Spintall

You may wonder what that word is - it is a new season I witnessed today - Sp(ring)(w)int(er)(f)all. While mowing for the third "last time" I mowed through several patches of snow and then, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but forsythia and johnny jump-ups in bloom! How can all those things be happening at the same time? And the temperature was 56 degrees in late November in upstate NY.

While it was this warm, I put up the outside Christmas lights to be turned on at a later date. Cannot believe Christmas is just a month away.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a Christmas with family and friends.

The Wonders of Lake George

A Quote from Thomas Jefferson in a letter written to his daughter in 1791
"Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw...formed by a contour of mountains into a basin thirty-five miles long and from two to four miles broad...finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal and the mountain sides covered with rich groves of thuja, silver fir, white pine, aspen and paper birch down to the water edge...here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony...An abundance of speckled trout, salmon trout, bass, and other fish with which it is stored, have added to our amusements the sport of taking them.....

Follow the admiration of Thomas Jefferson and come to Country Life B&B for a visit with day trips to Lake George.

The British are Coming!!

We have had four sets of wonderful guests from England lately and each and every one has added to the richness of our lives. One of the men leaving today was actually one of the four finalists to be in the Soyuz program. (Spaceship) However, money ran out and he never made it.

The people just before them travelled the world and had a home in Florida to go to for English winters! They were taking the Queen Mary home directly after leaving our house - from NYC harbor to Southhampton, where my family and I landed in 1948 so my father could be the Operations Officer of the Berlin end of the Airlift.

Hurricane Irene

We do hope that all of our past and future guests had little or no inconvenience from this huurricane. We were fine here, but all of our guests left a day early and one cancelled a four day booking on Friday morning. One couple did not show up at all and we did not know it until morning.

The gardens and trees survived here but our creek was raging and overflowing. Richard took a video of it and the sound was loud and it was wonderful to see. The bridge over the creek was unharmed as were the tree swing and the deck.

We spend most of Sunday watching videos about ancient Rome or reading. It was a wonderful relaxing day for us.

The racing season will be over a week from today and we can catch a breather. It is an exciting time here in Saratoga - so much to do and see.

Heat Wave

Havin' a heat wave, a tropical heat wave - anybody remember that song or am I giving away my age??? Lordy it is hot, but we are staying cool inside with the AC. I do feel sorry for my gardens though - they are having a rough time.

July has been a busy month and we are loving it and looking forward to the racing season which starts tomorrow. A very exciting 6 weeks ahead.

Hope to get back here before too long, but I can't promise.

Mama and twins

Early this morning, as we returned from the gym, we saw a doe in the tall grass near our Saratoga B&B. She crouched down, so we figured she must have a fawn nearby. Sure enough, as we passed the end of the grass, there she was with twins. One was nursing. I wish I had had my camera. She was so beautiful. Oddly enough, one of the fawns was the first to run, followed by the doe and the other fawn.

It is beautiful here today, and my garden beckons. Out I go.

Garden fence

Today the fence around my vegetable and strawberry garden was finished - the swinging gate was the final touch. I hope that I have finally foiled the rabbits, moles and voles: we don't get deer or squirrels here. The last bit, tomorrow, will be the black netting across the top to keep out the birds.

We just love the warm days and cool nights, but that too will pass!! Hot August weather, which we had in May, will return. No problem. I will work in the gardens anyway.

Speaking of gardens, they are gorgeous right now, the iris in full bloom and the Sweet William too. We have a grandson named William, and he is sweet.

Fawn

I don't think there is anything more precious than a new fawn and its mother. Last night we were coming home from a party and saw a brand new fawn and its mother walking on our road. I did not want to frighten them, so I stopped the car and turned off the lights, hoping they would leave before someone came up behind me and hit us. The mother took off, but the baby stayed. Suddenly a car did come up behind us, saw us at the last minute, went around and then saw the fawn and avoided it as well!!! Then the mother came back and both went into the woods. A happy ending, but I was not sure that it would turn out that way.

Except for thunderstorms at night, the rain has finally stopped, though it is predicted each day this week - So far it has missed us. Our flower gardens are flourishing and so are the vegetables.

Rain, rain, go away

And then the rains came- non stop - the flowers love it, but so do the weeds!!. Trouble is, I can't seem to get out between the drops. Perhaps, today, when it is supposed to be cloudy, but only intermittent showers.

We have very interesting guests this weekend at our Saratoga B&B - they are all beekeepers and are here for classes. The talk around the table is animated and they are sharing stories and horror stories about beekeeping.

