Uncategorized – Page 104 – This Old House 2

English pub, anyone?

Roamy is having the adventures of a lifetime!.. Helen is showing him a bit of her part of the world, in England… wonderful photos of incredible places.. come see for yourself…

..and don’t mind me.. I’m admittedly living vicariously through my little garden gnome.

http://theroaminggnome2011.blogspot.com/2012/03/roamys-first-outing-to-traditional.html?showComment=1331595925108#c8687238033329763841

Weekend Snapshots

Out for a drive on a breezy afternoon ….

Old Lyme

Home overlooking cove ..

turkey vultures overhead.

This is their view.

Can you imagine?

Saybrook Light and Osprey nests.

back at the ranch… Wall work continues….

Fruit trees budding…

Still chilly, blankets back on…

A new roost for the chickens…

Dinner at a favorite place with dear friends…

this was a brush mill many moons ago.

The gears remain in the ceiling.

It was water powered back in the day!

There is a new King Betta to keep Ruby company.

..and Hey, it’s time to put those jelly beans out, if you haven’t already.

Spring is in the air, folks, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Another Day for the Dogs

The first Dog Days Adoption Event of the year is

being held at the Stop & Shop plaza in Old Saybrook , CT

on March 31st and April 1st -10am-4pm.

If you’re in Connecticut or a nearby state and you

are looking for a new four-legged family member…

Come see the 60 shelter dogs and puppies looking for

their forever homes.

Below are just a few of the pups that will be available for adoption.

TATUM

JOSH

No Names Yet for these two…

aren’t they beautiful?

YODA

E-mail karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com

with any questions you may have about these dogs or the many others

that will be at the event.

Let’s help GIVE A DOG A HOME.

Moondance

Well it’s a marvelous night for a moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance

‘Neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow

And I’m trying to please to the calling

Of your heart-strings that play soft and low

And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush

And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush

Can I just have one more Moondance with you, my love

Can I just make some more romance with you, my love

Spring is in the air

Spring is in the air today and I am loving it.

The horses blankets are off,

the trees have buds

and the chickens are laying more eggs again.

Speaking of chickens… we’ve enjoyed this first year of

chicken keeping so much that I’ve decided to expand my

flock just alittle. I can’t add too many, as the size of coop

and run per chicken is important for their well being. I’m not hatching chicks this year,

although I loved the experience… because I don’t have a way to

separate them in the coop from the adults, who are now a year old.

The bigs would pick on the littles, and that’s just not happening here.

So.. I found a local who raises chicks for others and then sells them

as “pullets”.. or young laying hens. He is ordering six for me..

two speckled sussex, two sicilian buttercups, and two white leghorns.

Our adventure into chicken raising and organic egg eating

has been a pleasure. If you’ve got the room and have considered

keeping chickens, I highly recommend it, as they are easy to

keep and the quality and taste of the eggs is unbeatable.

Certainly better than what you get in the grocery store.

Mike has been debating what he might change in the vegetable gardens

this year. Last year we learned what’s happy in our plots,

what’s very difficult to grow, and what we grew too much of that

wasn’t eaten by us or sold at the farm stand.

Corn, cukes, squah, onions and especially tomatoes will always be a big hit.

Melons were difficult, but we love them – soil needs to be enhanced.

Butternut squash…grew prolifically, we don’t like it and we didn’t sell much on the stand.

In the perennial gardens, a lot was planted toward the end of last year around the backyard

borders. I’m curious to see what will come up and thrive this year.

I know one thing… Zinnias will be planted in abundance.

I was truly amazed at how much flower power we got from our one little bunch.

I plan to expand that patch tenfold.

Normally all images are mine. Today I’m using googled images as reference.

Great blog I read about in Martha Stewart Living…gardening a small plot in the city.

..and travel! My kind of blog.

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/

This afternoon my daughter and I traveled across the Connecticut River to visit a tack shop. As we drove through Moodus, we passed the old 4-H Camp that I attended with my cousins when I was 13 and 14 years old. It looks exactly the same. I was immediately drawn back in time… a weird but wonderful feeling.

All those years ago I was a suburban girl living with my family on Staten Island and I cherished my summertime visits with my Connecticut country cousins and their horses. Two summers in a row we went to camp, bringing their trusty appaloosa horse, “Apple” with me. Those weeks are among the best of my teen years, I remember them like it was yesterday and to this day I’m grateful for the experience.

Not much has changed there in … 32 years.

Holy crow.

32 years ago.

32.

Some of those memories…

Singing Johnny Appleseed at the morning breakfast call…

Those weaved potholders…

making tiled hot plates…

Archery..

twizzlers and caramel creams at the camp store…

BUG JUICE! (koolaid)

Reflections night..

(the entire camp sits around a big fireand sings camp songs…)

the crushes…

and the anquish of saying goodbye at the weeks end.

I’m in the middle of the bunch.. the girl with the very dark hair and a tube top being pulled by the boy I had a crush on.. Billy Rule. He was a smart*ss. About the tube top…. I had not much of anything to put IN it… but they were all the rage back then. (Hey, it was 1979 or so… you remember, don’t you. I bet you even had a few).

