Thanksgiving 2010 (and Friday dog blogging)

This year, I journeyed to Princeton, NJ to spend Thanksgiving with a friend who was dogsitting. At 9:50 on Thursday morning I read a Facebook message from Frances Slade, conductor of Princeton Pro Musica, asking me to come to the 10 am rehearsal and sing the community Thanksgiving service at the Princeton University Chapel. Since we were in Princeton rather than Cranbury, I was only a few minutes late and got there toward the end of warmups.

This is the window with the party horns at the rear of the U Chapel.

There was a very short procession of religious, university and government people.

Eric Plutz was the organist. Those folks were the sopranos and, I think basses. Frances is barely visible in the lower left of the photo.

There was a solo handbell ringer at the service - Hyosang Park. She was excellent. I know you can't see her very well. Neither could I. She was accompanied by Akiko Hosaki on the piano.

This is Erasmus, our charge. He is a gorgeous, HUGE, ivory colored golden retriever.

We had a scary incident this morning just before I left. Erasmus has arthritis in his hips - he's 11, I think. The deck was wet and slippery and he lost his footing when he bounded out of the house ending up lying flat on his tummy with his back legs splayed out behind him. He wouldn't move. I massaged his legs and hips and rolled him over, back and forth then pulled his back end off the deck so he could stand more steadily and easily which he eventually did then went back into the house. We let him rest a bit then I took him out on the leash via the carpeted steps. He did his business and didn't want to come back in but I needed to get on the road. Nothing worse than a pet problem when the owners are away! And there was no way the two of us could have carried that dog. He is too large and too heavy. I called on the way home and she had walked him with success. Whew!

There was a little slush on my windshield after the Thanksgiving service. When I left this morning Princeton was warm and wet. On the way home, however, the rain and mist stopped and the last half of the journey was in chilly sunshine. This is one view I always look forward to on I-80 - what appears after a long downhill run between cliffs.

Other than the episode this morning, the brief vacation was good. Good food. Good company. Good traveling. Good dog. Good Thanksgiving.
And lots to be thankful for.

Nighttime 11.21.10

The moon was behind thin clouds tonight making trying to photograph it irresistible.

This is my neighbor's woodstove which heats their water and their house. The light illuminating the smoke is behind one of the trees on the right.

The third photo is the only one taken with flash on which is why they are a little blurry.

Friday cat blogging on Saturday

PuddyTat staked out a place under the feeders hoping for a protein supplement. There were some grey feathers scattered around so somebody must have caught a chickadee.

Dude watched Tom and LittleOne have a bit of a scuffle.

Lady watched too.

Jellico just watched me wondering if he should run.

Tim went about her own business.

LittleOne stretched out after the encounter with Tom.

Tom kept an eye on him.

Eventually they settled near each other.

Tim won't drink well water if there is rainwater pooled somewhere.

It was another lovely day in the neighborhood.

Sale at Holy Cross

The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross is having a rummage sale tomorrow - 13 November 2010, 9 till 4 or so. If you are in the neighborhood, check it out. Some really nice stuff and very reasonable prices.

Sunset

Friday shuffle

1. A Horse With No Name - America
2. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto #1, Allegro non troppo... - Richter, Karajan
3. A Groovy Kind of Love - Mindbenders
4. Callejon Del Muro (Minera) - Paco De Lucia
5. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
6. Cherished - Dusty Springfield
7. Phibbs: Rainland - Bach Choir Pittsburgh
8. Just a Little - Beau Brummels
9. On The Street Where You Live - Vic Damone
10. At The End - Leon Morris and Buzz Busby

This is November?

Shirley and I went walking today. This is a field up at the nature preserve near Linesville. You can't see it in this photo but there is a deer carcass in the field. We could see some birds on the carcass including a huge brown one but we couldn't see them well.

This is a closer view. Sorry I couldn't get a better photo. A lady with a huge telescope appeared and said it was an immature bald eagle and a couple of crows. Shirley had never seen an eagle before. We walked the nature path and found a bunch of people with telescopes watching when we got back. An adult eagle was on the carcass so the first lady let Shirley look thru her scope. There were more than a dozen other eagles, mostly young ones, in trees in the neighborhood. It was very exciting for Shirley. I enjoy seeing the eagles but see them often enough to not get excited.

Then we walked my neighborhood woods. This is the north entrance to our bay.

This is a pond north of our bay.

This is the view from what used to be a party cliff up the lake.

It certainly was a gorgeous day in the neighborhood, especially for mid November.

Miscellaneous photos

The snow I drove home in on Friday night between Conneaut Lake and Hartstown was still on the ground Sunday morning.

There was a bit of a traffic tieup on I-279 this morning. This was taken from the Giant Eagle parking lot. This line of headlights went all the way in town. The photo is embiggenable.

Meanwhile Tim was sunning herself. It was a beautiful day in the kingdom.

Clouds in the neighborhood on Election Day 2010

Saw these clouds on the way home from Curves so had to stop and take a photo.

Came home via the dam and took more photos. The dam is on the left. If you embiggen the photo you can see a car's headlights on the dam and a dot which was a fisherman in a boat.

This looks up the lake toward the yacht club bay from the east end of the dam. The island on the right is in the next two photos.

This is our bay which is behind the big island. If you embiggen the photo you should be able to see my neighbors' house. My house and barn are hidden by trees and brush.

Happy Halloween - dog blogging

From Bronnie's Dandy Dinmont Terriers. Cute, aren't they!

Friday shuffle

1. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
2. You're That Certain Someone - Warrior River Boys
3. 'Round Midnight - Scott Hamilton
4. Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head - B.J. Thomas
5. Montana Cowboy - Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
6. Rainy Night in Georgia - Brook Benton
7. Elgar: Yes, Cast me from the Heights of the Mountains - Finzi Singers
8. Bach, PDQ: Missa Hilarious, Gloria - PDQ Bach
9. Mozart: Requiem, Hostias - Bach Choir Pittsburgh
10. Sonny Boy - Jan Garber

Common sight but always just a little creepy

World's Cutest Grandniece and Grandnephew

On the occasion of his 4th birthday party.

Fall storm ahead

Friday cat blogging

Breakfast. All present except Dudie who was probably still snuggled up in the barn. This is Jellico. He lives in the barely visible box on the right.

Lady lives next door under their deck as far as we know. She's funny. When she comes to eat, she is very vocal and quite obviously demands to be fed.

Here are Tim, Tommie, PuddyTat and LittleOne.

Then, Jellico and LittleOne sleep it off.

Vote for our representative Kathy

We learned tonight that Kathy's opponent has no program, no knowledge of the issues, no interest in anything other than lowering taxes on business. Wonder who all is paying for his campaign.

It Gets Better

And the last one I'll add:

The neighborhood