Blue Hill.

1-28-25 SHORT HILLS: The deep freeze is over for the moment. We continue to be dry without more snow or rain. We do have snow cover of an inch or so that is slowly shrinking. All the snow is off the shrubs, and I don’t see any damage. 

Sunday we went to NYC for lunch with Anna, Gardner, Lily and Danna at Blue Hill. They serve you what the chef has made for that day—it was excellent. I don’t think anyone had a problem with any of the many courses. The mince pie and mashed potatoes were especially delicious. It was a bit pricey, but worth it. Emmett was booked to attend, but decided to nap instead. Fortunately Judy and I spent time with him at home before the  lunch. 

Judy has been doing 2-3 dog visits per week.  

Judy, Emmett and me before the restaurant.

The starters and main courses.

Our table with dessert cheese cake.

I'm not asleep, but contemplating my birthday candle and special dessert. They were a few candles short.

Another of great grandma Judy and Emmett.

New Snow, New Flower, New Moose.

1-20-24 SHORT HILLS: It stopped snowing this morning after about 12 hrs of storming that delivered 4-5 inches of white stuff. That’s our biggest storm so far this season. The bigger news is that the temperature is dropping fast and will give us below zero wind chill values tonight. The dogs seem to like the snow, and we took pretty pix this morning. We filled all the feeders, and the birds are mobbing them.

We had dinner with Nancy and Alan a few days ago and with Lynn and Bill  yesterday.  

Gardner had seen a stuffed moose at Vermont Flannel in Woodstock, VT many months ago, but they wouldn’t sell it. Judy found out that it came from Canada, Stuffed Animal House of New Brunswick. She looked at the tag. It turns out that they only sell wholesale, but Judy turned on the charm, and played the great grandma card and got them to sell her one, when the new shipment came in. It was delayed and delayed again and then shipped, but then the dock strike caused more delay. It finally arrived, and Emmett loves it. Judy sent pix to Stuffed Animal House—they were as pleased as we were.

During the summer a neighbor gave me a sprig from her Christmas Cactus that I potted after it grew roots while in water. It put out some new segments during the fall and [ta-da] has a flower this week.

New blooms: Christmas cactus.

Cactus flower.

Moose takes a whole chair for himself.

Cloud cover gone, but it's cold.

Lilac in white.

Cardinal in the snow.

Snowy apple tree.

White dogs are not as white as the snow.

Southern Magnolia gets white flowers too.

Cold and Windy.

1-9-25 SHORT HILLS: New Years Eve and Day have come and gone. Here in NJ it’s been cold with very cold wind chills from a northwest wind that won’t quit. We have had a couple dustings of snow. 

Tomorrow is my BD. We have a couple dinners planned to celebrate, Lorenas tomorrow and Gramercy Tavern Saturday for lunch with Alison, Dan, Steve and Val. It might snow Friday night into Saturday, but less than an inch predicted, hopefully it won’t disrupt the plans.

The birds are busy at the feeders, but I don’t have any new pix.

Since the first, I have had four medical visits and two more coming up this month and more in February. That’s my new career, ‘Doctoring’, I get a lot of reading done in waiting rooms. 

Our latest snowstorm. Snowshoes not needed so far this winter.