This morning, we got an exciting surprise. Kittens! The farm's calico barn cat had babies a few weeks ago, but no one has been able to find them. She has hidden her past litters very well, so the task of finding them in the array of old barns and buildings on the property was daunting. Today, though, when we walked outside to let the chickens out of the coop and feed the horse, we saw mamma cat walking across the road towards the horse barn with a kitten in her mouth. The first kitten sighting! A neighbor who helps with work around the farm showed up right after we saw the momma cat and kitten, and he volunteered to climb into the old barn and search for the kittens. He came out with about a dozen eggs the chickens have sneakily been laying in the wrong place, and an armful of squirming, wriggling little kittens. 

They are just the softest little things. There were four in this litter. 

We brought them into the house so they can acclimate to humans and eventually find loving homes. 

We've been feeding this beauty, a retired rodeo horse, some apples that got old. They are her favorite treat. 

We left the farm this morning and are currently in Charlottesville, Va, on our way to visit our wonderful friends Gwen and Jack and their baby in Crofton, MD. We're also planning a visit to Washington, DC for the cherry blossoms. Apparently, they are supposed to be at their peak this weekend or early this week, which is later than usual, and very serendipitous for us! We've been loving the drive through Virginia's rolling hills on non-interstate roads, and spent the morning stopping at yard sales and a few amazing antique stores. We picked up a new treasure for the Etsy store, which we'll post soon. Happy Saturday...hope you are enjoying your weekend!  

Before....

A nice fresh coat of white paint for spring. (And this is why Dave usually takes pictures, not me. Note the shadow.)  

Today, the forecast called for rain, which really limits what we can do outside, especially projects like painting. Though it hasn't actually started raining yet, we took advantage of the overcast morning to sleep in a bit, relax over cups of coffee and tea, and fix a tasty breakfast. 

The coming rain has cooled things down quite a bit, so we enjoyed a fire in the kitchen fireplace while we were cooking. These are all farm-fresh eggs from the chickens. We were talking about how these eggs are like an entirely different food from the store bought eggs. The yolks are noticeably richer- a deep almost orange color, as opposed to the very light yellow of the store bought eggs. And nothing can compare to their taste! 

Everything looks nicer with a fire in the background! 

The end result- a scramble with eggs, country sausage, tomato, and a bit of salsa on top. Yum. 

I went out to give the chicks fresh water and food this morning. They are growing every day---they are bigger now than when we first arrived just a few days ago. 

So cute. Little chick butts. 

Today was our first full day of work exchanging. So far, things are going great. Our hosts are wonderful--- we've had great food, yummy cheese, good wine, and conversation. The old farm house is just so full of charm and character. We have our own space upstairs: a bedroom, and a second room we've been using for reading and are going to use for art. Dave learned how to drive the tractor, and I scraped old paint off the cottage house to prep it for repainting. 

It's great hanging out with the chickens. They are true free range birds. I could spend all day watching them scratch around. I collected their eggs first thing this morning; they were still warm from just being laid.There are even babies---they make the most adorable little peeping sounds. 

Dave has also been busy cutting wood for the heating system, which is really neat. It basically works like a radiator, but is huge and stationed outside the house with pipes running inside. 

Buck is the best farm dog. He is fantastic. 

We tucked him in before dinner this evening on his porch swing bed. 

These are the rest of our photos, continued from Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Part 1. 

One of our favorite spots was the bird observation hut in the Native Plants section. (They had, by the way, 900 species of native plants alone, all labeled with tags in the ground. And that was in only one section of the 4-section garden, to give you an idea of the scope of this place. Incredible.) 

Scratching squirrel! 

We sat and watched the birds for a long while. We didn't even need the binoculars here because they were so close. We were treated to a pair of Golden Finches, several pairs of Cardinals, a Red-Headed WoodPecker, and many more happy birdies, along with the squirrels who have equal love for the bird feeders. 

We also enjoyed the large pond in the Asiatic garden, populated by geese and a wide variety of ducks, who all honked and paddled happily after the rain, and turtles, who happily lazed on the rocks. 

Also, I feel the need to share this, because I learned it relatively recently and it seems like many people are unaware. Don't feed bread, crackers, or other snack foods to ducks, geese, or other water foul. It has very dangerous consequences: changing the PH balance of the water, damaging the intestinal systems of the critters, and eventually killing them. There were signs posted around the pond asking people not to feed bread, but I overheard many people talking about wanting to bring bread back another day. It's amazing how often people don't read signs, or care. We are part of nature, too, and its irresponsible to ignore rules like these that protect the wellbeing of the critters and nature. You can buy duck food, or even bring lettuce, if you'd like to feed the animals, safely. Pass the info on to your friends and family, too! 

Quack quack! 

We have special love for the geese. 

