Skip to main content

In late summer

My chickens 

I have not shared any photos of my chickens since they have grown. Till recently I kept them in the shed, but that wasn't working out. This summer has been unusually hot, and they were panting constantly. I couldn't even keep them in water because it kept evaporating.

So one day I just opened the barn door and they walked directly into my life, and have upended our household. It feels like our land is now ruled by these chickens.

My chickens

Prince Charming, and Cinderella, most likely the layer of all these eggs. The two are constant companions.

 My chickens

Beauty, and Snow White.

 My chickens My chickens

In the evening, they perch on the fence, and one by one fly up into a large oak in the front yard. They settle in for the night. In the morning, Prince Charming is the first to rise.

Right now, he begins crowing at about 5 a.m. Now that I have begun doing my embroidery in the morning, I am awake before him.

While embroidering, I am listening to Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte. I am awed by Librivox, and it stands right next to Project Gutenberg in its greatness. Shirley is somewhat hard to follow, fascinating in the subject of early industry and textiles, which is a subject that has always interested me, but there are numerous long character sketches, and sometimes I fade.

This is a stupendous discovery for me, one which inspired me to take my embroidery back to task, as there are so many classics on my reading list.

Popular posts from this blog

The secret to a happy home

I finished Marion Harland's guide tonight and I wonder ceaselessly at two things. 1. She is so down on America! Even more than I am. She complains of things in which I am so well-steeped I could not see them for what they were. In particular, American style and cookery. It is true that our food, which we count as so much more generous in portion than the overseas counterpart, is as coarse and indecorous as it is plentiful, but as an American woman I cast up my hands and declare I would rather spend my time on something else. She makes an interesting point about American women's fashions. In France women wear what looks good on them, and in America women wears what comes off the manufacturing line in the latest style. It is very conformist, and I have to admit I feel it in myself, for I would be embarrassed to wear something that is "out" even if it flattered me better. 2. Harland's other point I feel clearly from last night's experiences. I looked in my journ...

Sprouts

Sprouts Originally uploaded by ladyhildegarde . I am getting sprouts. Hopefully they are carnations. It is such a beautiful spring day. It's good I'm taking the chance to come outside: I have craved a moment to reflect on something beautiful.

Blanche, a re-telling of Snow White

I began this story after reading a collection of short stories by Angela Carter. “Snow White” has always been a favorite tale of mine and I have placed this re-telling in nineteenth-century rural Louisiana. Near Vacherie, Louisiana, there are not only swamps but also old beautiful plantations. Some of them are restored but others are abandoned and ruined. The places I have seen captured my imagination and I combined them with my impression of Snow White as an object of envy and lust. My heroine Blanche is a hard-working girl who longs to be rich and to live in New Orleans, where her father was born. She is threatened constantly by the attention of the rustics who live around her. Her stepmother beats her when she finds Blanche in Jean-Jacques’ arms. When Blanche runs away from home she is beguiled by Philipe de la Roche, who persuades her to live in New Orleans in a fancy house with seven women. Blanche does not realize that the women are prostitutes. The farmer Jean-Jacques, who love...