Iris to Ceres

Illustration@2010BabetteandFriends

Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas
Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep;
Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims,
Which spongy April at thy hest betrims,
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom -groves,
Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,
Being lass-lorn: thy pole-clipt vineyard;
And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard,
Where thou thyself dost air;--the queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch and messenger am I,
Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,
To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain:
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

From: The Tempest by Shakespeare

Mushroom Princess

Last night we had a feast of mushrooms. I usually like to eat my mushrooms in olive oil with parsley and not overly disguised in heavy cream.

But, this recipe sounded great : wild dried porcini lasagna with sage, from Dean and Deluca Cook Book.

While washing the mushrooms I got an idea for a new fairy tale. I wrote it down immediately. It now waits to be edited. In summary it is about unlikely heroes, borzoi brothers named Oscar and Nico and their rescue of a princess. Because she had been turned into a porcini mushroom -by a wicked witch - this unlucky princess lives in the shape of a fungus without her feet to walk about, with a nice bunny family deep in the woods ... Lovely, isn't it? Now, how to rewrite this without scaring 7 year olds so that they don't cry every time they see a mushroom and get traumatized by seeing someone eat them...Hmmmm...

I read about the etymology of porcini and I came across this interesting information:

The standard Italian name porcini means 'piglets'(remember the expression porco miseria! porco=pig). Apparently the attribution derives from the young mushroom's resemblance to pig's ears.

In French we call them cèpe de Bordeaux.

Apparently it has derived from the Gascon cep which means "trunk" for porcini mushroom's fat stalk, ultimately from the Latin cippus "stake".

Whatever it is called, whichever continent it grows on and however it is cooked this meaty edible fungus is always so delicious!

Mystery Visitor at the Farm

Hello, it is Babette here!

We had a mystery visitor! A little black cat who must have left home in a hurry without wearing a collar. How unwise!

My human thinks it is a lost house cat, but I think not, it is a barn cat all right,  with all that hissing scratching my human (what bad manners) she ought to be wild.

Cooper, Willy and I approached to say welcome with gentle woofs.  You would think he had seen the devil!  He climbed the maple tree and would not come down even after scrumptious treats were offered.

Silly cat! 

Nonetheless he remained in the garden. In the mornings as soon we lifted the shade here he was with big yellow eyes, gently meowing.  I guess it is kind of cute in a feline way.

We put out milk for him and he made himself comfortable under the porch and cleaned the plate with good appetite. Finally we became good friends. She had that ‘je ne cat quoi’, a wise wildness and comforting quietness.

My first cat friend. 

Then one day he was recognized by the postman, he said this cat belongs to someone, a neighbour 3 miles away. Apparently he was being searched for days: “ Haven’t  you seen the posters?  “ he asked. No we didn’t.

And now he is gone. 

I never liked that postman. 

Next time he comes around I plan to nip his ankle…

Apparently the cat was a she. 

NO wonder...

The sea in my mind

Illustration-Collage©2010Babetteandfriends

My human dreams of Maine these days. 

She keeps saying ‘Babette, very soon we will go by the sea, hear the waves, walk on the cliffs, go down on the beach, collect pebbles and eat fish cakes in a simple shack by the ocean and then feed the gulls’.

Well, I don’t like that big gaping bathtub she calls sea. Who knows what could be lurking under that deep puddle. I have no intention to get my pretty hair wet. Besides the lulling sighing song drives me nuts!

But how to woof this to her? 

 Collage available in Shop.

Storm

Storm is definitely brewing... There is already the smell of rain and wild flowers and hay in the air. Time to get my thunder wrap on!

Early Morning Mist

It is hard to believe only two weeks ago this very apple tree was struggling with April snow.

Reality, so arduously beautiful…

Dream

Collage©2010Babetteandfriends

if you like the collage above you can find it and many more of Babette and friend's similar whimsical cards in our Shop.

Babette's dream

Last night Babette had an unusual and long dream. Her paws were in full motion and her ears and whiskers were twitching, her nose got very busy sniffing something interesting. Suddenly she moaned and made crying sounds and her legs moved more and more wildly as if she was now really really running and her tail started to go up and down and shake left and right. I believe what ever she was up to became not so pleasant anymore! When she opened her eyes, she had the face of a dazed dog. I wondered if she had a nightmare and was relieved to awake and get out of whatever she was dreaming. Of course we can never tell..

I read that not all animals that experience REM sleep necessarily dream. Some think that perhaps only mammals dream during REM sleep. However, dolphins, thought to be highly intelligent do not have any REM sleep whatsoever!

I was surprised to read that elephants,giraffes,cows,horses and even sheep dream too!

Apparently elephants don't change in posture when entering or exiting REM sleep. Therefore, it is often difficult to tell if they are in NonREM or REM sleep. It is hard to see the eye movements since their eyes are relatively small. However, some indicators of REM sleep in elephants, as well as other animals, are twitches, vocalizing and irregular breathing.

Giraffes have about 20 min. of REM sleep each night in episodes of 1-6 minutes each. During this time, they lie down, heads resting over their bodies or on the ground.

Horses which must lie down to experience REM sleep, sometimes move their legs while sleeping, and will even neigh in their sleep!

Sheep who often sleep in a "sphinx-like" position occasionally stretch out while sleeping. During this time, they experience many REM sleep-like sleep. During this time, they have eye movements and ears and their legs occasionally twitch.

Interesting, isn't it?