Category: Nature

Spring Cottage Gardens and Wild Woods Blooms

Having come off a mild Winter, I had assumed incorrectly we’d have a mild Spring.  It’s been a cold wet one here in New England and today only underscores the statement with more rain in the forecast.   In between the raindrops I’ve been visiting the cottage for things like tiny garden cleanup and beginning the restock of the refrigerator and cupboard.   The  140 “island” cottages have many little gardens, not so much groomed as a bit random.  Depending on water from little wells on a rocky outcropping of land jutting out into the salt water of Long Island Sound into the Atlantic, a peninsula not-really-an-island,  water must be conserved so as not to use it up.  Hence, big gardens are discouraged.  Most of these cottages are seasonal and aren’t  inhabited by their owners or renters until the summer season has arrived.  For that reason I have been pleasantly surprised by all the spring blooming tulips, daffodils and forsythia planted across the community.  On a grey day it’s a cheery sight…

In our Stella’s little waterfront garden, the Parsley from last summer is still growing in abundance.  I have literally been pulling parsley from it all winter long , see it in the right hand bottom corner?- who woulda believed it.

The little cottages each have their own personality, no two are the same.  I have had the opportunity to see the insides of at least 10 of them now and each has it’s own unique charm,  I love seeing what people do with their spaces.   Below are a few photos from a neighbor…  Love the fireplace and the checked floor!

Yesterday I took the dogs for a walk down the trail behind the farm, and found wild spring blooms in abundance….

Swamp Marigold…

Trout Lily…

and wild violet? Pansy?…..

The goat girls, Bella and Star – have captured all of our hearts, even the Mr. They are so very friendly, call to us as we approach their pen and cry for us when we leave it.  They lay in our laps, enjoy head scratches and are discovering the mini horses Coady and Lacey are their  neighbor buddies.

We’ve loved having our show horse, Leah, home…. and she’s loved being a real horse again without all the constraints of show horse life.  The show season has been postponed yet another month or two, which I think is very wise – and I am so glad we brought her home.  Not just for the financial reasons, but for all of our well being.

I’ve started another painting, a tiny oil on canvas depiction of  Cruz Bay in St. John – lots more to fill in…I’ll share  it again when it’s done…   I am finding much more joy in painting as an older person than I did when I was young.  The reason is simple –  I am … a simple artist.  I will never have the patience to draw out and execute a spectacular painting, like those you see from the truly gifted, truly patient, truly educated greats –  That used to disappoint me, but it no longer does.  I paint for enjoyment, for stress relief.  My simple method pleases me in the ways it needs to, and if someone else likes looking at it too, icing on the cake!  but not the main goal.  If you’re so inclined to create art in whatever form, don’t ever be discouraged by what you might believe is – not good enough –  There’s no such thing with an expression of art.  Just do it, and enjoy the process.    There are some benefits to aging – and that’s been one of them for me.

During these strange social distancing times, have you picked up something you put down long ago? I’ve been  painting, cleaning, cooking, baking, eating, cursing all the eating, wash, rinse, repeat.   We are all well and I still have a job, thankfully – and have been working in my home office, thankful for that too.  I hope you are all finding ways to enjoy this down time, also hoping you are staying well and have not come across too much financial hardship, sadly that’s the case for many workers and businesses.

Closing this post with a little COVID-19 humor, because we have to find ways to laugh, amIRight?

Till soon, friends…

This neck o’the woods

I could write all day about the current list of atrocities and tragedies in the news, but let’s heed the advice we’ve been giving each other here on this blog and focus on the good things in our lives, shall we?    I want to thank each of you who stop by to read my musings and join the conversations, it’s encouraging to hear from like minded people, truly. #MakeAmericaKindAgain  #MakeAmericaSaneAgain    either would do.

It’s maple sugaring season here in the Northeast, but you wouldn’t know it by the current weather trends.   We’ve had very little snow so far, the trees are tapped on our farm with a little flow, but the temps have not been cold enough overnight to get the sap flowing when the heat rises during the day.  We don’t have a sugar shack here on our farm, so we take ours to the community farm Sugar Shack in our town, where volunteers process it, bottle it and sell it to continue to support the farm.   You might wonder why pure maple syrup is so expensive compared to the fake stuff like Aunt J*mima, and the answer is there is so much work that goes into it, and so much tree sap is needed  – 40 gallons of clear tree sap boils down to one gallon of actual syrup.

Have you tried Maple Water?  I have found it in a few of the grocery stores in this area, but not all.  I absolutely love it – light, refreshing, with just a hint of maple – it’s the pure maple water(sap) that comes out of the tree, is flash pastuerized and sold in stores.  YUM! And it’s hydrating, it’s actually good for you!  I’m not getting any compensation for saying it – treat yourself to a bottle if you find it in your local stores.  Canadian runners have been using it to refuel for some time.

In my better health/better weight quest I have lost a few pounds and have gained some muscle, I’m not perfect with the food intake but I’ve made some headway.  My clothes are starting to feel better on me and that is a good beginning.   I continue to walk/hike/jog with the dogs, light weight training and all of this helps greatly with the Fibromyalgia I’ve been dealing with for the past five-six years give or take.  If you suffer from the same, in my experience, keep moving – that’s the best line of defense.  And.. eat much less sugar and dairy, much less processed foods.

 

L-R – My Sally and Frasier, K’s Gizmo on the right. Now that we live nextdoor to each other, we often take the dogs on walks together.  It motivates us both to get out there and keep moving.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

 – Henry David Thoreau

Our dear old  retired showhorse, Max, is now dealing with Glaucoma in one eye, thankfully not the painful variety.  He’s on four different meds to try to stave it off for a while and seems to be learning to live without vision on the left.  I’m glad we can give him the peace to deal with the handicap and he will not be shipped off to a kill pen like so many others, no longer useful.  Another reason to be so very grateful for what this old farm affords us.

