Scenes from a Summer Homestead...

We have had the same odd season of weather everyone else has I imagine...rain started in late May and pretty much stayed around all June, and now much of July as well. It's really made haying season a mess down her in the Deep South. It has made the wanderlust of the cows somewhat contained though.

...of course Judy never plays by the rules. She wanders where she pleases, when she pleases. Like here...in the front yard to enjoy some early evening, dappled sunset, grass time.

On our hikes into the wooded trails, we encounter some interesting adventures. This 70 foot fire watch tower is always a fun climb (for everyone else, not me...). We also come across a lot of wildlife to add to our nature collection. This rather crispy dragonfly came home with us and will be examined under the microscope soon, then added to the shelf of goodies. The photo of the bug variety on the purple coneflower will go into our notebooks.

A very out-of-the-ordinary return of much cooler weather made sitting outside almost necessary around here. While I did spend plenty of yarn time outside enjoying the lower humidity and cooler temps, I also did some work prepping the school schedule. The calendar says we take off on the new school Terms starting this Monday. Good thing the first Term is easy-going with documentaries and read-alouds for the most part.

Our summer has also brought crafting time. We've had lots of scraps for all manner of future projects. We selected fabrics and cut squares for a birthday quilt project. We've had yarn projects like knitted dishcloths and potholders. Crafting is what grounds our days and what brings this momma some quiet peace of spirit. I need something in my hands, even if it is just a simple dishcloth.

We've had lazy days...Wild Rose taking her favorite nap site in a front window...and we've had a slew of babies born around the homestead. A couple momma's chose the crawl space above the ceiling for their nursery, so we've also had a few kitten rescues as the temps last month climbed to a sultry 100 for far too many days. One pair of cats even 'exchanged' babies...after losing 1 of her kittens, a momma kept kidnapping a baby from another. The birth momma finally gave up retrieving her stolen baby and allowed the other to raise it as her own. 

This little black Ewok-looking baby was left behind, so naturally that meant he came inside for bottle and loving. We thought perhaps he might be a bit 'odd' and even blind, as he took so much longer than normal to use his eyesight at all, and those little nubby ears...we thought they'd never fully open. He tries now to play and engage other kittens in play, but he's sort of an outcast it seems, not having a real momma to teach him all his kitten lessons. I imagine we will count him as yet another adopted indoor pet here.

These are our mountains. They don't look like much compared to so e parts of the U.S. But they are all ours down here along the skirting edges of the Appalachain foothills. I've always longed for mountain living. I had visions of snow-capped peaks, but I got sultry humid tropical Deep South types instead. 

I do like our road home though. Down the hill, around that bend, there sits our homestead. It's quiet and secluded, the road is virtually abandoned by the world (except for our single neighbor on this dead end bit of hinterland boonie life). It's got the hide-away-in-the-woods style I've always wanted. Just missing the snow :-)

Summer on the homestead brings many of the same things any other season does, but there are always several special moments that make it all it's own in our memories. Still, my heart dwells more heavily in the winter season here. I crave those days, and try to wait patiently on them as we trudged thru the seemingly endless summer months.