the horse outside my window and other things

Dearest, dearest friends we made it through another year! I want to begin to wish you all a happy new year may it be filled with  rediculous amounts of happiness!

although christmas day was not my best day what followed was great. my parents, elle and dylan arrived on the twenty seventh and spent time with us through new years day. we watched movies, my dad made pita bread  and bagels from scratch,  something i had always wanted to do. we danced in our living room till we were exhausted and we did  that often, we ate a big amount of sweets( my mums date and wlanut stuffed shortbread cookies are to die for), went to the movies and took a nice long walk. we celebrated christmas on new years day with afeast and cheered in  new years with comedy and presents! vermont had no snow, and none still but we sure have had some serious cold days and some fall like weather- strange!

i have made a list of what i expect of 2012 and the list is big. i will share it with you as i go along crossing them off my list. i just found out that a special blogger and friend will be visiting the hill with her family for the first time excited. my home will be featured over at anothers.  things are happening that is for sure, even an announcement next week might get you packing your bags!

so i will leave you now with pictures of what the last few days have looked like,  i have been quieting my mind to see clearly my  path ahead, al thought today  has been full of tiny loud disasters not excluding my computer making a crazy siren noise_ perhaps it is begging me to give her a break:)

thank you for being here- 2012  BIG!!

* if you hit the last picture to enlarge of bullet and gentillese they were playing cat an mouse- too funny

winter fireflies

this morning at around one am i woke to a crescent moon. the temperature outside was close to zero, very cold. i threw hay to the horses and looked out upon the fields, the moon reflected unto the frosted ground and it looked like hundreds of fireflies hand landed, unexpected magic. when i finally went to bed again i tucked myself warmly underneath the blankets then through the skylight the crescent moon came in, before i could stop the words from " i love you moon" slipped through my lips.

*pictures of scattered things in my home, hay on the floor too. i promised dear readers i will get back on track and post regularly soon.

gentillesse

if i had not gotten stung twice, if the check had arrived in the mail, if the library books were not due, if  the wood had not come that morning i would have not found her there, falling from the hill crossing my path. if i decided to go left instead of right, if i had taken that call as i was walking out the door, if i had not forgotten the netflix movies and turned back, i would have not seen her cross the street into the forest. if i had the thick skin that people wish i had, if i did not listen to my inner voice, stare into her eyes, fall in love with her within minutes, i would have left her there in the shelter that said they would be happy to take her and were ready too. if i had left her i would have gotten a call the other day to tell me she was put down with fourteen other tiny kittens who where infected as parvo swept the tiny kitten room. if i did not leave with her in my arms she would no longer be. i only wish i could have done something more...

she was put in my path and i in hers. her name is gentillesse (kindness) and she has found a forever home, here on the hill with us.

in my life i have always had this thread and if i was to pull that tread it would take me back to the age of five ihave always been able to see my path through this thread.

thank you all dear readers, your hearts are SO BIG, for those who said you would be happy to take her i could not let her go but i know there is beautiful loving souls waiting for you at shelter near you.

* she is helping sophie heal-which is amazing. she is teaching sophie how to be gentle.

* pictures from the orchard- the apples were hot pink i am not sure what makes them that color and if it is a variety.  all i know is that among thousands of apples trees that were picked these were left. i so wish my camera was in better shape, so please forgive the blurr. i find photographing hot pinks, fushias and magenta can distort a picture. ( they do not allow those colors on television and now i know why:)! as far as tasting one, well i am afraid i can not- they spray the orchard with chemicals( a lot)

Autumn and a visit.

dear friends i thought i would share some photographs of  autumn a small break from france but there is more to come from paris. 

