Waiting patiently......

I saw Tuck waiting by the door to the solar room this afternoon--it would be a balmy 80 in there, but maybe 45 outside. But of course , I made him wait while I got the camera to catch him in the sunbeams!

He's staring at the door--like that's gonna make me open it sooner!

I like the holiday enhancements at Picnik--so easy to use--I added the santa hats to my photo!

Winter Mode

I know it's hard to tell, but the cat is almost on top of the dog--these 2 are best buddies and are curled up together by the woodstove. When the stove is going, that's where they'll be! The sun is shining today, but it's cold ( low 40's) with 40-50 MPH wind gusts! I"ll be close by curled up with a book!

Sarah's Key

I just finished reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and would highly recommend it . I think it is the type of book many of you would read. I don't remember ever hearing about this particular event of WWII. It is a beautiful novel about a horrific and under-reported event that took place during WWII, the Vel’d'Hiv’ roundup of more than 13,000 French Jews in Paris by the French police. Told alternately from Sarah’s point of view in 1942 and that of Julia Jarmond, a modern day American journalist researching the event for it’s 60th anniversary, Ms. de Rosnay seamlessly weaves the two stories together.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all--I hope you all have a wonderful day with family & friends--don't eat too much! Thanksgiving at my maternal grandparents ( Carneys) in the early 50's

Time Magazines 25 Best Blogs of 2009

I happened to read in a magazine that Pioneer Woman's blog had made Times best blog list of 2009, so I went there to find the list. Hers is the only one on the list that I've read, but I will be looking at the rest to see if there's any others that interest me.

How many have you looked at?

They also have a list of the 50 best websites with this quote "Clear out your bookmarks. You're going to need the space for 50 offerings that are indispensable to navigating, enjoying yourself, shopping or just killing time on the Web."




25 Best Blogs 2009
TIME makes its second annual list of the best blogs in the world, spanning politics, housekeeping, astronomy and everything in between
Top Blogs
Talking Points Memo
The Huffington Post
Lifehacker
Metafilter
The Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan
Freakonomics
BoingBoing
Got2BeGreen
Zen Habits
The Conscience of a Liberal: Paul Krugman
Crooks and Liars
Generación Y
Mashable
Slashfood
Official Google Blog
synthesis
bleat
/Film
Seth Godin's Blog
Deadspin: Sports News without Access, Favor, or Discretion
Dooce
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Said the Gramophone
Detention Slip
Bad Astronomy

There were many interesting statues and sculptures around the castle grounds--this one was my favorite! It was in a courtyard that wasn't accessible to us, so I walked all around the outside to try & get a few photos Went back to get the telephoto lens so you could see the expressions of joy & concentration ( gotta stay up on the log!) on the kid's faces!

Along the Connecticut River

Yesterday I went to the State Fair Assoc. fall meeting --it was held at St. Clement's Castle in Portland, CT. The weather was beautiful, so we had the opportunity to be outside during all the breaks we had and at lunch time. I'm sure if we had been there a few weeks earlier the colors on the trees would have been spectacular!

The view in this picture below is where they are planning to put in a marina.

From the lawn, looking down thr river--they have many weddings here--I'm sure it's an excellent setting for one ( but pretty pricey!)

A few more shots of the river. We were so fortunate that it was up in the mid 50's to 60 & sunny--for mid November that pretty unusual! I have photos from inside & around the Castle & will be sharing those during the week....

Last Roses of the Season

I had a few blooms on my roses still & our weather has been unpredictable lately, so I cut them & hoped they would open in the house.

In the mid 50's yesterday & supposed to be there again today, but I'm sure the cold will come blasting in soon enough!

After the rain

It rained hard during the night, but had let up by dawn. So many droplets of water clinging to all the vines..........

Not really into the spirit yet but.......

I worked yesterday & we had gotten a bunch of new Christmas decorations in that are interesting. The Patience Brewster ornaments are a new line for us to carry. Very whimsical reindeer and small ornaments.A lot of hand painted wine glasses...........

Make for a fun decoration on a tree!

These reindeers are really cute!

A sheep ornament in the same line......there are also pigs and squirrels and other animals....