The camp handed out news letters every friday… and that week, after the thursday night dance… the front page header was… “INVASION OF THE TUBE TOP TWIRPS”. Um… that would be us.

Still shocking after all these years

I’ve always been fascinated by the Kennedy Clan and my biggest celebrity crush was John F. Kennedy Jr. – Growing up just across the water from his beloved Manhattan, we got frequent footage of his whereabouts. Love them or hate them, no one can deny the Kennedy’s are an extraordinary family who in recent history have held incredible power, ambition, and wealth. They also knew crushing loss.. time and time again.

I was horrified when the events of John, Carolyn and her sister Lorin’s death were broadcast – how could this possibly be? We were scheduled to vacation on Martha’s Vineyard two weeks after they were discovered submerged just off the coast of the island…when we arrived there were memorials erected everywhere along the beaches and rustic seaside roads John had walked, biked and kayaked hundreds of times. It didn’t seem real, that someone who appeared larger than life…was taken in such an unnecessary and avoidable way.

Why am I bringing this up now? Over the years I’ve devoured most of the books on the Kennedy’s, and in particular those that involved Jackie and her family, especially John. Christina Haag, a woman he grew up with in the Big Apple and came to love.. has written a book about their five year relationship. At first I wouldn’t even pick it up at the store, because I was annoyed that a former flame would exploit yet another dead celebrity for money. I didn’t want to read sordid crap, things that were really no ones business, by a jilted ex lover. I couldn’t have been more wrong about this one. Ms. Haag has written a touching and honest story of their love for each other in a time of unrest for both of them… John was trying to figure out who he was going to be – juggling his family’s political history and aspirations with his own desires in the world of theatre, which sadly were never realized. His magazine GEORGE seemed to be a compromise between the two… I had hoped it would take off for him. We all know this was a genuine struggle. Ms. Haag was an aspiring theatre actress who loved her craft.. and loved him dearly too. They tried to meld their worlds together, and one gets the sense of a real and genuine love between them. I’m no critic, but in my opinion Ms. Haag is a talented writer… as a reader you can feel the anguish, the love, the struggle to maintain a relationship with a persona of this magnitude. It’s also clear that to love John Kennedy, Jr.. you had to give quite a bit of yourself over to his way of life.

We also learn what it was like to grow up in NYC among the wealthy in private school settings. Google Sacred Heart of the Convent.. ..I love the history of some of the old buildings in the city. This is one I wasn’t familiar with until reading the book. We also learn his first trip to Cumberland Island in Georgia, and the very church he was married in… was with Christina. What an incredible place… I want to make that our next vacation. Google that too ~

There is no disrespect to the Kennedy family in this book, with some insight into Mrs. Onassis and her love for her son, family, life itself…. her kindness toward others.. a picture we don’t always get to see. If you’re a Kennedy fan, as I have been (especially John Jr.)… this is an honest, enjoyable and insightful read. And still… so sad, because we know how it ends.

Roamy in England!

Roamy has arrived in England, hosted by the wonderful Helen, who will show him so pretty incredible places. Stay tuned!…

http://theroaminggnome2011.blogspot.com/2012/03/roamy-arrives-in-england.html

Why did the chickens cross the road? ….

To get to the birdfeeder under my kitchen window…

where apparently the birdseed is greener.

Our neighbors have some pretty chickens

and a few guinea hens that occasionally chase our cars down the road.

He looks angry, doesn’t he?

They are actually excellent bug hunters and tick eaters.

They weren’t thrilled about my camera,

so back to the other side they went.

..and the guineas said… Not before us!

They’re bossy little beasts.

He thinks it’s funny

The manchild was giggling when I came in from the barn last night all soggy from the rain. He and grown daughter were talking about WHEN THEY MOVE OUT. They saw me coming down the hill from the barn and I guess I looked forlorn. I wasn’t, just so ya know. It was raining and muddy and I dumped a water bucket down my leg by mistake. Do you know how wet jeans and a boot full of water feel when it’s 38 degrees out at dusk and your teeth are already chattering from the raw damp misery that swirls around you and the damn chickens won’t get in their coop without issues?

So anyway.. they weren’t laughing about that. No.. they were wondering what good ole MOM is going to do once they do move out. My dear son said to me… “Mom.. you oughta start thinking about getting a hobby or open a store again or something… you know… to fill the time you use right now to do all that stuff for us. I’m probably going to have to come home from college now and then just to give you something to do.” I love him, I do.

*sigh*

But you know… it’s not like there isn’t a grain of truth in that little speech there… I have plenty of hobbies and chores and little jobs here and there, thank you very much… but perhaps it’s time to start thinking about what I might be able to do next. NEXT. Although I kinda like the job I have now. I haven’t asked to give it up. It’s just inevitable that it’s going to change some.

It’s been raining/snowing/sleeting here at This Old House for two days now…some would say downright dreary. I happen to be enjoying it because we are all here under the same roof, waiting out the rain together, meandering through uneventful, unhurried evenings. I’ll soak up every drop of that.