For Sale Delights and Aggravations

Good Morning. It's sunny. Two days in a row. Whoohoo! It does a body good to see the sun, and while I know that phrase sounds like something my grandma would say, it's true. We haven't had nearly enough sunny days this winter so I'm feeling extra grateful today. A snowy yard is prettier bathed in sunlight.

We do still have a snowy yard. ahem.

The hubs and I have bought and sold houses a number of times, so we know the drill. It's a painful but necessary process, the selling part anyway. You get every nook and cranny of your home, yard, and even the garage, shiny sparkling clean, and in that state it must remain forever and ever amen. Of course there's only so much we can do to 'spruce up the yard' just now, but we do keep the driveway plowed, the front porch and walkways cleared, and the steps free of ice which is no small thing.

My house is always pretty clean, sale or no sale. There's just the two of us here for the most part, so while 'stuff' doesn't accumulate, the furniture still somehow manages to collect dust, and the floors still need vacuuming, and every bit of personal needs to remain out of sight.

Oh, and we have a dog. A sweet, gentle, lovable old dog who must be contained whenever potential buyers are here. What that means is we're spending a lot of time in the car because it's WINTER and too cold to hang out of doors for very long.

Until yesterday. Yesterday was glorious...a whopping 40 degrees, which I know sounds downright chilly to some of you reading here, but for those of us in the northeast 40 is a temperature worth celebrating. Even a windy 40 degrees could not dampen our enthusiasm for the big yellow ball overhead. Our realtor hosted an open house which meant we needed to be out for about three hours, so we did what anyone in our situation would do-

Snow picnic. Check out the bench....there's nowhere to put your legs because of all the SNOW, but we didn't even care because sunshine and the great outdoors! How we've missed you!

For the record our pup loves the snow. She's sporting her very stylish booties, and hubs did put a blanket down for her to lay on, but she prefers the snow. She is not a fan of heat, so winter is her favorite time of year.

The lake was frozen solid making for a stunning view. We trudged walked for a while, and I have to say, it does feel a little daring to be on the lake.

We saw ice fishermen, snowmobilers, and cross country skiers all smiling, happy to be out enjoying the beauty of a winter's day.

That's my super model.
Too cool for the camera.

Or distracted by a flyaway plastic bag, you decide.

We lasted the whole three hours, although at one point I might have been wrapped up like a mummy in two blankets. It's not easy walking in deep snow, but we didn't even care. It felt so good to be outside, moving. So good to feel the sun on my face. So good to remember that in spite of how it's felt some days, winter never lasts forever.

"How many lessons of faith and beauty should we lose, if there were no winter in our year?" ~Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Rock the Boat, Don't Rock the Boat Baby...

It seems I've dropped the blog ball in recent weeks. I throw up a post on Mondays, get the Hodgepodge out there on Wednesdays, then disappear.  Suddenly Monday rolls back around and I'm left wondering where the time went?  In my defense I'm still writing, but my words are mostly going into a project seperate from my blog.  I think you know I always have plenty of words, just not enough hours in the day.

Besides all that, autumn has landed on the great northeast and it is lovely. I need to be outside, not squirreled away inside my office. Winter is just around the corner and if the number of acorns are anything to go by, it will be a doozy. Hubs and I joke that our big tree out front is like a scene from a Disney movie. Deer, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, groundhogs, and who knows what else, all dine happily together under its limbs. They're definitely storing up for something!

So the weekend...lots of fun. I'll do you the favor of making it two posts. You're welcome. There's a state park not too far from here with a beautiful lake and great hiking trails. I've been saying I wanted to get out on the water and see what's beyond the shore, so on Saturday we did just that.

Our pup loves walking in the woods here and was surprised when we headed toward the boathouse instead of the trail. Getting her into the canoe and settled was a little tricky. Also, keeping the boat upright while she chased her tail? More than a little tricky. She needed to sit left...no she needed to sit right....no she needed to sit left...you get the idea.

I love to canoe but this was my first time with a 65 pound dog and an expensive camera in tow. It was such a pretty day,  although it did feel like as soon as we got started a breeze kicked up.  Sounds super fun so far, doesn't it?

It was.
Once everyone settled down anyway.

By everyone I mean me, not the pup.  She continued to shift positions and fake like she was going over the side the entire hour.

We ate lunch on a picnic table by the water then made Dixie happy by heading out onto the trail. We took a different route this time and stumbled across a dam-

We've been here many times and had never seen this bit before...so pretty!

