Back in NJ

We're back home after good visits with relatives. We spent last night in a very nice airport motel in Portland and had a great dinner at Salty's on the Columbia River. I'm posting this so we remember it for next time.

In New Jersey

We drove back to NJ today. Went shopping and to a movie when I got back. Definitely not in the North Country any more.

Hurricane Irene

According to a neighbor who checked on it for us, our condo came through the hurricane unscathed. The flooding was not as bad as predicted and there didn't seem to be any leaks. Here in the north country we had lots of rain and wind, but it could have been a lot worse. We haven't been out yet to see if we lost any trees, but since nothing fell on the house, I'm happy.

To NJ and Back

We are back at camp after a quick trip to New Jersey. We drove down on the 17th so W could get a couple of doctor's appointments taken care of. We saw all the family yesterday and now are hopefully at camp for an extended stay. Weather is nice today but supposed to start raining again tomorrow. Sigh.

Still in New Jersey

Just a note to self about weather this year and its effect on our trips to camp. The note being SNOW! We had planned to finally get back up to camp this week, but there is still lots of snow on the ground, though Jim says he did manage to drive in the driveway last week. So we've decided to just wait and go up for the season on May 3rd. That will be a month earlier than last year. Presumably the snow will be gone by then. Going that early means we should get to see the trillium and all the other early wildflowers. We will miss spring in NJ and will get little if any biking and boating done here, but it will be nice to be at camp.

Barnegat Light

We finally made it to Barnegat Lighttoday to see the sea birds. We try to go every year to see the birds that overwinter there and while we were later in the year than usual, we managed to see most of what we were expecting, though not in the numbers we are used to. We saw harlequin ducksand cormorants, common eiders, brandt, pintails, herring gulls, greater black-backed gulls, a female red-breasted merganser, a couple surf scoters, and one loon whose plummage was changing to the summer black and white. I wonder if he is on his way to the Adirondacks. We were also very surprised to see a young seal pulled up on the beach.

Back to NJ

Drove back to NJ yesterday in time for chorus rehearsal. On the way to quilting today, saw about 20 swans under the big Seven Bridges Road bridge. Very cool. Since they tend to be around here more in the winter, wonder if they are congregating in order to fly north. Does this mean spring is on the way?