TOBAGO

We are home from three glorious weeks in Tobago. This dear little blue cottage in the seaside village of Parlatuvier has been our home for those weeks. We first discovered the charms of this village in 1996 and have tried to return each year for much needed restoration.

Unfortunately we have been unable to head to Tobago since 2008 due to complications of selling our farm and relocating to a new and much smaller holding. So, this years trip was all the sweeter for all the missed years. Not all that much has changed since last we were here. The derelict 'pink papaya' cottage remains empty and unsold. Joyfully the 'dusk to dawn' light over the front porch is off as is all the electricity. It appears that many of the windows have been taken and the doors flap in the breezes. Such a waste.

One morning we looked up from our coffee and Kindles to see this two masted sail boat with Nantucket Red sail passing across our bay. Just beautiful!

Our friends Bea and Win operate a marvelous guest house here in Parlatuvier for six months of the years. Win and FSS (my husband) went to Kent School together back in the late 60's. In 2006 we were having a late afternoon swim in the sea and we struck up a conversation with a couple that had just bought fish from the local fish pier and were swimming toward us. We introduced ourselves. Imagine our surprise when it turned out that both husbands had gone to the same school. Lots to catch up on and we have maintained a wonderful friendship ever since. Dinners were shared at our little cottage and on their marvelous veranda high on a cliff overlooking the sea. We'll see them this summer here at Amen Farm in late July.

ANCIENT ROADS

Yesterday I took a hike with a friend on one of North Pownal's "Ancient Roads" which coincidentally happens to be the road we live on. The maintained section of Tubs Rd ends about three tenths of a mile above us and that is where the ancient section begins. We climbed straight up for nearly a mile, vestiges of stone walls lining the track, until we reached the height of land. This is a wonderful time of year to be up on top as the leaves aren't yet there to obstruct the views. And glorious views there are!! It must have been magnificent up there when it was open meadows for grazing. We continued on eventually crossing the line into Hoosick, NY. There are several hunting camps along the road and one ambitious soul cleared quite a large area and has planted hundreds of apple tree whips presumably to eventually attract deer to the drops. Hope he is young as he has many years to wait til those trees bear fruit. At one point we stopped to listen to a couple of Barred Owls calleing back and forth. No spring birds to be heard up there, just the occasional Nuthatch or Chickadee. We were out for a little over three hours. A lovely adventure.

A Day at the Beach

The girls were enjoying the warm spring sunshine yesterday afternoon. The vet was here in the morning to give the gang their spring shots.

Sonnet was a real *STAR*! I think back to the days when she was emotionally unable to tolerate shots and am so grateful for the power of a tongue click and a bit of food.

Today has been perfectly glorious. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon waging war on Garlic Mustard. This will be my third spring and the battle continues although I am seeing the results of my efforts. There is much less this year than last.

SHARPIE

Look who came to visit this morning! As I was walking out to fill the feeders I caught movement out of the corner of my eye! He had just taken down a Mourning Dove and was in the process of despatching it although not without some protest from the dove.

ANDIRONS addendum

For some reason way beyond my understanding I was able to publish the pictures of the andirons but unable to add text??? Ahhhhh, the mysteries of the internet........

Many years ago when 'himself' was a boy he and his family lived in Annandal, NY close to the Bard Campus. Apparently it was viewed a horrible little house, hardly fit accomodation for a family of six. From what I gather the family wasn't there for all that long before moving to Spring Brook Farm in Red Hook , now a family of seven. The Spring Brook Farm house was a great big rambling farmhouse with a touch of elegance .... a lovely medalllion and crown molding on the dining room ceiling, french doors in the living room that opened onto the front porch, and an elegant front entry hall with a large and graceful staircase. There was a working fireplace in the living room and that is where the andirons from the Annandale house 'landed'. In the early seventies the farm was sold and the andirons went on to grace the fireplace in the new house on 9G.
After nearly twenty years of glorious fires that house was sold and the andirons along with a lovely brass fender went into storage in one of the barns at Echo Valley Farm, home of 'himself's elder sister and her family. At some point the brass fender came to us at our Windsor, Mass farm. We attempted to clean it ourselves but the years in the barn had resulted in grime and discoloration that was beyond our efforts so we sent it out to be professionally cleaned and polished.
When we built our house in Reading , Vermont we had two fireplaces and only one pair of andirons so FSS asked for the pair that were stored in the barn. We cleaned them up and put them in the livingroom firelace. Absolutely gorgeous!!! Magnificent!! I wish I had a photo of them in that fireplace but that was before digital photography and I never dreamed that time was of the essence ..... that we would suddenly pack up, leave for Pownal, VT and sell the Reading place. The andirons found a home in the 1744 NW Hill Road house and now they are here at the most recent iteration of Amen Farm. I'll try to attach a photo here but if that doesn't work I'll publish in a subsequent post.

ANDIRONS

44 F

This has been an 'open winter' if there ever was one. Here in North Pownal, Vermont we have yet to have our driveway plowed. Granted, we did ask for it to be sanded ONCE. Yesterdays rain has left us without a trace of snow and quite a bit of mud. Even the bird feeding activity has slowed down considerably. On most days there are at least fifty Goldfinches at the feeders at any one time. Today boasts fifteen at best. We were late to have the Chickadees and Tufted Titmice find our feeders but now that they have they are constants.

The other day I took a couple of pics of some finished knitting projects. The light on the front landing wasn't great so the colors are anything but true. The purple is Starmore's Innishmore in Mulberry Bainin The teal/blue is Starmore's Fulmar in Frangipani Ocena Deep. Neither sweater had been blocked when the pictures were taken but figured that I had better take them while the spirit moved.