Christmas 2008

Muffin had an exhausting day! The whole family has finally headed to their homes and now just Norm and I, Tootie and the 4 house cats are left to enjoy the tree lights, the cookie plates and the PEACE and QUIET!!!
Buddy is sleeping over the heat register and April and Lucky are probably in the back room EATING again.
What a lovely Christmas we have had, spoiled somewhat by the fact that our oldest daughter was just too sick with a sinus infection to come over..but never fear, she feels better today and Saturday we will celebrate Christmas all over again.

What's New

Well, the annual Christmas confusion is upon us again. I am trying to do a little less and enjoy what I am doing a little more. I am nearly done with shopping and even getting caught up with wrapping this year. Have almost all cards mailed out except for those for my wonderful Vet office, the girls at the local bank and the libraries who offer so much pleasure all year around.

Also time to renew my Best Friends, adopt a Big Cat rescue and donate for Spruce, my Wolf Haven friend.

Then something for Smile or Care and one of my Indian Reservation Elders help and I will be done...and totally out of money!

As long as I can give something away, I will always be rich...even though my pocketbook is empty!

My house is full of Christmas and my heart is full of love..can't ask for more than that....

A wonderful Christmas to you all. and "God bless us everyone"

HAPPY ALL HALLOW'S DAY

Yes, I know it's a few days early but I am so far behind that Friday will be here before Monday this week, I'm afraid!

I just inadvertently put the Hallowe'en pictures for this page on my old AOL Journal page which is now on Blogspot as "The House on Long Hill" so will see if I can find a few more for this page [there is a link on here for my other blog if you want to go to the other pictures].

Let me see what I can find...well, I'm not too happy with the way these came out..will try to get time for a few more later this week.

We took a short drive today..well 130 miles, and I took some more Fall shots..a few are really nice so will get a some of them later for those of you who aren't lucky enough to have such beautiful Fall color in your area. The leaves are mostly off now except for the Oak trees which are exceptionally lovely this year and the bright yellow Beech leaves which tend to hang on longer.

What happened?

I have not been able to post to the dashboard

here for almost 2 weeks..ever since I added my AOL Journal with a similar title.

I hope to keep up with both of them and miss adding goodies for the special Friday fun!

We spent several days this past month on taking short day trips to enjoy the gorgeous fall colors. I am a tree hugger/lover and here in the Northeast we have some spectacular days to store up in our minds and pictures to get us through the ugly months of November and March which are usually dull and drizzley..is that a real word?

A couple of pictures from this past week for your enjoyment....one is from my collection of "Old Barns of New York", the other is at Old Ferry's Mansion, which is now a throughbred horse farm where some of the top winning horses of the racing world are at stud. It is a beautiful place and we saw many lovely horses...along with a few hundred geese! They show best if you click to enlarge.

Hope to be back soon with more......

Beautiful Fall in Upstate NY

Another lovely day...I love Edna St Vincent Millay's line...

"O World, I cannot hold thee close enough"

That says it all for days like today, a perfect day in every way!

Only God Can Make a Tree!

The trees are glorious right now...even though I had a pile of work waiting at home I couldn't resist a last ride to enjoy them and try to capture some beauty for the long winter days ahead.

Right Around Home

My husband and I decided to take a ride in our own Chenango County today, the sky was blue, the trees are still beautiful but the leaves are starting to come down much too fast to suit us so we took our water bottles, a few snacks and away we went.

First stop, a tiny old country cemetery where I would love to rest...it is the most peaceful and beautiful cemetery I have ever seen. It is rarely used anymore and sadly neglected by the town, many old Revolutionary and Civil War veterans are buried there so the town did put up a monument to remember those who fought..many of the individual stones are lost or broken so this is better than nothing I guess.

From there, we did a 65 mile round trip and I spent all afternoon jumping in and out of the car,nearly decapitated myself when I heard a loudly barking dog closing rapidly in on my heels and threw myself into the car just as a pickup roared by with a 190# German Shepard hanging out the side window, barking like an attack dog! My neck will never be the same!

A Favorite Old Barn

I never tire of photographing old barns...they tell a story of a different time and a different life. sadly, they are fast disappearing and many of them are beyond repair. This old beauty has had a side replaced and it looks as though someone loves it enough to keep it from becoming just a pile of old rotten boards. Looks as though it may have been a small horse barn at one time.

