Story Telling in Basque, registration open's this morning.

styling by me

photograph 1,3,5 & 10 taken By Tracey Ayton Photograph 2,3, 4 and 5 Taken By Kimberly Taylor.  photograph 9 taken By Aran Goyoaga

Aran Goyoaga

I am so very excited about the opening of registration at 9 am eastern time this morning for the Story telling in Basque workshop. To be able to teach long side my very talented friend Aran in the country she grew up in, is such an honor. We are excited to explore, create and share with you in this beautiful part of the world.

The workshop is sold out (in just minutes) thank you! If you would like to be part

of a mailing list for upcoming workshops please go here and fill contact

form. 

So if you plan on joining us registration opens at 9 am eastern time.

Go here to register 

You can read about the workshop here & here!

Hope to see you in Basque!

nesting time

Dear friends, i hope you are well and that february is being kind to you. My camera is fixed and i hope that i can begin posting regularly, the last few month have been iphone photographs and i am grateful to have been able to capture  what has been going on this winter on the hill with it, but i am glad once again to hold something that requires a little more thinking. I have spent the last few weeks at home, nesting with animals and as they say finding my center.

I am happy though to be going to montreal for a few days to spend with family & friends, we will celebrate christmas and new years on saturday since during the holidays everyone was under the weather. Sunday will be just my immediate family and we will make all our favorite foods and hang out and no doubt reminisce on times past. I have a need for family time, there will also be good coffee drinking and if i am lucky i hope to find a canele or two.

wishing you a wonderful rest of the week, hope to take some photographs to share with you soon.

a bientot,

nadia

Announcing a new Food & Lifestyle Photography worshop in....

I am really excited to announce that Aran Goyoaga and I will be teaming up for a food and lifestyle photography workshop in Aran’s homeland, Basque Country. 

This has been a long time in the planning and i honestly can not wait to be in the breathtaking landscape that Aran has so beautifully shared with us so often on her blog through her stunning photographs. I have listened to Aran as she recounted stories from her childhood and her travels back home and knew that i must visit this beautiful part of the world one day. What better way to do so than to invite you to come along and join us for this special workshop.

We will be staying at the Astei estate surrounded by forests and the Biosphere Reserve of Urdaibai. In this 5-day workshop, we will explore the natural surroundings and farms, while learning about food styling and photography. We will visit visit local organic growers and artisans, prepare a sundown dinner on the beach, a tour of the best pintxo (tapas) bars in the area, and a visit to San Sebastian and the French Basque Countryside.

Please visit Aran's post about our workshop, it provides more details told in
such a lovely way.

Registration will open on Thursday, February 21st at 9 am eastern time at the Food & Lifestyle Photography Shop.

When: September 5-10, 2013

Where: Astei, Ea, Basque Country (about 45 km/25 miles outside of Bilbao, which is closest airport)

How much: Fee is $2,550 (single occupancy) and includes:

5 nights at Astei where the students will get to stay in different houses within this magnificent country estate. Single occupancy rooms.

3 days of technical and practical instruction with on-location shoots.

1 full day of sightseeing to and back to the French Basque Country.

5 breakfasts. Each house has a fully stocked and equipped kitchen. We will stock the pantry with breakfast items for your convenience.

4 lunches.

4 dinners including a tasting event of some of the best local wines.

Reception cocktails and appetizers on the evening of the 5th.

Transportation to our workshop activities (it does not include airfare).

Snack and refreshments during workshop hours.

Deposit: $1275 for registration to be confirmed. Final Payment of $1275 due May 15, 2013.
There will be no refunds for this workshop – please know you can make it before your registration.

The workshop is limited to 9 people.
Please note that the last two students to register will have single occupancy rooms, but will have to share a bathroom in this completely remodeled farmhouse.

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* all images above taken by Aran Goyoaga

i love the hill.

i want to tell you how much i love the hill, i know that is not a surprise to you since almost every post is dedicated to my love for it.  today i looked at the trees through moments of clouds, sunshine, and snow and thick fog they made me feel safe and loved. i lay on the floor with sophie and grace and we stared out the big window unto the hills. i wrote emails with the warmth of the fire and gathered eggs from the hens, i threw hay to the horses and watched them run and play, I am lucky. i spoke to my dear friend, till we both cried happy that our ships did not sail seperate ways but side by side. I listen on the phone as k used words of wisdom to calm me down, to remind me who i am and who i should be proud of, i always seem to forget.

i love the hill, love who i am here and love that no matter where i go i remember where i come from.

glad to be home

    hi there, i am writing to you from the hill and i can not tell you how glad i am to be home. The fog is thick and the air is warm and again the snow begins to melt. I have been away both for work and personal reasons and at every quiet  moment i craved the hill, thought about the animals and tea by the fire. I spent some time in Maine while we shot and styled many stories, met incredible people who were inspired to start something and in turn have left me genuinely happy knowing that good people are doing great things.

It has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster  sad and happy news seem to intertwine but the ability to remain hopeful and at the same time and the continual belief that the path i am on is the right one keeps me moving forward. I learned quite a bit these past few days about myself and others and i do feel at this moment overwhelmed by all of it. i have one day to try to process it all and take away what is useful and let go of the things that are no longer.

