Ode to George

I'm back from the mini road trip!  It's amazing how fast a week can fly by.  I spent some serious time looking out the window seeing the southwest.  Such a distinctly beautiful environment.  I had lots of time to ponder, daydream and write out ideas.  Now that I'm back, life is in full swing!  With Thanksgiving next week (holy smokes!), I'm hopefully going to sell some of the lovely breads that I make in our little apartment.

On a separate side note, one of our three chickens has died.  George.  I got back Thursday night and Ross had said that she was acting weird.  I then spent all of yesterday feeding her water every half hour.  However, when we woke in the morning, she had passed.  As we're heading towards a life on a farm and goals of homesteading full time, it was good to cross this avenue.  How do we see animals?  I always feel emotional towards things passing in this world.  And even if we have animals solely as sources of nourishment, I will always feel when they leave our lives.  I spoke with my parents who grew up on farms and they said animals just die sometimes.  Seemingly, it's that simple.  We have some ideas on why she got sick and died, but I won't go into that here.  So, we gave George our thanks for being a great chicken and helping us in our goals of homesteading.

Here's our lovely George on the fence!  Such a beautiful bird!

 Now, tonight we're off to see this show at Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre.  We've never been, so we're excited to see what the place and show hold!

I hope your weekends are going well and everyone is excited for Thanksgiving!

Let's have an adventure

This past weekend was me and Ross' 6th anniversary! It's absolutely nuts thinking how fast time has gone. We were such babies when we met and now here we are...in our late 20s together and happy.

Some of you may know that Ross and I are lovers of travel. You may also know that in 2010 we set off for a 'round the world trip. We were to be gone for a year, but had to come back 7 1/2 months in because it was discovered our then 4 month old nephew had a brain tumor. During those travels we did an alright job keeping up with our blog Devonitely Rossome.

Anywho, we realized that it was 2 years ago, on that trip, that we celebrated our anniversary in New Zealand. It hit me square in the chest. This feeling of longing to be on the road again. A deep sense of nostalgia that brings me to the brink of tears each time I think about that trip. It's a subject with never ending depths and I'm sure it will be a consistent feature here at the Flea.

I remember that day being one of our first Devon/Ross adventures. Sure, the trip itself was an adventure, but that day commenced something different. Mini adventures...ones where you just go with a packed lunch and follow the clues.

Among many things, during that day we rambled along the coast of the sea looking for shells, analyzing the washed up remains of a whale and playing pretend on a deserted beach...our private cove. That's the cove we were told was a great location for skinny dipping. So we did. Let's be serious...you would too.

The locale of our anniversary in NZ

As we were swimming, my eye caught the image of something dark in the water. Jude, the woman we were WWoofing for, told us about the infamous sting ray that roamed the coastline. A giant. Minimum, 6 feet across. And that's what my eye saw when I looked over. Needless to say, I scrambled to get out of that water fast. As my feet met the rocky shore and I did the hobble run trying to save my pink feet, complete hysteric laughter came over Ross and me as we watched this prehistoric creature glide through the water with ease. It was a magical day.

Back in Minnesota, March 17th, 2012, we thought an adventure was due. And I decided that it should start with a drink we were so fond of in Thailand. No, we didn't have it during our anniversary that year in NZ, but it hits that same part in my chest.

A Thai coffee.

Here's how to make it and let's be serious, I never have the patience to measure much, so do as you feel:

• Brew some coffee

• Heat up some whole milk

• Fill half your mug with coffee, add some milk

• Here's the secret ingredient you must not miss: add sweetened condensed milk...as much as you'd like:)

• Enjoy!!!

At the Foshay Tower for our anniversary adventure

The adventure continues!

So, take yourself on a mini adventure this weekend. It doesn't matter how long you've lived in a place...explore it with new eyes.