When we lived in France this salad was pretty much a staple lunch at any restaurant. Lyon itself was only a 30 minute drive away.
(Lardons [or thick bacon], poached egg, frisee or spring mix lettuces, croutons, dijon vinaigrette.)

Thanks to Chef Rick for this wonderful lunch!

Yesterday evening I was on the phone with Rick when the neighbor’s dogs started barking. Then our dogs started barking their “mom, something is in the yard” bark and they were all gathered in the office, noses pointing to the front yard. Sure enough, there was a large black bear hanging out in the front yard next to a tree. It was a bigger bear than the other visitor we had. So, someone new. This could be the bear who visited in the dark the other night.

As I watched, look what popped out from behind the tree!

Awww ... such a tiny baby! I had about given up the idea that we were going to have any new bear babies this year as they usually make their appearance before now. It was rather dim outside, the day never really brightening back up since our morning thunderstorms, so it was not the best light for taking photos and the bears are always on the move.

There is nothing cuter than a new bear cub! Look how adorable!

Bears make such great mothers. They take great care with their offspring. Here is a sweet nose touch.

As they started across the road, another cub came scrambling down the tree and joined them. Twins! Don’t leave me behind!

Just as they crossed the road there was quick blur as a third cub dropped out of the tree and raced to catch up with the rest of the family. Triplets! I was thrilled. They entered the neighbor’s woods and visited them for a while. Pretty soon I looked out and saw momma just laying smack in the middle of the road. She looks pretty at home, don’t you think?

I am trying to identify this bear, and because of the placement of the ear tags and the patch of brown on her chest, I am making the assumption it’s Patches from last year.

She heard noises coming from the other neighbor’s yard and sat up to try and decide if it was a threat. She already knew I had my head and camera poking out of the upstairs window and had decided I was fine where I was.

Okay, kids. Quit your playing in the woods and let’s go! she says as she heads straight for my yard again.

And then they were gone, crossing over my front yard, then my driveway, and down into the woods headed for the brook. I hope she brings them back soon for another visit! Now you can see why I worry about leaving our basement door open all night!

Two thunderstorms with heavy rain rolled over us while we tried to sleep this morning. Why oh why does it wait until 3:00 a.m. to turn on the noisy water works? Just as I drifted back to sleep (or at least it seemed like it), the second one went over. It poured. It rumbled. It lit up the sky. It was still raining lightly when I got up. Then I went to look at the radar on the computer and saw a line of storms coming rapidly our way that were red and orange. Not good. I made sure Rick was up and taking his shower so he wouldn’t get stuck in the shower with lightning all around. I shut off the computer and waited. It was as dark as night. It did all of the above things again only with more thunder and lightning than the other two.

The first two storms put down 3/4 of an inch of rain. The third storm by itself put down 1/2 inch of rain in about 20 minutes. That’s a lot of rain folks! We’re going to have to let water out of the pool so the skimmers will work! I am getting used to thunderstorms in the morning hours, something you would never see in Colorado. It’s still raining out there with the occasional clap of thunder and flash of lightning, but it’s still really really dark. I can’t even see out the front windows because the screens are so wet. A very strange start to the day. Thank goodness I mowed the grass yesterday!

Here’s the map after it went over us.

Outside temperature: 79
Pool temperature: 70-ish
First swim of the year! At first we were just going to go in the pool just to see if we could entice Bella back in. I am still kicking myself for not pushing the right button to record when Bella jumped in and swam to Rick on Saturday. Darn it anyway! We were not successful in getting her back in with us. We bobbed around a while on our new cushy lounges while the sun went in and out of clouds. It couldn’t seem to make up its mind. I got out and Rick decided he was going to try to really get wet and swim. He was standing at what I call the “brink of no return” (where the shallow end of our pool starts dropping off gradually from 3 feet to 9 feet). He was stuck there. Trust me, it’s hard to make that decision to dunk yourself in that cold water! So, I asked him if it would help if I got in too. I walked in to meet him and my right foot went a little too far—right off the brink of no return. kerplunk. I was in the icy water. Oh well, might as well swim since I’m in! Rick was annoyed with me because he wanted to be the one who got wet first this year. Trust me, I didn’t plan it. He said the expression on my face was priceless. We swam five laps or so and that was enough. Actually it felt kind of refreshing once you got used to it.

