more fall foliage

I took my camera along to the fairgrounds today hoping the trees had started to turn. This is looking towards Mohawk Mtn.--see the tower in the distance? We live less than a mile down the hill from that.
Another view--I forgot to take one with the farm--the lighter yellow field--not sure if they grow much of anything other than goldenrod now!
This tree is at the end of our driveway--it really looks pretty with all the yellow leaves.

A walk along Playa Norte

I really enjoy walking this length of beach early in the morning--6 am or so. Only a few joggers ( not me!) and a couple of dogs. It's so peaceful! This video was taken in Jan 2007--I hope the beach is coming back a little.

Yearbook yourself

You have to try this--http://www.yearbookyourself.com/

I thought this "Yearbook Yourself" program was hilarious, and had to try it out. After downloading your photo into this picture-maker, it will create "yearbook-style" photos of yourself in the fashion style of different eras. (It brings back the "romance" of watching old black-and-white movies, and dreaming of living in the "good old days!")
Let me know if you try this out. I'd love to see what you come up with!
I went with the 1966 yearbook photo since this when i graduated--used a photo from 2007 Isla--pretty funny--nothing like what I looked like in high school!

The colors of fall

We live in a beautiful section of Connecticut--there's a lot of open land still. Our town has 5 acre zoning so there aren't houses on top of each other except in the center of town where all the homes were built before zoning rules. The road I live on is about a mile long and ends in another town & in Mohawk State Forest. There is a scenic overlook & observation tower in the park. These are a few shots driving up to the tower.
The leaves are just starting to change--hopefully the rain we had yesterday didn't knock too many of them off the trees so it will still be pretty.
I'll be going to see my mom next weekend & will take a camera--further north it should be nice now.
The view from the base of the tower--looking towards Massachusetts

Fair Friday #2

From the dairy show at this year's Goshen Fair. The kids start young showing cattle. They have to be able to lead the cow on their own.

A reluctant cow. This young man had a class winning cow, so he was in & out of the ring at least twice & the cow wasn't happy.
And neither was this one. Except for the calves, the cows weigh more than the handler so it's interesting to see how the kids handle their animals. All of the people that show cattle put in a lot of time, feeding, milking, and grooming the animals, so winning a blue ribbon is appreciated.
This is the Grand Champion of the whole Dairy Cattle show. The handler, Adam is trying to have her stand still so the judge can get a good look at her.

Early morning shots of Isla

My favorite time of the day--early morning. I'm usually up & out walking around by 6-6:15 am most mornings. It's such a peaceful time of day. I enjoy sitting along the malecon watching the sunrise.

Or walking along Playa Norte when you only have a few people and the beach dogs for company--the moon is still visible that early in the morning.

Rafe and the frisbee

A video of our dog Rafe catching a frisbee over the weekend--it's one of his favorite toys. Looks for it or a soccer ball whenever he goes outside!

Can you spot the fake smile?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index.shtml

I happened across this on another blog and I thought it was pretty interesting. If you have a minute, you should check it out. And then let me know what you score is. I got 15/20. HERE is the link.

Fair Friday

I am going to do fair photos on fridays for awhile. We will be celebrating our 100th anniversary in 2010 and are collecting old photos for the occasion. The floral display is from the 1911 fair. It's one of the oldest pictures we have found .
Not sure of the year for this, but probably from the 30's or 40's. We are lucky to be working with our local historical society--when they find stuff relating to the fair, we are allowed to scan or copy. They will be loaning us alot of materials for the celebration.
I have some other older phtos that I scanned, but saved as TIFF files & I can't upload them to here. Will try & get again & save as jpegs

Tuck....our tuxedo cat

This is Tuck( top in the photo) and Zack. They joined our family at 5 weeks old--having been taken from their feral mother almost at birth. They were adorable kitties and great cats. Sadly, Zack died about 5 years ago from a stroke, but Tuck is still on the prowl at 14.
Tuck loves to cuddle and curls up under or in any blanket he can
Our tomcat, Kodak, took them both under his wing & taught them everthing they needed to learn--he was a big old softy!

