a bouquet (*update)

it is still raining here and every once and a while the thunder is felt underneath my feet. we are safe, the animals are safe, the plants and the trees too. I am lucky and i know it. rumours have it that this was some sort of media hype but some people have lost their lives, their homes, their belongings. sometimes i am sadden that people to do not believe in the collective thought, the power of a group of people hoping, praying for the best positive outcome, perhaps that is what has happened, the worst has not found us and that is because we thought  it away.

k sits  on the chaise watching a movie, i check on animals, pick up around the house and find a recipe to try from a the beautiful Mediterranean cook book filled with incredible photographs that was gifted to us by Kevin's co worker jim  this weekend, what a wonderful and kind surprise, thank you jim. we arrived at the tail end of the farmers market in williamstown yesterday, vendors had packed up, but k found the the flower vendor loading his truck and bought the most beautiful bouquet of zinnias to brighten things up if we were to loose power.  i thought even as the rain falls outside how i can not help wanting summer to stay just a little longer.

hope you my dear readers are safe.

( i know it more might be coming in regards to the weather)

UPDATE* it is only when driving into boston at three am this monday morning did i learn of the destruction that has taken place  here in vermont, my town bennington and neighbouring towns such wilmington, troy  and brattelboro. Last night after i posted this post, the wind came and the rain poured but we did not loose power except for the quickest minute. we are fine and we know how lucky we are. i am very sad, if  i am to be truly honest -every time npr spoke about what was happening in vermont my eyes filled up with tears. this is a beautiful state and to know that the covered bridge i stood on and posted about just a  few weeks ago along with two others are no longer standing makes my heart ache. i am thinking of all of you and with all my heart hoping you are well.

a storm is brewing,

there is storm coming, i am told by a neighbour and k. "are you prepared". the thing is there is this way i live my life, not thinking or dwelling on the things i do not want to happen, then how do i prepare without thinking about it, all that energy would go to s storm instead of thinking something positive. I live my life asking the universe for what i want, spending time preparing for something i do not want is confusing. When you live on the hill alone for the most part, your priority is the animals. do i bring in the horses if a hurricane hits or let them run free knowing they will do better for themselves. the coop seems heavy, a huge sturdy building yet scenes from the wizard of oz plays in my head.

I will do the best i can because the animals depend on me and also because just a minute ago the plumber who was here fixing things told me that if the power goes off i will have no water is that true i ask and he said yes your endless supply of well water, will have no way of getting to you. i guess i must really prepare then i say because without water nothing matters.

please be safe, k will be coming home so we will be in it together.

a field of flowers

my dear friends, i will make this quick. i am home from montreal, my niece and nephew are back there.
k is in boston, it is just me, les animaux and my thoughts on the hill .  my plan is to clean the house very well, to get rid of things that pile up, those things i stick in drawers, in closets because it is easier. i also want to do the same for my mind and my heart i have tucked away things that i must deal with some will be nothing at all and i can let the wind take them, others will be more trying but rewarding never the less.

on my way to montreal early saturday morning, the fog was very thick i had to slow down when i wanted to go fast, thank goodness for moments such as these for without them i would have missed the field of flowers and although the pictures are not what i had hope they would be( i will try again in a few days), the moment i took to stop and see them was.

 i think of you, and to you i give  a field of flowers.

 * i do not photoshop my images, in this case i did crop a few images, the flowers that are in the back in this case the sunflowers the fog was the heaviest.

a pie, a ride and summer

i will be taking elle and dylan back to montreal. in alot of ways this always seems like the end of summer. The last week elle and i have filled it to the rim of things to do but the other day, i could have not been prouder of elle.

 she is a foodie, yes it is true and as a child without filters she can go to a restaurant  and say things like this out loud this is not what i expected, but it will have to do or this is just beef  even some salt and pepper would have made it bit better  or although i have never had this this way they are pleasantly good. well being a foodie she enjoys going on tastespotting site , soon she realized that everyone the past few days were showing peanut butter pies for mickey, she wanted to know more and remembered me mentioning it. she wanted to make a pie for mickey too. it is a no bake pie but a complex recipe of folding in, double boilers, and so on she did it all. i was not allowed any where near the kitchen even tough we were running late for horseback riding, she kept at it. we left it behind to cool in the refrigerator as we went to our friends, elle was going to ride.

