sweet hazel

The evening of our halloween party, we noticed Hazel making her way slowly to the coop, long after the crowd had piled in. Dante went to her and she didn't run away -- first sign of trouble. He said she didn't seem right, and brought her to me. I tucked her inside my coat for a little bit to warm her up as it was a brisk night, and she fell asleep. Second sign of trouble. Normally she would have been struggling to get away. Having guests to feed and entertain, we put hazel in the coop and I figured I'd keep an eye on her the next day. Sadly, when Dante went out to the coop the next morning, he found poor little Hazel's cold body on the floor of the coop. We buried her out in the back near the compost heap, a particularly popular area of the yard. Dante and Lucia made a lovely gravestone and decorated it with fall flowers and berries. Goodbye Hazel :o(

Since all of the chickens we've lost have been "Dante's" Lucia decided to share Little Tink (the last chick born from our incubator -- Hazel was one of the first two incubator babies out) with him. Feeling low from Hazel's demise, Dante brought Little Tink in to snuggle for a while. She enjoyed the cornbread crumbles still under the chair from our little friend Ben's meal at the party the night before. But she was too distracted by the strange state of being back inside the house, so after a little while, we released her back into the wild. I love her puffy auracana cheek muffs...

molty chickens

These pics are from just before Halloween, but I thought you'd enjoy shots of our poor hens losing all their feathers and replacing them with a gorgeous new set in a span of a few weeks. Tomorrow, if they brave the snow, I'll shoot some finshed product shots so you can see. But for now, rags before riches.

Izzy

Clover

And Bandit

autumn apples

What's that, you wonder, that they're doing to that branch? Why, putting the recently-dead shrew that they've discovered in the grass on it for easier observation. Need I add that said shrew journeyed home with us and is now buried out in the backyard? Next year, Dante will harvest more than carrots -- he'll also dig up the skeletons of a wide assortment of animals. This shrew has a mouse, several birds, a toad, and a squirrel to keep him company. Not to mention the pheasant I spotted on the side of the road across from the pheasant farm on our way home from the Coventry Craft Fair... that poor bird gets buried tomorrow if the promised warm weather thaws the soil enough. Anyway, close up below -- see his cute little tail?

soap, salve and salad

We'd been trying to get everything out of the garden before the real frost hit, and Dante scrounged up the last of the carrots for the salad he was making. In fact, he made dinner entirely that night -- whoo hoo!


We made up a batch of basic soap, and Dante did most of the measuring, but the soap was already cured too much for him to make much headway with the knife.

Again, in the race to harvest before winter, he found the last, hardy plantains from our yard to make a salve. Plantain, while regarded as a pretty pernicious weed, is actually a miracle plant. If you get stung, chew up some leaves, spit the mash out and put it on the sting and it will take care of it. You can make a wash of it for poison ivy, and the salve he made (with olive oil and beeswax) will help cuts heal quickly.

shroom hike

We went to our friends' house for a walk in the wet woods to see what shrooms we could find. These were among the most interesting of the pictures that came out. And this winter, I need to learn how the macro feature of my camera works...

lulu's first!

Prowling about the yard, turning over rocks and logs, Lucia found her first red backed salamander. She came in, so proud that she had no help at all in finding this treasure. She demanded a photo shoot and posed him on the pumpkin. Can you tell from the short sleeves that I'm finally cycling through some photos from this fall? I'm hoping to get back on the posting wagon... sorry, Maria, for the delay.

soccermania

I finally remembered to bring the camera to Dante's last soccer game, and caught him in and out of goal:

evidently both he and I were a little late to get the ball...

Luke's parents made it up for the weekend, and came to the game.

kiku

Some friends invited us along to visit the NY Botanical Garden's incredible Kiku exhibit. First we walked through a gallery that explained how the artists achieve each form of the chrysanthemums, then on to see the flowers themselves. We walked in awe of the time and energy required to bring each style to fruition.

The artist here uses rocks and mums to recreate the mountains of Japan in the fall.

The pond was a much bigger attraction for the younger kids, but Dante and Elias managed to absorb some of the exhibit as well.

This bamboo structure outside the conservatory was a big hit, tho less so once we made it clear that the kids could not, in fact, run through it and whirl around the posts. Buzzkill.

Halloweenie

As they've done the past few years, Tucker, Grace and now Ben joined us for our trek through the neighborhood for toxic loot.



We look forward to this guy's house each year. The first year we went, he was sitting in a grim reaper costume on a chair with the bowl of candy on his lap. But he hadn't moved the entire time we meandered up the walkway, so the kids assumed it was stuffed. When they reached for the candy he moved and said something, which scared them out of their wits. This year he came out talking about how he'd already taken his head off to wash, not expecting visitors so late. The kids weren't quite sure what to make of it for the first few minutes he was on the porch, and just eyed him warily.

this child isn't inside

As part of the state program "No Child Left Inside", we signed up way back in the summer to go on the steam train to riverboat to Gillette's Castle journey. Dante ended up having a soccer game at that time, so Lucia and I went for a girl's day out. First, to the CT Riverboat Museum, where Lulu posed as an octopus. Then we boarded the train to Deep River Station, where we boarded the Becky Thatcher for a beautiful fall ride on the Connecticut River up to East Haddam. We got to ride on bright yellow school buses over to the castle, where they had a horses to feed and pet, a scavenger hunt, letterboxing, games, storytime and more.

Hanging out the train windows, watching for hawks or vultures.

I'm not sure who this gentleman was supposed to be, but he, along with a man garbed as Sherlock Holmes, added some visual spice to the scene.

Snacktime!

last hurrah at the beach

In September, we spent a few days down at the beach. Despite the increase of people who live in the neighborhood year round, the beach was deserted compared to the summer, and the kids were free to roam farther than usual.

Grandpa took the kids to North Cove to find some blue crabs.

working with glass

Luke was able to come to the glass art class the kids have been taking at the New Britain Museum of American Art. They've made some beautiful pieces and learned some interesting techniques for working with both glass and clay. The instructor is great -- very patient, shows the kids how to do everything for themselves. They were using glass cutters, diamond tipped drill bits, the glass grinder to smooth edges, and they placed their items in a portable kiln she'd brought to show how things melted, at what temperature, etc. We have to pick up our projects from the lasty day, and then we will post pics of the finished pieces.

The blue twisted glass to the right of the glue cup is made by holding a glass noodle over the little votive-on-a-brick.

Mmm. Dead squirrel in the parking lot landscaping. Complete with maggots. Can we keep it?