Dear friends, it  is a sunny fog out there so thick that you would think that the clouds have fallen unto the pastures. i feel as if i can fall asleep standing up and i have never said that in my life- so i am treasuring the next twenty four hours before i am in the thick of it again. there will be a few walks in the forest and across the fields, a book left by a friend to read and a loaf of bread baked by another on the hill and left for me to slice into and i do hope a few good hours of sleep.

winter and happiness

the most unusually weather fell upon this part of vermont this past weekend, a fog so thick, a warmth so wonderfully mild  that the snow could be heard melting.  early saturday morning, a walk through the thick and moving fog, down the driveway led to the car that could not make it up the hill the night before, i did not mind for it was such a good way to start the morning and made for good photo taking. off to the grain store and coffee in the nearest city, gosh the weather was so lovely and everything took my breath away. lingering at the grain store, snapping away ( those are to come in later post) then heading back to the hill, a quick uturn when the abandonned out buildings where spotted. there is no secret how much i love the snow and  fog and when i am surrounded by it, i am truly at my happiest.

Upon returning to the hill and after a leisurely breakfast of freshly gathered eggs, peach jam handmade and gifted to me in the summer, a mocha and a game of chess scruffy building clothes replaced city ones. it was time to revamp the interior of the coop ( yes again) it has taken many takes to get it right, hours spent under the sunniest of skies trying hard to beat the sunset before the chickens decide to roost in trees. Sunday was a repeat of good breakfast and a game then the coop again, happily finished midday leaving time to tackle other things like wood stacking.

i had many thoughts going through my head this weekend and could not tell you how many times  i looked out to the pasture and the hills, how lucky i felt. the other thought i had was that i truly feel safe, comforted and profoundly happy when the animals are well taken care of, when i know that there is plenty of grain, a good place for them to rest and play, i guess that is what parents must feel as they tuck their children in for the night.

this post has run a little long i know, i loved this past weekend and the photographs that came from it but more so the things that where on a list the weighed on me could finally be crossed off. Dear readers, there is a possibility of a pause between this post and the next , for personal reasons but also i will be shooting in maine, connecticut and northern vermont maybe a quick trip to montreal and house guests. i feel very lucky that you visit here and that the hill means something to you, i will see you soon.

hiver

i have just returned from the forest, it is the loveliest of winter days. sun shines beautifully and the warmth that cometh from it is spring like. the house is very toasty and i walk barefooted and my clothing is light and delicate. a large glass of orange juice with grated ginger is on the table and je grignotte on carrots as a banana, chocolate coconut cake bakes in the oven, the house smells lovely and rich.

I want to play chess with the pieces that were made just for the hill, i need someone to play with me but i will wait. music is playing and i feel so at peace and calm. i have worked on many projects this week, consumed by the computer i do not do well staring at a screen for so long, it takes moisture from my skin and oxygen for my lungs but in the big picture i hardly have to do it at all. thank goodness for the hill and the most beautiful hiver i can remember, for long winter walks, healthy animals and a quieting soul.


some winter inspired songs i have been listening too: here,  here, here, here, here, here truth is loving this band  and this one

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.

january and a winters walk.

 I have just returned from snowshoeing in the woods behind the house. the snow is so beautiful and the sun warm. there is so many animals tracks in the woods, deer, coyote, bunny and birds. it so quiet when you walk on snow through the forest, even a stillness and calm that i desperately was seeking yesterday one of the biggest days of my life,  i often romanticize how things should go, in fact i can romanticize most anything like i often do about mucking stalls.

I am sitting by the fire now, a wool blanket covers my legs and a warm cup of tea sits next to my knitting yarn. the horses are loving todays weather, i think all of us are since yesterday the temperature fell to minus nine.

this weekend will include a trip to the city, a film, farmers market, more snowshoeing, knitting and cooking. I am looking forward to it, since i am at the gate of so much work to be done, shoots to plan, workshops to announce, houseguest to welcome, airline tickets to purchase, house to paint and so on. may you all have a good weekend, i just love january so very much.

the next sunrise

i am looking back at the last twelve months, that is what we do at the very end of december. I am glancing over some things that have become less opaque as months have gone by. i live my life believing that there is one beginning and one end, being born and dying and what is in between those two things is as vast and complexe, beautiful, scary and breathtaking as earth itself.

There is always a temptation to press the reset, when the calendar changes to 01-01 but i have this other belief that everyday that the sunrises is the possibility of a new beginning. I did that many times this year and there has never been a year that i learned so much about myself, human nature, the failure of the gut, the re emerging of a gut, the heartbreak of loss and the joys of new discoveries. I am richer today, my soul uncluttered by things that weighed so much and had no value. I worked hard to stud my next twelve months with things i can count on, with substance and value but it those things i can not see that keeps me moving forward, it is believing that all is possible.

This last day of december was the most poignant, it brought me to the door of one of the biggest possible human experiences and in a short few days, i will leap and if i fail i will wait for the sun to rise again, tomorrow.