 her horse was a gorgeous mare palomino registered name is nothing but gold and you could not help but notice how glistening gold she was in the sun, but her other name was rien. elle got on the horse and started walking, trying to remember everything she was taught, how to hold the reigns, her posture, the way her feet should sit in the stirrups and so on. she was doing well and i started to relax ( splash my horse which she rides is the easiest going) rien had some spunk before elle even got on. well rien kind of got to close to kim another horse and did not care for the encounter and decided to take a run, elle handled it so beautifully and after a few little skip hearts beats she got rien to stop all while elle kept her composer and put to practice all that she had been taught. i was so proud of elle, i often am but what a day for her.i drove home picked up the pie and we gave it to our new friends Debbie and Larry and their guest to enjoy.

i will see dylan for first time in weeks and just for a night before we head home to montreal, the drive through vermont is one of my favourites, then in montreal i will be standing at the passport office to renew my passport, how i ever let expire i do not know. when do get back either that night or the next day, i hope to keep summer going a little longer, yet i know here in vermont one must prepare for winter and my list to insure that all les animaux and i will have a safe one is very big. yet one cant not forget the fall in new england and although some of it will be spent in France, i look forward to the view from the hill very much and it looks like many blogger friends will be joining me for fall in vermont!

oh that was long one, i know- i am going to miss the kids !

when summer takes a day off

i had mentioned in my previous post last weekend was wonderful. 

sunday  i was to have the morning off and k and elle would be up early to do chores, i woke them up at nine fifteen:) we had a long breakfast.  even though the clouds promised rain we were determined to go pick some more blueberries at our neighbours farm, there is bushes and bushes bursting with fruit that no one picks. we put sweaters on and walked to our destination.  through the gate the horses greeted us, the apple trees lined the paths red shiny fruit had our arms reaching for low branches, was it fall? it did feel as if autumn came early.  we filled our baskets up to the rim with blueberries taking our time , i watched k. pick  berries i could not help notice him through the bushes " it is peaceful here i said" he agreed  i think he was surprised at how relaxing it was, although elle had never stopped talking not for even a minute. we walked and ate apples on our way back. i washed the berries and filled so many bags and stored them in the freezer, i will go again this week and fill my baskets (hopefully with ripe blackberries too) so i could make jam with a visiting friend. when we got home we made lemon poppy seed bread for k. to take to work, a banana loaf and blueberry scones as we watched a movie, then we were off for a walk just as the rain began to fall, we grabbed our rain gear and off we went to check on our apple trees where we discovered something exciting but i will share that with you another day.  i made dinner as elle and k played cards they made me laugh at how many times the rules of the game got changed, then i joined them for a game as we ate dinner.

as i went to bed the wet weather had gotten  to me but k held out his hand and offered me the warmth of the sun and we fell asleep.

* elle found the feather in the blueberry bush, there is so many birds while we pick but this one must had many bluberries and tainted his feathers:)

happiness is time well spent

it is sunday afternoon and i find myself loading pictures and posting. i am not bored or alone, in-fact  k and elle are waiting for me to start rango, i am happier than i have been in a long while. Yet i am here wanting to share a few pictures of  yesterday- a perfect day, yes it is true, perfect. 

we woke up and made breakfast  coconut french toast, mocha, coffee and smoothies. of course all the animals were fed. then we made a feather necklace for elle to wear, we where going to a Pow Wow on a open piece of land. we stopped at the farmers market, then grabbed a coffee in the city(pittsfield) stopped at the feed store and watched them as the made the grain, horse grain smells so sweet! then we were at the Pow Wow listening to the drums and chanting, watching the dancing, amazed at the beautiful traditional dress. we sat in a tepee and listened to a medicine healer. we picked up a few hand made pieces.  once home we had a very late lunch took the dogs to a dog park so they can socialize. once home we decided to go for along walk at sunset, we climbed hay bales, ran with dogs, had a race or two. the evening ended with a movie and some personal time with k, talking about my upcoming trip to france and how we must try to fit santa fe in there somewhere. 

