31 December 2011

New Year's Eve Skyping with Rosie

This will be the last Skyping with Rosie for 2011.  She's still enjoying her Christmas presents.  First she modeled her newest hat.


































































































































Happy New Year Rosie - can't wait to see you in 2012!

25 December 2011

Merry Christmas !

Following up on yesterday's pictures, here are some more of family at Christmas, or enjoying some winter snow.

My Mom & Dad and Uncle Henry with Aunt Pat. Probably mid 1950's at our house on 2nd Avenue, Albany.

Dorothy (my Mom) and her sisters, Loretta & Ruth, on Stephen Street, Albany - 1925.

My sister, Karen with Cousin Doreen - 1945.

24 December 2011

Christmas Eve Miscellany

In the past couple of days I have received some totally unrelated pictures.  All are from different centuries but all are family.

Here's a picture of Meara's Mom, Mary Ann holding Rosie, and Meara's brother, Kevin, and my Gus.  Gus is holding a gift basket from Putnam's Market in Saratoga NY.  Gus worked at Putnam's when he & Meara started dating.  And Putnam's catered their wedding.  Every year I send a Putnam's basket to our West coast family.  

My sister sent this picture of our great-great grandparents, Herman and Minna.

Also from my sister.  Here are my cousins Joyce and Doreen, with me when I was 6, in the summer of 1959.

23 December 2011

Christmas Skyping with Rosie







Here's Rosie waiting to experience her first Christmas.  Rosie has a busy holiday schedule.  So we celebrated a couple of days early.  Now she'll be a pro on Christmas Day.









Her very first present - a Winkle.  Easy to hold and designed to help with all those new teeth.









Learning how to unwrap presents.








Happy smile!








Waiting patiently for the next present.









Looking for Gromma.








There's Gromma!






Slinky is enjoying her present. (Rosie is enjoying her fist.)




Rosie now has her own Christmas Bear.  Her Dad got one for his first Christmas.








Slinky wants to help unwrap too.









Hi Gromma!







Playing with her stacking rings - which Mom had just put back together.  Get used to it Mom.







Rosie got lots of books.  Including the 25th anniversary version of The Polar Express. Her Dad got the 1st edition for Christmas when he was 4.









The Winkle seems to be a favorite.








All in all a pretty good Christmas for Rosie.








But now she's ready for a nap.  Opening presents is pretty exhausting.








MERRY 
CHRISTMAS!!



19 December 2011

The Not-so-Lucky Rabbit's Foot

It was really cold for our walks this morning - 17 degrees at the house - colder in the field, I'm sure.  I was actually thrilled for the frigid temperature - all of the mud is completely frozen so I don't have to spend the whole walk trying not to fall on my butt in a mud puddle.  I added another layer for warmth and started the walk with Blackie who was also happy for a hard, fast surface to run on. He took off in a different direction and followed every smell to its end while I followed the trail to the top of the hill.  We both got to the top at the same time but I was looking straight back to the farthest point on that trail.  At the very back of the field, in the middle of the trail, were two coyotes.  One was standing and looking directly at me.  The other was such a light blonde color it looked more like a yellow lab - she was sitting behind the other and was also staring right at me.  After maybe 30 seconds Blackie looked up & started running at full speed down the trail.  The coyotes rather casually turned and ran into the woods.  Blackie followed but came back soon and we continued walking. Not far from where the coyotes had been I found a perfect rabbit's foot - newly separated from the rest of the poor bunny's leg.  Only if it were bright pink and attached to a key chain could it have looked more like a lucky rabbit's foot.  I went to the house, put Blackie in and got Lucy out for her walk.  Not long after getting into the field Lucy found the scene of the crime.  There was lots of bunny fur but no other bunny parts.  Except for a second  rabbit's foot - a perfect match for the first one I had found.  So I'm thinking that either those coyotes are very discerning eaters, or maybe it's bad luck to eat a lucky rabbit's foot.  

18 December 2011

Sunday Skyping with Rosie (but no pictures)

We Skyped today.  And Rosie was wonderful - very photogenic.  Sadly Skype was giving me problems and once 'fixed' I did not have access to the snapshot function.  So sad.  I'm hoping this is solved soon - especially before we Skype for Christmas.

16 December 2011

13 December 2011

Close Encounter of the Unpleasant Kind (or No Guts No Glory, Part 2)

Yesterday while walking with Blackie I was blithely singing along with my Ipod, just enjoying the cold but beautiful morning.  As I passed Dog Pond Hill I came upon something that made me scream, and that brought Blackie, who had taken a detour down the hill, immediately to my side.  What we found was a large, bloody mound of deer guts.  The day before had been the last day of gun season.  Apparently some lucky hunter got his final deer for the year.  And that lucky hunter decided to gut his kill right in the middle of my trail.  He left not only the complete insides of the deer but also his rubber gloves and some bloody paper towels.  This is really a violation of what little hunting etiquette exists.  Assuming it was one of our neighbors this is especially irksome - had he dragged the deer maybe 50 feet he would have been on his own land.  Had he even dragged it 20 feet the disgusting pile would have been down the hill and out of sight, out of mind.  Once Blackie realized my scream was not a call for help, he decided to investigate the remains. Fortunately Blackie is the good dog and when told, he left the pile behind and continued our walk.  Lucy, sweet but definitely not the good dog of the two, was much harder to convince when it was her turn to walk.  If there was any alternative I would have taken a different route with Lucy but this year the field trails are the only option.  So getting Lucy to move on made for a less than enjoyable 2nd walk of the day.  The only blessing was the freezing weather - less to smell and therefore less appealing.  Today the pile was completely frozen so both Blackie and Lucy left the gut pile with little reprimand.  I can only hope that the coyotes take care of this problem before there's a thaw.    

Just Woke Up & Feeling Fine!

11 December 2011

Sunday Skyping with Rosie

Rosie was amazing today.  Tomorrow she will be 5 months old and she has changed so much since just last week.  Last week she sat up on her own for the first time - today she was sitting like she invented the position.  She started out very intently and solemnly, looking at me on the screen.  Then it was almost as if she figured it out.  She chattered on and on between giggles.  I could not stop snapping pictures and I can't choose just a few - so here are lots of Rosie pictures - it's almost like one of those books you flip thru to make the pictures 'move'.  Please notice that dad dressed her today - hence the turkey shirt and the cow leggins.  Pretty girl.  And, in case Santa is watching, Rosie can be seen playing with her current favorite toy - a Tofutti container.

BYE Rosie!  Have fun helping Mom and Dad decorate the tree.  Gromma can't wait til next week.