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.

Winter Is Coming.

11-10-18 VERMONT: Anticipating bad weather, I did a long day yesterday and finished clearing the beds around the house. Shortly after dark it began to snow, we got about an inch, and now it's raining and in the forties. The twenties are predicted for tomorrow—a classic New England sequence, snow-rain-freeze-ice. I’ll go out for supplies and provisions later.


Overnight surprise.

Two red squirrels and a chickadee.

Here's how those beds looked before clean up.

Fog, rain and snow, freezing tomorrow.

Vermont Clean Up.

11-8-18 VERMONT: I’m here to do the garden clean up, I arrived on Tuesday, Election Day, I voted by mail weeks ago. Notice that I capitalized Election Day, I was very pleased with the Blue Wave, could have been better in Florida, but maybe the re-counts will help. Let the hearings begin!

The trip up in the rain was hard and slow, but the weather has been nice since. Yesterday was windy and today colder, but good working days. I did several winterizing chores yesterday before starting the clean up and continued the clean up today.

I have finished the beds between the house and the pond. Removing all the dormant stalks exposes the stonework for a visual window between now and winter. It will soon be covered with snow, and in the spring the flowers will be growing as the snow melts.

If I don’t do the clean up, the dead stalks and debris get compacted by the snow and ice, which creates a barrier for the new growth. Also some perennials, peonies and phlox for instance, get mildewed over the summer, and the dead stalks need to be removed to get rid of the fungus.

I have dumped four cartloads of debris behind the little barn in the pasture to cover a wet area. I do the same thing every year, but all the debris disappears over the winter and the spot stays wet. I think I have another three days of work, weather permitting.


The garden beds behind the house before clean up, above and below.



After clean up. I'm always surprised by the stone work, which is largely hidden by the plants in the summer and by the snow in the winter.

This window in the fall shows the walls and stairs. In the spring the plants are growing as the snow melts.

Red squirrel enjoys the bird seed that falls to the ground. He/she is very brazen, but can't get on the feeder. Pretty cute.

The Epitome of Red.

11-4-18 SHORT HILLS: November has started with afternoons in the seventies. We did have a night of rain and wind, but nothing to stop our dog walks. The foliage color here developed over night at the beginning of the month, but the windstorm has stripped many trees of the leaves. The burning bushes are the epitome of red.

A flock of, maybe, a hundred grackles has been hanging around the neighborhood and draining our feeders in record time. I hope they move on to soon where ever they go in winter.

Last night we were at NJ PAC for The Marlinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg, directed by Valery Gergliev. They did Debussy, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and then Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op. 43 with Denis Matsuev on piano. After intermission, came Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Judy liked the first half of the program, but I preferred the Mahler, especially Part I. We ran into old friends Ivan and Puppe after the program.


Burning bush.

Maple window.

Chokecherry and burning bush provide mix of red and orange.

Elm, Norway maple and sweet gum from L to R.