Yesterday it rained. Unlike the song rainy days and Mondays always get me down, it was really quite welcome. Besides that, it was Tuesday. At least you don't have to shovel rain and it's a step in the right direction towards spring. 

The dogs tried to persuade me to take them somewhere but for once I didn't give in to them. I just stayed dry inside and started my knitting project of Rick's felted slippers. His old ones have sprouted a hole in the toe. 

At times the rain poured from the sky, drumming on the skylights above me in the sun room. It seemed to come in waves. Whenever it started raining hard all of a sudden, eBay would lift her head up from her spot by the fire and look up as if to say what is that noise??  Once they resigned themselves from not getting to "go for a ride"  the dogs just laid around and didn't even ask to be let outside in the yard.

 

 

By late afternoon the rain had stopped and the sun came out for a short while. I loved how the raindrops reflected the sun's rays.

 

 

 

 

The rain washed most of the snow away except for a few small patches where it had been plowed or shoveled. Things are definitely looking brighter!

 

Linked in to Rurality Blog Hop

 

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Puddled Reflection

Raindrops on Pine Tree

Raindrops on Branches

Pine Cone Afloat

We are now officially on daylight savings time. The dogs seemed to know somehow because they were ready to get up at 6:00 a.m. That's 6:00 a.m. old time. Normally they would wake us up at 6:30. It was really 7:00 a.m. Still not sure how they knew.

Yesterday was a beautiful day! It was sunny and in the 50's although snow covered the ground. We had a bad case of Spring Fever. We bought things we can't use for at least a couple of months.

We knew when we took down the curtains from the pool cabana that they were on their last legs. We've had the cabana for five years and by taking the curtains down and packing them up each year we've managed to keep them in pretty good shape. But, their time was done. They were faded and we'd had to tape the screen once when Bella did not see it and stuck her head through. I had seen a cabana at BJ's where we had purchased the old one. So yesterday morning we headed down that way to take a closer look.

We didn't like the one at BJ's so we also stopped at Home Depot and Lowe's. Home Depot didn't have any, but Lowe's had the perfect one! It was love at first sight. Just wait until you see it! We also bought a mat to put down as a flooring. And a cabana chandelier. And some cushions for the outdoor chairs that are wrought iron. Now I am thinking I need a few potted palms to make our outdoor oasis complete. But not just yet. For now the cabana and its accouterments will have to stay in the garage.

We had the dogs with us so we had to take them home and come back and get the larger items. Sheesh. 

Today we took Alex with us to the Warwick Valley Winery for a pizza and a bottle of wine. We were the only ones sitting out on the patio to eat although the place was pretty much packed with people inside. It wasn't quite warm enough--not really--but we sat in the sun by ourselves, ate our pizza, drank our wine, and tossed Alex the pizza "bones." 

Tonight we plan on grilling hamburgers outside and having oven fries. We might even put those new seat cushions on the chairs just for tonight and sit outside with a glass of wine while cooking our dinner. It's supposed to rain heavily on Tuesday so I will have to bring them back inside, but still, progress is being made towards Spring!

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Amaryllis  & Ming Aralia Shadow

Too beautiful to resist

A photo just so you can see how truly HUGE this amaryllis is.

That describes the world outside my windows today. And oh yes, please add in the word rain as well. At least it didn't turn out to be a big wind and rain storm as predicted, so we mostly slept blissfully without being wakened by wind whipping around the house, or by being aware of Alex's breathing and every little movement like we did the entire night the night before. You know, right, the watchful feeling when a dog is still feeling the effects of having been under anesthesia? This morning, like us, he's  …well … right as rain!

I am however feeling a little housebound. I am so ready for spring! Spring is such a sweet season here in New Jersey.

So ready to walk in the yard without putting on boots or some kind of overshoes or slipping and sliding my way around.

Ready to throw open the windows and hear sweet birdsong.

Ready to hang laundry on the line outside again instead of over the shower curtain rod in the guest bathroom.

Ready for the peepers to sing me to sleep at night.

