Adirondacks Snow

We drove to camp on Thursday and eagerly awaited the snowstorm forecast to hit the northeast.  Unlike the major cities like Boston that really got hit, we just got about a foot yesterday and overnight, which was desperately needed for winter sports like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  It is beautiful on the trees.

We drive back to NJ on Tuesday.

DONE!!!!

The last coat of paint went on the hallway trim today.  Reconstruction is now complete.  Almost exactly 3 months after the storm hit on October 29, 2012, a date that will be remembered for many years to come.  And in the meantime I finished moving into the quilting room cabinets, the area rug is down in the entertainment room, so we are completely moved in.

Now my latest challenge is completing the transition to my new MacBook Pro from my old PC.  I won't relax until I have a new Family Tree Maker installed and all my genealogy data loaded.  Then it should be back to life as usual - until the next crisis hits.

Baby Quilt

My latest quilt is for the newest addition to my extended family - my niece's baby son.

Brrrrr

Woke up to an outside temperature of 14 degrees this morning.  You'd think we were in the Adirondacks.  I can't remember the last time it got that cold in New Jersey.

In other news, I'm writing this post on my new MacBook Pro.  No more frustrating Windows for me.  I thought I was going to stay with Microsoft and get a Windows 7 laptop.  But while there are a few to be had, they are really pushing Windows 8, which I have no interest in.  So I'll be holding my breath until I get all my genealogy data transferred.  Family Tree Maker is now available on the Mac, and I sure hope I can import all my data to it.

Dessert!!

There is a sign on a local candy store that says "Stressed backwards = Desserts".  That means in order to avoid being stressed, one must eat desserts, right?

Reconstruction Nearly Complete

We have finished the entertainment room.  We even ordered an area rug for it so we don't have to exercise on that hard tile floor.

And the cabinets arrived for the quilting room.  It will take me a long time to get that room in shape, but I badly needed to sort through all my fabric so that will get done eventually.  The only thing left to do is finish the filling/caulking/trim painting in the hallway and that will be done soon.  So this week starts the road to normalcy.  I can't wait to get back to quilting, and then genealogy research, then .......

Snow

After waiting a couple of days for the snow storms up north to abate, today we drove to the Adirondacks.  The roads were fine, and the snow was beautiful.

We have a bit to clean off the deck - maybe as much as 2 feet. 

The sides of the driveway are already piled high with snow.  If this keeps up, we'll run out of places to put it again this year. 

Back to New Jersey

We flew home yesterday and now it is back to home reconstruction.  We had a great time in Sanibel, even if we mostly enjoyed the beach from our nice screened porch, though we did walk every day.  The weather was great (sunny and mid-70's) and it was very relaxing, which is just what we needed.  A note for next time that room 112 at Casa Ybel was perfect.  It was in the next-to-last building in the complex away from the pool and restaurant so it was nice and quiet.  It was in the top floor, which meant we didn't have stairs on the beach-side, but we decided it was nice having no one above us.  And the view was great.

Sanibel Day 2

The weather continues to be gorgeous and we are enjoying lazing.  This afternoon we drove the wildlife drive through Ding Darling wildlife preserve.  We saw most of the usual birds, including great egret

ibis

snowy egret

little blue heron

white pelican

tricolor heron.

Sanibel, Florida

We flew here yesterday and the weather has been perfect, even a little too warm at 80 degrees when we arrived.  Today is gorgeous with bright blue skies, high 70's and light wind.  We took advantage of the good weather and did the guided kayak tour in Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve this morning.  We didn't learn anything new from the guide and the tour was crowded.  It turns out you are allowed to take the rental boats anywhere in or around Tarpon Bay, so we could have paddled the trail through the mangroves by ourselves.  We'll remember that for next time and just rent boats.  But we still enjoyed the paddle

and did see a yellow-crowned night heron that we probably would have missed if we'd been alone.

We are staying at Casa Ybel Resort this time and it is very nice.  Our room is on the top floor center sticking out at the top left in this picture.

I had forgotten that this is where the pelicans hang out, in the trees right in front of our unit.