Our son has begun the construct of his home just over the hill, the foundation is poured… and I am over the moon to have both kids so close by.  Over the years we will all benefit from this little patch of farmland not far from everything else, just the right mix of country and suburb.  He and his GF have worked hard to begin and build their careers and are very excited about the plans they’re making for their future together, it does my heart good.  🧡

That’s my mom in the red hoodie up there, the one who leaves awesome comments now and then and hates her picture to be taken but I do it anyway because – I GOTTA BE ME- .. and I love my mom.

One more update – I’m not happy about global warming so a mild winter is concerning, BUT… I do believe, because it’s been so mild… this batch of christmas trees might just actually survive.  Third time’s the charm?  Stay tuned…

I’ll close this post with something to ponder.  Why is it that men or the kids think they’re doing us a HUGE service when they lift a finger in the direction of  cleaning up after themselves  such as… oh, say… changing the toilet paper roll or washing the dinner dishes or flipping the load of laundry into the dryer or taking the trash out or putting the sneakers back in the closet instead of under the bench in the mudroom.  Aren’t they also the ones making the mess?  AmIright?  Just sayin –

Karen

 

 

 

 

Vitamin Sea

When I find myself running low on faith in humanity,  I’m often refueled while out observing nature.

He comes every day to feed his friends.    They are wary of others, but not him, it’s clear there is trust between them.    After I observed for a while, he motioned me into his circle, spoke softly and encouraged the birds to take a cracker from my hand, and eventually they did, trusting him next to me.

 

 

 

 

What matters

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner here at This Old House and I hope wherever you spent the day and with whom, you did too.  The food was delish, minus the Chocolate Cheesecake flop. King Arthur Flour recipe.. ….shoulda worked… .. but… something went wrong  and it was so heavy you wouldn’t want to have to hang onto it if you fell in the water somewhere unexpectedly.  That doesn’t really make sense, but you know what I mean.  It sucked.   Thankfully there were two  pies and cookies to fill the gap.

Empty plates at the end of a meal are always a good sign, although Frasier was scoping for scraps, hoping for something different.

In these pictures you’ll notice the “theme” is not Thankgiving at all.  Indeed, Christmas swooped in the day before, for no good reason other than a rainy day and a little impatience.  That would be mine.  Mom said… “but… Fall is such a pretty time of year..”    Indeed it is, and Fall has been living in This Old House since September.  It was time. At least the food reflected the proper holiday decorum, right?  🙂

Is this the weekend you begin your Christmas/Holiday Season?  We are officially Decked.  While at the tree farm up the road, we discovered the secret to starting young trees…. plant them very very close together in a big patch where they almost look like a carpet – and then transplant once they’ve grown some.  This gives them protection while they grow a little more hearty.  Ah Ha!  That’s why our first few attempts failed. Those poor babies were out on our windy hill all on their own, too far apart from each other to gather the necessary support.  What were we thinking. 

We got two smaller REAL trees this year instead of the big FAKE one.  I’m so done with fake news, ya know?   We’ve got one at the corner of the family room where we can also see it from the Mancave, and one in the kitchen/dining room area.  I love the heavenly scent of fresh pine.

Yesterday morning as I looked out over the fields from our kitchen window, I saw two bucks up on the hill, one a juvenile – father and son? Brothers?  Donner and Blitzen scouting for Santa, perhaps.   I managed a few blurry shots before they darted off…

… and was reminded again how  very grateful I am  for the opportunity to live here on this little farm, for as long as life will allow it.

Gizmo (my new grand dog) is also very grateful he has landed here with us.  Oh, how I love this little scruff.

  Till soon, friends…

 

 

Spot

My grandfather Al  used to feed the birds and squirrels in his tiny Staten Island backyard.  He would sit in a chair on his back porch and hold peanuts in his hand. The squirrels would come up to him slowly, carefully, and reach for the peanut in his fingers.  I would have loved to join in but at the time the squirrels weren’t sure of the eager child sitting across from him. It was enough to  sit quietly and watch his interactions.

Many people think of squirrels as a nuisance.  A rodent! (not that rodents are  really a bad thing and oh, I know some of you may be cringing, but they’re smarter than we think).  In my adult years I have not managed to feed the squirrels on our little farms by hand as my grandfather did, but they  do frequent the bird feeders.  Sometimes that has annoyed me because they can be piggy, but in the past few years a certain visitor has changed all that.

Spot has been here on this farm for a few years now, her unique marking on her forehead the giveaway.

What I’ve learned from observing Spot is.. squirrels have families. They have territories. They live for a while if they aren’t splat crossing the road.  That crazy zigzag behavior you might witness in front of your car or out in your yard does not mean they are stupid or “nuts”… it’s their natural defense mechanism for escaping prey.  So slow down your driving if it’s a safe option and let them get away.

Spot’s home base seems to be the ancient maple in our driveway across from the bird feeder at my kitchen window. For a few years now that’s where I see her most often, besides our feeder.  I know she’s a female because that’s rather obvious ( no balls) when she’s hanging upside down from the feeder.  That nob from an old branch is where she and a buddy or two often sun themselves, clean themselves, bring a morsel to nibble.

Squirrels frequently stretch before they move on – You can see her hanging by back feet in two of these pictures, extending her front paws out in a reach/stretch position.

I can watch her from my office desk too.. sometimes she ventures over to the split rail near the road, looking across, but I have yet to see her actually cross to the other side.

     So the next time you see a squirrel, don’t think of them as a nuisance… remember they have families and places they consider home, too. We humans have encroached on their habitat, they aren’t encroaching on ours.