wordy wednesday

I'm trying to pay attention to the small things.

The weather is a big thing.

I am trying to pay very little attention to the weather.

For example, I am trying to make good, healthy things to eat,

even when I don't feel like bothering.

Fresh organic eggs, rice, cheese, gently cooked in butter. Yum.

~~~

Fortunately, I have many daily reminders from the other critters.

Pay attention!

Here is food! Let's eat.

Here is a moment of sunshine!

Quick! Get inside the sunshine.

Then relax.

Enjoy.

The Black Jersey Giant and the Rhode Island Red.

~~~

Also: the treats these days are Really Good Treats.

Remember all those apple slices I put in the freezer in November?

Remember the Macintosh and Winesaps, carefully preserved

for experiments in winter baking?

(Remember "baking"? A moment of silence for my oven, please.)

Well, guess what!

It turns out, a little bowl of apple slices frozen in November

is just about the best snack you can imagine in March!

They even smell like fresh apples. Ahhhhhh!

~~~

And because I know (I do know) that soon the days will be chockablock full of seasonal tasks that Will Not Wait, I am taking this "opportunity" to do a lot of indoor tasks. 

Long overdue tasks, most of them. 

This strange view is the space behind the washer and dryer.
It is now the cleanest space in the house.
This little project took hours.
It seemed worth a commemorative photograph.
Just this once.

Cleaning, reorganizing, tossing, donating.

I've started putting a few things on eBay.

Things that I'd rather not donate, for one reason or another.

Long-held-onto things. Nice things. Useful things. Specific-interest things.

Including - at last - the first steps in dispersing my horse-related library.

(There's a discreet link to the shop on the sidebar, if anyone is interested.)

~~~

In barnyard news: 

the 2014 cashmere harvest is...

bizarre.

"Sure, comb me! Take your time! Until I run out of oats..."

I have no idea what the end result will be, but at the moment I have one goat who is 90% finished shedding, and three goats who have barely started dropping about 5% and who wish very much that I would stop bothering them with a daily check.

The others are hanging onto every fiber, with no indication that they ever intend to shed at all.

Which is okay.

But it's also weird.

And if they all let go of massive amounts of fiber simultaneously,

especially in wet weather, I could be in for a challenging time...

but that is not the kind of thing I am focusing on!

No.

Living in the moment, me!

Look, tulips!

~~~

And now it's evening, and chores are done.

Time for a beverage.

I've recently moved on from hot milk and rum.

This is ginger ale with a splash of Cosmopolitan.

A Gingerpolitan?

Very refreshing. Probably make a nice Summer beverage, but why wait?

At least, that's Acer's approach.

~~~~~

did you miss me?

This has been a very quiet winter for Ms. Piper.

And that's why she has not appeared on the blog for a while.

I've not been getting very interesting pictures.

A typical day might include:

Breakfast, chores, playing outside.

Sleeping.

Tricks and treats!

Sleeping.

Keeping a close eye on things outside the windows and 

Barking Quite Suddenly and Very Loudly!

Acting as if the barking Never Happened.

Sleeping.

Getting the mail on the Driveway of Ice! Wheee!

Sleeping.

Observing indoor activities.

Helping with the laundry.

Chores, playing outside.

Offering to carry one of the empty feed buckets.

Running into the snow and hiding the feed bucket where it will never be found.

Looking really innocent and cute about the feed bucket thing.

Supper.

Sleeping.

 More sleeping.

A pleasant enough way to spend a day, but quiet.

And missing the long walks and woodland runs of Spring, Summer and Autumn.

So today, when the thermometer registered 30F (!!!), we took a ride to the little pond. I managed to get the car into a tiny little pull-out, and swapped my spiked boots (which I needed to get from the house to the car) for my knee-high muck boots (because the snow is still knee-deep), and off we went.

The condition of the snow would have made for pretty good snowshoeing, but honestly, snowshoeing with Piper? It could only indicate a Death Wish.

"Come ON! ComeoncomeoncomeON!"

There was much running, sniffing, rolling, digging. 

There was leaping onto and off of snow banks.

There was leaping and cavorting around companions, as well. 

And eventually, long after I was exhausted, Piper started to look a wee bit tired.

I very slowly took off my mitten and reached deep into my pocket.

And we instantly went from this:

to this:

The miraculous rejuvenating power of the Most Excellent Favorite Treat!

I have yet to discover the treat that can work a similar miracle on my own energy level.

But I'll keep looking for it.

~~~~~

wordless wednesday

quick question

Dear Readers,

If you were my camera, where would you be?

Your friend,

Quinn

~~~

Update:

AND IT WORKED!!!

I have been looking for my camera for four days.

FOUR DAYS.

Today, I reached the point of searching in places 

where no camera could possibly be.

So...I turned to you, my Readers, for help.

Ten minutes after posting the question, I found the camera.

In the trash.

In the TRASH.

Whew.

Blogging is a powerful thing.

~~~~~

post

Very special things arrived in my recently-excavated letterbox this week!

The first was a giveaway prize from one of the Grow Your Blog Party drawings:

Aren't these gorgeous?!

Many thanks to Karen at knitalatte for my lovely handknit mitts!

They are light and warm, and these colors are delightful!  :)

~~~

Next, was another luck-of-the-draw prize.

All the way from Shetland, across the sea!

A bit of background on this one...

Have you heard of the historic Lerwick "Up Helly Aa" fire festival? If not, you may find it is worth watching (at least watching online, as I do) next January. Months of preparation go into this community endeavor and the results are really something. Hundreds of costumed "Vikings," a dragon-headed wooden galley (ship), a massive torchlight procession through the town (that's my favorite part, it is truly stunning), followed by the ceremonial burning of the galley.

Well, this past January the Shetland:Pride of Place folk had a drawing of people from all over the world who tweeted their location during the Up Helly Aa livestream. I was one of the lucky winners, but to be honest, I had forgotten all about it...
when a package appeared!

Music and maps and trinkets and information and a perfect knitting project tote bag.

Now all I need is some Shetland wool to put in the bag.
But with shipping being so costly, I ought to just go over there and get the yarn, right?

Right?

Well, it's a nice dream, anyway  :)

~~~

I hope your weekend is full of nice dreams.

~~~~~