I Found a Small Heart—Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Fixing lunch yesterday, I found a small heart.  Resting in the sack of potatoes,

Heart-PotatoJust waiting for me to notice it!

There it is…that confirmation that love always surrounds us.

┊  ♥

❤

Love shows up in every single place we go. It waits for us…all we have to is look.

 

In the space of heartbeat…the Universe tells us we never stand alone.

Love,

Linda

Another Sign of Spring—Monday, February 22, 2016

On Thursday, of last week we had wind, clouds and scattered showers.  The wind was a mess…it picked up the garbage cans and flung them here and there and everywhere.

It knocked off some tiles on the chicken roof, which I spent Saturday fixing. The wind was a mess!  Well, actually the wind created a mess. (It also dried out more of the mud! 🙂 So it was also a blessing! )

BUT….

along with the wind came rain showers

Sorta-rainbowAnd with the showers a very, very, faint rainbow.  Terry said it is so light it really doesn’t count…But I counted it!  I saw it! It was bright enough my eye could see it and the camera caught it’s faint colors.  So that counts!

A Rainbow!  We are moving forward!

YAY!

Your friend,

Linda

The Full Moon of February—Sunday, February 21, 2016

Moon-1February’s Full Moon is called the Hunger Moon.  A time of scarcity and want. If you click on the blue link you will be taken to a site that will give you the names of the moon in the northern hemisphere AND in the southern hemisphere.

WarmBut for us it’s finally warming up, of which I am very grateful!

MoreThe warmth is good for giving birth to new little ones.  There are more and more every day. Such a huge joy!

Two full weeks to go until farming starts.  Not long now.  Two weeks for the ‘decision to be finalized’.  Nothing has been carved into to stone (at this point), but the time is narrowing down.  (BUT I must say there is a huge restlessness occurring…

Blading-in-the-ditch

the tractor with the blade has been out and about scraping up the ruts in the long lane to our house, blading in old ditches,

Fixing-Fences-and-gates-2fences have been moved, straighten and re-aligned…

cc.jpgThe woodpile is cut, sawed, chopped, and split …..the sheds straightened and sorted…)

Two weeks…

Your friend on a western Colorado Farm,

Linda

 

 

Popping Up all Over—-Thursday, February 18, 2016

It’s trying to rain here.  Breezy and cold with scattered showers.

Cold-front-coming-inI saw a very weak sundog yesterday… which, usually, means cooler to even down-right-cold weather within three days.

Still all in all Spring is coming.  The Red-Winged Blackbirds are back, I’ve been seeing flocks of Blue Birds and then yesterday, when out counting calves, there  was a pair of Western Meadow Larks sitting on the fence as I passed by.  YAY!

OneWe have 80 soon-to-be-momma’s here on the Maternity Ward.  🙂   Yesterday evening I had only counted five new little ones.

TwoBut this morning, as the cows woke-up and started walking toward our house, I counted 9 baby calves.  I’m pretty sure there are more, but I haven’t walked over the whole farm to see how many there really are.

ThreeOh the joy of Spring and new little critters!  Soon we won’t be a Maternity Ward but a NURSERY!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Last of the Pinto Beans—Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Pate-of-beansI cooked the last of our pinto beans last night. The aroma of the beans earthy sweetness suffused the kitchen, welcoming us with a comforting embrace.   (Eating beans and corn together supplies all the amino acids necessary for our bodies add in some ham; cook together until the beans are done. Serve with a hot chili pepper —- yum.)

Over supper Terry and I talked about farming this coming year.  The big question: ‘Are you going to farm?’  Flashing loud and constant, like a neon sign.  The second week of March is when the ground will need to be worked, the ditches made, the canal put in order, the seeds bought.

Disking-2010-008

“I don’t know”, Terry shook his head.  ” I really don’t know. But I need to be deciding I have to purchase the seeds (including the pinto beans—he plants Bill Zee pinto beans), the alfalfa field needs plowed up and moved….there are things I want to do to improve the place, a renter just can’t, nor should do.”Plowing-2011“I just don’t know.”  He shook his head again.

Leveling

“Besides I don’t want to be like our friend…he sold the farm, moved to town, grew so depressed because he didn’t have the farm anymore he rushed his move of the rainbow bridge one night.”

“That was terribly sad, for him and his family.  But we are NOT going to sell the farm.”  I pointed out.

Marking-Out“No, but Bob, rented his out and said it was the worst thing he ever did.  No one could farm the place properly.”

irrigation-begins-picasa.jpgI just smiled.

Planting-CornThen all the old farmers who are my age, keep asking me what I plan on doing if I don’t farm….die?!

Opening-the-corn-Ground

“I just don’t know.”  He said as he pushed himself away from the table.  “I just don’t know.”

CornerSo here it is the million dollar question….with the clock ticking.

Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm,

Linda

 

Time Turning Always—Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Our kids and grandchildren left yesterday…suddenly the house had an empty feeling, albeit was rather nice.  I’ve reached an age and time in my life where lots of space from noise, conversation, constant sounds is a relief.

I have also reached a place where having them drive away is heart wrenching; the knowledge they are gone —- back to lives far from us.

