beluga

beluga

Saturday, May 31, 2014

cocktail at the lake


So after a busy day we stopped work and had our first cocktail at the lake in three years.  It was also the first time we were there without our Rose.    Felt kind of funny not seeing her standing on the beach waiting for permission to go in the water.  No little golden head swimming around and around just for the joy of it.  

We sat on the break wall, Sasha went in the lake and Lewis zoomed around like all was new and oh so fun!     Ahhhhh      It was nice being there again.

A man, two gins and his faithful old dog

Friday, May 30, 2014

pre birthday

These past weeks have been a whirlwind of work.  We're tired, but we're making progress.  We have a couple coming to look at the house on Saturday so we've been working furiously to that end.    Whether they're interested or not, they've made us work double time to put our best foot forward and that's not a bad thing.

vacuuming the Titmouse's peanuts out of storm windows


our Miss Kim lilac is doing her best for us

this little guy took a break from his lunch to watch Dave wash windows...
I think he needs a napkin, don't you?
Last night we took a break and went to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Honeoye Falls.   Dave's big birthday is Sunday but this restaurant is only open on Thursday evenings, so.....

Honeoye Falls was beautiful last night


The Rabbit Room is on the first floor of the old Lower Mill.  The upper floor is an art gallery with changing exhibits.   Often the paintings or photographs or textiles find their way downstairs to the walls of the restaurant.

 

We ate way too much because the food was way too good.   I won't bore you with a description of our entire meal, but my appetizer was a grilled watermelon salad with blistered jalapeno, basil and goat cheese and one of our desserts was so good that Dave seriously entertained diving under the table to retrieve the morsel that slipped off his fork on the way to his mouth......Oh my goodness we did enjoy ourselves.



The next fun thing we have to look forward to is a visit from John And Pam of ohtheplacestheygo.wordpress.com.  Mr. David's Hillside and Lakefront RV Park just happens to have a 50 amp site available for them.    They arrive on Sunday, so you know they'll get to share Dave's birthday strawberry rhubarb pie and another dinner out.    It will be nice for us to take some time off and "smell the roses".   Dave looks forward to playing golf with John, he hasn't played since he and John did in Georgia in April.   It seems like such a long time ago.

I haven't told Lewis and Sasha that Gramma Pamma is on her way with cookies!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Green




Lewis leaps, Sasha stares

Dave bush hogs the pasture
(wouldn't Chamois and Queen have loved that job!)


I read friend's blogs and I'm green with envy.   They are out following a brew pub trail, hiking to the top of mountains, sharing meals with their daughter, climbing around ancient Indian ruins, wading in clear streams, eating ice cream, making plans for children's weddings, working on behalf of dogs in need, participating in their 36th 10K, rambling in our Nation's Capitol, sigh.

Some of them are planning new homes, planning new trips, making huge life choices, caring for aging parents, taking care of themselves and their husbands, repairing their "rides" or just waiting.....

Us?  We're trying to enjoy the "right now" scenes and smells and feelings.  I guess we all have to do something.......

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Critters and a craftsman

Yesterday afternoon I was puttering around on the front porch, arranging chairs and thinking about how things would look to prospective buyers.    I looked up over the door I'd just walked through and  saw the newest member of the farm, preparing to leave us.


It was a baby Phoebe bravely looking over the side of its soft mossy nest.  To my uneducated eye, it didn't look like it had enough feathers to be contemplating  first flight, but.....what do I know!

It blinked blandly and watched me move things around.   I called up to Dave (you guessed it - painting upstairs) to come and see the baby.   By the time he got downstairs, the deed was done.   The nest was empty and the wee one was crouched down in the garden, peeping loudly.

Dave quickly went out to pick it up and return it to the nest but by the time he got to the front garden it was gone again.   Ok, maybe it was ready to fledge.


It had managed to fly (I use the term loosely) up into a nearby Dogwood tree and it sat there as if trying to figure out what to do next.

mom watches from the fence finial

Mom stayed close, talking calmly to her child.    This morning they were both gone.  So glad I was able to watch.


So, today Dave put down the paint brush and turned his considerable talents to repairing a bit of the wear and tear from almost 38 years of our wonderful animals.  Today it was the mullion in one of the  kitchen windows that a young and energetic Sasha bit vigorously.  Couldn't really blame her, it was our fault for giving her the run of the house while we were gone - she obviously wasn't in control of her youthful exuberance.    We were lucky she didn't go right through the glass.

So many remnants of animals gone by.....a lightly chewed den coffee table leg, a few teeth marks in the baseboard behind the toilet (don't ask), some scratches in the door to the garage, courtesy of my dear devoted Golden, Nordic.  Not much trouble for all the memories.

The barn holds scars of its previous inhabitants too.   Impatient pawing made dents in the stall floors - "where is our dinner"! Marks on the sliding doors from long white teeth  telling us it was time to go out, telling us not to walk so close, telling us to not feed "her" first, streaks of gooey meds. on the wall, where I wiped off what was spit back out at me.   Long blonde and red mane and tail hairs stuck on the rough wood of the huge vertical beams - itchy necks and butts.  Sounds nasty, but it wasn't.   Every mark makes me smile now.

a man in his workshop


hands of a craftsman



Lewis....what a character he is.   He is loving the freedom of the huge backyard.   So much to patrol, so much to watch, so much grass to run and roll and romp in.   Today, at cocktail hour, he discovered the chipmunk that lives in the downspout.   The chippy wasn't happy about his discovery.

