When I need a break from this big old world, the news and more.. I take a deep breath, center myself and find that zen to work with animals/camera’s.. you can not rush it.. you can’t push it, you can’t make it happen..
its a dance.. its creative.. Its playful!
what will I do on my set up.. what background will I use.. what depth of field do I want, do I want a full set up or do I want it clean and all about the subject?
Or will I just let it all go and play and just live perfectly in the moment..
Then the world comes crashing back and I am in silent mode..
We had a beloved pet get badly hurt and despite surgery, in the end needed to be helped across, which was brutal! it knocked me off kilter.. I still do not understand how it happened but it did.. and I am still not really ready to talk about it.. RIP to our beautiful an beloved Faith.
Then the news started.. small at first, now the news is like a thunderstorm, its a downpour of information.. and in truth.. so few answers in there but it won’t matter.. we are all going to get to feel this storm and its aftermath in 2022..
Last year I made the point to call peaple, to sit in kitchens explaining what was coming.. I was able to really get that push out a few weeks before the rush, before the lock down, before the sent home..
This time I do not have that urge, I feel no need really.. those that want to be prepared are and those that don’t are not.. I feel only for those who have had their own personal SHTF moments be that due to job loss, death due to the pandemic, be that covid, drugs overdose, missed cancer treatments, missed surgeries, or climate change.. All the peaple in BC who have no homes to go back to, all those peaple in the states who have had their lives ripped apart, those in my own province that have had their homes an farms pulled apart by the winds (we got lucky and only had one of my big garage barn doors taken out by the 110 km hour winds)
I am preparing beautiful Christmas Boxes for a few special families, I am beyond grateful for the one in person visit we got in Nov, it was wonderful to break bread and share a meal, words, smiles, laughs and seeds an compost lol..
I had planned on doing some visiting when I delivered the boxes but I expect now, I will be more along the line of drop them off and wishing them a wonderful holiday.. but I think that the visiting will have to wait.. because we are going hermit mode
I do not want to go hermit, it was not in the game plan but life at the moment is laughing at a number of our bigger “plans” so I am pulling inward.. We are pulling inward..
Dear Hubby is on the 3rd last chapter for his first massive full length novel, as well as having a number of short stories written (more on them at a later point 🙂 We will continue to live, work and thrive on the farm and if that is the case.. then we will have a better 2022 then many millions will and I am trying to keep that in mind.
With the holidays here, I am hoping to stay more on the lighter side of things but I will give fair warning that I expect I am going to get darker on a number of Jan posts..
I hope you are finding those moments of joy.. we all need them!
Just another Day on the Farm 
To be honest your pet pictures have brought me moments of joy. Thanks for that.
Here’s to hoping we can continue to find joy in 2022.
Have a good Christmas.
Ah, thank you for sharing that with me 🙂
That kitten is just oh-so-cute! The pics made me smile. Sorry to hear of your loss. Glad you take time to do things that make you happy, like photography. Praying you will find peace and joy.
Bells kitten is a Love Bug, a hoot and Muse all rolled into one.. He is so fun to work/play with in terms of getting photos.. he is quite fearless at trying new things and loves treats which helps alot.. I have always respected what barb wire can do and I have never liked it but we use it for a small area, how she got hung up in it is the unknown
😣
Great post. I enjoyed the chat with you in March 2020 and I remember thinking “really?” when you said to buy an extra hammer if we used hammers (for example). That seems forever ago. I’d love to chat again to get your perspective on things.
Sounds like a plan, lets make it happen in the next while..
Tomorrow is the last day of school till January. If I survive it…..next week or after Christmas would work great for me.
So sorry for your loss…each one is harder to take, harder to get back up from.
We too are turning hermit – it’s a familiar place to be for us, but still doesn’t make us any less weary of the never ending cluster out there. Adapt adapt adapt – if I wasn’t an expert before, I certainly am now. I have been decluttering like a madwoman – sell sell sell – using the found cash to stock extra feed/supplements for the livestock – at a much faster rate than I would normally, with my regular budget. My gut feeling tells me I need to have enough on hand for at least a year. My gut a instinct has never been wrong, and if it is…oh well. Also cash. I feel like we should have more actual cash on hand.
But yes. Like you, I am tired. Trying to find a moment here and there to just breathe.
I understand, we just had pallets of feed arrive on the farm… a years worth of sheep(extra) horse Extra, till spring (as in producing spring, not just spring on the calendar) for all the birds, cats and dogs.. plus more bedding. OUCH! that hurt.. it hurt big time, but at least I got some really solid nice new pallets.. I will be sharing on a few things I got extra or doubles on that I felt were musts even if I did get the look from hub’s on it.. I am still chewing and chewing on what I see as the biggest possable coming issue.. I expect it will dig deep in me till I write it out.. I expect that you are chewing on it as well.. but if not.. knaw on it.. if they are right that this new version is so highly spreadable, and they make everyone who is postive stay home for 10 days, even assuming it is milder, say on average 3 to 5 days, plus the extra 5 days per the “rules” and because its so spreadable they want the high risk contacts to also stay home.. SO what the Bleep is going to happen if they are right that 80 plus percent of the whole population is going to have it over the next 6 to 12 weeks and worldwide in the next three months.. I mean if you have 50% of your staff out at a coffee shop, close for a month.. ok.. but if you have 50% or 80% of the road crew out sick or locked down due to close contacts and the roads need to be cleared after storm?? and so on and so on.. then we are left with two choices, either a total cluster@&* or they are going to have to change the rules and let peaple come out and work in “must have fields”..
I feel good knowing you are as prepared as I, so many around me just don’t get it. But like you, I’m tired of explaining things. I also find myself shutting the news off these days as well, sticking to random articles on my news feed on my phone – should I feel like it.
I have a particular worry for first responders – my daughter, as a paramedic is in the thick of it every day. As kick-ass as she is, my concern is the cumulative stress she’s under. Every single call she attends is a risk, especially should they be unresponsive and unable to provide vaccination status, health status, whatever. Seems these days things are going to hell in a handbag faster than ever.
What beautiful pictures of Mr Bells, he is a little treasure for sure! We need more of these moments in these times.
❤
You take the most beautiful pictures. It stops me in my tracks every time.
re: prepping
I’ve done what I can to encourage people to think ahead. Now it’s up to them. I think we have enough to get by. We reduced our livestock this year so now it’s only various kinds of poultry. I’ve stocked up on pet food, but our one and only cat requires a special diet. Due to severe scarring of his esophagus he is limited to very soft foods. The foods he can swallow are often out of stock so I might start boiling meat and emulsifying it myself. I love my disabled cat. He’s such a sweet boy.
Thank you for the kind comments on photos, I do enjoy taking them.. For your kitty, have you given thought to pressue canning up a food blend for him so its shelf stable and then it would blend up better.. you could put up a load of jars and I am sure in the end it would save you both time and cooker costs vs doing it each day, unless of course you are running a wood stove and then its not going to cost any extra to put it on each day. I am glad you guys have each other, I read about your downsizing.. Its always a hard choice to make but when we are honest we know the right ones.. I am glad you still have the fowl.
That is a great idea! I had planned to freeze portions, but canning will save me a lot of freezer space. Thank you!