Snow on the ground, freezing temperatures, clear skies and a full moon…
..nights don’t come any prettier.
Yesterday the girls and I cooked a pudgy pie dinner over the fire in the orchard while I continued the after pruning clean up. Things were going swimmingly, (I was the only one who burned herself) and then the marshmallows came out and we discovered a problem.
They couldn’t find a marshmallow stick. 
Let me just repeat myself. We were standing amongst 32 fruit trees that had just been pruned. I was sorting the branches into different piles, ones that were fire wood sized and ones with everything smaller. Small and large piles of brush were everywhere.
And my children, the ones I like to think are above average on all counts, could not find an appropriate sized stick with which to roast a marshmallow.
Their first sticks were short enough to be laughable under any circumstances. But look carefully at the photo below and you can see not only their very short sticks but also the giant pile of branches stacked right behind them.
Ivy attempted to convince me to cut one of my firewood logs a bit shorter for her to use for her next stick – I refused. Though I think my cousin was right when he said I should have. Just so I could have seen her try and smash her marshmallow on the end of a three inch log.
I took pity on them and sent them to a brush pile.
They still couldn’t find a stick.
It took bit more wandering in the orchard-turned-brush-maze and another hint or two from me before they came back with sticks even Jane could use.
It’s a good things spring is here, I think winter may have rotted the girls brains and we’ve got some learning to do.
Next lesson: How to find a rock…
Prune apple trees:
Done!
Ahh, country living in the winter.
Can’t you just picture it?
Waking up to peaceful, snowy mornings…
Taking in the calm beauty of fresh snow…
Watching the children play…
Heading outside to enjoy that special kind of quiet that prevails on a cold, country, winter day…
Yeah.
Me neither.
We moved.
We unpacked (mostly).
It is time for the virtual tour.
I wouldn’t want you to miss anything so lets start at the very beginning…
As you head up the driveway turn and look behind you, past the mailbox, across the field you will see a little grey house in the distance. 
Wave and say goodbye, that’s our old house and it won’t be around much longer!
When you have said your proper farewells head up the long driveway.
This crew is walking down the driveway toward the road.
The orchard that you are passing, (along with the driveway) is not ours but our new neighbors and the barn you will drive by is where their 100-year-old cider press resides.
Note: If you are virtually (or actually) visiting in the winter please reflect on how happy we are to live far off the road rather than curse the length of our driveway which we hear has drifting problems.
Once you make it to the top of the hill, watch out for girls on wheels! 
While the new place has it’s own small orchard, as well as a woods, yard with lots of gardens. a house and a garage to explore the girls are most enamored by the driveway.
The driveway.
The driveway which is on the opposite side of the garage as the house. The driveway which has western exposure, no shade, no lawn, just a nice chunk of pavement that resembles an oven in the late afternoon. The driveway is not everyone’s favorite part of the new house.
But, after a month of having a paved driveway even the littlest girl can now go faster than my focus!
And the others are doing tricks – Look, no hands!
If you can manage to park your vehicle out of the way of the circus on wheels you will no doubt be pressed into watching a full “show” of the best and current tricks. After managing to extract yourself from that situation (and before you protest remember the oven factor) ask Clara to show you the house. Then try to keep up as she runs past our two car garage (that only has room for cars in it in my dreams) and heads towards home… 
(and part 2)
Behind the Willows 