New Year's Day

Just the strangest day for me. I seem to have learned how to relax. Finally. At least for a day. So I began the new decade in my pajamas and stayed in them. Cannot remember ever doing that before as an adult. Ate cereal and blueberries, read the paper, posted photos on the blog, prepared pork and sauerkraut with apples, carrots, onions, and brown sugar and put it all in the crockpot. To my surprise it was 12:30 and I was still in my PJ's....so I took a nap. This afternoon I got dressed, we watched a little football, ate dinner, and watched "Taking Woodstock". A delightful and fun account of the events surrounding the 3 days of peace and music. Until the mouse....not in the movie but running across our living room floor. Where did he come from? Went behind the piano. So we gave chase, went behind the tv, then out a crack under the doorjam. Stuffed it full of steel wool. That'll fix him. Happy New Year!

2009 in Pictures

Clara Rose born 11/25
Sawyer Todd born 6/26

Mary, John, and I in Florida in March

Kaylyn and I at MassMoca

Christmas Eve

Autumn

September in Diamond Point

Noah and Jake

Noah in his pool

Josh taking the plunge

My son...the guitar man

planting the garden with Jena and Jake

John and Noah with me on a hike

waterfall in Vermont

Morgan up a tree

spring at our house

John the rock star

You "nose" it is 2010!!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

I believe in Christmas.

I believe that God continues to work in my life today through this story of Christ's birth so long ago.

I am a shepherd, startled to hear the good news of the angels, but eager to go and see for myself.

I am Mary, aware that somehow God is using me to accomplish things to big for me to imagine.

I am Joseph, not understanding fully that which God calls me to do, but following as fatihfully as I can.

I am the innkeeper, busy and frazzeld, but making some room, somehow, for God to be born.

I am the Wisemen, on a journey of discovery, bearing my gift to be given to glorify God.

And Yes, I am the angel, proclaiming in my own life, the glorious good news that God has come into the world and we shall never be the same.

I believe in Christmas and with my life, today and throughout the year to come, I will proclaim that Christ is born, that Chrismas is here, that God is with us!

(written by Peter K. Perry, Prescott United Methodist Church; Orescott, AZ)

First Snow

After an unusually warm and balmy November and first week of December, we finally received our first snow of the season. I awoke to blue skies, 23 degrees, and a beautifully decorated snow covered world. These pics are from my morning walk in Shenentaha Park.

When I no longer thrill to the first snow of the season, I will know that I am growing old.-Lady Bird Johnson

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different and if this is not enchantment, where is it to be found?-John Boynton Priestley

A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together. -Anon.

Two Days Old

Clara Rose...2 days old

A Week of Thanksliving!

Clara Rose

Clara Rose and PopPop


Big Brother Noah and his little sister just 25 hours old

8 grandchildren. EIGHT grandchildren. When Mary and I married, she 21 and I 22, we knew we would have children. Plural. Certainly two, maybe three, or more. Turned out to be more. Three wonderful daughters, then a son. Later, through adoption, another son. Blessings all. But grandchildren? You don't even think about the possibility. Then your children marry and you begin to think...hey, I could be a grandfather. Eight times! Clara Rose took her time coming into the world. 42 weeks in the womb. Then we got the call from Vermont...6 a.m....Wednesday morning, it looked like she would come into the world later that day. I was needed to watch her soon-to-be big brother, Noah. Had to make some quick decisions. Mary was needed to work at the store on Friday morning...5 a.m.

I didn't know how long I would be needed. So decision made, John and I to Vermont. We arrived just before noon. The call announcing Clara Rose's birth came at five p.m. (except she wasn't Clara Rose yet because they hadn't decided on a name). John, Noah, and I piled into the car and made the hour drive over the mountain from Waitsfield to Middlebury. We met this eighth grandchild, all 9lbs 8oz., with a beautiful head of dark curly hair. After a great visit, everyone except Mom and daughter went to McDonald's for a quick meal. Behind the restaurant was a supermarket. I had brought some food with me to cook for Thanksgiving but I didn't have a Turkey. In the market I was able to purchase an unfrozen 3 lb turkey breast. Joshua returned to his wife and daughter at the hospital and we headed back over the mountain.Clara Rose and her parents arrived home at 6:30 pm on Thanksgiving Day, just a little over 24 hours old. I served brussel sprouts, green beans, yams, and turkey for dinner. Mary hosted two of our daughters, Carla and Sarah, and Sarah's son, Sawyer (our 7th grandchild) and our dear friend, Linda, whose husband, Don, had gone into Hospice Care the day before. They had a fine dinner of turkey, green bean cassarole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatos and gravy, scalloped corn, and pie for dessert.

John and I returned home on Friday. We met Sarah, Sawyer, and Mary in the evening at the Wilton Mall and went to the movies. We saw the film, Blind Side, a wonderful movie based on a true story. It was the perfect film for this holiday weekend as it celebrates the values of family, love, patience, forgiveness, and courage.

This morning I recieved the sad news that Don had died. We prayerfully give thanks for his life, his generosity, his sense of humor, and his friendship.

November Walking

West Coast Chuck, a fellow blogger, got me thinking about the joy of walking in November here in the great northeast. We have experienced an unusual run of sunny and warm weather this November, ideal for raking leaves, biking, walking and hiking. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote; I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.

These are photos I took while on a recent walk in Saratoga State Park.
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape-the lonliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

Andrew Wyeth

Halloween

Grandson, Sawyer, is really "into" the whole pumpkin thing.

John is channeling Michael Jackson for Halloween.