Another One In the Books.

12-28-18 VERMONT: After several sunny days, we have new snow, ice and rain, the change over happening as it warmed up a bit. It will get much colder again, but I hope that the trees and shrubs shed the rain and ice before the cool down. We already have a yard littered with broken branches from earlier in the year, and another load of ice will do more damage. It happens every year, but everything somehow survives.

The house is clean, the tree has been cut up and composted. NJ tomorrow.


Sunset a few days ago, the Whites looking pink.

Mt. Lafayette with its own pink cloud.

Today gave us snow, ice and rain.

I hope this ice melts before it breaks off lots more branches.

Post-Party.

12-26-18 VERMONT: The Xmas party last night was a huge success, some family and some neighbors were here. Judy’s table was laden, I almost ran out of wine. We got down to the last glass of red, and all the Prosecco was gone. It was nice to see all the younger gen reconnecting. Leftovers for tonight.

We have had a dusting of new snow that has covered some of the bare spots, and it’s been cold, single digits, at night. The skies have been cloudless blue.


My version of a Rothko.

Bare branches on the horizon and on the frozen pond.

Chickadees might be my favorites.

Party scene, lots of people still hanging out in the kitchen.

Ken and Jane's tree. A white pine from their pasture decorated brillantly with dried hydrangeas.

Winter Solstice.

12-21-18 VERMONT: We’ve been here for a couple days and had sun and blue skies for our first set of errands preparing for the invasion to come. We cut down the tree at Nichols Tree Farm and set it up in the living room.

We had about a foot of snow, a little crusted and compacted. I walked around the pasture in boots without snowshoes. It was in the twenties during the day and about ten at night.

Today it’s warm, foggy and pouring, but we braved the slop and went shopping for food, much food, and wine. Some of the food is in Diana’s freezer across the street. Judy plans to start cooking tomorrow.

When the rain stops tomorrow, hopefully tomorrow, it is predicted to get very cold. All the standing water will become ice—good on the pond, bad in the driveway.

Today is also the Winter Solstice, when the sun reaches it furthest southern excursion and starts its trek back to us in the north. Here, in VT, we get about 8 and a half hours of daylight now, but will have twice that much in June for events to happen then.

Coincidently, we have a full moon tomorrow, although we may not see it if the rain persists. I did see it yesterday, almost full, just as it rose over Mt. Cube in the northeast at about 3:30. The sun at the same time was close to setting in the southwest.


Moonrise Thetford, VT. That's Mt Moosilauke to the left of the pine tree and Mt. Cube under the moon on the right.

Another view, a few minutes earlier. You might notice that the moon is a little higher and a little further south in the first picture.

A better look at the moon. Shortly after this pic, the sky was overcast and it began to rain.

Tis the season...

About the same time as the moon shots, the mid-afternoon sun was close to the southern horizon.

Today heavy rain, 50° and fog. Snow in Norwich and Hanover is largely gone. With a quick freeze the pond might be great for skating.

Xmas at Lincoln School.

12-17-18 SHORT HILLS: Today was the annual Xmas party at Lincoln Elementary School in Newark, NJ for Ms. Catalano’s second grade class. Judy and some other volunteers go there monthly to coach the kids’ reading skills with the therapy dogs. I understand that it’s usually serious work. Today was a party, almost raucous. Judy brings small toys and stuffies donated by folks in the Upper Valley of VT and NH.

The toys were delivered by Subaru as the reindeer were not available. There were cookies and sloppy-joes and cocoa.

We head to VT in a few days.


Stuffies from the Upper Valley of VT and NH have arrived at Lincoln Elementary School in Newark, NJ.

The annual, for about ten years, Xmas party for the second graders at LES. We have seen a whole generation of kids go through the school.

Group pix with three dogs, three pet partners, Ms Catalano, the kids and the stuffies.

Walking lesson for Kaley.

Cooper's Hawk.

12-9-18 SHORT HILLS: I was watching the bird feeder activity out front yesterday morning. There were birds bustling about on the ground under the feeders, birds flying onto and off of the feeders, and birds on the suet feeder pecking away. It was a sunny morning, and I noticed a shadow cross the area.

Every bird suddenly disappeared into the shrubs. A moment later a large hawk landed in the ash tree that hangs over the feeder site. I got several shots while he/she hung around for about ten minutes.

An hour later everything was back to normal.

My expert consultants, Mike and Donna, agreed that the bird was an immature Cooper’s hawk. I find it hard to tell one immature bird from another.

Thanks to Lynn and Bill for dinner last night with Leeza and Roger and us.


Coopers hawk, immature-above and below...

Darker and Colder.

12-5-18 SHORT HILLS: We’ve been back in NJ for a couple of days. We had a warm rainy day followed by a cold windy one and today cold without any wind. The ground is starting to freeze again.

The days are shorter, darker and colder. We are almost down to only nine hours of daylight, and we won’t get longer days until the end of January. Sorry.

Since this year saw record Global Carbon Emissions, and the CO2 levels rose above 400 ppm for the first time in at least 400,000 years, maybe as long as 20 million years, it will be much warmer in the near future, and with a hotter atmosphere, the weather will become more unpredictable and more extreme.


Goldfinches, mostly in winter brown, have taken control of all eight perches on the nyjer seed feeder.

Mourning doves on the ground under the feeders.

