when the rain comes and your cup is spilling over ( happiness)

continued from here

the rain came as i sat there listening to the sounds around me and watching the three people i love the most laugh and giggle while they made parodies of me in their skits on our make shift stage. i laughed hard and somehow how it was as if the last of the sand in the hour glass that must have been me before the horse, the farm fell through. the page turned for good.  the fog came in and all at once k, elle and dylan said auntie you might want to take pictures.  even though rain still fell gently i gathered my things and asked if anyone wanted to go for a walk, everyone did and we headed out from our camp site down a dirt path and wooded stairs a canopy of towering trees drenched in rain surrounded us. this is  happy, i know it is.  i listened to everyone talk as they pointed to this and that as we walked. we arrived at the bridge over the river that we had spent our day swimming in,  the patina of the iron on the old bridge, the glistening wood from the rain fall,  filled my senses. we took pictures and walked some more to an abandoned house, a facade i had seen when we first drove in to the state park the day before. we took pictures of  what once must have been a beautiful farm house by the water and that hurricane irene tried to wash away last year, how beautiful was the sun setting through the windows. rain started coming down hard and everyone started heading back, but i lingered just a little longer, i counted the windows & green worn out shutters, some odd habit i picked up from childhood, like the amount of tiles on the floor or ceiling. i walked back behind the others completely drenched and content, for i was truly in the moment doing the very thing i needed & wanted to do.

when you find what you need in a beautiful weekend

i write to you as the house is quiet, the kids ( niece & nephew) gone to their uncles for a few weeks, k  in boston for a few as well. i am home reflecting on things, tidying up, not only the house but my mind and body too.

this was k and my first trip together in almost two years, farm life makes it impossible for us to leave together but we needed it, oh how we needed it. the night before we left for a weekend by the river in deep forest of vermont the odds were against us and it looked like i would have to stay behind when the vet was called for Tolstoy my beautiful draft colicked  but he recovered quickly and the vet said " i can't make the decision if you should stay or go but if i think you should go" the next morning we changed the horse pasture giving them pure grass instead of the wild mixed flower fields. packed the cars and went on our way. we were doing it going away like we had done so many times, kids ( niece & nephew), dogs and us.

we arrived in the town of jamaica, a tiny sweet town with the best camp store that ever was. we found our site, this not being the norm for us since we are back country hikers and usually do not stay at a camp ground of any kind, this one was a state park. our site had a lean to, a wood shelter to set your tent in but there would be none of that, instead we instantly decided it would be a  theater stage and every one of us would have to do a skit of some kind in the evening. we set up our tent, put things away and headed for a swim, the water was perfect the river beautiful. later there was dinner on the camp fire, card games, jokes, story telling and belly laughs.

 the next morning after breakfast we decided to go for a six mile hike to see some falls. the hike was beautiful, towering trees kept us shaded yet sun and glistening river were always by our side the last mile was an upward rock climbing hike arriving at the falls the scariest thing happened, grace our newfoundland collapsed k and i starting submerging her in water to cool her down as on lookers and the kids were nervous and frightened, k an i did not say a word just kept cooling her off, it took a while but she came through ( we believe it was heat stroke). honestly i tought i lost grace up there. when all was well again the kids swam in the falls trying hard not to look at the naked old man that was sunning not the view we were after:) our hike back was beautiful and we stopped midway to swim mid river, k, the dogs and i swimming there among trees and rocks, oh how lovely to have cool crisp water wash over you how easily we go on with our lives forgetting how much we loved to swim.  we made it just before the rain came and once it came it never ended but thanks to that lean to we hardly noticed as we laughed till we grew tired.

