It was really beautiful, and then they have all the conservatories decorated for the holidays as well. We watched the ice skating show before the party, but it was so cold we didn’t walk as much of the grounds as I would have liked (the conservatories are toasty warm, though).
Four pounds of brisket, gone? I’m impressed. I’m wanting latkes today.
After 40 years in the north, I still find it difficult to really get in the mood for Christmas down here. You can put up all the decorations; the malls are certainly jam-packed and filled with that same frantic spirit, but it feels all wrong. Like we’re rehearsing in September for a Christmas play. It’s amazing how our bodies and internal clocks get stuck sometimes.
So, have you decided what action you’re going to take late on Christmas night to ensure the baby is born on the 26th?
After spending 14 years in the Caribbean and south Florida, I just gave up and moved home. The pungent odor of wood burning stove smoke and occasional white landscape is burned into my brain and mixed into my blood forever. Besides, I never felt right about planting the garden in Feb.
I wonder if I’ll ever get used to the idea that xmas comes in the middle of Summer. And that July and August are the coldest months of the year.
There’s a great scene in the Australian movie “The Sum of Us” where the father and son go xmas tree shopping in those very short khaki shorts that Australian men always wear.
Oh look, a Currawong has just dropped in to eat the cherries off our trees.
My eldest needs help installing a new water heater. That will probably eat up the afternoon and then some. We have a holiday open house at a friend’s tonight if I get finished in time. The food is always very good at that one;-)
Got our icicle lights up on the roof yesterday and just beat the torrential rains that arrived late in the evening. My old fire company was out at 7:00 AM for a rescue where the people had driven into high water on a state highway and were stranded, standing on top of the car when the firefighters arrived.
Anytime it’s below freezing down here I try to stay off the road as much as possible. It’s funny but I noticed more bad drivers in winter weather up North. I guess since they grew up driving in such adverse conditions some of the drivers figured they could drive on snow and ice at any speed. But I finally came to the conclusion that you have bad drivers all over the country.
I think northern drivers get complacent. But I think down here no one really ventures out onto the roads, so the volume is way down when it gets snowy.
Yep I think you’re right about complacency and about the venturing out down here. I was just thinking that I didn’t grow up driving in it, but after awhile I became complacent with driving in the snow. Luckily I never had an accident though.
Now that you mention it, it does make me think of mushrooms as well.
There’s a great line in Buffy where she tells some young woman who gave herself the name “Chantrelle” that “it’s a mushroom”. When the woman acts embarrassed, Buffy replies, “well at least it’s an exotic mushroom”.
I wish you could get royalties on ‘nature’ alone, as well as all variations.
Every time a toxic polluter tried greenwashing their product with the word ‘natural’ — bingo! More bling for the kitty!
They are beautiful birds but watching them destroy pine cones and listening to their constant screeching it becomes clear why no one keeps them as pets. That, plus the fact that they are about 30 inches tall from top of head to tip of tail. Most of the pet cockatoos I’ve seen here are the much smaller corellas.
I’m hearing a pretty steady sound of melted snow running from our roof here. Here’s hoping your roads will improve today plenty.
‘Course, whatever melts could turn to ice tonight as well. Could this be another ice-jam winter? Melt, freeze, melt, freeze: global warming in the Catskills. I think it was better when it all just stayed froze.
We’ve got a mild day today and a scorcher tomorrow. Summer must finally be here. I’d take the dogs to the beach but they’re not allowed during Plover nesting periods. Maybe I’ll bathe them instead.
Hi dear. How’s your day going? Actually I have to have my invoices in by tomorrow, so it may be Thursday before I get them bathed. Although I suppose I could go this afternoon with at least one dog when I go to pick up the trailer. Two dogs and a trailer full of hay is probably too much to ask of my little car to pull up the hill. Any preference?
Oh and how’s Mart progressing? I checked your facebook and saw the request for a Delorian.
And we don’t even have weather extremes to deal with here. 🙂
I have a halfday tomorrow because I have to go back to the midwife again…keep your fingers crossed that my blood pressure is back to normal when I go. CBtE was getting under my skin when she took my BP on Friday, and it showed, big time.
In other news, I need to go Christmas shopping, but I’d rather bake cookies. I am so far behind – is anyone else feeling un-christmasy?
