Freshly Shod…

26 Saturday Jun 2021

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Style, time

Tags

boarding school, camp moccasins, children, clothing, college, contemplation, days, family, l. l. bean, life, lost youth, memory, parenting, scad, southern boys, time, woodberry forest school, years, youth

Recently, while sorting through the debris of my life, I came across this book, a reminder of my younger days.

So started a post never completed from July, 2014. Lord, seven years ago, and I am trying desperately to remember who I was and why I was.

Seven years ago, my oldest had just finished his freshman year at college, living away from home, in a big house with a group of guys, enjoying the summer of knowing that he made it, at least through one year, and that he was on his own.

At the time, the house on Henry, though it never looked this good…

Seven years ago, my youngest was getting ready to ship off to his first year of boarding school. He was getting an early start, in order to practice with the varsity soccer team.

At the time, gazing into his future…

Seven years ago, I think the chapter in question was this

If I took any of this seriously, forgive me…

Seven years ago, I think the Freshly Shod refers to these

Good ol’ LL…

Seven years ago, I found my inspiration to buy these from this

As I stated earlier, if I took any of this seriously, forgive me…

The Years Go By…

07 Wednesday Apr 2021

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Gentleman Farming, Living, Passages, Relationships, time, Totem Hall

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Tags

bees, chickens, eggs, farm chores, farm life, father, fence line, fence repair, kubota, love, parents, study, tractor

I have a large backlog of drafted posts never posted, so, in the interest of cleaning up my life, here goes the first of many…

And so it goes…
Was it really five years ago?
How our life moves by.
I once read how life is like a river, the same, but ever moving, ever changing
Dreaming
Who was I then?

And

Sure

Where am I now?

Tractor bound I think

That

Collecting eggs

Repairing fence line

Studying up on my bees

Best of all

Spending time with my father

Yep…

Time Does Have a Way of Going By…

23 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Living, Passages, time

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

calendars, days, hours, minutes, seconds, weeks, years

Has it really been that long?

The total number of days between Monday, February 1st, 2016 and Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021 is 1,849 days.

This is equal to 5 years and 22 days.

This does not include the end date, so it’s accurate if you’re measuring your age in days, or the total days between the start and end date. But if you want the duration of an event that includes both the starting date and the ending date, then it would actually be 1,850 days.

If you’re counting workdays or weekends, there are 1,321 weekdays and 528 weekend days.

If you include the end date of Feb 23, 2021 which is a Tuesday, then there would be 1,322 weekdays and 528 weekend days including both the starting Monday and the ending Tuesday.

This is equivalent to 2.662,560 minutes.

You can also convert 1,849 days to 159,753,600 seconds.

Today is 2/23/2021 and 2/1/2016 is exactly 1849 days before today.

February, 2016 calendar

Su	M	Tu	W	Th	F	Sa
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29

That was then…

February 1st, 2016 was a Monday. It was the 32nd day of the year, and in the 5th week of the year (assuming each week starts on a Monday), or the 1st quarter of the year. There were 29 days in this month. 2016 was a leap year, so there were 366 days in this year.

February, 2021 calendar

Su	M	Tu	W	Th	F	Sa
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28

This is now…

February 23rd, 2021 is a Tuesday. It is the 54th day of the year, and in the 8th week of the year (assuming each week starts on a Monday), or the 1st quarter of the year. There are 28 days in this month. 2021 is not a leap year, so there are 365 days in this year.

Over the next few, if doesn’t turn out to be years, I’ll give a small hint as to what kept me busy over all this time, time being relative, time being arbitrary…

Not A One…

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Living, Passages, Seasons, time

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

ennui, goals, lists, reading, resolutions

a not started, not finished, bedside read…

For quite some years now, I have had a goal of reading sixty books a year, which averages, you know to five books a month. As you would expect there are years that I read a bit more, a bit less, just right. However, this year, January will come and go without my having read nary a one. The flabbergasting thing is that I cannot put my finger on any particular reason why, other than perhaps a general sense of ennui, a word I absolutely love.

