Showing posts with label la porte rouge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label la porte rouge. Show all posts

Friday, July 6

the country drive




the hill has taken on new sounds, one of children's laughter. i have many things to write about and many stories that have begun to take shape in my mind.

these photographs were taken on a country drive with my mother on her last visit, i was having some camera trouble, mostly me not understand the settings)  over exposing when shooting, but i do not think there as  bad as i thought, well...

 last  night as we all went up to bed and the golden full moon entered the room the kids and i started chatting, we laughed so hard as we shared stories, tried to make sophie our big white dog talk. the room was filled with the kind of laughter that made our eyes water. such happy sounds from upstairs. this is what summer on the hill has been so far. i look forward to sharing more with you soon.

i am going to be talking about this post, real soon so please visit it and i am going to add to the plot. because of this family my life has changed, i am able to capture moments and speak and share with so many. so have a look and  like i said i will be posting about it soon, with the help of my niece elle.


Sunday, July 1

a warm sky and the rainbow


i started writing this on the train from ny too home while enjoying the sunset on hudson river. I thought about these images while walking the hot pavement in the city, i had a nice time and hope to go back very soon to do a few things i just could not do this time around. i will be able to show images from this
trip only in the fall.

 i thought about how it seems as if the night before i leave the hill  the sky is even lovelier than all the days before as if letting me know that this is where my heart resides and why i must come home.  the evening before i left,  I was sitting at the kitchen table with my mother after chores, when i looked up i saw the warmest tones line the sky, a quick rain shower before had formed a rainbow, as all this was happening the sun began to set. i stood on the grass with my bare feet, this is where i live, i function & breathe. within minutes behind me the sky was the colour of wild fire, while the front was a mix of soft tones with a rainbow of vibrant colors ( not captured well).  the air was a mix of cool and warmth like a swim in lake on hot summer night, the leaves moved against the window making the sound of pouring rain without a drop, birds and fire flies flew about and the air played at the back of my neck.  i stood, i paused, i stared and inhaled and now four days later, i finally exhale.

I watched my mum and k drive down the driveway heading to montreal this morning, strange that i am not with them, but  knowing that one and half days of solitude i have craved will help me press reset and prepare for the arrival of my niece & nephew for their summer on the hill. i will weed the garden , listen to music as i am right now and maybe lay in the hammock at some point looking up at the sky through the trees while it grounds me. this evening i will welcome the sunset from the table in the barn while eating dinner made solely from my garden.

hope you guys are doing well, but even better than well.


Monday, June 25

quiet, a lavender sky and days with mum.

the sky has turned so dark that you would think it is closer to the evening than midday. the wind has picked up and the pieces of paper that casually sit on the table have blown to the ground. it is monday, monday is were i seek quietness to reset. my mum has been visiting and perhaps i have been too quiet for her liking, thank goodness for her love of books, i think she is on her fourth in just a week. our days have been one of early morning drives and late dinners. her craving meat and i sharing raw dishes making her forget her craving ( i hope) all the while picking what has been growing from the garden and stopping by farmers markets filling baskets.

looking up from my computer just now, i can see a real storm is coming. the next few days i will be getting the house, garden and animals ready as i take a quick trip to new york ( more on that at another time). i am nervous as usual to leave things behind, my mum will be at the helm. I think it is time to get the iphone i was gifted by mr. taylor activated. last night i welcomed the evening with a full heart after a wonderful day, this morning the fear that i will get trampled by the amount of work that needs to be done is swirling in my mind.  of course it will get it done, i am motivated by last minute pressure something that does not seem too good on the heart.

I  have been listening to Glen Hansard  rhythm and repose and even when away from his voice and walking in the fields through a stunning array of wild flowers his words replay in my mind like poetry
that i have learned to recite. Oh dear friends i recognize me in his written pieces and when that happens with any type of art, music, paintings, photographs it is as if i have walked into a film recounting the memories of my life and at the same time showing me scenes from what is yet to come.

