End of the year snow

Well, we expected snow today but not much. WRONG.... it started around 7 AM and going to breakfast was no problem. However, it's now 10 AM and it's still snowing - potential problem. Good thing we don't go out for New Years Eve... if this snow keeps up we won't go anywhere.
We were lucky the other week when Philly got really hit and we only had around 3 inches. December has been a strange month weather wise. Ice, snow and very cold windy days. Earlier this week it was really cold and the temps never made it out of the teens. Right now its 23 out but not windy as the snow is falling straight down. I does look pretty... I'd say we have about 3 inches at this point.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Oh, yea, we got snow and cold

We got snow off and on all week. This picture was taken Dec. 5th in the evening out back off the deck. We had the back flood lights on. The snow was so heavy that it really showed in the picture. Also, maybe it was my great camera. Anyway, it was lovely.

And then on the 9th we got more snow. About 6 inches. This stuff changed to sleet and then froze. B had used the snow blower but the porch and from the steps to where the drive is cleared is quite icy. And today we awoke to temperatures of 10 - that's cold! Right now, at 4:30 PM it's 22 and it has been about that all day. Well, winter seems to be here!

Yep, SNOW

Well, we knew it was to snow today. We went to the mall in the morning as we expected the snow to start late afternoon. Wrong, it started just about as we go to the mall. We left around noon and the snow was heavy but temperatures at 34. As we drove toward Mt. Cobb the weather got colder and dropped to 32. We got home safely and the snow kept snowing. It's now 3:45 and it's still snowing! I just took this picture out the front door. As you can see, it's over an inch. Well, it's pretty! And we don't have to go anywhere. We are to have cold temperatures for the next several days but I sure hope it warms up tomorrow and melts. Did you get rain or snow?

Almost Georgines

We sure do miss Georgines. However, we found an Italian place that is really good. I got veal with a sauce of tomatoes, garlic, olives, onions over a bed of spinach.

And B got chicken parm. A nice large plate and a big helping of Pennie pasta

They even wrapped it up like Georgines!!!

And boy, did we have leftovers. B couldn't eat all the pasta last night. I ate all my veal with the rice they also offered and I prefer over the
pasta. Now if we could just import Walt and Lil to eat with us.... ah, well... we did lift our glasses to them Salute!

What's for dinner

What to have for dinner? I decided to try a recipe I saw on Food Network... chicken and sausage baked with potatoes thyme and rosemary. OK, what else. I purchased a pomegranate the other day so I thought I'd have a field greens salad with the pomegranate. Had to look up on the web how to get to the fruit - which is these little berry like things with seeds. But I do have to say, it's juicy and the juice goes all over. My new white top is spotted - hope it will wash out. But the juice aside, opening it up and "harvesting" the poms was not real hard. Now we are waiting to eat... dinner smells good and the salad is made... added toasted walnuts to the salad so it should be good. Well, that's what's for dinner!

Snow?? NO

With the possibility of snow in the forecast, we were not sure what we would find this morning. A few gritty flakes that looked like sea salt were on the porch. The stuff on the car had melted by the time we went to breakfast. False alarm... and glad of it.

The trees are bare and leaves cover the ground where the ferns used to grow. B has been out rather often to blow them off the drive, decks and patio into the woods but for the past several days has not had to do that as much since most of the leaves are on the ground and just moving around due to the wind. It's windy out right now. Tonight they are saying to expect lows in the lower 20's. Now that's COLD!

Fall???? SNOW...

This afternoon we took a trip to the Mall. IN THE SNOW
Flakes started falling in the morning but didn't stick. The temperatures hovered around 32.
We decided to try going to the Mall and then for a pizza.
These pictures are what we saw on the way home... temperatures were still around 32 and the roads were clear.

I was taking these pictures on the iphone - and the turned out rather well considering the car was traveling while I took them.
Now, the question is.... will we see more snow when we get up tomorrow???

WOW, a buck!

We have been seeing lots of deer this past week. Usually a family of deer. Yesterday, we got a visit from a very large buck. B spotted him on the septic mound (lots of acorns are falling there) and called to me. I ran and grabbed my camera and B suggested I try shooting pictures through the windows. All these have were taken through my windows (guess they were rather clean).
The buck worked his way behind the stone wall at the back of the driveway and along the wall, nibbling as he went.

No wonder this plant hasn't been doing very well....

And here is an uncropped picture of his lunch.
When I tried to take a picture from outside, he heard me and took off.
B will be spraying the plants on the wall to hopefully keep them from being a daily meal.

A Julia meal

Having just finished the Julia Child book about her life in Paris, I've been thinking Julia. I watched her PBS show when I first got married and still have her The French Chef cookbook which presents recipes as whe did on the show... the book even has my notes. I have made several of her meals and own many of her cookbooks. I particularly have enjoyed trying some of the "simpler" recipes such as the one that appears in "Julia Child & More Company" for Rock Cornish Hens Broil-roasted in Wine.
The picture above is after they get broiled... You split them, take out the backbone, marinate in wine & oil & tarragon (I used vermouth) and then broil for 5minutes each side.

