Best Life

 Happy New Year!  We are so blessed to be able to celebrate with many loved ones.  (Feel better Scott and Rebecca!)                                             Megan, Memere, me, Maddy, Kevin, Isis                                                                  Dan, Kim, Don, Paul, Peter, TJ                                                                                Brianna And here I am reminded of the phrase - :Dance...

 Happy birthday Paul!  May the year bring you lots of adventures and happiness!  May you find that "Happy Medium" of being retired but never bored.  Love you! 💓           Today we succeeded in closing the house without Fenway being aware.  His tendency to whine and cry when he discovers we are packing the car and closing the house - intolerable.  So this morning we waited until the last minute to dress while taking turns sitting on the couch pretending it was a typical morning.  He ate breakfast well and then when I took him out to do his thing - put him right in the warm car.  We were ready to leave and he was happy!  Not a whine the whole way home! It was bitter cold in the low single digits.  The wind snapping the frozen, iced branches.  The roads though plowed, still harbored icy slush.  Knowing we would not be back until warmer weather, I made sure to breathe deep and take some of the "Maine ...

 Freezing rain and sleet that began at 3am and lasted most of the day.  We managed a very fast paced walk that ended with our being drenched.  Walking on the icy road - challenging but a great sweaty workout!  And after nice hot showers - we had hot towels!!!                                                            Blueberry Hill Farm pond I gave Paul a haircut, did some reading, lost at cribbage and dumped another pile of photos onto my laptop - 2001 to 2004.  What I found - the boys did a lot of sleeping!  A LOT!  There are no pictures of Megan sleeping - not surprising!                                                    ...

  Our walk today started as soon as Paul felt the Patriots would not lose their significant lead and we could miss the end of the game.  Cold but not bitterly cold.  A rip roaring 23 degrees with no wind made the walk very pleasant. Trekking through the yard path I found many prints of different animals using the path as their "highway".  They have even started using Scott's bridge to cross the frozen stream. In just two weeks I have managed to cull about 2000 pictures from my archives.  Presently the number is 45,000 +.  My goal - unknown.  Once I remove the duplicates, the children that are not related or no longer identifiable and the blurred and icky pictures - I guess I will reassess.  Is 10,000 reasonable?  It still seems like too many.  Anyway, the project keeps me busy.  I can weed while watching movies or riding in the car. Today's photo picks come from my Wallum Lake folder.  A favorite destination of ours for many ye...

 A lazy, quiet day.  Cribbage - Paul won again so I am thinking it is time to "take the bumpers off".  Reading - CJ Box - loving it!  A long, hot shower with towels that felt like heaven coming out of the new warmer!  Yoga - always feels good.  I hung a few new pictures.  A movie - Weekend at Bernie's - still silly enough to entertain.  Cards with Don and Kim.  Continental - Don won.  Phase 10 - I finally won.  Simple tasks that seem perfect after the chaos of the holidays. December 27, 2015;                                                                 Gypsy and Fenway enjoying the snow.                                       ...

 We have returned to Rangeley and the single digit temperatures!  Traffic was minimal, our stops were short and we arrived mid afternoon.  Paul immediately fixed the well pump switch and water line valves so we could turn the water back on sooner rather than later.  The temp on arrival - 4!  But the house warmed up quickly, the pipes were intact (I forgot to open bathroom sink and tub faucets!) and we enjoyed tuna steaks for dinner.   We played Cribbage on our new board (Paul won).                                                                 Thank you Rebecca and Scott! Our new towel warmer works great!                                         ...

 Merry Christmas!  Paul and I spent the day in the least stressful, most pleasant and blessed way.  Church with Scott and Rebecca - perfect start.  Breakfast by TJ with Megan and Brianna - yum!  An early afternoon nap.  A visit with Mom, Karen and Alan and briefly with Layla.  Back to Megan's to feed all the animals dinner - both horses, both dogs and the cat.  A final clean up of Christmas Eve festivities.  Back to Kevin and Isis' to dog sit, relax and watch a movie.  All serene and low key - priceless. A beautiful sunset: Thank you Nick for posting this picture on social media.  Too cute!                                                                                       ...