A Hawk Owl

Well we have had lots of visitors to our quiet neighbourhood lately & it is all due to this little fellow.

Apparently he is a very rare owl that is a mix of an owl and a hawk and the chances that you will ever see one in your lifetime is very rare.

Our little friend has now been christened Owlie and is a regular sight on our way to and from home. He' s often found out hanging in his favourite tree just chilling surrounded by people with large lensed camera's and binoculars.

People are coming from all over the place CT, ME, MA just to see him.

Personally they are causing a little congestion in the area & I am tempted to sell coffee and muffins as it is bitter here and people spend hours watching him.

Ice Fishing???

I have never understood ice fishermen! For those of you who are not sure what they are here is a brief description:

This is a photo of the frozen lake, the little sheds are ice houses or "bob houses" that guys build out of "odds & sods" from their yards.

They drag these onto the ice and live in them whilst they fish through sawn out holes in the ice.

Yes, it can get as cold as -25 degrees.

Yes there are no toilets.

Some have wood stoves for heat but the majority wear many layers of clothing!

Plenty of beer is consumed!

I have never understood the need for such "desperate fishing", however early this morning I snapped these photo's and I have to say that it does look rather romantic!

Close ups of the "bob houses" to follow later this week!

I know you are all riveted!

Cute Kids!

Today was interesting as some of my three year olds during "free play" were playing doctors and nurses.

"Are you having a baby?" I heard.

Taking a deep intake of breath I went over to see the next phase!

Before I go into palpation's let me brief you a little here.

In NH there are lots of earthy crunchy people who I love, however some do let siblings watch the birth of their brothers and sisters as they feel it is a great experience.

Personally I would rather be given a newborn all clean with a babygro and a cute bobble hat on!

Since both the pregnant child and the doctor have baby siblings I was wondering how detailed this would get before I had to jump in and distract them with a sick doll.

"It's coming out of my stomach" said the little girl and "I am the daddy!"

Phew no need to worry there!

Lazy weekend.

What a luxuriously lazy and wonderful weekend I had.

Hmm... from going into these extremely deep dreams where I am back at my Grandma's house in England as a little girl to talking to people from my childhood.

I slept in until 8am which is a miracle and following this lavishly lazy attitude I stayed in bed with Sir L's latte until 9.50am...what a lush! Normally I am awake at 6.30 am & at the gym spinning away!

I squeezed 3 kids basketball games in, knitted like a mad woman and read page after page of the Twilight Zone book which although I do find entertaining I'm not convinced that it deserves the bestsellers shelf.

Sir L made dinner and I left the dishes until the following day....heaven.

I rounded Sunday afternoon off by going snowshoeing with my 5 year old...what a treat.

We had about a foot of snow so everywhere looked like a winter wonderland. We strapped our snowshoes on and off we went. It was extremely hard work as the snow although fresh was as deep as my thighs in places. My little lad is such a trooper. He decided we were on an adventure out into the woods to discover new things like an airport (thank god that is not in my back garden!)

It was slow going however just to listen to his chatter was so sweet.

"Mummy if you are thirsty or too hot eat the snow it's good."

"OK son."

As I was creating the trail I did not have much breath left for talking so I suggested a rest. He chose the spot, we just flopped into the fresh snow.

The snow was so deep it enclosed us like a feather duvet. All you could see were our faces and our snowshoes that were pointing upwards.

It was a wonderful feeling just lying there in the peace of the woods with my little one.

It was extremely comical as we tried to get back onto our feet....it was virtually impossible which resulted in multitudes of laughing fits and damp parts of the anatomy, including my face!

I guess sometimes it is possible for me to stop & chill...normally it is not in my nature.

I'm certainly looking forward to another one of these weekends!!!

Ambitions..

My cute little English niece's response to "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Oh I know...a cake tester!" She loves her food!

Delightful Surprise!

Look at this delicious scrummy box of fresh lemons grown in sunny CA. They positively ooze sunshine and good health.

