Bleeding Espresso

Today marks one year since our kid Pasqualina came to live with us. This was then:

And this is now:

And just for fun, another from about a year ago:

And today:

I guess I can’t really call her a kid any more now that she’s ready to have kids of her own. Yes, that pink you see up there on that second photo is our Pasqualina filling up with milk. We expect kids in mid-March or so, but we’re not quite sure of the date of spermination (the buck was in the pen for a month).

What a year it’s been…can’t wait to see what this next one brings!

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After compiling my part of the World Nutella Day round up and finishing some work assignments early in the week, I decided to enjoy the sunshine this afternoon and spend some time with my girls (of the caprine persuasion).

I never would have imagined how calming and reassuring just being in the presence of these goats can be. It’s really hard to be worried or stressed about anything when these sweet faces are looking back at you.

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Right now I’m reading Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese by Brad Kessler (recommended by a reader and native of Calabria, just down the road from me; grazie mille Anthony!).

Kessler describes the connection with nature, history, and yourself that raising goats provides, noting that throughout time, goats have been the subjects of many legends and stories, always “helping humans or leading them to unexpected places.”

“If you follow living beings assiduously in the field, or through the lens of a microscope,” writes Kessler, “they lead you to an understanding of their lives, and all life. They usher you into a kind of Eden.”

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Margherita and Carmelina usually don’t care *too* much if I’m in there with them–they often come to say hello and then just go back to eating, unless they’re not hungry, in which case they’ll stay for petties for a few minutes.

But my Pasqualina, who you might remember, I bottlefed, rarely leaves my side when I’m in the pen, even when I’m clearly disturbing her nap time.

There’s just nothing like goat zen in the goat pen.

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As many of you know, I was back in the US from mid-November to late December. This was my first trip “home” since February 2004.

Yes I write it in quotes; as much fun as I had there, you see, I was also extremely excited and happy to get back to P, the pooches,

and the three kids (who, incidentally, we believe may all be pregnant!).

Stateside, I spent lots of time with family and friends, visited Philadelphia, New York City (where I met two online friends for the first time and met up with an old college friend–none of whom are shown in the photo below!)

and Washington DC,

helped my mom make cookies (which she sells for Christmas),

and shopped. A lot. The Christmastime prices in American malls? Worth the price of the airline ticket, quite frankly.

For instance, P was amazed that I could get him a pair of Levi’s for $30 (€21) when they cost, oh five times that here. My other spectacular purchases for myself include a new iPod Touch (to make it easier to read English language books, mainly) and a new external hard drive.

NB: Anything technological/electronic costs *way* less in America than it does in Italy.

My biggest culture shock actually came very early on in the trip when I couldn’t. stop. speaking. Italian. It was the weirdest thing! On the plane over, no matter what language the person addressing me was speaking, I would answer in Italian…and only sometimes catch that I had done it–once purely by the blank look on a fellow passenger’s face.

The two hardest things to stop saying were “Ciao!,” “Grazie!,” and “Sì!” So I imagine I just looked like a really pretentious American for at least the first few days of the trip. Oh well.

The other thing that was hard to get used to? Things being open in the afternoon. So strange to be able to go shopping or *gasp* get something to eat between one and four! Lovely.

I still have lots of photos to go through and post on Flickr (and possibly here), and probably a lot of mental processing of the whole experience. Soon I’ll be publishing my “Top 10 Realizations After Being “Home” for the First Time in Nearly Six Years” so please check back!

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You know as a goat maaaaa the day will come when your lil’ kids, particularly the one you bottle fed,

would go and get all grows up.

Yes, it’s breeding time around here (for the GOATS people!), and last week, the girls were anxiously, let’s say, waiting for Godot.

Meet Godot:

If all goes well, kids in March.

Gaaaaah! Are we ready for this?!

Five months, and we’ll have our answer.

Buon weekend!

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Did you know goat tears are an instant remedy for your aches and pains?

That’s what Thera-Gesic says:

I don’t care how magical goat tears are. I’ll never make my babies cry on purpose.

You wanna know why?

Happy Love Thursday!

Hug a kid!

And get in those O Foods Contest recipes!

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