After broiling you add the marinate that has been drained and garlic cloves, cover the hens with cheese and bake for another 50 to 60 minutes. That's more time than Julia said but we like our chickens done.

And here they are! I use Colby cheese because when I first did the recipe many years ago that was all I had. The recipe calls for Swiss but I've stuck with Colby.
I served this with a baked potato (well, the oven was on) and green beans. Really good and we both agreed that it tasted as good as we remembered. It isn't easy to locate fresh Cornish hens. I prefer the fresh but you could use the frozen.
A great meal... thanks Julia!!!!

Deer

Naturally I didn't have the camera with me when we first spotted a family of deer walking up our circle. I did have the iPhone which I turned on as B drove around and back down the road. This is the only picture that shows anything. We were in the VW and I was standing with my head out of the sun roof. What we saw was 2 bucks, one with a rather large rack of antlers, a mama and 2 babies. By the time we had located them , they had moved on and this one was the last to cross the road. We often see deer on our travels but this group was unusual.

I'll try to bring the camera next time!

First Day of Fall

Well, it's finally fall. We have been cool for a bit but wouldn't you know it, today was rather muggy. We only got up to the low 70's but still, it felt muggy.

I haven't been blogging lately 'cause there has been nothing new. The tomatoes are still green and we are still doing well. I now realize, thanks to a gentle push from a friend, that no news can still be reported.

So, here I go.

We are having pot roast for dinner. We took a drive down to the mall to get some chairs for the library. I'm involved with the Friends of the Library and we are purchasing tables and chairs for the library at Sam's. And today we picked up 10 chairs to go along with the 4 tables and 5 chairs we already got. The Friends pay for this but we are doing the pick up. And we also got on B's Sam's card a chuck roast that I'm cooking in the oven and just put in potatoes and carrots. GOOD, I hope.

Leaves are turning lovely colors and falling. We just blow them aside. So much better than the days in South Jersey when we had to lug them out to the curb to be sucked up. So many loads of heavy pine needles and leaves. Now, B just puts on the blower (envision a jet pack on your back) and blows stuff into the woods. YEA!!! Several deer walked down the road a bit ago. As long as they aren't eating my plants, we are OK with them. The boat is still in the water... and we tried to go out the other day but I didn't want to turn into a Popsicles. It was really cool.

Got to check the roast....

End of August

Finally, the past two weeks have provided us with some tomatoes. The best ones are these little guys - I do have lots of green tomatoes ripening.

The larger tomatoes did not do well again this year. Too wet and the vines are thin thus only two or three tomatoes. Next year I'm sticking to herbs which do better. Also, I have found sources for fresh veggies around here. Fresh herbs, on the other hand, are not as easy to find and so having them in containers on the deck makes sense. Now, I just need to REMEMBER this next year when spring rolls around. Last week had many lovely days - warm with sun. Today is sunny but quite cool. It was 45 out this morning at around 6:30. We are to be in the low 70's today. At least it's dry!!!

Tomatoes

The tomatoes are finally ripening. It's been cool and too wet. This is the second year of bad tomatoes. Hope I remember next year. I just shredded some receipts and saw all the money I spent on tomato plants and herbs. The herbs are doing fine... of course I've planted two batches of basil as the first plants got water logged. But the tomatoes are, for the most part, straggly and not doing well.

The hanging tomatoes are doing better. Since they are under the eves they have to be watered even when it rains. While that is a pain, at least they are not over watered as I tend to see them drooping and then water. This is the one to the right of the front. The one on the left was really drooping so I'm not going to post that picture. There are buds and small tomatoes so these two plants are the "best" of the bunch. Next year I'll just stick to herbs. There is a farmer's market in town and purchasing fruit and veggies all summer will probably just equal what I spent on the plants that aren't doing anything. Now, I just need to remember that - hope I'll come back to review my pictures. I must say, for the veggies I do miss Jersey and my drive to and from work past the farm stands.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Boy, did we just get some boomers.... rain really heavy and it's still thundering.

Today we didn't do much. We were out and about and got back home this morning around 11. Good to be home... but nice to go for a visit.

And then what did I do???? Put things away.... load of laundry..... game on the Wii..... listed books on Amazon...... relax now and have a glass of wine. YEA

What to have for dinner... well, I have tomatoes.... and lettuce....hummmmm My taco chips are "old" so while I would like to have tacos... no..... so yes, I have bacon in the frig and lettuce and those tomatoes... BLT on toast... A WINNER.... so as soon as I finish this glass of wine, off to bake the bacon in the oven. I saw this on Food network and wow, that's a good idea... no spatter, no mess, easy to do.... well, we will see. I'll let you know....

Tomatoes Need SUN

Like many folk around here, I planted some tomatoes in this hanging planter. As the tomatoes grew, I realized that they would grow up and not down... well duh!! They grow toward the sun. And they did. This plant is cherry tomatoes and it's getting quite heavy. So, it needs support.... and I borrowed some pantyhose to "support" it. The really funny thing is the pantyhose is stretching so I'm adjusting the legs and tying them a bit higher to hold the plant up. I have tomatoes growing so I guess it's working. The other "problem" is that since it's hanging under the eves, I have to water it even if it rains.
And rain is another problem!!!

