Which reminds me. I need to order the cat and dog food to be delivered to the farm. Ordering feed for the Midwest farm from a town in Victoria, Australia is not as crazy as it sounds! It works.
Back on the farm. (Illinois)
Apparently FreeBee has been a naughty pig and escaped his winter quarters and went for a walk in his summer field. I think John was lucky he did not go into the hen house! The second time FreeBee escaped he took Jude with him. The third time John just shut the summer quarters gate and said ok – time for your summer quarters then!
A sensible choice.
A hog that big is only staying inside the confines of his Celi built pen because he chooses to. Better to let him live where he wants to. He has settled back down apparently.
Rhonda is back visiting the farm – coming out a few times a week – which is a relief. Though John is doing the feeding there is a lot more to farming than feeding out and Rhonda and her tribe will help with that.
Spring has sprung over there. Look at these fish!! I am so happy about the fish. And you can see that the bubbler is still working too. (Bottom screen right).
Everyone is giddy with the approaching spring – the winter was mean.
Here in town (little town by Melbourne)
I think town is a better description for this place though technically Sunbury is part of Melbourne city. It was one of those country towns that was sucked up into the city but still retains its little town-ness. Not in a pretty touristy way – in a friendly sensible way.
For instance I love how people leave little bowls at their gates full of fresh water for dogs.
And our neighbours know our names.
The light was stormy yesterday evening when we went for our walk.
All golden light as the sun sank through the clouds picking out lilacs and burnt oranges in the Aussie town-scape.
At night TimTam sleeps with Daughter. Then when Daughter jumps in the shower to get ready for work. TT goes bed hopping and leaps onto my bed.
When I have finished my morning pages she just relocates to the couch. We go for a morning walk if it is not too hot too early but she will spend her days laid out on the couch until her evening walk. Boo would be appalled.
I try not to think about how I miss BooBoo because it makes me sad but he is a farm dog and is happy laying about on the farm. He would not fit this new life of mine and is best where he belongs. I know all this but still I miss my own dogs.
We will try not to think about the sadness of leaving a whole life behind for a while. But with the frequent immigration misunderstandings in the USA the truth is I feel safer here. ICE does not check papers in a round up. They check papers afterwards. Sometimes afterwards is days later and by then people are long gone. The anxiety is ratcheting up for my immigrant friends in the USA. They are experiencing real fear. Seeing real misery. People being taken. Mistakes are being made. Green cards can be overturned now. Which is historically unheard of. My daughter’s offer was very well timed.
My next trip (later in the year) was to see eldest son in Canada via third son in California so I am researching how that might look. With all this saber rattling and inflammatory pronouncements and political rhetoric about borders it is unsettling to say the least. Eldest son said maybe wait a while before booking tickets. He works in law enforcement in Canada and said the border agents are edgy and on high alert. My Canadian families are feeling very unsettled too.
Anyway.
Time to get to work here! Back into the garden. Where I am truly at home. Any garden will do.
Love Celi
I narrate stories to help calm my mind during this time – and it is my pleasure to offer you these stories to give you a little period of tranquility with me . Here is Chapter Two of The Blue Castle. It has a slow start but is the most beautiful book.
Your next chapters come out tomorrow so SUBSCRIBE if you would like to have the chapters land in your inbox to listen anytime.
Upgrade over there if you are able. It is $US5 a month and your subscription helps feed those naughty pet pigs and plant trees all over the world to help keep our planet healthy.
The Kitchen's Garden 
27 responses to “betwixt and between”
lots to love wherever you are, it travels with you
yes. Love travels/ what a lovely sentiment.
Blue sky and budding trees on the farm, that is lovely to see. I have always wondered- do the farm cats ever try to go after the pond fish, or do they even see them? I think Tim Tam very much likes having you around for company while daughter is at work. There is a man, Earl, on my regular walking route that leaves out a water bowl for the dogs. Very sweet man, and I think he misses his dog very much. That was how I met him originally but now he just walks alone often going to the big construction sites on the west side of town to chat with the workers.
the farm cats don’t fish in the pond. But they do drink out of the water, but there has been the same number of fish in there for quite some time so I really don’t think they eat them. John said the fish are starting to eat a lot of food so they seem to have come back really well. Your story about the old man was quite lovely and kind of really sad.