 * special thanks to our friend debbie for taking such great care of our animals, thank you!
*  i will have a second post about  a walk in the rain an beautiful fog

summer so far....great.

i am going to tell you that our weekend was nice a perfect mix of work and play. there has been so much laughter. I have been working hard in the garden, it is not big at all but i want continues crops
so i add between rows almost everyday. we have done some good stuff, like berry picking, walks, joke telling. we have shared some good meals, eaten our weight in fruit. we have given our big dogs baths, there has been show marathons, not really my thing but the kids keep reminding me it's summer, more play and relaxation that chores and work aunty.  actually today i have spent it mostly in the garden and them indoors,  it is hard to realize what is fun for me  is not exactly fun for them. i think i romanticize gardening and long walks that i can't imagine them not liking it so.  we did put up a tent, getting ready for a weekend by the lake in the mountains i can not wait and that is something everyone is excited about, i have been tempted to sneak in it right now with a good book.

did i tell you mondays are the hardest to share, they have become my favorite days of all days, perhaps one day i will put into words. we are waiting for noisette our duck to hatch ducklings, it was not our plan but she hid them pretty good and she has been so dedicated, do you know they hardly eat and drink so that they can keep their eggs warm, incredible mothers.

i can feel that my post will become scattered and that my thoughts and pics might be all over the place,
please forgive me it seems like i can't do summer well and keep focus too, but i love it here my little place for story telling. i have also started to use instagram, i am very nervous telling you since i love how i am able to share vignettes here on la porte rouge it quiet and intimate, but if you would like to see daily tidbits from the hill then you can find me on instagram under laporterouge ( wow i am actually shaking).

dear friends, thank you for being here, honestly you guys are incredible wise and kind.

a decade of being elle

there is this girl that has a big piece of the pie when it comes to my love, if not the biggest.

her heart is so kind and gentle. see sees the world very much the way i see it

she notices all the little things and makes them special. she is so talented and picks up everything

on the first try. she can work a camera so wonderfully that soon she will be teaching me.

she is kind to all creatures and all creatures adore her. she has a sweet tooth and is not afraid of baking the most complex of recipes. 

I love my nature walks with her, i love hiding with her in the dark behind trees waiting for deer to emerge, or discovering a fisher cat high up in a tree and running back for binoculars, she has incredible patience.  

I love that she in ten today, because ten i remember and it felt special. I will be going to montreal to celebrate her birthday this weekend, we will go boulangerie & patisserie hopping, old montreal for picture taking (she received her very own camera this morning) and china town for dinner.

happy birthday elle, you are the loveliest.

*elle is my niece

a cracked window for the heart

 last week with a heavy heart  i drove from one country to another i tried to concentrate on the music and the kids laughter that was coming from the back seat but nothing could stop my heart from aching. so  i drove on, then i saw the driveway that for  many years i had passed by, when i did i would say one day  i will stop and take photographs. well as i came close to it i knew that i had to take this moment. as i did snow started to fall, big beautiful gentle, kind flakes, i could feel the heaviness begin to disappear and realized that this was the window being opened and my heart began to breathe. this has been the way i work through things for as long as i can remember.

* i have combined the photographs with some taken on long walks this week through the forest.

my time in montreal

last weekend i went to montreal where i am from. i had wanted  a few days in the city, traffic lights, cafes, good food and conversation. I got all this and more. saturday was spent in old montreal, the weather was beautiful melting snow filled the roads and the sun was bright. we had a healthy but delicious lunch and Veritas, we went in and out of little shops that seemed to be showering us with gifts. one of the shops Saithong,  gave the kids beautiful carved pens, Merci Jan guy!. In another shop 

Zone Orange gave us cupcakes to go as many as we wanted, thanks Samuel! the whole day did feel as if we where celebrating someone's birthday. I love walking down the cobblestone streets, peaking through alleys and popping into new cafes. later still we went to the ethnic market where the most beautiful lady we have ever seen turned around to my sister and i and said " wow you  are beautiful" haha! honestly we could not speak for truly i think her skin was made of milk and her smile was capable of eating the sun, although i did questions her eye sight:) in the evening we  prepared such a wonderful dinner filled with all our favourites and shared funny stories that involved bad driving, police and fines.

I will be going again this weekend to bring the children home( niece and nephew) and already know what places i will be visiting and dining at.

* elle took  the photograph of the draft horse