The cool rainy days and even cooler nights have not been helpful to growing great tomatoes.

Well, here it is August 1st and we had the first tomatoes yesterday. I'm the herbs are doing OK so maybe next year I'll just do basil and such and only one or two tomatoes. There are farm stands around and I'm buying my tomatoes from them - so I'm thinking that I should cut back on plants next year even more than I did this year.
Well, the few that we got were good!

A Day on the Lake

Yesterday was such a lovely day! No rain, no gloom, just a lovely sky and smooth water. So, we took the boat out. And these pictures will show you just how lovely it was out there.

What can I say... a great day and a really nice ride!

Rain Again!

It was a strange day. May and the first two weeks of June were so soggy they put a whole new meaning to the term “moldy oldies” (yea, we are “old”). So, when we got some nice weather with sun last week it was great. So great, we got the boat in the water. When we got up this morning it was muggy and overcast. This was somewhat reminiscent of our days in South Jersey. I went into the library in the morning and when I drove home it was down right hot… upper 70’s 80’s with lots of humidity. After lunch we did some stuff around the house and I also did Animal Crossing on the Wii. Then we went out to run an errand around 3:30 and decided to go to Wal-Mart for milk and such. And as we drove there were these REALLY DARK CLOUDS out there. Went in Wal-Mart and ended up, as usual, finding more things than what I had on my list. As we went to the check out area the rains hit. Now Wal-Mart is a big store and it has that high ceiling and boy, could you hear the rain. As we headed to the door there was a back up of people who didn’t want to venture out into that downpour with the lightning, thunder, and HEAVY RAIN. So we all waited. And after about 10 minutes it became apparent the rain was not going to stop. But, it did lessen in intensity. I got a bag to put my purse in… well, it’s not waterproof and not only did I just purchase it but it cost more than $20. So, out we finally went to the car. After negotiating the parking lot, we hit the road and the rain was not as heavy. Debris covered the road… leaves, branches and such. We had heavy wind as well as torrential rain. At one point we slowed to a crawl as there was quite a flood on the road. We were in the Bug… and made it fine. As we passed through Hawley there was a tent that had been in a store’s front lawn. It was now across the road and was crumpled. Some stores were without electricity and others had their lights on. Also, we started to notice white stuff… yea, it was hail. And as we looked out you could see steam coming from the road due to the drastic temperature drop… it created a fog over the road and the lake. As we headed up the road that follows the lake, we could see debris from the storm. Our house and property was fine. There was hail still visible on the deck and in the plants. I’ve posted pictures of the hail. All in all it was a unique experience. The temperatures dropped from 80’s this afternoon to 56. WOW. While we lost power (everything that could was flashing when we got home) we had electricity when we drove in. Summer at the Lake….


Here is a picture of one of the planters toward the front door. Hail hit the area!

And on the other side of the deck it really showed up in the parsley. The tomatoes and such did not get hurt by the hail. Just cold :)

Summer at the Lake

There was a car show at the local IGA yesterday and we went as B enjoys cars and I wanted to take some pictures. It was a lovely day and there were so many cars! I tried taking various kinds of pictures and really did like this one.

Today, when we got back from breakfast, this gentleman was sitting to the side of the driveway. His lady friend was back on the septic hill grazing. I couldn't get close to her. But this guy was very laid back. I started shooting from the porch steps, by the time I got by the cars parked on the side he was still just looking at me.
This picture has been cropped but I was very close to him.

Here I'm a bit further away (took this before the one above) and I didn't crop it.

The overnight rain has made the day clear and the temperatures right now are in the 60's. The sun is out - a really lovely day so far. And a nice change from all the rain.

Rain and Thunder

We have been having rain just about every day this past week. Heavy rain with thunder - a deluge of water!! As well as soggy flower and veggies, the lake and streams are full. Our "little" stream out to the side has been full, moving fast and very noisy! The top picture is that stream as seen from our patio. As you can see, it's quite wide and moving fast. It looks a lot like a picture I posted in May. Yea, we have been having a lot of rain .... hummm 30 days and 30 nights???

The stream crosses under the road that goes by our street and comes out on the other side via a large pipe. I'm standing on the road (the side, I'm not that stupid) shooting toward the lake.

We did get a bit of sun this afternoon. But now it's again overcast and more rain is in the forecast. We really feel soggy.... Makes the expression "moldy oldie" take on new meaning!

The Frost Didn't Freeze the Plants!

The weather people were right - we got frost last night. These pictures are of the plants on Monday. I had covered them Sunday night and again last night. The towel/sheet cover worked, nothing was frost bitten.

The car had a thin film of frost on it that was easy to scrape. We voted before we went to breakfast. Today has warmed up and we are in the upper 60's with sun and a slight breeze. A generally nice day - and tonight it's not to be as cold.