As Zach and I drove out of the village and toward the lake on the way to nursery school we entered a winter wonderland. No, it didn’t snow. No, no freezing rain. There was a receding fog that had frozen on the trees.

I was ordered by my four-year-old to drop him off and get the camera. Then I was to come back and photograph the trees.

How could I say no?

I took some photos from the side of the road and then drove to the park at the end of the lake. There I walked around and froze my face, toes and fingers off in the 9 degree weather. Luckily the beauty of the sun on the ice crystals made it all worth while. That and the photos.

If you’d like to check out what we saw, go to my photoblog. There’ll be new photos from this morning all week. I hope they capture even a fraction of the beauty we experienced. It’s all gone now. Melted off by the sun.

My hubby just won me tickets to a sold out show of Dropkick Murphys!!!!

The last time I went to a concert? Almost ELEVEN years ago. ELEVEN.

Have I mentioned I heart the Dropkick Murphys?

They are from Boston. The question that won him the tickets? Who is your favorite baseball team. (We live in NY. We are in the minority. If you don’t know who our favorite team is – look here.)



Who has a better husband? NO ONE. I love you honey!

Special thanks to his sister, Rachael, for agreeing to babysit on such short notice. (a college girl – a Friday night)

I’m learning to knit.

After being shown about 900 times over the course of my life – I FINALLY get it! Yay for me. Now I must practice, practice, practice. I thought I’d try a scarf to start. (as soon as I stop having to pull it all out every 4 rows or so)

Any suggestions?

I’m thinking my sudden prowess with the knitting needles has come from my Aunt Bea who tried to teach me 800 of those 900 times as a child. She spent countless hours and unsurpassed amounts of patience trying to teach me. She passed away about three weeks ago. Just 11 weeks shy of her 100th birthday. I’d love to tell you she lived a full life right up until the end but unfortunately she spent the last 20 years or so in a nursing home. The last 10 of which she didn’t know who I was when I went to visit her. And I’m embarrassed to admit, I did not visit her nearly enough.

I was planning to write a heartfelt remembrance to her for the last couple weeks but although I have warm feelings and wonderful memories of her, there just aren’t THAT many things I remember.

I do remember her staying with us in the summers while my parents worked. I remember her living on the west coast in the winters. I remember her making tea and letting my brother and I dunk the tea bag too many times as she reminded us she liked it pale. She never yelled though. She always laughed. Every single time.

I remember her sitting on the floor to play board games. I remember her letting me try to attach her garter to her stocking. I was fascinated by them and didn’t understand why she wouldn’t wear nylons like everyone else I knew. I never saw her in pants or a skirt. She always were a full slip under her dresses.

My Aunt Bea took a nap every day. She worked as a bookkeeper before she retired. She never married. Never had children. She was more a Grandmother to me than my real Grandmother. She was 20 years older than my dad. She was 65 when I was born.

Beatrice Higgins knit matching sweaters for my dolls and I. Purple cardigan with alphabet letters on the border. Fuzzy dogs & doghouses for my brother. Matching hats that always had a pompon on top. Blankets and scarves and mittens.

She was a knitting machine who donated millions of baby blankets to church bazaars even when she first went into the nursing home and could barely see or hold the knitting needles.

I have one blanket she made for my oldest. I think she was sure I’d have a girl. I think we all thought he’d be a girl. I still have the little coral blanket she knit wrapped in plastic, waiting for a girl to be born into the family. She also knit a delicate white sweater with blue trim. She knit it as soon as he was born. I have pictures of him in it. I’ll have to go find them.

I didn’t intend this to be a tribute to her… but I’m glad I finally did it. Aunt Bea, I miss you.

Yes, the big storm is over but today we got another SIX inches and it’s STILL snowing. I really don’t mind but I did take some photos when I went out to pick up Zach at school (around noonish). It seems to be a long time since we’ve had this much snow.



My house

Close-up of the upstairs bathroom window

View down my street





• see it/close it

Well, I did it again. I exercised. Instead of beginning yoga I moved on to beginning pilates. Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything.

I was getting bored with the same hour of yoga over and over (a whole three times) and thought I’d try my new pilates DVD. Let’s just say it started out easy. And then… and then I thought my hips were going to ignite. My legs were shaking. I thought they would fly out of the sockets and clatter to the floor a few feet away. I expect not to be able to crawl out of bed tomorrow.

So once again you all find out how sad I am. Sad, sad, sad. The other problem I have with pilates? (Even when I was in the best shape of my life a couple years ago) I can not do a roll-up. Does anyone else out there do pilates? A roll-up for those of you who don’t is much like a sit-up. You lie flat on your back with your arms over your head and roll-up to touch your feet. (Hence the name roll-up.) I can’t get more than my shoulders off the floor. WHY? Does anyone know if I could blame this on FOUR c-sections? Could it be all the scar tissue? Could it be the fact they cut my abdomen FOUR times? Please, tell me I’m not just a weak loser and have a good excuse. Please?

As for other types of exercise… Not for me. One, I hate to sweat. Two, I hate to jump around. Three, I like the whole ‘quiet the mind/concentrate on your breath’ of yoga and pilates. It really does help center me. Goofy, I know. But true. Besides, the coordination required is much less and I know if I keep doing it I won’t be flailing around so much as my ‘core’ gets stronger.

Could it be I’m actually starting to exercise regularly? So not me.