Those little fudgey balls of dough that you roll in powdered sugar before baking, so when they spread out it crackles. They’re like little chewy brownies. Damn them.
Combine top ingredients and bring to a rolling boil. Cook another 1-2 min Remove from heat and add in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfull onto wax paper. Let cool.
Very unchristmas-y. Especially since it’s not mid-winter and a holiday seems like a good way to beat the mid-winter blues.
We usually just do the OXFAM unwrapped present thing. Which means no actual shopping to be done. Chickens and goats all around. Or maybe just a water well for everyone. Except for the nieces, kids should get something to open.
The older of the two is five, so we’re probably going for the “educational” toy this year. The little one is a year and a half – at that age we gave her sister swimming lessons, so possibly that. They both get lots and lots of toys sent by Oma and Opa in Germany.
We’ll probably have the big one up for an over-night visit during the school break. She’s a bit intimidated by the size of our dogs but she usually settles in after she’s been here a bit and they settle in for their day-long nap.
Tasmania is surrounded by water, which tends to be cold, so we have a lot of people who never learn to swim properly and then they get in trouble in the water. So swimming lessons really are a must. There’s salt water (no chlorine) pool about a half hour from where they live. It’s where I used to swim when Imogen and I lived down that way. All my years in the pool growing up left me deathly allergic to chlorine.
I’m one of those lucky people who swim like a fish and always has. I asked my mother once when I learned to swim and she said my dad just dropped me in the lake when I was two and I started swimming. My sister was afraid of the water and she took until she was about 8yo to actually learn to swim. Once, when at the beach with friends I came ashore to learn, to my amazement, that I had been out swimming for over two hours straight.
CBtE was like that. Loved the water when he was little, and it was great for me because we lived where there was a pool in the summer…any time he was cranky, I’d just take him swimming and it was a magic cure.
TIme for a new holiday cafe. 🙂
It’s a gray and damp day, with freezing rain expected. Yuck. And we need to go grocery shopping…
I guess maybe I’ll get some of my Christmas planning done instead.
What’s everyone else up to?
Ooh, that’s pretty. I like when people take the time to wrap each branch like that, instead of just tossing the lights on like we do.
Warm and rainy day. We decimated a 4 lb brisket yesterday and I was so hoping for leftovers. 🙁
It was really beautiful, and then they have all the conservatories decorated for the holidays as well. We watched the ice skating show before the party, but it was so cold we didn’t walk as much of the grounds as I would have liked (the conservatories are toasty warm, though).
Four pounds of brisket, gone? I’m impressed. I’m wanting latkes today.
After 40 years in the north, I still find it difficult to really get in the mood for Christmas down here. You can put up all the decorations; the malls are certainly jam-packed and filled with that same frantic spirit, but it feels all wrong. Like we’re rehearsing in September for a Christmas play. It’s amazing how our bodies and internal clocks get stuck sometimes.
So, have you decided what action you’re going to take late on Christmas night to ensure the baby is born on the 26th?
After spending 14 years in the Caribbean and south Florida, I just gave up and moved home. The pungent odor of wood burning stove smoke and occasional white landscape is burned into my brain and mixed into my blood forever. Besides, I never felt right about planting the garden in Feb.
I wonder if I’ll ever get used to the idea that xmas comes in the middle of Summer. And that July and August are the coldest months of the year.
There’s a great scene in the Australian movie “The Sum of Us” where the father and son go xmas tree shopping in those very short khaki shorts that Australian men always wear.
Oh look, a Currawong has just dropped in to eat the cherries off our trees.
Not knowing what a Currawong is, I’m forced to conclude it has something to do with men in very short shorts.
I hope I never have men in short shorts drop into my backyard – how disturbing would that be?
Currawong – a very large black bird in the butcher bird family. Very fond of cherries.
My eldest needs help installing a new water heater. That will probably eat up the afternoon and then some. We have a holiday open house at a friend’s tonight if I get finished in time. The food is always very good at that one;-)
Got our icicle lights up on the roof yesterday and just beat the torrential rains that arrived late in the evening. My old fire company was out at 7:00 AM for a rescue where the people had driven into high water on a state highway and were stranded, standing on top of the car when the firefighters arrived.
Black ice here in the valley! We almost crashed MM. Careful if you venture out today!
Glad to know you avoided harm, b2.
