{this moment} - Easter Sunset

I'm linking to Soulemama for a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.




~Happy Friday Friends!~

Ember

I answered an add on Kijiji not too long ago, that went something like this...'Free kittens." Then on my way home last Thursday, all geared up for a super long weekend, I made a super long detour and paid a visit to the owner of these two beauties. And tell me, if you were me, would you have left without one of these tucked under your arm? ......Well?....What's that?....No? I thought so. Neither did I. The little one on the left. That's the one I picked. Only because she's a girl and the Artist is sexist when it comes to pets. He prefers females. He thinks they'll be more loyal or something. It doesn't really matter, because she is a sweetheart. 

After much deliberation and consternation from the twins because we were reaching the 48 hour naming window (which up until then I never knew existed) we finally decided on a name. We tossed around Nutmeg (Meggie) which was the only orange-ish name I would consider and Tiger Lily, after all of the orange day lilies at the farmhouse, but we couldn't reach a four person consensus on either one of those so we went with a last minute entry in the suggestion box. Ember. Glowing Ember but we stick with Ember. Ember November. Ember September. Ember December. Aunty Em-ber. As you can see names really don't have a whole lot of standing around the old farmhouse.

And I'm certain, I had completely forgotten what it was like to have a kitten in the house. 

They're cute, that's obvious, and they're oh so small! At one point, during our first twenty four hours together, I held her up in front of the Artist and exclaimed, "Honey, I shrunk the cat!"  I'm slowly getting over her petite-ness and in the process I have discovered that Whiskers might perhaps be a little on the, shall we say, husky side? I think it may have happened a while ago, maybe while I was paddling along da'Nile River.

  They have more mischievousness in one tiny paw than two glimmer twins put together. 

Trust me on this one, that's a lot.

And they're amused by the most simplest of things. Cat toys are the easiest thing to devise...take a receipt, crumple it, and voila, you have hours and hours of entertainment,

followed by hours and hours of cat-napping.

And this little girl is so intrigued by everything we do. And I do mean everything. She sits and watches, seemingly absorbing every single detail. I fully expect you'll be reading her own blog posts this time next month. If I start talking about mice and the best kitty kibble on the market, it might not be me. Please send help.

She took to the camera like a goose protecting it's nest. (You can trust me on that one too.) She's all over it and boy can she work it. Her mission at the old farmhouse, should she accept it, is to be our protector of the peeps; to keep varmints at bay and ensure the coop is a safe and happy place. A coop keeper!

It looks promising, don't you think?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm linking up with Farm Friend Friday hosted by:

and

AND

The Homestead Revival Barn Hop!

~Be well friends!~

Harvest Picnic

This local lovin' girl has gone plum loco today about the latest news that hatched, just this morning.

Seems there is such a strong local movement in these parts that it's a cause for celebration.

Not far from the old farm house, like minds will be coming together to celebrate local food with, what else, local food! And there will be a plethora of dang good music to boot!

Local produce, local people in a local paradise.

I'm loca'lovin' it!



(and Ray too!...sigh...)

~Bee well friends!~







Petal Love

The Artist and I stopped in at our local farm market over the weekend and decided to start off our spring, the same way we do every year since moving here, by purchasing a flat of pansies, to bring some much needed colour to the old farmhouse property.

I think my favourite thing about spring is the reintroduction of colour into our world. The over indulgence of colour at Christmas time, for me always gives way, willingly I might add, to the crisp coolness of white, inside and hopefully out of doors as well. But after a few months, that crispness starts to seem more like starkness which, at the flick of a switch, seems to turn into brown. Everywhere.

For me, nothing cures the muddy brown blues than some spring flowers, especially at Easter. We received a lovely arrangement, put together beautifully by my step-mom, but the past weekend was more gray than not, and I just couldn't get a photo of them that made my heart pitter patter. But, I found this on my camera tonight and fell instantly in love. We planted a few of these pansies at the end of our driveway, hopefully providing a smile to the mail lady, the bus driver and to me, as I return from the city and pass through the maple 'gates' to arrive at home, sweet country home.

“And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.”

Shakespeare

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm linking up at Kim Klassen Cafe

This week's challenge is to use Kim's Serendipity Texture,
which you can receive for free by signing up to her texture lovin' list.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I don't have a pansy related movie to recommend, do you?

