Not in Vermont.

2-6-18 KEY WEST, FLORIDA: We’re on a trip to soak up a little warm, and we found the eighties today. We flew from EWR to EYW, arriving at midday, and taxiing to the Margaritaville Resort where there was no room for us until 4 PM. The resort is on the water at the western end of the last of the Keys, Key West. The resort is huge, with hundreds of rooms. We had lunch on the waterfront with Lynn, Helaine, Marc, Paul and Bill, all of whom had rooms already. Not having a room, Judy and I explored the neighborhood.

We walked south on Whitehead St. past Truman’s Little Whitehouse, seeing attractive older houses, one an arboretum, one a B & B, all lavishly landscaped. We turned the corner and went to Duvall St., which is all bars, restaurants, tee shops, but no tea shoppes, and souvenir spaces. It all treads the line between honky-tonk and sleazy. Nearer the water there are some old brick buildings, perhaps originally warehouses, now used commercially as malls and shops.

At sunset there was a reception for my college class, celebrating our eightieth birthday. There are about 140 people here. While we chatted, a massive cruise ship that had been moored here left, giving us a view of the ocean.


That massive thing at the end of the dock that looks like a skyscraper that has fallen on its side , is a gigantic cruise ship, able to carry thousands. It totally blocks the ocean view of many of the guests of the Margaritaville Resort. It left the dock a little after dark. The Margaritaville is an equally gigantic resort that is the center of our gathering.

Our room wasn't ready for a few hours after we arrived, so we walked around the neighborhood at saw several old houses on Whitehead St. Some with historic markers, some re-purposed as B & B's, and one was Truman's Little Whitehouse. We were pleased to see that there appeared to be no damage from the hurricane.

Here's another with a blue ceiling on the upper gallery. We have seen that before, and in other houses here, it discourages ghosts from hanging around your house and causing mischief because the ghosts are fooled by the blue ceiling into thinking that there is no ceiling, but open sky. This, somehow, is an anathema to the loose spirits.

Here's another one with a white ceiling. They don't care a fig about ghosts, and that might be a fig tree in the front yard.

One of a number of roosters we saw, all this same breed, and all talking to the neighborhood.

Duval St., a block to the east is lined with souvenir shops, tee shirt shops, bars, and restaurants and crowds.

A Day at the Museum.

2-3-18 SHORT HILLS: We’re into February, but the groundhog said it’s going to stay cold. So far he’s quite right. There is no more snow for the moment.

Jon is visiting here for a few days following a business trip to the area. We took him to dinner at Marcus Samuelsson’s B & P restaurant last night and before that to 11 Clinton St, also in Newark.

Yesterday we went to the Met museum to see the Michelangelo exhibit, an impressive number of drawings and some sculptures and paintings. There is a photo-montage of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, one quarter size, that lets you see the finished frescos and his preparatory sketches for comparison.

There was also a Rodin exhibit to mark the centenary of his death. Of course, no visit to the Met is complete until a walk through the impressionist galleries.


The Met is so full of eye candy, my head is always turning from side to side and up and down.

Rodin sculpture.

Michelangelo, Il Divino, drawing.

Michelangelo, bust of Caesar.

Michelangelo sketch for one scene of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Michelangelo, the finished scene.

Impressionists. I won't bother with artist ID's, assuming you all know all of them.

Turkey Tracks in the Snow.

1-29-18 VERMONT: The end of January is in sight, will anyone miss it when it’s gone? We had a couple of warm days, in the forties, but now it’s back below freezing.

We had dinner in town with Shari and Dave last night, and John was here for dinner the previous night. Ken arrives today, and we go back to town for tonight’s dinner.

I snowshoed around the pasture with the dogs on one of the warm days. The icy crust is so thick that the dogs stay on top most of the time, only breaking through the crust occasionally. When I threw tennis balls for the Goldens, the balls flew along the ice, giving the dogs a good run. Where there were dustings of drifted snow on top of the icy crust, I saw bird footprints, big ones, as big as the dogs foot prints. Probably turkey tracks, crows have three forward toes and a fourth tow pointing backward.

The dogs are early risers, usually up at first light, we would rather sleep in a bit, but sometimes the sunrise is worth it. I got a couple pink pix on Saturday.


The dogs are always early risers, so sometimes we get an early morning surprise.

Pink and blue.

The snow is covered with a layer of ice, making everything too bright and shiny.

Bird tracks between Gus and the ski pole. Those prints are as big as Gus'. Turkey, I assume.

Here's a better picture of the foot prints. The spacing and size means a big bird.

