Accepted Student Day

Friday was accepted student day at Em’s college, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) in North Adams, MA. It took a little under 3 hours to get there. The day was very pleasant with bright, blue skies. I took a lot of pictures on the way out because we were traveling through the Berkshire Mountains, you can see them in the background in the photo of Emily. We look forward to seeing them in the fall.

MCLA is pretty small college with under 2000 students. This was our second visit.

Below is the ceremonial gate. I think I mentioned this when I posted about our visit in the fall. The students walk through the gate on their first day as freshmen and at graduation. There is a superstition that if you walk through it at any other time you won’t graduate. Our guide told us that you will see everyone walking around it.

Below is one of the dorms that houses freshmen. There are 3 dorms, two are for freshmen and upper classmen. There is an apartment housing that is for upper classmen only.

Below is one of the main buildings. I didn’t take a lot of photos of buildings because they kept us on the move. We enjoyed our time there and it reinforced to Emily that this was the place for her. The college president is a very dynamic woman who is also an alumni. She made it a point to circulate and came over and introduced herself to us. Our student guide told us she will know everyone’s name in no time.

The route we traveled followed the Mohawk Trail and is really beautiful. The roads can be very twisty as you make your way through the mountains. One of the professors we met at the school recommended taking the turnpike in the winter, probably a good idea.

Spring Cleanup

 

 

Every other year we have a pile of red hemlock mulch delivered. Beds around the house are cleaned out and freshened up. It always smells so nice. We got it done earlier than other years thanks to some mild weather in between rain storms.

 

 

Even better then getting our landscaping done early was the visit of Eric, Amanda, Kelsey and Alex. They came on Saturday and will leave tomorrow. For those that follow Amanda’s blog you know that they have been enjoying many things that the area has to offer.

On the Technology Cutting Edge

 

Greg is modeling my birthday present IOU. On Thursday we took the plunge and got the ipad. It really is a technological marvel. Very fast, beautiful display and plenty of fun things to do with. It won’t replace my laptop but if you want to surf, check email, play games etc. It can’t be beat. I’m also collecting recipes and in time hope to replace cookbooks with this. If only it could dust and vacuum…

 

 

Enough Already

As many of you know we had an extraordinary, record setting, amount of rain in the month of March. Above is a panorama of our backyard. There is a pipe that runs under the pine trees to where Greg is standing on the right. None of the water in the back normally is there. 

The area to the left of the gazebo is all flooded.

We were lucky compared to many people. We got about an inch of water on Mark’s side of the basement. Enough to create a mess and lots of cleanup especially after we had just gotten everything dried up from a storm 2 weeks prior.

Below is an interesting photo. I posted a similar one about a year ago from a storm we had in 2005. That was suppose to be a 100 year storm. Hmm, it didn’t seem like 100 years had gone by. Typically the water is the width of the bridge not overflowing.

 

We took a drive around town and got these photos. It was a few days after the fact and the water was already receding. Click for a larger view.

End of An Era

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today marks the end of an era for us. We had to send our beloved Abbey to heaven this morning. She would have been 14 on June 1st. Her health had been declining this past year and when we got up this morning she could no longer get up and it was clear to us that it was time. We took her to a nearby animal hospital at 6 a.m. May she rest in peace. She will be surely missed by us all. Below is a very small sampling of the wonderful companion to all of us that she was. Her spirit will live on in our hearts…

Migration

I’ve been thinking about migration a lot lately. It’s one of the rhythms of life in nature. Many of you know that my dad was recently very sick with a bowel obstruction. He was hospitalized for 9 days while his medical team treated him conservatively avoiding surgery. He is doing very well and has made a full recovery.

I received the call from my mom and Greg and I drove to NY right away. It was on Tuesday, the 9th. Greg drove back to MA on Saturday and I stayed to help out. He came back the following Friday and we both drove back on Saturday.

During my almost two week stay I did a lot of thinking and observing. One of the things that stood out in my mind as I was driving my mom back and forth to the hospital was all the migrating birds that we would see with so many different flight formations. I don’t see that where I live now. It brought me back to my childhood. I used to watch the birds head south every fall. I knew that winter was not far away. In the spring, back they would come. It was reassuring that the life cycle would continue.

We also are in a life cycle. We were kids under the care of our parents then we grew up and went off on our own. We all got older including our parents who at times now need our care. I think I would like to think that everything and everyone can go on without the inevitable growing older, but growing older is part of our migratory pattern. So enjoy everything you can for as long as you can each migratory pattern has a beauty all its own.

The Logging Operation

 

I am convinced that Mark is homesteading on our property. He had his buddy and distant relative, John take down 3 trees. You can see the before and after above. John has been working with a professional tree removal service for years and has started to venture out on his own. He is fearless, very knowledgeable and extremely safety conscious. It amazes me how he does it. For me standing on the deck is high enough. Yes, that is John near the top of the tree.

As you can see the 4-wheelers are out and pulling their weight around the yard. Attached to Mark’s is the cart we got him for Christmas. It has been very handy for cleaning up the yard this weekend. We burned today and yesterday. It felt good getting out after being couch potatoes all winter. Fresh air and Advil, can’t be beat.

I found the ruins of this nest while raking on the side of the house yesterday. I don’t know how I missed that one last summer.