It has been so long! I have truly missed every aspect of working on my blog, not the least of them is connecting with friends and family who check out my blog from time to time. For the moment, life is crazy, interesting, overwhelming, and finally beginning to feel comfortable as well. Our new house is beginning to feel like home and we are exhaling contentment.
Sometimes committing words to a post can be daunting, especially for someone who writes like I do: unfiltered and in desperate need of no less than four edits. I'm going to try to just share photos, with or without words, in an effort to share what we've been up to.
These photos were all taken in July after we'd first moved in. Ah, the glorious summer months. Who doesn't miss them when the year is approaching its coldest, most sterile stretch, otherwise known as February?
That, above, is our barn. It's probably my favorite place to be in the whole world, except for the beach. First, the beach, then second, the barn.
Also, we live in the country (see above) and the internet is not as speedy as I'm used to. We moved in with the premise of "high-speed internet" which turned out to be 3mbps. In case you didn't realize, your smartphone receives data at approximately that rate. At 3mbps, it is a test of endurance to upload these photos!
That, above, is my darling son riding Rocky. My daughter trails behind with Thea, our Great Pyrenees puppy who is now deceased. (It's a theme for this year that I'll explain some day; still too soon.) That is not me guiding the horse; that is our neighbor. In exchange for letting her horses board here, she offered to give my children riding lessons. She is also one of the youngest of the 12 children that previously lived in our home. As you can imagine, I go to her with many questions. For example, "Is anyone recently missing a retainer? We assume the one we found is too old to be remembered and may we throw it away?"
One of my favorite discoveries after moving here is that most early mornings from mid-summer through fall begin with a cloud clinging to the ground. The stillness that this mist surrounds you with is illusive and fragile but also magical somehow. When you wake up in a blanket of cloud, the world is literally quieter and appears farther away.
This is the front of the house and our long driveway out to the road. (That electric box! It's outrageously expensive to move but it has got to go.)
The photo above is sweet Thea trying to love on the cat, Butterscotch. We brought four kittens to our barn. Only one survived. (This sounds like a really great reality show in the making??) Butterscotch is the result of begging and pleading for more than half of my daughter's eight years of life. And that cat can do no wrong, thank you very much. She is a terribly clever mouser which I will tell you about later.
And finally, the moment you've been waiting for...the alpacas! In July, I had three alpacas and two sheep. Those numbers have changed. The current tally is 2 alpacas, 3 llamas, 4 sheep, 3 dwarf Nigerian goats, 3 turkeys, 3 dogs, 1 cat, 11 guineas, and 30+ chickens.
Above is what your pasture should not look like. We didn't realize that the shrub growing was ragweed and that animals don't eat it. So it continued to grow while the grass slowly died out. Chalk that one up to "things we didn't know #farmlife". Incidentally, I will be starting an Instagram feed mostly labeled "#farmlife".
One last thing: our "farm" needs a name. (I don't prefer the description of "farm" because it denotes income. Instead, grange? Estate? Homestead? Acreage?) Do you remember how James Bond's childhood home is named "Skyfall?" I love that name seeing as how the sky literally falls on us much of the year. But since it's the name of a James Bond movie, it's off the table. I love how old, superstitious, distinct it sounds. I love that it's image-laden but still simple. Would you help me think of a name for here? "Misted Oaks"? (sounds like a Fairy book) "Green Glen"? (sounds like a guy who's into recycling) My husband wants to name it "Alpacalypse Acres" but I'm not into incorporating a joke into the name. "Marled Meadows"? "Meadow Rise"? Argh! They're getting worse! Somebody needs to help me before it ends up "Sweet Valley Farm" or something equally ridiculous.
Next post I'll put up photos of our fishing adventures from summer in our own backyard.
