Not sure as in not sure what I am going to say or what this blog post is really going to be about. I have no new pics to share. Not much happening with fall color this year. I think the trees are water logged. Our color, which is usually spectacular, I don’t think is going to happen. Many trees have already dropped their leaves, never mind the whole changing bit. It’s like they’ve given up. Too much rain. When I mentioned it to Rick he said exactly what I had not thought about before. It’s like when you over-water your plants in the house: what happens? The leaves drop and fall off. Kind of the scenario we have going on here. Very sad. I look out the window to leaves drifting down ever so slowly all day long that have not even changed yet. It’s truly unfortunate as we usually have the most beautiful autumns/falls. I have my doubts about this year.

As I type Rick is on his way to LA, CA. I probably haven’t mentioned it because basically I not supposed to be broadcasting this, but given my blog is now private it doesn’t really matter. Remember last year when the company Rick works for was awarded Ms. Emmy? Well, this year Rick’s goal was to get them nominated for an Oscar, which he somehow managed to accomplish. So now, tonight, he is on his way to a do a presentation as to exactly why their cameras deserve an Oscar. We are truly bummed that Ms. Emmy (the statue) won’t be meeting up Mr. Oscar (the statue) to have any kind of meaningful relationship together. It seems that they only award the Oscar statute to those so-underserving-Hollywoood-stars/starlets and not to the technology field that runs the show. Only a “plaque” or a “certificate” is the best they can hope for. Still, an awesome accomplishment. I am so proud of my hubby for pushing through to even get the nomination! Go Rick!

Neighbor Aileen and I went to the yarn store today (an hour’s drive away) to get yarn for different projects. I cannot reveal mine because of certain people who may be a recipient of my knitting efforts. Suffice it to say we were both successful. Before heading out I went over to visit Aileen’s newest member of her barnyard. (In case you don’t remember I get fresh eggs from her chickens.) Meet Ollie, the miniature pig!

I swear, he is the cutest darn thing I think I have even seen. Personality with an A+. When we went down to see him he was in his little dog house (or is that piggy house?) and he was so wrapped around the blanket he had in his little house that he was all tangled up and couldn’t get out. He was making little piggy noises and as Aileen tried unwrapping him from his blanket prison he squealed and squeaked. Poor little guy! When she tried to pick him up, well, he squealed like a pig, what else? I was totally enamored of Ollie at this point.  Such a cutie!

I am also not sure of the weather. It’s been in the 80’s for two days now. Pretty strange. Supposedly (and hopefully) dipping back down into normal range temps for the rest of this week. Too hot folks! The only difference between these temps in the summer and this time of year is that is cools down significantly in the evening so our air conditioning remains where it should be this time of year: OFF. Enough of those kinds of temps. Really.

However, we still have cicadas going at night. What is up with that? I don’t think we’ve ever heard them this late in the year. Maybe all the rain stopped them from finding mates. Who knows? It’s been strange for sure.

Also not sure (yet) but I may be doing some volunteer work that combines horses (which I used to love being around) and children with disabilities. More on that after I explore the situation more. It could be really good for me.

I have more things tonight that I am not sure about, but those will have to wait for a different post.

Right now the only thing I am sure about is that I have not slept well for the past several nights. So, on to a decent night’s sleep!

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!

We had a little bit of snow overnight. Not much, just enough to cover the surface of everything—more of a what they call a “nuisance snow.” Meaning it’s not enough to really snow blow or plow.

I took the shovel, put on my “whewe is that wascaly wabbit”*** hat and scraped it mostly clean of snow. Of course, our tire tracks where we drove in and out taking Rick to the train (he’s in the city today) are frozen in place and won’t come up. It’s 18 degrees out there at 10:30 a.m.  It’s not supposed to be above freezing until maybe Friday and with the wind blowing the wind chills are well into the teens.

It’s nice to have a little of the white stuff finally. I needed to run a few errands today and took my camera with me because I noticed on the way home from the train station that Monksville Reservoir was looking very cool. Literally! Icing over with spots of new snow. I parked and walked along the road to get these shots. God it was cold! Brrrrrrr.

As an added benefit of getting out and walking I came across these three swans resting on the ice.

Here’s a closer look. Too bad I didn’t have the telephoto lens with me.

I was intrigued by the swirls and patterns of the half frozen surface.

The surface of the water wasn’t the only thing that was half frozen. The other thing would be me! As I was standing there taking these photos a big gust of frigid wind came along and lifted my hat right off my head! I watched as it rolled and tumbled across the road, only to disappear from view as it went down the slope to the other side of the reservoir. My head was really cold now! I waited for the traffic to clear then dashed across the road and scrambled over the guard rail. I found my hat no worse for the wear lying in the weeds. At least it didn’t keep tumbling until it reached the water’s edge! I dusted off the snow and wasted no time in putting it back on my now freezing head.

When I got back to the car I realized I didn’t have my lens cap so I retraced my steps to where I thought I might have lost it. I didn’t find it. I’m bummed. I am forever losing or misplacing lens caps. I need to buy a dozen or so! But I just now realized as I was typing this that I only retraced my steps to where the swans where and not to where I picked up my hat. Maybe I’ll have to go back and see it I can find it there! (but not today! I think I’ll wait for the warm-up at week’s end.)

I took another detour on the way home along East Shore road where I knew I could take a few photos of the weeping rocks. All the rock faces here in New Jersey “weep.” There is so much ground moisture here. The weeping rocks freeze into falls of icicles.

Am I making you cold yet? After all this silly outdoor photography without gloves on I was ready to come home and stoke up the fire in the wood stove! No more outside business for me today. I am going to get some knitting done right after I finish this entry: by the fire!

****What? you don’t know what I meant by a “whewe is that wascally wabbit” hat?  Why an Elmer Fudd hat of course!

It’s my go-to hat for dog walking, shoveling and at-home activities. I change hats when going out somewhere. It is a Calvin Klein though if you think that makes if a tad more fashionable!

Where the piece fell out after the first firing and I just left it because it really looked like a shell to me.

You can see that the pieces I glued back in on what became the front of the bowl popped out slightly in the glazing firing. No matter, it just adds a more three-dimensional effect that I find not unpleasing. All in all I am extremely happy with how it came out. The little mistakes in firing actually made the piece more interesting.

The best compliment I could receive came from my husband. He said that if he saw it in a gallery or show he would be drawn to it and would probably buy it! Now, what better compliment could you ask for?

You can follow this link to see what it looked like before the final firing.