In the swing of things

Today marks the end of my second day of full work. Yesterday I organized the pantry (a crammed disaster). This involved carting 50 kilo bags of seed from one corner to another and throwing away bottles of chimichuri that had turned an alluring shade of brown--we'll be making our own from now on anyhoo... I also started cooking: pine mushroom and cheese quiche, greens with goddess dressing. The freezer turned off in the middle of the night so we're trying to cook through all of the stuff that thawed out. One of these things was a crust I made and froze LAST year... still tasted pretty damn good (point being don't toss out that empanada dough just yet, Courtney!)

Today I got back in on the garden action which felt good. I mostly made compost but was also fortunate enough to chase after baby lambs and feed rutabagas to my favorite group of cows. The lambs are younger and cuter than last year and the cows are bigger and sassier. Mica, for instance is a huge fan of intimidation by horn-toss and lets you know just how many shits she gives about whatever treat it is you are using to buy her affections (she literally laid a stupendous turd mid-feeding.) After work, we went out looking for Morel mushrooms which are supposed to be sprouting up under the ceder trees here, but our efforts were met with little reward. So, all in all, a great day: fecundity making followed by cuddly animal time and topped off with treasure hunting.

I'm all settled in to one of the currently unused massage rooms up at the spa. It's nestled in a little arboretum and smells like cedar, vanilla candles and the fire place. One thing that has been unexpectedly difficult for me to deal with is how COLD the buildings are here. There is no central heating, just fire power. And the problem with fire power is that feeding the fire (making what little heat a tiny stove in the corner can muster) involves coming out of whatever cocoon you have created for yourself and exposing your fingers to the biting reality of the air outside the blanket. I'm thinking I'll have to buy some fuzzy gloves.

So, that's the news on this end. I didn't bring a camera (what was I thinking?!) so no pictures, but I'm going to fix that situation soon.

xo,
C