Christmas Day 2013

Dale with Mom in the dining room on Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve 2013

Dale took this photo on Christmas Eve. If you look closely you can see me being a camera hog in the front window (my first photo bomb).

Thanksgiving 2013

11-28-13
Thanksgiving table.

Front Yard - Saturday November 9, 2013

Dale and I got all leaves raked the next day. The trees really held onto their leaves a long time this year so raking ending up being a one shot deal prior to the final leaf pick-up by the city.

Halloween 2013

Snoopy

Removal of Deb's Tree

Due to the particularly nasty recent storm, Deb's beautiful ash tree was uprooted and fell on our garage.  Dale and I loved that tree!  I'd photograph its leaves to document the changing seasons and would post the pictures on this very blog.  Dale and I enjoyed looking at it when sitting out in the backyard.  It will be sorely missed.

Deb scheduled the tree guy to come take down the tree for yesterday morning.  He showed up around 10 and began.  Although it's an insurance industry standard that the owners of the propert the tree falls on are responsible for clean up, Deb somehow felt she was responsible for the tree coming down on our garage. Before I could even act on it, Deb found a really good deal for the removal.  What she didn't tell me was the reason for the deal involved her helping the guy take the tree down!  While doing dishes I noticed that she was hauling off branches and such.  I ran out to tell her that I wished she would have told me the whole situation because then I could have made myself available to help.   She told me not to worry about it and then asked if I had a wheelbarrow they could borrow.  Oh Deb!!!

Burning Candles

When the lights were out I found some candles to burn.  I really enjoyed sitting still and watching the light dance off the walls after it got dark outside.  Both nights the power was out I think I sat still for about an hour and a half. For me that's a long time.

A New Plant

My friend Yuli gave me this nice plant today. I love it and put it next to our other plant. I don't think we've ever had two plants at once.

Nasty Storm of June 2013 - 6

On the porch making a toast to the return of electricity.  I'll never take it for granted again.

Nasty Storm of June 2013 - 5

Was so happy when the power came on!

Nasty Storm of June 2013 - 4

I'm taking a graduate level course this summer as part of a licensure program. I was not able to access the computer due to the power outage. Our neighbor Mark was kind enough to let me use his generator so that I could get the computer up and running. What a guy!  We were without power for 48 hours. The other side of the street got theirs back the day before.

Nasty Storm of June 2013 - 3

Deb's tree fell on our garage. She felt awful despite my trying to convince her that it wasn't her fault. I told her that if she had been trying to chop it down and wasn't paying attention to which way it might fall and it landed on our garage, I'd be mad but that she didn't do this. Oh, Deb!

Nasty Storm of June 2013 - 2

Photo from basement while waiting out storm.

Nasty Storm of June 2013 - 1

Experienced a particularly nasty summer storm on Friday June 21. Was standing on the porch when I saw this tree fall.  Figured it was probably a good time for me and Athena to head down to the basement.  We also ended up losing power (not due to this tree). The energy company reported that around a quarter of a million people were without electricity due to this storm - the largest number ever.  Is this an isolated incident or a sign of things to come related to climate change?

Cocktails on the Porch

Dale's on the Island and although I'm on summer break there's still too much to do around this place to keep up with keeping it up. Thankfully I'm not too busy for a cocktail on the front porch.

Dandelions

The yard is running rampant with dandelions so I decided to put a few of them to good use.  The ones you see here are decorating the porch.  How very Martha Stewart of me.  I've always loved dandelions and feel bad they have such a bad reputation...

Porch Season 2013

It's good to have the porch opened up and in use again.

The Dream House in April 2013

Snow overnight. We were supposed to get 6-8 inches but I'd say we only got 2 or 3.

The Silver Maple

Spring, you've moved past being fashionably late. Now you're just being rude. That said, the silver maple in the front yard looks pretty...

Home Sweet Home

Leaking Roof

The roof is leaky over the porch. The snow that fell recently was a nasty one. It started out heavy and wet and then a somewhat lighter snow fell just after that.  The wet snow froze and was not rake-able (I tried). Now we've got ice dams.

The Dream House in January 2013