Yet another beautiful sunrise has graced the skies above my house. This time the color does not foretell a storm like it did the last time.

We’ve had temperatures in the 40’s for the past few days and yesterday it rained. With that combination of weather conditions the snow is melting like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy tossed a bucket of water on her { I'm melting ...} What a mess. Snow is lovely when it’s freshly fallen, all pristine and white. After a few days it starts to look grimy around the edges where it meets the road and after a rain it just turns to slush. Then it refreezes and we get snow the consistency of a snow cone.

Not much else going on around here. Rick has been pretty much off throughout the holidays, either with a snow day, a paid holiday or taking some vacation days. The days have been lazy and we’ve only gotten in the car to go somewhere a few times. We’ve watched movies: a marathon of the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, a few old favorites that we finally bought ourselves on DVD like Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring {French subtitled in English}, and Rich Man, Poor Man the first mini-series ever to air on national TV. (We’re still in the process of watching all 27 hours!) We’ve played video games, played with our iPads, read books and pretty much did whatever we felt like. The dogs did get a few walks in too.

I have no resolutions for the coming year. At least not yet. The year is too new yet and who wants to spoil it with a bunch of regulations and restrictions?

I do know that I want to continue on with pottery classes. Just not the classes I was going to before. When winter is over I will pursue a few places “over the mountain” in Warwick and Sugarloaf. I don’t really relish the idea of driving over there in winter weather. So, I"ll wait. I haven’t shared photos of the last object d’art I made because it needs a bit of touch up work. I’m not really happy with how it came out in the end but I learned a few lessons. One is don’t let other people influence what your vision is. I"ll be posting pics soon. It’s not bad, just not what I truly wanted to do. It’s not me. Enough said.

Does it sound lazy not to have goals all laid out for the new year?

The dogs did enjoy the snow before the big melt. Here are a few pics.

Hailey and Bella

Bella

Hailey attempting to catch a snowball.

Bella trying to look serious.

Alex looking regal.

Hailey looking cute.

Poor Bella just kept collecting balls of snow in her fur! The first pic captures her personality perfectly. See the devilish glint in her eyes?

Mom ... these snow balls are getting heavy ...

And a couple of backyard visitors that aren’t dogs! The blue jay with his feathers that look like an intricate mosaic and two tiny Carolina wrens.

I hope your list of resolutions for this new year doesn’t weigh you down too much!

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 want to introduce you to my turkeys. My turkeys. Hah. Well, at least I think of them as mine since they are constantly in my yard! The babies (or poults) are all grown up now and hard to discern from the adult hens. Meet the girls. Say hello girls ...

*gobble gobble gobble*

Gobble up all the food, that is!

What do you call a bunch of turkeys? There’s a gaggle of geese, a bevy or herd of swans, a pod of whales. Who comes up with this stuff and why? I have always referred to them as a flock of turkeys, which is a correct word. They can also be known as a brood; a bale; and a rafter. Hmm…where did bale and rafter come from? Did they sit on bales of hay and in the rafters of barns?

Yes, I feed the turkeys. Right now I am trying to train this brood of nine that visit two or three times a day. A few years ago I had a rafter of four or five that would come running over to me when I called them with food. They were so cute!! This bale is a little more skittish. (See, I am trying to decide which word I like best to call them by.) The minute I open the door they start running—the opposite direction. Except for one. She stands a short distance off, cocks her head while I tap the bucket with food and croon softly to her in turkinese. (Turkinese is my own little made up language of clucks and cooing noises.) She is taking my measure and I’m not sure she trusts me quite yet. I’m not sure the rest of them get it, but this one brave girl is really trying. She came really close to me the other day. I want them to realize that the crazy human that talks funny = FOOD.

Not the most attractive birds on the planet yet I find them endearing.

Not the most intelligent either. Do you remember the saying back in the—what was it, 70’s?— “dumb turkey?” It meant a stupid person. Poor turkeys. Such a bad rap! If Benjamin Franklin had had his way wild turkeys would be our national symbol instead of the bald eagle. He thought they were majestic and would make a fine symbol for the new country. Probably better than a bald eagle which is pretty much a lazy bird that would rather steal another bird’s kill than make its own kill. Sad, but true.

Mostly the turkeys stay in the front yard but occasionally they hop over the fence to visit the back yard. This has been happening more and more. Here they are running across the back yard.

This afternoon I was upstairs and one window was open. I heard strange noises and stuck my head out the window to figure it out. It was the turkeys making all kinds of vocalizations I hadn’t heard before. (Not your typical gobble gobble.) Not fifteen minutes after I heard all this, I looked out to see that they had all gathered around the feeding area again. But wait ... there were more! Thirteen instead of the normal nine! Makes me wonder if they were chatting about joining up and creating one flock instead of two. Makes sense, since the other rafter was a mother hen and three poults remember them?