Mother Fox

Yesterday right after breakfast I saw a dark spot in our otherwise green field. I thought it was a groundhog, but after getting the binoculars, I discovered it was a female fox and her six kits - She was standing up nursing. I quickly got my camera and with the telephoto lens was able to get a couple of pictures. They are not good ones, but ok for Richard and me to look at. We have not seen a fox since the first year we lived here, 12 years ago so it was expecially delightful - we just kept watching, but she took off when I opened the door - I guess she could see me or hear me.

Windy weather

With time to garden, I want so much to do the spring clean-up before our guests arrive on Saturday, but the past three days have been too windy - as fast as I rake the leaves blow back into the beds. I had no idea that so many leaves covered the gardens - but they do help insulate the plants. I did make headway at the entry door, so not all is lost. Now that I have had a taste of getting my fingers dirty in the very cold soil, I want to be outside every day that I can. I love to garden. Our new stove, refrigerator and microwave oven are here - only the fridge has been installed. The rest tonight. Maybe I can use the excuse of no cooking access to get a night out!!! Still have the toaster oven, so I think we will just hunker down here. Learned something new from a guest who was using the micro - it had lost power-took 12 minutes to cook a potato!! So I went on-line, and sure enough, they do lose power and mine was from 1984. The new one should be a lot better and more efficient. I can't wait to get it hooked up. That is all for now. Will start washing windows instead of gardening and listen to my books on CD . I have an i-Pod that I take with me to the gym, the garden and while washing windows.

tiny signs of spring

The snow is finally gone and we can see the tulips and daffodils pushng up through the soil. There are signs of spring everywhere. The birds are chirping loudly and eating the seed as fast as we can get it into the feeders.

We have the Model A Woody Wagon ready to give our guests from Geneva, Switzerland a ride - the little 6 year old can hardly wait. Our B&B is so close to Saratoga Springs that the guests have taken the little boy to the Children's Museum there. It is a wonderful place for kids of all ages.

Tonight we are going to the opening of an art exhibit in nearby Schuylerville and last night we saw "Our Town" in the other direction in Cambridge. There is so much to do in this area. We are very happy here.

Time to run into Greenwich.

It is not over yet!!

As we sit here watching the snow coming down hard, having been kept awake in the night by "loud" snow, as my niece calls it, we wonder if it will ever end?

Although it is beautiful again, the new fluffy stuff covering the old brown, hard as a rock stuff, we are tired of shoveling and hiring the plow. This year we have been plowed more than the last 5 years combined. Even our Jeep did not want to go through some of the drifts across the driveway.

We had a day, yesterday, when we actually saw grass - I wonder if the snowdrops came up, but that part of the garden is still covered in piles of snow. We think the bulbs love being kept warm all winter, so there is a very positive side to all this.

More later- going to help Richard shovel the walkway to our Saratoga Bed and Breakfast.

When will it end

Finally I was able to get outside and trim back my raspberry bushes so that I can have raspberries next summer to serve my guests at my Saratoga B&B.

We had guests this week from just a bit north of here for a getaway weekend - they thought the two nights for $115 was a great deal and our Greenwich B&B will continue that price until the end of April, except for holidays and special events. Saratoga Springs is planning many nice activities for the rest of the winter and into spring. Dance Flurry is Washington's birthday weekend.

It is going to turn colder on Saturday and there is a chance of snow - when will the grass show through? I wonder if the snowdrops ever came up and are hiding out under all the snow.

Possum

Richard and I were watching TV last night when we heard a lot of noise in the garage - we thought it was our guests throwing away garbage, but it kept going on. I went out to check and the garage was a mess - bottles all over, garbage spilled and gardening things turned over. I finally saw a small possum on the wood pile. I quickly opened the overhead door and shut the door to the house.

All was quiet so we figured the little guy went out. In the morning I went back into the garage to clean up and while leaning over one of the recycle bins, I looked into a large cornflakes box and all curled up and probably alseep was that little guy. I picked up the box and put it out in a snowbank. Later in the morning Richard took it to the barn, still in the box where our little pet could stay warm and sleep.

Snow fall

What a beautiful day - friends are snow shoeing and cross country skiing on our property at www.countrylifebb.com. We are hoping to get to Saratoga or Lake George in the next couple of days to take some pictures of the snow and the lake.

We have some couples coming up from nearby New York City this weekend. Hope the snow lasts until then. I guess it should as it is only 4 degrees here today - 3 below last evening when we got home from seeing "Black Swan" we both liked it very much.

Finally recovered from our Christmas trip to Italy and am all fired up to greet new guests in 2011. As much as we loved being away, home is still the best.

Home from the holidays

We cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to be in Venice, Verona (for Christmas), Florence and southern Italy, Calabria for my special birthday and for New Year's Eve. Other than 6 days of rain, everything was perfect, especially being with dear friends (and our first b&b guests from 1982) who have retired from London to an idyllic spot overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. They even drove us to Sicily one day - fabulous. Took over 350 pictures and most are quite nice.