I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but it is gray, wet and dismal here…so I thought we needed something to brighten up the place:
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I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but it is gray, wet and dismal here…so I thought we needed something to brighten up the place:
Trying to get back in the swing of things after a week of our earliest riser being off from school. The miserable wet weather doesn’t help with waking up and feeling alert, does it?
I was just about to suggest you use Oui’s photo for the new cafe.
‘Morning all, though it’s nearly bed-time here.
Hi! It’s definitely a cheerful bit of of color, much needed with all the rain here.
And here. We had a front move in sooner than expected and got almost half-an-inch of rain this morning. Not that we are complaining – except for the part where the dogs insisted on romping in the house because they didn’t want to go outside and get wet.
Boy did THIS make me cry (in a good way) Watch the video…
Link
That was amazing SN. Thanks for sharing that!
I keep watching it and crying at all the same places….that homely woman, never kissed, living alone with her cat, that dream inside of her the whole time, everyone laughing at her. God, it’s just perfect with that song and the lyrics…
Yeah, the song choice is perfect and words at the end very poignant. Interesting how the middle host acknowledges that she was being judged (and found lacking) before she started singing.
I came across this vid last week and it was an instant pick-me-up too:
Antwerp Train Station – The Sound of Music
🙂
Yes – that one too! I love the looks on the faces of the older people, who perk up like they just heard the voice of their mother calling their name from 60 years ago – you can just hear them thinking ‘yes, this is the way it used to be when people looked each other in the eye and said hello and started singing do re mi in a train station!’…and all the young people whipping out their cell phone cameras. 😉
They’re both great vids.
Great!
thoroughly enjoyed that one, too. Thanks O!
Wow, that was something else. And for me, watching the change in people’s reactions was the best part — that powerful voice crushed all their expectations to bits.
That’s great – what a wonderful voice. And what a perfect song for the moment.
That. Was. Awesome. Shared widely! Thanks for posting the link, SN. Wow! Les Miz has always been my favorite
Good morning all! Lovely photo.
Ok, those are adorable.
You’ll love this. Listen to the lyrics.
LOL. Thanks. 😉
Kind of cool story.
Good for the dog, and her owners, bad for the koalas. The St. Bees Island koala population represents one of the few attempts at creating reserve koala populations on on off-shore islands that has actually seemed to achieve a numbers balance. Most of the other island so used have been over-run by introduced koalas.
Our little Easter Lily – on the front page of our local paper’s online edition (might not still be there tomorrow).
She’s a star! Good thing she’s not a kid — she’d hate you for the rest of her life. 🙂
One of the many, many reasons I prefer pets to children.
Very cute!
But we try to make them easy to get over.
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Oooooooo, purty.
If we’re lucky we might see running water on our property sometime again in our lifetimes. Not that it’s ever run that well, or that clear.
We’ve been getting a lot of rain — it’s definitely mud (and dirty dogs) season here. The creeks are gushing like a tiny version of some class 4 rapids. I’ve been having a lots of fun finding different ways to take pictures of them. Yesterday I went for my walk in my rubber boots so I could stand in the middle to take pictures.
We’re on our second day of constant rain here too. It’s good for the plants, but not so much fun for the dogs. Gracie won’t even go out in it unless it’s an urgent need-she’ll get to the open door, see the weather, and look up in disgust and turn around. Such a princess.
I can’t believe how sleepy I am.
Luna and Lily will go out and get wet, and then, mud-footed, want back in.
It’s late evening and I’ve lit the fire, which Hector has come to sit next to – much to Lily’s chagrin. She sits and looks at him, than at me, than woo-woos her frustration. Being a good puppy is sooooo hard.
Like this.
Lily’s looking over her shoulder at her exhausted mum with and expression like, “my work here is done”.
The post toweling snooze.
What’s really amazing about that photo is how fast Lily is growing. Wow.
(Also, what a sweet photo)
Yeah, even seeing the daily progress it’s still pretty amazing that in less than 12 weeks she’s gotten about 25 times bigger than the day she was born.
She’s gets her booster shots tomorrow, and we’ll start her training in a few weeks with the local obedience club.
They grow up so fast.
(Luna is snoring up a storm at the moment.)
I’m cringing at the thought of that caked on mud walking into the house…
That’s why we have a whole cupboard devoted to dog-towels. Today we used five bath-sheet-sized towels before noon.
