Wednesday, October 3, 2012

September remembered....

Well Hellllooooo!  Greetings from over here.  Just didn't want you all to think I was abducted by aliens.  I'm still here... just haven't been RIGHT here.  So let's catch up a bit.
We went up to the Farm for a few days....
Lots of ripe tomatoes are about....
And my little buddy Kippy is a magnet for burrs! I didn't think there was anything that I didn't like about Autumn... I would like to retract that thought.  I REALLY don't like burdock plants. 
The prickly, sticky dasterdly things adhere to everything.
Take the picture above for instance.  Kippy normally has two ears... in this photo you see he has more of a ear pony tail sort of thing going on.  His ears and the delicate fine hair between them are welded into a point.
Not a good picture I realize, but you'll have to trust me. I wasn't concentrating on my photography at that moment.  The longer the burrs have to work in, the harder they are to get out.
There are two options for their removal..... pull the hair apart until you find the prickly little #(*$&#(&$ and then wrench it out bodily ~ or cut large chunks of fur off your pet. (or yourself?)Since I was short on scissors and he'd have been bald and earless, I went with the pulling, and yanking and swearing method of removal. It wasn't pretty. I didn't get any pictures of the tennis ball size clump of them on his back... the ones all over his legs or the handful that stuck his tail down to his back like velcro... bad, nasty velcro... And when I was done with the dog, I found they were all over my camera bag, my sneaker laces.... pant cuff, sleeves... you get the idea. It was not a good scene.
In fact the only nice thing I can say about burr is they have pretty flowers in summer.
Sorry, got carried away ~ let me continue about happy things.
I did make some wee little apple pies.  Which for those of us who are cooking challenged, that's quite an accomplishment...
This is Marley the kitchen helper dog. He lays just behind me... just in case. He's a great comfort in the event I drop any butter, he is ready in a moments notice to provide clean up services; I like to think it's because he doesn't want me to slip and fall.... and not because he's a butter stealer. 
Mmmm, baby pies....
Pretty skies....
Miss Belle ~ Don't you love her furry little golly wobbles under her chin?
Useless flaps of skin yes.... but cute none the less!
Cricket wondering why I always have a camera in his face...
Well that's why, because I want the world to see how cute he is when he falls over in tall grass!
Please note, that even laying down, he doesn't stop eating the grass, that's dedication!
Everybody is eating something it seems.... *munch*munch*munch....
Cosmos, just cuz its' so darn cheery!
Ferns in the afternoon light...
A little walk is fun for the whole family.
We'll visit again soon!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Poof* another weekend has disappeared?

Here I am again.... wondering where the weekend went?
Lets' see if we can figure it out together...
The green goody below was found a few weeks ago hanging on the screen I was using to dry my onions on.
I looked it up, and it's the Pupa for a Monarch Butterfly.
They are suppose to be hanging on milkweed plants, but I guess screening is nice too.
I don't know if you can see it, but it looks like gold thread around the top; and at the bottom are little gold dots... Mother Nature has SO many talents, it's hard to keep track of them all.
Below is Frosty Rabbit...  He is just the sweetest little guy, everyone who visits us wants to take him home.
The answers is NO, you can't have him. 
I got a big bag of little figurines from a friend who has been doing a lot of furniture moving and cleaning out lately... I love little trinkets like that, hours of entertainment!
Pete seems to have taken a liking to the underside of our our cabinet.
What are you doing under there?
He didn't say...
This is what I found when I went out side to feed everyone on Saturday morning!
A lovely butterfly, still sort of wet and wobbly.
It flew away a few hours later.....
I also thought it would be good to test drive a horse....
Cuz I'm just not thinking clearly these days.
His name is "No Trouble at All" and he wasn't ~ he was a great boy.
He was very patient with me, and I thanked him kindly for putting up with me!
The Hubby and Cricket pulling his new cart for the first time around OUR little neighborhood!
(He's only pulled it under his trainer's watchful eye before now...)
Those boys are so smart; how far they have come together!!! :)))
Any a lovely sky to end our Sunday night with....
One day, when I'm done fooling with horses and talking to butterflies; I"ll get back to my craftiness!


Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day 2012

Well, the good news is I did NOT labor today..... the day went nothing like what I'd planned ~ but I can use to live in the moment more often anyway. There are rewards to going with the flow....
We went off to meet our little Cricket's Grandparents...  They were charming, like all Grandparents.
This is Grandma....
The guy on the right who looks a lot like Cricket is his Uncle...
This is Grandpa....
A regal stallion in a diminutive frame....
And this is Trav, a Drum/Shire cross.
He's about 1700 pounds of joy......
And it doesn't happen often, or easily....
But I fell teenage girl in love with an AMAZING guy!
Sweet, gentle, falling asleep when you rub his face all around good fella...
*sigh*
I wanted so badly to settle onto his broad back and read a book while he plodded along the field grazing.... It's a dream of mine to have a big horse with the personality of a dog that I can sit on to read.
I also want to go riding on a snowy day....*double sigh* 
So there you have it.... I didn't accomplish a lot this weekend... but there's a lot of value in hugging a big giant horse face of a perfect September day.
I'll get back to my drawing and crafting soon....  but I had to share my day of horse play!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Where did August go????

