Amazing Winter Pictures!

So, this morning Margie comes running in to tell me to come see something...I ran outside and down the stairs, only to have Margie tell me to go back and stand on the first step, then look down. When I did, she asked me what I saw. I saw snow and straw...until I realized that the straw spelled out the word NOEL!!! Here are some pictures. What a great Christmas season message!

Just minutes later, I was driving down the road singing The Twelve Days of Christmas, and this is what I saw -- talk about the 'Partridge in a Pear Tree'! These are actually some of the wild turkies we have in the neighborhood. Some were up in the tree eating the ornamental apples off the bare branches. Only in Maine...

Nana Finds Her Notes!

As of yesterday, December 8, I could not get onto our Conant's Cozy Corner blog because I had lost the paperwork that tells how to do it --- since last May!! Hooray for today! I found it and we will now work on posting at least weekly, with pictures and comments on our everyday life.

I love this time of year for the strangest reasons. Although it is 8 degrees outside, with 8 inches of snow on the ground, the evergreens are that winter green with white snow frosting their tips. Gorgeous! The air is clean and cold, the moon is closer, and every noise from the forest is magnified.

5 Little Monkeys live at our house!

Jackson (in red) is eleven and in the fifth grade. Then there is Nolan, who is twelve and in the sixth grade. These two go to the middle school here in Hermon. Next, we have Cole, who is our superhero just-turned four! He keeps the whole house hopping, along with his brother, Nick (aka George), who is six. Nick goes to the elementary school and has learned to read this year. Cole goes to a daycare on Margie's campus, so he gets to travel with Margie or Bill every morning to go to 'school'. Nick keeps his kindergarten teacher smiling...wouldn't you, with those sweet eyes smiling up at you? Finally, there is Josh, who also has 'those eyes'. It looks like he is going to be the tallest of the boys. We can tell, even at just age 10. His fourth grade teachers feel so lucky to have this gentle boy in their classes. We feel just as lucky to have him in our home. How many people get to have FIVE little monkeys around to keep things interesting???

Spring in Maine

We felt so lucky to have an 'early' spring in Maine this year. Daffodils, tulips, forsythia, and sweet little bluettes have popped up all over lawns. The robins arrived a month early, and even our lilac bushes are blossoming out!

This is what we call "Margie's Apple Tree" because it blossoms every year on her birthday; however, this year it blossomed on May 4th, Cole's birthday! We are just waiting for the hummingbirds to return, usually on Mother's Day

Because the weather has been so weird this year, we are hopeful that the blackflies and mosquitoes will die out very early -- leaving us with a beautiful summer of playing on the water, in the yard, and on the road!

Happy Moment

One of our happy and unexpected moments for 2009 was the wedding of our youngest daughter, Kayti. We were just visiting for Christmas and Voila! we had a wedding on our hands. With the help of two amazing friends of Kayti's, everything went off without a hitch, and the gorgeous couple were married in front of most of her family and Jason's family in a quaint 'Little Church in the Valley' near their home. Too bad we didn't have more formal clothing, but the love was there for sure!

Bampy

Steve/Bampy looks pretty good at sixty, doesn't he? This winter when he had a full white beard, we were walking around the mall and a little boy said to his mom: "Hey! There's Santa Claus!" Needless to say, Steve has been attempting to change that image a little bit, with weightloss and cutting his whiskers down to a goatee! But his heart and his spirit will never change...generous and loving and helpful to all...ho! ho! ho!

What we REALLY look like in 2010...

We have been fortunate to be part of Tweaks' Life Choice and Education Center for almost a year now. This is me at the entrance. Notice the great poster that I often refer to in my classes. I've always wanted a place to teach classes and do body work on clients. Steve's office is fully equipped for Massage, Reiki and Reflexology. I use it, too, for applied Aromatherapy. We feel pretty lucky to have had this spot for a year.