Ready for the fireflies to light up the yard. (If you want a good laugh at me, follow the link!)

Ready for rides in Mia.

Ready to celebrate the pool opening.

READY.

But, I have to wait. After all, it is only the end of February. I am getting impatient!

Isn't it strange that the very season we longed for at its beginning with its need for cozy wood fires, warm jackets and gloves, watching  movies, reading, jigsaw puzzling and comfort food is the very same one we are so eager to be rid of now. Thank goodness for the four seasons!

 

(photo: Abandoned House: Skylands) I liked how the wall was comprised of two different kinds of haphazard stone, as if there was a huge hole (or garage under the house?) that they filled in. I found the textures and colors interesting.

It seems like that's about all we did this weekend: eat! The weather on Saturday was sleety/rainy/windy/not nice. I am ready for spring! The snow we have left on the ground is now the consistency of snowcones and very slippery. Ugh. We kept a fire going in the wood stove all day to take the damp chill off. It's hard to imagine that last year we had crocus coming up two weeks from now and we were driving around in Mia with the top down. I don't think that's going to happen this year. Even harder to imagine is swimming in the pool. Right now it's covered with a layer of slushy ice. 

While we were housebound on Saturday, Rick baked bread (above) and we made Coq au Vin. Well, it was really Poulet au Vin if you want to get technically correct. Good food for a still-winter day. Here is the chicken as it came out of its marinade of red wine before cooking, making it look like it has freckles.

 

We caught up on our TiVo'd shows and went through our closets. We now have bags and bags of clothes going to Goodwill. I went through my bookcase by the computer and took out all the manuals on outdated computer programs--they are scheduled for the recycle bin on Wednesday. It feels good to get rid of things that are just useless clutter. 

Sunday was a nicer day temperature-wise and we even managed a walk down the road with the dogs. Lunch was one of my all-time favorites: Salad Lyonnaise. We used to eat these all the time when we lived in France. The Lyonnaise part of its name comes from the city of Lyon which was close to where we lived. Rick has mastered the perfect poaching of the eggs. Delicious. (We used the homemade bread for the croutons.)

My first amaryllis to bloom is now on its second stalk of blooms. This one only has two huge flowers just like the last one. I am pleased to report that the second amaryllis, which is only two years old, has a hefty flower stalk and is also about to bloom as well (I suspect more than two flowers inside), and even more surprising, the oldest one has a bud poking up from the bulb. This will mark its sixth consecutive year of blooming. Wow, I am thrilled!

Alex, our oldest dog had minor surgery today to remove a nasty little tumor on his butt that looked like a hemorrhoid which was causing problems. According to the vet, this kind of tumor is widespread in older intact male dogs and most of them are benign. We decided to do a biopsy just for peace of mind but we are not expecting it to be anything other than what it appears to be. Poor dog is going to have a little trouble with sitting for a while. But we are glad to have it off since it was smelly and trying to keep him clean back there would cause the darned thing to bleed. I'm sure he's glad to be rid of it too. Be gone you nasty thing! He's resting comfortably at the vet's right now and I can pick him up just before dinner. Rick recently did a blog post with a video of Alex being silly and playing with his toys. You can check it out here. He's pretty cute if I must say so myself.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope your weekend was a good one!

I wrote in a previous post about how we were getting little snows that amounted to a coating to an inch: "nuisance" snows. We got another one last night (a coating) and tonight we are going to get about an inch. It's pretty, put a pain.

The photo above was taken on Saturday night just after it had started to snow. That's Hailey, the Doggie Snow Angel! You can see where her paw prints lead to where she laid down on the deck, then trail off when she got up to go down the steps.

Here is a closer pic of where she was laying. Can you tell which part of the dog is which?

I captured this strange phenomenon back in 2007 too, only that time they had their bones with them. Check them out!

P. S. Do you ever check out the blog entries posted under "On This Day" in the sidebar? Today's features a post about our trip to Mexico's Chichen Itza, the Mayan ruin. Check it out, either here, or there!