the view (of kittens) from sunday night

my new job is just great - friendly colleagues, a good atmosphere and exciting tasks - really it's everything i could ask for. but, is it terrible that what i miss most about being away from home during the week is the cats? especially these adorable kittens. i spent my whole morning with them. they will never be cuter than they are right now, so i'm trying to enjoy every second of it.

of course, i also miss husband, but him, i can talk to and i do, sometimes even more than once a day. usually, to try to make sure he listens to the podcast of the day's korte radioavis, which is radio's answer to the daily show - current events satire at its finest. we have to discuss it every day.

i've tried to make husband put the cats on, so we can chat, but it just doesn't work. even tho' scout is a talker and i'm sure he'd talk to me if husband would just put him on. meanwhile, the kittens are growing up so fast and i'm missing it. i wonder if someone is making a smart phone for pets?

one nice thing about being away is that mail accumulates and there were a couple of packages waiting for me - my latest cathy cullis brooch and the scarf i ordered from skinny la minx months and months ago. i wonder where it was hanging out all this time? if only packages could talk.

i don't yet have a laptop, but as soon as it arrives, i will do a proper catch-up here. but now, it's time to pack for the journey back to copenhagen early tomorrow morning (thank odin for the time change). it's so good to be over there again.

* * *

what is up with all of the talk of finding your passion today and what if it's crap?

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south dakota is better than you think.

the view from sunday night

some time spent with sharpies. as a person who is utterly unable to sit down and meditate, the adult coloring books are the next best thing. precisely what i needed late friday afternoon.

frieda, with her eye on a bird out the window. she brought in two live ones, one dead and also released a live mouse in the house. she's very thoughtful and so hopes that pretty soon we'll catch on ourselves and she'll have to stop working so hard.

on saturday, betty went her new home with a young girl who appreciates her. it's always good to know you've found a good home for the horse. with the child away at efterskole, we decided we'd go out for dinner. we tried the newly renovated kro in billund and it was brilliant. totally unexpected for billund, but they have apparently hired a real chef and they made truly delicious, exciting, innovative food that delighted us and made us think and prompted conversation. this photo above, however, is our sunday night dinner at home - steak & halloumi tacos using authentic corn tortillas from the mexican food truck that now comes to...you guessed it...billund (it's like billund is almost a real place now) on thursdays. with mild temps and some sunshine, and a whole afternoon moving hostas (20 of them), i feel rejuvenated by the weekend. and maybe just a small bit of that spark i've been missing is creeping back in.

scenes from a weekend (warning: carnage ahead)

we awoke saturday morning at our leisure, only realizing later that it was because there was no annoying crowing from our rooster. that's because a fox appeared to have gotten him in the night. he'd been turning aggressive of late, to both me and the best cats, so i have to admit i don't feel that badly about it.

the feral hen (our one lone survivor from last summer's chicken rustlers) is just fine and so are her four babies (tho' this morning, there were only 3 and she wasn't telling why).

here's how bacon and bacon are doing these days. the bacon with the black spot on her side (she's on the right) took the hose from me soon after this and dragged it over to her mud pit all by herself. she's no dummy and we're thinking she wants to be our mama pig going forward. how can you dispute such intelligence?

we tried the strawberry shrub (it's strawberries cured in vinegar that you use, mixed with fizzy water, like a cordial) this weekend. it was brilliant and i made two more jars of it, plus bought cherries and made two jars of cherry shrub as well. it tastes old-fashioned in a very good way...like a cold black cherry soda from a dime pop machine in an implement dealership in a small town.

we decided our latest batch of bunnies are old enough to sell, so we had a little photo session. how cute are they? these are the batch we like to think of as the immaculate conception bunnies, as to our knowledge their mother was never with the buck.

sabin has totally got the hang of her personal cotton candy/candy floss machine. we like to call her the cotton candy/candy foss whisperer.

i spent several hours on saturday, picking these and more than two hulling them and preparing to make them into 11 jars of jam, two shrubs and four bottles of cordial.

i decided to make small jars, as they are more giftable and we eat them up better. when it's time for æbleskiver in december, these will come in very, very handy.

it was time for the first honey harvest today as well - 13 frames, 20 kilos. it's good to have honey for our tea once again.

it was a nice afternoon, so husband built a fire and we grilled some sausages. there's just something about food eaten outside, don't you think?

the little hen knows there's trouble afoot, so she coaxed her small children up into a tree with her, where the fox can't get them. she's no dummy, that hen.

