summer so far....great.

i am going to tell you that our weekend was nice a perfect mix of work and play. there has been so much laughter. I have been working hard in the garden, it is not big at all but i want continues crops
so i add between rows almost everyday. we have done some good stuff, like berry picking, walks, joke telling. we have shared some good meals, eaten our weight in fruit. we have given our big dogs baths, there has been show marathons, not really my thing but the kids keep reminding me it's summer, more play and relaxation that chores and work aunty.  actually today i have spent it mostly in the garden and them indoors,  it is hard to realize what is fun for me  is not exactly fun for them. i think i romanticize gardening and long walks that i can't imagine them not liking it so.  we did put up a tent, getting ready for a weekend by the lake in the mountains i can not wait and that is something everyone is excited about, i have been tempted to sneak in it right now with a good book.

did i tell you mondays are the hardest to share, they have become my favorite days of all days, perhaps one day i will put into words. we are waiting for noisette our duck to hatch ducklings, it was not our plan but she hid them pretty good and she has been so dedicated, do you know they hardly eat and drink so that they can keep their eggs warm, incredible mothers.

i can feel that my post will become scattered and that my thoughts and pics might be all over the place,
please forgive me it seems like i can't do summer well and keep focus too, but i love it here my little place for story telling. i have also started to use instagram, i am very nervous telling you since i love how i am able to share vignettes here on la porte rouge it quiet and intimate, but if you would like to see daily tidbits from the hill then you can find me on instagram under laporterouge ( wow i am actually shaking).

dear friends, thank you for being here, honestly you guys are incredible wise and kind.

one hour or so

through  my window i have watched rain fall, the rain has the way of making everything more lush like a oil painting that is still wet. i have been so reflective, cautious even with thought as if to much could create in unbalance a need for something i can not obtain just yet. in the morning i come down my stairs leaving behind two dogs that lay quietly in my bed as i turn around to close the door, i look at the bed with the two giant beast in it and i wonder where exactly did i sleep.  i walk pass cats as they chase each other and make my way to the kettle, i fill it and wait till i can hear the steam come out leaving it there a little longer than necessary. i take my cup drop a spoon of turmeric, cut, squeeze a half a lemon, grate some ginger and drop some honey as i stir it i am lost in it's vibrant yellow color. as i sit at the kitchen table facing the mountains. a bird i want to say it is the same one as all the other mornings. he sings but the odd thing about it is he sings towards the window and not out to the hills staring right at me and he does it all morning long, although today he has cut his act short for the wind and the rain our pounding hard and i can feel drafts all over the house.

there is something new now, i have learned to give myself an hour or so before animal care and chores begin.  i no longer jump out of bed straight into my muck boots tying up dogs and opening for chickens and ducks and throwing hay for horses, i no longer start my day worrying about them till night fall when i tuck them in. i simply take time for  myself and you know what everything is okay and taking time for myself does not take it away from them or my love for them and that my dear readers is really big step in my life.

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.

quiet came and so did many lovely things.

hi.

I woke saturday morning to a quietness, the one that i craved but you see i thought i was okay still without it but the night before a meltdown through tears, exhaustion or worse yet a lack of patience was quickly taken posession of my mind and body. the thing is i did not know i really needed some quiet, i craved it but needing it to function that was unexpected. so there is was saturday morning, the little chick that had slept with me in my bed because she needed a mommy badly, was no longer chirping because i had found her a real hen mother, the dogs were sleeping with k, the feathery were fed, the horses too.  i picked up a broom and started to sweep, cleaning house, placing things where they belong, picking flowers and making tiny clusters, all those things were healing. I had a visitor too that dropped by and performed some magic but i will leave that for another post. K and i spent the weekend doing regular things but enjoyed the silence.

sunday evening my friend catherine arrived with her children. she showered me with all things wonderful, peaches, plums and apples from her orchard. rhubarb, blueberries tomatoes from her fields. home made jams & vanilla, rices of all kinds, olive oils. goat cheeses and soap. heaven!.  i made dinner, we chatted. the next day we went to the lake read magazines as the kids swam, talked about life and projects, went for a long drive.

came home made dinner, ate good cheeses and breads and nibbled on chocolate. thank u dear catherine.

they just left and for the rest of the week there will be just me, les animaux and that is pretty special too.

i also wanted to thank corine for writing these kind words

when you meet gypsies on the dirt road!

our weekend. 

we had only seven dollars to spend having over extended ourselves that week, january, february never easy on a farm. I was not worried, for i had already planned for home made soups, hummus, apple crisp. we decided saturday morning to head to the cafe and blow it all:) on our way we drove down the dirt road, the sun was bright, yet it was bitterly cold. i was not feeling it since i had just spent the last two hours working hard doing chores.  as we drove down the dirt road i got my camera ready, incase a muscovy duck would be blocking the way or a tree branch would catch the sun just right but what i found instead was a herd of sheep.  i have to tell you i could not contain my excitement,  this was a dirt road after all and the farm was that way and where did they come from i wondered out loud.  i jumped out of the car( it was still moving) and just snapped away. they looked at me with the same questions i had just asked. they were studying me and i them- no that is not true i was admiring them, falling in love with them, specially him, do you see him. they were like a band of gypsies, ragged, dishevelled but so handsome. i was in heaven.  this was the biggest gift, i stood there wanting to speak to them, i swear they were so alive, they seemed so wise with stories to tell.  i watched them go then ran back into the car so giddy, saying "honey can you believe it, can you believe them, can you believe how lucky we are".

the rest of the weekend was full of photographic opportunities it seemed, peeking through the window i would see k, picking up the chickens, gathering eggs and i would yell out the window stand still i will be right there with my camera... and i was there in that moment.

happy monday everyone

large snow flakes are coming down, yet i believe it will be short lived. elsewhere not so far by snow storms are evident( why not here puffy white cloud, why not here?). This weekend was about getting the house ready for guest ( i Hope), to say that we moved every piece of furniture in the house would be an understatement because we also moved every painting and book and i am not sure how i feel about the look of things after the change.

Today there was quick trip to connecticut to see the hay guy. there was small repairs and loose ends on the coop ( a glimpse of the door above i made all by myself for the coop)  and now a cup of tea as i begin to string up garland with fresh greens, make stars out of bark and a few other things! hope your monday is good!

*picture of white and black horse from earlier trip to vermont.

all things country

although i am still taking a little pause, i wanted to share a new england autumn. more post like these to come