And a great apron--with flip-flops! i want to buy it for myself--I do wear aprons when v

baking--but I already have a few!

A Bucolic Scene....

I had to drive a few towns away to pick up dog food, so I took along my camera hoping to find something to photograph. I've been under the weather for a few days & haven't felt like going out & looking around. So I was passing a farm in Thomaston--I've driven by it many times & this is the 1st time I've ever seen the cows outside! Think this one is trying to scratch an itch or flick off a fly? Sorry you can't see it, but she is sticking out her tongue.... It's a bright sunny day & they seem to be enjoying being outside--as I was!

This one was nice enough to look up for me!

I also got to visit with a few of my Isla friends after I got the dog food--one has a restaurant in the same town, another works there and a 3rd has a business next door--I should have emailed Sandia, but I knew she just got back from Isla & probably is busy catching up...next time!

2 Months from today.....

Finally I can say" 2 months from today" we will be back on Isla! No fishing tournament, but I know Alan will be fishing at some point. One of the videos I have been watching for months.......

Tuck--the scavenger!

We've had Tuck since he was 5 weeks old--he is now 15! Got him along with his brother, Zach ( Zach passed away about 6 years ago from cancer). So Tuck in his old age has decided to learn some new tricks! Earlier this week I cooked a turkey--they were on sale so I said why not? I ate one of the legs for dinner & threw the bones into the garbage under the sink. I heard a noise a while later & went out there to investigate--Tuck had opened the cupboard, gotten into the garbage can ( the leg had to have been down about 6 inches, gotten it out without tipping over the can and was happily munching on the turkey! Never has done anything like this before....

As you can see, he loves his creature comforts........loves to be warm--he even curls up behind the woodstove to sleep!

It's a cold and rainy day here--the rain is trying very hard to be snow--so it's sleeting I guess! I finally set up the external disc drive for my netbook so I could put a printer on it, too. Up til now if there was something I opened on the netbook & wanted to print, I was putting it onto a jump drive & transferring it to another computer. Went looking through some photos & decided to play with some in Picnik--here's one result.......

A Relaxing Afternoon

Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Newgate Coon Club. It turned out to be a beautiful day & we decided we needed to be out enjoying it! The club is in Norfolk, CT. about 1/2 hr. away from where we live. The photo shows part of the wonderful wrap around porch. Another view of the porch. There used to be mature hydrangeas all along this side, but in the bad ice storm we had last Dec. they were all destroyed. We had our wedding reception here & it was beautiful with the hydrangeas all in bloom!

The Coon Club is the oldest continually operating sporting club in the USA. They were founded in 1897. Not sure how the name came about, but they haven't had organized coon hunts in 20 years. There used to be one member that would arrange ladies coon hunts--I don't think so!( Did you know you hunt for raccoons at night?!)

The club has 105 members and almost always a waitng list. So much hunting land is being lost to development, so there are members from all over CT and a few from MA. It encompasses over 600 acres of land , 2 fishing ponds,camping, pistol & rifle range, sporting clays area and a 15 room house.

One of the fireplaces--there are 3 on the 1st floor. The 1st floor is used for meetings & functions--showers ,weddings etc. Upstairs there is a card room , bathrooms and several

The deer mount is hanging in the barroom, along with a bear mount & several fish. Members can go up Wed-Sun. and have a meal, a drink or just see who else is around. Her's an aeriel view of the clubhouse--there is also a 5 room apartment for the couple that lives on the premises.

Here's Ed, working hard at the bar--he's a great storyteller & loves his captive audience!
After lunch and a drink, we went down to one of the ponds to bask in the sun!

Veteran's Day

Some photos of my parents--Mom was in the Navy & Dad was in the Army; both during WWll.
My Dad served in Europe and Mom was in Washington, DC for the duration--they were married in 1944 while both were still in the service & stationed in different places. Had known each other from HS.

My Mother celebrated her 88th birthday 2 days ago!

Feeding time at the farm

I was passing by this place & noticed all these animals clustered around the fence. There are llamas, goats & sheep in the group. They were patiently waiting for someone to come and open the gate so they could go in & eat!

They all seemed to move very orderly and quickly.......Quite a few mouths to feed!