Showing posts with label wv mountain life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wv mountain life. Show all posts

Saturday, November 26, 2011

crow and company

We had plenty of visiting going on here at the farm. Brittany and Jonathan came out for dinner on Wednesday,  then my Mom and Step-dad on Thursday and Friday. On Monday and Tuesday, Rusty's sister and family stayed here. Thursday, Brittany and Jonathan were back for Thanksgiving, and yesterday, Friday we went to Rusty's Dad's house to meet up with more family. Then to the airport for some flying.

Quite a bit of socialization for a monk farmer woman.

In the middle of all that, new rabbits were born to two mothers, as well as a fresh batch of hatch-lings. Meanwhile, all the normal work involved to keep things running does not stop. The barnyard folks can't be put on the back-burner. They have daily needs and with them, always come a few surprises. Like a breach of fence security and it rained of course. So it was mucky. Mucky and geese and dogs getting loose, me falling, filling pools, late night feeding, a puppy, cleaning, cooking, running here and there for supplies.

Oh and on Thanksgiving Rusty went out and was successful with his deer hunt and brought a huge eight point buck home. Who is hanging now and needs to be processed packed and put in the freezer.

Big breath.

I haven't forgot you all. I will catch up on some past posts and get back in the groove here. I have missed you. Here are some great photos by my sis-in-law, Beth and my daughter Sophia took. She had a borrowed crazy zoom lens on her camera. So here is a little close-up of part of my week:

Alejandro and Lady Gaga growing and rooting

Sophia

my little nephew holding a black English Angora baby rabbit

my Earl

molt and a roo

my nephew helped with farm chores

moving the geese back... again

adlelei, house bunny

an apple-lier

meet Bear, rescue dog

Blue Clay, TN fainter goat would not faint on demand

Blueberry my dog, came over with Brittany

Another of Beth's awesome photos

I love the help

boys and more boys

Blue Topaz five little English Angora kits

black English Angora baby rabbit

cheep

I taught my nephew how to milk a goat

he is a natural

mixed breed roo

more awesome photography

gossip

"major medical boi" (Aflac commercial)

Moon angry at the paparazzi


the essence of Sophia

Kevin, my Bro-in-law, 2 nephews (one is a little one) and Grandpa pilot

Rusty and the cousins

drama queen ;-)
 
perfection

pre-teens

Beth finds the beauty at the airport

I love my Bro-in-law

up

down

three rides
Sophia's view 1

Sophia's view 2

Sophia's view 3

Sophia's view 4

Sophia's view 5

Sophia's view 7
my view

my view 2
another safe and beautiful landing
thanks Beth

Beth, is a master cook, a super-mom, an awesome photographer, glamorous woman, and a great sister-in-law. Thanks for sharing the week with us kin folk here in W&W WV..

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

neither here nor there

WV Fall 2011


 Today as I was driving my old blue Dodge truck through the winding mountain roads lined with brightly painted Fall foliage. I drove with my windows down inhaling the crisp air. I got a sense that there was something calling to my soul place. I think my two dogs felt it too, as both of them had their heads completely out the window, noses to the air. eyes squinted, ears flapping.

It calls me in quiet ways, just underneath my awareness as I looked up at the mountains covered in color. It is both distant and familiar and sprinkled with a touch of melancholy. I suddenly get the urge for some fresh apple cider, and candy corn. Funny how seasons can bring you places. All at once it just creeps up, and there you are... little, in a big pile of leaves, stuffing your scarecrow.

There is something else manifesting that is not so quiet. It feels more like a roar, a howl or a bray, or some sound that calls out with great passion, right past me, right to the ancestors and back again. Something that gives me the goosebumps which touches closer to my awareness now today as a woman here in the WV mountains. Fall, is the time for me to say good-bye to the carefree warmth of Summer days, feet in the green grass and picking fruit time. Instead, I now am bringing in the last harvest, preparing for the cold.

I watch the leaves blow by me as my mind is suddenly looking ahead to the Winter.

It is the in-between time. The end of the growing cycle and the beginning of the dark times. Taking the cue from nature, it is also the place on wheel of the year when the veil between life and death is thin. When people honor loved ones who have past. When the living and and the dead meet. Some call it Halloween, All Hallows Day, Samhain, and The Day of the Dead. Although some of these celebrations may seem bizarre in American culture, It is quite normal in others. I tend to be open to others. I will set a place for my deceased grandmother and leave her a few offerings. I woulds like to think her spirit might smile, where ever it is. If you ever want to speak to a loved one who has transitioned, in the coming weeks, will be the best time of the year. Perhaps you will see a "sign" and that will allow you to say a few words, ignoring for a minute what you believe about death and the afterlife.

I can feel it coming. Hibernation, and a quieter time, conserving energy and reflecting inward seeking a heightened sense of knowing, then finding it easier to connect to the all.

In other words... it is Spooky time people! ;-)

a pretty maple tree on my property
looking up

Enjoy your Fall, or if your are reading this from Down Under, I wish you a Happy Springtime.

wild, wonderful, woman ~crow
Press the arrow to hear my very good friend singer songwriter, Casi Null part of the Clementines. I love their rendition of this song. West Virginia, Oh my home.

West Virginia Oh My Home