birthday boys

Happy 2nd Birthday, Acer and Betula!

Hard to believe it was two years ago today.

Two years since your Mama looked at the calendar and said,

"Well, it's pretty cold, and it's really windy.

But it's the 150th day, and the sun is shining, so...Tick-tock!"

Two years since I knelt on the ground,

cutting my fleecy scarf into custom-fit Goat Coats,

hastily stitching them up with scrap yarn and my kitchener needle.

Born To Dance

Acer

aka The Maple Man.

aka The Gentleman Goat.

Betula.

aka The Birch Boy.

aka You Betcha!

And today...

Hard to remember a time when these handsome boyos weren't part of the herd.

~~~~~

overthinking, underdeciding

Dear Readers:
I've been trying to work something out for a couple of weeks.
I've avoided writing about it because it may be very dull reading.
But I can't seem to write about anything else, so here goes!

Your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome.

~~~

I may be taking a little trip.

Flashback: For most of my life I have loved my rare opportunities to travel, always on a shoestring (think "hostel" rather than "hotel") and usually wearing a heavy backpack half-full of cameras. I was never good at "vacationing" but I was always up for a project...a portfolio of habitat images, research for an article, scientific field work, learning a new skill.

Now it's been four years since I've spent a single night away, which seems impossible even as I type the words. It's been five years since I've been on a plane! That was when a work trip took me to a committee meeting in Yosemite. And when the work was over, I added a few days to the journey and spent them alone in Sequoia.

It was a precious, revitalizing time.

I hadn't realized that I needed revitalization.

But I really, truly did.

~~~

Now, then.

Some time ago, I mentioned to my Physical Therapist that I had stopped going to the theatre. In previous years, I had perfected my Summer Shakespeare System: in the morning, drive two hours to Lenox, get a motel room, do a lot of stretching. See a matinee performance of one play. Take a walk, have a bite to eat, keep moving. See the evening performance of a second play. (Ask the person in the next seat who stole my little inflatable back cushion during Intermission to kindly give it back! Too funny.) Spend the night in the motel, with long soaks in a very hot tub. Next day, catch a matinee of whichever play is on (seeing one of the plays twice - what a luxury!), then drive two hours home, with one long stop midway to stretch and walk about. I could expect several pretty grim days after one of these jaunts, but it was worth it.

Apart from the physical issues, the experience was perfect.

Shakespeare is the Sequoia of theatre for me.

My Physical Therapist was sad that theatre had become Another Thing no longer on my agenda. She told me that the dry climate of Arizona often brings great relief to people with joint issues, and perhaps I might want to consider returning to the Southwest?

Flashback: Back in the Jurassic period of my life, I spent a lot of time in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. I enjoyed visiting the desert, but I loved the mountains of Colorado. In fact, I was just wandering through Colorado and I stayed 7 years.

My PT's recommendations always carry weight, and I thought long and hard about testing the idea. So last year around this time - after the risk of frozen water pipes and before kidding season - I tried to find a critter-sitter. No luck. Soon it was a moot point, as kidding season began. Then gardening season. Then it was suddenly Autumn, and I found someone! Pat came and met my crew, and had a very nice way with the animals.

But she wasn't interested in minding anyone else's animals in the Winter. 

"Why, Pat?"  LOL.

Fair enough. I'll wait.

Four months later, although there is still plenty of snow and the ice is thick on every hazardous pathway, the end of this challenging Winter is in sight. Once again, there is a narrow window of possible travel time, and now I have someone I can trust to look after the animals. The timeframe is bookended by Pat's availability (beginning April 12) and my need to be back for kidding prep and seed-starting (early May).

So...

this is the long-awaited Big Chance!

And yet...

I am stuck, my friends!

I am so wide open to the idea of travel after this long hiatus,

the range of options that pop into my mind is dizzying!

This dizziness is counterbalanced

by limitations which I do my very best to ignore in daily life

but which I would be a fool to ignore in the planning stage of a journey.

Unfortunately, I am a fool.

Maybe writing about my repetitious train of thought will lead to a good decision?

Maybe you can help?

My Train of Thought visits three stations:

First Stop: I ponder how to best get from Point A to Point Elsewhere, when being in one position for any length of time is so difficult. Rent a car, so I can stop as often as needed to either walk around or stretch out in the back? Look for short or non-stop flights? Trains? Take some sort of "tour" such that I am not responsible for any aspect of transportation, and can spend time in a zero-gravity position whenever I choose? And about the time I realize I've just spent four hours online researching travel by boat and imagining the thrill of watching unknown riverbanks drift past my eyes from the welcome relief of a deck chaise, it occurs to me that a journey of any kind may be totally unrealistic... Woo-ooo-ooooooh! All Aboard! The train is leaving this station!

Second stop: no journey at all? But how could I waste this rare opportunity to leave the animals in good hands and refresh my soul with travel? The easiest thing would be to just get the first cheap flight to anywhere, and GO. Wheee! I know how to do this! Let's see...I've long imagined spending time in the southern Appalachian region. Or wouldn't it be fantastic to head for the Sierra Nevada again, because it already feels like a place where I could take root? But if I'm going 3,000 miles, why not just get a non-stop across the sea while the airfares are "low"? I've never been to England or Scotland...how can that even be possible? Must go there - this may be my last chance! Or to the green, green Azores! Spain, Italy...or maybe revisit France? Or Portugal? Or... Quick, back on the train!

Third stop:  WHOA! The original point of this operation was not to run off on holiday, it was to experiment with the effect of a different climate on my baseline pain issues. Won't I be wasting that chance unless I go somewhere with a moderate, dry climate, and lots of trees? An area I might potentially be able to relocate to, in order to improve my quality of life? Which brings my mind back to thinking about pain, and...wait a second, doesn't that station look familiar? Oh! It's where we got on! This train is on a loop! Chug-a-chugga-chug-a-chugga....

