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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.

A healthy complement of Ring-necked Ducks — maybe fifteen or twenty — has arrived on our pond, sharing space with the pioneer Canada Geese of last weekend. These ducks say it’s almost spring the same way the Salt Point Stewart’s says you’re almost in Rhinebeck.

Last weekend we had first-of-the-season Redwing Blackbirds, and today we had a pair of Canada Geese on the pond. Sadly for the geese, the pond retains its protective ice covering. They made a racket but they didn’t stay long.

Similarly uninterested in a human encounter was this deer we spied while looking for owls.

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

What could be better on a snowy Presidents’ Day Weekend than cassoulet and the U.S. v. Canada game in the Four Nations Face-Off tournement. The U.S. won 3-1 in a tight game. Daisy watched with interest.

Frigid weather without much snow creates the rare conditions necessary for skating on the pond. As you can, the rarity of these conditions leaves me without much practice.

Sarah, Daisy and I, together with the Ostroys, spent New Year’s Eve at the Lawson/Kaimal house. Sadly, Jen remained in bed with the flu.

Here are the young people: Sophie, Sarah, Lucy, Anna, and Tobias (Anna’s boyfriend).

We had a rather subdued Christmas this year. We arrived Christmas Eve, scrambled to find one of the few remaining trees (a $20 clearance special from Lowe’s in Kingston), and decorated it before sundown. We were joined by Erica and Geoff, and then by Lew and Lewis, fresh from confiding Rinda to the care of Maplewood at Weston, a senior living facility. Because Chanukah coincided with Christmas this year, we had latkes for Christmas dinner.

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 hickory nut pie, although we sorely missed the nut cracking skills of Sarah and her nimble, Montessori-trained fingers. Here are portraits of those in attendance.

Lew

Rinda

Geoff

Erica

Julie

Stacey

Lewis

Jen

Daisy has been enjoying the clement fall weather, asking to be let outside at least every twenty minutes or so.

She is ever vigilant.