Reunion Review.

10-1-25 VERMONT: Reunion is over, and I think a word of thanks is due to the small group of classmates who organized the event. They organize all of the events and always do a great job. 

While it was good to see people that I have known since I was an undergraduate, it is sad to see how much we have aged. We were smart, talented, able, strong and now are shadows of our former selves, those of us still standing. 

I do have an issue. The last meal the Hanover Inn served was unbelievably horrible. There was rubber chicken and undercooked risotto that nobody ate. I watched the waitstaff clear the tables, and I could see that all the chicken went back to the kitchen uneaten. I thought it was sad that all those birds died for nothing. The previous meal was OK, not great but OK. Had I known what was to happen, I would have brought in food from the golden arches that would have been infinitely better. The Hanover Inn always disappoints. The class should feel insulted at this colossal disrespect.

I look forward to the 70th reunion, if I’m able to make it, but will eat before the dinner. 

Careful what you eat.

Reunion, Asters, Birds.

9-29-25 VERMONT: My reunion is in full swing. My class’ 65 reunion makes most of us 87. About 400 of the original 800 or so matriculands are still alive, and the health status varies from vigorous to doddering. Turning up here are about 55 alums and an equal number of friends, caregivers, children, spouses, widows. Also in attendance are members of the classes that were 5 and 10 years before us, but I don’t know how many of either class. The class from 10 years before our graduation would be about 97.

We drove around a few days ago—we went to Peacham, Danville and Joe’s Pond and found a little color, but not the dramatic foliage that we have seen in other years. We also went to Chelsea and Tunbridge and Royalton, there was no color, but a fair number of trees are still green. The disappointing fall color is due to the summer long drought, it is widely assumed.

The big rain that we had delivered about three inches here and filled the big pond half way up. The upper pond will need lots and lots more precipitation to fill.

The robins are still here. The robin parents raised three broods of three or four chicks for 9-12 total chicks, all a few months old. They are all busy flying around the yard and eating crab apples and whatever else prepping for the big commute in a month of so. Some of the winter birds are arriving, juncos, chickadees, nuthatches and are looking for the feeders that I can’t put out until the bears are sleeping. Lots of warblers are busy in the yard also. 

Asters, as any crossword solver knows, are fall bloomers.

More asters, different color.

Peacham cemetery, very peaceful.

Peacham, worth a visit even without much color.

Nice color at Joe's Pond.

Robins do eat apples.

Another robin, in the wiollow tree, everyone knows what robins look like, but I respect them as a very successful species.

Pine warbler, the tree is a clue.

Vermont in Fall.

9-24-25 VERMONT: We came up yesterday. It threatened to rain, and it started as we hit VT. Any and all rain is appreciated after the summer long drought. There was an inch in the gauge today, we need a foot of two. Maybe we need a hurricane. Today we have had a drizzle, but worked through it. Because of the drought, both ponds are at their lowest ever. 

With a lot of help from Scott, we got the storm doors up, the benches put in the garage, the deck furniture put away, the porch rockers and the hammock put in the garage. Only a few seasonal chores remain undone that we can get done later this week. 

Judy and I each took a lot of photos, the fall color here is OK. Here, we are at the highest and most northern point of our visit so far, which is why the color is good. We will drive further north next week in search of more fall foliage.

There are lots of asters and still phlox in bloom.

New blooms: toad lily.

Pretty good color.

More color, overcast sky.

Peachez in the barnyard.

Peachez agaain.

Toad lily is a complex flower.

Autumnal Equinox Upcoming.

9-20-25 SHORT HILLS: The tree that had partially fallen in the back yard during the summer was taken down this week. About half of the bamboo by the sun room was cut down so that the window unit can be replaced, it’s rotted at the base. The bamboo-less view is better than the look of the bamboo, and we may take down the rest of it. 

Lily and Danna were here last Sunday, we went to Lorenas for brunch. I had the avocado toast, which was great. While there, we saw Paul, Helene and Marylou, who were also brunching. Today we were in the Village to see Anna, Gardner and Emmett before his nap and before they went to the Mets game. I had lunch with Bill yesterday.

Judy and I both had med visits to HSS to see Dr. Lee, who did my knee. Judy had a consult for her hip and was re-assured that no surgery was needed. I was given an OK and told to come back in five years, we’ll see.

It turned out that the pool cover pump needed to be replaced, but I got credit from Home Depot for the one that failed. 

We are caught up with medical visits and shots, and we go back to VT for my Class Reunion and some fall foliage.

Here's the tree, suspended by another tree, but now gone. It was a red maple.

