in between

Thank goodness green is my go to color.

Gets us through this wait for spring.

call me organized...

And so it is...as I stand and admit it -

yes, I am one of those Type A folks -

who sets their own bar way too high,

creates systems within systems...

and,

yes, get ready ---

even has an organized little bowl of flower frogs.

Now I once had someone wonder if I had the ultimate-
all my spices organized in alphabetical order --
but alas, I am more of a grouper when I organize,
an aesthetic grouper might I add...
so my spices are not in alphabetical order,
but are in the most delightful red spatteware pan you might ever behold.

Call me organized--

but, come now --
who ever can miss that life is not complete without
a batch of chickens (& a duck or two), just waiting in
their organized little box?

Would that be getting your ducks in a row?

Are you organized -- come on,

stand & share...

call me obsessive...

Oh, how I wish this was how I got

ready for winter...

My indoor cats, Shawnee & McCoy,

on their pillow pile in front of

the first heat of the year.

But alas, no....

this is how I get ready for winter:

And -- as you might notice,

plenty of unchecked items.

Now I'm thinking about Zac Brown's song

"Colder Weather" -- and hoping we

can get this all done soon.

So, what are you -- "orderly" or "let it come" when it

comes to winter's arrival?  Or maybe

pretend "it ain't so"....

Call me obsessive,

call me a tad too organized...

but hopefully,

call me ready.

Oh my...

best get checking things off today.



Just as free, free as we'll ever be...

It poured -- skies just opened, and it poured.

Still, we grabbed our folding chairs, rain gear...

Ian drove up from Madison,

and we arrived at CountryJam just as they took the stage.

Early -- things were moved around, acts were cancelled or changed.

And then the blue skies returned and for three hours they sang to us...
three hours!

People danced, sang back and were happy.

And, to hear thousands sing the chorus..."free as we'll ever be" with the

Zac Brown Band

magic, pure magic...

Every now & again you capture that moment,

tuck it way way back knowing it is special & will

be cherished.

Standing there, last night with Dave & Ian and thousands

of other folks that had arrived in Eau Claire-

Didn't matter our ethnicity, socioeconomic status, political views...

under that one sky, with mud on our feet

we were all happy -- just happy.

And we sang...

This is how it rolls in the country -- in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
 on a wet, stormy Saturday night.

Impending

that's the word...

that was the weather...

Impending

My first glimpse was from the window...

what was this?

At 8:30 p.m. a sky so ominous.

Expected a space ship or a large hand to reach

right down.

Perhaps the reckoning had arrived.

Impending -- storms coming.

They roll across the countryside -

announcing their arrival

for miles.

Lightning, then wind, then buckets of rain.

And a lost kitten, Winter...out in the storm.

2 months old, lost in the storm.

Impending

Heartbreaking

Yes, that is the word.

I don't much care for storms. 

They take, always take -- never give...

Impending doom -- announcing it had arrived, to take again.

Addendum July 21...

My little kitten Winter has returned, scared - but back.

doom & gloom be gone...

coming home...

Saturday I traveled - to my sister's place -- my nephew from California home - a party, a celebration!
Tuesday I traveled - an antiquing adventure -- three hours each way.  Morning to Night.

As I traveled back last evening --
I felt this overwhelming emotion. 
Thoughts of Homecoming. 
Trying to define what that was, what that means.

I know it by the pull & tug of my heart:
Seeing Kevin, my nephew, with his son in his arms -- a homecoming. 
Watching as my own Ian, arrived at the celebration -- his blue car coming up the hill -- a homecoming.
Seeing my farm as I traveled back, tired from a day away -- a homecoming.

It is a warm embrace at the end of a journey.
It is a welcome that quietly calls to you.

At my own farm, my little Chestnut kitten waits under the birdbath near the porch.  All day she waits, listening for the squeak of the porch door or the flap of a wing.  "Homecoming" is defined in this little kitten's world as "there you are".  I like that definition about the best.  It can end with an exclamation point or a "..." It is faith & hope & celebration & joy -- all wrapped up in this sweet, enduring coming home.

What does homecoming mean to you?

ambition

I am a list maker...

even when not written down,

there is always a list hanging about in my head.

I like to check things off -

feel good about getting something done,

moving forward.

So - on days like today,

my list feels quite tiny:

1.  vacuum

2.  sweep the cottonwood cotton off the deck

See, the couch calls, a batch of popcorn & HBO calls, magazines call.

I almost wish it would rain to ease my guilt just a bit.

Guess I just may need to add to my list:

3.  put up your feet, sit a spell (it's O.K.)

How about you -- do you take time to just relax?

country "time"

I don't wear a watch.

And, most clocks in our house are stopped at a time in the past.

Our mantle clock chimes on the hour -

sometimes our only reminder beyond the rising or setting sun of time.

Country "time" is slower.

Days are planned based upon the weather --

that's how farming communities work.

We can really be snowed in if our driveway

(almost a city block in length) isn't plowed out.

