the view from sunday night

i doodled this with a feather and payne's grey ink while watching goldfinger with my family. we're making our way through all of the james bond films, from the very beginning. i'm struck by that sean connery wasn't actually that cute when he was younger and he's kind of a terrible actor. the fight scenes are the worst and there are hilarious low budget moments in the film. it doesn't hold up well and yet it's still somehow iconic. i was happy that i was drawing during it tho', i think it might have been wasted time if i hadn't been.

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it was a good weekend - spent mostly in the company of kittens, who are at peak playful. i opened a photo exhibition (more about that below). the afternoon was sunny on saturday, so i mowed the lawn, which makes me surprisingly happy. i only stopped when it started to rain and would have liked to have kept mowing. we have a big lawn and to do all of it takes over an hour, but i'm always a little bit sad when it's done. i made homemade sweet & sour chicken for saturday dinner, which is easier than i thought it would be, even making the sauce from scratch. we had homemade black currant ice cream with hot fudge sauce for dessert. i saw not one, but two tiny baby hedgehogs in the garden. i picked blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and pears in the garden and made them into a beautiful crostata (just another name for a rustic, lazy person's pie). i did all of the laundry, which gives me satisfaction as well, less than the lawn mowing, but satisfying nonetheless. i picked elderberries and made juice. they're small and tho' i picked a kettleful, it only made one bottle, so i'll have to go in search of more, because just one bottle won't do. there's nothing better than a warm elderberry beverage on a winter day.

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i hung some of my photos as an exhibition in our gallery space at our local library. i was a bit disappointed in the quality of the prints i ordered online (photobox, i'm looking at you), but now i know not to order there. it is still nice to see them printed, framed and hung all together - in this digital world, we don't do this enough. i thought i was choosing photos on the theme of "in the wild," with a focus on nature, but they all seem to be rather still and quiet and not wild at all. it's interesting, actually. it must be something i instinctively sought - moments of peaceful stillness.

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i'm really sick of the punditry dissing hillary for writing a book about her experience as the first woman presidential candidate of a major party. of course she should write a book and of course she should analyze what happened and what went wrong. she has every right to do so. she may not have sufficient distance to come to the ultimate conclusion (i don't know yet, as my copy hasn't arrived), but she has every right to write it. she lived it and it must have hurt like a motherfucker to lose to that buffoon. so shut the fuck up already and let her have her say. i can't help but think that if she were a man, there wouldn't be the same snide comments about the book.

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the venerated TLS published a cover story by a nicholas gibbs, who claimed to have deciphered the voinych manuscript. the atlantic (and others) say, not so much. and this guy claims, on twitter, that nicholas gibbs doesn't even exist, and the whole thing is a pale fire-style stunt. whatever it is, that infernal manuscript continues to fascinate.

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they say that postmodernism is dead. but aren't we still living it? what were we thinking, questioning reality and whether anything could be real? what a mess that's gotten us into now, with a post-truth spray-tanned president spewing his daily lies on twitter. could it get any more postmodern than that?

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what happened to leftovers?

kitten spam

kittens are like whole miniature cats!

lost dream tacos

their eyes are open now. for the most part. the little white one with an orange dot on his head is a bit behind, but he's ahead of the others size-wise, so he's clearly been spending his efforts in other ways. i pinched a nerve or got something out of place in my lower back yesterday, carrying our old B&O stereo. it's very painful and i couldn't get in to see the doctor today (it's the autumn holiday and they're short-staffed), but i can get in tomorrow. so today i've been resting and trying not to do too much bending or twisting or driving, since pushing in the clutch is especially painful. i had a dream that husband tried to drive across a wide body of water where there was no bridge, expecting his car to float. it made it most of the way and only began to sink at the end. then we scrambled ashore and lo and behold, there was this guy there making the most awesome mexican food ever. i was just eating the most delicious chicken taco with charred peppers on top when scout meowed outside the window and woke me up. i've been sad about it ever since and i just can't shake the taste and smell of that food. such a vivid dream. and what with losing that delicious taco and the pain in my back (it's radiating down my left leg in occasional waves), i'm not in the best mood ever. and it strikes me that if people want to hear from me more often, they could let me hear from them more often and not just lurk on facebook. communication is a two way street. this is disjointed, i realize, but waves of back pain will do that to you. and all the cute kittens in the world don't seem to make that better. especially in the face of lost dream tacos.

