Christmastime 2012

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung on the organ with care in hopes that Saint Nicolas soon would be there...

Some people do most of their decorating outdoors, but that would be more than I could handle, so I create a winter wonderland indoors and then sit back to enjoy the view.

By Christmas Eve I had the cards stapled to red and green ribbons, but they didn't get hung over the organ until the next morning. Didn't matter since the critters and I were hanging out by ourselves until 3 PM when I left for Margery and Gary's home.

Above is the same picture as the first one of this post, just the next morning with the cards hanging in the background! The tree gets red balls and blue lights, though the new LED lights are so much brighter than the old-fashioned ones that I wish I could tone them down. Years ago I cracked walnuts, set the nuts aside and glued the shells back together. Then I painted them red, added black dots with a magic marker and glued on a green felt leaf. Maybe you can spot these "strawberries" hanging on some branches. I also took Styrofoam balls and small pieces of material to create "quilted" balls. Previous cats have loved pulling them off the tree and I didn't mind because they don't break. Jennie would rather sleep than play. My mother crocheted some of the snowflakes. Others are made by quilling with thin strips of paper. There's even a red felt double-decker British bus to remind me of my first trip across the ocean.

 There are kids sledding down the hill, a lady feeding chickens by her fancy chicken coop, carolers by the town gazebo as well as by the house with the green door, a boy ready to throw a snowball...the rest of his family can be seen inside his house...a deer is nibbling on the snowman's carrot nose, and a man is fly fishing in the stream...somewhat incongruous since no one would go fly fishing in winter! 

There's a man on a park bench reading his newspaper in front of the library, then a tea room, a book store, a toy store, and a church (hiding behind one of the red and white pipe cleaner candy canes I made). A red cardinal sits on the bridge and another in the nearby birch tree. A bird house and bird bath are in the corral, though that's not a likely place to find such things. Two ice skaters are on the pond with some swans, an elderly couple listens to the carolers and watches a fellow offering flowers to a lady. He's out walking his greyhound whereas she has a small pooch. Santa is ringing a bell by an iron pot, waiting for people to donate money for those in need, just as the Salvation Army does in real life.

Not everything can be seen from the living room. The inn with the lamplighter is seen as people enter from the front door.

In the "backyard" above is a dog in its dog house and 2 kids on a seesaw. 

At the other end, under the tree, there's a second pond and people buying Christmas trees.




Below you may spot Santa's sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer. A Norman Rockwell Santa is checking out his globe while another cardinal watches from the picket fence.

 Look carefully at the picture to the right and you will see a horse drawn sleigh alongside the stone wall.

I had Christmas carols playing while I drank my morning bowl of coffee. I never did get around to opening my last bottle of Nicolas' wine. I took it with me to the Salmon's, but they had other wine so mine will wait for another celebration.

Gary gave me his usual calendar with photos he has taken. The funniest photo is for the month of July. It was actually taken by Francis and Marie-Annick when they were staying with me a couple of years ago. It's the skunk in the mailbox!

Margery gave me a book titled "The Secret Gardens of France."

At some point I'll be reading that while relaxing in my favorite stuffed rocking chair.

The garlands are made of colored pieces of cloth. The small wreaths hanging along the beam I made from puzzle pieces which I glued, painted, and trimmed with small flowers and bows.

No storm on Christmas day, but maybe my village encouraged the weatherman...

Hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas and here's wishing you a Happy New Year!

Before Christmas

Mary and I headed north to once again visit Norton's Gallery for carved birds to use as Christmas gifts. Some people had already decorated for the season.

We wondered if this was going to be another no snow winter like last year.

Near the beginning of December we always get a phone call from Joe Squire, once again organizing the annual Christmas gathering of old Singles...

Once upon a time there was a Singles Club that met in the Congregational church in Rutland. It's where I met and got to know Mary.

Some of us still gather for this one dinner, catch up on what's happening in each other's lives, and have fun exchanging small gifts through a "Yankee Swap." Left to right in the first row is Sue, Ruth, Joe and Linda. In the back row is me, Mary, Susan and John and Susan's brother who wasn't a Singles Club member so I don't remember his name. 

And then some snow did arrive! I love it when the tree branches turn white. It seems like I'm living in a fairy land.

Decorating the tree took 2 ladders. Once that's done it is time to set up the cardboard boxes to create a foundation for the Christmas village. I added to it this year... I'm hoping Ursula, who has been taking riding lessons, will get a kick out of the stable with the pony and a little girl getting ready to go for a ride.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving feasts traditionally take place in the early afternoon, but Griffin was going to work that day so I planned to have our turkey meal in the evening. Gregg, Sarah, and Ursula arrived at 11 AM and Griff came home early, so we were really glad to see food on the table when 6 o'clock rolled around.

Meanwhile, it was a balmy day and I mentioned to Gregg that I hadn't been able to get the spade into the earth to dig up the last bed of carrots. Chunks of cold earth stuck to the carrots, but he was able to get the best of the crop out of the ground!

