So I Married The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter makes an appearance in several tales, including Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, and even his own tale, which has been told and retold under several different titles, but which we know as The Three Wishes. Although he may not be the main character in all these tales, he certainly has become the leading man in my fairy tale. My husband loves to collect firewood. He spies fallen trees like an owl spies a field mouse. Firewood is his passion, right up there with homebrew. We heat our house exclusively with our wood stove, and we have never paid a dime for our firewood. This time of year, when it is so very cold, I am especially grateful for the cords and cords of firewood stacked in our back yard. And for a husband who considers it a very good weekend when a major storm blows through town and knocks over trees which he can cut into rounds and hall home in his truck.

The downside of being the woodcutter is that, unlike other fairy tale characters, he is neither immortal or invincible. He may be manly, but he is merely a man, susceptible to the woes that befall us all. The woodcutter's back has yelled "timber" and knocked him to the ground. Literally, on the ground, flat on his back, suffering from degenerative disc disease, which tends to flare up every January. Fortunately, the woodcutter will mend. He won't have to send his children out to the woods to fend for themselves, and in no time he will be able to rescue grandma from the wolf and get back to splitting firewood.

In the meantime, hopefully this will cheer him up.

I *heart* the woodcutter.

Lisa Leonard Designs

When I first saw this necklace on Lisa's site, Lisa Leonard Designs, I knew it was for me. After all, I am the woodcutter's wife. And though George and I have never carved our initials in a tree, we have spent many days bonding over the chainsaw, wood splitter, and wood pile.

I've seen Lisa's beautiful necklaces on many different blogs, but to see her designs in person is even better. The quality and craftsmanship of her jewelry is outstanding. Solidly constructed of sterling silver, I'm confident that my necklace will survive my lifestyle and my children.

Thanks to Lisa Leonard, George and I now have our initials forever immortalized. If you haven't already visited Lisa's site, go now. You're bound to find an inspired piece of finely crafted jewelry that is just right for you or someone you love.

Lisa has generously extended a 10% discount to readers of A Foothill Home Companion. Simply enter this code at checkout: 'findbeauty'. You will certainly find beauty in Lisa's creations.

Dressing the Mantle

Since it's too soon to dress the turkey (especially since I haven't bought one yet), I decided to dress the mantle over the weekend. When my initial plan to decorate with manzanita branches and twinkly lights didn't turn out the way I envisioned, I panicked just a little. My husband suggested leaving it blank, but I knew I could figure out something.

I'm not into holiday decorations, but I like to bring a little something seasonal indoors. The pumpkins and gourds adorning the mantle for the last month and a half were looking worse for the wear, so they joined the oak leaves in the compost pile. I wanted to replace them with something natural and neutral, easy and free, and using materials we had available.



Armed with burlap, scissors, a needle and thread, I made a burlap leaf garland to drape over the mantle mirror.

I simply folded the burlap in half, and cut out symmetrical leaf shapes, approximately 4 inches long and 3 inches wide.



Then I alternated the leaves and tacked them in place with a running stitch - short stitches in front, longer stitches in back. I just kept adding leaves one at a time and tacking them in several places.



I worked one side of the garland at a time, working from the middle out, then reversed the direction of the leaves for the opposite side of the garland. The finished garland measures about 8 feet.



Then I enlisted the help of the woodcutter to make some easy and free tea light holders. We rummaged through our wood pile for different diameter rounds and George cut them at various heights, then drilled holes in the top of each round to hold a tea light.



Voila! The mantle is dressed. And now I'm going to keep cleaning.