The snow cover is thin and the bare spots around the trees are getting bigger.

Cold Day in VT .

1-26-18 VERMONT: We arrived yesterday and had the usual bunch of chores and repairs to do. Judy was in town while I re-stocked the wood holder in the living room, chopped through the ice on the deck to get that door open, also cleared two other doors, disconnected the broken dishwasher for removal, defrosted an iced-up de-humidifier in the old house basement and spread sand on the icy driveway and front steps.

It was in the teens with a bit of wind outside, but cloudless and sunny.

The newly filled bird feeder attracted only a few chickadees today.

The snow level is lower than when we left last month, and the spots under the trees on the south facing slopes are snow free There was rain on top of the snow cover, and it later froze forming a hard, icy crust on top of the snow. Even the dogs have trouble walking up hill.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer.


Snowy Kinsman, Cannon and Lafayette on the horizon. Pix with the new camera taken from the deck. Those are very White Mountains.

Moosilauke through the trees.

Warmer Days.

1-21-18 SHORT HILLS: We have had two days of warm, mostly sunny weather that has melted almost all the snow. The warm snap is supposed to last for a few more days.

The yard is full of robins, two dozen, at least. They are all acting like robins. They’re standing on the grass, running a few feet and then standing in one place again, finding something to peck at and eat on the ground. They are poking around in the dead leaves, flipping them away and eating something in the dirt. I wouldn’t have thought that there would be much bug or earthworm activity in mid-winter, but they are onto something.

There was a lone European Starling, first one since the fall, doing the same stuff as the robins. Starlings will go to the feeders, but I have never seen a robin at the feeder or eating seeds from the ground under the feeder.

We had dinner with Bill and Lynn at one of our new favs, Marcus Samuelsson’s B & P restaurant on Halsey St. in Newark.

Last night we were back in that same neighborhood at NJPAC to hear the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Pinchas Zuckerman conducting and playing violin in Beethoven’s ‘Violin Concerto’. They opened with the ‘Overture to Der Freischütz’ by Carl Maria von Weber and finished with Dvořák’s ‘Symphony No. 7’. Nice program, we loved it.


The first starling of the season. It is browsing like the robins and not at the feeders.

Robin poking around in the leaves.

Dinner at Marcus Samuelsson's B & P restaurant in Newark.

Another robin, one of two dozen working the grass and dead leaves.

Cardinal at the feeder a couple days ago before the snow melted.

It Snowed Again.

1-18-18 SHORT HILLS: We had another snow. The temps were hovering in the low thirties and the snow/rain mix only amounted to a couple inches that froze when it got cold last night. Late in the afternoon, it partially cleared, and we had a nice sunset. This morning many of the trees have shed the snow, and I hope there wasn’t too much damage to the shrubs.

When all the shrubs and trees are coated with snow, the birds swarm the feeders as the most available meal.

The red-bellied woodpecker is a beautiful, large bird named for a barely evident characteristic. There must be a better, more appropriate name—suggestions, anyone?


New snow, only a couple of inches, but it's heavy and wet.

Tufted titmouse is among the birds that swarm the feeders when everything is snow covered.

Scenes like this keep me from seeing snow as just a nuisance that needs shoveling, plowing and slow driving.

Red-bellied woodpecker, male, is named for a minor trait, barely evident most of the time.

Slate-colored junco.

Downy woodpecker, looks a lot like the hairy woodpecker, but, like this one, has a smaller beak and small, black marking on the lateral tail feathers to make the ID.

After snow/rain all day, the sky cleared enough for a sunset.

Mid-Winter Birthdays.

1-15-18 SHORT HILLS: Eleven of us had dinner at Gotham Bar and Grill Saturday night to celebrate Val’s, Steve’s, Dan’s and my birthdays, all of them occurring within a few weeks of each other. Much wine and food was consumed, the staff was very attentive. Those attending, by initials were, A, A, D, G, H, J, L, L, S, S and V. Pix are on FB with everyone tagged.

Anna, Gardner and Gardner’s cousin. Helen, left the dinner right after dessert to drive to Hershey, PA to overnight before going to the Jaguars/Steelers game on Sunday. I suspect they enjoyed the game more than the Steelers fans did.

We are back in the deep freezer for at least a few days. It might warm up tomorrow, and snow might fall. Today, January 15, is half way from the end of November to the beginning of March.

I have a new camera, Nikon P900, and some new bird pix are up on the blog. So far, I’m pleased with it.


Go Jags!

There are no sports teams nicknamed squirrels are there? This one is eating a holly berry.

Goldfinch in winter clothes.

House finch still has color in winter.