On Friday morning we looked out of the back windows onto our field and saw a mysterious blob of snow-white fur, about the size of a large cat, ambling across the landscape very close to the ground. As it turned to a side view, a lovely skunk was revealed, but with an entire white back […]

Like many places, Hilltop is still having a bit of late summer heat going into the first day of fall tomorrow; the flowers have to be watered twice a day to survive. Yet, leaves begin to fall and you can hear the tapping of acorns raining down and hitting the ground every minute or two […]

This week Hilltop was quite buzzing, as usual. Crystal made Scottish shortbread and Cajun Gumbo by night, while teaching her full teaching load by day. We started seeing foxes this week around Hilltop, a rare sight here, and — speaking of buzzing — a pack of bees have taken over our bird bath for their […]

This past week at Hilltop has seen Crystal and me both successfully through the dreaded flu, somehow functioning on Advil and Musinex.  Amidst the sniffles, coughs, and sneezes, I got up to the end of the “B” section (in an ABA’ form) in my symphony’s third movement, and beyond to the length of about six […]