He brought the carrots up the hill to my garden shed and set up one of the hoses so he could wash most of the dirt away before the carrots came indoors.

Ursula helped him at first, but then got busy clearing the lawn of small branches hurricane Sandy had knocked down.She filled the toboggan and then tossed the branches into the underbrush where Mother Nature can take care of them.

Griffin came home a little early and decided it was the perfect day to get rid of the small tree that had fallen across the field during that same storm.

                                                                                                                                                                        

Since he had Gregg to help, the next job Griff tackled was to put the solar panels into their winter position...

The winter position is almost completely vertical to catch the low sun, as well as let snow easily slide off.

One of my goals is to get green plants to hide the concrete bases. I don't mind looking at the panels, but the concrete isn't aesthetically pleasing!

There are actually a few sprigs of a small bush next to Gregg's right foot. It was just planted this past summer and it'll take a few years before that bush helps. Obviously, since it loses its leaves, even then it isn't going to help much during the cold months. 

Ursula read about what she would need in order to find some fairies. She needed salt...not a problem. Metal was on the list, but it was in the binoculars and in the toy bugle she borrowed. (I'm not sure why she wanted the bugle...it wasn't on the list in her book.) She also needed some greens and flower petals. I could locate those easily. Everything went into her over-the-shoulder sack.

By then the turkey was in the oven so I was free to keep her company...

I almost forgot...she also needed to be wearing green! That's Grandma's green sweatshirt completing her fairy search outfit.

Her first observation post was on the upper deck where she could look down on the bird feeders outside my nook windows. She had a small notebook in which she carefully drew what she was hoping to see.

Eventually we walked over to the neighbors' deck where there were dense evergreens that enabled birds and other small creatures to hide inside.

No fairies sighted so we headed for the tree house that Griffin had built across the road in hopes of spotting coyotes some day.

The next day the green sweatshirt got left behind as we checked out that tree house again.

I made it up the ladder, but didn't try to actually climb into the box, much less straddle the tree branch while standing on the edges of the box.

If you look closely, you can see the salt shaker sitting on the canning jar. The latter still holds some salad greens and red flower petals from one of my house plants.

Since fairies apparently like bright colors, Ursula had William wearing all of my Mardi Gras beads.

William cooperated by keeping us company, but his decorations didn't attract any fairies that we could see. 

Meanwhile, the fellows took over the upper deck. It's a great place to shoot from. The squirrels disappeared so they were enjoying target practice.

I wasn't about to join the crowds on Black Friday (the name for the day after Thanksgiving when big stores offer limited bargains to create a shopping madness). Instead, I suggested a trip to a local bookstore, Misty Valley Books, owned by Bill and Lynne Reed. (Bill taught for a year in France before being the French teacher at Black River HS during many of the years I taught there as well.)

Ursula jumped at the chance to go to a book store. She had $5 to spend and found a book for that amount of money. Then she found a small catnip pillow for $3. I told her I'd buy the book so she could buy the catnip. 

The catnip pillow was for Jennie who immediately became drunk with pleasure. She definitely was funny to watch until she was totally worn out and fell asleep. I had left out some books about Shakespeare and the Globe. Ursula noticed them and settled down to satisfy her curiosity...(that's Bob in the background.)

The pumpkin pie was made with pumpkins I grew in 2011. I still have more in the freezer, but figure it will be safe to grow more pumpkins next summer.

Over the years I have kept the Legos that my two boys played with when they were young. Out they came for Ursula. Sarah enjoyed her knitting while keeping an eye on her daughter.

The other weekend "guests" were the big bears! They often become floor pillows or dance partners.

When Ursula and her parents left, the bears went back to their off-duty resting places...the smallest one to the child's rocker in the attic bedroom and the largest to Griff's parlor on the loft where it fills one of the overstuffed chairs.

They will all be back to celebrate Christmas...

Jean-Marie

 Students from Saint Gaudens, France visited Black River High School and one of their chaperones stayed at my home. Jean-Marie was a delightful guest! His English was much better than my French. Still, we kept the dictionary nearby since his conversations went well beyond everyday needs.

Since he was a math teacher, I introduced him to the tile game of Rummykub. For his first weekend we visited Jack and Linda Weltner in Marblehead, Massachusetts. They have a beautiful home close to the Atlantic Ocean. We visited the Salem Witch Museum and the Peabody Museum and played a few games of Rummykub before heading home.

The next day Mary joined us and we headed for Fort Ticonderoga. It was closed, of course. Pas de problème. We parked my car and hiked in. (My muscles felt that for days!)

The next weekend we had lunch at Café Provence in Brandon, Vermont and then continued north. Norton's Gallery (see an earlier post for pictures of his carvings) was closed so we went on to the Morgan Horse Farm and then to the Morgan Museum in Middlebury.