we spent the evening building a bit of LEGO. i finished up my maersk triple e ship (photos coming soon in good light) and sabin built the LEGO Friends caravan. and then promptly crashed into the juice bar. as one does when one is playing with LEGO Friends outside of the normal age recommendations.

here's hoping you all had a blissful and fox-free weekend wherever you are.

the view from sunday night

it rained most of the weekend, but between showers, i managed to pick a bowlful of violets to make cordial. i also picked a wheelbarrow full of rhubarb and made cordial of that as well. and it doesn't even look like i picked any. the rhubarb is doing well.

so well, in fact, that i had to make a rhubarb cake. which i've blogged here, if you're interested in the recipe. it's the perfect mother's day cake. but alas, my mother wasn't here and my family didn't seem to have gotten the message that it was mother's day. not that i really mind. isn't it really just another day crafted by the consumption industry to try to force us to eat out in restaurants, buy flowers and jewelry? tho' it would have been nice to have been served breakfast in bed.

i was walking out to the garden to pick some asparagus for my risotto when i happened to catch these two snails in the act. i went back an hour or more later, to give the cats and the pigs their dinner and tuck in the chickens and they were still at it. i guess they were enjoying the rainy weather. i'm not sure if they're ones we painted on, as i didn't want to disturb them to check their shells more closely.

with the rainy, dreary weather, we were in the mood for some comfort food, so i made a chicken and asparagus risotto. it's also got dried mushrooms in it. my neighbor dried a whole lot of mushrooms she found at her summerhouse in sweden last summer and they are a heavenly cooking ingredient. i think risotto one of the great kitchen gifts. so easy, so comforting, so warm and so delicious. it takes whatever tastes you throw at it and seems at once homey and elegant somehow. perfect sunday night food.

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other than things domestic, i was reading this piece on generation y and the reasons for their unhappiness and i wondered if it doesn't also apply a little bit to generation x.

i'm also watching a couple of FX series - fargo (based on the coen brothers film of the same name) and the americans. fargo is fantastic and i feel very impatient for the next episode. i'm slowly getting into the americans. i think i was just in the mood for fargo. it's well-written, well-acted and the way they have woven in the original movie is so cleverly done; there are echoes of it throughout, even tho' it's a new story. and it all begins, like the film, with the coen brothers myth that it's based on a true story. it's not. minnesotans are more sensible than that. but they really do have that accent.

and have you seen the lego episode of the simpsons yet? quite subversive and a bit edgier than i would have thought. a good melding of the two brands that allows them each to be who they are. thumbs up from me. best line from bart, "i'm a creative but undisciplined builder." most subversive moment, when the minister says, "bad news people, our religion is not true. sorry about that."

glorious summer days

these gorgeous summer days don't really get any more relaxed. frieda (aka paws mcgraw) demonstrates.

sabin braided a clover flower crown. we all tried it on. husband said i looked swedish in it. i'm choosing to see that as a good thing. oddly enough, no one took my picture.

why is it again that they say not to photograph against the light? sabin spent last week with a friend and her family at a summer house up north. we were very glad to have her home again.

sabin took this gorgeous shot of our dear, elderly lila belle. she's been loving the warm summer days as well and has even been seen playing, despite her 14+ years.

even husband tried on the clover crown. he's very secure in his masculinity that way. we had to have a photo of that. maybe there's no photos of me because i'm mostly behind the camera.

what the weekend brought...

it feels like all of that work in the garden is starting to pay off at last.

the weekend brought the first test of the cider press (more about that tomorrow over here - i have 138 photos to sort before i can write) and meals consisting of nearly only things from the garden (reminder to self: must plant a bacon plant next year).

it also brought spontaneous guests, deep philosophical conversations about the meaning of life and two more wine balloons bought for a song on den blå avis (our version of craig's list). it brought a bunny photo shoot and phrases to memorize the dressage arena (A Fat Black Mama Cat Has Eight Kittens). it brought a walk in the woods looking for mushrooms.

it also brought a run-in with a nasty, mean hawthorne branch (lest you think it was all fabulousness). but mostly, there was a lot of laughter, relaxing and enjoying being together, even while we did mundane things like clean the bunny cages.

another busy week awaits, but we're refreshed, renewed and ready for it.

magical mushrooms

it's mushroom season. the forest floor is carpeted with a huge variety. i lament my slim knowledge of mushrooms again and again. i need a mushroom mentor. i know that the red ones are beautiful, but will make you quite sick, yet still i'm utterly charmed by them. 

yesterday, i found a nice patch of chanterelles, which i made for dinner (but neglected to properly photograph, other than with instagram). that little yellow one is plentiful and delicious -a yellow swamp brittlegill. the bottom one, i want to know more about...it somehow seems like pure mushroom perfection...velvety, perfectly shaped, the very picture of how a mushroom should be. i wish someone would invent a mushroom identifying app. because i would totally use that.

if anyone knows what any of these are called, please let me know!! (i know red ones are amanitas.)

thoughts from a sunday evening

~ we had wild weather this weekend and there wasn't even a hurricane where we are. but we had loads of wind and a veritable deluge of rain. that's why the bobbaloos, who had wanted to go on a walk and look for mushrooms, are looking wistfully out at the rain.