The dogs don’t like to go out into the rain either — unless we are going for a walk and then they don’t care how soaked they get. I guess they just need the right payoff. Of course, then I have to clean them up and have a house full of wet dog smell. My payoff for me is that I end up with dogs that are as soft as teddy bear.
Wake up! (did that work?)
Hmm, maybe I need to experiment with holding up the leashes when it’s raining and see if it has any effect.
Still sleepy. And we’re out of coffee, Blergh. Now I need to make a trip to the store in the rain. Double blergh.
You really need to try the emergency coffee in the freezer thing — it’s saved us many a time. 🙂
I just remembered that I have emergency Folgers in the cabinet..
Surely tea must beat Folgers as an option. If you steep it long enough you’ll get nearly the same caffeine hit. Plus, I put in a big dollop of honey in my tea so that I can start my day with a big blood sugar spike. 😀
I sat out on the deck in a driving, warm rain yesterday and Hopeful looked at me from the doorway like I was crazy. She just doesn’t understand perimenopause, I guess.
On those few occasions the rivulet flows, we definitely have to wear our “wellies” – because the rivulet makes up a goodly part of our path to the back of the property.
Luna, of course, just walks in the water.
Good morning and happy tea party day!
What to do when you’ve knocked over your water bucket. (And yes, I made the bird bath out of a satellite dish that came with the house)
That rarest of all canines – the clean puppy.
Even better than clean — a soft, fluffy puppy. I wanna snuggle with her.
when she’s all clean and fluffy, and I’m allergic!
It’s impossible to resist a puffball like that.
A fourteen and a half kilo (32lbs) puffball – I weighed her yesterday at the vet.
Pain and pleasure together — what more could you want? 😉
Good morning all. It’s nice here, sunny and fairly warm. Spring has apparently finally sprung.
I’m house sitting for a friend up near Asheville, NC this week. We went to prom together 30 year ago and then both of us moved away and hadn’t been in touch til recently on Facebook. Literally the last time I saw him he was wearing a powder blue tux with a powder blue ruffled shirt. His place is gorgeous, but in need of a lot of work. Eleven acres, apple orchards, a 100 year old unheated stone house, carriage house, stables. And it’s all mine for the week…
Lucky you.
(Ah, the powder blue tux, I remember it well.)
It was a bad look, agreed? But why the heck do guys get better looking as they age? It’s not fair. I guess never marrying or having kids has kept him young.
As a connoisseur of women, I can assure you that women look better with age as well. I suppose it all depends upon what floats your boat. Men, for me, of any age, whatever. Women, yummy.
Aw, I hope that’s true. I can see it in other women, but not myself.
Yeah it must be not being married … ’cause it’s pretty much required that old married couples grow decrepit at the same rate.
The lime green Prada loafers were my first indication that life is different for single people.
Well that’s not something I’d be jealous of but yeah I guess it indicates money (and that you don’t quite want to look like the Pope).
Owning eleven acres, apple orchards, a 100 year old unheated stone house, carriage house, stables…
Nice.
Having a friend with eleven acres, apple orchards, a 100 year old unheated stone house, carriage house, stables…
Priceless!
Enjoy! The place looks lovely!
Wow, what a great place — especially since you get to play there and never have to take care of it. 🙂
I hope you saved back a few pictures for today’s Friday Foto Flogging since this surely counts as a Surprise! photo op what with catching up with the guy on Facebook and then getting asked to housesit.
I will have to take some more today as I explore the property. Has spring finally arrived up there?
Excellent!
There are little bits of green in some of the poplars and the dogwoods and redbuds are just starting to show the flower buds but other than and the maples have their flowers out. But other than that, all the other signs of spring are low to the ground.
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Andi! Gorgeous photo. Love the sweeping shapes & highlighted colors.
Thanks. I really worked to get that one — I had to drag a step ladder out to the tree and stand on the top step on non-too solid or level ground. Might have been one of my more exciting “photo shoots”.
Wow. Talk about dedication!
Next time make sure you take your phone – just in case you need to call 911. I’m not allowed to use the ladder (or the chainsaw) when I am home alone. I don’t know why.
Hey, Lassie by herself could save Timmy and I had three dogs with me!
But we have solid rules here about chainsaws — neither one of us are allowed to run them by ourselves. We know someone who nearly lost his leg in a chainsaw accident.
