Friday Foto

In my Garden

Sheep, Wolves, Flowers .. another day out in the country

Today I went to Old Chatham to the Market.

It was not so much to buy anything but to take that drive.

It was  Over the River and Through The Woods...Past the many Sheep farms and  all of the homes are historic homes, with barns and meadows and trees and flowers... there is the river and there are brooks and lakes and ponds too. And always, great beautiful trees and far away views and green everywhere.

The Chatham Sheepherding Company is there .. with hills of green grass, dotted with all the white sheep, waiting to have baby lambs or to be sheared. There are some nice soft fuzzy slippers or jackets waiting to be made. For next winters cold feet  and bodies.

Today though, it is sunny and not too cold. 

After I left the Country Store, I drove to a local farm where I bought veggies fresh from their fields ... all Organic.

Then I couldn't resist, I bought a pink hyacinth plant. The scent, oh my ...

While buying the flowers , I was told about the size of the coyotes around here this year. 

That the deer are hungry and the wolves and coyotes are too.

Oh my ..

A Year Ago

Last March, we arrived back in the United States.
A few days after arriving, we celebrated my birthday with our son and his wife, a first in a long time.
In those couple of weeks, staying in a hotel, eating out and enjoying all of that good American food again, diners, Italian restaurants, lunch places, soup, pizza, Chinese food, Thai food, sweets !
Then the shopping ! Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, boutiques, cars !

Then we were on the road , heading North and once again, seeing the beautiful parkways of New York State, the trees were bare, the countryside was so very beautiful.
We arrived in Great Barrington , Massachusetts, and stayed in a cute little hotel for a couple of weeks.

We found a fabulous house that was for rent, it is about 200 years old.
The owners quickly became friends, along with their sweet chocolate brown Labradors, Dreyfus and Brady.
It was so nice staying there, I was almost in no hurry to leave.

We looked and we looked for a house that would be our new dream house.
I wanted character, upstairs, downstairs, gardens or at least enough land that no one was too close.
I had enough of city noise, neighbors parties on weekends and what is the point in living out in the country if you are going to hear the neighbors ?

As the days then weeks went by, we were not finding anything close to what we dreamt of .
We started looking farther North .. a longer trip away from NYC.

One day, almost by chance, we were with the realtor when she had to come to this house to check on something for the owner, who lived elsewhere.
We wandered in too ... the house was nothing like what I was dreaming of .. but the gardens were heavenly.
Then my husband asked what the realtor would suggest the selling price be ?
When she told him, I saw his eyes light up, I saw the Writing on the Wall... this was my soon to be new home.
Nothing charming, nothing old and stately, not even a fireplace.
But he loved it.
What could I say ?

Now he is gone.
Now here I am.
It is time to find a new home and for this to be a home to some nice couple, maybe with a child or two.

Hopefully with a love of gardens ... and birds ... and deer .

Monday Monday

Monday , April 14th, 2014

The kitten slept all night.
I slept all night !!

The sun is shining.
There is no sign of snow left, finally.

Birds are everywhere.
I seem to be feeding most of them.

There are new babies up at the farm.
You can hear the calves .... maaa maaaaaa.
Mama is one of the   great huge Highland Cattle.

Then there are the baby goats and lambs.
They talk to each other .. who knew it would be so noisy out here in the country ??
I prefer it to cars honking   .. or neighbors partying .. although the sheep are rumored to be
crazy party animals.

Baby flowers are coming up too.
Crocus , little purple things are everywhere, ... no, I am not totally up to date on flower names anymore.
Buds are on everything, trees and shrubs and things popping out of the ground.
It is going to be fun to see what everything is.
I am going to plant some things too .. mostly basil and maybe morning glories and things like that.
Leave my mark on the place, another Crazy Garden Lady lived here.

Time to go find some more coffee and play with the kitten.
My mornings are quite busy. Coffee, kitten, coffee, kitten, kitten ...kitten..

Today ..

Today I stayed in and kept Minette company while waiting for the delivery man.
I cleaned house too.
I was rewarded with my delivery in the late afternoon and Minette and I enjoyed lolling in the sun coming in the front window with  some good Tango music.

Today I am going through a spell of  homesickness  for Buenos Aires  .
I am really wishing I were there . Minette can come too.

I got my delivery of beauty products that I was going to order from   Nordstroms ..

So   I got   a bit of this and a bit of that but the one thing that was a first and I was not sure about,  but for the price I felt it had better be good ..
Dior nail polish.. clear .. but with a pinkishness to it. Dior Nail Glow Enhancer . .

 I couldn't wait, tonight I polished my nails and it is amazing.

The thing is .. it is not polish that covers your nails with solid color ..
It is sheer/but pink.
So it looks like you just have really healthy pink nails with a shine to them.
But here's the kicker ... the tips of your nails, will look whiter .. so it is a sort of natural French manicure.

So that is how my nails look tonight. Pink, shiny, expensive manicure done at home ..

The the kitten needed some quality time with mama.
She was frisky and silly and very lovable.
I would throw her toy for her and when she would catch it, she would bring it back to me, climb in my lap and just sort of drape herself across my leg with the toy .. she gets sweeter   by the minute.

Tomorrow she goes to the doctor .. yes ... again.

Then I will do a little shopping, a little driving  and prepare for the weekend .. company's coming !

So I will wish you a Good Weekend now ..

                                   The snow is gone... things are green and normal again ... 

This Is Where I Live

There are houses nearby , across the street and on either side of me.
But the properties are acres so we are not within yelling distance .. which is lovely, after living in a crowded very noisy city, this is what people get all sentimental over ... the peace and quiet of living in the country.

This is my neighbor, where the Highland Cattle live, with the sheep who have little babies now, and goats who have little babies now and the one lonely horse who always looks a bit disgruntled.

With the weather improving and no more ice and snow on the roads, I am once again, enjoying driving a car ! and zooming over hills and dales, over the river and through the woods ... ok .. I will stop.
But it is great to drive here , traffic is when there is another car on the road , up ahead ...
No such thing as gridlock .. if you hear a fire siren, you stop and listen for a minute ! In Buenos Aires, you heard sirens all the time, I quit hearing them, they were just so much noise after a while.
Here, you stop and listen.
And here are the sheep

Ever hear of the Chatham Sheepherding Company ?
There they are .. the sheep anyway. Everywhere you look, rolling hills and sheep. And now, at this time of year, little lambs.  Eating ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too. (get it ? write me and tell me if you did )

You can go here and buy things .. I have not been but I have heard about the fine quality wool things they have . I drive by there sometimes and what a sight ! sheep and more sheep !

And then you can stop after all that sheep viewing and have coffee and some amazing baked goods at the Old Chatham Country Store and Cafe.

I LOVE the cafe .. in winter, the wood burning stove in the middle of the room is hot and the room is warm and toasty and there is local art and photography on all the walls and everyone acts like they know everyone so it is cozy and nice ..

If you are ever in New York State near Old Chatham, go there .. really, you will love it too.

Friday Minette goes to the doctor. Her health is still not perfect and I want this tiny little girl to be well and to live a very long time. So off to the doctor we go ...

So that's it from here, where I live.
Hope you liked it .