Take a Walk With Me

Around the Yard

I was right. Yesterday, the farmer was back loading up several of his transport trucks with the hay bales.  It's almost like a dance. First the tractor goes to get a bale. The farmer inserts the rods on front of tractor into the pale and lifts it off the ground. The tractor makes it way across the field.

The farmer gets to the truck and has to lift the bale even higher in order to place it on the truck. Then it all starts over again. The bales are all gone now. It's a long day of work, as always, for the farmer.

It's been hot so watering the flowers in the morning is a must.

Ah, the bee balm. About to pop wide open for the 4th. I think of them as flower fireworks.

Beyond being pretty, the hummingbirds, butterflies and hummingbird moths love them. So they're always a show.

Tiger lilies or ditch lilies as some of you call them.

Can you find the bugs in these next two?

There will be lots of action in the yard today and tomorrow. Last year's apre July 4th post gives a good play by play of what our day will be like.  It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. It's always a great day and luckily we get lots of help.

It cooled off a bit last night. This meant we slept with the windows open for first time in quite a few days. Lovely air. The only thing that wasn't lovely was the damn robins (who I usually think are lovely birds) beginning their routine at 4:15 am. Oh, they started singing the song of the day. Me, not so much? I gave up going back to sleep and just got up at about 4:35. I may need a nap later with what's on the plate today and tomorrow. However, since I was up so early, I got to see this pretty sunrise.



Have a wonderful day.

Ciao for now,

Take A Walk With Us

The Field: Part 1

I looked up from my desk at about 4:25 yesterday and realized it was still light! This is reason for celebration as far as I'm concerned.  I looked at the dog, he looked at me and before I could say 'do you want to go for a walk?', I had my wellies on and he was at the door.

Lo and behold, I'd been at my desk all day, and although I let Lucan in and out a few times, I didn't realize just how nice it was out. 51 degrees! Another reason for celebration. It's February and I didn't even need a coat and gloves. Just a sweatshirt. Talk about making a girl and her dog happy.

Off we went with the sun shining bright. We walked from one side of the field to the other. There was only snow at the bottom of each side. The oddest Winter ever, but I'll take it.



Part Two: The Sky

I had just taken the shot of the barn roof, walked a little further and found the snow heart and then I looked up. I gasped. The huge 'snow' moon was resting on the barn roof.

It was really something. I made Lucan sit for a minute just so I could take it in.

Simply breathtaking. 

Eventually I had to pull myself away, but there were still things to be seen.

This plane had a good view and was reflecting the sunset.

This plane was much higher, but its trail was also reflecting the sunset.

When we stopped at the little cemetery at the top of the field, I found this awesome lichen on the stone wall. The texture and the mustard colored bits were awesome.

Then I caught the moon one last time through the trees before we headed back across the street.

The snow moon is so bright, it woke me up for the second night in a row.

Sunset Meadows

As I peeled myself away from the sight of the moon, I turned as was greeted by the sun going down.

Lovely.

This morning after Gar started his truck, he came back in and said, "You should see the sunrise at the end of the road." So I stepped out and said I didn't see anything, to which he replied, "You have to go to the end of drive and look East." I did as instructed.

The sky was on fire.

It's not as warm today, but the sun is shining and it's nice enough for another walk in the field. That's what we're planning on here..........well, if I can rouse the dog from his nap on the couch.

Have a great Tuesday.  By the way, not a lot of entries in the giveaway so far.  You're all giving the current entrants a really good chance of winning. Just throwing that out there. Of course, they'd might prefer that I just clam up.

Tomorrow, the second installment of Marketing 101.

See you on the flip side,

Something Caught My Eye: Etsy Style

via poseyandpoppy

Favorite Finds: The Holiday Season Has Begun 

As the chill starts to fill the air, our thoughts turn to the upcoming holiday season.  Funny thing is, our weather is all over the place and today it may even reach 70F.  Go figure. 

Regardless, I'm in the mood to promote the wonderful things you can find on etsy from artisans, crafters and vintage purveyors alike, just in time for the holiday season.  Because whether it's a blizzard (like our Halloween was) or 70 degrees (like today might be), it's time to start your holiday shopping.

Here are some favorite finds that caught my eye from fellow esty shop owners. Take a look around, and if you have a moment, visit their shops. You could end up crossing some things off your list early, and wouldn't that be nice? Better to get it done early, so you can really kick back and enjoy the holidays. 

