This may come as surprising news, but we also have a cat.  She was rescued from a shelter in Northern California in August 2001.  She had been dropped off in the middle of the night so she had no name or history, but they thought she was about 2 years old and possibly abused.  She was huddled in the back of the cage and looked so little and scared that my heart immediately wanted to make her mine.  Keith was more interested in "Mr. Bigglesworth" a 17-pound orange tabby that came with his own sofa!  Although a lovable fellow, there was so much cat hair and furniture that I was not convinced (clearly, this was years before the Golden Retriever hair factory moved in!)  We decided to wait until we found a cat we could both agree on, but my thoughts kept turning toward the sweet little grey and white kitty that I would name "blossom".  I called Keith to tell him, but he couldn't answer his phone because he was already at the SPCA picking up my new kitty-meow to surprise me.  See, he is so thoughtful!!

Blossom had a nice, mellow life even though we kept letting big blonde dogs in the house that ate her food.  She was not a mean cat, but not necessarily friendly.  She didn't like to be picked up, pet too long, not a fan of treats or toys.  Rarely jumped on things (except to sun herself) and never scratched the furniture or window coverings.  Her happy existence consisted of sleeping, eating, visiting the litter box, and sleeping some more until it was time to eat again.  Sadly, this leisurely lifestyle with not much exercise caught up to her and we had to put her to sleep this morning.  Farewell, sweet kitty. 

I cannot think of words to describe how much I love my sweet New England life.  Although I have LONGED to live here for as long as I can remember and although I feel like it has always been a part of who I am; I'm amazed at how it has changed me.  The change has not really been evident in my heart, but oh my has it shown up in my daily wardrobe choices!  When I lived in California, just going about my daily life, it would not be uncommon to hear "You look adorable, today!" from strangers and friends alike.  Well, I haven't heard any accolades about my Bogs which I don every day.  Even still, I'm filled with glee.  I even told Keith not to buy me a birthday present this year.  What??  I love to celebrate people and the important days in their life... including me, and now I wear rubber boots every day and I refuse birthday gifts.  Who am I?  My request was two-fold; we have just spent another obscene chunk of cash on the barn, but more importantly, I genuinely feel like every day of my life here is a gift.

I have so much to be thankful for: my handsome and ridiculously generous prince, my sweet and ridiculously hairy pup, my growing and ridiculously silly chickens, my gracious and ridiculously loving God who's mercies are new every morning!  Peonies in my garden, friends within walking distance and those a phone call away, family near and far, and a 228 year old barn of my very own.  It is in fact, too much goodness. 

I cannot believe how quickly time flies by.   Our sweet fuzzy pup, celebrated his first birthday.  We picked him up from the breeder when he was 8 weeks old the same day we picked up the keys to our house so it’s been a great marker of time for us.  Although, Hamish’s transition has been much quicker than our progress on the property, it is still a great place to be a dog.  He has so much territory to explore and so many birds to chase.  He continues to be a delightful addition to my every day.  He’s just getting so big, I think it might be time for another puppy…

We live on a farm now, so of course we need some chickens.  Although Keith engaged in hours of research on the breeds we would raise and placed an order for a June delivery of 25 fuzzy little girls, we went a different route.  Our neighbor offered to order chickens on our behalf based on her years of experience and although I’m not sure what we are raising I’ve been assured they are “the best!”  The delivery arrived 2 weeks before we were ready; inconvenient? Yes. Am I completely smitten? You betcha!

Ok, I know you shouldn’t get attached to farm animals.  They are not pets, they are livestock.  But they are cute and fuzzy and I enjoy caring for them.  In only 10 days they have moved from a wee little take out box, to a fish tank, to a large cardboard box, the crate Hamish used with he was cute and fuzzy, and most recently his big dog crate.  They are growing everyday, trading some down for feathers, and very much determining a pecking order.  Enjoying their new digs they run back and forth flapping their wings and jumping on their friends.  Now we are on vacation for a week (hence the original delivery date) and when I get back home they will be big, gawky girls which will probably make it easier for me to separate my affections and have a more realistic relationship with my charges. Well, we’ll see about that.

What a welcomed season!  It has been so fun to see what these trees - that were beautiful and green when we moved in, then put on a stunning show in the fall before putting their artistic drama on when the leaves fell (and boy were there A LOT of leaves to rake!) were capable of after a very looooong winter.

As gorgeous as these blooms are, they are no match for the cute fuzzy goodness on the other side of the fence.  Our neighbor, Nan Norseen’s sheep and goats just had babies.  Can you stand how cute these little guys are?

After a winter like this past one, everybody in New England is anxiously awaiting the first signs of spring.  April 1 brought the first day of lovely weather and the yard work began.  The snow was completely melted on April 13, just in time for one last snowstorm 3 days later.  Thankfully, it was quick to melt which was a good thing because we had work to do.  With the overwhelming task of learning life on the east coast while figuring out what is required of this house and property, the weeds and brush were allowed to grow uncontested all summer long.  The remaining spindly stalks that survived the winter were now ready to be cleared.  Better late than never, right?  Plus we were running out of days on our burn permit.  As a side note, living where you are allowed to burn your yard waste is another addition to the “new” list.  In California, you aren’t even allowed to burn in your fireplace so the idea of setting a large fire on Main Street felt daunting and thrilling at the same time.

With clippers in hand I went to work on the unruly mess and 3 weeks later (I am NOT exaggerating!) ended up with a pretty impressive pile.  It was very validating to see the fruit of my labor since my body felt like I had pulled this many weeds.  And then, just like that it went up in smoke.