We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday. For a while the snow came down fast and furious to the point where I could barely see my neighbor’s house across the street. It was beautiful. But like I said, it’s supposed to warm up (60 degrees on Sunday!) and rain so most of it will wash away and we are in for a slushy not-so-white Christmas. I feel another song  coming on …

I changed the view of the weather cam to point to where I feed the birds. I changed it yesterday so that Rick could see the turkeys too while he was at work. You might see them too! Or you might see the fox visit. For those of you who don’t know, just click on the “Weather” tab at the top of the page and it will take you directly to the cam. It takes a new picture every two minutes or so.

Yesterday I made beef barley soup while it snowed outside. There is something comforting about the smell of browning meat. I put my favorite Christmas album on the iPod (Michael Martin Murphey’s Cowboy Christmas) and danced around the kitchen in-between cooking. At first the dogs didn’t know what to think. What is mommy doing?  What’s wrong with her? But finally Bella joined me and we four-stepped (instead of two-stepped) around the kitchen island. Not that I really know how to do the two-step, but hey, we had fun. Hailey watched us and barked along to the music.

That music takes me back to the few Christmases that we were able to spend at the cabin. One year we were even industrious enough to make our own garland for the tree by popping popcorn and stringing it with cranberries. Here is a photo of one of our cabin Christmases.

I’ve been watching the Hallmark channel quite a bit. They are playing sappy Christmas movies pretty much non-stop. Some are good and very heart-warming, while others can be downright stupid. But mostly they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and in the spirit of the season. I think it’s a good thing.

I am working on another Lacy Leaf scarf (remember?) but I made a big mistake and I am having a hard time figuring out how to fix it without taking out any more rows. I might just have to take it down to the knitting shop in Wycoff for help. Bummer. It was coming along so well. This time I am making it in gray.

Last night I got up in the middle of the night and the moon was so bright. I looked out the window to see moon shadows of the trees on the newly fallen snow. Magical. Have you ever seen moon shadows?

Yesterday we had about 2.5 inches of wet snow. It stuck to everything and made it all look very Christmas-y. Very nice indeed. It won’t be melting either since we are to have below freezing temperatures through the end of this week when it’s predicted we get yet another storm on Saturday. Right now we’ve heard everything from another wintry mix to 3 to 5 inches of snow first, then ice, then rain. Both my neighbors have their Christmas parties planned for Saturday and Sunday, so I hope they still get a good turn-out. All we have to do is make it across the street so I guess at least we’ll show up.

Nearly every night I am awakened by this sound. It penetrates through the closed windows. Very eerie. At first I wondered if it was a bird of some sort, but no, it’s the fox. It makes other odd sounds too. Sometimes it sounds like it’s right under our window, while other times it’s in the distance. The sound really carries in the moist, damp air. I don’t mind having it around but I do think it’s the reason we don’t have any turkeys anymore. I miss the turkeys. I’m not sure if it’s still living under the side deck or not since I haven’t actually seen it in a while, but the dogs check out the hole almost every day.

If you want to see our weather you can always check out our weather cam which is now aimed at the front of the house. (Note: images stop at sunset.) You might even catch a glimpse of me once in a while!

Photo: our front door

Oh my! How did two weeks fly by without a blog post? I’m not quite sure. One reason might be that while scooping dog food out of the can while feeding the dogs last week, the tip of my index finger made contact with the sharp rim of the can and sliced an envelope-like deep cut with a flap. It’s been too sore to type with. You don’t realize how many things you do with the tip of your index finger until you lose the use of it! Things like typing, knitting, swiping my iPad, washing my hair, etc. At least the flap is healed over now and I’m not at risk for catching it and ripping it back open. It’s still tender to the touch and a little numb.

At least that’s a reason for not blogging.

We’re getting into the Christmas spirit finally. On Friday I hung all the lighted garlands in the house around doorways, brought up our little fiber optic snowman and plugged them all in for an instant transformation. Saturday found us at our favorite little locally owned nursery to buy our “old-fashioned-style” fir tree. We also bought a wreath for the door and wreaths for the light posts at the top of our driveway. We spent the rest of Saturday decorating the outside of our front door and porch railings. We decided not to put lights on the trees in front this year because we can never get them off until March, so we settled for a lighted entry. It looks good. 

Yesterday dawned gray and gloomy. We walked the dogs and split some firewood, plus carrying over more firewood from the reserve stash in the yard to underneath the deck. Then we tackled trimming the tree. It’s a very pretty tree, plump and full with not much space for ornaments to hang. 

The weather has been gray a lot. It’s also been cold enough for the ponds and lakes to begin freezing over. Last night we had a “wintry mix” overnight and everything is coated with ice. One unlovely thing about living in the East: the icy stuff that falls from the sky instead of snow. We are supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow, so we’ll see. If so, it will be the first one this year.

I think we’re ready for winter, so bring it on!

October has not been kind to New Jersey for the past two years, particularly around Halloween. In 2011 we had Snowtober and last year we had Superstorm Sandy. This year is calm and peaceful with no such storms in sight. It’s probably because we now have a generator wired into the house!

The trees are slightly past their peak and looking rusty-colored with burnt oranges and yellows, but somehow they are prettier now than they were. They daytime temperatures are cool enough for a light jacket. We’ve not had any rain in a long time but should get some toward the end of the week.

I’ve been taking walks around Long Pond Ironworks, checking on the progress of the burning bushes. They are making progress but still not at their peak.

I usually have the path to myself. Right now it’s covered in leaves which smell so good and earthy when you step on them. They crinkle and crunch as I scuff my way through them.

It’s an easy walk with things of interest along the way, either in the several bird viewing outlooks or the buildings.

I love the strong shadows at this time of year.

It has different things to offer than Skylands does, and it’s much closer—just down the road from our house. It makes the perfect little quick getaway for me (and my camera).

I woke to the sound of a dog barking outside. It wasn't a coyote. I stirred from my sleepy state enough to recognize my surroundings. Ah, I was home. It feels strange to be here. Normally it feels good to get "home," but this time I'm ready to go back. I'm not sure what was different this year than past years. 

Yesterday I wandered our house aimlessly, unsure of any routine or what I was doing. It was all off. I didn't sit with my morning cup of coffee watching the sun light up the side of Bull Mountain. I didn't start a fire in the wood stove to take the chill off. No stellar jays squawking and asking for their morning feeding. No walk to the bottom with the girls. 

No. Instead we had the television tuned to Good Morning America. I was appalled at the amount of depressing, unnecessary news they spew out. Rapes, murders, accidents and lots of other horrible things that don't have any bearing on my daily life. Sure, some news you need to hear, but we really don't need the level of detail they report. I've decided it's not part of my morning anymore. I lived just fine without it for three weeks and I felt all the better for it. 

The trees have really changed here, and a few are even done so we have a lot of leaves on the ground already. When we left it was still summer, but we came home to fall. It's chilly and gray and we had to turn the heat on for the first time. It's hard to believe we were swimming right before we left.

I'm sure all the old rhythms of life will soon find their way back into our routines and life will go on as before.