Next time call me and I’ll have a medic unit on standby;-)
So did I. He remembered the look of his wide-open leg very distinctly.
The house looks pretty cool. Is it in the middle of being renovated?
Unheated stone house = cool indeed. I spent a few winters in a similar house up here; thankfully, there was a fireplace or it would’ve been pretty rugged going.
Have a great time, SN! Enjoy that lovely spot.
Wow — that’s a gorgeous house w/ that stone … and looks like the land is as well.
Drive by hi to all!
Hi boran2! Are you glad it’s Friday?
Absolutely! It must be nice by you, it’s finally warm up here.
Its a lovely spring day here! Perfect for outdoorsy stuff, which is where I’ll be. I was shopping last Saturday and happened to notice some trees for sale in the K-Mart parking area. I’m a sucker for trees, so wound up with an 8′ flowering crab in the car (barely) for the trip home. It gets permanently installed in the back yard today.
Sounds like a plan for a perfect day, ID.
I’d love to see an image of your new tree.
Its all budded out and just beginning to bloom.
Isn’t that pretty! May it give you shade & pleasure for years to come.
Thanks for the image!
I appreciate that! Having grown up in the woods, I’ve got a great love for trees of all kinds.
My personal relationship with trees is only about 20 years old or so. Frankly, I don’t quite understand how I lived before. You were very fortunate.
Morning all. Gloomy here and expecting rain. Why is it beautiful on all the days I’m stuck inside? I’m reading the paper and seeing all the fun weekend things that could get rained out – outdoor concert at my local independent record store’s national record store day festival, the local marathon tomorrow and the big neo-nazi rally tomorrow. Actually one giant thunderstorm during that last event would be awesome. 🙂
Agreed.
Here’s to many, many more beautiful days for you to enjoy outside.
Personally, I couldn’t be happier that it’s April & not August.
If I could bottle this Catskills day & pass it along to everyone here, I would: mid 60s, low humidity, a gentle breeze & crowds of cheerful faces like the one above.
Thank you … 🙂
Glad I could turn you on today with my little offerings. Just returning the favor, however.
Just a quick hello to let everyone know I am still alive and kicking. I will be posting a dairy about my situation sometime this coming week. Love to all and will check back when I can.
Hello refinish69! Its very good to “hear” from you. I hope your situation has improved.
Been thinking of you. Hope to see you again soon!
Great to have you drop by. I’ll be looking forward to your diary.
Hi RF, good to see you. Looking forward to your update.
It was shorts* and sandals weather yesterday. I’m starting to believe in spring.
* except for having painfully white legs.
We had it too! Spring is finally here. Notwithstanding the snow in Denver.
Yay for you too. Of course being spring, our glorious day is immediately being followed by 3 days of rain and cooler temps. But I’m going to console myself by looking at the dogwoods and redbuds which are just starting to blossom.
We’re getting that weather change as well. But I will get out and enjoy the next few hours.
It was glorious being outdoors most of the day yesterday! Today, not so much and the newspaper delivery person started me off on a sour note by not quite getting the Sunday paper under the carport. Its soaked completely through. Oh well, the intertube version is still nice and dry;-)
In six months you northern hemispherists are gonna rue flouting all your Spring giddiness because your days will be getting shorter and duller while we Antipodeans will be showing off our blooms. 😉
Ah, but we’ll have all that autumn hardwood color to show off then.
I knew you’d counter with that. We only have one deciduous tree, Nothofagus gunnii. And because it lives at altitude and mostly inside a national park you really have to want to see it change color. Btw, that’s my photo in the Wikipedia entry.
Nice photo – the beech is quite lovely with all the different brilliant colors.
Actually, I’m quite content with the seasons as they are here, probably because I grew up in these latitudes. I lived in the Caribbean and south Florida for quite a few years and although it was fun while it lasted, it never really had that feeling of home. It was always strange to me to be planting the garden in February;-)
I grew up in southern California, and it took moving away from there to learn what “seasons” really meant. Tasmania is fairly temperate and normally gets an equal amount of rainfall in all four seasons. But New Mexico, where I lived for seven years, had truly spectacular seasonal changes. I miss it sometimes.
In the words of Max Bialystock, “If you got it flaunt it, baby.” 🙂
watchfully.
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