Rumblings around the house

While C and I were at the spa, there was a lot of digging around the house. I had some landscaping done. I hope everybody likes the results. I love them.

Hardscape materials piled up on the drive.


The guys in back, hard at work. They moved an entire hillside by hand using nothing but shovels and wheelbarrows.


The front yard afterwards.

The sideyard, afterwards. The bushes will grow up and hide the utilities.


There are more pictures HERE

Another Birthday Trip

C's Birthday is almost exactly a month after mine. This time, I took him to Keswick Hall. It's a wonderful manor house that has been converted into a spa and hotel. Nearby, are multimillion dollar estates. Sissie Spacek and Robert Duvall have houses in the area. A nearby horse farm is up for grabs at a measly 15 million dollars. The area is near Charlottesville, VA and is so serene. To the east, there are rolling hills and manicured horse farms. To the west, are the foothills of the Shenandoahs.

Keswick Hall from the foot of the drive.

The rolling hills of Virginia. This is a view from the patio area.



A view of the infinity pool.

The place is gorgeous and the service is impeccable. We had a wonderful dinner. The next day, we went to the spa for massages.

Birthday Trip

For my birthday, C took me to the Shenandoahs. We spent 3 days at the Big Meadows Lodge. We had some wonderful meals in the dining room. We took a 10 mile hike down to Hoover's old summer retreat. The weather was cool and luscious. It was a much needed break from the heat and work that have both been excessive this summer.

Lovely Big Meadows Lodge in Shenandoah National Park.





The lodge had a fabulous "Great Room" with a huge fireplace and windows looking out over the valley. In the evenings, guests hang out here playing board games, reading, putting together puzzles and generally enjoying the non-electrifiedness of it all.
The fireplace in the Great Room was made from native limestone.

The veranda outside the dining room. It looks out over the valley.
Over the valley at sunset from the veranda. After dark, it was even more spectacular with the stars overhead and the lights from the little towns in the valley.

The cuteness of being Zoe

How could one possibly resist such cuteness? In the middle picture, she is asleep in the awesome plushy kitty tent my mom whipped up for me. Thanks, Mom!

Let me introduce you

Welcome and please say hello to the newest member of the family. I picked her up at the SPCA offices today. Her name is Zoe. Pronounced like Joey with a Z. It does not rhyme with toe. She's 3 1/2 months and was found as a stray shortly after birth with her 3 siblings. She is very siamese looking in her build and was originally described as a lilac siamese, but her points are starting to darken up and she has a very subtle stripe in her main coat. Sort of an off-white on cream sort of thing. She is still pretty freaked out about the big move to her new home, but is exploring and playing and being very kitten like already.

Flowers in the garden

Siloam Virginia Henson

Royal Mountie.

It has been forever since I posted for all my nonexistent viewers. It rained for about a week here in Virginia, otherwise it has been too hot and humid to go outside, much less move and breathe once you get there. I did sneak out way early in the morning when it is half a degree cooler to snap some pictures of my daylilies in the side yard. The first two were planted in the fall last year. In the intervening time, I have lost their little nametags and have no idea what their names are. I smartened up with the last two. I'm keeping a book with all the changes in my garden and I'm remembering to record what and when I plant things.

Otherwise, I've been too busy with work to make any progress with the inside of the house. Last weekend, C and I went to the National Theater in D.C. to see Spamalot. If you are a fan of Monty Python, I highly recommend tracking down tickets so you can see it. Lots of hilarious fun.

April showers.

We had a recent rainstorm. Double rainbow appeared across the street with a weird combination of super-dark clouds and glowing sunset. Later, I ran outside and tested my new flash on some lovely daffodils.

We all scream for ice cream

We had a gorgeous weekend full of warm breezes and sunshine. Sunday was the perfect day to head to Bruster's and eat ice cream in the sun. This is a peanut butter cup. Vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, peanut butter sauce, Reese's peanut butter cups, whipped cream, and a cherry. Definitely not for the faint of heart. After this one, I won't need another for a very long time. Very very yummy!

Amusement with my email name

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New door

I've finally gotten around to taking down my autumn wreath that I put up in October. Yes, I know it's March. Somehow I skipped over Christmas this year. I hit the craft store today and this is what I came up with. It's a nice mix of tulips, daffodils, and iris.

Spring blooms eternal

It's been an incredibly warm winter. After the wintry blast of Prague, I came home to some early spring bulbs in bloom. What a great welcome home.

Fall pansies merging with spring crocus.

Daffodils in bloom.

A close up of a crocus

Prague

Prague was more than just a little bit cold. It was sleeting, snowing, raining and windy cold. I have a pretty decent case of wind burn on my face from all the cold and walking around in it that we did. However, we had a great time and saw a lot of the city. Pictures will be coming soon.

Yes, I know it's almost March!

Astrid was just giving me a hard time for not posting any new picture lately. Sorry, folks, there hasn't been too much exciting going on. I'm sure nobody wants to see pictures of my dead, forlorn winter garden. There's hasn't been any decorating going on in the inside either. C. leaves for Prague this Saturday. I'll be following him a week later. We'll have a week to run around the Czech Republic. Hopefully, lots of interesting photos to post after that.

In more recent news, give a shout to my good friends, Mark and Astrid. Hopefully, they will have a new addition to their family today or tomorrow.