared for (nearly) anything with life in the country.

The three tallest locust trees. Now we’re just left with two. The one on the right is the culprit.

2 Comments

Posted in country living, old house

Tagged big wind, country living, dealing with an emergency, power outage

The Color Is Purple

Posted on May 4, 2025 | 2 comments

I had a fellow artist remark not long ago about how I use purple in my paintings. He did not approve. Hummm? It may not be his choice but it is mine. I happen to see purple…of various shades. Pale, reddish, bluish, dark, light, vibrant.

The wisteria bloomed for the first time this year. Well, it was caught by a late freeze last year. Such a beautiful flowering vine, but somewhat unpredictable. Invasive in trees and on buildings.

Not quite purple but a delicate reddish violet. These redbud trees are an understory tree native to this part of the Midwest. The delicate flowers appear along the stems and branches of the tree early in spring. It makes lovely heart-shaped leaves. Later, it retreats into anonymity among the understory trees for the rest of the year. These redbuds trees were free seedlings given out by the state.

I love these delicate Virginia Bluebells. The flower buds appear pink and then turn the most delicate shade of sky blue trumpets when they open up. These are so easy to grow. I’ve transplanted them everywhere and have given away many starts. The most amazing thing is, that after they bloom, they disappear completely until next year.

Spring seems to be a time of purple, to me. Delicate flowers in bloom, field and woods. Some pale, some vibrant. The soft haze of purple over the budding trees. The deep purple of stormy skies rolling in late in the afternoon.

Another patch of irises, this time light purple. And a healthy vine of poison ivy growing up the tree in the background.

Purple is said to be a royal color. The highest. But I find it to be calming, delicate. It appears everywhere if I look for it. It does not have to be loud or garish. It can be soothing and comforting.

This sprig of purple lilac scents the entire kitchen. Just outside, grows the full bush.

I love the overpowering perfume of the lilacs. I bring them into the house and then my eyes almost water at their presence. But the beautiful lilacs are only around for a few weeks a year, heralds of spring.

The violets of many colors. Deep purple, light purple, violet, variegated, even creamy white. Many consider them weeds but I don’t see how. Such beautiful little flowers.

The deer find this blue phlox a tasty treat. But when found in the woods, they make a lovely carpet of bluish purple.

Viper’s Bugloss and Jacob’s Ladder. I never planted these flowers but they just pop up where they may in the middle spring.

The Jacob’s Ladder and Viper’s Bugloss that only appear this time of year. Near the front porch or just about anywhere. I love these surprises. They’re aren’t planned but I allow them to pop up wherever they may.

I have several patches of irises around the property. Some deep bluish purple, some lighter. Then there are the multi-colored ones, and the striking white ones. The scent of the irises invite one to get up close and inhale deeply. There is no other flower perfume quite like it.

So what my artist friend thought to be a slight snub or negative comment did not affect me that way. I’m not quite sure how to interpret it. As an insult? Well, no. I guess he just doesn’t like the color purple. And that’s okay.

I do.

2 Comments

Posted in country living

Tagged gardening, kit miracle, purple, spring flowers

Spring preview, good and bad

Posted on March 16, 2025 | 1 comment

We have had an absolutely gorgeous sneak peek of spring out here on the farm. I can’t express how welcome this has been after a very harsh winter. Dozens (hundreds) of robins have appeared in the yard and fields already. Some have already begun to check out nesting spots.

Crocuses mysteriously appeared in the most unusual places thanks to grandchildren.

What has really been fun this week has been the early spring preview. With sunshine and warm temps, Spring has been bulldozing through the countryside. The trees are budding out and the beautiful spring greens are abundant. I really love the surprise of the bulbs that I let the grandchildren plant. Here’s a bag of crocus bulbs. Go plant them! They come up in the most unusual places. And, of course, the naturalized daffodils are nodding their golden heads everywhere.

Naturalized daffodils always make my heart sing this time of year.

Unfortunately, with the extreme warm temperatures, up to 80 this week!, the weather has become very unstable. A big front blew in late Friday and into the night. This often leads to storms and other disturbances, including straight line winds and tornados.

Watching the live weather report before dawn today. Serious weather with some tornados spotted.

