Remember this kitten? Well this is the bird she’s had her eye on. This is one of the pair of barn swallows that built a nest in the corner of our porch roof.
I love having the swallows nest here. They’re traditionally a symbol of hope, fertility and renewal of life.
1 year ago:
The rain yesterday gave us a rare night off from ball games. As much as I love my concession stand popcorn with peanut butter m&m’s dumped in, it was really nice to get in the kitchen and make some real food again.
First tomatoes of the season from “the tomato lady” at the farmers market…
make the first BLT’s of the season. Yum! I hoard bacon just for this moment.
I baked 4 loaves of “no-knead” bread, and cooked up a vat of vegetable beef soup.
Fresh strawberries from my dad’s patch. We ate them over vanilla ice cream.
And a new vintage-look kitchen tablecloth. (That needs ironing. Ahem.) Love!
Stinkin’ kitten… yes, that’s her name
This kitten looks rather innocent, sitting there on the porch railing on a summer day.
But the reason she’s sitting there on the porch railing on a summer day is that there are barn swallows building a nest up in the corner of the porch roof.
I think she’s hatching a plan…
1 year ago:
The girls & I made a Memorial Day weekend visit to Lime Springs with my parents. My grandma was born here, on her grandfather’s farm northeast of town. First we stopped at the cemetery.
A couple of my Civil War veteran ancestors are buried here…
Seneca Jayne (9th Heavy Artillery). I’m going off memory here, because I’m too lazy to dig out the genealogy stuff Grandma passed on to me right now. But I’m thinking that Seneca was Grandma’s great-great-grandfather, and that his daughter Hattie married…
George W. Chick – my grandma’s great-grandfather, also a Civil War soldier.
My grandma (Georgia Emma Metz Carter) was named after her grandmothers…
Georgia Chick Ruesink
and Emma Shierry Metz
Her grandma & grandpa Metz were divorced so they’re buried near each other – a row apart – but not together.
a sweet little stone
Grandma was a cousin to Seymour Cray, inventor of the super computer. (This is probably only interesting to me, because I’m a computer programmer.)
My favorite thing at this cemetery are the statues. (I played around with these photos using Pioneer Woman’s actions for PSE.)
This statue was imported from Italy, as a memorial for a small girl who was the area’s first automobile fatality.
I don’t know the story behind the next two but still, they’re lovely…
I think I’m going to print these three lovely ladies out and frame them.
After the cemetery, we went looking for the farm where Grandma was born using directions she’d given (2 miles east and a mile and a half north of Lime Springs) and our own foggy memories of driving out there with her years ago. We’re pretty sure we found it, but it’s hard to tell for sure because the house has been taken down since the last time we were there.
Then a visit to Lidtke Mill.
Grandma told stories of riding with her grandpa or her aunt & uncle in a horse-drawn wagon to bring grain to the mill for grinding.
It was a fun afternoon. A little bittersweet, since we used to make the trip with Grandma and I missed hearing the stories she used to tell, but it felt good to be carrying her memories on with us.
1 year ago:
Morning tea.
Farmers market.
Catching up with our Mennonite friends at their greenhouse.
Supper get-together complete with beanbags and campfire.
A really, really good Saturday.
The day was like my own quiet rollercoaster.
Maybe I would have felt better if I’d thrown some rocks, too.
A walk through the pasture at the end of the day brought us upon this…
…our last remaining muscovy duck.
He does have some company. I counted 11 Canada geese along the creek this morning, and spotted a Mr. and Mrs. Mallard pair hanging out in the calves’ winter lot this afternoon.
But our muscovy seems to prefer the solitary, contemplative life… our resident monk.
Things I’m doing right now:
* Getting ready to start another summer of farmers markets
* Getting ready for the end of the school year and the beginning of softball/baseball season
* Wondering if summer will ever arrive this year
Things I’m wishing for right now:
* To get back into some kind – any kind – of exercise habit
* To take this class
* To get into some kind – any kind – of writing habit
Things making me happy right now:
* The sound of lovesick spring frogs at the creek
* Feeding happy chickens in the pasture
* The boy, in chore boots, scrambling around on top of the hay bales until dark
1 year ago:
Our spring piglets are here! One sow had 12, and one had 14. I think they each still have 10 at this point, which are really good numbers considering we farrow outdoors in large huts with no heat lamps. Good, good mama’s!
The laptop is on the blink (still), thus the lack of posts. I have a camera full of spring farm pictures I’m dying to download, but until then…
Did you know April is National Poetry Month? I’ve been reading my favorite poet, Mary Oliver, and finding some fantastic new-to-me poets at www.poetryfoundation.org. One of my favorites has been “I never seen such days as this”.
And in the spirit of Poetry Month, here’s one I wrote myself:
Today
I learned the call
of the red-winged blackbird –
a single,
slightly trilled
half-note –
and another dimension
of the world
opened up to me.
Suddenly there was not just
the blackbird I could see,
but an entire population –
one in the bush,
one up in the tree,
one over in that hedgerow –
that I could see
only with my ear.
Who are your favorite poets?
1 year ago:
