Some cool ice ( pardon the pun)

It has been cold here for a while. Salmon Falls in the village of Shelburne Falls is one of the "scenic attractions" in these parts. Here are some photos of what it looks like now. In warmer and drier weather the multicolored rocks currently covered with ice and water,with their large number of potholes, are also pretty impressive.

Some real progress at last

I must admit I am satisfied out of all proportion to the actual accomplishment. After one month of practice making joints and about three weeks of shaping and cutting and fitting and gluing,  I now have assembled one lattice work door.

There are twenty individually cut and trimmed pieces of molding, fourteen hand cut mortise and tenon joints, and twenty other glue joints on this door. Now, to complete this door all I have to do is scrape off the glue, level the back, mortise in three hinges, mortise in the catches, drill a hole for the handle, cut 44 thin strips to hold the glass, get the glass cut, stain the strips  and lattice interiors, apply a finish, and install it.  ... and then there is the other door.

Why on earth did I ever get started on this?

Cards for Ms. Taavoste

As some of you may have heard, Mrs Taavoste, one of the best math teachers Ridge was lucky to have, had a stroke a couple of weeks ago. She has made great strides in her recovery and is continuing with her therapy at Kessler Institute. The address is:

Patty Taavoste
Kessler Institute
201 Pheasant Hill Road
Room 202
Chester, NJ 07930 or at her home 

57 High Pond Lane
Bedminster NJ 07920

I am sure she would love to hear from her students and colleagues.

A little bit of envy?

It's great to see so many of you having such great adventures during your college years. I spent my winters on the upper west side and my summers pushing clothes around Lord and Taylor's; with the occasional escape to the Adirondacks.

Nothing Special

We had our second light snow of the last two weeks. It makes everything look nice but it is too shallow for snowshoeing or cross country skiing. It seems I'd have to go to New Jersey to see some real snow. It seems a shame to waste all this cold weather on just walking.

In the mean time I am making slow progress on the lattice work for the china cabinet doors and getting some nice local walks and the occasional concert in. Hope to post pictures of the [nearly... make that partially] completed cabinet doors soon.

Some News from Daniel

Daniel, our younger son, has just become one of the conveners for the Physics Group working on the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment. He generally does pretty well without my advice.

MidJanuary ( or is it April) Post

Not too much to post from here. Mixed weather. Some walking. Some furniture making, some house repairs. We got a tiled backsplash installed in the kitchen. Jean would not let me try to do it, so we actually had a professional in the house.

Went to a woodworking show.

Went to a concert performance of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream with the Hartford Symphony playing Mendelsohns' Incidental Music for the play. Both the play and the music were truly delightful. Please patronize the live performing arts wherever you are. Our cultural heritage should be preserved and talented performers need and deserve support.

New Year Tidbits

Yesterday was pretty cool and somewhat busy up here. I discovered three things I hope not to have to do in below zero conditions again. 1) Unload a not very portable ( 250 lb) generator 2) Change a flat tire 3) Pump up the just installed spare.

Today was a great day for walking and snowshoeing; partly due to the sunny weather, partly due to the fresh snow, and partly due to my cold finally easing up a bit. Let me know if you want me to post more photos or if you have had enough of local scenery.

A wise choice... for a change

We chose to come home last night. While I hated to cancel seeing folks in Basking Ridge, it looks like we made the right decision. We'd be getting near home about this time and there are about six inches of fresh snow down, the roads are very slippery - it took me three tries to turn from Route 9 on to Route 112- and the visibility is going from bad to worse. Also, my cold is continuing unabated.  I did pick up a generator today and hope to get all the connections made up tomorrow before the subzero temperatures hit so we'll be ready for the next outage.

Stay safe and stay warm.

Visit - potential difficulties

Forecasts for Thursday up here range from a chance of snow to more than a foot. If the latter becomes more probable I'll have to cancel my visit to Ridge. Please keep checking this spot for updates.

Visit to Basking Ridge

Hope to be in Basking Ridge on 1/2/14. Any takers for an early lunch?  Let me know by 12/30 by a comment with your email address or phone number so I can get back to you.

Best Wishes

If you are celebrating a special holiday or simply enjoying the season of good cheer, have a Merry Christmas.

Winter is here [calendar notwithstanding]

Yesterday the day began at -2 F which was followed by a pretty good snow fall ( topping for the weekend's 10") and temperatures soaring to about 11 F. Last night we had to drive through heavy snowfall to pick up Daniel ( our younger son), who is visiting from Colorado. It was 7 degrees when we reached home.

This morning we got our reward. I took a short walk and  recorded these sights at our house and near a neighbor's place. As you can tell, I am particularly fond of the big maple in front of our house.

 Around our home

 From Hawley Road 

  From the Smyth's

Back Home

Two Wishes

I wish more of you could be up here to see how the snow covered trees and houses look in the moonlight. The big maple in the front of our house looks especially enchanted. Some magic is real.

Some of you have had great year, some so so, and some a really tough one. Whatever kind of year you had I hope it was much worse than your next year.