There is a lot to do to get the boats ready. Here is Anna in her life preserver. This was the first time ever that she JUMPED INTO the boat when it was all set up. Our favorite spot to stop and get out. Chris is climbed right up to the top of this tree to take photos! Anna waits in the boat with Gary, she is not ready for a break yet. Here are Chris and Dan in kayaks on the lake, just one day before Dan has to go back to school. It was perfect weather, not too hot to bring a furry dog along. Actually cool and breezy. And it got more windy as we went along, making it hard to row and paddle to the other side of the lake. (that's when I put the camera away and just paddle) Back at the house, we spent the next day cleaning and doing laundry. Anna doesn't mind much at all.
The new cows are here, away at "summer camp" from Blythdale Farms just down the road. On the left is Ferdinand the Bull, (really an ox) and then Honalulu and her cousin Hibiscus, and old Laura. There are a few more too. They keep the pasture from turning to forest, and we enjoy their antics and photo ops. Here we are with our Florida visitors. On het left is Dan visiting from Dartmouth College nearby, Me (Suzanne) and Gary, then Rob and Shanti from Florida, and Jimmy from Massachusetts. Gary, Rob and Jimmy all went to highschool together. No visit to Vermont is compete without a stream walk, right in the stream. Jim and Suzanne and Anna met them here at the Meadowstream, while Gary, Dan, Rob, Shanti, and Chris (not in picture) took the long way from Ginny's Culvert up to this section of the stream. It was a nice hot sunny day, but the water was cold. Chris (below) demonstrates how to use the nice therapeutic clay found in the stream bed. Anna's stream walk consists of being carried across to this spot. Suzanne brought the chair and other art supplies to paint "en plein air" but Dan gets sit a minute before they continue on the walk upstream. Below, Suzanne starts off a painting, and takes some pictures to finish it later in the studio. Anna is glad to be back on dry ground. She sits in the shade with Shanti while some of the guys play bocce in the yard. Later on, Jimmy mows the whole yard and it would have been a great bocce court, but the visitors had a plane to catch. The other news is that the cute little nest of Phoebes finally fledged (flew off) so we could use the front door once again. See how they are ready to go, in the picture below, out of the nest? They left right after Jimmy (driving) and Rob and Shanti took off for CT in the Honda Odyssey Van. One by one they disappeared into the woods. The Coopers Hawks have been active in the yard all winter. They get squirrels, and some birds, especially doves. I did not know they could get goldfish until one went missing. It's hard to miss a bright orange fish in a 8 foot by 10 foot pond. The two fish were about 7 and 8 inches long. Now there is just one fish, and a leftover minnow that is hard to see. But that is another story. So I looked up about Coopers Hawks, and Yes, other people have seen them take goldfish right out of small landscape ponds. (Photo of the Hawk is from the internet. We have 2 that perch above the pond in a tall pine tree.) We put the leaf net from our pool cover over the pond. There is still room to get in and out, but I figure the hawks want room to fly and not get tangled in this net. So far it has worked! The 3 new tiny fish are in the middle pond, since I could clean that out easily. They get a trellis cover, and hope they are just not worth getting. They also have some new plants to hide under. These fish seem small, but all our goldfish started out as "feeder fish" and over the years got very big. Come on Anna, get in the picture. We are getting ready to go visiting another family in Vermont. They are finishing up their sugaring tonight, and we are invited for dinner. OK, I'm in the picture, but I am kind of worried. Other families have dogs. But I like car rides, so lets go. Well this is a nice old house like ours. And I don't see any dogs. OK so far. (This is a farmhouse that a friend of Chris' parents have. It is a place the family meets and does sugaring and has gatherings. All 3 of their kids went to Dartmouth, and the parents as well.) Chris says we have to walk past all these barns in the back to go to where they are sugaring. I like walks, and I don't see any dogs yet. We must be getting closer, this looks like maple sugar things. Is that a DOG or a small horse? And why is his name Gunner... This does not look good. Don't tell me to smile for the camera, mom, I am not happy about this. But at least I am on top of the situation, and that dog is on a leash. When do we eat? Now I'm happy. Anna happily volunteered to test out Dan's new car. The seats are comfortable, and have a nice texture so she doesn't slide off. Really, she usually rides in the back. There is a lot of room here for a tall person, but hard for a small dog to even see over the dashboard! Ok, I am ready to go to the store and get food for the next snowstorm. Don't forget the dog cookies and chew sticks. We are so glad this car is 4 wheel drive too, good for the Hanover to Corinth drive in winter.
Anna was very excited to go on a Vermont Ski Weekend. Anna gets to see her boys Chris and Dan from college, and somebody new too. That means more attention for Anna. Here are Chris, Jamie, and Dan in the background. Jamie is a downhill skier, and is going to try cross country skiing for the first time. Dan is going to go with them too. (we didn't follow with a camera, the report was that she did great!) We tried hiking across the street and up the hill, but the snow was not good for Anna. She stayed on top part of the time, then sank in up to her tummy. See this look? She is saying, let' go on the roads. Anna hiked a long way down the Maplewood Road, and all the way up to the estate on the top of the hill. There are Dan and Gary admiring the view. The white houses and red barns are pretty new, but made to look like authentic Vermont buildings that had been here for a long time. From up here we can see our Vermont house in the distance. Time to hike back and get some dinner going!
Anna likes winter, she even likes walking in the snow. (not so for puddles) Now it's time to go to work. We have to go up the street and walk her friend Zack. Zack is inside all day unless we get him out to play ball. He loses so many tennis balls that he got a whole new box! Zack loves to get the ball in his yard. Usually Anna just watches, but sometimes she tries to get the ball too. Then Zack forgets about the ball and just chases Anna. It's good exercise for both of them!
Here is Anna in the new Honda Odyssey Van. There is so much room, we even brought up a dresser in the back. We go up there to see Chris and Dan, but they sometimes go off on hikes on their own. Here they are coming back from the copper mine hike. It was too far for Anna and me to go. Suzanne decided she needed some good pictures to paint, and we are all tired of seeing pictures of the cows. But they do look nice here by the old apple tree... So off we go on a hike to the Clement Loop once again, hoping to get some great photos for fall paintings.
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Welcome to Suzanne's Pictures, Pets and Places!This is where you can see our travel photos, New England adventures, and even our adorable pets. Categories |