My Saturday began at 4:15 a.m. when my son called me to let me know that there was a tornado warning in the area. (I can’t hear the sirens from my house and didn’t have the weather radio turned on.) I stumbled downstairs, threw on some clothes, and sorted some things for a dash to the cellar, if needed. As I began to wake up, I turned on a regional TV station which has great weather coverage. And then thought of more things that I ought to drag downstairs with me, just in case. Then I chastised myself for not having my go-bag ready. It will definitely be updated this week. I have even posted about this before.

This cute little tree frog wanted in, or at least was seeking shelter.

So wherever you are, I hope you are staying safe and taking positive steps to be safe in the disturbed spring weather.

Here are a couple of links to previous blog posts about being prepared in an emergency.

Getting by in an emergency

Preparing for an emergency

1 Comment

Posted in country living, garden

Tagged country living, crocuses, daffodils, gardening, kit miracle, spring weather, tree frog

A week of winter sunrises

Posted on January 26, 2025 | 3 comments

Monday, Jan 20, 2023 The beginning of thawout.

My west coast son asked me this week, Hey, Mom, have you been doing any work in your studio lately? Ha!

My studio is a summer kitchen about 30 feet from the house. In case you don’t know, summer kitchens were standard buildings for most farms in the south and Midwest a century ago. They were designed to keep the heat from the wood cookstoves out of the house during the summer, cooking and canning. Although very handy as a studio, it’s not really comfortable during the depth of winter. I’ve been known to wear a couple of pairs of socks, several layers of other clothes, a hat and fingerless gloves while working there in the winter. Turning up the heater is not really economical.

Tuesday, Jan 21, 2025. Muted sunrise on an overcast day.

Normally, winters around here are like long autumns. We lived in Michigan for ten years so I’m pretty used to some pretty chilly weather. But this past couple of weeks, we’ve had nine or ten inches of snow with a few inches of ice on top. Temps have dropped to zero, and the sun has only weakly thawed and refrozen the ice. We were housebound for a few days. Our drive is still a mess and not for the faint of heart, or those without four wheel drive.

Thursday, Jan 23, 2025 Another rosy sunrise.

But…the scenery has been beautiful. Especially the sunrises. As you can see in the photos, the morning colors are reflected off the icy snow crusts. Probably subject for future paintings but I’m pretty tired of it by now.

Wherever you live, I hope you are having a more pleasant winter than we’ve been having. Keep warm. Keep safe.

Another golden sunrise, more melted and refrozen snow.

3 Comments

Posted in country living, old house, Uncategorized

Tagged country living, icy snow, indiana, kit miracle, snow, winter, winter sunrise

Snowmageddon

Posted on January 7, 2025 | 1 comment

House on the Hill. Pretty photo. Another subject for a card in the future.

Like many millions of people in the mid-section of the nation, we have been dealing with a huge snow event the past few days. Schools and businesses shut down. Pretty much anything you can think of.

We have survived many winters in this old house, dealing with power outages. One year, I did my taxes with two kids home from school, a kerosene heater and oil lamps. This was in the days before computers, of course.

First snow, after only an hour. It was coming down quickly.

This week we’ve been dealing with nine or ten inches of snow, with crusty ice on top, three or four inches. I finally made a foray outside to chip away at the sidewalks. We haven’t been out in days with a drive a third of a mile long. But we’re usually prepared. And the power is still working which is pretty important.

9 to 10 inches of snow with 3 to 4 inches of crust. Very difficult to break through.

Son came up and is grading the drive with the old Allis Chalmers. I feel as if the cavalry has arrived.

Then today, my son walked in from the end of the drive to get old Johnny (the tractor) going and to grade the drive. That makes all the difference.

Pretty to look at but this is about as much snow as I want to see for awhile.

1 Comment

Posted in country living

Tagged country living, emergency, hiking, kit miracle, nature, snow, travel, weather

A country Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2024 | 4 comments

The holidays are so busy, even out here in the boonies. But it’s good to take time to reflect. Take a walk. Enjoy the weather. Try not to get overly exercised about every little detail. So I tell myself.

I don’t have a tree up this year and haven’t put out a single decoration. Just too busy with some family things going on. But all my holiday shopping was done long ago. And the presents that needed to be shipped are out of here, too. I just need to wrap a few more. Plan a quiet meal.