Just now as I sat typing this entry I looked out and they were back again. So, I went and got some more ground corn and took it out. They skittered away as usual, but this time four of them stopped and just stood there watching me. Not running away! Two hens started running toward me, then stopped. Still, I am making progress!

Maybe they are not such “dumb turkeys” after all. Dumb or smart I love having them visit my yard.

P.S. Good fertilizer too!

The truck w/canoe in our driveway.

Sunday morning we loaded up the canoe and headed to our five-minute-away destination: Monksville Reservoir. The morning was crisp, but calm. We had originally planned our canoe outing for Saturday but it was a bit too breezy for paddling around. We thought we would need light jackets but once we go there we realized it had warmed up enough to go without them.

When we first started out the lake was like a mirror. The colors are just now slightly past peak, but still pretty. The light was typical for a fall day with the sun in and out of the clouds.

Monksville Reservoir was filled in 1987. There were a few houses that were of historical significance that were moved elsewhere, but the majority of the 15 homes that once existed here were demolished. The reservoir is huge but so far we have only paddled in the shallower section near the Wanaque river feed.

We like it because of all the dead standing trees. It’s eerie and pretty all at the same time. It’s challenging too (at least for Rick who steers) because there are many submerged tree stumps and fallen trees that can snag you if you don’t see them lurking under the water. It’s like a cemetary for trees and many of them have met with a watery grave.

The bleached dead wood makes for a stark contrast against the vibrantly colored trees.

We disturbed a cormorant resting on a rock. Until I took these photos I had no idea they had blue eyes!

Finally airborne and away from those people in that canoe! Whew!

The cemetary of dead trees.

We (or should I say Rick) navigated through the dead trees while I stopped paddling to be on the lookout for submerged stumps. It’s a strange feeling floating among the watery forest.

The colors here were interesting to me ... muted greens and pinks from the green scum on the water and the burning bushes; reminiscent of a Monet painting I thought.

We got back in the channel and paddled up to the end where the Wanaque river feeds the reservoir.

There was some kind of foam in the water but to us it looked like a galaxy spinning around on the surface.

A captive maple leaf.

And somehow plants find a way to survive.

On our way back to the dock the wind kicked up and the sun was becoming obscured behind clouds. We were glad we had chosen the time we did to come. And, all the more glad when we saw lots of people unloading canoes at the dock. A canoeing club was about to take over the waters! After accepting many compliments on how beautiful our canoe was (and an invitation from one man to join the Hackensack Canoe Club) we were on our way home.

Whew! That’s a lot of photos! I know my sweet hubbie would tell me “edit, Lynne!” but I’ve had a hard enough time just getting this posted. I kept looking at the photos and deciding which ones to leave out and never came to a good conclusion. So, since this post has been waiting to be published now for two days, I just decided to go with all of them.

I hope you enjoyed the paddle!

We are at the one week mark. It’s hard to believe that we arrived one week ago today. Time has flown by, yet what do we do all day? Right now Rick is working on our second puzzle as I type. It’s very windy outside today and after taking a walk with the dogs this morning we are all not excited about doing it again. I washed out some laundry (mostly underwear) in the sink and it’s on the line blowing in the wind. We are going to try and get by this time without doing laundry in Laramie. We’ll just take our sheets and towels back to New Jersey with us, wash them, and bring them back next year.

Yesterday while on our walk I somehow managed to lose a lens cap from one of my camera lenses. This happens more times than I’d like to admit because I am always switching out lenses. Today we retraced our steps from yesterday’s walk. I figured we’d never find it since our path was over sagebrush covered meadow and deep dark woods. I thought it would most likely be in a place where I had switched lenses to take a photo, but it didn’t show up in any of those places. Just as we reached the deep dark woods portion of our walk I told Rick it wasn’t worth going in because I was certain that was not where I had lost it. At the last minute as I headed up the hill I said “maybe you’d better check just in case.” I went one way with two of the dogs and he went the other.

The photo above shows part of our trek. Can you see Rick?

I could not believe it when I met up with Rick and he was holding my lens cap in his hand! He said he found it face up saying “Canon” on the ground in the woods. A small miracle!

We have a new bird at our feeder that we’ve never seen before. A pinon jay.

He’s an interesting color. Blue, but grayish. He gets along great with the steller jays and they don’t seem to mind him at all. Over the past two days he’s become a permanent fixture in the bird seed tray.

Here’s a photo of Bella after our walk.

We’re looking forward to dinner tonight: BBQ’d ribs and coleslaw. Could be challenging with the wind but we’ll do it on the screened-in porch.

I have more photos to share from today but I’ll wait until tomorrow to bore you with them.