The cats got an early Christmas gift the other day. Take a look at our newest iPad app:

The cat chooses which mode to play: laser beam or mouse. So far eBay has chosen the mouse hands down (or should I say paws down?) every time. Every time they hit the mouse he squeaks and adds up points. Such fun! I love that both cats have different approaches to playing with it. Frankly I am surprised at Sam. I didn’t think he was that smart!

What’s next? Surely not an iPad app for dogs! One slap of Bella’s huge feet and the iPad would be history. (That’s Bella’s nose that you can see in the video.)

And, no ... the cats do not have their own iPad ... yet.

Last night we woke ourselves at 3:00 a.m. to view the lunar eclipse. We felt we had to. After all, it rarely occurs with the winter solstice. The last time it did was 1638. It was eerie. I stood there in my bathrobe with my dog-walking-jacket over it and paid homage to its rare reddish color. I tried to take a photo, but of course—no tripod! It was cold and windy, but very clear with lots of stars twinkling. I didn’t stay out long. This is my best effort at trying to capture it.

And, as predicted, the snow is gone from our Christmas forecast. They are saying it might snow the day after, but that’s still a pretty big “if.” It used to drive me crazy if it didn’t snow by Christmas so that there was at least some on the ground, but I think I am finally growing out of that childhood stage. It would sure be nice but it’s not going to happen. After all, Christmas is all about what’s in your heart and not on the ground!

We’ll be alone this Christmas. My sister and her husband are staying home and entertaining his side of the family, while our friend Carolyn is heading to the great Northwest to meet up with her family. I didn’t do a great deal of decorating this year, but enough. The Santa collection stayed in their boxes this year as did the little German village. I’ve been feeling the need to edit and simplify things. With our new landscaping out front we changed up our lighting strategy and used the net lights on the little trees that used to be stretched across the burning bush hedge (which has now moved) and they worked like a charm. I plug in the lighted garlands hung around the doorways inside the house every morning now. Have to get that Christmas spirit UP!

Our Sunday was spent by attending two different open houses on our street. The first was over at neighbor Kim’s and the second was all the way down the street with the folks who run our block party. And, darn it, I missed Fire Truck Santa again this year! We must have been over at Kim’s when he passed by. Why can’t I seem to catch him so I can photograph this silly event? Santa strapped to the bumper of a fire truck is a sight you don’t forget. I would gladly give them a donation for the chance to have my photo taken with him!

Our Christmas tree reflected in my wine glass.

Yesterday marked the last day (finally!) of pottery class. I’ve been trying to get back and glaze my piece for several weeks now but it hadn’t been fired yet. So yesterday was glazing day. She was going to fire last night so I am thinking of going back this afternoon to pick it up. Again, I have kind of an idea what the glaze is going to look like (it’s called Cappuccino Mint) but I did something different on the button and not sure how that’s going to look. Kind of like I was not sure what the inside of the previous bowl would look like and look how well that turned out! If I hate it I’ll just stick it away in a closet somewhere where I don’t have to look at it.

Also yesterday the dogs went to the groomers. They always come home smelling so wonderful and feeling so soft and fluffy. I try to appreciate it fully because it doesn’t last long. Alex is just like Pig Pen in the Charlie Brown comics and dirt seems to follow him everywhere he goes. Hailey usually stays pretty clean because she’s kind of a prissy girl, taking right after her father who was a pretty prissy boy. Now Bella is not a girly-girl at all. Look what the groomer put in her hair! We don’t expect it to last long.

Mom! Get this thing off my head!

So far this morning it’s still on. Now if that bow was on Hailey’s head instead Bella surely would have chewed it off by now!

Today will find me mostly staying home. I need to make cookies and wrap Rick’s presents. Mine are already under the tree and Sam has even opened one! Cats cannot resist paper, at least Sam can’t.  He looks pretty angelic though, doesn’t he? He’s not! I’m sure I’ll have his help wrapping.

We haven’t seen any bears for a long time. After the bear hunt I am sure they are all trying to lay low. We have plenty of birds: blue jays, titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, chickadees, juncos (2 varieties), carolina wrens, cardinals and the red-bellied woodpeckers visits once in a while. I’ve seen quite a few deer crossing the road but they just don’t seem to like our yard. We have plenty of these little rodents though:

Yes, they are cute but we have so many. And they are so very greedy! Bella gets lots of exercise chasing them off the deck and down into the yard.