Indian Summer

This has been a wonderful week...threw away money with wild abandon...well, not really but we did splurge on a half-tank full to take a half day trip on a most gorgeous day so I could add to my pictures of old barns and to my newly added interest, old country and small town churches.

Along the way I also managed to get pictures of some rivers, a few still vivid trees and of course the true harbingers of Fall, in Upstate NY, PUMPKINS!

Ready for Fall?

Well the quick answer is no of course, but as I stop to think about it, I know my body and heart and brain can feel it coming whether I like it or not!

Rather than hate the idea, I will welcome the differences it will make in my life. Since I found out over a month ago that I now have osteporosis, along with several other conditions which old age is wishing upon me , I have to make some changes in my life and lifestyle. I have found a couple of good message boards which I check daily, ordered 3 new books which I feel might be helpful, and went on my annual vacation to Cape Ann, Ma.

A 6 hour ride each way made for a miserable back both ways and some extra soreness the day after both trips but was it worth it?

YOU BET! This year, we took Tootie, our little rescue dog and she had a delightful time and more attention than ever..everyone stopping us to ask ?'s, and admiring her and asking what breed she is so they could get one as cute. She is part poodle, part Yorkie and maybe part something else..anyone's guess is as good as mine!

We covered our usual haunts and retraced our steps back to Old Marblehead..this year was much nicer day than last year and I did get some more gravestone photos from the old Burial Hill Cemetery.

Will write more in a day or two and add more pictures but I have been using my new Food Saver to freeze a few bags of veggies for this winter and need to head for the kitchen to finish up for the day...

See you soon.....

Where Did This Week Go?

A baby fawn in our meadow, mommy came back and got her shortly after we took the picture. . Oh the joys of country living!!!


Here we are, halfway through August..I am disappointed in our gardens this years, tomotoes just not getting ripe and they are starting to get early blight,,we will spray again in a day or two and give them all another good soaking even though my arms are now longer than my legs from carrying those buckets and watering cans to the two gardens across the road.


We had the best broccoli I have eaten in years tonight, not bitter as most of the broccoli I buy has been for several years now. I think it is one of the older varieties, Green Comet, which is not a commercial variety.



I will have to freeze a little, it is all getting ready at once. After I pick the main heads, we will fertilize with blue water at least twice and then keep watered and the plants will produce enough sprouts for us until hard frosts.


Zucchini has taken over and is the only things that is producing more than we can use, I am busy finding new recipes for at least part of it.





Today and tomorrow the local craft fair is on from 9 to 5 although people will be picking up and leaving early tomorrow if business is slow, and I am sure it will be. The economy is so bad that most people are saving for fuel this Winter rather than buying crafts and artwork. I spent a measley $3.00 for a loaf of the worst tasting zucchini bread I have ever had and a tiny package of homemade fudge for Norm.



Back to my reading for tonight, I bought a new Ann Rule book for a dollar at the library book sale and can't wait to start reading it.


Bye for now....

Friday Show and Tell

I believe I mentioned somewhere that I am a Christmas nut...so here is just a small sample of some of my Santa and Father Christmas collection ,some of my snowmen and one of my Villages with my "everything tree" beside the antique hutch in the dining room. I have been collecting for over 20 years now and we always have at least 6 or 8 trees, not counting the little "forest trees that are everywhere! If you click on the picture, it will enlarge enough to get a better look.

Only 3 months and it will be time to bring them all out again...Whew!

Friday's Show and Tell

Thought you might enjoy "Bailey at the Beach" one of my very large collection of Boyds resins. I started collecting over 12 years ago but gave it up several years back after running out of space to display and even to store them. This is a special favorite because I too love building sand castles [and looking for beach glass] when we go to Rockport each year.

Kendall and Keegan

Before Kendall got soaked!

The Staff of Life [so they say]

Think it is about time I got out one of my 3 bread machines and started making bread at least once a week, I nearly fell over today when 2 6 pks of whole grain English Muffins and 2 loaves of wheat bread totaled over 14.00 DOLLARS!!!
That is downright ridiculous and even though the muffins will last about 10 days, it is still too much, both loaves of bread were on sale, otherwise it would have been about 2.50 more. I have some great bread recipes and there are more links on here but here is one for one and half pound loaves if anyone is looking.

one and one half pound loaf 1 1/2 pound loaf bread machine 163 Recipes Recipezaar

Did great on my other shopping today, fish and meat for the week came to about 10.00 and that will be plenty, I may freeze part of the fish for next week as I found a good buy on salmon and crab cakes.
Spent $5.25 at the produce market for tomatoes, mangos, Vidalia onions, and a lot of bananas.
I still have cherries, blueberries, apples and pears left from last week and can harvest broccoli, cucumbers, zucchini, swiss chard, lettuce and herbs from the garden plus I have a lot of frozen veggies to use up in the freezer.