But I did have time to create my own Christmas cards. This is our front door. It’s a very old house and that is a very old door. The flag is there because a storm knocked down a limb which knocked down the flag. However, I thought it looked festive. I made the ink drawing, then printed it out on cards. And they were all hand-painted so no two exactly alike. It was very soothing work, with a holiday movie or tunes on. Sometimes, a little peace can be found in unexpected places.

I hope you all can find some enjoyment and comfort this holiday season. Be safe.

Warmest wishes for a peaceful Christmas and New Year.

4 Comments

Posted in art, country living, holiday, pen and ink

Tagged Christmas, kit miracle

Autumn roundup 2024

Posted on November 17, 2024 | 2 comments

Fall decorations. The impatiens are still hanging on.

The fall colors have been really spectacular this season. We had the right amount of rain early on but little rain from August until recently. I was afraid that the colors would be drab and the trees would just drop their leaves. I was wrong.

I read some survey that said Southern Indiana was rated as one of the best places to see fall color. As I always like to joke, it’s like New England but without the crowds. Gently rolling hills and wooded. The farmers were able to get a jump on the harvest and most every field is cleared by now. We have had a couple of rains in the past two weeks but they only keep the dust down. And we haven’t even had a frost yet in my area so I’m still harvesting the last scraggly tomatoes and peppers. That is about to change this coming week.

Watercolor/ pen and ink sketch of the Ferdinand State Forest

Meanwhile, I’ve been able to get outdoors, go for a drive or have a lunch in the park with my husband. I did a few small sketches and one middling painting, too. Just pleasant to be outside.

My flowers have held their blooms, including the geraniums. And my lilacs and rhododendrons have even bloomed this month!

In addition to the free kids’ Picasso art class that I taught last month, we just painted our self-portraits this week. How to draw cats is next month.

Unfortunately, not all is good news. My husband had a serious injury on his tractor (just getting on it) which sent us to the emergency room. This had me scrambling for first aid supplies and trying to remember my old classes in first aid. He’ll be laid up for awhile.

And…I had my first run-in with a deer on the way home from the grocery this week. In the middle of the day! I’m posting a photo of what that coated safety glass will do when a large animal hits it. I didn’t even see it as it bounced down an embankment. Fortunately I was poking along that day but the damage to the car is not pleasant. Calls to the insurance company and locating a repair shop added to the stress. Well, no injury, fortunately. My husband and sons have hit a total of eleven deer over the years. A very common accident in these parts.

Finally, the cardinal that I posted about earlier this year is back, fighting his reflection in the windows. Doesn’t he know mating season is over? He’s looking a bit bedraggled now but he’s still persistent.

I hope you all have been able to get outside and enjoy the season. Snow is coming soon for some of us. Time to hunker down for the winter.

2 Comments

Posted in art, country living, watercolor

Tagged gardening, indiana, kit miracle

Selling an older painting

Posted on September 1, 2024 | 1 comment

Farmhouse through the Trees, oil on canvas, 18 x 24, Kit Miracle

I recently sold an older painting which had been on my Etsy shop for awhile. The subject is of a white two-story farmhouse with a smaller white building behind it. All painted with spring trees just leafing out so plenty of nice greens. This was a plein air painting, meaning that I actually painted it outside during the spring season.

It was a delight to finally sell this painting, actually to a repeat customer. He was delighted to get it. And I was happy to be able to find it easily in my studio (which is not always the case.) What has puzzled me about this painting is that it was one of the most popular on my site, a favorite of many people. I’ve just always been surprised that it hasn’t sold before.

As an artist for many years, I have some paintings which have lingered in the studio for a good while. And then suddenly, someone sees what I actually saw when I painted the subject. That is always rewarding.

Anyway, I’m rambling here. My point is this, if you see some artwork of any kind, and you really like it, then you should buy it for yourself or someone special. A painting is not like a donut that will go stale after a while. Beauty is always in style.

1 Comment

Posted in art, contemporary impressionism, country living, opinion

Tagged contemporary impressionist, country living, kit miracle, oil painting, older painting, plein air, spring landscape

Spring into Summer 2024

Posted on July 28, 2024 | 6 comments

After I returned from vacation last spring, I immediately jumped into the many spring tasks requiring attention. The usual trimming and weeding. Building and adding a third raised bed. I really enjoyed gardening with those last year. Planting and spring cleaning.