Where have I gone off to? 
   I went for a bike ride with Kippy!
O.K.,.. so it wasn't a very long ride and he runs faster than I pedal, and I had to get off and push the bike up the hills because I'm a big sissy, and apparently have less then stellar leg muscles... Had I not spent so much time pushing the bike, I might have gotten back here sooner.
Are you buying the story?
Look, there I am, it must be true!
I have made some wee (as in tiny) attempts at creativity though...
This is my lovely new life size jug shrunken down a bit!
As  you can see by the bottle cap, I wasn't kidding about a little bit of crafting...
The flowers are blooming though, luckily they don't need much from me at this point.
Bees are dutifully doing their job....
Cricket the Wonder Pony has made great strides in his cart pulling lessons!
This is the cart above, that belongs to the "teacher" ~ but it's got really neat jingley things on the back!
Look at that! ~
We also went to the beach.
(We've been out cavorting around the country side on foot, bike and horse-cart...)
This area has a great story....
Nasketucket Bay State Reservation, in Mattapoisett, MA.
A developer bought the farm so to speak....
  It was farm, 209 acres; and a developer bought the land to put in a housing development.
  He got as far as cutting in a gravel road and then went broke? (lucky us.)
The State (of Massachusetts) bought the land and now it's walking/riding trails for everyone to enjoy!
It is an amazing mix of field, woods, and a mile of coast line!
I picture this is what all of the New England coast line used to look like before we humans got involved.
I am so glad that guy went broke, it would have been a shame to ruin such a beautiful spot forever.
Soggy doggy.  :))))
Miss Ava is at her happiest when she's swimming..
Hubby is good at handstands!
Though Ava and Marley are worried for his saftey.
My Mum kept turning this picture upside down, cracking herself up, making it look like he is falling out of the water feet first.... Go ahead, stand on your head, check it out!
Someone as set up a little fire ring and brought some chairs....
A lovely spot to sit and admire the view. (and the crazy handstand people...)
This is what "dog tired" looks like.
Kippy snoozing, wedged into the back of the couch...
Do you mind?
Can't a duck have any privacy while bathing?
Until we meet again (soon) in Blog Land.....
Happy End of August.
Signing off from the East Coast of the USA.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

We popped up North for a long weekend.... and while we didn't get a lot accomplished that will keep a certain little farm house from collapsing into its own cellar hole ~ we did have a little fun!  Since I seem to have misplaced my ability to relax, I gladly accept all offers to go for rides in the country, eat food that is bad for you, shop a bit, and well I'm a sucker for "horsey events"!
Are you ready?  ~ O.K. then, off we go.
Belle and I off on a little stroll, she was kind enough to refrain from smashing her head into me the whole walk!
I feel so honored.
Mmmmmmm, fresh raspberry leaves! Yummy!

Cricket has no problem relaxing.... I should take notes.

I did indulge in a little craftyness.

I finished coloring Cricket and his friends.

I've got my little helpers nearby....

Don't worry, Marley wasn't far away....

These actually photographed larger than life... little mice with only their Gesso coating on...
 Does that make them naked?? "Eeek, maybe you should look away??
Teeny and adorable little vases! (from the wee bit of shopping)

I also got this really neat jug!

They came from here!!
If you are ever in Thorndike, Maine ! You should stop in and browse around, it's an amazing mix of  Stuff of all sorts, and she also does Letter Press Printing on an antique press on the side!


We went to the first annual Horse and Ox Pull in Knox, ME
That's a hot dog for those of you who don't live in Maine and don't understand why it's flourescent pink. Well, we don't understand why they are pink either.... but for some reason when in Maine they are.
For the record, that's his lunch ~ hot dogs gross me out.   I had a grilled cheese and french fries!!
  No, not healthy, but as least I know what they are made of!

Huge, beautiful horses!

Such lovely gentle faces.

They are pulling about 5,000 pounds!

They need heavy equipment to pull the blocks back to the start for the next set of horses!!

They had ribbons to give to the ones who pulled the furthest...

Their horse shoes have "cleats" for traction!
His hoof is about the size of a dinner plate!

They are just enormous!

People look like little pip sqeaks next to them!

Look at that sky! I LOVE it!

Kippy has recently discovered he CAN swim!
Note how you keep your tail out of the water....

Indian Pipe that I found grow up by the pond... mysterious fungi.
That's it for the most recent adventure.... the sun is going down this Tuesday night.
We had another passing thunderstorm, so the garden has been watered...
Next it's on to the dinner getting.
*sigh.