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We had a very relaxing summer vacation at the farm.  We had beautiful sunsets … … and beautiful moonsets. Jen made blackberry jam and other delicious things. We spent plenty of time with our resident hawks, who for some reason have nested very close to our bedroom window, rise early, and are quite agitated. Jen […]

It’s probably a little early in the Spring to start gardening, but on Saturday afternoon we visited the Northern Dutchess Botanical Gardens to see what they had.  Sarah seemed skeptical. She prefers the simpler flowers. We do have some fancier flora blooming, such as these Allium. On Sunday, these tire-kicking bluebirds attended our open house, […]

A Red Admiral enjoyed the lilacs on Saturday.  They are just starting to bloom.  Unfortunately, the temperature on Saturday night plunged to 23 degrees, and it is forecast to do so again tonight. We have a bumper crop of herons this spring — there are at least four nests in the swamp.  Here is one […]

On Saturday, Sarah had some friends over after soccer practice.  We went fishing after lunch.  Here is Sophie catching the afternoon’s only fish — a largemouth bass. In bloom: Bleeding Hearts Columbine Dogwood Also on Saturday, we (and by “we” I mean Chuck) installed the 12-unit purple martin house that Julie gave us.  Although some bluebirds […]

We took Friday off.  Sarah dyed some eggs, and on Saturday we brought them back to New York to celebrate Passover.  Today we had an Easter egg hunt in Central Park.

We woke up Saturday morning to find about an inch of snow, which lasted most of the day. We’d been away for two weeks, so it was a bit disappointing to find all the early spring flowers — including these hyacinths — blanketed by snow. Sarah wisely spent most of the day indoors. By Sunday, […]

A lone Ring-necked Duck steamed across the pond Saturday evening, letting us know that spring is on the way. The robins have been around since the beginning of February — about a month earlier than usual. These snowdrops grew underneath the bench in front of the cottage.  Whenever we move the bench, we find some […]

I’m afraid we have only this PondCam™ image from this afternoon, since I left the camera battery recharging in the kitchen. What you would have seen is pictures of some of the robins from the large flock that has been thriving by the house since early February.  You might also have seen, peaking out of […]

We arrived this weekend to find a full moon, the Rose of Sharon in bloom (and also some lilies, far right), and the fence nearly completed. Early Saturday morning the fence was occupied by these turkeys, who seemed to approve of the construction. I think if you played the first four turkeys it would sound […]

We had a very pleasant, if occasionally rainy, Fourth of July weekend. Everyone waited patiently for the rain to stop. Our front-yard bunny found a nice dry spot. But it’s black raspberry season, so we could not stay inside forever. Jen and Sarah made a dozen or so jars of jam. Sarah made sure everything was […]