Immigration worries are no joke. It’s one of the reasons that I have a British passport. Stay safe. Keep happy with those who love you.
I have heard of people being arrested for trying to get into the states with the wrong visa. The security/border guards seem to be a little overzealous. And the longer I’m out of the country the more careful I have to be. So yeah, I’m definitely coming down on the side of safety.
I love old country towns, preferably real ones as you describe rather than touristy. John Cougar Mellencamp could have written his song Small Town about me.
oh – great soundtrack for today!!
Good to have a farmy catch up, thank you. I’m sure John does what he thinks he needs to do but very happy to hear Rhonda and friends are back on the scene. We had a lovely taste of Spring last week but it is cold again now, though apparently getting warmer again next week. I do feel for your position in the U.S. Here in UK we are worried about the effects the way things are going but at least it’s bringing us nearer to europe again after the disaster of brexit.
Europe banding together to back Ukraine, is a really good result. In a very unnecessary situation. And, yeah, it is unsettling,. They all need to settle down.
FreeBee broke out and not Jude! TimTam is a lovely dog and the best biscuit in the world! I miss Boo and TonTon …and I don’t even know them 😄
Well, you can’t do know the dogs. And yes, it it was FreeBeewho was escaping. Maybe FreeBee who was running away from dude 😆.
So sorry for the loss of friendship and partnership with our neighbors to the north, and the south. I am ashamed of how this government is treating people.
I am just confused as to what the objective is here. What do they hope to achieve.
I think what they are trying to achieve is purely personal gain, wealth and power. Chaos is for distraction so you can’t see what is really happening. It is very sad 😞
It seems the goal is to break the structures that involve the federal government’s expenditures. I’ve heard a lot of talk about private enterprise stepping in if/when something gets built to take its place. Firings and ending of programs is being done illegally, unconstitutionally, and without regard to due process when someone is removed from a job.
Absolutely Jim. They announced a while ago that they will only replace every fourth person who has left. Without these federal structures in place and well staffed the general housekeeping of the country is going to be impossible to manage. And now the car selling stunt in front of the White House – who has time for that! But we digress. Back to work for us!
My understanding is that they are trying to remove the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens that just walked across the border during the previous administration. A friend whose son is in ICE said they’ve been arresting a lot of criminal Illegals and sending them back where they came from. He also said that there were at least a couple countries that were invited to empty their prisons and send those people here. You are a legal resident with a citizen spouse and by the time you’re ready to come back things will have settled down.
Morning Aquila, thank you for the comment. it is the escalating tension between Canada and the US causing problems at the border that is happening now, not to mention the dismantling of really important programs for farmers. Something new every day and It seems wholly unnecessary and terribly destructive. I am not worried about my own status in the US, I am more a citizen of the world, though I do worry about my immigrant friends.
I hope your day is going well!
I’m sorry about all the political turmoil in the US. It must be so unsettling.
Good to hear your updates from the other side of the world 🙂 I mistakenly thought Melbourne had been hit by flooding and bad weather (hence my other comment) after hearing a news story here, but it turns out that was Brisbane and parts of Queensland. My Australian geography knowledge is patchy!
I look forward to listening to the Blue Castle. Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon were two of my favourite series as a little girl. The Blue Castle is new to me.
Blue Castle is a delight. Really lovely. The author obviously loved the wilds of Canada.
TimTam is adorable. I bet BooBoo would be out of sorts there. I am glad that you are in a safe place and I hope and pray that things settle soon in to some semblance of “normalcy” instead of the current spiral into madness. I do hope you get to come and visit your son here also.
Yes! I hope I get to see him soon too – once the baby delivery is completed and baby and mum are settled of course.
I hope you continue to feel safe, welcome and at home in Melbourne. You are literally putting down roots here!
Thanks for the clarification Kenny! Have a good one.
Hey Celi enjoy being with your family .. thinking of you
absolutely!!! You have a great day too!