“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.” ―E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

An August night’s rain brings a soft morning to our acreage. As the men go off to work and early football workouts and the girls awake at a camp on Lake George I spend a few magical moments with the animals and land I’ve neglected for the last few weeks. I won’t notice the weeds or the fly tapes in need of change. I’ll just dash off for my camera before the sun rises too high in the sky.

The sheep are the first to notice my approach.

 

The mama goats complain now and the babies we lock up for the evening (so we can get first dibs on milk each morning) complain as well.

Blue Jays take over the mornings where robins have left off and everything is soft.

 

Frosty Morning Goats

We let our baby does milk from their mothers. This makes chubby, happy babies and relaxed mothers. We take only the mothers’ morning milk for ourselves and have plenty. It may not be the most economical, but it brings us all pleasure. Win/win!

Upstate New York

Night

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COUNTRY LIFE: My Husband’s New Baby

Massey Ferguson in all its glory.

GO RED! Long may she ride.

Sometimes All That Matters Is Baseball

CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

My husband replaced a ragged old flag on the top of the grounded boat in the churchyard to surprise our pastor. They both hail from Illinois, both love the BEARS, both have suffered a lifetime of heartbreak with the CUBS. But when the flag was raised the CUBS went on a 15 game winning streak.

We’ve already had to replace the flag once (the afternoon before the playoffs began) because the winds in our little valley wreak havoc on flags. This morning at 6am my husband received a text from the pastor with the above image. CUBS WIN!!!!

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

After a long dry spell the rain is falling and everyone but the new stray kitty seems pleased (so we set up a box on the porch for him).

The tiny zinnia shakes her little head free of dust and dirt. Doesn’t she look bright?

And from her tucked in place beside the porch she listens to the pitter-patter.

The lambs don’t mind the rain a bit . . .

but the promise of a little grain sends them running to the yard to beg.

The ducks and goats say hello, but goats don’t like the rain so it is a short hello, indeed.

The barnyard is dark now and all the animals sleep in their cozy barn listening to the rain. Good night.