Merry Christmoose

Merry Christmas, everyone...

...whatever you do and whereever you celebrate it. Looking forward to seeing all of you in the new year!

Chalk and Cheese

Last weekend we decided to transform the side of one of our cabinets into a chalk board. The paint has finally dried and we can finally use it!







I'd forgotten how much fun it can be to stand and write.

Pecan Pie

Sacrelicious....

Yep... that kinda weekend.

From Lyness St. 2/3rds Convergence:

And that was BEFORE subjecting ourselves to "Hot Tub Time Machine."

Lunch

Keeping to my migraine-reducing food restrictions isn't easy, but this helps:

Hmm... y'know...

A Conversation While Watching The Tudors

K: Jonathan Rhys Meyers is strange looking.
N: Mmm.
K: I mean, sometimes he looks really attractive, and other times he isn't attractive at all.
N: Mmm.
K: I mean, it's odd.
N: Sometimes he looks like the cow on the Elmer's Glue bottle.
K: ...
N: What? Why are you laughing? You're laughing because it's true, aren't you?

Little Red Riding Hood 2.0

Fur & Feathers

A brief list of wildlife encountered on this past week's tour of Northern New England:

Turkey Vultures
Myriad chipmunks & red squirrels
Sign (scat) of a (probable) black bear
Broad-winged hawk
Golden eagle (or may have been immature Bald Eagle)
Several osprey
Pair of young raccoons
Pair of (we think) pine martens
White-tailed deer, including mom with baby
Fledgling Sharp-shinned hawk

And, the sentry guarding our passage from Maine back into New Hampshire:

MOOSE!!

Karen and Noah:

HOORAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Walden Internet

An interesting take on trying to live without the Internet. Scroll down to the drawings towards the bottom.

Unfortunate Graphic Design

If you see someone drowning, LOL

Big 4 - 0

Ha-Ha, Anthony's FOURTY!

Oh wait . . .

Full of Bull

Happy birthday to the Taurus boys!

Before & After

Before
(About six months before...)



Just under 12 inches, laid out to dry



After

The Flatbread Company Challenge - UPDATE

A progress report on the semi-formal Flatbread Company challenge in which Michaela and I are attempting to go to all Flatbread Company locations in the calendar year. So far we have eaten at:

Portsmouth, NH Flatbread (with Karen and Noah)
Portland, ME

and now Pai'a, Maui:




We do have one challenge to our, um, challenge. We learned that FBC opened a location in Whistler, Canada. Which would put a wrinkle in our plan to go to all locations in this calendar year since I don't see us getting to NW Canada by December. But on further investigation I found that the restaurant is called Creekbread Pizza and was opened up by the founders of FBC (who apparently liked to vacation in Whistler). So I'm thinking they are not on the list.

Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

M & I went to visit the lovely Karen & Noah abode this weekend (or if my mom was writing this in a family letter: S&M go to Boston), hopping the Acela after work on Friday and coming back Sunday night.  On Saturday, we went to a sunny (and cooooooooooooold) Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary for a stroll (or maybe a scurry, slip and a slide on the icy paths).  And in case you don't believe us, I have DATA!

View Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in a larger map

Noah mixed up some magical mystery bird mix which we fed the birds. EXHIBIT A, M's mitten'd hand:

Wawayanda State Park

M had to work today (MLK Day) so I drove up to Northwest Jersey to go hiking in Wawayanda State Park. The day turned out to be sunny and warm (40s all the way up to 52, yikes!). And it gave me a chance to try a new app on my phone: Google Tracks. It taps into the GPS on the phone and you can later post the track in to Google maps: voila:


View Wawayanda State Park 011810 in a larger map

This is the same park that M and I rent canoes at in the summer, although we would have needed ice blades on the canoe to go today (I did see one ice fisherman)!

Canoes:

















Sheltered bay where we usually paddle:

















Remnants of an old furnace. Northern Jersey used to be covered in mines:


















Cutting a path through the reeds:

















When I first arrive the tree tops and the branch tips were all covered with ice. The hills looked frosted. But as it warmed up and as the sunlight hit the trees, the ice on the branches all started to melt and fall down. It sounded like a heavy rain storm, except that the sky was a brilliant blue and you only got rained on if you stood under the trees.