july colors

 

Just a few samples from the palette of July.

~~~~~

thursday retrospective

from the ground, up.

the moment snow became hail

raspberry (beret)

Sambucus

more Sambucus

forsythia (yellow bells)

red maple

Friday morning dawned cold (22F) and sunny. More snow predicted tonight and tomorrow. In other news, the crockpot is full of organic turkey stew and "move hay, fill woodbox" are at the top of today's Extra Chores list.

~~~~~

update

The wild ginger is beginning to unfold!

So.
It's been 10 days of internetting on a wing and a prayer...reading blogs and sometimes managing to leave a comment, but not blogging. Using twitter because it's short and fast, but rarely succeeding at posting even low-resolution images - which I don't much enjoy posting, anyway.

Raindrops on new columbine.
Nearly every photograph I've taken lately has been during, or just after. a rainstorm.
It's been...wet.

Short repair recap: after two visits - the second today - from a very nice Tech person, and five new parts, HP says I now must send the laptop in. The good news is, I'm still under warranty. The bad news is, I will now be internetting on my small, non-fancy cellphone, for who knows how long.

In the past week I’ve already begun to feel sort of isolated and with the prospect of sending the laptop to sleep-away camp, I can almost imagine myself drifting right out of the internet and vanishing.

I guess we’ll see!

The maples began flowering on Saturday!
Even in the rain, there is a reddish tinge to the canopy.

MEANWHILE...

I want to tell you about a fundraiser to get an MRI scanner on Shetland. I’ve been following this community effort for a while, and was especially impressed by a woman who went out and gathered seeds from native Shetland wildflowers to sell in little packets for the MRI fund. Unfortunately for me, she couldn’t send them to the US.
But what a great idea!

And now...a lovely woman has handknit a Fair Isle pullover and is selling it on eBay with all the money going to the MRI fund. If you’ve ever wanted a genuine Fair Isle sweater, here’s your chance to bid on a beauty. It’s got soft colors and is made of vintage Patons Moorland pure Shetland wool. Did I mention hand-knitted?

Please pass this info along if you can –  I'm not sure how much "reach" the knitter has, and it’s such a good cause. And it's such a generous gesture on the part of the knitter. I am in awe! Please share my awe!

Here is what I hope is a working link to the eBay page

I wish I could post a picture here. Even if you are not interested in acquiring a wooly sweater, it’s worth a click just to look at the pictures. Check out the view of the inside!

~~~

Well, I just dropped it to say hello, spend a couple of hours trying to upload photographs, and then go back out in the rain to move goats for the night. The photographs loaded slooooowly but they seem to be here - huzzah! Maybe I'll try to load some drawings and schedule them to post while my laptop is away. Like sending postcards. Just so you don't forget me :)

~~~~~

flowery friday

It began raining last night, and I woke to a damp and drizzly, raw and still-rainy world. But it wasn't very cold, and it wasn't at all windy, so I just waited for a break in the drizzle to go out and give the goats a hearty meal to keep their spirits up.

While waiting for the goats to eat, I took a few quick pictures of flowers. Yes, flowers!

Here is one of the bloodroot plants again. It decided to stay wrapped up and tucked in today, which is exactly how I felt when I woke up and saw the weather.

And here is forsythia - or yellow bells, which is what my blogfriend Tipper says they are called in Appalachia. I think of them that way now, too. Perfect name.

These daffodils got plastered, face-first, to the ground by the rain. They look quite comfortable indoors now, and are the brightest spot in the house.

And here are some of the first Vinca blossoms. Soon there will be a subtle carpet of vinca flowers. Less subtle if I get out there and rake the leaves off, and maybe I will, but it's not a priority task so no promises there.

Here's one more.

Do you recognize these?

They are red maple flowers.

There is a scattering of lovely pink and red all over the ground,

and it is even more apparent on a rainy day.

Yesterday - before the rain - I watched Tsuga and Fern carefully eating every maple flower that had fallen on a large rock. I've never seen the goats do that before. Always something new in Goat World!

~~~

Here's to the start of a great weekend for all.
What's happening in your neck of the woods?

~~~~~

a note from saturday morning

Yesterday was refreshingly sunny.

Bright blue skies!

Fluffy wisps of clouds sailing by!

They were sailing, of course, because it was windy. It was also very cold.

Piper insisted on coming out for the first session of morning chores, but expressed a wish (immediately granted) to return to her cozy bed long before those chores were finished.

 "Okay, I see you have an adequate handle on the chores.

You can take it from here. I'll be in my office."

Meanwhile, at the sliding glass door on the porch, Moxie and Della have front-row seats for Squirrel Theatre. Performances scheduled daily, under the birdfeeders.

Della: "Athletic but incoherent performance."

Moxie: "I liked him much better as Hamlet."

More snow is predicted this weekend. And Monday.

Also: Wednesday and Thursday.

This morning, the sky is dense and grey again.

So...

let's have another look at yesterday's sky, shall we?

Red oak, white pine, American beech.

Quercus rubra, Pinus strobus, Fagus grandifolia.

A dear and familiar skyscape.

Sugar maple and white birch.

Acer saccharum and Betula papyrifera.

When I want a lesson in survival,

I look to trees.

I hope your Saturday is beautiful.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~

fresh greens

Fresh greens, and lots of them!

I've been going out in the early morning, after chores, to photograph the greens.

Don't you love watching the new growth on trees?
The buds and flowers and foliage?

The initial fragility of the leaves and needles that will be relied upon to support the tree never fails to amaze me.

Every year, it amazes me.

Here in New England, there are shapes, colors and textures that appear for only a very short time each year - weeks, or even days.

Would you like to see some?

I winnowed down from about 80 images, because you may have other things to do besides looking at pictures of leaves.
And needles.

But do you have time for just seven?

White Birch (Betula papyrifera)

Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea)

North American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)

White Ash (Fraxinus americana)

 Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

Black birch (Betula nigra)

 Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

~~~

Ahhhhhh.  Isn't that a breath of cool morning air, after chores?
~~~

Coming soon: 
goat updates (and names to be chosen!)
a handy (yet unlikely) kitchen tip
and a special yarny giveaway!

~~~~~