Christmas 2011

This post is a little after the fact but with everyone home it’s been a little crazy.

The stockings were hung with care, no fireplace here.The packages were wrapped, remember as they get older its more about quality versus quantity and the coffee caked had been baked, a delicious batch indeed.

Emily is always up first followed by Mark and eventually Derek. No one is too enthused about pictures as they get older, me especially. Even though we couldn’t be with family in person, Skype allowed us to share some Christmas festivities with Greg’s family. It was almost like being there…  We wish for you all a happy, safe and productive New Year and all your dreams come true…

Christmas Cookies

One of our annual traditions is making Christmas cookies. Mark and Emily really enjoy helping. Derek cruises in and out primarily sampling the cookies to make sure they are up to our standards. He’s our quality control guy.

Everyone is getting older and will eventually go off on their own (I think) so I really treasure these times. Hopefully if our kids have kids of their own they will carry on this tradition.

The cookies look fairly descent, taste great and are usually gone in a few days.

The Bird Whisperer

A few weeks ago while we were relaxing in the family room we heard a thud on the front window. I didn’t think my windows were that clean but apparently this little guy did. He lay stunned on the front porch. I picked him up and gave him some comfort until he felt ready to venture out on his own.

He took a short flight and landed on the kissing ball on the end of the porch. He stabilized for a few more minutes and was off.

Now if I could figure out a way to discourage the squirrels…

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 

The holiday season seems to roll around faster every year. Hmmmm, is that a telltale sign that I’m getting older…

I love putting out our New England Village every year. It takes over the dining room table but the glow from the little house windows in the evening is very relaxing as well as the various tree lights.

We’ve been very lucky in terms of weather. I’m not sure how that will fair for a white Christmas but no snow makes everything else so much easier.

December is traditionally a busy time for my home design/printing business. This year was no different except for at the height of orders one of my printers broke. I have a great guy that services them but he was unable to fix it. (All part of the holiday stress/fun).  I have another color laser printer but it uses a different technology and wasn’t the one of choice for the jobs I needed to get done. Long story short I have a new printer and got done what I needed to do. This printer is similar to what I had but the expense is upfront as the toner is suppose to last much longer and is cheaper so time will tell.

Need I Say More… Thanksgiving 2011

I think these pictures say it all. We had a quiet, relaxing Thanksgiving holiday. Heavy rains with the potential for snow in some areas were predicted for the Wednesday before. In lieu of the weather predictions Greg picked Emily up on Tuesday. I had to work evenings so he was on his own. Things went smoothly until he was about 30 miles from her school. The western part of the state had been hit hard from the hurricane at the end        of summer. Part of the road was washed out through the mountains so Greg encountered a detour. There was a lot of tree damage and evidence of erosion in  the area. Other than that the trip was uneventful. Derek came in later on Wednesday.

We all used this time to relax and recharge. We’re looking forward to repeating this during the Christmas holidays.

Who Would Have Guessed?

Who would have guessed that the northeast would be hit with a freak snowstorm just before Halloween. I sure wouldn’t have. Our town picked up about 3 inches of very heavy wet snow that put the lights out in pretty much the whole town.

The town and state scrambled to get their plows on and the stores were hit with a rush equal to the day before Thanksgiving.

Most of the leaves were still on the trees and the wet snow brought down trees and branches all over town. We were very fortunate at our house because we only lost power for 6 hours. The vast majority of town was out for many days, some almost a whole week. Because we are all well and septic that meant no heat, water or flushes. Halloween was cancelled on Monday and rescheduled for Friday.

Emily is attending school in North Adams in the far western part of the state. She had two feet of snow. Who gets two feet of snow in October? I can say I don’t ever remember this happening.

I sure hope this doesn’t foreshadow our winter to come.

Autumn In New England

 

Last Sunday Greg went in to Boston to watch the Head of the Charles regatta. Here are some photos from his day.

The Cambridge Boat Club hosts the event and is the site for the live webcast.

Greg enjoys watching the ‘eights’.

The Weld Boathouse at Harvard University.

It’s a great way to spend an afternoon on a nice fall day, but with an October Nor’easter it would have been a different story as you will see in our next post.

October Update Part 2

On Columbus Day Greg and I went to the Topsfield Fair. We haven’t missed one yet since we’ve been here. This year was #30.

The great pumpkin weigh-off is an annual event. This big boy was the winner. They make up for in weight what they lack in beauty.

This was the first year there was a tiger show. They always have a petting zoo.

The above vegetable took first place and I’m sure it looked great at the time. We went the last day of the fair after there had been a warm stretch. Local scouting troops always decorate pumpkins. Looks like the candy corn quills couldn’t take the warm weather.

I think seeing the quilts got us both inspired for our Keepsake trip the next day.

What’s the fair without tractors?

One of the nice perks about going the last day is the sand sculpture is complete.

You had to know there would be some horse pictures although we didn’t see any shows this time. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police come every other year.

The flower barn is a peaceful oasis from the chaos of the fair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The high point that we enjoyed was the demolition derby at the end of the day. It heralded an end of another fair.

2011 Demolition Derby 

(click on the link above to watch the first heat. Can’t beat that simple fair fun.)

On the way out we took this final sand castle shot at night.