animal kingdom / DAILY FARM LIFE / IN MY KITCHEN / life (in general) / LIVING WELL / MOTHERHOOD

snapshots

This is Tiger. Dan calls him"Soup", I guess in keeping with the food names we have for the other cats, "Orange Juice", "Blueberry"….He showed up on our farm right after we moved in, sneaking in meals with our other kittens. No one has made contact with yet, except for Emma. But he's getting braver and braver, now even coming up to the porch to sleep on the cushions. Lately, he's been sitting outside the kitchen window on a bench. It's right outside where I sit at the kitchen table, writing, cooking. Yesterday, after much contemplation, Tiger and I made contact. A little crab dip on my finger didn't hurt things either.

checking me out

thinking about it

first contact

What we do with the leftover cardboard. I can't tell you how much entertainment this provided. Simple joys.

what we do with the leftover cardboard

what we do with the leftover cardboard

what we do with the leftover cardboard

Trying to do something with the abundance of unknown pears growing in the orchard in the back corner or our farm. They are tough-skinned and hard as rocks. I cored and peeled them, then stewed them in a simple sugar syrup, thanks to some help from The Joy of Cooking. Much better now.

a moment to myself

Moments before Emma's pony decided to throw his head forward, again, sending Emma flipping over his head and flopping on to the ground. My friend, Sarah, whose daughter rides in the same lesson, said it was good I didn't see it. Emma tried hard not to cry, but by the time she got back on, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Of course I wanted to jump in there and check on her and rescue her, but I didn't. She went on the trail ride, came back on a different pony, but came back happy. She's a tough little girl.

right before....

The swing. The big swing.

the big swing

Happy Weekend, friends.

This is Tiger. Dan calls him"Soup", I guess in keeping with the food names we have for the other cats, "Orange Juice", "Blueberry"….He showed up on our farm right after we moved in, sneaking in meals with our other kittens. No one has made contact with yet, except for Emma. But he's getting braver and braver, now even coming up to the porch to sleep on the cushions. Lately, he's been sitting outside the kitchen window on a bench. It's right outside where I sit at the kitchen table, writing, cooking. Yesterday, after much contemplation, Tiger and I made contact. A little crab dip on my finger didn't hurt things either.

checking me out

thinking about it

first contact

What we do with the leftover cardboard. I can't tell you how much entertainment this provided. Simple joys.

what we do with the leftover cardboard

what we do with the leftover cardboard

what we do with the leftover cardboard

Trying to do something with the abundance of unknown pears growing in the orchard in the back corner or our farm. They are tough-skinned and hard as rocks. I cored and peeled them, then stewed them in a simple sugar syrup, thanks to some help from The Joy of Cooking. Much better now.

a moment to myself

Moments before Emma's pony decided to throw his head forward, again, sending Emma flipping over his head and flopping on to the ground. My friend, Sarah, whose daughter rides in the same lesson, said it was good I didn't see it. Emma tried hard not to cry, but by the time she got back on, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Of course I wanted to jump in there and check on her and rescue her, but I didn't. She went on the trail ride, came back on a different pony, but came back happy. She's a tough little girl.

right before....

The swing. The big swing.

the big swing

Happy Weekend, friends.

23 comments on “snapshots”

  1. Oh my gosh. You are one tough mama. I don’t know that I would have been able to stay back. We just got back from a bike ride in downtown Scottsdale and that darn near killed me from the stress of watching Annika teeter across the driveways with her training wheels. I need a drink now, or a snuggle with that sweet little kitty of yours. So so cute.

    Happy weekend to you too!

  2. You know what I think is funny about us mamas? I remember being fearless when I was that age, and really enjoying myself- but now I am watching my kids and it’s like ack! So I couldn’t help but nod and laugh a little at you said about your experience with Emma.

    And man, am I loving that big swing or what? My kids would go nut-crazy over that. Course, it requires big, mature trees, and our oak is only three years old!

  3. What an adorable kitty!!

    I’m glad you were brave today. Most times those kinds of falls look way worse, having been tossed more than a few times in my life. I did get the breath knocked out of me once but that’s as bad as it ever got.

    The swing is wonderful! We have a huge oak tree but too many fences and decks have to be under it for us to have a swing now. When I was growing up here we did have a tire swing though. My dad put in the decks for my wedding 18 years ago so my kids don’t get the thrill of a swing.

  4. The ‘bitten’ blog had a great pear recipe today…

    those photos really seem to capture that puss-puss! I would like to rub him behind his tiny orange ear.

  5. I grew up on a farm in Upstate NY, and your post reminded me of all the kittens my sister and I tried to tame over the years. I loved that magical moment when you would finally make contact.

    I know Emma does not know me, but tell her I am proud of her determination. I have fallen off many a pony in my time, but I never regretted getting right back on. My pony Comanche was very skilled at bucking…particularly in the ring during a show. But, he made me a better rider and I figured if I could ride Comanche and stay on, I could ride ANYTHING! Best of luck to her!

  6. wow, emma!! glad it all ended up okay. :^)

    as far as jack’s considered, we can’t have enough kitties. sigh. next, a puppy i think. :^)

    have a wonderful weekend!

    xoxo

  7. I used to be horsey. And the only thing you can do when you’re thrown is to get back on. I haven’t been horsey in well over 15 years. I bet it’s tougher to watch than to do. I’m not sure I could watch my little one get thrown.

  8. When my oldest daughter was thrown off her therapy horse it was SOOOOO scary for me but her PT told her that “every cowgirl gets thrown off at least once” and that’s all she needed to get right back on! Emma is quite the cowgirl in my book! 🙂

  9. and if my mom saw all the things that i did as a kid, whoa! i was ran through a cherry tree by my cousins horse, kicked right over by a different horse and bucked off a zillion times! granted these were wild horses we thought we could train ha ha!!!!!go EMMA!tara

  10. it all looks so sweet and fallish your way. I’m so glad Emma is okay. She is tough if she doesn’t let that stop her (which it sounds like she didn’t). and YAY for cardboard!

  11. Love your pictures. Not sure what to do with all those pears? I’ve been making Caramel Spice Pear Butter this week – it’s great for hard, rather grainy pears. I blogged about it at http://www.larksongknits.com.

    I’m going to give your pumpkin bread recipe that Grace posted about later today. Can’t wait to have try it with pear butter.

  12. Hey Molly! I’m now on TypePad. I must tell you that I have you to thank. I love your blog, and I finally decided to switch over to TP so I could have a little more freedom than I did on web.mac.com to do what I want. You can check it out at http://www.thesweetroad.typepad.com. You guys doing well? Hope so! Happy 8 years, by the way!

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