We had already seen most all of our favorite critters-geese, ducks, squirrels, birds, and turtles- when we got one final treat: chickens. Tucked away in a corer was the entrance to the exploratory gardens, which was essentially a homestead in the middle of the gardens. They had honey bees, an edible forest, gardens, rain collection systems, compost, and, of course, chickens. Chickens make me the happiest and I can't wait to have our own, so seeing them always makes me squeal with glee. They were the perfect finish to our lovely garden walk. 

After the gardens, we hopped over to the Ackland Art Museum at UNC, which also had free admission. (The gardens were free, too!) We spent the last hour or two browsing their permanent collection, which featured a lot of neat ancient pottery, and their current exhibition, More Love. 

So, today was pretty much perfect: nature, birds, meditation, chickens, and art. It was a great last day of free roaming before we enter about 2 months of work exchanges, beginning tomorrow at the vineyard. Can't wait! 

We woke up today to the soothing pitter-patter of rain on the van, but it kindly cleared up by mid-morning before we went to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Like everything else at Duke, the gardens were huge. We spent 4 hours there, and only saw half of the gardens! Of course, we were walking slowly and stopping to watch birds and wildlife, but still, the gardens are huge; they contain over five miles of walking paths. 

Pine needles had falled and were draping over the remaining leaves on this tree, which looked like they should have fallen off in the fall. From this angle, it looks like a natural mobile. 

This was my favorite reflection pond. With the tree matter that had fallen and was floating near the surface, it hardly looked real. It was serene. On the pagoda next to the pond, there was a group of people meditating. All of the gardens had a peaceful, meditative quality to them today, especially after the rain. Nature felt fresh and calm. From a distance, we could hear the Easter bells chiming from Duke chapel, and, filtered through the trees, the effect was very relaxing. 

Stepping stones across the pond. 

A neat walkway in the Asiatic garden section. 

Blooming Japanese cherry trees complemented the red bridge, also in the Asiatic garden section. 

Dave found a quiet meditation spot of our own: a perfect tree stump in a secluded section on the gardens. 

We loved being at the gardens today. It was one of those days when just being in nature feels like a meditation in itself, and it was wonderful. I will post our pictures of birds and other wildlife next; there were too many photos to fit all in one post. 

Statue of Mr. Duke himself, with the chapel in the background. 

Started in the late 1920's and finished seven years later, the Duke chapel is imposing, impressive, massive, and awe-inspiring. It did not look like something that belongs in America; it seemed like we had momentarily been transported to an ancient European cathedral. 

Can you guess what building this was? This, and all the buildings surrounding it, were dorms. Imagine living here for college. It looks like a castle or fortress! And very much like something out of a movie. In fact, the entire campus seemed like something from an old movie, where there are a bunch of collegiate boys walking around in letter jackets, someone is in love with the pretty girl in the plaid skirt from the girl's school near by, and life is idealistic and populated by philosophy professors and club meetings. 

I love the detail at the top of this building. 

This was taken from the top of the staircase in Perkins Library. Like everything at Duke, the library was on a massive scale. It blows my mind how different the college experience at Duke must be from the college experience I had at Rollins. Our entire library could have fit, literally, onto one floor at Perkins! The library had two wings, two floors under ground level, three more above ground, a roof top, a cafe, and a labyrinth of staircases and elevators. (And though this was the main library, there were about 5 others on campus!) We managed to get lost and wandered around for about 15 minutes looking for an exit out of the building. I love being in libraries, and this one had so much goodness, it was overwhelming. I'm thankful my college was so much smaller and on a manageable, human scale. I never would have made it at a school like Duke...I would have gotten lost somewhere between the library and the cafe and never made it out. Rollins was just my size, but I'm very grateful to know that places like this library exist to house such amazing collections of books, manuscripts, and knowledge. As much as I resent about the red-tape of the college system, colleges and their libraries are wonderful treasuries of culture. 

We left Dave's grandparents' house this afternoon after spending a great week there. We really enjoyed spending time with them. Thanks guys! :) 

We were very sad to leave China behind. Dave's grandparents took her in recently, but they are looking for a new home for her since she doesn't mix well with their other pets. We certainly would have taken her if we were not traveling right now. It was so sad to leave without her; she even tried to climb in the van with us. We hope this baby goes to a good home. 

We are on our way to our first work exchange in Ruffin NC, near the Virginia border. We don't have to be there until Monday and the drive ended up being a shorter distance than we had thought, so we decided to detour towards Chapel Hill and Durham. We walked around the UNC Chapel Hill campus for a while today, and found this cool horn outside of the music building. We've been chuckling about how much of this trip we've spent at UNC so far, since we spent a lot of time on their Asheville campus, too. 

Poor Dave is a Duke fan and has felt traitorous with all this UNC time, so tonight, we are in Durham to watch the big game, and we're going to hang out at Duke tomorrow. Hopefully the weather stays as nice as it was today...it was 64 degrees and sunny. Perfect weather for driving with the windows open.