100 happy days :: day 78

charlie had two perfect little kittens last evening - one boy and one girl, just like last year. 

she's so proud of them!

royal kittens

because i couldn't resist trying to explode the internet with cuteness.

happy weekend, one and all.

bunny rabbit!

spring is full of baby animals

little snowy white bunny

our old pony pinky has a fine little filly

mama mira had 6 babies this time - here are three of them.

salt & pepper

our precious molly's precious babies - 4 girls in one batch!

pepper had only 2 this time - little striper looks like the papa kitty that was hanging around.

sabin has named them harry & louis after her favorite members of 1D.

hen & chicks

we had a trip to the vet today with our beloved molly cat. she was obviously not feeling well this morning, so i called the vet as soon as they opened. they saw her immediately and diagnosed mastitis. she got a shot of antibiotics and painkiller and i brought home pills for the next ten days as well. her temperature was 41°C (normal is 39°C and while that doesn't sound like much difference, it's a LOT for a cat). the vet assures me she'll be fine and that what's best for her is to keep nursing her kittens. she's not sure she agrees, but she's doing so for now. i bought a bottle and milk replacer, just in case. i don't want to lose any of them.

monday's lesson in spending your energy wisely

i learned a lesson this evening that i really need to remember. because it was something that i already knew, but rarely act on. i was supposed to go to one of those soul-draining meetings this evening. but i had had a headache all day and so i said i couldn't be there. and oddly, at about the same time, the clouds lifted, the skies cleared and the sun came out. really, i mean it. and my headache faded. and i went out to the barn and i spent time checking on all of the animals. we've got a regular nursery going around here - frankie's mama pepchen has 3 new kittens. this little black hen hatched out 4 fluffy little chicks (i zoomed in, i don't dare get too close, she's a meanie pants). and the bunnies, two batches, are almost 2 weeks old.

our coming 2 filly has gained weight in leaps and bounds since her worming and has shed her winter coat and is looking very pretty (tho' i didn't have the camera on me at the time, so i'll have to show you that another time). and after i tucked the horses in with their grain and some fragrant hay, i stepped out of the barn and across the greening field (i don't know whether it's wheat, barley or rye, but whatever it is, it's coming up fast), there was a deer grazing in the distance. the air was full of birdsong and it was peaceful and glorious and my soul felt restored. way better than some meeting full of senseless powerplays by a sexist, racist troglodyte. with my energy levels filled to overflowing, i can see him for the silly little man he is, rather than being angry or wound up about it. maybe my own skies have cleared now and it won't ever go back to how bad it was. but maybe, just maybe, i'll have to skip another meeting or two to be sure. in the meantime, i'll just enjoy this beautiful, peaceful calm contentment that has come over me after spending the evening in the company of my animals, the garden, the trees bursting forth in all their glory of green and the cool evening air, tinged golden by the last waning rays of sunshine. i will remember that this is how it feels to have made a good decision, just for me.

peachy perfection

broody hens

you couldn't tell it by looking outside, where snow is softly falling as we "speak," but there are signs of spring around here. this morning, these three little fellas (they'd better be girls) greeted me when i peeked in to check on their mama, who has been nesting in an odd spot away from the coop. i wasn't sure when she began, but thought she must be getting close. there are two more eggs in the nest, but i think they're duds. i wish i could reach them to take them out of there, but she's found such a weird place, i can only reach her with my camera lens. it's funny, if you google how to handle letting your chickens hatch out their eggs, you'll be led to believe it's impossible. we have definitely learned otherwise. last year, we started with 12 chickens and now we've got 30 (33 if you count these new ones). nature is pretty cool.

