k.

  i have known you for half of my life can you believe it k, i would not trade one second of it and feel luckier than most. you' re kind heart, your sense of humour and the loving way you care for living things will never be shadowed by another. may this be the best year yet for you, i  mean it with all my heart.

happy fortieth dear sleepy head.

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.

to k.

thirty nine years ago today the most important thing happened, you were  born.

you are  my best friend,  you get even more handsome as the years go by.

after twenty years of togetherness i would think the nicest things

you could say to me have been said, but last friday night you proved me wrong

 you made me feel luckier than i could have ever imagined,  you made my heart melt.

you are rich with goodness, dedicated and have a kindness i have never known till the very minute i met you.

happy birthday my love.

gentillesse

if i had not gotten stung twice, if the check had arrived in the mail, if the library books were not due, if  the wood had not come that morning i would have not found her there, falling from the hill crossing my path. if i decided to go left instead of right, if i had taken that call as i was walking out the door, if i had not forgotten the netflix movies and turned back, i would have not seen her cross the street into the forest. if i had the thick skin that people wish i had, if i did not listen to my inner voice, stare into her eyes, fall in love with her within minutes, i would have left her there in the shelter that said they would be happy to take her and were ready too. if i had left her i would have gotten a call the other day to tell me she was put down with fourteen other tiny kittens who where infected as parvo swept the tiny kitten room. if i did not leave with her in my arms she would no longer be. i only wish i could have done something more...

she was put in my path and i in hers. her name is gentillesse (kindness) and she has found a forever home, here on the hill with us.

in my life i have always had this thread and if i was to pull that tread it would take me back to the age of five ihave always been able to see my path through this thread.

thank you all dear readers, your hearts are SO BIG, for those who said you would be happy to take her i could not let her go but i know there is beautiful loving souls waiting for you at shelter near you.

* she is helping sophie heal-which is amazing. she is teaching sophie how to be gentle.

* pictures from the orchard- the apples were hot pink i am not sure what makes them that color and if it is a variety.  all i know is that among thousands of apples trees that were picked these were left. i so wish my camera was in better shape, so please forgive the blurr. i find photographing hot pinks, fushias and magenta can distort a picture. ( they do not allow those colors on television and now i know why:)! as far as tasting one, well i am afraid i can not- they spray the orchard with chemicals( a lot)

when life tries to tell you something and you keep missing it

my dear readers i feel as if i have been on the infamous roller coaster that seems to take us all on a ride at some point ( i have had my share). i have this profound connection with karma, it seems to watch my every move and more so seems to listen to my rants and then bang hits me. friends and family might say that certain events are not because of something i have said or done but it is hard to listen to such things when your gut speaks so clearly that it is. I have confused you and perhaps if i shared some of the sad things that happened this weekend, you too would try to console me by saying nadia it just not your fault, you did the best you can so i am not going to write it, because i know i played a part. i have noticed through out my life if i am too blame i can cope with things much better, see the path it lead, learn from it and do my best not to go down the road again. I also have learned if things keep happening it means i am overlooking an important message and this brings me to the following, i need to get my feet firmly on the ground, to have a plan and move forward, not the circling i have been doing for years. to do so i need to listen to myself and my thoughts and i lately am having trouble. perhaps i am over stimulated by all the i see on the net, that somehow i get lost in other peoples lives in the blogger sphere that i confuse it to the point were i stop living mine. (OH goodness), please do not worry i am going to blog cause it has profundly changed my life and i love it. i am going to continue to to be moved and inspired by reading yours. all i need is to clear my head and take a look at what is going on in my life. have you've been there overwhelmed by all that others are doing that you end up standing still? I wonder how do you motivate yourself, do you stay in that standing still position and how long is too long. so you see dear readers i am circling but i can also say i know that that something good even great will come of it, it is happening i can feel it stir in me.

* i wanted to share a post from my friend juliana who stayed at our home when i was in france
* also a post that author and friend corine shared on her blog, that also can shed some light at some of who i am

evening and morning walk.

the weekend was a great balance of things, hard work k. and i created another pasture and trimmed all along the houses, we had great afternoon snack of fresh strawberries, cheeses and hibiscus ice tea with a man who came to cut some of the fields, he told us a bit more of the history of this place which i soaked up. later on, early evening we went for a walk, looking at what had been cut, the wild flowers that are emerging and the birds. then we got dressed up, my mother came down the stairs looking so beautiful and graceful i could have worn a paper bag no one would have noticed me, then we headed into williams town for an incredible indian meal, walked along the town spotted some famous people who were in town for a play and spotted two great Pyrenees. the  night ended on the porch watching the fireflies flicker all around us as my mum said they were like mirrors to the stars.

this morning we went for a walk at the tropical conservatory and as we entered this is what we read

listen

It is easy to overlook the sounds that are all around you.  depending on the time of day, the season of the year, and the weather, there are many things you may hear.  birds like the red-winged blackbird and the black-capped chickadee are common singers in the marshlands.  on the summer and fall, insects like the cricket create an incessant buzz.  raindrops can patter on leaves.  sometimes in the winter, the only   sound is the creaking of the trees as they sway and rub against each other.

new england tropical conservatory

i am so greatful that k stayed home today, he has only been home a handful of days since we moved  and to see him enjoy it here as well as mum makes me very happy

....and he rescued me

there is times when i feel overwhelmed and all i want is for him to hurry home. i pick him up from the train but i can't say anything, i can't tell him how much i missed him all day, i can't tell him how i love him, i say nothing at all. we get home and instead of me being cheerful i am a bit melancholy, don't really know why and slowly a tear falls and just when i feel a whole rush of them he says "you want to go for a walk with the dogs and your camera" and all i can do is nod. while the waves hit the edge, the dogs run and my lens zooms in- my heart fills up again and he captures it.