The water so far this year is crystal clear. Last year we struggled so with algae. I hope we don’t have that problem this year. It was a real pain. We have these little bugs this time of year that we are always finding floating in the pool. They look just like a fly Rick used in Colorado for fly fishing: a wooly bugger. I was never sure about the spelling. Maybe it’s a wooly booger. They are always dry, never wet. Anyway, this is what they look like:

I have tons of foxglove that is on the verge of blooming. They must reseed themselves pretty readily because I used to only have two or three and now I have at least ten different plants coming up everywhere. I like them though so I let them go. The bees like them too.

I don’t know what this is. Something in the pea family, but exactly what I don’t know. It’s a pretty tall plant; about 3.5 feet.

The day lilies are getting ready to make their debut poolside soon. I love it when they’re blooming. So cheery and bright.

It wasn’t all sitting idle by the pool this weekend. We also trimmed the forsythia hedge into some semblance of order and the burning bushes in front of our windows have now been taken down a notch. If we let it go we would not be able to see out the windows. After living in Colorado for so long and coaxing things to grow, New Jersey sometimes feels like a jungle. I am always pulling baby trees up and the ferns are taking over the day lilies!

We had a nighttime visitor on Saturday. We had just gone to bed when Hailey and Alex started barking like crazy from the office downstairs. Rick went to investigate (Bella and I stayed in bed) and turned on the front outside light. He saw a big black shape over in the area where we feed the birds. Ho-hum, just a bear. Back to bed. He did think, however, to check to make sure we had closed the sliding doors in the sun room—we had not. Good thing he checked. But the next day while we were eating our breakfast of strawberries and fresh melon down by the pool I glanced up to see the door to the basement standing wide open. Uh oh. (It’s our habit to leave the door open when we are outside with the dogs in summer. They get hot and go in to the basement to keep cool and out of the sun.) Bravely I went in to check it out. No bear. whew. But how stupid to leave the door open all night! I’m sure the bear would enjoy cozying up in there without our knowledge! I think we need to do a full door check before going to bed from now on.

Bella says:
hey mom, you and dad can go in that big water bowl as much as you want but I think i’ll stay on the sides and look cute. don’t the new flowers make a lovely backdrop for my head?

hello to all my adoring fans out there. i know you’ve been waiting to see me post again. mom has sort of taken over for me since she got a new keyboard and the keys are smaller. i’ve been growing and growing and being really really good and then being really really bad. anyway, you don’t want to hear about the bad things, really you don’t. i think they love me anyway but sometimes it’s hard to tell like when mom’s face gets all red and steam comes out of her ears. like yesterday when she came out of the grocery store to find i had pulled up and chewed on the carpet in the back of the truck. oops.

anyway i’m supposed to be telling you about the pool ...

here’s the thing: i really really really really like water. i’ve always had my front feet in the water bucket and i like to stick my head below the water level to drink. it’s just what i do. mom and dad found an old kid’s wading pool under the deck where pool junk is stored that was left behind by the people who used to live here. it had some holes in it so dad fixed it up with black stuff. i liked it! just like a big drinking bowl. cool. but i tried to get the black stuff off.

then they opened up this really really big thing with water in it. i’ve been running over the top of the cover that was on it all winter long. mom always yelled at me when i did that but it was fun. i knew they were doing something out there in the yard with the thing last week and i couldn’t wait to go and see what it was. the minute mom opened the door i ran right down to it. i drank it. yucko! tastes funny. i pawed at it. i almost felled in. twice. mom and dad thought i would for sure just jump right in but i didn’t.

a couple of days after that mom and dad put this other cover over it. it looks like water but it isn’t. anyway, mom and dad were outside the pool area weeding and they heard a huge splash. when they looked up they saw me fly out of the pool by the stairs with my tail between my legs. i was totally wet. i know what happened but they don’t. they don’t know if i jumped or fell in. i know and i’m not tellin. i ran and ran and ran around the yard with water flying off of me. i was cold!!!!! i didn’t stop running around for a long time. i don’t know if i’ll try that again. it was scary.

then they put this funny thing in there. it moves around and it tried to get me but i barked at it and told it what-for. mom says it’s cleaning the pool but i don’t care. i don’t like it much.

i’m sure i’ll have more adventures with the pool this summer. i might even really get in if mom and dad are in there too. i still can’t figure it out. but i will. don’t you worry.

UPDATE! Saturday afternoon.
i did it! i wented in the pool! dad got in and called me to him and i jumped right in and swam to him. dad caught me and held me for a minute then turned me back the way i got in. i doggie-paddled as hard as i could to get out. i didn’t run around after i got out like i did last time either. mom had her little camera that takes moving pictures but she forgot to push the button. so .... nothing to show for my few minutes of glory. mom is dumb. but i will probably do it again. it wasn’t too bad!