Sasha waits in the background until something actually happens


Mr. Chippy squeals and Lewis barks - back and forth they go...
Oh Joy!

cocktails in the clouds



Thursday, May 22, 2014

Same old, same old

Not much new to report, to blog about but,  for what its worth, here I am.   I thought I'd show you a few pictures, in no particular order, of what I've seen and done this past week.

Since I've led you to believe that old Sasha Marie sleeps away the days, here are a couple pictures of what she does when she's awake.




She mostly sniffs and doots around the yard, following the fence line and occasionally detouring to follow a rabbit track or to pluck a tempting morsel of new grass.

Sometimes she stares down at Cindy P's farm, just to see if anyone is out doing anything worth watching.

Sometimes, if Fergie,  the pretty Husky across the street,  is out Sasha revs up her deep whiskey voice to put the youngster in her place.   Fergie never says a word, she just stares.

Then the old girl comes in the house and goes back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Lewis continues to be Lewis.    I threw a frisbie for him today, trying to introduce a bit of variety to his life, but he chased it and ripped it apart before I could get to him.    Evidently he was telling me that I shouldn't change a good formula.....




He's quite patient.   He'll wait,  fixing his laser eyes on the ball du jour until I notice him and kick it down the hall.    This day I was busy making a rhubarb pie for dessert.

making a pie is a piece of cake with my mom's old pie board

don't wear a black shirt when making pies -
see my flour belly?

the finished product cooling for dinner

Dave continues to work on the house.   Every evening, over cocktails, he says how he can't wait to get back on the road and relax.     Me too.

Last winter was a hard one in our area.  The critters used our bushes for sustenance, and I can't blame them.   But......it makes more work for us when we already have too much on our plates.

Yesterday we drove into Rochester to buy some replacement shrubs and we stopped at the beautiful Five Arch Bridge in Avon, the next town north of us.   We've passed it hundreds of times in the past, just drove on by on our way somewhere.    This time we stopped and walked around a bit.   What a beautiful structure it is, especially with the storm swollen Conesus Creek roaring along under and around it.




Sometime, when we're not on a mission, we're going to follow this leafy path near the bridge and see where it leads us.....



So, bushes selected and payed for, we came back home, ripped up the dead ones and planted these beauties.   Yes, I helped Dave plant, see my gloves on the driveway?   Needless to say neither of us has any trouble falling asleep at night, we're beat!




The feeding birds pay no attention to our labors.   They just stream down from the trees to the feeder and back again, carrying nuts and sunflowers to where they're needed.  I often watch a little Nuthatch hide peanut halves in my kitchen storm windows.   He doesn't know I can see him.....






Saturday, May 17, 2014

Friday

Zzzzzzz

The weather has improved, the rain has stopped and the sun (gasp) was out this morning for our second cup.....quite chilly, but sunny.     We're not doing anything very interesting, except painting and sorting, pile making, boxing up and daily trips to Goodwill (Dave calls it Oldwill, oh Dave).
Robin says its the ultimate recycling.    I say its out of sight, out of mind.

the line of storm clouds recede, bye bye!





he leaves his slippers behind


here he is, still hard at work painting
(no, he's not deliberately painting the soles of his shoes, it just happens)

Last night we were able to slip into our dear friend's (Barb and Bob) busy schedule and met them in the pretty old town of LeRoy (birthplace of Jello) for dinner.    We enjoyed seeing them and catching up over a pretty decent meal.   We hadn't seen Barb since she was on a volunteer mission to Mexico, helping to build a potable water system for people living in the very rural area near  Chiapas.

We were pleased to see Gerry and his wife Pele while we were waiting for our food at the old Eagle House.   Gerry is a great, smiley guy who worked for Dave at AIM Co. before becoming his business partner.   Eventually,  it was Gerry (and  partner Tom) who was instrumental in allowing us to go on our Excellent Adventure and enter this wonderful new phase of our lives.   They bought out Dave's interests in AIM and set us free!

Barb, Dave and Bob patiently wait for the photographer to return

Oatka Creeks runs through the middle of LeRoy.
all the recent rains have turned it a very muddy brown.




With full hands, whats a girl to do when her husband approaches her with a poised camera????

Thursday, May 15, 2014

rain

The weather has been volatile lately.   Hot temperatures exascerbate the unstable air masses over us.  

Jesse bought Dave a couple lovely white lilac bushes for his 60th birthday - a few years ago - and they are planted at the lake.   We like to keep an eye on them, as white lilacs are coveted in this house.    The sky was pretty nasty looking to the west last night, but Dave wanted to drive down to the lake and see if any flowers were ready to be picked, so.....off we went.



They were just opening, their most fragrant, so Dave cut a huge head and we walked back to the car.


Clouds of rain were building all around us.   But,  the flower filcher saw a few more beauties that he needed to give me....


He put the white lilac on my car's windshield and continued to collect his gifts for me.


I'm beginning to wonder if he is really a Bowerbird in disguise.  We've been together since we were 16 years old, he doesn't have to woo me anymore, I've been impressed for many years now.   Still....it is flattering.


He took just a minute too long....the skies opened and he barely made it back to the car.    But, what a beautiful bouquet he presented.



The rain came down hard, the wipers barely cleared the windows.   We headed up the hill towards home as fast as the weather would allow.   We'd left all the windows in the house full open, uh oh.


Everything near the windows was soaked, the window sills, the floors and, most importantly to you know who, the dog beds were sopped.    Ah well, we in Geneseo were spared the brunt of the terrific wind and rain.   Communities just to the east of us had serious damage, roads washed out, cars floated away and businesses flooded.


We had wave after wave of rain with thunder/lightening all night long.   Poor Sasha Marie had a rocky night.