Monkey Lobster

Summer in New England

I realize that winter is weeks away, but I just didn't get to it this summer, and I just had to have summer in the archives.  So in one post here is Maine, Cape Cod, Vermont and right around the corner from our house. 

Cyrus turns 7

This kid is a real pain, but it's hard to not love him to pieces.

 

The day after his birthday we headed to NYC for some food and fun. Our first stop, China Town.

Our dear friends were out of town, so we stayed at their place and had a drink from their bar, played with their toys, and put our hotel saving towards a show at Radio City Hall. The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular....oh the things you do when you have kids. 

Urban nature.

The pace of city life is not for me, but I do love living so close to such an amazing one. We'll be back soon.

Remembering Ollie

I am sad to say that we lost our dear Ollie this week. We held a candle light memorial for her, and laid her to rest under the spirea in the front garden. Elsa thought it would be nice to plant some spring bulbs over her grave.

She was a sweet little soul. She came as a surprise Christmas present for Elsa almost 2 years ago, and hid in our bedroom undetected for almost two weeks. She was carried all around the house by Elsa, and chased all around the house by Cyrus. She left many a dead animal for us, was always hungry, was always getting stepped on, and was always editing my typing. It amazes me how much we love these furry creatures in our lives. Ollie will be deeply missed.

 

garden days

The hard frost came last week, later in the season than I've ever know. And once again I gained more garden knowledge than I thought I could in just one season.

Every year something is prolific and brilliant and every year something just never works no matter what I do. This year brought just a few cucumbers and an unbelievable display of flowers. Inside and out.

I didn't know that they were going to bring me such joy and pride. When I lost my father a few year back many people sent flowers, the house was full of giant bouquets of flowers and I found myself getting lost in them and really appreciating them for the first time. Now that my vegetable garden is well established, I feel the overwhelming urge to surround myself with flowers. This fall I planted 250 spring bulbs (the 50 I planted last year was pleasant but I'm hoping for something spectacular), and I have prepared many a perennial garden bed, cover cropped garden beds earmarked for flowers and saved many annual seeds in preparation for the upcoming season. Can't wait!