My wonderful aunt sent them to me as she despises the weather in NH and worries that we are not getting enough sunshine vitamins...bless her!

The aroma is mouth watering and the colour is so cheery.

When you get to this stage during a NH winter you long to see fresh vibrant colours.

Just so you can experience this here are some local photo's which are beautiful yet very snowy!

Compare this to the lemons & "VOILA!"

You are craving colour!

New year ..new hobby?

So we are all back to normal my sister and clan have left (boo hoo), the bedding is all washed, we are all back at school & work, basketball season is in full swing and lots of snow and icy weather are ahead.

I always get a disgruntled feeling at this time of year. I'm not sure if it is the pressure and rush of Christmas and then it is suddenly all over and not much to look forward to or what.

Work always seems to be boring, it is more difficult to get outside unless you are dressed like the hulk and then you may not be able to be out for long due to those harsh elements.

I do not even enjoy the shop sales partly as I am in the mood of we do not need anything else and I do not like shopping anyway.

I have learnt over the years to fill my time with a new hobby such as I started to blog and knit. This year seems to be a struggle.

I have set my heart on getting a puppy which due to the weather & vacations will not be until March. Of course being me "I want it and I want it now!"

Hmm spoilt brat comes to mind!

Survivor Chick!

So back to the eye test. I was very brave (or foolish) to book an eye test appointment at 7am on a vacation day!

I had the test... all is well...no glasses yet!

So on my way home I decided to check that the driveway to the farm that we rent out for our Uncle was accessible. I needed to do this as I had to winterize the farm (not the drive) as we could not find any suitable tenants, hence the driveway of half a mile long was not plowed and the house was frigid as there had been no heat for over 3 months!

I drove down the driveway rather proud of myself in my 4 wheel drive car called Bluebell until I hit the snow drift that of course was not visible to the blind eye...(especially ones that had just been dilated & had blurred vision!)

Needless to say I was stuck & going nowhere.

I had to dig out each wheel and then reverse a little which was exhausting. Oh yes, Mother Nature was there blowing the loose snow all over me & dropping her temperatures rather rapidly the old cow!

I called Sir L who talked me (not wanting to get out of bed as it was only 8.30am!) through the whole procedure.

I have to admit I that did admit defeat at one stage and kicked my poor Bluebell and had a good cry so my vision was even worse!

An hour later I was out, but then I had to go back in an hour to show the house! I parked on the road and walked down the drive this time!

My new name...Survivor Chick!

A little humour....

If you've ever worked for a boss who reacts before getting the facts and thinking things through, you'll love this...

A large company feeling it was time for a shakeup hired a new CEO, the new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning on a wall, the room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business.He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and asked, " how much money do you make a week?"A little surprised, the young man looked at him and replied, "I make £400 a week, why?"The CEO then handed the guy £1,600 in cash and screamed, "here's four weeks' pay, Now GET OUT and don't come back!"Feeling pretty good about himself the CEO looked around the room and asked, "does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did around here?"From across the room came a voice, "Pizza delivery guy from Domino's."

Happy New Year

Well another year has gone by thank goodness!

Please let it be better than 2008.

I have to admit that we are all having a fantastic time with my sister & her family. The kids get on well, the snow is good for ski-ing and sledding, a few parties thrown in plus some English chocolate......life is good!

However our family took one more hit before the year was out. My brother in law was learning to snowboard and fell on the last run of the day and fractured his wrist so now he is in a cast....one nice souvenir from his vacation in the USA. Of course with his strong Warrington accent the doctors and nurses were all of a flutter at the hospital so we got quick service!

Thank you everyone!

I thought that I would start the New Year and get my eyes tested as I have a sneaky feeling that they are failing me a little. So tomorrow at 7am I am being dilated, hmmmm I must be mad as it is bitter cold here & I am on vacation. Let's hope that I do not need the glasses!