and this little hen, with the fetching straw on her head, is also in an odd spot away from the coop in another building. she was off her nest when i checked this morning and i found out she's working on hatching out TWENTY eggs. she must have had some help laying those, as i sincerely doubt she did it herself.  those other hens are clever, getting her to do all the work.

late this afternoon when i was feeding the horses, i found another hen hunkered down out in the horse barn. that's what you get when you have free range chickens, you never know where you'll find them.

last year, the broody hens drove me nuts, as it stopped the egg laying, but i'm getting up to ten a day right now and we can't keep up anyway (i've been giving eggs to everyone who comes by and took some to my friends at the library as well), so i'm just charmed by it. hens are so funny - they have a wide vocabulary and i just get a big kick out of them. so much more so than i ever thought i would. and these broody hens and their little chicks make me think spring must be on its way. right?

easter bunnies

we have two batches of baby bunnies - they were born on or around sabin's birthday january 25. i'm not sure precisely when because it was so cold then i didn't want to disturb their warm nests. their eyes are open now and it's warmed up a bit, so i brought them inside for their first photoshoot. what's funny is that the two batches are identical - with three little calico peach & grey darlings and one black in each, despite having different mothers and fathers. if i didn't take them in separately, i wouldn't be able to tell whose is whose. they'll be old enough to go to new homes just in time for easter!

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we're back and re-inspired over on Across Ø/Öresund

it takes two

we attended the wedding of a good friend of mine this weekend. we used to work together and i used to say that she was the keeper of my brain, or at least my memory and on more than one occasion, my sanity (i should note that the times when it didn't work are entirely my own and not at all her fault).  it was so great to be there to share in the happiness of her day.

it was a gorgeous weekend and she and her new husband looked so relaxed and happy amidst their friends and family. the church was lovely and filled with lilacs and people who were happy for them and children who plugged their ears when the organ played (what is up with organs? they're a terrible instrument). everyone gathered after the ceremony in her parents' beautiful, wide front yard for champagne from her father's own vineyard (in denmark, yes, it's true - and it was good!). then on to a dinner and party that lasted 'til the wee hours of the night. it was truly a stunning beginning to what i am sure will be a long and happy life together.

we stayed with her parents' neighbors, as we were a bit slow (what, me, procrastinate? really?) to book the pension they had reserved and all the rooms were gone by the time we decided we needed one. that turned out to be quite ok, because her parents' neighbors were a couple that knew husband when he was a child growing up in the heart of copenhagen. we had a leisurely breakfast with them in the sunshine before we left, reminiscing over the old times and the people husband knew when he was growing up. it is a small world after all.

but it got even smaller, as it turned out that the groom's parents had worked closely with my father-in-law on his technolution drawings - helping him with the latin names of all of them. husband and i had some nearly-tearful moments talking to the groom's mother about him. it's been more than five years since he died, but we do still miss him. it was very nice to meet someone who had known him and worked closely with him too. it made us both happy and sad at the same time and sometimes those are the best kind of emotions because they're so keenly felt. you feel alive at moments like that, when you are truly feeling something, even if it does make you feel a bit sorrowful.

a little bit weird to run into such connections from BOTH sides of husband's family (his parents split when he was 5) at a wedding where our connection to being there was actually through me, the girl from the other side of the world.

and it makes me think, once again, that we were undoubtedly meant to be. and tho' i shudder at times to think of the chain of events that had to be as it was for us to meet and how easily they could have gone another way, perhaps it's times like this that should make me realize we really were meant to be together. these things can't be coincidence, can they? there must be strong connections binding us - and we would probably have found our way to one another no matter what.

and now, our long weekend is winding to a close. a new week awaits. with new projects and new challenges ahead. but these experiences (and a lot of sunshine) leave us fortified and ready to face it head-on. but first, a bit of rest.

* most of the photos above were taken by sabin.