~~~

You see what's been going on in my little squirrel-brain lately.

Overthinking.

Underdeciding.

It's the bane of the squirrel mind.

"Shall I go forward? Backward?
I seem to be stuck on this fence,
but it's not very comfortable here!"

Any thoughts?

Suggestions?

Destination recommendations?

Oh, and if anyone has personal insight on the "dry climate = reduced joint pain" scenario, I would very much appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks so much.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

~~~~~

commenter appreciation day

One of the best things about blogging

is sharing information.

Blogger and commenter:

it's like a two-way street.

Or maybe it's like leaning out the window

and calling to a friend across the way 

who is also leaning out the window.

I am so grateful to every reader

who leaves advice or shares an experience

in the comments.

I hereby declare a 

Commenter Appreciation Day

with special thanks to Boud, who sent me

straight out to buy a bag of grapes, because:

"frozen seedless grapes work exactly like candy"

And special thanks also to Sandra,

who immediately seconded this excellent suggestion!

With such enthusiastic endorsement,

I knew I couldn't go wrong.

So I bought two bags of grapes.

~~~

I am now extending the supply of frozen apple slices

by alternating with frozen grapes.

Life is sweet!

It's cold, but it's very sweet.

~~~~~

weekend mishmash

Have you ever seen the magical moment when snow begins to fall? 

Perhaps you are gazing out at an open landscape, thinking about this or that. Your eye is caught by one tiny bit of something drifting down. And you think, "Is that ash? Is it snow?" Then another bit drifts down, then a dozen or a thousand, or countless millions more. And at that moment, even if you have seen plenty of snow for one season, you still feel huge relief that it is snow. Because that much ash would be a bit worrisome.

This morning I saw the snow begin. Then I checked the online weather report to see if a significant storm is predicted. I learned that the current conditions were "heavy rain" and "21 F," which made me laugh. Isn't there an inherent flaw in that combination?

~~~

Lately, a few things on my laptop screen have made me laugh. 

Here's one:

It may be the 15th century.

And those may be sheep, not goats.

Nevertheless, every detail of that scene is so familiar!

I love the expressions, and the authentic positions of the animals.

And of course, the determined youngster with something to say.

Maybe every herd has a Tsuga?

I hope so.

~~~

Now this is a sensible height for an oven!

If only I could find one of these, I wouldn't need a wall oven.

Not that I need one. Not at all. 

This weekend, I've been gathering recipes for oven-free breadmaking. (Doesn't "oven-free" sound nicer than "ovenless"? Liberating! No need to rush the oven replacement, no sirree!) I hope to become an expert a competent flatbread-maker in the weeks ahead.

But I'll tell you what: if you don't have a few hours to spare, you might want to avoid searching for recipes on the informative and inspirational rabbit-hole of Pinterest. One interesting image will lead a board (that link is to my Pinterest boards) then maybe you decide to click through to the original blog or YouTube video or website...and suddenly it's really, really time to get outside and unload the hay before nightfall, you lazypants!

~~~

Along the bread-lined way I've collected recipes for lots of other things. (Note: these links will take you to the site with the actual recipe, not to Pinterest.) Desserts from the days of WWII food rationing. Soups and stews from many countries and cultures. Crockpot chicken dishes to replace my standard (but totally unnecessary!) oven roasts.

  

As you might imagine, I always go for simple recipes, with few ingredients and a short list of instructions. Even so, an occasional recipe presents a challenge, like the one that calls for "one and a half eggs"... 

"Say what now?" 

...or the instruction to "line a large pot with a thin layer of vegetable broth."

~~~

Speaking of vegetables, my 2014 garden seeds are now in a bowl in the kitchen, where they make me smile several times each day. Every now and then, I move the bottom packet to the top. Today, a switch from broccoli, which I hope will be more successful than the 2013 cauliflower experiment:

...to a variety of kale which I hope will work in caldo verde. Because seriously: I have tried and tried and if I can't duplicate the remembered flavor with this kale, I suppose I will have to go back to Portugal and collect some seeds by the roadside.

Still plenty of time before planting, as you can see by the intrepid hens. At least the snow has melted down enough that they are happy to go outside again! This winter is the first time ever that the hens have chosen to remain indoors for even one day, let alone days on end. I'm so glad they are venturing out as usual now.

The tulips are becoming fragile, but are still so precious. 

I will probably be refreshing the water in the vase when the petals have dropped and all that's left is the green stems, and yellow stamens and pistils.

Because green and yellow are colors, and colors are not to be squandered these days.

~~~

I hope you are enjoying a colorful weekend! 

~~~~~