I just cannot believe the food and gas prices these days..we have cut back on driving about as much as possible and I am using a lot from my food pantry but replacing most things with the same when they are on sale as I fear next year will be much worse.

In the Olden Days

Came across this old picture of my mom and her cousin Grant, taken ca 1919. How things have changed in the last 90 years...this was a real thrill for Mom who was town girl, no biggie for Grant who owned the pony and lived on the farm.

third garden

View of the 3rd garden a couple of weeks ago, now half again as full, shoulda made it bigger I guess.

The Third Veggie Spot

This year we did our gardens a bit differently. First, I did NOT plant anything we probably wouldn't eat. Secondly, I did NOT plant anything I can buy as good or nearly so at the local farm market stand. Thirdly, [is there such a word???] everything we planted is enclosed in some sort of fencing except for a couple of extra broccoli plants in 5 gallon pails that were left from the 3rd garden and some green stuff in the patio planters.. The deer here eat everything they can get to, hence the name of our place, "Deerfields" and we always have a woodchuck or two and whatever rabbits escape the foxes and coyotes.

So far as of July 29, we have picked 1 broccoli , 2 tomatoes, about a dozen cucmbers and 1 zucchini., in addition to several kinds of lettuce, mesculun, basil and parsley. Gardens are late where we live because we still get frosts in June some years.

We used to have gardens 100 feet long and 50 feet wide but now that none of the kids are home, we just plant small gardens altho' with these terrible food prices, I do think next year we will add to the ones we made this year.

Another beautiful day, a new Waterlily opened, I cut back the orange mint and the blue mint that is taking over the kitchen patio garden, and deadheaded roses and marigolds.

Just finished reading Julie Andrew's book "Home"., and hope she writes another one which brings her into the middle and later years of her life. This one was well done, she had a not very nice childhood but turned into a very classy and talented lady...no Hollywood "sleaze" in this biography!

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary..our kids held a wonderful family Picnic/Party for us on Saturday and they and our in-law kids and grandchildren [and 2 gr grandaughters] are the joy of our lives. We are so blessed to have a family that all love AND like each other and are delightful, kind and caring people that it makes even the tough times all worthwhile!
A toast to my sweetie, the only man I ever I want to be married to.

Froggy By His Pool

Look in the upper center to see our "Bug Zapper". I used to have water lilies in here, maybe will do it again next year. Still hot and humid and worse is on the way.

Tiny Gardens

Because our soil is so terrible and so hard to deal with, I have gotten in the habit of making tiny gardens wherever I find a good spot for one. This is one of them near the kitchen patio which is just beginning to look like something, hopefully it will continue to progress as the Summer goes on. It is mostly made up of a couple of inches of soil and mowed down weeds, covered with newspaper and then mulch. The mint just grows and I have used containers planted with geraniums, miniature roses, foliage plants and herbs to fill in. To the right [not shown here] is an old square metal tub, painted blue where our mosquito control lives...his name of course is "Froggy".

The Roses Are Back!

After all my worry, most of the roses came through our upstate NY winter with only a couple of losses and one of them resulted in my DH's weed whacking it off right to the ground! Above left is Linda Campbell which produces huge masses of gorgeous red blooms in large clusters, on the right is my old fashioned climbing New Dawn which has taken 3 or 4 years to attain this size, it's really too cold on this hill for it but I love it enough to keep trying!

I did lose a couple over the winter but the worst loss was one that lived over until DH decided to help me by weed whacking around the edges of the bed across the road, somehow it just disappeared. He came in and said "I don't think you want to hear this, but I just cut off one of your roses".

Well, I didn't want to hear it but I know he meant well and I have got several that need more sun so I will move one of them over there as the hole has already been dug.

Honestly, since it has the same type leaves as the other 14 in that bed, you would think that he might have noticed that it wasn't quackgrass, dock or burdock but his mind must have been elsewhere. Then the deer browsed off most of the first flush of buds so they are a bit sparse but still beautiful.