While waiting for X-rays at HSS, you get to watch traffic on the East River.

Gardner and a little gardener working in the back yard.

Lunch time after all the work outside.

Judy with GD Anna and GGS Emmett on his way to nap after lunch.

Re-certification Test.

9-13-25 SHORT HILLS: She, Blue, passed as I knew she would with many complements as to what a great therapy dog she is. I wasn’t there— not allowed by Judy. I knew things would be OK when they called before hand to see what judy’s T-shirt size was.

Otherwise, our road was paved and the bushes and trees along the road were tarred in a few places. I trimmed them and now have a pretty big pile of cuttings on the road.

New blooms: white-star clematis, aster.

 

How do you get re-certified? Practice, Practice, Practice.

The Rain Came.

9-10-25 SHORT HILLS: We finally got rain here. The gauge goes up to 1.75 inches, but the gauge was filled beyond that—at least 2 inches of rain. I had been running the sprinklers, but they deliver only 0.05 inches or so a night. They are turned off for now.

We both are seeing lots of docs, and Judy is doing dog visits. She is fretting that Blue will not pass her re-certifying test this weekend. She and Blue have been practicing all week, several weeks actually.

I am trying to get the pool cover pump to work. The outlet needed to be replaced, but the pump shorts the electric circuit every time it’s plugged in. I can’t find the service manual with the purchase receipt to get it replaced under warranty. It will probably end up on the pile of #$%&** pumps that don’t work, and I will have to buy yet another one that will work for a while and then fail.

We are having dinner with Alan and Nancy tonight, and Lynn and Bill Saturday night. They’re paving our road today, so I hope we can get out tonight. 

New blooms: white snake root.

On a hot, sunny day the dogs know to lay down in the shade.

Sunset from our dinner with Bette, Ellen, Lonnie and Bruce.

First day of school for Emmett, first of 20 or more years of 'first' days.

This bald cypress looks a lot like the dawn redwood, but the fruit visible at the tree top is different.

Here's a closer look at the cypress fruits.

The dawn redwood has fruit that look like odd little cones. [picture from a few years ago]

Back in NJ.

8-31-25 SHORT HILLS: We’ve been back here for a few days and are getting settled in. We each have many doctor visits in September. The weather is great except we need rain here just as we do in VT. 

Tennis is on the TV from early to quite late, and we’ve been watching a lot of it. We are having dinner with Bette, Lonnie and Ellen and Bruce at a certain country club in West Caldwell tonight. Tomorrow we host Lynn and Bill here. 

New blooms: VT-white star clematis, pink turtle head.

                      NJ-Rose-of-Sharon, caryopteris, crape 

                            myrtle, hydrangea, abelia.          

Raven and Peachez admiring the new pasture gate.

Pink turtle head getting started as we left VT.

Rose-of-Sharon. We have these all over the NJ yard, and I took a couple to VT last fall, and they are doing fine. Some years ago I did the same thing, but they died in the winter. Climate change?

New Gate.

8-23-25 VERMONT: We go back to NJ next week and are starting to close up. However, Alison and Dan are using the house for a friend’s, Dru’s, wedding breakfast on Labor Day weekend. Then we will be back for my reunion the end of September. That’s when all the outdoor stuff gets put away, except for the stuff that stays out all winter. 

I’ve been busy doing outside chores, filling holes that the dogs have created, watering dry plants, and planting a few new things. I put another blue lobelia, L. siphilitica, in the lobelia bed we started on the pond bank in July, a phlox, P. paniculata, Fancy Girl, in the phlox bed by the French doors, and a gas plant, Dictamnis alba, on the pond bank near the Japanese maple. The gas plant was a gift from neighbor Valerie, who has magnificent gardens. It is not a good idea to plant during the drought, especially late in the season, but with watering they will be okay for next year, I hope. 

We went to dinner at Cloudland Farm with Valerie and Fred, it was great as usual. Yesterday we went to Barnard to hear neighbor Steve’s band, Blind Squirrel, play for the Barnard Street Dance. Barnard is pretty little town with a beautiful, big lake with ducks and geese. I guess it’s a suburb of Bethel. 

Today I put up a new gate for the pasture road access. I had major help from Steve and Diana and from Tina’s friend Tasso. It took a couple hours and needed a new post to close the gap. 

New blooms: tree hydrangea, dentate ligularia.

Bane berry berries, quite striking and possibly poisonous.

Tina competing at the gymkhana in Canaan.

The gas plant gift from Valerie.

Barnard Dance poster.

Blind Squirrel at Barnard.

Dinner at Cloudland Farm.

