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This was our last weekend while Sarah is away at camp.  We ate lunch in a restaurant, watched a matinee of an R-rated movie (Trainwreck), gardened, and practiced law.   We didn’t both do all of those things however. We had a rare sighting of Herman, the bachelor muskrat who plies our pond. Daisy struggled to […]

We celebrated Mothers Day in customary fashion, with breakfast in bed for mom. This year, we decided not to burden Jen with another tree she would need to plant — although the Redbud, Jen’s 2009 Mothers Day present, is now thriving.  Here it is in 2011. On Saturday, Sarah, for reasons best known to herself, […]

Sarah had soccer games both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday she squared off against the Minisink Jaguars (pictured) at Baptist Field in Rhinebeck, while on Sunday she played an away game against the Carmel Cyclones, in the hamlet of Patterson, New York.  Both the Jaguars and the Cyclones were large, and in charge, and the Rhinebeck […]

Sarah rejoined the Rhinebeck soccer team this weekend, and is now a Rhinebeck Fireball. She had a very promising practice on Saturday, in which she scored the above-pictured goal, before taking on Cornwall on Sunday at the Baptist Home field in Rhinebeck.  The Fireballs did not prevail, but they take on the Carmel Jaguars next […]

The Ring-necked Ducks are on the pond, signaling that our seemingly endless winter is in fact behind us — although there remains a bit of snow on the ground next to the barn.  Other reliable signs of the coming season include the Spring Peepers in the swamp, the Herons in their nests, and the Daisy in […]

Because the Northeast is now more or less inhabitable during winter, we mostly stayed indoors this weekend.  Jen worked on a puzzle, while Sarah rehearsed for the tryouts tomorrow for the school play: Willie Wonka.   She is hoping to be Veruca Salt. While packing the car, I spotted this Pileated Woodpecker.  Actually, I heard him […]

This weekend, it looked like fall but felt like summer — beautiful flying weather for these geese. We had a visit from the Meng/Kufferaths, including little Lucy, 15 months old.  On Saturday we went apple picking. On Sunday we headed south on Route 9G and visited Val Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park.  On […]

It is high season for peonies, and Jen gathered a big bunch to bring home today. Here are some of the varieties, in situ. Many flowers are blooming.  This Silver-spotted Skipper visited a blackberry blossom, a harbinger of jam. The Red-Winged Blackbirds are numerous, and talkative. Here’s a Blue Jay in flight. And here’s an […]

It is springtime, and everything is coming into bloom. Sarah has just two more weeks of school. On Sunday, Jen and Sarah continued their mother-daughter riding lessons.  Sarah had Cookie. Jen had Hero (the Magic Horse™). The barn swallows kept busy. This heron, rather impressively, caught a large-mouth bass in the pond. He tucked it […]

Jen started the day with her customary Mother’s Day breakfast in bed.  We decided to take a year off from giving her presents that she was required to plant, and instead gave her books to read and write in.  Sarah also made her a polka-dot headband.  Jen spent most of the day planting things anyhow. […]