Spring Done Sprung…

23 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Seasons, time, Totem Hall, Vacation

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

beach, boarding school, children, classes, college, empty nesters, life, savannah college of art and design, spring break, tides, woodberry forest school

that last sunset…

Perhaps, I should say, spring sprunged. My youngest returns back to his boarding school later today, and in Savannah my oldest returns back to the college grind today, which all means that today at Totem Hall we return to life as empty nesters today, not a bad life mind you, but a life nevertheless…

Due to Technical Difficulties…

11 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Business, Gardening, Gentleman Farming, Living, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

apple blossoms, apple computer, macbook, motherboard, spring, technology, technophobe, troglodyte, video card

new boss meets the old boss…

In case you were wondering where I might have been all these days, well, did you know that on older MacBooks the video card attaches to the motherboard and that when the video card goes bad, the motherboard though still good is now worthless? Yep, I did not know that either, though I have since found out about this and much other arcane trivia regarding both my now old and now new computers.

meet the new boss…

same as the old boss…

To be honest, the Gentleman Farmer does few things well and computers are not one of them. Slowly, but surely, while my face basks in the glow of computer light, I am making friends with the newest addition and expense to Totem Hall.

Somewhere, someone promises improved productivity and instant enlightenment, right?

I just noticed the blurry image of my old and now very defunct computer, which is somewhat apropos, no?

just because it’s spring and I love apple blossoms…

Gosh…

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Gardening, Nature, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall, Weather

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

camellia japonica, camellia sasanqua, christmas camellia, christmas day, christmas presents, fried egg flower, matilija poppy, romneya, weather channel, winter storm gorgon, yuletide camellia

Not long ago, I looked up from whatever little task I had at hand and realized there were no flowers blooming here at Totem Hall, anywhere, anyhow.

christmas camellia…

That is so unusual, since we have an abundant blessing of blooms year round, which of course I absolutely love, since it gives me a reason to go outside, and make my picks of the day. I blame November. There was a brutish cold snap followed immediately by a deluge of biblical proportions and then another bit of nasty cold weather.

fried egg flower…

Those absurdly sweet harbingers of winter flowers, the Romneya, Tree Poppies, or Matilija Poppy, and the Camellia Sasanqua, the Christmas Camellia, the Yuletide Camellia, said “see ya, outta here, done”.

or yuletide camellia..

or matilija poppy…

And so we were, that is until Christmas Day, when miracle of miracles the Camellia Japonicas, which had been promising, burst forth in all their single, semi-double, irregular semi-double, formal double, elegans, and informal double glory. Spectacular stuff, kid you not, simply one of the best Christmas presents ever.

camellia japonica…

more camellia japonica…

camellia japonica once again…

penultimate camellia japonica…

the final camellia japonica

Now as I type this out, Winter Storm Gorgon has come and is now slowly leaving the scene. Before I go any further, can I ask when we started naming winter weather patterns, honestly, what is up with that? Is this a Weather Channel conspiracy, a new way for marketers and t-shirt makers to sell “I survived Gorgon” kitsch?

Anyway, the damage to my precious winter blooms was extensive, all the flowers freezer burned, and, as for the buds, time will tell. Thankfully, the camellia is a hearty plant and our winters mild, so I fully expect to enjoy bringing flowers into the home sometime later this winter.

From the Old English writha…

01 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Living, Nature, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

crowns, daydreaming, doorways, entries, etruscans, fieldwork, greeks, harvest, old, olympics, owls, power, romans, tractor, wealth, wikipedia, wise, wreaths

harvest wreath…

I came back from the Woodberry Parents Weekend to find the front door of Totem Hall all decked out with a brand new wreath, courtesy of my mother in law, celebrating the best of fall.

one view up close…

Later on my tractor, working a field, I started thinking about wreaths, the whole who, what, when, and where.

another view up close…

So I turned to Wikipedia; I mean, after all, who doesn’t? Did you know that wreaths appeared during the Etruscan era, worn as crowns? After that, the Greeks and Romans appropriated the wreath concept, wearing them to celebrate, for instance, Olympic achievement, or to designate wealth and power.

wise old owl up close…

Of course, wreaths on the head are all good and wonderful, but how does one get from the dome to the door? Well, by way of Wikipedia, one again turns to the ancient Greeks. It turns out the Greeks enjoyed hanging a harvest wreath by their door, just like mine.