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We had a very happy Thanksgiving, and quite a feast — roast turkey, mushroom and hickory nut stuffing, sweet potatoes, strawberry jello mold, green beans with almonds, and, a last-minute addition, Jen’s flash-pickled daikon radishes, broccoli stems, red radishes and carrots, all from the garden. We had a 2:1 person-to-pie ratio, which in many circles […]

At our current billing rates this is about four thousand dollars worth of shelled hickory nuts — about enough for a pie.  We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving!

For Sarah, possibly the best part of soccer is the post-practice ice pop with her friends and teammates Sophie and Michaela. Back at home, the supposedly wild animals are getting entirely too comfortable.  On Saturday we found two deer napping on the lawn. And on Sunday we found these two squirrels hanging out on the […]

Our biennial hickory nut harvest is upon us. We’ve gotten a bit smarter: we now know which trees produce the biggest nuts with the thinnest shells, and we’ve also learned that gathering two bushels of nuts is useful only if your goal is to have mice that look like Alex Rodriguez. Sarah maintains a laser-like […]

We took advantage of the spectacular weather today — about 68 degrees, sunny and dry — to go for a long walk.  In Jen’s bag are some wild grapes and the first of the hickory nuts. Sarah and Jen caught a frog … … but they couldn’t keep him for long. On Saturday, we retrieved Sarah’s […]

We were very excited to find this check in the mailbox Saturday morning.  It’s Sarah’s award for winning first place in the children’s landscape competition for the picture — a view of the pond — she entered in the Dutchess County Fair.  Now we have to figure out how to retrieve her blue ribbon. Sarah’s […]

Our garden cantaloupes were ripe as we entered a hot and sticky Labor Day weekend, with the emphasis, for me, on Labor, of both the town and country varieties (conference calls; barn-sweeping). Our third-floor neighbors the Seilers, including Sarah’s friend Annie, visited for the weekend.  The girls had a wonderful time, staying up late and […]

Lew and Rinda visited this weekend.  To celebrate, we pressed Sarah’s wagon into service for a small cocktail party in Jen’s secret garden. The garden itself is looking great.  Here is one of the butterfly bushes that Jen planted in the spring. Everyone had a good time. Sarah got her grandfather to play Quirkle with […]

On a rainy, slow-moving Sunday, Jen, Sarah and Grandpa toured the garden. Here is the largest of our six cantaloupes. This poblano is about the size of a matchbox. We have lots of tomatoes this year, but the Brandywines — my favorite — have not fared well.  This is a Jet Set. The tomatoes are threatened […]

The Rose of Sharon was in full bloom as we began our summer vacation at the end of July.  We had a wonderful time with wonderful people and wonderful food. Sarah was thrilled to have a visit from her Grandpa, who taught her how to play golf. We were all delighted to have a visit […]