the company you keep

my dear friend sheila came to spend part of labour day with me as she did one time before. sheila arrived friday after picking up k in the evening. we decided to have a late evening dinner on the porch, freshly picked tomatoes roasted in garlic thrown over pasta, with a tapas of olives, rosemary bread, harissa olive oil and a salad. it was a nice evening the candles flickered at the moon that was the colour of deep apricots.saturday morning we lingered at the breakfast table catching up and sharing thoughts. late morning it was time to head the bennington Garlic festival, we parked far on a farmers field, the ground still recovering from the hurricane,  the hems of our pants muddy and wet. the garlic festival was filled with booths with garlic's as far the eyes can see, we sampled, drooled and shopped before we found a table and settled down for a garlicky lunch while the bands played, we shared our table with a few people from brooklyn and virgina and before we knew it they were dipping into our feast and sharing stories. after sheila tasted the garlic ice cream that left much to be desired not to mention a bad taste, we hopped in the car to williamstown to find a cafe and cleanse our palate. 

when we got back to the hill i called my friend debbie and asked if we could come pick some berries, apples plums. on our way to debbie's house i drove past my neighbours house Lulie, there she was sitting on the porch underneath the afternoon sun. as a photographer, a dreamer i have to tell you this scene was so perfect i could not even disrupt it with the click of my camera. Lulie is my neighbour she in in her late eighties, i am completely smitten with her. she is tiny, with beautiful white hair, the most piercing blue eyes i have ever scene and her southern accent makes me giddy. I invited her to join us and she said yes, both sheila and i knew how lucky this time with her would make us feel.as we arrived at my friends house and opened the gate to the orchard trees bursting with fruit greeted us, we quickly grabbed apples to eat immediately as we made our way to  the blueberry and blackberry bushes. as we picked, we asked lulie questions and listened with great delight, she is wise, funny and sharp as a whistle. this was followed by a walk to the plums trees, the most beautiful trees filled with colour like i have never scene before, not quite ready but we each managed to find a few to nibble on as debbie joined us and help us pick more apples. 

the night ended as we joined debbie and her husband larry at new local pizza place on main street, the  the small town feeling of the day was perfect. spending time with people who make you feel lucky to be in their company was one i will never forget.

* i have more of my time with sheila to share soon

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 !

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.