Ah, the cabin. It’s a special place. It’s a place where you can go and get away from everything. It weaves a spell of relaxation on you. People ask us, what do you do up there without a phone, TV or internet? But we do have TV, I tell them: Cabin TV, and it has various channels.
Such as the Bird Channel:

the Front Porch Channel:


and the Fireplace Channel.

All the channels keep us entertained. There is no pre-programming, nor is there a viewing guide. They all come in HD with full surround sound.

Take the Bird Channel for instance. It’s colorful and the programs change constantly. Bright blue stellar jays let everyone in the forest know that the food has been put out with their raucous cawing. Chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, ruby crowned kinglets, and my personal favorite, the hermit thrush**[see side story below], all add to the symphony. And let’s not forget the whirring of hummingbird wings and the chittering arguments over who’s flower it is. The Bird Channel also features squirrels, ground squirrels, and chipmunks.

The Front Porch Channel is a bit more varied. Although it includes the Bird Channel, it can also feature moose, deer, elk or a coyote. We didn’t see any of those this time around, and since the salt lick is no longer there they have less of a reason to visit us. This channel comes with the additional sound of Bart Creek, splashing and tumbling over mini waterfalls as it flows through the bottom of the forest, engorged with spring run-off. Side Note: [Bart Creek was named for our dog Bart, that we recently lost. He was our water dog. He loved to wade in the creek. He would get right out in the middle of it, water up to his stomach, and just meander along.]

The Fireplace Channel is a mesmerizing one. Flames leap and dance in an ever-changing pattern. Logs shift and fall as they burn. Snap. Crackle. Pop. Time to add more wood ... Sometimes the Fireplace Channel comes with the added bonus of a poetry reading, usually Robert Service or cowboy poetry, by Rick.

I think you get the idea. It’s a hard place to leave.

**Side Story: It took me years to figure out what kind of bird we were hearing early in the morning and at dusk. It’s crystal clear flute-like notes would pierce the air. Ethereal, haunting. My “Birding by Ear” CD did not help with the identification. For years we called it “Flea-by-the-sea-bird” because Rick had made up a little ditty to remember how its song went. Four ascending notes: flea-by-the-sea; then four descending notes: don’t-bite-at-me. I know, it’s silly ditty but it helped us remember how it sounded. Finally I realized it was in the thrush family because of when it sang, and went through all thrushes on my larger bird CD until I found one that matched. Hence, the hermit thrush. They come back every year.**

Our house in Colorado is being taken over by birds. First, there is this ghostly impression on the sliding glass door where a bird obviously flew into it. Can you see it, the wings spread wide? It’s like it imprinted the house with its spirit. It looks like a hawk to me, or maybe it was a grackle. There was a twin print to this one on another door right next to this one, but it was more faint. Same bird, or one just like it. Very strange ...

This sweet dove has built a wispy nest under the eave of the sunroom in back. She picked a smart place for her nest, out of the wind and rain. We didn’t disturb her; let her have her babies.

We also discovered that a woodpecker—a flicker probably—had made several nice holes in our stucco board on the outside of our house. One was the size of a grapefruit and a starling had started to nest inside it. The hole went all the way through the stucco board, the foam, and finally the wood. They tell us it happens all the time and the repairs are simple. Still, it’s just one more thing.

Now if only the birds could pool all their money together and buy the house, it would be a perfect fit.

We’re back in New Jersey as of last night after a whirlwind trip to Colorado. We packed a lot into those few days! After the wide open spaces of Colorado, our corner of the world seems closed-in and secular with the trees fully leafed out. Kind of like being in a green cocoon. A welcoming one, though. In five short days things really filled in. Above is looking out over one of the front yards.

I can’t say we had a great time dealing with issues at our as-yet-still-unsold house in Ft. Collins, but it was fun visiting with old friends. Walking through our empty house was nostalgic and tugged at my heart strings. It really is a beautiful house. The ghosts of past dogs were everywhere I looked: the room where quite a few of them were born; the courtyard patio in front where Indy used to love to lay; just about everywhere I turned I could see them. Funny that I didn’t see myself doing things in the house, mostly the dogs. Would I want to live there again? No, not really.

Our time at the cabin was serene, albeit short. Thanks to our friends Donna and Larry for getting everything ready for us! How nice to have hot water and a cold fridge (not to mention a snow-free driveway)! We enjoyed our visit with you and we’re so glad you have internet now.

Whereas our house didn’t really feel like home anymore, the cabin certainly did. It just enveloped us in its log walls and worked its magic on us. It did feel strange to be there without the dogs to accompany us on walks. It’s the first tme we’ve both stayed at the cabin without them. I’ll be sharing more about the cabin in the next few days. My body may be in New Jersey, but my head is still in Colorado and I’m not really in the mood for writing and creating. Too many other things crowding my mind right now.

Thanks to Linda and Phil for putting us up for the night, the great food, the dog fix, and for just being the wonderful people that you are.

I leave you with a photo of part of our back yard as it looked two weeks ago, and now as it looks today. Are you GREEN with envy?

I won’t be blogging this week as we are off on a vacation of sorts to Colorado. As I type from our motel room in Ft. Collins, CO, we’ve had a hectic day at our house. I spent most of the day pulling weeds—oh, excuse me you poor Dandelions!—dealing with plumbers, heating and air-conditioning guys, turning on our watering system, and interviewing new realtors. Whew. I am due for a good night’s sleep. Right now it doesn’t seem much like a “vacation.” But, we need to make some changes in order to get our house SOLD. Anyone want to buy a high-end house in Ft. Collins with lots of European touches, price recently reduced? It’s all very wearying.

We are off for what we hope is some true relaxation at our mountain cabin tomorrow. After we arrive at the cabin on Thursday we will be out of touch with the rest of the world. No telephone. No television. No internet. Nothing but the sound of the wind through the trees and the hooting of our Great Horned owl.

We do have a radio though, which was a necessary addition to keep in touch with the world. Back in 2001, we were staying at the cabin for the week when the 9-11 disaster happened and we didn’t even know. That’s how much the world used to pass us by up there. Since then we added a television with VCR and DVD capability, a phone with a booster antenna, and finally in the year before our move to New Jersey we added satellite internet and television. On our move we traded in our phone for a different service, took the TV with us, and disconnected our satellite dish. Now the cabin is back to being what it was years ago. A retreat from the outside world.

So, with my best wishes for a great end of the week, I hereby retreat from the world for a few short days. Have a great one. Please check back in with me once I’ve returned to the real world. Until Monday ...

Like I said, there is a reason New Jersey is called the Garden State. Take a look at this house in Wayne as an example! It just takes my breath away. Azaleas of every available hue and dogwood trees cover their yard. We found this house last year as it’s on the way to work for Rick and this year he kept an eye on it for me, letting me know when it was in full bloom. These were taken over the weekend. It inspired us so much we went out and bought four azalea plants!

The photo of above was taken with my little camera’s feature, Stitch Assist, which allows you to take panoramic shots easily. To see the full effect, click here to view a much larger version. This is a series of four photos taken separately, then stitched together in Photoshop Elements. I love this camera feature because it shows your previous photo in the viewfinder so you can line up your next shot perfectly. It also keeps the exposure the same from photo to photo, allowing a seamless transition.

What follows are the four photos, taken from left to right.