The roads here have been real crap today. Heavy snowfall plus dense fog. A real fantasy mix!
Thanks ww! There was a 50 car crash in Connecticut.
Afternoon everyone,
CG that’s a really pretty picture. I’ve always loved seeing the lights on trees.
SN to get that Northern Christmas feeling just open the fridge door and sit in front of it for awhile. 😉
ID don’t work too hard on the hot water heater. Remember the mantra – Slack when possible.
Boran be careful with that driving. Been there done that with black ice and it’s no fun at all.
Hope everyone’s w/e has been going good and take care.
Black ice always reminds me of the time my oldest son told me to “be careful, there’s black ice out there”….but I thought he said black guys.
Anytime it’s below freezing down here I try to stay off the road as much as possible. It’s funny but I noticed more bad drivers in winter weather up North. I guess since they grew up driving in such adverse conditions some of the drivers figured they could drive on snow and ice at any speed. But I finally came to the conclusion that you have bad drivers all over the country.
Have you tried the fridge door yet? 🙂
I think northern drivers get complacent. But I think down here no one really ventures out onto the roads, so the volume is way down when it gets snowy.
Yep I think you’re right about complacency and about the venturing out down here. I was just thinking that I didn’t grow up driving in it, but after awhile I became complacent with driving in the snow. Luckily I never had an accident though.
Our good friend and one time house-mate’s water just broke. Waiting on updates.
I can’t believe the plan is to call the baby Aribella.
Bella variations are really popular these days. Baby Bella just reminds me of mushrooms.
Now that you mention it, it does make me think of mushrooms as well.
There’s a great line in Buffy where she tells some young woman who gave herself the name “Chantrelle” that “it’s a mushroom”. When the woman acts embarrassed, Buffy replies, “well at least it’s an exotic mushroom”.
Personally, I just love the name Amanita .. or Porcini, if it’s a boy.
🙂
With a name like Porcini he’d almost certainly have to be an opera star.
with the “Bella” name, are they Twilight fans?
I liked Isabel for a girl, but apparently every third girl (or close) born in the US has that name…
Not that I know of. First child for her, forth for him and I’m fairly sure his other kids have “exotic” names – so I suppose Aribella isn’t so bad.
This new regional company is primed to take advantage of the Catskill region’s potential natural gas boom — but are they luscious?
😀
Ah wench, if only I could get some luscious royalties out of that name. 🙂
I wish you could get royalties on ‘nature’ alone, as well as all variations.
Every time a toxic polluter tried greenwashing their product with the word ‘natural’ — bingo! More bling for the kitty!
lol
Our young Yellow-tailed black cockatoo.
What a great shot. How close were you?
I was about 40 feet away. I was actually inside the house shooting through an open window, using my 70-300 zoom lens on the auto focus setting.
Good lens — it looks like you are much closer.
Love the sense of motion in this shot! What a great-looking bird.
They are beautiful birds but watching them destroy pine cones and listening to their constant screeching it becomes clear why no one keeps them as pets. That, plus the fact that they are about 30 inches tall from top of head to tip of tail. Most of the pet cockatoos I’ve seen here are the much smaller corellas.
of the inside of my head.
click for larger
Mine, too. Most every day.
The picture sets a lovely mood, though. (Unlike mine, most every day.)
Yep I definitely recognize that head space. Wonderful shot.
Good morning. Higher temps will hopefuily melt our ice. The roads here are still bad.
I’m hearing a pretty steady sound of melted snow running from our roof here. Here’s hoping your roads will improve today plenty.
‘Course, whatever melts could turn to ice tonight as well. Could this be another ice-jam winter? Melt, freeze, melt, freeze: global warming in the Catskills. I think it was better when it all just stayed froze.
We’ve got a mild day today and a scorcher tomorrow. Summer must finally be here. I’d take the dogs to the beach but they’re not allowed during Plover nesting periods. Maybe I’ll bathe them instead.
yes, yes you will bathe them or you & they will be moving to an outside shed so that I can not be an allergied mess breathing in pong-dog fumes!
🙂
I don’t know how she expects me to know what to do when she’s so circumspect in the way she says it.