We have found that getting two kittens from the same litter they tend to bond & are best buds. He has a wonderful purr. When he was still young he used to suck on any rawhide shoelaces he could find--we figured it was because he was taken from his mom at such an early age.

Isla Carnival 2008

A performance in front of the Vistalmar--I started out on the 2nd floor balcony & moved down to the 1st floor for better photos

Taken in front of the Posada
Spotted this adorable child on Hidalgo on the way back to our room.

Alaska sunsets

These are just a few of the gorgeous sunsets we saw when we were in Alaska this summer. It was hard to get used to the change in # of hours of sunlight--and just when we got accustomed , we came home!
The 1st day I was up at 4:30--it was 8:30 east coast time.....and it was light out.
These were all taken at approx. 9:30-10 pm
These 2 are totally untouched--the sky looked just like this....
Totally amazing! Just like all the towns we visited...wish we had had time to see more, hopefully we'll go back sometime.

That time of the year --mucho zucchini!

Found quite a few zucchinis in my garden the other day & decided I'd better start using some of them. Yesterday I made 2 loaves of chocolate zucchini bread and 24 zucchini muffins with dried craberries and chocolate chips....yum! Today I thought I'd make some zucchini relish.
Started out at 7 am--chopping all the ingredients--red & green pepper, onion and zucchini. Sprinkle with 2T. of canning salt and cover with water & then let it sit for 2 hrs. This draws the water out of the zucchini.
The mixture sitting for awhile.

My steam canner getting ready. This method isn't FDA approved but is much faster that boiling water bath. I only do jams & pickled things using this method & have never had a problem.
made a small batch recipe--only made 4 1/2 pints each recipe--here's the jars & canning funnel waiting on the relish.
the relish cooking
And the finished product. Still have a bunch of zucchinis left & I will be putting it in practically everything I cook! And I'll shred & chop a bunch & freeze it. Will last through the winter, but that's a good thing .

Kent Falls, Kent CT.

Kent Falls is a hidden gem is NW CT. Some go there to climb the trail beside the falls, many to just sit near the pools at the bottom.

Kent Falls is sometimes considered the highest fall in the state. It is actually a series of waterfalls and cascades that drop 250 feet over .25 miles. Kent Falls is not the largest single drop fall in the state. There are two major drops in this series a lower falls and an upper falls.
The lower falls are a series of three drops that are visible right at the entrance to the park. There is a large grassy area and picnic tables.

Squeak..another of our cats

This is a photo of another of our cats, Squeak and his best friend, Rafe. When we got Rafe 6 years ago he weighed the same as our cats --about 7 lbs! What you can't see is they are lying in front of the woodstove....

a short video of Squeak

Washington County, Maine

When we went to Maine for our nephews wedding, we had all day to sightsee since the wedding was at 7 pm. So we went to Campobello to see FDR's home --"cottage"-- smaller than some in Newport, but still pretty impressive--16 bedrooms, I think. Had to cross the border in Lubec Maine into New Brunswick, Canada.
The flower gardens were beautiful--plate sized dahlias & lots of other varieties.
We stopped at West Quoddy lighthose on the way back--this is the eastern most point in the continental US. Unfortunately it was very foggy, but we enjoyed both places anyway. I went to college in Maine (UMaine-Farmington) but had never been to this area before.
Just stopped by the roadside to take this--thank goodness I was driving & could stop when I wanted!

This one of our cats, Bubble--his brother is Squeak--he is part of our family, too. They are a Manx cats, which means they have no tail--in actuality, they have about a 1 inch stubby tail. He is a long hair & luckily loves to get brushed. He has a twin--our neighbors that we got him & his brother from kept that one--his name is Killer. They are all 12 yrs old.