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Jen stopped to smell the cherry blossoms on a crisp Easter Sunday afternoon. In less happy tree news, we had to take down the big maple in front of the sun porch. We’ll need to plant a replacement, perhaps a bit farther from the house. We spent Saturday in Saratoga, where Sarah rowed in the […]

Today was our annual sweeping of the barn, in which the droppings of a generation of barn swallows and pigeons are removed to make way for this year’s crop. The barn swallows should arrive any day. The pigeons never left.

Jen, braving frigid conditions, introduced some phragmites to the scythe.

We clustered nine around the table for Thanksgiving this year, with Sarah absent (she celebrated in Strasbourg). We had all the traditional favorites, although we experimented with new recipes for turkey, gravy, and stuffing. We also had some splendid new additions, such as a sour cherry pie contributed by Geoff. Jen made an exceptionally delicious […]

Summer may be ending, but the dahlias are plentiful.

Sarah rode both bicycle and horse this weekend. Jen took a short break from jam-making to see what the birds were up to in Vlei Marsh.

The kitchen was abuzz for our weekend visitors, Julie, Stacey, and babysitter-for-life Lauren Ballback. Between meals, Jen managed to put up quite a few jars of marmalade. Stacey lent her customary good cheer. Lauren stopped overnight on her drive from Virginia to Maine. While here, she and Sarah made approximately 30,000 calories worth of granola. […]

We have entered the shank of blackcap gathering season. Jen never leaves the house without a Ziplock bag, or possible two.

Jen has been hard at work in the Secret Garden, which is currently awash in peonies. She has been planting some of her vast collection of dahlia tubers, which requires extensive excavation of rocks and roots. We look forward beautiful dahlias later in the summer. The roses also seem to be doing well.

Jen received her customary breakfast in bed for Mother’s Day, despite having no daughter — really a sine qua non, in our case — in view. Sarah returns from Colgate this weekend, and she will be with us all summer.