another week

I've been waiting for a positive moment for a Moxie update, and I think I'd better take this one: breakfast this morning. With plenty of time, and quiet coaxing (she is a Cat, and none of your upbeat, dog-encouragement tactics are of any use here) plus a timely mid-meal addition of meat from a jar of baby food, Moxie ate more than half her pre-illness amount of breakfast. This is the most she has eaten at one time in more than two weeks, so huzzah for that! I've learned not to see this as a turning point, though, because this illness doesn't seem to work that way; there has been no clear progression of improvement. With the odd and fluctuating symptoms, I begin to wonder if it might be Lyme disease or some such ailment. I hope not. In fact, I've been afraid to even think it.

When I saw Della and Moxie napping together the other day, I hoped it meant we were getting back to normal. But Moxie soon went back to sleeping inside the carrier or on top of the tower, by herself.

Looking back at the past week (this began very suddenly, three long weeks ago), Moxie is doing better: to some extent, in some ways, most of the time.

I am grateful for that, and am trying to keep some perspective - things could be so much worse. But beneath the genuine gratitude and optimism, it is breaking my heart that a one-year-old kitty is feeling anything other than fit and fine and full of beans.

Thanks so much for all your comments, which are very much appreciated. And thanks to those of you who contacted me to ask how Moxie is doing. Sorry I've been out of touch, but I really was waiting for a positive moment to hang a blog-post on.

Not sure I've made this a very positive post though, have I?

Rats!

Would you like to have just photographs in the coming week?

I can do that!

Here's one to start:

The hyssop is humming with bees these days, any time it isn't raining.

It's so nice to have something normal happening in the waterlogged gardens of this rainy, rainy year!

~~~~~

sunday snapshot

~~~~~

bit by bit

hyssop and goutweed

Each day I try to do a little bit - and sometimes it is a really little bit, like two minutes - of work in one of the gardens. Mostly clearing away leaf litter very carefully, to release whatever is growing beneath or through it. Also, removing goutweed, rubus, bittersweet, and more goutweed. It is so exciting to see some of the perennials I introduced in the past few years coming back to join the hardy natives that have been here longer than I have! Not all the additions survive, I'm sorry to say. But this year I am noticing multiple shoots of perennials that were planted two years ago but which struggled last year. Maybe the toughest thing for a transplant is getting through that first complete cycle? What do you think? Opinions welcome!

bee on hyssop, summer 2016

Already there is so much hyssop coming up - far more than last year - that I have given several young plants away. The bee balm is sprouting as well, but more slowly. Fingers crossed both colors - the red and the magenta/pink - come back, as they complemented each other so well. I'm hoping for another big year for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, as last summer it certainly made the daily round of chores more fun.

Some readers may remember when I moved a section of fence behind the goat barn back in 2015, to widen the pathway to the other paddocks and just give the goats a tiny bit more room. (By the way, that link might be worth a click, just to see Tansy and Fern as babies and Tsuga as a lovely young mum.) I rescued a few lilies of the valley from the new browse area before the goats could trample them, and moved them to the edge of a perennial bed near the porch. I love lilies of the valley, and treasure the small number that bloom in one spot on the north side of my house each year.

Last year a few transplants appeared, looking quite frail. But this year - the second year since the transplant - some are preparing to bloom! I hope this means they will continue to grow and thrive in their new spot.

I hope you are getting enough green in your world-view.

~~~~~

this week

I've been making soup and apple crisp.

Over and over.

Apple crisp is simple to make. And delicious.
I don't even tinker with the recipe except to sometimes include cranberries.

But the soup is freeform, and never the same from one kettle to the next.

I don't think I could duplicate a batch if I tried.

Sometimes I wish I could. The last batch was so good I started rationing it to make it last a bit longer.
~~~

Recent days have been cold, dark, raw...and occasionally sunny.

Sunny enough to melt some of the snow suspended above the ground, not insulated by the collective coldness of accumulated snowfalls and the thick ice layer covering the frozen ground.

You can see the snow melting into icy gems on this hyssop:

Still dazzling, long after the flowers and bees and butterflies of Summer have gone.

~~~

After rainy, snowy, gloomy days, I love to see the herd out in the sunshine.

The lateral light makes each goat glow around the edges.

This is Tsuga's daughter, Fern:

Fern, I am sorry to say, is a stubborn little imp.
But look at that face.

Butter wouldn't melt.

~~~

Are you resettled in Time after the holidays?

This week I spent all day Sunday thinking it was Monday,

then all day Monday thinking it was Sunday.

On Tuesday, I just stopped thinking about it.
Onward!

Winter sunrise after a mid-night snow, view to the West

~~~~~

sunrise

This little bottle, in a south-facing window at the foot of my bed,

catches a few minutes of sunrise in one of it's beveled edges.

 Time to get up and out.

The days are short and there is always much to do.

But sometimes during morning chores,

I take a few pictures to share with you.

~~~

I hope your week is off to a good start

and your chores are going well.

~~~~~

almost wordless thursday

After a long, cold Spring, we are suddenly having August.

The past few days have been extremely hot and muggy.

Tansy

Today was, of necessity, a long day of outdoor projects. My hired helper came for four hours this afternoon, and I started two hours before he arrived. I'm happy - and a little surprised - that I stayed awake long enough to do the evening chores at the regular time.

Trout Lily

Before I call it a night, I just want to share a few recent snaps.

Very green, most of them.

Comfrey

And one, orange :)

A tiny Eft

It's exciting to see perennials I planted last year, returning.

Hyssop

And it's always a special joy to see beloved native plants again.

Columbine

Violets and Columbine

Some of the most interesting plants appear in the Spring.

Jack in the Pulpit

And now, goodnight, dear readers.

I hope the weather is pleasant where you are!

~~~~~