Fencers.

Dry, Dry, Dry.

8-14-25 VERMONT: The sunny parts of the yard are getting quite brown from lack of rain. We did have a T-storm yesterday, a lot of wind and distant thunder and lightning, but only a drop of rain, 0.05 inches. That T-storm ended a heat wave of about four days curation that had temps in the nineties. The heat pumps did an excellent job of cooling us. The pond levels continue to drop, but the pond life doesn’t mind. 

Val and Steve have gone, and we are expecting Alan and Nancy tomorrow for a long weekend. 

The monarch caterpillars are gone, but I haven’t seen any chrysalises, but I did see a new monarch today.

New blooms: sedum, blue lobelia, goose-neck loosestrife. 

Sedum is a succulent, so it is drought tolerant. This seems early for it to flower, but it is mid-August.

Goose-neck loosestrife has a bend in the blossom head and a ton of tiny flowers.

Red lobelia, cardinal flower, has a white tipped stigma that deposits pollen on the bee that dives into that tunnel at the center of the three lower petals and the two upper ones in search of nectar. The next flower gets the pollen from the first flower, and on and on.

Blue lobelia looks superficially like the red lobelia, but is a larger flower with a less prominent stigma and a bigger pit for the pollinator.

The Flowers Keep Blooming.

8-8-25 VERMONT: We had a pop-up T-storm a few days ago that delivered 0.15 inches in about an hour. It was much welcome except I had to start the grill under the garage overhang. We were grilling salmon for Val and Steve, who had just arrived. 

Yesterday we ate at the Baited Hook on Lake Mascoma just after a T-storm there. Tonight we’ll be at Casa Brava, rain or shine.

We need several inches of rain to catch up for the summer. The grass is starting to brown in spots, and the ponds are down a few inches.

The monarch I saw, I only saw one a few times, but maybe there are more than one. She has laid eggs on the milkweed [Asclepius incarnata], and I have seen four large monarch caterpillars. Very exciting. I never saw the eggs or the tiny caterpillars. 

I have also seen one turtle several times, but it might different turtles.

New blooms: monkshood, mint, golden rod, Joe Pye weed, cardinal flower, aster.

A monarch caterpillar eating milkweed.

Two more caterpillars, one near the top and one at the bottom.

Here's the monarch hovering over the milkweed.

Monkshood, each intensely purple flower is shaped like a cowl.

Lobelia, called cardinal flower because of the color and shape like a flying bird. It also comes in blue and white. The blue should be along in a few days.

The first aster, known to crossword fans as fall bloomers, tells us that summer is aging.

Black-Eyed Susan. Wild ones have been open in the pasture for weeks, but the garden ones just appeared.

Lilies with a tiger swallowtail looking a bit worn.

August Begins.

8-3-25 VERMONT: Summer always seems to zoom by while winter lasts forever, and it’s cold. Alison and Dan were here for a few days, and Val and  Steve are due in a few days from now. Tonight we go to the Loch Lyme Inn for dinner and to hear neighbor Steve’s band play. We are going with Shari and Dave.

We went to Casa Brava Tapas restaurant with A & D, who were pleased as were we. I finished a temporary wheel for Judy’s pumpkin cart. Judy successfully bid on an old, small table at Smith’s Auction, and it has found a new home here.

The weather is not as hot anymore, but we have had very little rain, and the grass is starting to go brown in spots. The lower pond is down a few inches, but the upper pond is down more than a foot.

Chippers, the tree people, were here during the week and took down the last of the three white pines that bordered the road. it was about 120-130 feet tall and had started rotting in the center. If it had fallen toward the house, it would have been a disaster. They spent less than a day cutting it down in small pieces, any of which probably weighed a ton. There was very little damage to the shrubs growing at its base.

Hummingbirds are very active, they love the bee balm and the feeders, which I am refilling almost weekly. They are very territorial, but for the first time ever there were two on a feeder at the same time. They spend more time chasing each other away from the flowers as they do using them. 

We have red squirrels here, less, I think, than in prior years. Generally the bigger grey squirrels are driving them out of their habitat. I caught one enjoying the blueberries, but I’m OK sharing.

Red squirrel is a blueberry bandit.

The white pine beforehand.

The pine afterwards. I was appalled in a way at how fast it went down--a massive living thing turned to sawdust.

The daylilies are almost done, but the real lilies just started.

Here's a hummer working the bee balm.

Helenium, also called sneeze weed, is actually not especially allergenic, but appears with the ragweeds.

Fall anemone just opened, it seems early, but maybe the plants know more than we do.

Judy's new old table fits right in.