Still Here

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Work has been far busier than one would expect in the Summer. When I'm home, Linda & I are either tending to chores or out wandering. Last weekend we took a class at The Perfect Blend, a lovely yarn and tea shop in Saugerties, where we worked on creating needle-felted animals. The instructor was the gifted wool sculptor Arturo Ceballos, whose creations look like living miniatures (click here to see a sample of his work and read about him). And, my heart is heavy. Blogging seems almost callous in the face of such intense sorrow. Someone I love beyond measure is hurting. I want desperately to wave my hand and make the pain go away. I want desperately to shake the person causing the hurt, and then point the way to healing for them both.

All of these things have served to keep me away from blogging, and away from reading my favorite blogs. I'll get back to it this week, but for the moment, I thought I'd share these photos Linda took while watering the garden this week:

We'll only see two custard bowls full, but they're plump and sweet.

Yes-those are teeny tiny golf-ball sized watermelons (sugar babies)!!!

Instant sunshine, with a busy visitor.

I took this photo of a deer in a Queen Anne's lace-filled meadow when we were out and about yesterday.

I miss your blogs, and will be popping by to see what everyone is up to soon!

Daytrippin'

I'm on (well-earned) vacation this week. We've mixed and mingled chores with a visit to the flea market, lunch at a great new BBQ truck in Middleburgh, a shop hop in Rhinebeck where we lusted after honey at Bumble & Hive and tasted olive oils and vinegars at Pure Mountain (so that's what real balsamic vinegar tastes like!), naps on the couch, and--yesterday--a long-discussed visit to the Berkshire Botanical Garden. It's only an hour away, the drive is lush and relaxing (it helped that we left here at 8 am and it was the 4th of July), and the reward was so worth it! We could have stayed hours longer if not for the heat and humidity, and we plan to go again in the Fall. And next Spring....
The colors were alive; the air was scented with pine, whispered remnants of faded linden flowers and the perfume of daylilies. A faerie garden lured us into her shadows, we kissed in the secret room created by the draping branches of the linden, watched honeybees in the catmint, and were inspired by the vegetable gardens. We took a few photos, and invite you to glimpse the beauty of the place:

We can't wait to create a second vegetable garden using this model! They plant 8 tomatoes in a 4' x 4' bed--who knew?

I absolutely love the architectural excitement of dried allium, in this case interspersed randomly amongst the flowing daylilies.

Brazen, isn't she?

Bee balm and an unnamed friend...

Butterfly weed (not bush) will definitely factor into next year's planting, along with another honeybee fave--catmint.

One settles in to swing and ride the scented breezes to the sound of sweet chimes. Here's a video but for some odd reason the video feels creepy rather than the utterly magical experience it was.

From the Martha Stewart Cottage Garden, burgundy sorrel, a sweet plant that will be added to the Japanese maple's pot next year.

Sometimes, exotic beauty is right outside your very own door. This is a canna flower in our yard; Linda says it's the first time she ever got a flower from one!








PS....all photo credits are Linda's. Thanks, Linda!

For All Who Asked....

I give you (drumroll, please)....Pip!

She's 1 lb, 1 oz, and and is finally feeling more substantial, less ethereal. I told Linda today when Pip began actually playing--on her own--that it feels like she's decided to stay on this plane; the last few days we weren't sure of that. She's endlessly curious, follows us like a puppy, and despite the  misleading picture, is still about the size of a chipmunk. She should be well over two pounds, and although she's nearly 11 weeks old, is the size of a four week old. She's getting Nutrical, and numerous small feedings through the day, and we're finally seeing the scale go up daily.

Cuter than a bug's ear, isn't she?



Farewell, Kittens...

VERY quick update (this is a crazy week at work): today four of the foster kittens went to the shelter to await adoption. They're small (2+ lbs) but quite healthy, playful, loving, well-socialized purrbugs. I look forward to hearing as each one is adopted. The litter is 10 weeks old now and every one is a delight.

The fifth kitten has already been adopted by us. She's renamed Pip (for Pipsqueak), although Linda calls her a variety of things including Podunk & Tootsiebell, and I referred to her yesterday as the Pipster. She's less than half the size of her siblings, although the vet said she appears healthy and bright-eyed, even though she's the size of a 4 week old. She's a curious, intrepid explorer who will often stop, sit, and take it all in before marching off to her next destination (I think of it as recon missions). She is often to be found on Linda's shoulder, both of them blissfully happy; Linda today referred to the purring in her ear as shavasana (rough translation for those who don't do yoga--we learned it during our brief yoga sojourn--deeply relaxing). She's getting nutritional supplements, frequent small meals since her tummy is sooo small, and enough love for a dozen cats.

I need to get through this very long, taxing week, but when I leave work Friday, I'll be off from work for nine glorious days! Trying to keep my eye on that prize...

Here There Be Chickens!

I haven't lost all sense of grammatical fluency. I'm paying homage to the ancient mariners' maps that showed the edge of the sea and labelled it "Here there be dragons"...

No names yet...they've only been here since this morning. Linda sent a photo of them to me at work, and I only just met them in person. They're a shy trio, but that's understandable given the traumas of the day. In theory this is half the flock; the plan is to 'reclaim' three of our former flock, if the neighbors are still amenable (their house is for sale, so they're in favor of downsizing the critter population). And if they opt out of that, well, that's okay...we'll add more at some point.

But this trio is a pretty bunch, sharing soft whistles and murmurs....

Chickens'-Eye View

A place to hang out.....

A place to take care of chicken business...

And outdoor access to those eggs so I can retrieve them without going into the coop when dressed & ready for work!

Coop Fit For a Chicken

It needs a few finishing touches on the outside, but the coop itself is ready for occupancy. The interior boasts two staggered roosts, and three cozy (and easy to clean) nestboxes. Tomorrow I'll spread the pine, cut the back out of the nestboxes for outside access to eggs, and get the feeder & waterer scrubbed & ready. 50 lbs of organic laying feed is in the trunk of my car (along with diatomaceous earth to mix with the pine). Sunday we'll brave the ever-so-slowly dying poison ivy (we used a mixture of 1 gallon of vinegar, 8 drops dish detergent, 1 cup salt) and get the pen done. My hope is that Monday evening Linda will pick up the three new hens on her way home from work, and we'll get them settled in. Then we'll hook up with the neighbors and collect three of the ones we gave to them last Fall when we abandoned this venture the first time around. There's still a fence to put up (we're using 8' high batting cage netting; Linda's a genius!), but we'll want to keep them close to home in the pen for the first couple of weeks anyway...

I'm pretty ready to tackle the many other things on our Summer agenda, like the gardens, so it'll feel so great to have the chickens safely ensconced. We can move on with our lives....

This is a view of the coop from our front door...cute, huh? It's all Linda, folks...she made it work.