this golden april day

This last day of April is bright with the deepest of yellows!

The little rivulet below is bordered by a scattering of Caltha palustris, known here as "marsh marigold" but actually a member of the buttercup family.  It is startlingly bright against the still-brown forest floor: 

Also blooming today: forsythia, or what I now happily think of as "yellow bells," thanks to my blog-friend Tipper of Blind Pig and The Acorn, a wonderful site devoted to all things Appalachia.

Although I am New England born and bred and have traveled through only parts of the lovely and vast Appalachian region of the eastern US, the comments and conversations on Blind Pig always make me feel like I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a group of neighbors.

As you can see, the maples behind the yellow bells have not leafed out yet.  But they are blooming...so it won't be long now!

~~~~~

Sanguinaria canadensis

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

To me, this wildflower truly marks a turning point.

Yes, we may get more snow.

Yes, I was still burning wood around the clock until two days ago.

(And I considered lighting a fire last night. And the night before.)

But in my mind, there is no turning back now.

As of Wednesday, when the first bloodroot appeared

like magic - as it always does -

it is Spring.

~~~~~

postcard from the paddock

Saturday, the kids began to actively seek each other out and really play together for the first time, instead of bouncing around madly and joyously, but independently.

And the past two afternoons were warm enough that I could turn the new mamas and babies out in the little paddock for the first time.

I brought a lawn chair and a camera.

Tag! You're it!
No, YOU'RE it!
No, YOU'RE IT!!!!
(repeat until naptime)

There was a lot of coming...

and a lot of going.

Do you know about the astounding transcendence over gravity that baby goats discover in their very first days?

Watching this is one of my favorite things about kidding season.

Heck, watching kids flying is probably one of everybody's favorite things about kidding season!

But this year, watching the first-time mamas out in the Big World with their darlings for the first time was a special treat for me.

So quiet.

So serene.

So...

Violet?

Violet???

Lily?????

~~~

Wow!  Having a wonderful time!  Wish you were here!

 ~~~~~

technical report

Well, this is embarrassing.

For a couple of weeks now, I've been vaguely surprised that so many of your blogs seemed to have gone quiet.

Coincidentally, during those two weeks I've been online maybe a half-hour per day.  And when I posted here on Comptonia, there were always a few of the most recent posts from you lovely bloggers in the sidebar.  So you see, I knew there were some posts, which I happily read.  But there were so few!  Also, it was odd the way many blogs I've been reading for years just dropped off the radar.  Very mysterious.

Well, maybe I've finally caught up on my sleep, because today it took me about 90 seconds to realize what had happened:

I changed one part of one habit.

Chaos.  It came.  

Flashback: a couple of weeks ago, I began to organize my (soon to be defunct) Google Reader page before transferring the blog list to another feed/reader.  But without actually choosing a replacement, all I did was create a bunch of new folders and move blogs around.  In short, I made a big mess.

Then I got distracted by life.  And forgot all about transferring, or further "organizing," or even looking at, my Google list.

This morning I needed to spend some time sitting quietly in the goat barn, monitoring the shifting power structure.  (It's true what they say, by the way: having kids does change everything.)  It seemed like a perfect time - because I am so organized and functional and techno-savvy and all - to switch to another reader.  So I plunked myself down in a lawn chair, blew two weeks of dust off my Google Reader page, and found just over a thousand new posts.

Blink.

So as time permitted today, I've been visiting blogs and catching up on missed posts.  But gosh I have a lot of good reading to look forward to in the next few days!
~~~
How are others handling the blog-feed switch?  (Better than me, maybe??)  Did any of you choose Feedly?  I hope this was a good choice, but am unsure if the relationship between everyone's blogs will change when Google Reader disappears.  A big part of the reason I chose Blogger in the first place was the fact that I was already so thoroughly set up in Google Reader, and several things seemed designed to work smoothly together.

I suppose time will tell.  And after all, my feed/reader needs are simple.  I just need to actually read the feed!
~~~~~

very little news

Two mamagoats 

(Both first-timers!)

Two babygoats

(One each! Both girls!)

~~~~~