Hi dear. How’s your day going? Actually I have to have my invoices in by tomorrow, so it may be Thursday before I get them bathed. Although I suppose I could go this afternoon with at least one dog when I go to pick up the trailer. Two dogs and a trailer full of hay is probably too much to ask of my little car to pull up the hill. Any preference?
Oh and how’s Mart progressing? I checked your facebook and saw the request for a Delorian.
Thanks ww!
And we don’t even have weather extremes to deal with here. 🙂
I have a halfday tomorrow because I have to go back to the midwife again…keep your fingers crossed that my blood pressure is back to normal when I go. CBtE was getting under my skin when she took my BP on Friday, and it showed, big time.
In other news, I need to go Christmas shopping, but I’d rather bake cookies. I am so far behind – is anyone else feeling un-christmasy?
My fingers are crossed. Which is really hard to do when you’re eating chocolate snowflake crackles.
Those sound good…what are they?
Those little fudgey balls of dough that you roll in powdered sugar before baking, so when they spread out it crackles. They’re like little chewy brownies. Damn them.
I thought that’s what you meant. They’re on my list to make this week. Sinful, they are. 🙂
I’m thinking an extra square of unsweetened chocolate and a pinch of espresso powder would make them better. I feel a second batch coming on.
Speaking of coffee and espresso, these look good to me.
Too bad all I want to eat is protein. Eggs, cottage cheese, salmon, cheese, yogurt…
I’ve got a “no bake” cookie recipe that calls for lots of peanut butter. That’s protein.
2C sugar
6 Tbl cocoa powder
1/2C milk
1/2C butter
Dash salt
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/2C Peanut butter
3C quick cooking oats
optional:
1/2C coconut
1/2C chopped nuts
Combine top ingredients and bring to a rolling boil. Cook another 1-2 min Remove from heat and add in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfull onto wax paper. Let cool.
They are very “more-ish”.
They sound pretty good too. I wish I were a little more motivated. 😉
I’m making these next for a gift.
Those look good too. Completely different from the chocolate crinkles!
Very unchristmas-y. Especially since it’s not mid-winter and a holiday seems like a good way to beat the mid-winter blues.
We usually just do the OXFAM unwrapped present thing. Which means no actual shopping to be done. Chickens and goats all around. Or maybe just a water well for everyone. Except for the nieces, kids should get something to open.
That looks fun. We gave a kiva loan last year…not sure what we’re doing this year.
What are the nieces getting?
The older of the two is five, so we’re probably going for the “educational” toy this year. The little one is a year and a half – at that age we gave her sister swimming lessons, so possibly that. They both get lots and lots of toys sent by Oma and Opa in Germany.
We’ll probably have the big one up for an over-night visit during the school break. She’s a bit intimidated by the size of our dogs but she usually settles in after she’s been here a bit and they settle in for their day-long nap.
My mom always gave my kids art lessons, swim lessons, skating lessons…and it was great because it lasted so much longer than most toys.
Tasmania is surrounded by water, which tends to be cold, so we have a lot of people who never learn to swim properly and then they get in trouble in the water. So swimming lessons really are a must. There’s salt water (no chlorine) pool about a half hour from where they live. It’s where I used to swim when Imogen and I lived down that way. All my years in the pool growing up left me deathly allergic to chlorine.
I hate the smell of chlorine, but we don’t have salt water pools anywhere near us.
I’ve always been amazed by people who didn’t learn to swim, but I spent a lot of time on the water (sailing), so it wasn’t an option in our family.
I’m one of those lucky people who swim like a fish and always has. I asked my mother once when I learned to swim and she said my dad just dropped me in the lake when I was two and I started swimming. My sister was afraid of the water and she took until she was about 8yo to actually learn to swim. Once, when at the beach with friends I came ashore to learn, to my amazement, that I had been out swimming for over two hours straight.
CBtE was like that. Loved the water when he was little, and it was great for me because we lived where there was a pool in the summer…any time he was cranky, I’d just take him swimming and it was a magic cure.
Adorable.
I love it!
Who made all those?
I love it too…new cafe pic?
Can you re-post your FFF announcement there?
We’ve made some changes to our schedule:
Dec. 18: Random
Dec. 25: Off for the holiday
Jan 1: Gates, Doorways, and Passages
Jan 8: Aphorisms and Quotes
Just in case it isn’t clear, “off for the holiday” isn’t a theme; it means there will be no Flog on Xmas day.