and a few pictures...

Pictures were promised, so pictures there are.

We'll start with the office. It still needs a bit of work, and there is another wall full of shelves holding past issues, but we are close. Right now, as I write, I can look out over the hill below and watch the Guinea hens marching - one per row through the trees, each one gathering bugs and walking at exactly the same speed as the others. We are giving a class on making incense tomorrow at The Rosemary House in Mechanicsburg, and it will be so simple to reach over, get the supplies needed and be prepared. What a difference that will make!

The first picture is leading into the office from the house. The second is facing the back.

In the back, there is a deck that goes the entire length of the house. From there, it is possible to see for several miles, including the road leading to the house. Silos stud the landscape, and hills and trees. The sky is enormous. After an afternoon in the garden, the deck is the perfect place to sit with a cool glass of tea and look at the results of that labor.

The garden went in late. We just put up the teepees for the Mosteller beans that Barb and Fred Will from Sugar Grove Herbs gave us at the festival at Alloway Gardens Art and Herb Faire. They are getting ready to climb. The only thing we've lost to (I think) woodchucks so far has been the borage, which had been supplying pretty blue blossoms to garnish summer dishes. The row of grosso lavender is not really visible this year, but next year it will make a nice hedge. The weeds are doing exceptionally well.

This is the path that leads to my sister's. The little red building is much larger than it appears. Inside, it has four separate areas/rooms. One is for storing finished soap and shipping - and the front of that section is also the office and jewelry area, one is the kitchen/lab, one is Bob's workshop, and the last is the bay for farm equipment AND baby bird nursery. The house is off to the right. Just behind the building, you can almost make out the pergola that he constructed this year. It is entirely covered with gourd plants. Looks like we'll be playing with another craft next spring.

Along the path, there are swaths of wildflowers. Besides the ones in the picture, there are gangs of small poppies in every color imaginable, zinnias are starting to bloom, and the cosmos are really thinking about going wild.

And then there are the wild turkeys. Wild, I say! There are 11 of them, all but 3 male. They were raised from hatchlings, and when they were too young to be loose, we used to gather chickweed to feed them. Now they follow us around, thinking that anything we might be picking is far more interesting than what they can find on their own.

These were all taken before, during, and after a wild storm that included hail. Weather changes very quickly here. One minute the sun is shining with booming off in the distance, and the next minute clouds roll in and the rain starts. Guess I'll just have to get used to listening closer.