1. lovely white vintage egg cups from all things white   

2. art for your pocket art-zine by eveyinorbitshop  

3. where are the dancers? before the ball photograph from FleurBonheur    

4. gorgeous vintage enamel ceiling medalion from oddandold

5. romantic jane austen inspired handmade card from haleyspaperlove
6. a funky old german accordian from rockyspringsvintage 

7. little red riding hood, another wonderful moody scene set by Yann Pendaries and photography dream  

8. solid shampoo that's pure as the driven snow, like all of the bodycare products from  milkandhoneynaturals 

9.  a lovely crocheted rose lariat necklace from the talented Marci of 3pearls 

10. oh how happy you'll be wearing vintage red maryjanes from poseyandpoppy 

11. store all your treasures in this chippy, vintage trunk from harrismarkshome 

12. maple marshmallows that look almost too pretty to eat from whimsyandspice 

13. ah, the empire state where we had our first date. pillow with city style by nesta home 

Do you have a mission for your holiday shopping this year? I'll say it again, my mission is to continue to buy local, buy handmade, support fellow etsy shops and make some gifts with my own hands, as I usually do. 

Printer Table Is Done

Our new printer table is complete and in place. It fits perfectly.  Like I said, it's a basic workhorse. It has to be, my office/studio corner is not very big so it has to really suit my needs.  I painted it grayish-blue, then another coat of creamy taupe over the top and distressed a bit so the gray showed through.

Hey, did I tell you about the lucky porcelain 'p as in pamela' ball I found on my birthday? Sa-weet!

Today I'm finally installing the new Epson printer, now that I have a place to put it. Fingers crossed it all goes well and we'll be offering gallery quality archival prints of my illustrations in our shop, Bates Mercantile Co., starting tomorrow. Have I told you how excited I am? 

Sunrise Meadows

I neglected to get a shot of last night's sunset, which I have to say was a very pretty soft pink.  However, this is what greeted me through my bedroom window this morning.

What a nice way to start the day.

Be sure to stop by the Muse tomorrow, as our 3rd Gotta Have It Shop & Blog Link Up Party starts for those of you who have online stores and/or blogs. It's a great way FREE way to reach out to new people and promote your stuff.

Enjoy your Tuesday in your corner of the world, and I'll do the same here.

Field Study

Take A Walk With Us

I promised myself yesterday that I'd eek some time out at the end of the day to move, in some way. I kept my promise and made the dog happy at the same time. Off we went, across the street to the field.  We usually keep him on his leash until we get to the top of the hill to see if there are any critters before we let him lose.

There was.

One lone deer.

At least that was all I could see. I'm sure there were more just beyond the edge of the woods.

The deer checked us out. I checked out the deer. The hound remained pretty clueless about the whole thing.  The deer finally bounced into the forest.

I kept Lucan (who happens to be nudging me right now at my desk- must have known I was talking about him) on the leash last night, just in case there were more deer at the far end. It's that time of year. Plus, it's not unusual to run into turkeys. We were very thankful one day when we got to the top of the hill with him on the leash, and down below was one biggo porcupine. Phew. Crisis averted.  Top that off with the fact that the coyotes have been quite vocal lately. Better safe than sorry.

It's a beautiful field and woods, owned by a man down the street. He wanted to conserve the open space and the town bought into it a couple of years ago. We thankfully the benefits of having the field 20 steps from our door. So does the farmer across town who leases the field for farming feed for his dairy cows.

At the top of the field, just across the street from our house is an old family cemetery plot. The Wiggins, one of Stratham's founding families. Poor Abigail was only 14 when she died.  At least her and her relatives have a pretty view of the sunsets.

Sunset Meadows

Sunset on our way out of the field last night.

And, sunrise this morning.

Gar said, you really should open your eyes and take a look out the window at this one. I did more than that, I stumbled to my desk and got my camera.

I was glad I did.

Giveaway

Don't forget to enter our current giveaway- you only have a few more days. So, why not do it now? Wouldn't it be nice to have the Hello Chevrons note cards from Bates Mercantile Co. to write a note on and make some one's day? It's pretty easy to enter. You could win a set for yourself and a set to give as a gift!

Hope it's sunnier in your little corner of the world. Pretty damp and raw here today.Tomorrow is supposed to be looking up.

See you on the flip side. Thanks for being here.