Friday, June 22

the water, the flesh and the flame


perhaps it was the heat and the stillness of the air but as i stood in the pasture right before day became night i felt as if everything around me was spinning. it was not a fast spin but slow moving, i could see the horses finish the last of their supper grain and birds flying by, it took me a minute to realize that it was i that had been turning.  yet inside i felt as if a rush of emotions and thoughts had come to the surface all at once yet they struggled pushing against the inner layer of my skin, wanting desperately to get out. without a rush my steps became a steady run, i took off my hat and pulled my shirt over my head, my jeans fell to the ground and i barely slowed down to step out of them, within a minute i was in the pond. my life a quiet routine that has become  as precise as the ticking of a clock,  but now horses lifted their heads and dogs sat up from a resting positions, was their "roommate" having a breakdown.

no, no i was not in fact the complete opposite was taking place.  as the water moved around me and the sky became darker i knew that for far too long the flesh that covered my body was too thick and i had used it as a guard against heartbreak now that the layer had become thinner the inside call, yell, scream that had been trapped and silenced could penetrate through my flesh and make it out to be heard. maybe it was the cobblestones streets and deep laughter or the reflection in shop windows of who i once was and am again but something made it that even though this is strange sounding, as i was almost completely submerged in water i felt like my fire did not go out after all, there was doubt of course, but there would be none anymore.

Thursday, May 17

storm cloud, light & the cold air

when dark clouds come into view and the wind picks  up and horses begun to gallop you know it is time for mother nature to say something, wake you up and stir.  as fast as you possibly can you run to the coop and convince forty feathery creatures that they must go to bed a few hours early. you toy with fate as clouds feel as if they are closing in on you when you pick up the hose to fill water buckets leaving two inches for the rain to top off for the next day, trying not to break from routine. once your done you grab all possible flying objects from the yard ie, chairs, wheel barrows and tuck them away. you close barn doors drop windows from there chains. then you hear nothing a complete silence, not one chirping bird or buzzing bee, no rooster complaining about bed time. a moment later you hear the horses gallop and the  sound is eerily like thunder. you look at the clouds see sharp beams of light and hear the sky crack and then from deep within the forest you hear the rain and wind come up the hill a sound so intense,  but you stay still, tempting fate once again...

minutes later it is all over and you walk back out,  the rain and the light that still remains makes everything look like a dream and with it a cold air has come. you stare at your horse, he is like a black beast from one of your novels steam lifts from his being. as the night falls the stars that have been missing for days now light up the sky. the next morning you wake early not needing to turn the pillow to it's cooler side for everything is crisp so you lay there longer, awake yet asleep wrapped up in dreams and reality and suddenly the five hundred seeds you planted before the storm that where washed away don't make you sad, because nature she was telling you something and suddenly undertood, she was saying everything in due time.

Thursday, March 1

the wind that blows the snow and a weekend away


 the snow did come and it brought some incredible winds, in fact they came from a direction that i have not experienced on the hill. so much wind that the house is having trouble warming up. when it began to fall sophie and i went outside, she loves the snow as much as i.  I also found the young chickens walking in the snow, how the wind does not take them something i often think about, especially when i see little barn swallows sitting on tiny twigs in a blizzard. will i be going snow shoeing, i am afraid not for the snow that has fallen has only accumulated at snow drifts yet snow is still falling so i will  hope for the possibility.

I will be heading to montreal tomorrow for the weekend and i will come back with elle and dylan who will be spending their winter break here on the hill. how i am excited for  few days in montreal and having my niece and nephew hang out with me on the hill.

* oh and i have nine roosters, which is not good thing so i need to find homes for some, this is not easy to say at all but for the well being of all the flock it is for the best. only to a loving (no kill) home. they are so sweet, they truly are.

* sometimes, i feel like i am a "little bit country" with my words & photographs, the city trip is coming at a perfect time.


Wednesday, February 22

a blue sunset

a few nights ago just as the sun had almost completely set, a snow fall came as well as a warm front.
all those things created the bluest night sky i had ever seen, it reminded me of our nights spent camping by a the river in maine under moonlight. i failed to capture the real beauty of it  and found the images a bit blurry but i do hope you see pass that.

wishing you a good day.