irresistible

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It's funny how twenty minutes outdoors, with my camera around my neck, suddenly feels like a luxury. I'd like to bottle this weather and put in my pocket--save it for a...wickedly hot and humid day in August.

And these forsythia are irresistible. There is one that taps at the window in the living room. I've been watching it slowly open and bloom from my perch on the sofa. 

I wandered around with my camera for a bit this afternoon, once I got Birdy down for a nap. The forsythia were begging to have their picture taken in the late afternoon sun.

henry

The cats were loitering around the shed, hoping we might just feed them one more time. Henry, the king of all cats, sits on the roof of the shed--his favorite overlook. 

The row of bushes and trees makes me think of mowing season. The diving in and out of them on the mower. The bugs and spider webs dropping on my shirt, in my hair, the branches scratching across my face and arms. I can't believe it's already time to mow again.

it's rarely at rest

The tree swing is rarely at rest. It seems that every time I look out my kitchen window I can see it swaying back and forth. We're all relieved to see tiny buds forming on the branches of this late bloomer. We were worried we'd lost her after the lightning hit. 

I love the changing of seasons, spring in particular. The open windows, the longer days, the way it feels to be outside again after a winter gathered around the wood stove in the living room. 

Welcome, spring!

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mouse is a good cat

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I'm popping in here to share these two pictures that I've been loving lately. A little before and after of Mouse, Mary's cat. I have been meaning to get a good picture of him, all grown up, all grown into all that fluff and fuzz. He is a patient sweetheart. 

wee mouse

Mouse, circa June 2009

During all of Mary's "doctor stress" in the past few weeks, she had to go in one afternoon for blood work. It was horrible. Her fear-reaction to any shot or blood test is so strong, that the pediatrician was even offering a sedative. Needless to say, trying to get her out the door and in to the car that afternoon was difficult. 

my how he's grown

When we finally got her outside, she was still so upset and afraid. Dan sat her down in the car and then bent down to scoop up Mouse and put him in her arms. "Take him with you to the doctor." he said. After initial shock to what her Daddy had just said, all her energy and attention that was focused on the impending shots was focused on her cat curled up in her arms. And she settled right down.

Meanwhile, Mouse has never been in the car, except for maybe falling asleep in the back while it has been parked in the driveway. I had visions of driving to the doctor's office, Mary screaming in the back seat about shots and needles, Mouse clinging, claws out-stretched to the back of my neck.

But, he surprised me. He fell asleep in her arms while we drove to the doctor. A few times he opened his eyes to look out the window at the passing cars and then settled back down. He could care less, really. 

When we got to the doctor, we set him down in the seat while we went inside. He curled up again and fell asleep, waiting there quietly when we got back. 

He was the perfect antidote to the panic and the fear. 

Mouse is a good cat to have around.

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worth sharing

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she holds my hand

Yesterday morning, cleaning up breakfast dishes in the kitchen, I found myself thinking, "I can't remember what kinds of things I blog about." I think we all go through these blog-phases where it doesn't seem like there is much to be said. Although this seems to contradict my thoughts just a few posts ago...hmn. 

But if I really stop to think, there are plenty of things each day worth noting...

walking stick

*I'm beginning week 4 of no oven. It's a challenge, let me tell you. Someone wrote and said they hadn't used an oven in two years. That blows my mind. Especially when I'm itching to revisit my Artisan Bread book after Erin's post, and cookies just don't turn out well in the toaster oven, and I'm really wanting to whip up a good scone recipe, and make granola and, and....  Dan said to me last night, "Why don't you just try using it again? What's the worst that could happen? You blow up the house?" Yes, exactly. I'll wait for a new one, thank you. (He was kidding, of course.)

*We got a little snow yesterday and of course my chore companion was still happy to join me to let out chickens and feed the cats. The chickens weren't as fond of the snow as she was. You'd think they were walking on fire, the way the avoid stepping in the snow. Poor things.

sycamore with adornment

*I went to the "baby doctor" yesterday. The baby is breech. And I'm measuring almost 36 weeks instead of 32. She also told me to "take it easy" after some "incidents" the week before. Taking it easy isn't so easy. Dan said maybe we should think about starting to get prepared... What!? The one measly sweater I've managed to knit for this baby isn't enough?? How am I ever going to fit in the knitting of this blanket I'm dying to make?? 

*There are new faces over at habit. 

*I'm really liking the discovery of the NewYorkTimes skimmer. For someone who doesn't (often) read the newspaper and never watches the news, it's a quick and easy way for me to stay current. 

*I found this article about snacking yesterday. It was really eye-opening and interesting to me. 

*Does anyone have a good solution for crazy-static-y child hair? My girls' hair is crazy and it's driving me crazy.

*The final season of LOST is here. I remember thinking when it started, "There's no way I'll last all the way until 2010 to see how it ends!!" Yet here I am.

*I'm inspired by Rachel's "thrifted wardrobe" set on flickr, once I get out of these maternity jeans.

next year's supply

*After a brief hiatus around the holidays, I'm back to collecting goodness on tumblr. Go take a peek. (And click on the "following" link. You may see what a few familiar faces and names are "collecting" as well.)

See? I guess there were a few things worth sharing. As always, friends, hello and thank you for stopping in here. 

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deep sleep

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As I sit and write this post from the comfort of my overstuffed chair in the corner of the living room beside the woodstove, two kittens are tumbling up and down the stairs just outside the room. I can hear their thundering paws as they tackle and roll and skitter away from each other. 

Somehow in the last few months, the line between our "outdoor mouse-hunting barn cats" and "indoor house cats" got very blurry.

This morning, my wake up call came from Mary, who had sneaked downstairs and outside to find these two little kittens waiting for her. I think they've caught on to her routine. She came to my bedside, the sound of loud purring coming from her arms : "One for you. One for me." as a pile of fluff was dumped on my chest. She slid in the covers beside me, tucking her ball of warmth under the comforter.

My children have this way with kittens. They get so much attention and love, mixed with just the perfect amount of patience-forming teasing, that I believe they end up to be the perfect pets. I know these two kittens, when they find the perfect home, will make sweet additions to some little family. 

Between you and me, Columbus is my favorite, though Panda wins the cute award. Columbus has the motor of diesel truck and at the first stroke of your hand down his back, it kicks in. Sometimes just the anticipation of it, gets him going. 

This weekend, he fell sound asleep in my arms and the girls grabbed the FLIP so we could record his purring. But there must be some stage of sleep rhythm for cats that inhibits purring. He was so sound asleep we could barely get him to show it off. I always thought cats were the lightest of sleepers, but Columbus seems to be proving us wrong. 

And for the record, the heavy breathing is coming from Columbus, not from me. 

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i wish

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i wish...

i wish

i'd brought my binoculars to get a closer look at the pair of hawks sitting shoulder to shoulder in the sycamore.

i'd brought a tissue, two in fact, for my nose and the nose of the little one holding my hand.

i'd brought my camera to capture the ice on the stream and the kittens frisking under the forsythia.

i'd brought a magnifying lens to look up-close at the patterns on the underside of the bark.

i'd brought a zoom lens (if i had one) to catch a picture of the bright red cardinals in the bare branches of the trees. are their colors getting deeper as the temperatures get colder or do they just stand out more against the backdrop of winter?

i'd brought a warmer pair of mittens.

i wish

Instead, it was just me and Elizabeth. Morning chores. The collecting of wood scraps to stir up the woodstove. A trail of cats in front of us, a line of chickens behind us. And lots of stopping along the way to notice, to look closely, to guess, to admire. 

And sometimes, that's perfectly enough.

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