Good weekend with Photos

Sunday we spent the day with our friends Bobbie, Guy, Jackie & Lew and to celebrate Bobbie's upcoming birthday. The Wolf's built their house on a beautiful mountain in Milford, PA. There was some excellent food.
Toni,Jackie & Bobbie have been friends since kindergarten. Toni is planning a party for this summer because her class started kindergarten 50 years ago this September. Amazingly she's in touch with at least half of her class.

Rough week with no photos

The week has not started out great. Spencer's Veterinarian asked for a urine sample to run some tests. I had no idea what that intailed (get it?). I had to run behind him with a cake pan waiting for him to lift a leg. The sidewalks are icy and Spencer was offended." What are you sticking under my private parts big guy?"

Toni's Aunt Justine died, and today was her funeral.She would have turned 91 next week. When you live to that age most of your family and friends have passed on already. A lifetime filled with family & friends, but few people left to attend your funeral. I guess the good part is that they are all waiting on the other side for her with open arms. But the service was lovely and we had about twenty of her remaining friends & neighbors back to our house for coffee & cake.

After we cleaned up we went to another wake for a family friend Pat Moore. Her family has been in Wurtsboro for generations and she had seven children What a different experience. People were lined outside the funeral home and while Pat's passing is terribly sad the wake was more like a party in her honor. Wurtsboro is such a small town, but the number of people there was just amazing. I forget we all know so many people from our lovely village.

Toni says death comes in threes , so everyone be careful out there, we have an opening to fill.

When will it be over?

Okay, I've had enough. Icy sidewalks, short walks, crabby owners, how much can one dog take?

Baby Shower

Toni and I went to a baby shower for Jim & Karen's daughter Chris. I haven't been to one of these in over 30 years. At least I had the other guys there for support and the food was great. I think I'm covered for baby showers now until I'm 85.
Are those women laughing at us shower boys?

First Sign of Spring

Here it is January 23rd and we have robins in our trees and feeders.
Can spring be far off? Sorry about all the bird postings, but it's slow in the country.

How's Your Bird Feeder?

Our bird feeders are very active these days.

Ice Storm

We had an ice storm Wednesday 1/7. Here it is two days later and the ice is still on the trees. It's just beautiful when the sunlight hits the ice on the branches

Our Sears House

I was surfing the other day and I found this
advertisement for our house in the Sears 1936 catalog. Toni's grandfather Percy was a local builder in Wurtsboro and her grandmother was a real estate agent. Percy built my grandparent's house where my parents live today. He also built most of the other houses in Wurtsboro Hills.
So Percy ordered the plans and materials for our house from Sears. The cost was around $1,200.He used it to build our house in 1937 and at least one other in our town.He would just use the same plans over and over and he'd pick up the wood and materials where he could find them. We love our house, it has so many "Sears" conveniences like a built in ironing board, spice rack and a kitchen table that comes down from the wall. We added on to the house in 2006 but we tried to keep the integrity of the style.

Happy 2009!

We had our annual New Year's get together at Mike & Cheryl's in CT. this year. Getting there was half the fun. New Years Eve the temperature was nine degrees and the winds were howling at 30 mph. Snow kept drifting across the roadways. A fun trip. Jim threw his back out so the Kilgores couldn't make it, but Maur & Eric flew in from FL. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant in Brookfield, where we were the only brave souls in the place. We watched the ball drop on Mike's new 50 inch HD TV. New Year's Day Cheryl made a wonderful breakfast. Cory dropped by with the Jack & Ryan. Before we drove home we stopped at Stew Leonard's and ate all the free samples they had to offer. A good start to the New Year.

Kathy's Tea Kozy

Our friends Kathy & George moved into their new space last weekend.Their old cafe would only hold about 20 people. They moved into the former Old Valley Restaurant in the middle of the Village. The front of the building is the new Wurtsboro library.
They both look wonderful. Toni & I go for breakfast and it's like eating with a room full of friends. The place is a real asset for the Village.

Wurtsboro Sunset

Did anyone see the beautiful sunset Sunday, December 28th?

It looked like the sky was on fire. Beautiful

Another Day...Another Party

Saturday night we went to our friend Jackie Auer's surprise 40th birthday party at Valley Brook Lodge. The food was really great all of it homemade. The party was an interesting mix of locals and the "Cycle Lords". Happy Birthday Jackie

Christmas 2008

Christmas has come and gone. We were filled with the blessings of family & friends. Christmas eve was raining and icy in Wurtsboro, but we had a lovely dinner in the new restaurant in town, Toscana. After dinner we went to midnight mass, which in Wurtsboro is at nine o'clock. I was on the altar doing the readings while Toni sat with the Dolans and Kyle's family. The mass and the music were especially beautiful. After church we had about fifteen friends and family back to our house for holiday cheer.

Christmas morning we opened our gifts and my parents came for breakfast after mass. After more presents almost everyone took a nap and Toni cooked a beautiful dinner. Christmas night we went to the Dolan's for more presents and dessert. It's exhausting but wonderful. Here are some of the pictures.

Deck the Halls

We have decked the halls in hopes that St Nick soon will be here. Merry Christmas to all!

No More "Dreaming of a White Christmas"

We had eight inches of snow Friday followed by another four on Sunday. This morning when I took these pictures ,it was eight degrees with wind gusts around 25.

Brrrrrrrrrrr! Spencer makes sure I get out there to enjoy the beauty of it all.

Christmas Party at Aunt Rita's

This weekend we went to Toni's Aunt Rita's house for her annual family Christmas party in Patterson, NJ.

We always have a really fun time . There's lots of good food, drinks, desserts and talk. It's not a quiet group. After eating, the braver souls go into the backyard to watch a bonfire and sing Christmas Carols. This year we watched a meteor shower, which was truly amazing especially after a few drinks. Thank you Aunt Rita!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Well, were are doing pretty good with the Christmas prep. work. The trees ( yes, two trees) are up, the cards are in the mail and we're decorated inside and out. We still have a little shopping to do, but we're basically ready. I like to be done early so we can enjoy the season.

Bring it on Santa!

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Toni and I went to see TSO this weekend with our friends Maureen & Eric. The orchestra plays Christmas carols with a hard rock attitude. They have a great light show, snow falls from the ceiling and fireworks and flames shoot out all over the place. This is our fourth time seeing them.
We love them.
We stayed over at Maur & Eric's new home in Albany. New to them, it was built in 1937. They made us a lovely dinner before the show. A great time with wonderful friends

I ate too much

Another Thanksgiving and no surprise I ate too much. It's so much work but we are very grateful to have our family with us it's all worth it. Before our dinner we helped out at the church's dinner for the community. They had 61 people which wouldn't be bad if they hadn't cooked for 200. So now it's on to the Christmas season.

Cruising Days

Toni and I just came back from an eleven day cruise on the Celebrity Constelliation.

We visited Bermuda, St Martin, Aruba, Nassau and Fort Lauderdale. We made new friends on the ship and hooked up with Jim & Karen Kilgore in Aruba. We had a great time and we can't wait to book another trip.