Teddy Roosevelts House

It was a nice day today with a high of 42! It felt like spring time after the cold weather that we've been having. PJ and I decided to go for a spin in the MGB and take a ride up to Teddy Roosevelts house. But first, PJ had to check on something at work so we sent there first. I was sitting in the car when all of a sudden a goat goes walking by! It was so bizarre! By the time I got my camera out, the goat was almost out of sight. Very strange. PJ said he sees the goat every day.The track looks so different in the winter.
Off to Teddy's house. It was so nice riding with the top down. It was colder than we thought but it still felt so good to have the sun shinning on us.

The picture below is his house but I didn't take it. Notice the leaves on the trees! We sat in the rocking chairs waiting for the 3:00 tour. The conversations that the people around us should have been rated X! Everyone was talking about SEX! So strange! I actually commented to PJ asking if we're on Candid Camera or something!

While sitting in the chairs, a man was playing with his dog. It was so entertaining. This dog was very friendly and very well trained. Sit, back up, speak, go to the right, go to the left, lay down.... the dog instantly did it all! The man would throw the ball out into the field and the dog would fetch it and put it next to the mans feet. The man would throw it 30 feet in the air and the dog 100% of the times, caught it in his mouth!

The tour was ok. The guide was like listening to Steve Erkel. I stopped listening after a while. It was fun to do something different though.

The ride home was cold and fast! No side roads... just get on the main roads and get home to warm up!

Gardening Gone Wild 'GENIUS LOCI' contest

February's theme for the Gardening Gone Wild Photo contest http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=15788 is What is your 'GENIUS LOCI'?

I was a bit confused by that term but this, written by the judge, Andrea Jones, explains it better.

What is YOUR special place? Please try and capture it with your camera and show me…

It can be the view of your garden out of your bedroom window – or of your favorite garden visited while on vacation. Anywhere that you feel especially drawn to. Just try and capture the ‘spirit’ of the place. It does not have to be and early morning shot – it could be an urban garden heaving with visitors. But just one shot that you feel captures the‘GENIUS LOCI’ – the ‘special atmosphere of a place’.

Your favourite space may be an urban garden buzzing with people – then try and capture need that buzz. It might be a garden at night so thenphotograph it in the moonlight. If it’s a quiet peaceful private space then I want to hear the silence.

It’s your personal interpretation of one of your favourite oudoor spaces. Your special place photographed in such as way to show what you love most about it.

This was quite a tough theme. I thought of so many places that I just love, Jones beach, Mimm's Garden on the Cornell campus, Planting Fields Arboretum... but one place kept coming to my mind as my 'special place'. It is Sunset Park in Cayuga Heights. This park is owned by the Town of Cayuga Heights. It is a small overlook that was made in the middle of a neighborhood so that everyone can share in the beauty of the landscape that overlooks Cayuga Lake. It is most beautiful at sunset. PJ and I sit on the brick wall watching the sunset while we talk about our dreams for the future. It's a very calming place to just reflect on life. It will always be my 'Genius Loci'!

PJ decided that today was a good day to go through his coins and perhaps sell some. The price of gold and silver is so high now, we'd be stupid not to. He has TONS of coins... well, the kids do actually. My father bought them proof sets etc for Christmas every year. But PJ did have a nice stash that he started collecting from when he was a paper boy in the early '60's. It actually seemed like an endless supply stashed in different closets, drawers etc. I said, let me get the bag from the closet. That ended up being Alyssa's jewelry from my mother. Then PJ went through his night table drawer and found a ziplock bag with rings and a watch. He said "this must have been from your Mother or Grandmother" I said that I've never seen them in my life! We figured that they were from one of the auctions that we had won.

This ring I thought was beautiful but soooo small. It's 14K gold and I would think real diamonds.

Then there were these 3 wedding rings, all 14K gold. They were HEAVY!
This was really ugly, but it's 18K gold and I would assume real diamonds.
This was 14K with a diamond
This watch said 14K and has purple stones on it which I don't have a clue what they are.
We thought we hit the mother load and were eager to sell them, especially the heavy one. We showed them to Alyssa and she was able to read the inscription in them. Well we're not selling them! They're PJ's Grandparents rings!!!

OH well.

We ended up with a WHOPPING 14+"!!! I heard a few people say that mid week next week, we're in for another storm, bigger than this one!!!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

What a beautiful sight to wake up to this morning. It truly is a Winter Wonderland! I haven't been outside yet, other than on my stoop to take the pictures, but I would guess that we got about a foot of snow!

The 2 cars in the driveway or are they giant marshmallows?
You don't realize just how many wires surround your house because they are up high, camouflaged by the trees. The snow has brought them way too low!


Puffy snow!
This is our Christmas tree. It was such a nice tree, we decided to stand it up in the garden for a while instead of throwing it out. Still looks fresh under all of that snow!
The firepit



I guess it will be time to get outside and shovel soon. Naaah. I'll wait a while!

On my way home from work today, I decided to stop and take some pictures of Twin Lakes. It was so pretty with all of the newly fallen snow from the afternoon. We're expecting a snow storm overnight.

It's hard to see but there's a bunch of ducks or geese way out there on the ice.

I just liked that log
The southern lake of Twin Lakes

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Gardening Gone Wild Macro in a Jar contest entry

I have decided on which picture I would enter into the Gardening Gone Wild January Photo contest. The theme is "Macro in a Jar".

This months theme was a lot of fun. Getting out in the snow to take some of the pictures, well, my neighbors thought I was crazy! I am!

Macro in a Mason Jar

Today is a day off from work. I had gotten an email from a blog that I frequent with his pictures that he was considering entering into the Gardening Gone Wild Photo Contest.
http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=15262#more-15262
The theme for January is "Macro in a Mason Jar". I had tried this over the summer when they first had that theme and it was actually a lot of fun. I had to give it a whirl again.
Being that it's freezing here, there are no flowers in the garden. I decided to use a cyclamen that PJ grew in the greenhouse for me. I'm sure he wouldn't be happy to know that I cut off a few of the flowers for the sake of a photo contest!
I took some pictures inside and then bundled up to take some outside... in the snow! I even put snow into the jars in some of the pictures but it's hard to tell.
I'm leaning towards entering the photo labeled "A". Thoughts?


A
B
C

D
E
F

G
H

One of the fathers down the other end of my block were building a snowman yesterday. He had about 10 little kids that live all around him helping out with the snowman. As PJ and I passed, seeing them having so much fun made us miss when our kids were small.
Later on in the day, the sign went up!!! I love it! What a great sense of humor!

HAPPY 1-1-11 !!

What a beautiful day in New York. We still have tons of snow piled up and on the lawns but check out the temperature IN THE SHADE of my back yard!!! Just a GREAT way to start the new year!!!