GreenHearts Farm is Making House Blessings

Birds and Bells

This Sari is on my Wishlist

Since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated and down right intoxicated by the sweet tune of brass bells clinking in the wind. What kind of childhood did I have you may ask, and indeed I'd answer a fine one.  In our quiet neighborhood that ran along one side of Lake Pelham in Culpeper, Virginia, we were quite an eclectic bunch of people, which is no wonder I like to cook the way I do.  Across the street we had the influence of Japan from one neighbor whose wife moved to the states to marry and make merry. Then we had childhood friends, Matt, G and Boo whose mother is from Lebanon and makes the most wondrous Lebanese food.  Our next door neighbors were from Pakistan and would fly these ginormous kites on Pelham View Drive that seemed to stretch to the sun.  I remember the father of Ravi, who was a little younger than myself, told me that when he lived in India he used to put glass on his spool of rope so when you were competing against the other kite flyers you could cut their lines easier.  I loved to imagine the place he had come from, battling kites, eating strong smelling foods, sari's and all of that jazz.

Kite flying in Pak

We would stand outside and watch him fly his kite while listening to the strands of hanging bells dance about in the wind whipped front porch and the whoosh, whoosh, whooooooosh of the kite as it would fly high and then take a dive.

Our neighbors had strands and strands of hanging birds and bells where most people would hang big, fat, green ferns in our neighborhood. I wasn't curious to know what these bells did but I remember loving them.  The first time I laid eyes on the hanging bells as an adult, I had to get one for me, and one for them, and one for her. and one for him.  It was the first World Market that I had ever been too and there was a little tag that said that these bells where handmade in Pakistan and that they are said to ward off bad spirits.  How romantic! Here all this time, I'd been looking for these bells and now I had them and there was actually great meaning and a story or a legend behind the love.  Oh, I was smitten for these little bits of whimsy.

For years now, I have given them to the brides and grooms as part of their wedding present. I think there is nothing more thoughtful, in my opinion.  Now they hang from my Farmer's Market tent to ward off bad spirits or negative people.  Everyone loves them and now, for the first time in my life. . . I'm going to attempt to make them. Wish me luck!

One of my Besties, Sarah, from Pakistan and me at Senior Prom!

Time to break out the refurbished sewing machine and begin to razzle-dazzle.  I'm through with playing in the garden for the day.  I wanna make some happy!

So let us give a cheer! To Happy Days and Happy Nights! And flying Kites!
Jen
ps~ I'll show pics as I progress. OOOOOOhhhhh! I'm so excited!

Hearts! with a little cow bell.

It's 12:17 am and I just finished my first! hahah! Talk about a project!  I think I may have to make them only in the winter because I got nothing done in the house while sewing and stringing.  It was sooo worth it though!

A closer look

Hip! Hip! Hooray!