If November Hill were a Van Gogh painting...

I love Vincent Van Gogh's work but don't think I'd seen this one until today. The colors remind me of November Hill in the fall and although we don't have a red roof or yellow wall it feels like home when I look at this.

Taking off tomorrow morning on an adventure with my very brilliant and dear son who is going to do research in physics at UCLA for the summer. We're heading out early to visit grad schools. 

Makes me happy to think of November Hill moving steadily toward autumn whether I'm here or not. And thanks to my equally brilliant and capable daughter and husband for holding down the farm while I'm away!!

Saturday night on Jurassic Hill

My husband was away. Daughter and I decided to watch the original Jurassic Park movie. It's scarier than I remember and much scarier than the recent remake. I was also keeping my eyes on the weather radar as severe thunderstorms were expected to roll in. The herd was out but we had the barn set up so I could run out and let them in if needed.

We were in the middle of a very scary scene when I realized the radar was blank, which didn't seem right. I clicked to another view and the huge thunderstorm was right on the edge of being here. I jumped up, ran to the laundry room, and asked my daughter to come with me. I was spooked by the velociraptors!

I was standing by the back door pulling my boots on when my daughter walked in and said "What is THAT?"

"What?"

"That big thing on the wall above your head."

I looked up and there was a big flying roach sitting on the wall. I grabbed the fly swatter and tried to swat it. (our resident insect rescuer was away, which is always when this kind of thing happens)

The poor thing flew at me and I screamed the most blood-curdling scream you can imagine. (my throat hurt the rest of the night) It disappeared for a minute during which I thought it was ON ME. But daughter found it in the sink and tossed it out the back door. It flew back in two times!

Meanwhile lightning was flashing and I ran out to the barn thinking dear daughter was right behind me. She wasn't! The horses and donkeys were in the back field snorting but they refused to come in. I paced back and forth, still spooked by the movie, now doubly spooked by the velociroach.

Calling as the wind whipped up and lightning came closer.

Finally the goofballs came in and I got them situated and then headed into the house moments before the deluge.

We finished the movie but were still wide awake. So we watched a Game of Thrones episode. I got in bed at 2 a.m. and slept like a baby until 6 when Mystic kit-meow woke me up, Kyra Corgi started woofing for breakfast, and the day's feeding began. 

Sean Carroll, calculus as a set of tools, chores

In his fascinating book From Eternity To Here Sean Carroll discusses time and its theories. I'm done with the book and am reviewing the footnotes and found this little gem:

"calculus provides exactly the right set of mathematical tools to make sense of “chugging forward one moment at a time” when time itself is continuous."

It struck me that perhaps calculus then can make sense of my entire life, since chugging forward one moment at a time is generally how I try to live. 

Who would ever think it? 

Maybe my children are right. It's time for me to take on calculus. :)

Sunflower surprise

stillwater grey

I'm happy to be painting sample colors on the cat tunnel roof to see which one looks best with the house. I painted oyster grey first and stillwater grey today, and already I think stillwater grey is going to be the one. I have riverstone to try next.

Stillwater grey makes me think of Tasha Tudor. Now that I think about it, maybe that's why I was thinking of her when I first started painting a couple of days ago. If we choose that color it will make me think of Tasha's Stillwater state of mind every time I look at it!

I wrote a blog post years back about Stillwater and Tasha Tudor and I'm copying it below:

Just for fun, my family invented a religion like the Shakers we called Stillwater. I'm eldress, and we have a big celebration on Midsummer's Eve. It's really a state of mind. Stillwater connotes something very peaceful, you see, life without stress. Nowadays, people are so jeezled up. If they took some chamomile tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening listening to the song of the hermit thrush, they might enjoy life more.

Stillwater believers are very hedonistic. Life is to be enjoyed, not saddled with. Do you know that lovely quotation from Fra Giovanni? He was an old monk from away back who wrote to his patron, 'The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy.' That's the first commandment of the Stillwater religion. Joy is there for the taking."

-Tasha Tudor, from The Private World of Tasha Tudor


*** I discovered Tasha Tudor when we got the corgyn - she has written and illustrated several children's books featuring the corgi. As I looked for more of her wonderful books, I came across her cookbook, which I love, and the above book, which is a favorite, full of her ramblings and the most marvelous photos of Tasha in the Vermont cottage built by her son.