Month: August 2015

Fate spent another hour or so along with the sheep in the pasture this morning, I went out to check on her, and she seemed stumped. Sometimes the sheep hide next to the horses and donkeys, it’s a way they have of avoiding Red, or trying to. Red doesn’t put up with it, he marches right into the pack and moves them out, Fate wasn’t so sure.

She studies the situation for a while, peering through the legs of the ponies and the donkeys, then she ran around to the left and came in from the other side. A good solution. She is enjoying her time in the pasture, I think. It is good to let her solve some problems by herself.

I stopped by Maria’s studio to make lunch plans, and I found her in a corner working on a new quilt (hanging piece), an amazing donkey up in the right hand corner, a tree with a goddess in the trunk on the bottom. I am  not sure what it will ultimately be, but she is on an amazing turn in her work, it is exciting to see it.

Donkeys are curious creatures, affectionate, independent, hardy and self-sufficient. They don’t really shed their winter fur until August, and then in October, they start growing it back for winter. These days Lulu and Fanny look sleek and polished, they spend the hot part of the day either in the pole barn or under the apple tree in the pasture, munching on the ripening apples growing this year.

The farmers believe that if there are lots of apples on a tree, it means that it will be a harsh winter – the apples are for the hungry animals. Recent history has suggested otherwise, our McIntosh apples seem to grow out every other year, regardless of the weather. The donkeys love them, they hang out for hours, picking apples off of the low-handing trees, munching them off of the ground.

Dahlia’s sing and dance, they have that joyous and beautiful tropical blood in them. They open up and open up, and when they have opened up for days and days, they open up some more. Talking about keeping the hinges oiled, this is a beautiful and subtle and sensuous flower. I am abashed to say I forgot that one of my best Christmas presents from Maria was some of these very beautiful Dahlia’s now spring up in our Dahlia garden.

What a gift, especially in late summer. When most gardens begin to fade, the Dahlia’s are just hitting their stride.