03.31.2024 Happy Easter!

 It is an early Easter this year and we are grateful that the sun is shining and that we don't have snow! For those of you who celebrate Easter, may you have a very special day. The day starts early with Mass then a special Eastre breakfast. The I will have a late lunch with friends. Good company and good food. 

Purple roses - one of my favorites. I think all flowers are one of my favorites! I am trying to have some fresh flowers in the house one way or another. They do brighten the day and the ambience!

Also like white roses.

And pink roses too! This is a lively bouquet and smells good too!

A very Blessed and Happy Easter from my family to yours!

Miracles do happen - Fionnegan is giving Shorty a kiss. Never thought I would see those two being buddies!

Fionnegan and Gunnarr enjoying a sunny day.

Shorty is all smiles!

This is Shorty's idea for a group picture when sitting on the kitchen porch. He does pretty well with photographic composition!

Until next time................................

01.21.19 Patriots are Super Bowl bound - AGAIN!!!! and bitter cold weather!

Yes, what an exciting day yesterday proved to be. First with the snow and freezing rain and bitter cold temperatures. And as it turned out, I had to go back outside and shovel the driveway again - we had over 8 inches here and just a little help from the plow truck. While I was shoveling Gunnarr stayed close by me, scooting over with each row across the driveway. Shorty was happy entertaining himself by rolling around on the packed snow while Fionnegan watched from the porch. Believe it or not, no pictures as I was quite involved in clearing the driveway and walkways.

Then it was the AFC championship. the fourth quarter was a real exciting 15 minutes. The lead changed four times until the game went into overtime. What can I say - TB12 did his magic one more time and we won 37-31. Great game. Next stop is Atlanta for Super Bowl 53. This is the Patriot's third straight appearance in the SB, with luck we will win this one, too. I like that we are playing the Los Angeles Rams - a good competitive team. East Coast versus West Coast. That also makes it exciting. The boys watched the game with me and only Shorty still thinks when I yell GO that he should get up and go to the door. But I explained to him GO is for the football team, he glances at the TV, curls up again and puts his head back down. More TB12 he says, less yelling GO!

These pictures are downloaded from the internet. Our great quarterback, Tom Brady TB12. The best. Watching the excitement on the field was almost as exciting as watching the game.

Little football fans. If they do not enjoy watching it on TV, they at least are very tolerant of letting me watch it undisturbed. I think they like to watch it because of the player movement back and forth. Or maybe they just watch and wait for the commercials!

Actually during overtime, there was a large crash that sounded as if it were in the house or perhaps very close to the house. What to do - the Pats are marching down the field. The clock is ticking. We have the ball. We need to score. The Super Bowl is at stake!

A very quick check and run down to the basement to make sure the pipes did not burst was enough for the moment. In between plays I checked out the driveway and the car was fine. Anything else could wait until the end of the game! No draft in any room indicated no tree limb broke through a window. The Pats have the ball and scored and we won. That was the time to check on the rest of the house.

Near midnight there was a lunar eclipse. Yes, I did go out into the bitter cold to watch it. Fascinating. The whole yard was lit by the full moon, then darkness. Such an incredible phenomena.



When we went outside this morning it was -5 degrees F. Yes, 5 degrees below 0! Bitter cold. I made the dogs wait to get a sweater and puffer best on before letting them out. Shorty broke through the ice crusted snow and was struggling a bit to get up on the harder crust but he did it all by himself. All of them were having fun sliding sideways on the packed surface, putting their noses in any soft spot they could find, and seem oblivious to the cold. I put on a pair of snowshoes and made some tracks for them so they could manage the areas that were not as solid.

They all seemed to have fun, I enjoyed the exercise of walking around the fence with snowshoes and watching them enjoy themselves. Then I saw three robins! Poor little birds must have been freezing so I filled the feeders and hope they find a warm place to roost. I should leave them a warm bowl of water but the water bath cracked and broke during the last storm so I am needing a new water bath for them. The birds probably stay close to the house as the heat leaks through the walls in the basement, warming the edges of the ground and melting the snow. Old houses, only so much one can do. One year I found them tucked under the bushes in the front of the atrium. When it is really cold, all of the birds seem oblivious of the dogs and go to the feeders undisturbed.

Well this was our exciting day or two. I took the car in for repairs - lucky to have a service center open as today is a holiday. It is MLK day and we observe the messages that he had for us and hope we all learn to be tolerant of others.

Stay warm if you are in the cold, enjoy the warm weather if you are elsewhere. And until next time ….. stay well.

07/21/17 Sailing, gardening and home repairs

The rains this spring resulted in beautiful flowering gardens. I have mostly lilies in bloom right now and they are spectacular. The drought last year led to a loss of several well established plants and a short season of lily blooms. What a difference this year. The gardens are succession gardens, with different blooms from early spring through the late fall. One set back has been the non-optional need for home repairs and the construction is still ongoing. But when it is all done I will have one grand deck and a lovely place for outdoor eating and flowerpots of colorful flowers.

And the sailing has been very good, too.  I love taking Mimì out. A challenge we met was going against wind and tide (again) and the huge wakes created by the motor boats. Even though no wakes are allowed in the area where I sail, apparently no one can read or recognize the no wake signs! One such encounter was fun -  a large incoming swell created by a huge motorboat that we crossed perfectly and it lifted the bow way out of the water! Later as I was coming back into the harbor to pick up my mooring another motorboat sped by me and a very small motorized tender. The men on the tender yelled at the big boat as they had huge swells to manage as well. But this is what we expect when we all share the water. Next time I will try to remember to take my camera and take a few pictures of  Mimì under sail. She is so clean she sparkles! 

And my boys are having a great summer. Shorty has certainly settled in to our pack and sometimes challenges me for alpha status. He won't win. I have let him off leash a few more times, the last time he was very stubborn and did not want to come when called.  Bad doggie! Fionn appears to love to swim and just goes straight into the water and dog paddles. Shorty now goes  up to his shoulders - there is definite competition between Fionn and Shorty. And Gunnarr, he is so sweet. He looks up at me after lapping up some water and smiles as if to say, I will keep my coat clean and dry! They all are loves.

We also have a cardinal nest in the shrub right nest to the house. Am looking forward to seeing the eggs hatch!

Here are a few more new pictures:

They are sent outside to do leglifts and find their spots. They call me so I don't forget them!



Shorty loves sitting outside. He used to sit under the bench, now he sits on top and rests his head on the arm rest.






My Gunnarr. A darling. He is camera shy.











Fionnegan is a big tease. When he gets his bone he takes it and just waits for Gunnarr or Shorty to come close, then he growls at them! He also likes to take a bone outside and challenges Gunnarr to pick it up so he can chase him. This habit has often time resulted in a lot of rough housing and three way dog wrestling.

Here are a few flowers from the garden. A variety of colors and sizes and timing of blooms, so there will be color now for the rest of summer.

This is the cardinal nest with the female keeping the eggs warm.






Hope you all are having a good summer!