From VT, the Bushnell game cam, catches a deer looking for the grass on a snowy night.

The Moultrie game cam on a dark afternoon.

Big Early Snow.

11-29-18 VERMONT: We came up yesterday, the day after the latest storm. The last 25 miles of the trip were slow because of light snow and slushy roads. It looks like February here, except the rivers aren’t frozen. We do get snow in November, of course, but multiple big dumps like this are unusual.

We have had damage, one half of a trunk of a multi-trunked pine tree fell in the yard, and the viburnum by the driveway steps lost four big stalks. They both will be fine eventually. More damage that may have occurred will probably have to wait until spring to get assessed. I walked around the yard in boots, and guesstimate that there’s a foot and a half of snow.

My new winter sport, since I don’t ski any more, is shoveling. The deck had been partially shoveled when we arrived, but I did the rest.

The skies are densely overcast, it’s in the low thirties and windy. The distant views are hidden in clouds and fog.


Yesterday afternoon. What's that by the fence?

It's Bally taking a snow bath.

A very big piece of pinetree on the ground.

About a foot and a half on the bench.

Baroque Thanksgiving.

11-15-18 SHORT HILLS: Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had Alison, Dan, Anna and Lily. Usually we take a walk between hors d’oeuvres and turkey, but it was just too cold. We lit a fire for the first time in many Thanksgivings. We never got to the movies after dinner either.

Saturday Judy and I went to Lincoln Center to see the NY Phil conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm play a Baroque selection. This was her debut with the NY Phil. Baroque is her specialty. They opened with Handel’s Concerto Grosso Op. 6 and then did two Suites from the Water Music, one with Sebastien Marq playing recorder. After intermission they did Rameau, Selections from Dardanus, an opera. We never before heard Rameau performed live, and the NY Phil never did this piece before. The NYT was not enthusiastic about the program, but we liked it.

The big rain started during the performance, and our trip home was an adventure. Today was in the fifties, perfect for a dog walk with Bebe and Ronnie.


It was a little brisk for alfresco dining, I thought. We ate inside at Cafe Fiorello.

Emmanuelle Haïm, the conductor, just before intermission.

Image borrowed from the NYT, Emmanuelle Haïm, conducting the NY Phil.

Thanksgiving at Lincoln School.

11-21-18 SHORT HILLS: Monday was Thanksgiving Day for Ms. Catalano’s Second Grade class at Lincoln Elementary in Newark, NJ. Jo-Ann does special Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, at lunchtime, for her students, at her own expense. Judy and other volunteers from CCPT go to Lincoln monthly with therapy dogs to help the kids develop reading skills. Normally the kids quietly read to the dogs.

The holiday dinners are Bacchanalian feasts, of sorts, compared to the regular study days. I join Judy on the feast days to take pix, and of course, to get fed.

Judy teaches the kids about dog care and training and has them walk the dog and give them dog treats. The dogs are showered with pats, hugs and treats.


All the desks are re-arranged to make a dining table.

Judy is demonstrating the 'Come' command in the hall.

Maizie is obeying the command...

To the delight of the kids.

Reward for Maizie is lots of pats and love and treats.

Maizie loves being fussed over.

Winter Seems to Follow Me Around.

11-15-18 SHORT HILLS: Not to be outdone by VT, NJ has four inches of new snow with more coming. It might turn to rain later tonight. Most of the leaves are down, but oaks, viburnums, beeches and others still carry some foliage and so are at risk of damage. We live on a hillside, and cars are already sliding downhill and not getting uphill. The plows are out.


Snow falling while the last of the leaves still hanging on.

Junco seated at the table.

Already about four inches.

It will, perhaps, turn to rain tonight.

Junco and sparrow hanging out under the feeders.

Winter Is Here.

11-13-18 SHORT HILLS: I woke up at 7, and there was six inches of new, heavy, wet snow on everything. Fearing bad driving conditions, I packed up quickly, shut down the house and left. By the time I got to Norwich the precip was mostly rain. The roads and I-91 were snowy and slushy, but by Brattleboro the snow was gone. By Hartford the rain had let up and it was in the mid-thirties. By the NY state line at Brewster, the rain had stopped and it was in the forties. The rest of the trip was uneventful.


White-out in VT....

But still Fall in NJ.

Winter is Definitely Coming.

11-12-18 VERMONT: The last two days have been sunny, breezy and very cold. I cleaned up the last of the beds yesterday and did a bunch of chores today—putting the barn windows in and locking them, bringing firewood into the house, moving the picnic table off the deck and onto the terrace and then wrapping up the rockers and the table in a big tarp, putting put the snow shoveling tools for the deck, cutting up and clearing some deadfall in the pasture, re-doing mouse traps and other stuff I already forgot.

I had dinner with cousin John in Hanover last night.

The afternoon sun lights up the western sides of the New Hampshire mountains that are in our views. They are snow covered and may well stay that way until April. Yesterday morning the pond was iced over at the ends, and the ice extended along the sides of the pond during the day. Today it was completely frozen, except for a two-foot wide hole above the entry point for the springs. Some of the snow on the ground has evaporated, but more is due tomorrow and Friday.

NJ tomorrow.


Mt. Lafayette, in the White Mts, looking very white.

Mt. Moosilauke also looking snowy.

The pond is frozen over except for a small open spot above the spring.