The End of the Staycation

A beautiful, chilly morning here at Busy Solitude Farm.  It's the final day of my weeklong staycation.  Too short, no surprise.  I accomplished some things on my list but the rest will just have to wait for another day.

A light frost covered this morning's yard.  Can't complain when I hear about eleven inches of wet snow covering friends' trees out east.  Rain is due here, but Ulani and I did get a nice walk in this morning.

And then I began creating two "pumpkin" pies for my book group meeting this evening.  My favorite is made from roast butternut squash, which I did yesterday.  This morning I baked crusts, adding a half cup of toasted, crushed pecans to the dough.  Then I mixed up the custard and now they're baking away.

The crusts browned too quickly, so there's some foil covering parts I don't want to blacken.  And the extra crust dough?

I made pie crust cookies to enjoy with a strong coffee, topped with whipped heavy cream.

That's what staycation is all about!

Autumn color

 The sun rose below a heavy bank of clouds.

 I thought the slight pink highlights on the grain storage across the street had an interesting softening effect.

 Then I experimented shooting through different trees.  Which sunrise gets the nicest frame?

 Evergreens make a lovely frame this time of year.

 Especially when they go all black silhouette with nice color behind them.

Later in the day, coming home up my road.  I love the soft, golden fields after the beans have been taken in.

 Almost home.

 There's the barn.  And what's that?

Barnard greeting me!  Welcome home!

Ulani sings. Kind of.

Yes, I know. It's not nice to tease your dog.  But isn't it funny?!

Black and White in the Barn

Jesus the Rooster, in striking black and white.

This week I'm having a "staycation" from work.  One of my goals is to do something creative every day.  I've been depleted from all the work busyness this summer and really need to replenish my creative self.

So this morning, rather than taking my regular barn photos, I switched to black and white.  See what you think!

Ulani was eager to see what was going on in the barn -- she kept her nose pressed right up to the door!

Barnard gave me her best side (or was she looking at her own shadow?!).

Now that it's really chilly overnight, I frequently find her basking in the early morning sun on her shelf.  I'm so glad I put it up for her, and I am thinking about adding a few more shelves so she can move around higher and lower.  Cats like that!

Peep's feet.  She turned four about a month ago.  I'm not sure what causes the bumpiness of her toes -- could it be chicken arthritis?  She doesn't seem to have any problem walking around, though, so I'm not too concerned about it.

The full photo of Jesus.  Come to think of it, I'm not certain this is Jesus.  Jesus may have been one of the victims of the barn terrorist in June.  This may just be "the white rooster".  Difficult to tell.

The back side of the barn.  It's a nice face that I don't often photograph.

Time to get some chores done.  More BSF creativity later!

Luke Likes Autumn

Luke hasn't had much play on the blog lately.  In fact, the last time his photo appeared was July 10 in a Morning has Broken entry.  So I thought I'd see what he was up to this morning.

I discovered him here, enjoying the flora and fauna of the septic prairie.  Yes, that's him!

I think there must be mice and voles and so on making nests up there for the winter.  Both Luke and Ulani have been spending more time snooping around.  Ulani comes inside full of dried plant matter...

But this is Luke's entry!

We've had a week of warm, sunny days.  Luke likes to go out first thing in the morning, make his rounds to see what might have gone on since bedtime.  Then he comes in for breakfast, and if I allow it (which I try not to on work days!) he goes back out for the day.  He'll spend time sitting on a yard chair in the sun, or finding a cool, quiet spot under an evergreen for a nap.  I've even caught him visiting in the barn a couple of times -- he never did that before Barnard moved in!

Then, after he's been out for a while, he makes his way back to the house.  But just to check in before he starts more wandering!

Getting to Know You

Barnard and Ulani are becoming more familiar with each other.  Just listen to the kitty's purr!