This has been a beautiful spring here in Connecticut!

 The double file viburnum and the other white flowering bush,

 The yellow azalea's by the front door,

and the pond: can you see the yellow iris? and the red azalea and orange poppies? I tried to pull out as many dead iris leaves as I could: I didn't even fall in. (won't say I didn't get a bit wet, though). No frogs yet, but the days have been warm, cold, and today, a beautiful 70 degrees.

Happy Spring!

Here's and update for May.

The magnolia in full bloom on April 27. We visited with Bob's college friends from Seattle. They loved the brook - Phil even put a rock in the dam at the old swimming pool. The dam is holding strong and the water is rushing over the slide by the 'sword factory' or satinet factory or whatever it really was...

Here's a picture of the daffodils and flowering quince by the patio pond. We saw lots of frog eggs, but no fish (yet?)

This was taken May 7 after Bob mowed the yard for the first time. The asparagus are still coming up heartily. I've weeded around them, so the next mower will see them and not cut them down!

Happy birthday, Eric!

 The magnolia is just blooming!

 The Lenten Rose is nearly finished...

'ForCynthia' is at its height, daffodils are blooming all over, too.

The brook is high with spring run-off.

Happy spring? The temperature is about 40 degrees and there is still some snow from the last storm. But the mud is still frozen, some snow on the road, but Bob and I went across the bridge and right up the hill to the house. The only tracks are probably from an ATV, only one set back and forth. The house is fine, the 'check 17 back door' on the security panel is off, so whatever that was fixed itself.
Bob brought his chain saw and cut up some of the big maple branch to see if any of it spalted (black lines in the grain) for wood projects for himself and Dave Kimball; I wandered around outside and in taking in the memories and quiet.
The daffodils are up about 2 inches and everything still looks a bit dreary, but we KNOW spring will come!
Happy Spring!

60 degrees F and snow on the ground! All's ship shape around and in the house. A few notes: there is now a 'check back door 17' note on the alarm panel. I couldn't see why, the doors were all securely closed and locked. But now we have to 'bypass' both the '19 window' and '17 door' before the house alarm can be set. Another dead mouse in the toilet (EWWWW!!), I disposed of it in the old well.
I talked to Rene last week. He came by to plow after the last storm and got terribly stuck in the ditch on the uphill side of the bridge; he finally had to call Nino who pulled him out with his backhoe! (combination of mud, snow and deep ditch) By today, the upper part of the drive was still covered (he hadn't been back) and looks like several snow mobiles and ATV's have driven up the road. The road is very muddy - Rene suggested adding some gravel maybe. (We parked at the Grassy Lane.) There were snowshoe tracks down to the brook where I took these pictures, but no tracks near the house - no deer tracks either, although when I talked to Rene, he said he'd seen lots of does and fauns when he went hunting. The oil had been delivered in late January before all the snow, thank goodness.  Bob and I took advantage of the nice weather to walk up the road a bit and then down to the brook. Here are some pictures:

 The slide and 'sword factory' wall

 The swimming pool and the dam: about a foot drop: good work dam builders!

 The house as we came up the hill from the brook into the old field

And, sorry to say, 'Paul's spruce tree' fell on its own sometime this winter.

Happy New Year!

Bob and I went down today to check on the house and bridge. The bridge looks all fixed, a new concrete corner to the one that slumped. There is still debris around and a 'scar' in the woods from the back hoe and workers, but that will look better in the spring, I'm sure.
The house looks fine:  SOMEONE visited since we were here last! Turns out it was Carlie on her way to and from skiing in Vermont (according to Eric). There were (clean) pots out and chairs moved around, but water off and heat at 55, and alarm set, so I knew it was someone who 'belonged'. All the interior doors were open: was this on purpose? I closed them all again to keep the heat contained and hopefully not on too much. The oil level is at 3/8s. T&S Heating called me on Thursday to say it was time to clean the boiler: I told them you would call, Aunt Sandy. And they were set to deliver more oil, but I told them to hold off until we went to check on the latest status of the bridge. So when you call, Aunt Sandy, let them know it's okay to deliver, but the road is very muddy (it's been in the 40's and 50's today!). They could probably wait until we get a cold spell and the road hardens up a bit. Tell them to drive up on the left side after the bridge to avoid the trench on the right...
Here are pictures of the bridge and road. (and our new Prius in the background!)

Snow in December - the brook and bridge and house

The house is fine inside and out. Matthew Saunders left a note on the door. I'm sending it to you, Aunt Sandy: the gist of it is that he cleaned the gutters and he notes that the 'slate cover over the front chimney is sliding forward. Couldn't do myself. Call me about it.'  It does look a bit askew. I'm not sure if it's always been that way.
I found 2 dead mice in the upstairs toilet (eeuuw and peeuuw). I removed them, but didn't clean the toilet since the water's off. Sorry.
The bridge fixing is underway. The backhoe is back and it looks like they're pouring concrete to shore up the fallen rock wall. The ground is hard as rock (from our below freezing temps lately). It doesn't look like there's been work since the snow fell.
Here are some pictures of the bridge work and the brook.
Merry Christmas!

           Looking upstream

      Looking downstream