I can't zoom about the internet -- because we still exist on dial up service.

A trip to the city is planned.

"Night life" are the animals that visit our farm in the safety of darkness.

But yet, there is an efficiency to this country "time".

Neighbors learn about comings & goings from the milk truck.

A helping hand comes with steady haste.

A truck & a hitch saves time.

Time is steadfast -- not fleeting.

I have only lived this country life for 4 years.

My other years were as a city girl -- not a big city girl, but a city girl all the same.

Learning to slow down has come easier than I expected.

Now granted, my office is in the city -- so I still enjoy that pace --

but my heart is in the country.

I have been reset to country time

and that's O.K. with me.

Sweet spring - you're home...

Oh sweet sweet spring -

How we have waited for you...

Welcome home!

*I awoke to rain this morning - such a lovely sound.*
Today I will open the big green trunk in the living room
& out will come all the charming spring decorations.
It is time, actually -- it is about time.

Spring -- how you make me smile with anticipation.

What are you doing to ready for this new season?

Hope - where are you?

If you could hear my voice carried on the wind,

it would be,

"Hope, Hope - where are you Hope?"

The irony of it -- calling out to hope,

looking for hope in the corners of a barn...

watching the sides of the road, praying to not find her there.

My Hope, my momma barn cat, has been missing since Saturday.

Her 5 babies are left wondering & waiting for her return.

This is the longest she has been away.

Hope, are you there?

Hope, will you return?

Hope...I am looking for you, waiting.

This time, I shed less tears...

You see, Hope arrived at our farm lost & lonely - afraid of human touch.

She left loved. 

And in the process she did gift us with...well, hope.

So, she is not gone, but tucked away in my heart & soul.

Hope will always have a home here.

Evening of 3/10 --- Addendum:

5 days away...and then there she was -- waiting in the barn, glad to be home

Hope springs eternal.

Hope is also likely "with child" -- thinking the gal was out on the town.

One more litter.

Ah, Hope -- can't live without her.

Glad to have that in my life.

Snow, snow go away...

Come again another day (next winter).



Little sweet spring reminder...

What is your first sign that spring is here?

Waiting...

With or Without Patience, these are the days of waiting.

We can feel that we are on the downward slope.

We are crossing the bridge.

The brass ring is within reach.

We wait.

Come on Spring...

we are waiting.

P.S. -- snow arriving this weekend -- kind of feel like,

"Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain"...

want to just ignore it.

Sigh -- Waiting...

On a cold day on the farm...

 

We coax the goats outside with hay.

Kittens snuggle together for warmth.

Snow piles up.

And, I dream of spring & plan for the May Barn Sale.

What are you doing on this cold day?

Shall we say - SNOW!

Somehow I had missed it...all the warnings leading up to today.

Certainly, Friday -- word began to register.

Get. Ready.

A. Blizzard. Is. Coming.

So, like any good Wisconsinite -- I went to the grocery store.

Beef stew, cocoa, more cocoa....

And, it is here.

Snow - and plenty of it.

Winds arriving next.

Then cold, cold, cold.

Living in the country - you just have to wait it out.

If winds are coming, no need to get too excited about shoveling...

the gusts will come across the fields and move it all around anyway.

Wait it out.

So, I climbed thru drifts out to the barn this morning.

Making sure every kitten was accounted for --

they would be in way over their little heads in this snow fall.

Milk, cat food, hay for the goats --

and today a space heater in a little "warm me up" spot

for the cats.  Come on, I do have a heart.

It is here -- we hunker down, and wait.

Will it make the record books?

Could be.

Are you hunkered down too?

Shall we say - BLIZZARD.

It was!

Here is Dave hidden behind mounds of snow cleaning up.

My job was to dig a path out of the barn for the animals.

SNOW - and lots of it!!

Easy wind & downy flake

Melancholy

That has been how I feel about the onset of winter as I get older.

Granted, the first snows are beautiful -- in their Robert Frost way:

"The only other sound's the sweep of easy wind and downy flake."

Yet, my list of promises to keep seems long.

The list of winter readiness still waiting:

*stake the driveway

*straw over the pipes

*snow fence up

*on & on

And, my worries about the animals --

Did we put up enough food?

 Will they be warm enough?

How will they fill their long, endless cold days?

We all hunker down, pull up the quilts...count the weeks until spring.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Dave reminds me that the days will begin to get longer again in about a month.

5 - 6 - 7 - 8

I will think about gardens & the spring Barn Sale & warm sunshine.

9 - 10 - 11 - 12

And my mind turns to why I do love living in Wisconsin with four distinct seasons.

It is because we don't take anything for granted.

We know cold as well as we know warmth.

We feel a hibernation as much as we feel a rebirth.

We must feel a loss to feel a joy....know the valleys to reach the peaks.

And so we slow down. 

We pull out projects best done on a winter night. 

That is the season we are entering...the season of "miles to go".

"But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep."

How will you fill your "miles to go" this winter?