hi everybody! mom finally is gonna let me show you how much i enjoyed meeting the ocean. you already know that i loves my water, but this was so cool! i could see the water from the yard of the place we were staying (and why we went there i am not really sure because it wasn't like the motels we stay in when we go to the cabin) and i was really excited to find out more about all that water. i could barely contain myself.

we finally went out on the what they called the "beach" and andy did the honors of letting me off my leash. (and by the way, andy is a really cool guy and i liked him a lot.)

yippee! i made a run for it!!!!

i just went right in and didn't hesitate.

look at me … i'm an ocean dog!

 the waves didn't bother me one bit but they were kinda funny …

i had a big smile on my face!

a girl's gotta dry off somehow!

hailey and alex couldn't figure out why i was in there.

we tried to drink it like we do the lake water but it tasted yucky.

hailey got her feet wet but alex wouldn't go near it and i thought he was a weenie.

 daddy took a video of me and you can watch me in action right here: 

i liked the ocean A LOT and i hope i get to go back again someday.

yours truly,

bella the bernese ocean dog

Our back yard view last weekend.

It's a good thing I only have to type and not talk to tell you about our weekend at the shore last weekend because at the moment I can only whisper. With this darned head cold I have lost my voice (of course I always do when I have lots of back of the throat drainage). It's also painful to swallow so I might just lose those extra couple of pounds I've been trying to shed during this.

Anyway, like the caption under the photo says, this is Andy & Linda's back yard: the beach! The weather was probably the best on Friday afternoon when we arrived. The sun was out and it was pleasantly warm.. Bella got her swim in the ocean but she wants to go into more detail with you herself so I'll leave the particulars for her to tell.

The dogs adapted themselves to the house and to Andy & Linda right away. They were very good, even when we were outside and loose dogs on the beach would come up to the somewhat wispy fencing of board slats and wire. I was afraid Bella would try to jump it since it wasn't very tall, or worse yet put her front feet on the fence with her full weight and literally pull the fence to the ground. But she did none of those things. Alex was feeling so at home by the end of our stay that he barked when Andy came into the room as if to say "who are you, this is my house" and Andy would gently remind him that he pays the bills, not Alex.  Here are Alex and Bella happily resting on the deck

Although Andy & Linda's house is now almost fully restored, the same cannot be said about their neighbors. Here is looking one direction down the beach at the next door neighbors' house. See those flags in the distance? I'll show another photo of that house in a later photo, so keep it in mind. The house you see here boarded up will need a new foundation since the old one cracked during Sandy. They'll have to lift the whole house up, all three stories, in order for that to happen. 

Here is a photo looking the other direction, up the beach toward Point Pleasant.

Streets and yards are still filled with sand and debris. It's sobering. And here is a closer look at the house four or five houses down that split in half.

I have more very dramatic photos of the hurricane damage that still exits, and believe me, there is more than you can even imagine, but those photos are for another post. I'll leave you with Bella exploring the dune in the back yard.

Dutchman's Breeches (Skylands)

This morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to the glorious song of the wood thrush! In my last post I remarked about how it wouldn't be long now that the trees were fully leafed out, and as it turns out I was correct. There is nothing prettier than the song of a wood thrush. Clear, distinct, and melodious. I drifted back off to sleep listening to it.

Yesterday the tile in the laundry room got grouted and the utility/slop sink was set. It looks so much better than the old one which really had seen better days, say 1988! We've been trying to bring our house up-to-date a little at a time. We still have the carpeting to replace later this year, but that is not going to be fun at all. We have a lot of furniture that needs to be moved completely out in order for that to happen.

I haven't gotten to the wisteria yet. Maybe later today I'll walk down and see if I can get some shots. I did want to note that my lilac bush did bloom this year.

This bush is special because it started out in life as a tiny shoot off my mom's lilac bush in her yard in the Adirondacks. We brought it back and planted it together the first year we lived here. I lost my mom in 2007 and she didn't get to see the little sprig flourish and bloom. It first bloomed in 2011 but we were on vacation in France and by the time we got back it was done, so I really didn't get to see it actually blooming. Last year it didn't bloom at all. So I was very excited to see a few flowers on it this year. It's not full of blooms, but at least it's something!

We had quite a few lilac bushes that towered over my head when I was a child in Hyde Park, and the scent always takes me back there, just like this particular bush reminds me of my mom. I miss her so much.

Today I have to do some thinking and planning for our weekend trip to the shore since we leave tomorrow. Since the dogs are going with us (please let them be good!) I have to think of everything I need to take for them as well. It's a bit like parents loading up young children but instead of diapers I pack poop scoop bags. Instead of formula I pack dog kibble, canned food, biscuits, water and food bowls. Alex will take "Pink Bunny" as it's his favorite toy to carry around. Also a few chew bones should be added into the mix. 

