Every year I see more and more of these beautiful grape hyacinths outside my front door, a beautiful welcome to Spring.

Toasting my dear friend and No.1 Blog Fan on her Birthday. Happy Birthday Myra! Cheers to many many more and your wonderful letters!

Chillin'.

Enjoying a pint of my favorite brew in a glass purloined from PA.

The United Methodist church in Middleburg undergoing restoration. A stairway, or scaffolding, to heaven?

A perfect day for hiking Rose River Falls.

The first ride of the year under my belt with perfect weather conditions on the C&O Canal trail. 

$140 of cat beds and only one of them knows how to use them properly. At least they're being used!

Met Janice to try out the Griffin Tavern, not too far from home. Had a superb roast chicken dinner with a couple of craft beers and enjoyed the spring flowers from our window while we ate.

The lens of a ceiling light from an abandoned asylum.

My triple delight Chinese meal tonight looked like a piece of art as it lay on my plate. It was also delicious!

Monday, March 20, 2017

Rosie Lee watching the daylight disappear from her favorite spot.

Janice and I tried our hand at glass blowing today. These are our 'efforts' in the lehr, a cooling oven which will take nearly a day to cool the glass down before we can take it home.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

A fabulous hike in the mountains with a good 4" of snow in the higher parts. Invigorating!

St Patty's Day beers with Steve's friends in Gainesville. Great company and great fun. cheers!

Kota went to the doctors today as he has a little lump on his nose that I'm worried about. The doctor's going to keep an eye on it but I thought I'd get a photo of it when I got home. That didn't go well...

Really hoping that this snow, although beautiful, will be the last this winter. Hopefully spring can resume it's emergence without having suffered too much damage.

The dreaded snow didn't amount to too much so we were able to get the hill cleared by about 1pm. Kota came out towards the end for an inspection, very obviously miffed that there was still slushy areas underpaw.

Rosie Lee watching night fall. No snow flakes yet, but hard to believe we're actually getting it. 

Jeff and I returned to Forest Haven for a few hours. These old screens in the print room are beyond any chance of reclaimation; so much waste.

The chickens are playing up at Broad Run Farm again. I popped in to find there was only half a dozen of very irregular sized eggs available so I snaffled them. They're probably going to go on strike completely when the snow hits on Tuesday.

The white blossoms contrast perfectly with the stormy sky, bringing in weather that will kill all the early blossoms and spring flowers. Icy, below freezing temperatures with snow on Monday aren't welcome after our balmy February.

I was giving Rosie Lee her cuddle in bed this morning when Kota knocked something to the floor in the bathroom. Rosie Lee jumped and with her back claws shredded my arm in her rush to escape. This is going to hurt for a while.

Ugh. I set to and rolling my sleeves up pulled out the fridge freezer to clean behind it, and found a very dead mouse with an equally very dead cricket as its companion. So glad this isn't a job that has to be done too often.

The vintage 'dog dish' AMC hub cap we got on Saturday cleaned up well.

I don't know about having my ducks in a row, but the birds on my window ledge certainly are.

I'm glad we had a mild winter as I forgot to pack this away in the shed. I'll leave it out but will keep a lookout for ice storms for the next few weeks.

We found Little Britain in Pennsylvania but there was nothing here. Absolutely nothing.

Enjoying a beer with Rob, great to catch up!

Maggi's bakery, where the magic happens. Every time I come in here there's a delicious aroma of chocolate and cookies. And here's her website, the Jazz chocolate is my favorite. http://www.send-best-of-luck.com/

While waiting for the lights to turn I pondered about why America's light system is so prehistoric. I watched as they bounced up and down in the strong winds on those unsightly heavy wires with a small sign also hanging next to them and swinging back and forth. Why not put the lights on poles like in England? Much less unsightly and cumbersome.