I dealt with a very stubborn cardinal who kept fighting his reflection in the window. All day long for weeks, beginning at dawn and going until dusk. I drew scary faces of owls which helped for a minute. Finally, I hung some netting which covered the window reflections. Until I caught mama cardinal trying to steal the netting for her nest, I presume.

My son announced a visit in late June. Oh, and he’d be bringing a bunch of his California friends so they could see where he grew up. Whaaaa???? He and his girlfriend planned their trip to begin in Louisville where they showed them the sights with visits to distilleries and the famous Churchill Downs. Then they planned a day out here in the country. This led to weeks of preparation on our part, catching up on all those jobs which have been put off the past couple of years. Plus planning dinner for 12 or 14 people. Yikes!

The friends and family group dinner. Italian, of course!

We all had a wonderful day. My son arranged for his friends to do things that they can’t or don’t normally do in California. Go fishing. A hike in the woods. Shooting off fireworks. And trying out some firearms. They were a wonderful group of people. So glad I got to meet them.

Afterwards, my son and his girlfriend spent the rest of the week. One day boating on the lake. Anchoring in a quiet cove for lunch and swimming, then cruising to another cove. Uncle teaching my grandson how to swim and skip rocks. Just what uncles are supposed to do. (Not the “pull my finger stunt, either.”)

Cruising on Lake Patoka. What a lovely day.

Now it’s time to pick tomatoes and peppers, make some salsa. Revisit the weeding. Welcome more visitors. Take the grandkids to library programs and classes. And actually do some painting for upcoming shows and exhibits.

Summer seems to speed up and fall is getting closer.

And, finally, on a sad note. My precious cat Leo who had been experiencing some serious health issues had to be put down last spring. I am heartbroken and can admit that I cried buckets. I’ll get another cat eventually but I’m not ready yet. Someday.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer and can get outside to enjoy nature.

6 Comments

Posted in country living, garden

Tagged california, cardinal, country living, friend group, indiana, kit miracle, Lake Patoka, raised beds

Another view of the eclipse

Posted on April 14, 2024 | 1 comment

The eerie darkness shadowed the land while the skies on the horizons were light. All the yard lights came on. There is a video clip of this on the KitMiracleArt Facebook page, too.

Maybe you’ve been overwhelmed with all the reports about the solar eclipse this past week, but for those of us in the direct path, it was a life-time experience. For me, it right up there with the spectacular Hale-Bopp light show back in 1997, and the birth of my children.

Here in southern Indiana, we were in the direct path of totality. Every little town and burg was prepared. Events were planned months in advance. Businesses were using every type of marketing to entice visitors to the region. I joked with my husband that we ought to rent out our front field for parking. We didn’t. However, the nearby winery was charging $40 a car…in a gravel parking lot.

Many varieties of eclipse glasses. I was not successful in filming the actual eclipse on my phone by placing them in front of the camera.

And then there were those people who complained at the last minute that they didn’t have the special glasses. Really? You didn’t know the eclipse was coming? Libraries and other organizations were giving the glasses away for free. One disgruntled person in a fit of sour grapes commented, I hope it’s cloudy that day!

I was fortunate to experience the solar eclipse back in 1997 but it was only 93% coverage. It was still impressive. But total eclipse was beyond anything I expected.

The eclipse casts crescent-shaped shadows.

As we sat on the patio with our eclipse glasses on, we watched the shadow take over our area. We noticed how the birds and other animals quieted, and the frogs in the creek fired up. The yard lights came on. The eerie darkness with the lighted sky on the horizons prevailed. We could take our glasses off for a few minutes while the eclipse was a peak. Noting stars, the corona, other mysterious solar events. The experience was overwhelming.

A visiting blacksnake added to the excitement of the event. I didn’t know that they can raise themselves up. Watch a video of this on my Facebook page at KitMiracleArt.

Meanwhile, a big black snake came out and our border collie alerted us to the invader. I did not know that snakes can stand up when they feel threatened. I’ve posted a still shot of this side event, but you can check out the video on my Facebook site at KitMiracleArt. All ended well. The dog was called off and the snake headed towards the woodpile to feast upon little rodents.

I hope that many of you have some memorable moments about the total eclipse. This was truly one of those lifetime memory events and I won’t forget it anytime soon, if ever.