I took a few pictures but most of them were disappointing. the New Dawn finally bloomed over the old shed window [a la English Cottage Garden] but some unknown critter turned the foliage into lace curtains, and the rain ruined most of the others.

"Faint heart ne'er won fair lady" and I will keep going with them as well as the other flowers and green stuff as they are such an important part of our little Shangri La.

A Drop of Sunshine

I think the New Dawn will bloom this year, I pruned it last week and there are several long green canes leafing out!
The yellow rose by the driveway has given up the ghost I think. as did several others, but the ones in the rose bed across the road look as though all but 1 or 2 made it through the -20 cold snap in February.
Hired grandson to come up and do some raking and tomorrow he will do some mowing, looks as though Spring is here at last.

I have been trying to find someway to declutter without parting with much "stuff"...well, sorry to say, after getting rid of old papers [will use for mulch under the shredded bark], taking a few clothes to thrift shop and sending some books to the book sale at our library, there isn't anyway to do it. I am a "get attached person", I'm afraid, although why I am keeping some of my possessions I have yet to figure out!

I have read all of the "DeClutter" books, joined messies at Yahoo,faced my own mortality [and there's a WAKEUP, if there ever was one] and I am still dragging my feet. Think I will pack up a box of good stuff or two and send it to an auction..if I never see it again, I probably won't miss it.

Time to go, kids are coming for afternoon gab, coffee and cake...next week is Mother's Day and that means lots of company and fun.

I found a really cool link today,will try to post it here for everyone to enjoy.

Til next time....

Now that April's here.....

What a gorgeous day, the first day that the sun shone while the wind was warm, what a delight! A few early tulips are peeking through the still wet ground, the crocus are just starting to open and it looks as though at least half of the roses made it through the winter..the -20 nights did freeze the New Dawn way back AGAIN but I am hoping that the roses will do better this year, I added 4 or 5 new ones late in the Fall, 2 of them had lost their tags so I will have to wait for them to bloom..what fun!

I took a walk, hung out 2 loads of laundry, worked for awhile in the Christmas Tree room [how did I squeeze so much stuff in a room that is only about 12 by 12]? There is still a lot to do in there but the sun is supposed to shine much of the time this week so I have hope of making more progress in my "Clean and De Clutter" mood.

On my rest breaks today, I searched some recipe sites for Irish Soda Bread and an old Beer Bread recipes, and checked on prices on Amazon.com and Alibris.com for a couple of old books I came across while cleaning bookshelves. I have over 4,000 books, I really must stop buying books.

Be back soon!

Night Sky

Took this just before the county cut down our 120 year old maple to widen our county road. I miss that beautiful old tree and the wonderful shade it gave the house in summer, the gorgeous color it gave in the Fall, and the gallons of sap that we collected in February and March to boil down into maple syrup. After the third winter of having our wall paper fall off the kitchen walls, we just bought maple syrup, it was cheaper than repapering!

Husband has gone to the woods to cut down some trees for next winter's wood supply and I am taking a break from following my daily task of finding something to give or throw away. So far have about 10 or 12 books piled on the kitchen table, 1 box of stale crackers to put in bird feeder cage [after I smear them with peanut butter], and 2 dead houseplants..I gotta pay more attention to my babies!


Started 2 of my Amaryillis Bulbs today and have 2 more to start in a week or two. I kept the one from last year but it has disappeared ,I thought it was in the morning room, but couldn't find it there, I just hope I remembered to bring it in from the patio last fall.

Upward and onward!

paula

New day, new dreams

Here it is, February already and I have yet to cross off my first week of January scheduled tasks!

I did make a few resolutions this year, pretty much the same as I do every year...lose weight, live more frugally, get clutter under control and blah, blah, blah.

This year, I have added a few and need to remind my self that new habits take constant attention but here they are:

1. Do something special for someone, human or animal to make their life a little happier each day.

2. Do something "green' each day...that means taking one or more of my canvas shopping bags when I shop, turning off an unused light, wearing a sweatsuit and using a throw instead of turning up the heat, carry the scraps to the compost bin instead of throwing them away, reuse paper and plastic bags [they are already here!].

3. Stop complaining about the things I can't control and work more on the things I can do to make a difference.

4. Take better care of myself so I will be less of a burden on others as I age.

5.Hug, and/or kiss someone EVERY single day. That one is a must!

Sounds easy but I need to remind myself that life really is not the past [where I tend to live] or the future which might never be out there, but NOW...carpe' diem...seize the day...that says it all.