Boys' Art

Asa's masterpiece. He really enjoyed this project.

Jake's valentine

Jake's first experimental collage

Jake's second work

Jake's magazine collage

Ice Storm

Ew! The weather here in the valley is awful. Today is the second day that school has been cancelled. Yesterday because of snow; today because of ice. Our power went out for a short moment this morning, but went right back on. I am worried that it will go out again for a longer period of time. John is staying home from work for the second day in a row too. The boys are playing games and doing artwork and watching movies with popcorn. They are glad to be missing school, although at first Jake was upset because he was going to miss a Valentines Day party in his classroom, but he got over that pretty quickly. I think it's a baking day. Cookies? Lasagna? Hmmmm.

Some recent family pictures

brothers

The first snowman of 2008 made with the neighbor kids and Dad.

Asa in his classroom on the 100th day of school. The kids in his class dressed up like 100-year olds.

A nice day outside.

First Snow Day of December '07

Yeah! School was let out at 1:30 today so the kids could come home and play in the snow. We were only supposed to get about an inch at the most, but I'd say we have between two and three inches, and it's supposed to snow into the night. I love snow days. So do the boys.

Snowball fight!

I am the target of Jake's snowball fury.

I love the bike path in the snow.

The Newest Addition to our Farm Family

I found this pitiful little kitten on the trail one afternoon - he was following a couple who were jogging on the path. I overheard the man scolding the woman to "put it down - you can't carry it the whole way back!" I heard the woman half-argue that she couldn't just leave it there, but she eventually did. I wondered if that was my cat Cream they were referring to. Funny, Cream doesn't look like a stray that needs rescuing... I walked outside to see if indeed Cream was out there, but on the trail I found this very young and very vocal kitten running after this couple, by now pretty far up the path. It was a sad sight: the kitten not doing a very good job of following after these people; it seemed somewhat disoriented. All the time bellowing in desperation, reminding me of that sad scene from the movie, Shane. I quickly scooped up the kitten to check it out. One look at it and I knew it was in trouble. Both its eyes were really infected, one so badly that you couldn't even see the eye at all; so swollen that the inside parts were outside. Both eyes were surrounded with pus-covered open wounds, perhaps from scratching at the itchy eyes. He was very gentle and sweet and liked being held. The first thing I did was get him inside with some water and cat food. He was famished. Then I called the vet at Old Trail. I told them the story of the cat, and they suggested I bring him in immediately, which I did.

Other than the eye infections and ear mites, he was a healthy boy. The vet figures he's about four month old. I named him Boxcar Willie because of finding him on the train tracks. I went home with plenty of medicine and high hopes of restoring his health. Now, about 4 weeks later, Boxcar is doing very well. He has lots of admirers who come by to play with him whenever they get a chance.

Our neighbor Gretta is wild about all animals, especially kittens! She will come over and carry him all over the place. Boxcar doesn't seem to mind one bit.

Boxcar's eyes have healed almost 100%. The vet said that he is very impressed and amazed at how well the eyes healed, and all that's left is a bit of moisture on one layer covering the eyes - looks like he has a cataract - his own body's way of protecting the eye while he had the infection - and that is expected to go away in time. Boxcar is a kitten full of life and energy and affection for all. He and Cream absolutely adore each other. They love to lounge together and to chase each other all over the yard and the mill. I think that ever since Millie left, he's longed for a pal to play with. Now he has one!

Let's Dish!

Jake and I had a mother-son date night at Let's Dish! in Towson, MD. We had a lot of fun spending Friday evening preparing eight delicious meals for our family dinners. We made mouth-watering dishes like Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken with Garlic Herb Cheese, Orange Teriyaki Mahi Mahi with Jasmine Rice, and Bruschetta with Chicken and Tomatoes, among others. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with Jake cooking in a completely stress-free environment. They did all the food prep, all the clean-up, and even provided scrumptious desserts for us to nibble on between meal-making. It was a darn good time, and it was darn-good eatin' tonight as we scarfed down our Shrimp Scampi with Linguine. I've done Let's Dish! with Sassa and also all alone for my own mom's night out. Good times! I recommend it to one and all - alone or with a friend or two.

Chef Jake in his cookin' clothes.

Us at the Warhol Museum photo booth. We used this photo as a template for Warhol-esque artwork done in the museum's hands-on workshop. It was lots of fun!

So long, Sadie

John found our barn cat, Sadie, expired in the back yard this morning. We don't know how or when she went. Sadie was our cat for only two years, but we sure will miss her very much.