There are many advantages to living atop a hill. We enjoy the daily majesty of unobstructed sunrises and sunsets year round, and flooding is, of course, an impossibility. There are days when the views across the fields strike such a chord in my heart, I am all but moved to tears by the beauty of it all.

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And then, there are days like today.

Thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Gonzalo blowing its way across our island, we are currently enduring the relentless howl of 50-80 mile per hour winds in a world drawn in horizontal lines. My house is literally singing, just like in creepy old black and white films about old houses and dead people and ghosts and Heathcliff wandering the moors. If I was the easily spooked type, it would certainly strike me as creepy. But, of course, I am a realist. It is just the wind.

Between wet leaves, wind and the spray of hail, I nearly bit the mud today when I went to feed the chickens and collect the eggs… I caught myself, but only just. I love chickens. But wet mud and… well, chickeny grossness – not so much.

I briefly entertained the idea of stripping the crab apple tree to make my first batch of jellies for the winter, but thought better of it, having decided ladders and wet grass were a bad mix, and I’m not as young as I was yesterday. The crab apples will wait. Unless they get blown into the next county.

Meanwhile, the wind continues to howl – quite literally – around the seams in my back door, which, being attached to an ancient house, is a stable door with nonexistent weather stripping.

My lovely little fire…

But then, you all know by now I am a girl who loves to look for silver linings! Thanks to our hill and this hurricane, today is the first time in about 2 months that this middle aged lady (with certain hormone issues) has felt cold! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am actually quite chilly. I can’t even feel my feet right now… I cannot begin to tell you how good that feels!

Maybe I’ll even light a fire tonight.

Enjoy your blustery Tuesday, everyone…

Mother Hen

feature photo: Shutterstock

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