Happy-BirthdayWe celebrated our youngest 8th birthday! She is a ‘sparkly’ kind of child..fake diamonds and glittered studded boots were the hit of the gifts.  A Chinese blooming candle a delight upon her cake.

Watching her talking with with (our learning to drive grandson), and very modern 11 year old granddaughter,  has caused me to think back over all those many years ago when I was 8, or 11, or……  I remember watching my parents, friends of my parents, my grandparents and my great-aunts and great-uncles.  Observing attentively I tried on their ‘ways’ for myself.  Over time I took little pieces I could use, then looking deeply within I found things that I couldn’t find elsewhere, things that were uniquely mine.

Every year, as the grandchildren get older, I know they are inventing themselves.  Just like each one of us.

Seeing my age-marked hand, there in the corner of Tally’s birthday photo, gave me a start.  For a second I saw my Mother’s hands…no! wait! ….It was the hands of my grandfather, my mother’s father.

Grey

Ghosts of those we have loved and ghosts of those with whom we share DNA flit within us.  If I look in the mirror I see Momma looking back, if I turn quickly and look out the corner of my eye my mother’s mother is there beckoning me to come sit by her.  Just for a spell.  In my dreams I see all them again, just like before.  Standing solid in my life. Memories made of ghosts who still touch my heart.

The years have now join with my body producing hair of gray, wrinkles where youthful skin once was, my physical body still works as hard as it ever has, only it take me longer to do what I once did much faster.

Still every thing is good…this growing older, for it means there is still life.

With love, your friend always,

Linda

 

A Photo Gift from the Black Forest in Colorado—Monday, February 15, 2016

How lucky I am!!  How lucky you are!  Elaine sent me two photos from her mountain home in the Black Forest, Colorado.

Snow-at-Elaines

The first is a photo of the mighty snow they have this year.  She writes that their greenhouse has made it through, although, her husband has had to continually go out and sweep the snow off of it.

Pike's-Peak

The just across the way she took a photo of Pikes Peak, looking south west from Shoup Road in the Black Forest.  Pikes Peak, American’s Mountain.

The world is beautiful place!

Your friend,

Linda

 

 

I Love Hearts in Nature—Sunday, Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2016

Heart-4I love looking for hearts in nature!  I look for them where ever I might find myself.

Heart-StoneWhen I find them it confirms that love always surrounds us—it’s up to us to ‘see’.

Love♥ comes from those we love, and from those who love us.

┊  ♥

But it also shows up in every single place we go. It waits for us…all we have to is look.

Bleeding-Heart-2Hearts are always there, whether we notice them or not.

The-HeartUndoubtedly there are hearts around you right now, too.

HeartNurturing love, through times of turmoil and transition.

It brings us to the next level of our lives.  As we climb each level, love awaits.

Moon-StoneNo matter which path in the road we take, no matter where we stroll, no matter what journey we are on.

Love is there, traveling with us, sometimes running ahead to wrap us in protection and care.

It’s up to us to see.  “All the windows of my heart I open to the day.”-— John Greenleaf Whittier once wrote.

Happy Valentine’s Day my Friends,

Love,

Linda

First Rattle Out-of-the-Box—-Thursday, February 11, 2016

The very first thing this morning we had a load of gravel delivered.  He had to come this early while the ground was still frozen.

Spreading-Gravel-2

The mud is so terribly bad we can’t get anything done.  we can’t even walk out to the hay stack yard or even to the shops without sinking up to our ankles.

Spreading-Gravel-1

Although, we only graveled by the buildings

Spreading-Gravel-5and down the long lane by the bridge,

Spreading-Gravel-4

it really should help.

Spreading-Gravel-3NOW!  Boomer and I can go for a walk to get the mail, instead of taking a wheeled-vehicle.

NOW!  When the last loads of hay leave the yard they can GET it to get it!  YAY!

It’s supposed to be 48* today! The sun is shining and the birds are singing.  We have gravel covering up the mud…Life is Good!

Love,

Linda

 

The Small Hours—Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Trails-1We heat our house with a wood fire place—it is my job to either let the fire go out and restart it in the morning, or to keep the wood burning day and night.  I have opted for keeping the wood going day and night.  Because of that decision my body is tuned to the subtle sifts in the temperature of the house, as the wood burns down.  That is one reason I’m awake in the middle of the night.  (Although, that reason doesn’t work for the other seasons of the year.)

I think I’m a light sleeper.  I always have been, even as a small child.  I drove my parents bats, since they were heavy sleepers.

Evening-2 Last night I came awake quite suddenly.  Laying in bed I could NOT figure out what had waken me.  I checked the wood stove, all was good there, checked Boomer, okay, and all the cats.  Terry was sleeping peacefully.

I have no notion what why…

Laying back down, turned so I could look out the window; I thought to myself how the air had stilled, there was the inward feel tof the small hours—even though it was still full dark.

I lay very still listening. An ember broke in the wood stove, with a crack then another with a muffled pop.

sunrise-work

The night was undisturbed, waiting for the sunrise.  I drifted off to sleep once more secure in the fact our nights are growing shorter and the days longer.  In another month we will have a completely different feel to our winter weary world.

With much love,

Linda