Well, that’s about it for today. Tomorrow I will hopefully have a photo or two of the latest (and last) pottery piece to show you. Until then, I toast you with some Christmas cheer!

I check the two on line weather sites, Accu-Weather and Weather Underground religiously. It seems that every day they adjust their predictions. There is a storm coming in this weekend but no one seems to know where it will hit and how much. Unfortunately they are saying it’s more of a coastal storm, which means we won’t get anything where we live. But just because they are predicting that it doesn’t mean it will happen.

Today when I checked Accu-Weather’s long range predictions I realized that they must be playing a joke on me. Take a look:

It has to be a joke. We’ve not had any measurable snow yet this year and I can’t remember the last time I actually saw it snow on Christmas. I’m not getting excited ... yet. I know that when I check tomorrow they will have changed their minds and snow will be out of the forecast. Still, one can only hope!

We had a little bit of snow overnight. Not much, just enough to cover the surface of everything—more of a what they call a “nuisance snow.” Meaning it’s not enough to really snow blow or plow.

I took the shovel, put on my “whewe is that wascaly wabbit”*** hat and scraped it mostly clean of snow. Of course, our tire tracks where we drove in and out taking Rick to the train (he’s in the city today) are frozen in place and won’t come up. It’s 18 degrees out there at 10:30 a.m.  It’s not supposed to be above freezing until maybe Friday and with the wind blowing the wind chills are well into the teens.

It’s nice to have a little of the white stuff finally. I needed to run a few errands today and took my camera with me because I noticed on the way home from the train station that Monksville Reservoir was looking very cool. Literally! Icing over with spots of new snow. I parked and walked along the road to get these shots. God it was cold! Brrrrrrr.

As an added benefit of getting out and walking I came across these three swans resting on the ice.

Here’s a closer look. Too bad I didn’t have the telephoto lens with me.

I was intrigued by the swirls and patterns of the half frozen surface.

The surface of the water wasn’t the only thing that was half frozen. The other thing would be me! As I was standing there taking these photos a big gust of frigid wind came along and lifted my hat right off my head! I watched as it rolled and tumbled across the road, only to disappear from view as it went down the slope to the other side of the reservoir. My head was really cold now! I waited for the traffic to clear then dashed across the road and scrambled over the guard rail. I found my hat no worse for the wear lying in the weeds. At least it didn’t keep tumbling until it reached the water’s edge! I dusted off the snow and wasted no time in putting it back on my now freezing head.

When I got back to the car I realized I didn’t have my lens cap so I retraced my steps to where I thought I might have lost it. I didn’t find it. I’m bummed. I am forever losing or misplacing lens caps. I need to buy a dozen or so! But I just now realized as I was typing this that I only retraced my steps to where the swans where and not to where I picked up my hat. Maybe I’ll have to go back and see it I can find it there! (but not today! I think I’ll wait for the warm-up at week’s end.)

I took another detour on the way home along East Shore road where I knew I could take a few photos of the weeping rocks. All the rock faces here in New Jersey “weep.” There is so much ground moisture here. The weeping rocks freeze into falls of icicles.

Am I making you cold yet? After all this silly outdoor photography without gloves on I was ready to come home and stoke up the fire in the wood stove! No more outside business for me today. I am going to get some knitting done right after I finish this entry: by the fire!

****What? you don’t know what I meant by a “whewe is that wascally wabbit” hat?  Why an Elmer Fudd hat of course!

It’s my go-to hat for dog walking, shoveling and at-home activities. I change hats when going out somewhere. It is a Calvin Klein though if you think that makes if a tad more fashionable!

... but not in December! Sigh. No snow and none forecasted. We’ve had over one inch of rain today and of course we had our annual festive dinner at Blue Hills at Stone Barns today. Also an annual event is, unfortunately, the rain. Last year the same thing happened. We had really cold temps last week but no moisture. The minute we get some moisture, the temperatures rise and it falls as rain instead of snow. The East is so strange. More tomorrow, but I just wanted to capture the rainy event today and as you can see by the photo I just took of our radar (see the blip?; that’s us in northern NJ) and the rain is moving south to north, we are in for a lot more rain tonight before it’s over with.

Geez I wish it would SNOW.