just a few hours after my arrival from france, i picked up aran and her family, they were coming to vermont to enjoy fall  and it's colours. aran came with her parents, i had heard so much about them, it was very nice to finally meet them and spend a few days showing them a bit of vermont and the hill.  although they spoke basque and very little english, i felt as if we were able to comunicate well, what they had to say and their kindness touched me, i could have easily spent more time with them.  we went to different parts of vermont, visited farmers markets, pumpkin stands and patches, my friend's sheep farm and lakes and rivers. aran was shooting for her book and her father has a new found passion for photography it was great to see them shoot together and for her father to share his images. miren and jon  filled my house with joy, they are comfortable here and that makes me happy.  aran shared her time on the hill with kind words and gorgeous photographs in a post on her blog.

i do have a few paris post to come, a giveaway, time with my mum, montreal and my friend Juliana's stay at the farm. all that ahead. 

thank you dear readers for being here, thank you for always lifting my spirits, making me think and dream- your birthday comments and emails have been read many times over with appreciation 

thank you for it is all of you that are magnificent

through the fields

I met my mum in saratoga, ny she was coming from montreal by train. we shopped and dined and made our way home. she had seen our house the weekend our truck was stuck at the end of the road, barely any furniture no stove or fridge. she is glad to be here and i am so very happy to have her here.

Yesterday we found a farm stand in shafstbury full to the rim with goodness we filled our baskets with vegetables, berries, breads and flowers. when came home  we took a walk  through the fields to see if the blueberry bushes were almost ready. the wild flowers we encountered filled our hearts, every other word was look at this , how beautiful! when black eyed susans, bachelor buttons, daisy and many other flowers grow wild for as far as the eyes could see you cant help but to feel like a little girl.  the blueberry bushes were almost ready, bursting with fruit,  we picked some dandelion greens for the ducks, walked to the pond were it was visible large animals had been sleeping in the long grasses. then we walked to the cedars that are lined like soldiers. on our way back we discovered thousand of tiny little wild strawberries, no bigger than pearls but so good that we left the fields with strawberry stained hands, knowing we would be back for more.

a visit to a view

Yesterday my friend catherine and i took a trip to my new home in vermont, the last and only time i had seen the house in person k and i had to snow shoe in to get to the house since the quarter mile drive way was covered in feet deep snow. as we made our way up the drive i could not believe how beautiful every thing was. when i entered the house i was so happy that i twirled around like a child but then i was stopped in my tracks for the views outside the window was so grand it took my breath away.

Our goal was to start building the horse fence, but shipment delayed we decided to walk around the property since i had not seen the pond yet. Catherine kept looking at me and saying "it is like looking at the grand canyon in away, so vast" the mountain tops covered in snow, clouds below the mountains. we were high, high in delight of what we saw and felt.  then we went into town, it is so perfect with it's little shops, sustainable restaurants, coffee house that reflect the universities around.

Back  at the house late afternoon it was a summer day, we built a very temporary chicken fence, and every few minutes one of us would comment on how quiet  and peaceful it was.

truth is i am still pinching myself,  two weeks feels so far away!

*catherine showed up with red wellies. love them!

when you inhale the good and exhale the bad

i have been distracted, i apologize dear friends. this morning i woke to the most beautiful fog, yet for the first time in a long while my head is not in such a place, fog that is..........

 i am sorry i paused while writing you just now, see i am at the cafe sitting by a window and my eyes came across a puddle, the rain plays with that puddle it is beautiful and simple.  the other morning i inhaled the worst kind of morning only to later exhale the best thing that is happened in a long while. ( i do not mean to be so secretive, but i am trying to be cautious) it got me thinking about you, yes you i wondered if you were scared of something or afraid to speak up or stand your ground. i wondered what you feared would happen. i am not going to write and tell you to go for it, because if you do the worst thing you suspect might just happen, yes it might.  what i will tell you is that even if it does what might surprise you is how you handle it after that, how you feel about doing it might be the best thing for you, because you just might think to yourself i am glad i am me and that i am not them and sometimes we need reminder of that very difference.

*first photograph is of all the brids that gather by my kitchen window, ( the duck coop) to feast.