Above is the statue of Justin Morgan's horse that started this Vermont breed. And to the right is Jean-Marie in a typical pose because he took pictures of everything. One day he actually left his camera at home. Fortunately, I had brought mine along and later he downloaded the pictures he had taken with my little, uncomplicated, camera so he could transfer them to his computer. After that experience, he always had his camera with him.

This is what we saw the next day...

We were heading for Howe Caverns in New York State. This store is actually in New York! Jean-Marie said the one figure on the roof was Napoleon Bonaparte. I suggested that it might be Samuel de Champlain. We didn't stick around to ask, but we both took a picture!

At Howe Caverns we first listened to a "talking" mannequin that was supposed to be the farmer who discovered the cave when his cows would always hang out by a few bushes in the middle of his field on hot days instead of staying in the shade under some trees. Cold air from the small cave opening kept the cows cool. It's always 50 degrees Fahrenheit down there.

Now-a-days there is an elevator and walkways with railings...and boats.

  That's a stream running alongside of the walkway. It eventually gets deep and wide enough for a boat ride!

Our group filled up the two boats that are docked here. The seats are padded, but they flip over the one section when people are getting on and off so that they don't step on the padding.

There was one area where the water was wide enough so that three boats could have been side by side. The river continues on into a quarry, but the boat ride ends long before reaching the quarry. Bats live in that section, away from the lights and noise.

Another section of the cavern is narrow and so winding that the person in front and behind tends to be out of sight around a bend. I called Jean-Marie so that he would come back around the corner. That's how I was able to get this picture.

On his last day, after school I took him to a local artist's gallery and then to the Vermont Country Store which is the most famous store in Vermont. He managed to find all sorts of things to take back to France. 

He had made a goal of beating me at Rummykub before leaving Vermont...and on his last night he succeeded handsomely with some really impressive moves! I didn't help him and I didn't see it coming. Well done!

Given a few years and a little luck, maybe I'll get a rematch with Jean-Marie in France...

Halloween

I try to leave some sort of decoration behind when I run out of flowers and pick up the vases at school for the last time. this year every teacher got a black cat with whiskers. I was able to buy sticky pumpkins which hid the paper clip I used to hold up my cat. I also bought leaves of different colors as a base so if the gourd from my garden happened to rot, it wouldn't make a mess on anyone's desk.

People decorate their yards for Halloween almost as much as they do for Christmas. This year, as there were expectations of Sandy's high winds, people were asked to put away those Halloween decorations before the storm and before the holiday itself.

The wind and rain arrived, but on my road we only lost a few tree limbs, one tree and one power pole. Our electricity was out for about 20 hours. We were delighted to see this fellow and the rest of his crew...  

Later that week I noticed that some people had gone to the trouble of getting their Halloween decorations out again...

or this witch managed to stay on her broom throughout the storm.


Another family decided that they would look ahead to Thanksgiving with the silliest turkey I've ever seen.

Here the biggest pumpkins turned moldy, maybe as a protest to having sat outdoors during Sandy's wet weather, but what a great collection of carved pumpkins!


And then there are people who don't bother carving their small pumpkins, but do handle them with a sense of humor! This old fellow is held up by his cane as he hangs out (pun intended) on the main street in Rutland, Vermont...

Mary and I circled around the block and even pulled into the driveway to get this picture! And she can't wait to see how he looks in this blog...























Strange creatures seem to show up for Halloween...

And Halloween is a harbinger of snow. Here's Terrible Mountain just across the valley from my house...

And a beaver has found my pond. This dinghy is resting on a wooden trailer which was on dry land.

The beaver has raised the water level in the pond and now the back of the dinghy is under water! There is water all around it!

I now must ponder how to rescue my dinghy!

Margery's RV Adventure

Gary was off for a week of hunting with some of his buddies. Margery had purchased an RV and it was ready. She left for the dealership.

The salesman spent 2 hours with her, explaining how to work all the gadgets. After the RV was finally hitched to her truck, she headed home.

She had to back it up a steep and bumpy driveway. That was a bit of a challenge, but she managed and parked her new baby in front of the house.

That's the RV bedroom in the back

She was a bit surprised to find the front door unlocked, but figured she had forgotten in her excitement. Before heading upstairs she decided to toss a load of laundry into the washing machine.

Mother Nature called so she climbed the stairs to use the bathroom. When she stepped out of the bathroom, the door to her bedroom was directly in front of her. She immediately knew something was wrong because she could see a small cabinet in the middle of the room that belonged in her closet.


The safe that was bolted to the floor of her closet had been bashed in. Robbers had tried to get it open. They had smashed it so badly that Margery was also unable to open it. Apparently they had heard her arrival with the RV, had gone out the rear door, looked around the corner of the house, saw her backing up the driveway, dropped the monster maul they had been using, and raced off through the woods.

They need to teach one of their cats to bark like a big, ferocious dog.

Years ago Margery had convinced me that I needed a safe. I bought the same one she had purchased, but I never used mine. It was taking up space I wanted for other things.

A few days later I happily delivered my safe to its new home with Margery and Gary. They have put it to good use and I'm loving the space I've gained!