Back!

Came back from Indiana today. Of course, it rained 6/8 days I was there, so little work got done. On the bright side, that rooster on the left of the flock shall hereby be known as Nemesis.

Rooster #2, the white one, remains nameless due to his laid-back nature.

Back to the land of the mountains, minus the goats.

Coming back to Virginia, I can't help but reflect on the amount of movement that's still involved in my life. To Indiana and back is something like 9 hours, and that's a trip 'm willingly making every other month or so. You can drive across a small European country in less than that.

Having reliable car helps.

Very little art was once again done while there, mostly due to the amount of work needing to be done on the property.

At this point, I would like to take off a month and see how much could be done on the Tales of Daon. Not the snippets of poems and background outlines, but the actual 'novel', which is on the top 3 of the current "things to do in life" listing.

(Other things include:
Finishing Mr. Jellyroll poem (Don't ask).
Hybridizing my own african violet/iris/rose/etc,.
Learning to work leather
Learning to lampwork
Learning to do taxidermy -properly- (I can skin a bird as well as anyone, but stuffing the pelt afterwards and making it look good is another piece of the puzzle)
Collecting a good reference library for things natural and artistic
Work in a florist or a nursery for the sake of having that experience (Something that would have to wait until 'm not at the farm at odd times of the year) )


Meanwhile, here's some farm pictures.

The main thing I did in the past week was clear the fence line.
Here's the freed-up barbed wire and posts.



The huge pile of cleared brush, mostly multiflora rose brambles, fallen branches, and blackberry canes.


The freed-up fenceline. Should've taken a "before" picture.


Firewood, gleaned from the trunk that dad and I spent an entire Saturday hacking up and hauling. The fallen tree's been in the pasture for something like 2 years; it was either an oak or a walnut.


The greenhouse shelves that 've put together last week.


The complimentary sunset.

Autumnal reinventory

The trip to the farm was quite enjoyable; a lot of brush-clearing and pasture-mowing was done, along with a little bit of art. Bees are doing well. Three of the hives are almost sure to make it through the winter, two others I'm not so sure aboue.

I brought back both chigger bites and fond memories of hanging out with three very personable mutts; came back to a mostly-alive collection of houseplants, a brand new Kindle, plus a husband that ate too much junk food in the time spent alone. There shall be a lot of reading and gym-going in the nearby future!

I hope to get more organized with blog-posting; maybe keeping it to about a post a week, with book reviews and plant updates included. And speaking of plant updates..

In the realm of AV's, Rob's Loose Noodle's outdone itself with blossoms.


And some of the named leaves I've received in trade have sprouted mouse ears.

A two week haitus.

Basically, in a grand family tradition of six-some years, I get to spend some summer time at my folks' hobby farm in Indiana. Which means slave labor. And all-you-can-eat strawberries. (The hundred plants they've planted a couple of years back have doubled, if not tripled, in number.)

There may or may not be some reading and some artsing. There will be lots of weeding, watering, chiggers and ticks.

Fun times!