We are cooking Saturday night dinner so we also have to prepare our mise-en-place and pack it to go, and I need to bake the Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Torte for dessert.

I might blog from the shore via my iPad, but I don't really know if I will or not. I'm just going to go with the flow of things.

I think Spring is finally on the way. As I type the little Carolina wren is singing away outside my window. I just adore those little birds and their sweet varied songs. I can see buds about to pop on the maple trees and the day lilies have broken ground. The daffodils have lots of flower buds coming. Soon it will all burst wide open and I'll be glad for that.

Our three-day weekend went pretty well. On Friday we did some errand running around. Some errands were successful (like our trip to DSW for new shoes) and others weren't as successful as I had hoped (Unique Photo for this new lens which was out of stock). As soon as I made the final decision to actually buy it and spend my reserved "Mom" money they run out due to a super new sale price. Next week!

We took the dogs for a walk, Rick took down the old cabana canopy frame in preparation for the new one and gave Mia a much needed bath.

We branched out for dinner and tried cooking skate for the first time and it was amazingly good. 

On Saturday we took Mia out for a spin. It was nice enough to have the top down once the day warmed up. We drove down to Branch Book Park in Bloomfield (a suburb of Newark) to check on the progress of the cherry trees, and also because I wanted to know the route so I could drive myself when the time comes. Last year this time the cherries were just about done, but this year they haven't even started yet. We saw a couple of trees that had popped, but most had not. I plan to spend a lot of time wandering around the park with my camera (and my new lens!) just taking in all the blossoms and getting some much needed cherry therapy or "cherrapy". Here's what they looked like last year.

When we got home Rick experimented with the new cook book I got him the other day. America's Test Kitchen's D.I.Y. cookbook: Can It, Cure It, Churn It, Brew It: 100+ Foolproof kitchen projects for the adventurous home cook. He made ketchup! It was very tasty and much better than the prepared stuff. Healthier too! It made the house smell so good.

We used it on our homemade onion rings that accompanied our grilled steaks. Here are the rings before frying. Yum!

Easter was spent doing much not of anything. The weather was cloudy and windy and by afternoon the rain had started in. We bathed Alex, who was sorely in need of a bath, and blew him dry dog-show style in the morning. We just stayed around the house and watched TV, read and I knit some (still working on Rick's slippers, almost done) and cooked our free Easter ham. We also had gratin dauphinois and roasted carrots, parsnips and onions as sides. Delicious! Now we'll be eating on ham for the rest of the week: in quiche, split pea soup and so on. We'll also be having Sloppy Joes this week and using Rick's ketchup in them to see how it works when used in a recipe. 

So that's it folks, the weekend that was. I think I covered most of the highlights. I hope however you spent your holiday weekend was equally as enjoyable as ours.

(Top Photo explanation: I was intrigued by capturing the play of light on the fencing around the pool late in the afternoon as we grilled our steaks. The wrought iron chair on the opposite side of the fence was casting a shadow.)

The first day of spring has come and gone with nothing to show for it. Our ground is still covered in white from our 4-5 inch snowfall on Monday. It's melting, but slower than you would expect it to at this time of year. The thermometer is stuck in the 30's. When I look back on the blog entries from years past at this time it's almost surreal. Last year the forsythia was blooming! This year its buds are closed tight with not even a glimmer of yellow showing. I know, I checked it yesterday. I also know I promised no more white photos, but I couldn't help myself the other day with the late afternoon sun on the melting snow.

It's hard to motivate myself to go out with the camera to find anything of interest so I headed to the local garden shop yesterday since I had noticed that they were flying a big OPEN sign the other day. No flowers yet except for a few potted bulbs inside. And these colorful hummingbird feeders.

And this cheeky little guy who is much cuter than the pesky squirrels in my yard that have now chewed an even bigger hole in my best bird feeder. Other than that there was nothing to see or buy at the shop.

The weekend is supposed to be a bit warmer with temperatures in the 40's, but they are saying the wind chills are going to make it feel much colder. And, a little  more snow is expected on Monday. Alex keeps pulling out his snowman toy that was a Christmas present to play with and I think he might be jinxing us. I'm seriously thinking of putting it away until next year.

In other news, the last amaryllis is just about ready to bloom and it looks like it's going to burst forth with three flowers at the same time.

And on closer inspection, the huge amaryllis that still has one last flower blooming has another flower stalk poking out of the base of the bulb. Wow, I'm thrilled it has the oomph to send up yet another bud stalk!

So how's that for a mish-mash of stuff in one blog post!