Course the hubs always needs to get off the path and into 'the danger zone' which forces me to say ridiculous things like, 'If you fall, I'm not coming in after you.'

Right.  Like I'd be of any real help if he went down the rushing rocky drop.
Little boys see rocks in the water and feel the need to leap across them.
Some things they never outgrow.

My photo doesn't capture how steep the drop really is...

I love the light in autumn...

The leaves are just beginning to turn and the color is gorgeous...

The highlight of the day for our pup occurred just as we were leaving...

She spied a big fat groundhog near the overturned rowboats and went into stealth mode....

The groundhog got wise and disappeared, but Dixie is nothing if not relentless once she's got the scent....

Going in for the kill...

No need to look away. As is the case with every groundhog she stalks, this one made his escape underground, and spoiled all her fun.   

Well, maybe not all her fun...

She still got a walk in the woods with her favorite people on a beautiful autumn day.

A Walk in the Woods

The weather last weekend was absolutely gorgeous so hubs and I decided to get out and enjoy it. We donned hiking boots and warm coats and we loaded up the dog and some water and some snacks and headed to one of our favorite State Parks-Waywayanda. Who else likes saying that word?

It was a perfect day.

We walked.

We talked.

We sat.

We looked.

We listened.

We thought.

And we both agreed that we need to be outdoors more.

Do you know what else I wanted to do?

I wanted to sing.

There is something about being in the middle of creation that just fills my heart up to overflowing and makes me want to burst into song. I don't (usually) but I did add some music to a few of our photos which makes me very happy.

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

music-David Crowder Band: Everything Glorious

True Colors

Is anyone tired of seeing pictures of the gorgeous fall colors?

I thought not.

Last weekend we rode out to

Waywayanda and I couldn't resist taking a few photos.

I wrote about Waywayanda in a post last winter and its absolutely beautiful in the fall too.

We had a picnic lunch sitting here which confirmed for me that sunlight hitting water is one of my favorite sights in all the world...

It was an unseasonably warm day and perfect for a walk through the woods...

being ever alert of course so as not to miss this...

or this...

or especially this...

The thing about fall color around here is that its everywhere.

The park was gorgeous but so is the color in my neighborhood...

and in my yard...

and from my family room couch...

'Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.' Elizabeth Lawrence

We went Waywayanda

Yesterday was so pretty...still lots of snow on the ground but the sun was shining and the sky was a bright clear blue. We drove over to a state park about 45 minutes from here known as Waywayanda. I love the name which essentially means the land of winding winding water. We lived in this corner of NJ about 20 years ago and when we were here before we used to take our girls to Waywayanda for picnics and to play on the playground and for walks around the lake.

Hello 1991.

We brought my in-laws here a few times too....Grandpa doesn't look much different today but Miss Sweetness went and grew up.

I'm not sure I ever saw much more than Waywayanda's beach back then because this child loved to dig in the sand and really, who could say no to this face?

We live a little further away now so a bit more of a drive but hey, we're empty nesters and we can do whatever we want. That's our motto. Technically not true but it kinda is.

Dixie wore her snow boots and was only a little bit embarrassed when we came upon some very sleek greyhounds who were roughing it in their bare paws. The lake is huge and it is frozen across.

At least I hope it is.

Thanks for the tip.

We saw some ice fishermen so we figured it was safe.

We didn't actually see them catch anything but they looked like they had fun with their toy auger.

Seriously. Thanks for the tip. We didn't see any bears today although Waywayanda is home to some of the best bear dens in NJ. We did see a horse. Not quite as impressive I know but Dixie loves horses and this one seemed to feel he'd found a kindred spirit.

His name is Primo and he is 25 years old. Did you know horses lived to be 25 and could still get out with a rider in the snow?

We also saw a few snowmobilers and some cross country skiers as we walked...definitely a day for being outdoors. We even stumbled across a little local history.

This enormous furnace was built in 1846 and was used to produce iron which was then used to make train wheels. There was also a flour mill on this site and later a butter and cheese factory. Too bad the cheese factory is gone. NJ gets a bad rap (thank you Jersey Shore, The Sopranos, and the view from the turnpike) but there is a lot of history packed into every corner of the Garden State.

Lots of beauty too.

And we don't have little girls at home to take to the park these days

but we do have this girl.

It helps.