Happy Thanksgiving!

We got about a foot of snow, yesterday, and it's stuck to the trees and the winter world outside is just gloriously beautiful. Meanwhile, I'm working away - all cozy and festive - in the kitchen. Thanksgiving dinner is next door at Grandma's house but I am making a smaller gluten free version for myself. (Grand experiments with stuffing, don't you know.)

There's just something about the way that the stark, cold winter white outside makes our home look so richly comfortable and pretty on the inside!

Warmest wishes to your home from ours!!

=)

xxo

(Okay, gotta get back to my turkey - it's literally calling me! Well, okay, the timer is.... ;) )

Lake water lapping....

   

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

~W.B. Yeats

cranberries...

Down... down... down.... to the lake....

An evening spent at 'The Fells' on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire.

xo

Fourth Of July

Every year, I post about last year's Fourth of July; so, here is this year's offering. And what to say about it? I think that it was hot and humid and we ate late and, then, all of the men got to go and see the fireworks up close and personal and through some tragic, exhausted miscommunication, I got left behind.... I heard they were seriously epic, too!! But.... that's not very cheery! Hmmm... How about if I tell you that I can still remember how cold and sweet those cherries were?! (No joke!) That's a definitely happy thought! Oh! And that fourth boy, there, is cousin Billy. He just moved to Oregon. Now, I'm going to go cry - we love cousin Billy!!! The truth is that, at the moment, it is very hot and humid. The thunderstorms and rain have just started coming through and the cool breeze is swirling around my fevered temples and will soon soak soothingly into my fuzzy brain. That reminds me - I need ice cream! Brain freeze is definitely a happy thought! Ahhhh!

=)

Happy summer thoughts to you and a happy Independence Day to my friends, here, in the US! May all of your potato salads be creamy and may the watermelon be so sweet and juicy that it drips down your arm!

xo

Spring Reminiscence

I thought that I'd give a romantic title to this post which really should be called "finally able to get around to it"! ;) Spring was so beautiful this year and, even though I was a bit out of commission, I didn't miss it - oh, no! And, at this point, I should quickly tell you that the operation went fine, I'm still struggling to climb up out of it all and to heal and I am seriously chomping at the bit to get back to life. But I will be able to do so very soon since both biopsies came back as benign - HUZZAH!!!

Anyhoo... this year, there seemed to be a lot of buzz in the neighborhood about the spring babies hatching out all over the place. Of course, every year we enjoy spring bursting forth but, this year, the story seemed to be noticeably enthralling. Of course, there are the buds and baby leaves and shoots. Then, a few weeks after the Canada Geese arrive back, Mama suddenly disappears to her hidden nest while Papa can be seen waiting.... waiting....  Mama duck emerges from the woods and heads to the pond - sometimes being sighted walking down the road with her string of ducklings! (I didn't get a picture of it this year but I've been lucky to see it twice before - so cute!) And, most excitingly, the barn cat that adopted us a few years back decided to start a brood of her own, this year. Before this spring, she would, for the most part, shun our food (except in the depths of winter) and we would only catch a fleeting glimpse of her occasionally. This spring, when she started showing up in the barn, mewling at Tom from the food barrel while he was feeding the chickens, we started to suspect something was up! Sure enough, the veriest little fuzzy rascals started emerging from the calf barn - pouncing on each other, on their poor mother, hapless bugs, shadows, you name it - climbing the walls - hanging from the ancient doors and, basically, brazenly getting into all sorts of mischief. It was tricky getting pictures of them because, the slightest whiff of a human, and they would whisk away into the barn. Finally, one day, I was able to sneak up behind the carriage barn and get some pictures. The last picture is the one when they realized I was there and the game was up! But that story will have to be continued... Lastly, I've also included some pictures of the pond - it is so blue in the spring and the autumn without the lily pads on it. We can see it sparkling from our front porch and kitchen windows. Also, the skies in Vermont... always so soft and lovely - there are two pictures of clouds - one is their reflection in the pond and the other is what it looked like up above.

xo