87Squirrels

Vacation !!! 2 years in the making

mgcrafts — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:10:50 +0000

Two years in the making — that is the making of enough spare time for a vacation. We’re back in one of our favorite places for vacation. We call it our summer vacation though we are just squeezing it into the last week of summer on the calendar. Fortunately the weather is acting nice and late-summer-like. Temps are warm during the day and sunny blue skies are accompanying us on our bike rides. On the Cape Cod Rail Trail 2 days in a row with a third planned for tomorrow. We’ll be hitting the trail with our tandem bicycle — hubby on the front and wifey on the back (where she says the view “never changes” — you figure it out).

Wifey’s Cannondale loaded with water bottles and ready to go!

loaded and ready to go

Cardinal on the lookout

tom — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:05:37 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. Caught this cardinal sitting on the Burning Bush Euonomous in late September. The leaves of the Burning Bush are just starting to show hints of their fall color.

Cardinal on Burning Bush

Hellooooooo January!

tom — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:24:40 +0000

As we reach the end of January, I think this may be a record since we’ve moved to Connecticut. It has risen above the freezing (thawing?) mark only 2 or three times, and never for an entire 24 hours.

We had a dramatic ice storm on Jan 7th, coating everything with 1/4″ to 1/2″ of ice. The ice remained in the trees for several days, falling down in pieces, rather than melting, since it stayed cold. Our neighborhood had an eight our power outage, and many had longer outages. The next two mornings had cold sunshine, making for some good photos before leaving for work:

This picture was taken the next day. Nearly 3 weeks later, some of the ice remains on the deck.

Ice art

tom — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:15:47 +0000

Shortly after our early January ice storm, we had a full moon. This is the best of several attempts I made to capture the ice and the moon in the same photo:

Welcoming committee

tom — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:55:34 +0000

After our holiday trip to the midwest, we were welcomed home to a windy evening with a few inches of fresh snow (and it was 57 degrees one of the days that we were away…). On New Year’s Day, I was greeted by the welcoming committee, who were busy snarfing up spilled birdseed.

Deer at birdfeeder

Views from Nebraska

tom — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:50:15 +0000

A few scenes shot while out and about during our recent visit to Nebraska…

Sunset at Plattsmouth, NE

Trees and clouds

Farmscape

Geese in flight

Christmas card – 2008

tom — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:34:13 +0000

Our USPS cards went out just a whisker before Christmas — but this eCard waited for a new Lionel 2008 Holiday boxcar to arrive under the tree (thanks, Marge!).

Warm Wishes for the Holidays - 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

tom — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:09:26 +0000

We are thankful for many things today: good health, family, friends, our country, our armed forces, our community, and especially for this chance to reflect on all of these.

Independence Day

tom — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:56:13 +0000

Two of the most traditional ways to celebrate our nation’s birth — a huge flag covering the front of town hall, and a community fireworks celebration.

Field of Flags

tom — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:02:24 +0000

The First Congregational Church in Ridgefield, CT is hosting the Field of Flags, a traveling display with a flag for each US serviceperson to lose their life in the Afghanistan or Iraq wars. How appropriate that the display is at such a prominent intersection this Memorial Day.

From the church’s website:

From May 16th through July 6th, FCC will be displaying the “Field of Flags”, a silent, patriotic and poignant reminder of the cost of war. Each flag represents not simply one casualty, but all of the family members, friends and neighbors who have been touched by that life which is now gone. In addition to the flags, there will be a large sign listing the currently more than 4,000 service people who have died and the date of their death.

This moving memorial began at the Somers (CT) Congregational Church in October 2005 when church members placed 2,231 American flags on their church lawn, one for each American killed in service in Iraq and Afghanistan