I will tell you; we watched two movies over the weekend, one was an oldie but a goody, and the other one, in my opinion, stunk. The only positive aspect, was that it was a free rental from the library. One was Salt, and the other was When Harry Met Sally. I don't think I need to tell you which one is the goody but let's just say, I never tire of catching glimpses of Sally Albright's apartment. Did you watch any good movies over the weekend?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm choosing this photo as my Sunday Best Submission

Please be sure to drop by and see all the wonderful submissions!

~Happy Flower Petal trails to you my friends!~

Growth and Harvest

We're winding up a four day weekend around the old farmhouse and although we did pause to remember the meaning behind the holiday, our main objective was for this to be a working weekend. It wasn't all work though, we were playfully distracted, as well. So much so, that I had no opportunity for creating any barn posterity with my trusty sidekick, Nikon.

While this isn't the photograph of a barn, it is a photograph of a painting of a barn, by the Artist, of course. And while the original gets to hang in someone else's home, I told the Artist, this copy should be hanging in ours because this barn is exactly what we picture at the back of our little homestead someday, ready and waiting for animals. And that field, well, it reminds me of our garden, raked and hoed over the weekend; the garlic is coming along nicely, and lettuces and Swiss chard have been planted.

All is ready for another season of growth and harvest, in the garden, around the homestead, and in our hearts. Here's to a season of growth and harvest for all you.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm linking up to

at Bluff Area Daily.

and

The Homestead Barn Hop

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

To see past posts featuring work of the Artist,

you can go here, here or here.

~Be well friends!~

Room for Two

After being dropped off by the school bus today, someone quickly came to realize he forgot to pack his key this morning. And while I wish it would have fazed him, just a little, so perhaps it wouldn't happen again, he made do with the best of a rather unideal situation. I was relieved to not only see some life skills put to use, but I was also delighted to learn that our border patrol guard aspires to be the next Nana. Only instead of the Darling children, her charges are the Glimmer Twins. Not a bad gig, if you can get it.

So what was the solution?  Well, it seems Callie invited the male twin in for milk and cookies and then they relaxed on the front porch of her manger and shared the highlights of their day with each other. 