~ about 15 minutes before the deluge, i convinced husband to go on a walk with me, assuring him that those clouds weren't going to amount to anything. about half a kilometer from home, the rain began and we ran for it, reaching the relative shelter of the trees before it started to come in buckets. it made me think i missed my calling as a weather girl, since i have no apparent ability to predict the weather and it seems that's a prerequisite for that job.

~ when will i learn not to keep reading a book that sucks? why, oh why, when life is as short as it is and books so plentiful, do i slog on through one that i know i don't like. i'm speaking here of anita shreve's all he ever wanted, but i could be talking about the completely over-rated visit from the goon squad by jennifer egan. reprehensible characters about which i don't care should be a sign to stop reading.

~ we attended our annual crayfish & schnapps party last evening and i am blissfully reminded of how very good it is to spend time with intelligent, interesting people. my husband has some seriously awesome family. and i got my quota of laughter for the week. it's pretty mind-blowing how much energy it gives you to laugh well.

~ looking forward to testing out our apple cider press this week. if it works, we're thinking of hosting a cider event at our house - where people can come, bring their apples, help with pressing them and do other fun, autumnal things on the farm.

~ shokoofeh and i are planning on making a 2012 calendar of our film swap photos. we'd like to know whether you'd be interested in buying one?  please note, leaving a comment does not constitute a commitment to buy, we'd just like to have an idea of how much interest is out there, so please let us know if that sounds appealing.

~ lately most everything we're eating is from the garden - zucchini (courgette)/eggplant (aubergine) ratatouille, herbed tomato salsa, broad bean hummus (thank you, kristina for the inspiration), salads of thin ribbons of zucchini and tarragon with a bit of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, artichokes with plenty of butter and salt, mushrooms gathered in the forest. i love having a garden. and this time of year it seems like it would be quite easy to be a vegetarian.

~ i made a batch of raspberry jam today. who knew that berries and sugar could smell and taste so heavenly? i'm so glad our raspberry canes are autumn ones.

here's hoping your weekend was wonderful and full of laughter and great conversation.

hello from sunday evening

it was one of those days where time stretched.

expanded.

became exactly how much we needed.

the cows are as curious as ever.

the farmers in the neighborhood are harvesting their wheat and rye and barley.

sophus (formerly known as sophia) escaped and ran around outside the cage.

we rode the horse and bonded with the cat.

husband has started another building project.

a deluxe pig shed. with an attic.

it's right next to the chickens.

and they think he's just hanging out, keeping them company.

i'm personally thinking of squeezing them, to make them lay some eggs.

it's hard waiting for them to begin.

there was time to paint a snail -

with rather a modern feel.

raspberries were picked and preserved (with homemade vanilla).

and rosehip syrup was made -

for those vitamin c hits we'll need next winter.

homework is done.
everyone's bathed.
we've had a dose of kitchen inspiration.
we're ready to face a new week.

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so cool: lost library project
baking for bunnies.
loving these thoughts on inspiration and breaking with old ways of being.
and feeling inspired by thoughts of a place like this.

what are you looking at?

here's what i'm looking at:

this beautiful blog. 

and this one.

and the new skinny laminx catalog.

and i'm also...

coveting this magical mushroom.

reading the elegance of the hedgehog

(because we have a hedgehog.)

(tho' oddly there hasn't been a hedgehog in the story yet.)

(but it's beautiful anyway. i'm underlining every other line. in the library's book.)

dreaming about crocheting one of these.

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hope you're spending your weekend wisely.

hello from sunday evening

quite possibly the cutest cauliflower in the world.

there's a cabbage in there somewhere.

eggplant-to-be

and more eggplants. we like them.

these will be sweet red peppers.

sunset, golden, but with the slightest tinge of autumn.
the air still and clear after an early evening shower.
a calm has settled over the house.
our visitors are all gone.
there's laundry in the washer and dishes in the dishwasher.
everyone's showered and scrubbed and relaxed.
we feel sated after a weekend filled with good conversation, good food and good weather.
it's hard to imagine feeling more relaxed.
so bring on august.
we're ready.