winter in the woods and snow

it was as i hoped it to be, the weekend that is. lots of time outdoors, a film and another one this evening anna karinina. I can not wait to be outdoors again tomorrow, there is something that brings me happiness in the snow, it is so crisp and beautiful and as i walk under large canopies of ever greens and oak trees my spirit becomes unburdened by things that can weight me down.

I think is time to dive into books, it has been too long since i read a last page of any book, i wonder what it will be and where it will take me and whom i will meet in it's pages.  i also plan on purging many things in the house, things that clutter up drawers and closets and end up making me feel phobic. I also want to commit myself to a few things i put on my list when i first moved to the hill, one of those things is meditation, true meditation. on my last visit too santa fe, new mexico i visited a tibetan home where i was gifted the most beautiful piece of music perfect for reflection. I played  it for a month straight every morning and evening as k and hiked through the colorado mountains a few years back.

i hope you have a good week, would love to hear what you are listening and reading.

when the hill is a farm

( love this pic, taken by iphone the day before)

I am sitting here typing away, a few hot summer day past leaving a gentle blend of cool air,  perfect for  the biggest list of chores i have to do in preparing for winter and my upcoming trip to europe. in the next few weeks my blog will look like it has been highjacked for the lack of a better word by certain events surrounding my good friend aran's upcoming book but i promise to leave you with a post about the fog and life on the hill before i go. ( perhaps more for me than anyone else).

i returned from Whistler BC, tuesday morning at around five am after traveling for  about twenty four hours only to arrive to the hill to begin a half hour later the cutting of fields and haying. for a few days a year the hill feels like a working farm. I love haying so very much and as the tractors danced all over the field i slowly looked on at the disappearing golden rod, weeds and tall, tall grasses. how quickly the  view changed as round bales began to stud the open fields. Our farrier came to trim the horses hooves, our horses go barefoot which  in truth i feel should be the only way. I loved watching the farrier trim and hope to give it a try in the near future.

yesterday between the dinner i prepared for k and the movie we where going to see k ( les intouchables, i highly recommend it), the dogs and i decided to walk into the fields as the sun began to set. I jumped into the tractor and turned it on, how i love the sound of a 1950 tractor, i dream of having one of my own one day. gosh this time of day on the hill is the most magical of all, when golden sun hits our skin and highlights what i love most of the hill, everything.

* dear friends i am traveling to france for a work but then will spend a week traveling from switzerland to paris stopping in italy i think on the smallest budget that ever was. if you think there is something i should see, visit i would love to know or if you would like to come along i am so open for that too! yes i am very last minute i think sometimes i am that way cause i hardly believe i am going to do it- then i slowly realize it is happening.

for those who asked. i will spend a weekend in switzerland 9/28 oct 1  arriving in zurich and a weekend in paris oct 6,7 8

it is the in between time that i wondering what i should do, having trouble deciding on car rental or train might meet friends in Abruzzo, Italy for a night but i am wide open on sudgestions even meeting along the way for coffee.

* photographs taken with fujix100 and iphone.

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

American Winter ( a call for help)

Dearest Friends, I have something to ask or perhaps something that needs sharing. It has been a year that i have been on the hill and not one day goes by  that i do not feel like the luckiest person for being able to live my dream. I have spoken to you that sometimes living a dream requires sacrifice but these sacrifices have been chosen by myself and k. What if the world made those decisions for you, what happens if you have done everything right or if you had made decisions that you thought were for the best. what happens if the consequences where that your children would go to sleep cold, that dinners would never be cooked, warm or hot. what happens if the garden you spent many summers tending too and the paint color you chose and the welcoming mat at the front door would no longer be yours after years of putting money into it, working hard in making your house a home.

we are all witnesses too, or in the path of financial fragility to some everything they have is being taken away, dogs left behind, mothers and fathers feeling as if they have failed their children and all because they believed in american dream. I live in this beautiful house on a hill that was built by a very talented visionary and now this man along with his brother have decided to tell a story of those who are not so lucky. The Gantz brothers have put in many, many hours to tell this story, an accumulation of many american families. I am asking and it is hard to ask yet when i look at what it is for, i know i must. Can you help  this documentary that is almost at it's tail end of production, can you help make sure it gets seen and heard. I need you to know you can give as little as one dollar and yes of course that makes a difference, or as much as you are able too,  or you can spread the word around via any social media.

dear friends let's all help tell this story, because it is story that belongs to our neighbors, family, friends, co workers and could easily one day be ours.

Please go here to see Trailer and contribute to  AMERICAN WINTER.

i thank you for any attentions that you can bring to this cause.

the elements and the dance

last night the snow fell gently and fog travelled up the hill and than later as my head made it to the pillow i could hear the rain begin to fall. this morning the fog was so thick and the rain drops so loud i found myself trading in the radio for the sound of rain instead. I started to think about the weather on the hill, today expecting temperature to rise into fifties, i realize that there is a competition out there. every element trying to show what it is capable off, the ideal vermont winter is letting others take a turn. I thought about how there is subtle competition here inside as well, you see every living thing here from cats to dogs to horses and ducks they all need there time. i find myself spending time with each one throughout the day. a small dance i do to keep things balanced. there is not one day i do not  say I love you at least a dozen times. now back to the weather it is easy to wish for what we do not have, i loving the snow more than anything am surprised and how i am okay with whatever comes up the hill and i am also beginning to realize that dance i do is because maybe the living things are taking care of me.

*I would like to thank you dear readers for the comments on my last post, i have read them over and over, i am sad that we all have similar stories and hope that somehow we will one day understand the purpose behind it.

* yes i added more pics since this morning the fog made me do it, it was too lovely not to take a longer walk