it was bliss, today equally as beautiful, i will share pics of today soon. Gosh it is good when  k is home, real nice. having elle share time with us is extra special too, where is dylan you ask he like's spending his time at his cousins, video, games, junk food and late nights:)

*pictures with me in it, elle took

*dylan and elle are my niece and nephew

* my top is an old skirt, that i rigged up as a top during the day and a skirt at night:)!

when a rainbow and sunset meet.

the evenings here on the hill are my favourite specially after seven. being high up on the hill we experience quick weather shifts that create the most beautiful skies and sometimes we can see rainbows everyday. the other day it was if the rainbow started in my front yard, camera was charging so no photographs of that but it was if for the very first time in my life i saw where a rainbow began.

Last evening,  the clouds rolled in, it poured, the clouds moved, rainbow came as the sun was beginning to set. we were feeding the horses at the time and the wind blew as the clouds and light captured our spirit. we twirled in its beauty and watched the horses gallop and play, magical at the very least. the temperature has shifted and although i have had a fever on and off for over week now,  i am still able to feel the autumn air making it's way. i love autumn very much and i used to wish for it in the middle of july but now i am aware that wishing for autumn is wishing time away.  truth is i wish time would start to slow down for i can at times feel how little time i have left on earth and for this reason i am happy to be just were i am on this day

* elle took the picture of me, elle also guessed there would be a rainbow and there was.

* small drops of rain on lens, i do not photoshop my photographs so they stay.

farm treasure hunts and time with elle.

it is tuesday evening, the rain is falling, it has cooled down and i like it this way.

it is just elle and i here at home and we are filling our days with baking, drives, farm treasure hunts and berry picking. there has been debates about what to make for dinner, were to eat lunch. we have spend moments counting chickens and ducks, for people who might think i talk to myself listen closely and you just might hear me counting my feather friends. elle and i spend time at the library, then take our books to cafe were we drool over recipes in a pile of cook books. in the evening their might be a movie, like the lost prince or a card game. when it is time for bed you can find all of us, elle, the dogs, the cats and myself in my bed, elle with her book and me with mine, sometimes i take a moment between paragraphs just to stare at elle reading her book at the foot of the bed,  my heart takes a photograph and stores it for always.

* we are doing a farm treasure hunt, a little book filled with riddles that bring us to farms all around us, how i love visiting new farms, learning, exploring snapping away.

the fields and wishes.

my dearest friends, hope you are well and august has been good to you so far. we have been spending days picking berries, taking walks and watching as our fields get hayed. i love the whole process of haying. i have never hayed round bales before and mostly now big machines do the work, yet it is still lovely to watch. here is entry from my journal

i wrote the other night, i hope you enjoy.

wishes

tonight the air is perfect no second guessing if the cardigan you have on is a bit to much it is perfect for a night like this. i walked our fields tonight as the sun began to set, round bales are lovely scattered all over the freshly hayed fields. the owls begin to coo, is that the right word i wonder. the sky goes from pink to dark blue and stars flicker as if they were set by a lighting technician. the ducks and chickens have decided to go into the coop quietly, each taken their turn some sort of monarchy has been established. the horses in particular Tolstoy is staring at me, perhaps he feels the fall coming more clearly than I, he wants to eat earlier or maybe he is just worried that again tonight i will get lost in words floating in my head, the stars and the evenings breeze, even the girls the dogs are playing more than usual. as i stand out there feeding, i realize what has happened, the wishes, the vision, the dreams have become the  landscape of my life. please do not think that all is beautiful all the time and that every wish has come true, the tiny ones, the ones that are needed for everyday survival or comfort still seem to be beyond my grasp. yet the big ones, the ones that are big to me, have become my reality.  tonight when i was singing to splash his nightly lullaby, a shooting star came flying across the sky- one of as many as four i have seen here and oh so close. well as it flew by i realize what does one wish for if one feels so very lucky already, what i realized i would like to know what others wish for so the next time i am out there i can whisper it to the nights air on your behalf.....