Springing Forward

Wow. Almost 10 inches of snow and icicles --- and then one week later, the daffodils have arrived. Very odd. It was close to 80 degrees today and gorgeous.

More Snow Pix

The snow was amazing and it was fun watching it all melt very quickly over a two day period. The icicles all along the roofline were quite dramatic (see above) and also quite noisy as they thawed and fell to the ground.

Snow Snow Snow

Daisy

Dusk

Looking West

. Looking South

Crosby --- age 14 (!) on 3/5/09

Flake

Happy Birds

(thank you to J/L/C/J for the gazebo)

Thor --- age 11

Flake and Daisy

Crosby

Crosby

Pilot

Flake

Thor

Gadget

Wow. March came in like a lion and we got almost 10 inches of snow in Varina yesterday and today. Farm was beautiful. The dogs were ecstatic and are sleeping VERY well tonight. And we still have power too. Hooray.

Happy New Year 2009!!

Oh dear, I am WAY behind yet again. Will try to mend my ways and be more diligent in 2009. That will be my blog-resolution.

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Holidays were wonderful --- and mostly spent in California. Pictures here were taken during a lovely trip to the new Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library (http://www.huntington.org/) with my mother. What an amazing place that is!! There was in fact an "Asian" themed photo contest which I had hoped to enter, but (alas) I forgot that pesky three-hour time difference between EST and PST and missed the deadline. Sigh. Live and learn (or at least I will hope so...). It was a great visit nonetheless.

Stay tuned for more posts soon. I promise. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just enjoyed a WONDERFUL family reunion in Southern California --- where the food was amazing and the company even better. It was a great opportiunity to remember just how many reasons I have to be thankful. Picture can be seen at the link below.

Sarah's Thanksgiving Pictures 2008

Fall Colors

Wow. Fall is officially here, with cold weather and vivid colors everywhere. The farm is gorgeous --- and I will plan to take more pictures this weekend. Stay tuned.

Double Trouble

Aw shucks. Don't they look cute? Amazing how much trouble two adorable dogs can get into, especially when they are working together though. Our move to the front house continues, albeit slowly --- and I have spent at least a few hours patching holes under the new fence created by the oh-so-adorable canines above. Gadget (on the left) is by far the more guilty party, but Pilot (on the right) is a mighty good cheerleader. All of my dogs seem to like the new place though, and I am hopeful that we can get completely moved in before the end of 2008. Wish us luck.

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On a side note, I am thrilled that the second farm camera seems to be working again. See the link at the right --- and let me know if you have any trouble at all. Thanks again to my brother John for setting these cameras up in the first place.

Happy Halloween

Yes, this is an actual spider web, found on a gas pump I was using late at night. Yikes.

Happy Halloween to all.

Northern Cardinals

The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is the State Bird of Virginia --- and cardinals are always some of my favorite visitors to the bird feeders. These two were especially entertaining as they shared a meal. I had been told to buy sunflower seeds if I wanted lots of cardinals --- and that has proven to be great advice. They really do seem to prefer sunflower seeds to anything else --- and interestingly, they seem to prefer the variety with the shells best of all.

State Fair of Virginia 2008 --- Plant in Shoe

In a moment of possible madness, I decided I had time to enter yet another competition at the State Fair of Virginia 2008. They had a special category this year, called PLANT IN SHOE, which was exactly that. So --- I headed to the Salvation Army, bought an odd-looking pink shoe and planted a matching phaleonopsis orchid inside, surrounded by ivy and spanish moss. And we won the blue ribbon --- plus $8, which covers the cost of the shoe, if not the orchid. Silly but fun.

State Fair of Virginia 2008 --- Photography

A belated update follows of my results in the State Fair of Virginia 2008 photography competition. My pictures did pretty well --- and (as before) I really enjoyed entering and then visiting the photography exhibition area after judging. There were some impressive photographs this year and I am again inspired to keep shooting during the year ahead.


1st Place (and $5 prize money!) --- 5x7 Color Portraits
Mike Goldberg --- meteorologist, musician and my co-host on Pets & People

2nd Place --- 8x10 B/W Portraits --- Kelsey on a Swing

2nd Place --- 5x7 Color Animals --- Carolina Chickadee

2nd Place --- 5x7 Color "A Fair To Remember" --- Ferris Wheel

3rd Place --- 8x10 B/W Children --- Christine by JCB

2nd Place --- 8x10 B/W "A Fair to Remember" --- Soda Stand

3rd Place --- 8x10 Color "A Fair to Remember" --- Fun Factory