Happy Halloween...er...Merry Christmas

This morning I woke up to this lovely scene.  This is way too early for snow, I know it will melt  by tomorrow but I'm not ready, I'm still in Fall-mode.  I would love to have lots of snow for December-February, then it could go back to where it came from the rest of the year.  

Yes, there's IS snow on the pumpkin....

Calvin was perplexed by the whole thing as well...

He quickly got over it and happily loped around the yard (Golden Retrievers make the best of every situation I think)

Scott took Isaac to hockey practice so they won't be home until this evening...I'm planning a nice snow day by the wood stove with plans to make maple-curry chicken pasta for supper...maybe the snow isn't so bad after all.

Home again, home again

Boston was great, I think it is really the friendliest city I've ever been to.   Everywhere we went (even the subway at rush hour) people talked to us...asked where we were from...told us where to eat...gave us directions to places we were looking for...I loved it.  Our hotel room was quite small but we weren't in it too much so we managed quite well.

The price on this water from the mini-bar gave new meaning to "Don't drink the water"...$6..yikes

Getting fortified before heading out on the town...left to right - my sister Andrea, my Mom, my oldest sister Heather...and me (I'm the youngest although my Mom looks younger than us..not fair)

Just like Obama and JFK, we went to Harvard

Out on a cruise of Boston Harbor...we almost froze..and why are we all wearing scarves...it's like Awkward Family Photos...Boston edition

Had to make a stop here

Black & White cookies...remember the Seinfeld episode?

I was in love with this window display

My sister Heather was more in love with this display...

 Andrea is more of a margarita girl

This gnocchi was the best thing I've ever tasted...seriously

Loved this place

why are most of my pictures of food?

Best bathroom sign...ever

apparently drinking margaritas with my Mom makes my hair go stringy and my bra strap show..who knew?

When I came home the men of my house had outdone themselves, the house is quite tidy and there were clean sheets on the bed....wait a minute...what happened here that the house had to be cleaned and the beds changed?  I'm not even going to think about that, I'm just glad to be back.

Boston Bound

I'm sitting in the business center of our hotel in downtown Portland, Maine typing a little blog update.  My mother and two sisters and I spent the day looking around the little shops in the Old Port and we catch our train into Boston in the morning.

So far:

We have been teasing my mother mercilessly because she insists on wearing yoga type pants and a matching jacket when she travels..."so I can be comfortable" she says.  Really Mom?  It's not like we're traveling by stage coach...lose the sweat suit.

We found a really cute cupcake shop and my mother and sister's refused to eat cupcakes with me..."we're saving our calories for wine", they said..."like I'm going to choose between the two, I said".

We went in to this little wine store on our way back to the hotel and my mother says (not in an indoor voice) "Do you think 3 bottles are enough?"

This ladies' getaway will either be very entertaining...or very embarrassing...jury's out.

Weekend recap

We had a busy weekend, scurrying around trying to get all our fall yardwork done before it's too late

Garlic got planted in the garden

Raspberry vines got staked up

I started a new flower bed of peonies

After we dropped Isaac off at hockey practice we killed some time by checking out this neat suspension bridge

I 

..and before I knew it, it was Monday.  Today I'm catching up on some book keeping and packing for a train trip to Boston with my Mom and sisters.

Here we go again...

Isaac's hockey season started last night with his first practice.  I walked by his bedroom and did a double take:

Apparently if you want to make sure you don't forget any of your hockey equipment..it helps to lay it out on your bed to make sure you have everything.

This also works if you plan to scare the wits out of your mother as she walks by your bedroom later in the day....damn kids.

It was the best of times...it was the worst of times

So the weekend started like this...an excavator arrived Friday night to dig up our yard

We needed to add a drain line to our basement, and dig a trench from the house to the barn so that we could have electricity in the barn.





Then it rained all Friday night...and by Saturday night our yard looked like this...which I was not a fan of..

Sunday morning I stepped outside imagining that my fall display looked like this one I found on Google images....but..

In reality...my fall display looked like this...with muddy rubber boots....

...and discarded work gloves on top of the pumpkins...I expressed my displeasure to the males in my house...the term "PMS" was suggested..(which may..or may not be true)..I stomped outside and promptly kicked over a toadstool...just because...

Thankfully once I was outside I encountered Charlotte the cat (the only other female in my house).  We exchanged knowing glances....she suggested I put on my "big girl panties" as I had already invited my in-laws and my mother over for a turkey dinner...I had no time to sulk outside...I had squash to peel.

I went back inside, set the table for dinner, had a glass of wine and waited for our guests to arrive. We ate way too much turkey...then key lime pie...and now I'm too tired to do anything but go to the tv room and watch a movie with the guys....I guess a muddy yard, non-Martha Stewart fall display, accusations of PMS and living in a house of men is not so bad after all.

Beauty among the dog hair

Today as I was tidying up the house after a busy weekend I was in awe of the beautiful leaves I could see out of every window

the den

Scott's messy office

the tv room

the upstairs bathroom

our bedroom

the view from the little upstairs balcony where I hang out the laundry

and...yet another dog picture because he is so adorable...and he doesn't cringe when I take his picture...or insist I not put the pic on this blog (like his other "non-doggy" brothers)

10 on the 10th (October)

#1 Fall leaves

#2 Tall trees

#3 Blue sky

#4 textures

#5  Walk in the woods

#6 rest break

# 7 Baby gift

# 8 Busy cousins

#9 Work crew

#10 Turkey dinner