~Be well friends~

Sweet Land

Pussy Willows

Author Unknown

There are willow pussies
Clad in furry goods,
And a robin singing
In the maple woods.
There's a springing crocus,
And a budding larch,
Who'd ever think the Springtime
Came along in March.

 ~~~~~~~

Apparently Mr Author Unknown hasn't ventured to my neck of the woods in April. This April.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 
This week's challenge is to use Kim's Silence and Sweet treat textures.

I had fun putting both textures to use, as I sat by the fire tonight, again. And this continual harsh weather reminds of the harsh life witnessed in the movie, Sweet Land. It's the story of a mail order bride who struggles with being German in post WW1 America. A sweet and tender love story and a glimpse into what it meant to be a farm wife at the turn of the last century. And that, my friends, is a good way to keep the woes of our modern farm lives in perspective.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I've chosen this photo as my Sunday Best 

at A Rural Journal.
Please visit!

 

~Be well friends~

Barn Charm #3 Part 2

Last week's Barn Charm post generated more than a few responses about how fun it was to see inside the barn I featured. And after a week of mulling that one over in my head, I thought it best to share more photos of this charmer because she's going soon and she deserves every last bit of recognition she can get. And anything mulling around in my head for a week, needs to get out. Pronto.

It was pure luck and good timing that I managed to get in and take a gander inside, that and enough floor boards still in place! And why after such a long winter there was hay still inside almost seems far fetched. But I kid you not, nothing was staged here. I was too preoccupied watching each and every step.

And of course, I can't leave you without showing you the farmhouse itself. They belong together. I realized that after last week. 

And a little story from my aunt about the new house belonging to the former head of this farmhouse. She chose a new home with a more modern design, in keeping with the new subdivision I suppose, but inside,  she made a lot of changes to keep the rooms small and what's the term? Cut up? That's what we call it around here, but you could also call it cozy. It seems you can take the farm girl out of the farmhouse but you can't take the farmhouse out of the girl. Amen.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;

I'm joining up with the Barn Charm Monday.

~Be well friends~

Publish Post

Sunday Afternoons

My favourite day of the week, bar none, is Saturday. There's something about having a bit of extra sleep on Saturday mornings and knowing that I don't have to be up early the next day come Saturday night, that makes it the perfect day, no matter what happens in between. 

Sundays are more hit and miss. There are days when I'll go out to the garden in the morning, and come in for lunch only to discover it's 3 in the afternoon. The hours just slip by far too quickly. Some days however, there seems to be enough time to accomplish what didn't get finished on Saturday, sort of like today. 

We had a hodgepodge of weather today; there was the occasional brightening of sunshine but for most of the day it looked more like this, and worse...those trees were bent right over at times.

So to compensate, indoors there were was some of this happening...

And when the trees look like they might snap on a whim, there's not much else to do but start baking. It not only warms the house up, but Glimmer twin tummies too. It started with a beer cheddar loaf. Which was inconsiderately devoured before the thought of a photo had time to hatch. And from there one loaf quickly snowballed into two loaves of banana bread.

And then I looked around for something else to do, like blogging, but the Artist was cleaning the office, so I retreated back to the kitchen and decided to make a little treat for our border patrol guard. All natural goodness with only four ingredients; our quality control expert gave it two paws up.

But they were finished rather quickly and it was still forty-five minutes until dinner and the Artist was still cleaning, so I pulled out a sweet little cookbook that had belonged to my Grandma. Inside the front cover, she had marked down a few recipes with their page number, including an oatmeal cookie recipe.

And it looked so darn easy and so quick that I whipped up a batch of oatmeal cookies which literally took 10 minutes to throw together and are delicious as all get out, making them my new go to, cookie in a jiffy, recipe.

And now that we all know how many calories I need to burn off this week, 

how was your weekend?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I'm linking up with the Homestead Barn Hop!

~Be well friends~

Father Goose

The Artist and I went out for a short walk tonight. And by short, I mean to say, shorter than last night. My feet had not recovered from last night. In fact, they revolted all day but I went for a walk again anyways. The sun was shining and I like getting my Vitamin D the old fashioned way.

During the final leg of our walk, we passed a pond where we had noticed, during our first spring in the country, a pair of geese nesting. Each night on our way home, I would slow down while the twins and I peered out the car window to see if Mother Goose was on her nest. We always love to watch them as they nest, with the hopes of catching a glimpse of newborn goslings and the little bit of city girl left in me still secretly hopes a pair will nest on our pond but the chances of that happening diminish each year. Thanks to the Artist and his pond patrol tactics. Although as a follow up to the goose post two years ago, his hopes for a dog to assist him his endeavours were abruptly shattered today. He came home at lunch to discover Callie in the pond with four geese. She's filthy, she stinks to high heaven and she fraternizes with the 'enemy'. Her momma is proud!

So as we passed by that spot tonight, I went back to see if there was a nest and sure enough this lovely lady was on duty. She didn't flinch as I drew nearer. I just wanted to take her portrait but at the last minute she jumped in the water. Her mission was to distract me and that's what she did. I took oodles of pictures of her swimming gracefully, as the Artist laughed because she was leading me away from her nest. What a good Momma!

However, she also, purposefully, I'm sure, led me straight into the path of Poppa Goose. I heard a large swooping noise and a small splash as he landed in the water.

But what he did next caught me completely off guard. He hissed at me! Loud, threatening hisses and he kept coming towards me. The Artist explained later, that the goose was trying to say, 'Eat me, not the eggs', but all he really did was scare the dickens out of me.

He sounded like a snake hissing intently at me and he reared his head just like a snake. And I'm sure that my Stalker aka Mom,  finds this all very funny; I, however, do not. I do not like snakes, I can not look at a picture of a snake. End of story. Good thing there aren't any snakes in the country. If you say it, it's true. Right?

So what did I do as this hissing goose jumped up on the bank and kept walking towards me? 

I ran the other way as fast as I could, stopping and turning for one last pic of him and the egg in the nest, there to the left. And then Momma came back and they both started honking at me so loudly, I felt like I had just tripped someones car alarm. So let that be a lesson to you. My apologies Momma and Poppa Goose, I did not mean to disrupt your evening. I promise to keep my distance in the future. Next time, I'll just bring my binoculars.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm linking up with 

Verde Farm

and 

Dandelion House

for
Farm Friend Friday.

~Happy Friday Friends!~