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I’m not sure what this fox is carrying — maybe a suitcase?  [Update: the fox is carrying its cub.  Not a suitcase.]

We ourselves traveled light this weekend.  Jen was in Boston, and Sarah and I returned to New York tonight so Sarah could attend a Brearley/Collegiate orchestra event Sunday morning.  There’s lots going on at the farm, however: the bleeding hearts are beginning to bloom, I spotted some columbine, our highly fragrant Korean spicebush is in full flower, and we have grown two asparagus spears.

We had a brief visit to the farm this weekend — just long enough to see some tulips in bloom.

Sarah kept smiling through her first weekend with braces.

It was hard to remain altogether cheerful during today’s 8-1 drubbing by the Cornwall Copa.  However, we were all smiles when a throw-in by Sarah led to the Ravens’ only goal, near the end of the second half.

Our new Star Magnolia is more of a Cameo Magnolia this spring, as a result of some very late frosts.  We remain optimistic about other flora.  It certainly feels like spring: it was in the high seventies today, and yesterday the barn swallows returned from their winter vacation.

We returned to the farm, after three weeks away for spring break, to find rather unspringlike weather.   Sarah’s soccer practice was canceled on Saturday because it was too cold.  On Sunday, it warmed up a bit (into the mid-thirties), and we had this visitor to the pond: a rather large blue heron.

He was a bit camera shy.

At noon, the Ravens played their first game of the season, against Red Hook.  It was a close matchup but the Ravens lost three nothing.

The good news is that spring must be around the corner.  Here is as early a pair of mallards as we’ve seen.  The bad news, of course, is that they are being menaced by Canada geese, which are also back in town.  Daisy has been keeping the geese in check.

On Saturday, Sarah participated in a Cupcake Wars-themed birthday party for her friends Anna and Lucy.  The theme was “Strange Spring.”  Each team interpreted “strange” in a rather dark fashion, creating macabre cupcakes (e.g., one was called Rest in Peeps).

Today Sarah returned to her Breyer horse photography project.

Sarah organized her Breyer horses outside so she could take action photographs of them.

Here’s one of her shots.

We combatted an icy Presidents’ Day weekend with frequent use of the Dutch oven: vegetarian chili on Saturday, and cassoulet on Sunday.

New York City may have had a record-breaking blizzard on Saturday, but not a single snowflake fell on the farm.  Sarah had five friends over to celebrate her birthday.  Pasta, cake, movies, and air hockey for all.

Daisy offered to drive us home on Sunday.

We arrived home early enough so that Sarah could go sledding in Central Park.

It’s at last gotten cold enough to have a little ice on the pond.  We had a relaxing MLK weekend.  We drove up Saturday morning in time for Sarah’s first indoor soccer practice with the Dutch Elite Soccer Academy in Milan.  On Saturday night, Jen and I ordered a pizza and watched The Big Short, while Sarah had a sleepover at Anna’s house.

On Sunday we made the mother of all lasagnas.

Jen spent a rainy day working on a jigsaw puzzle.

It really came down!  Daisy was concerned when I stuck my head out the door to take this brief video.

The rain left as quickly as it came, though, and as the sun set we had our customary beautiful light.