Pileated Woodpecker pics, that is! I got quite the thrill today as I drove down our street on my way home from town, and I didn’t have my camera with me. I wanted to kick myself! Right by the side of the road, impossible to miss, was a Pileated Woodpecker pecking away at a tree. He was HUGE! and GORGEOUS. Darn, why did I forget that camera? I drove home as fast as I could, unloaded the dogs from the car into the house, grabbed my camera and a fresh battery and drove back down to where he had been. Would he still be there? YES. The bird gods were with me today.

I’ve always thought of them as Woody Woodpeckers, since they inspired the cartoon character. [ You know: Heh-heh-heh-HEH-heh!” ] I knew we had Pileateds around but I had heard that people don’t actually see them very much as they are known to be shy birds. This one was not too shy since I just drove up next to the side of the road and put my window down. He didn’t budge. Too busy getting yummy bugs out of his new hole. You can see how he was twisting his head around to get just the right angle.

To give you an idea of how big he was [about the size of a small crow, around 17 inches tall] I took this photo of the tree he was on. You can see he’s been very busy drilling holes—it must be a favorite tree of his. In the photos above you can see his tail is covering the hole below while he pecks away at the one above. Now look at the photo below and you will get an idea of his size. The two highest holes on the left hand side of the tree is where he was. That kind of puts his size in perspective for you.

From now on my camera goes with me. Everywhere. No matter if it’s just a short, boring jaunt into town. Because you just never know what you might see.

To read more about Pileated Woodpeckers, follow this link.

... for a mid-afternoon bear visit. I was chatting away on the phone to my Mom and looked out into the back yard. I saw a large black bear walking around. I quickly counted the dogs—yup, all four were in the house accounted for—hung up the phone, yelled to Rick to please bring me my camera, and managed to get a few quick shots.

At first I assumed it was Ursa without her cubs, but when I pointed the camera at her I got the impression it was not her. Don’t ask me why, but like I’ve said before, Ursa and I kind of have a ‘thing.’ This bear’s face was somehow different than Ursa’s. I know for sure it wasn’t Doris. I think this was a different bear. Beautiful face though, heh?

This pic isn’t very good, but if you look closely you’ll see the bear exiting our yard via the chain link fence, and she has it pulled down sort of standing on it!

We had our second coating of snow overnight. Just enough to cover the ground, but it’s mostly melted now.

While I wait for my photos to finish downloading off my Rebel, I’m sitting here sipping my recently brewed [I cheated; I used the Tassimo] cup of hot chocolate with a tablespoon of fat-free Cool Whip® on top. Yum. I really needed it to warm myself back up. Brrr…baby it’s coooold outside! It’s 27 degrees with a wind chill of about 15. At least it feels that way. I was silly enough to think I needed some fresh air and exercise, so I walked down to the pond. Hang on ... I need to change into my cozy slippers. My feet are too cold. Okay, back now. Let me see if I got anything worth sharing ...

The pond is frozen now.

The shadows were interesting.

Only two ‘vases’ left.

Tomorrow is supposed to be absolutely frigid with highs only in the teens and wind chills to -13. A good day not to take a walk!

Yesterday morning upon rising we were greeted with our first measurable snowfall here in the ‘mountains’ of New Jersey. Not much—about a half inch—but enough to cover the ground. As the sun rose and grew stronger, it started to chase the snow away. I managed to snap these photos before it left.

This photo gives new meaning to the term Snow Fence.

And of course, my favorite tree had to cast its own shadowy spell over me. I’ve never noticed its shadow before. The first shot is when I first saw it; the second one is a little bit later. You can see how much the snow had melted by then.

This past weekend we went to Sunday lunch at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, New York. This unique restaurant is situated in the rolling countryside along the Hudson River, just a mere 30 miles from New York City. It’s a part of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, situated on the enormous estate Kykuit built by John D. Rockefeller. Blue Hill prides itself on serving organic, seasonal food straight from the farm and the richly blessed Hudson Valley.

Our route took us over the Tappen Zee Bridge and on to Route 9 through the towns of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. I’m sure that on a beautiful spring or summer day the drive is quite beautiful. However, our day was murky and very foggy. Even the top of the bridge was not to be seen. Really though, it was perfect weather for driving through the town of Sleepy Hollow. You know—the good old Headless Horseman’s stomping grounds? We expected him to ride by at any minute, head in hand. Surely you’ve all heard of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving?  In any case, after a 45 minute drive we arrived at our destination.

As you can see by my collage of photos above, it was not a day for standing around trying to take pictures. The tops of the beautiful silos were completely shrouded in fog. It’s a shame because it was such a photogenic place. At least I managed to get a few.

Stone Barns is a collection of barns built in the 1930s for the Rockefellers to house their cattle farm. The restaurant is actually the old dairy barn. It’s the building in my collage above, [the top left photo] that can be seen through the archway. Here is a photo I ‘borrowed’  from The Food Section web site of the inside.

It was simple, yet elegant. We chose from a prix fixe menu [$42.00] for three courses: Starter, Main Dish & Dessert. For my three courses I chose Most of the Greenhouse Greens; Veal Canneloni on a bed of fresh beans; and Poached Bosc Pear on a slice of Hazelnut Cake with Cardamom Sauce. Rick chose the Blue Hill Charcuterie; Berkshire Pork; and Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding with Caramel Ice Cream. 

My salad was wonderful! Lovely flavor-packed, meaty, mushrooms [not sure what kind they were], fresh greens and topped with an fresh egg just collected that morning that was soft cooked, cut in half and had a fried breading of some kind on the outside. My veal cannelloni was excellent as well, just too rich for me to eat them all. And dessert ... well ... marvelous! Rick enjoyed his meal as well, though he told me that he wished he had ordered what I did. But he always says that. We always choose the same things and he has it in his head that he can’t order the same thing I do. Too boring; but good!

The service was excellent and the presentation of the food was superb.

I wish the weather had been more conducive to walking around as I’d like to explore the farm more. I can see us definately going back in the spring or summer for a leisurely late dinner. Yes, Blue Hill at Stone Barns is a ‘keeper.’

Watch the video!