Monday, April 30, 2007

PEACE Quote


May the tree of our life
Be firmly rooted in the soil of love.
Let good deeds be the leaves on the tree.
May words of kindness form its flowers
And may peace be its fruits.

-Amma

Friday, April 27, 2007

Video of Flooding in Wilton




Sunday's snow had turned to slush and then it rained all night, so I was surprised to see that school was closed on Monday. Then I went outside and saw the small river pouring through the stone wall, down the side of our garage, across our back lawn and then into and through our fire pit.

Our dirt road washed out completely a few houses down the hill from us and around the corner one neighbor almost lost their living room to the torrent.

Roads all over town will need to be repaired or repaved after water completely overwhelmed the normal drainage system and dug deep channels next to them, undermined the blacktop. I don't look forward to next year's tax bill, though state and (supposedly) federal aid is on the way.

Route 101, the main east-west thoroughfare across the state was blocked by a landslide at the town line and even now, nearly two weeks later, all Rt 101 traffic is detouring through downtown Wilton, where a temporary traffic light (the only one in town!) has been set up. It's a mess at the commute hours. The hillside that collapsed is so unstable it may be weeks before it can be repaired.

Yes, that's a fish in the street next to Town Hall.

- Jeff

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Can you find Henry in these photos?

Round 2 of our newest game here at Susie's minutiae. Can you find Henry in these photos? Good luck, because he's decked out in camo, head to toe!


Making Change for Good


My girlfriend Christine and I went into Cambridge last night to hear a talk by Cheri Huber, who I've mentioned here before. I would link to the posts I've written about her in the past, but I don't know exactly how to do it and BloggerHelp is unavailable. So go up to the search window up there and type in "Cheri Huber". That'll get you there. I just haven't posted in awhile and I want to get this out. Otherwise it won't get out.

Which was Cheri's point last night. She's a buddhist monk, from a big monastary (complete with hermitages!) in Northern California, and has written many books that have changed my life and the lives of others.


---
I am having to laugh right now... I'm trying to pull my thoughts together into something with enough power to perhaps get you to check out one of her books or search for past posts of mine. And I'm listening to Dave Matthews, whose music can make my emotions swell and my heart pound just from the sheer goodness of it all. And Maggie is standing at my feet telling me her favorite lines from her favorite movies, in attempt to entice me to play one for her. She wants to watch Madagascar. "Please? can I watch it please?! I really want to watch it. I like that part --" and now her voice drops a couple octives "I like to move it move it I like to move it move it!"

I'm having trouble centering my thoughts. Which was ALSO Cheri's point last night! But I know she'd be laughing too. Anyway. really good stuff. The title of this post is the title of her new book, and I will be checking it out for shizzle. You should do so also. You will thank me.

more later, I hope!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Stormy Monday

What a bunch of rain that has fallen today!




Here's behind the town hall, and is that a dead fish in the road?!



This is about a mile from our house. Yikes!

Sunday, April 08, 2007

We get a visit in the night


Friday night, Henry observed the following:

Well, I saw my motion detector light go on outside. I thought there was a car pulling up. So I looked out my bedroom window and I saw a big black bear with a grey nose, but the tip of the nose was black.

I went to my parent’s room and said, “Mom! Dad! Call the animal patrol! There’s a bear outside!” We all ran back into my room and looked out the window. Luckily the motion detector light was still on, but we didn’t see the bear.

Dad ran downstairs. He looked out the porch window, turned the backyard floodlights on and here is what he saw:


Jeff observed the following:

I remember Henry saying it was a black bear. He swore that’s what he has seen and I know that Henry really knows his creatures, so I had no reason to doubt it. I crept down the stairs to turn on the backyard floodlights, which are not on motion detect and have to be turned on from the second-floor screen porch. I opened the door, switched on the outside floodlights, and listened. I didn’t hear anything, so I started tip toeing to the screens. That’s when I heard the footsteps start. And they were very close, it sounded like it was right underneath me. It must have stopped walking when it heard me or when the lights came on. But it didn’t seem in a hurry; the steps were very slow and heavy-sounding in the crunchy snow, like a human’s. It was heading out toward the back lawn, right where the floodlights shine. When I got to the screen, there he was, 10 yards away walking away from me! He had walked down along the west side of the house, and was now shuffling out onto our backyard lawn. We have seen small black bears crossing through our backyard before, but this one was big. Definitely full-grown. He turned back toward the house once or twice and the nose was just as Henry described. I wanted the others to see, so I ran upstairs just as he started heading across the back of the house toward the fire pit. By the time I got Henry and Susie to Maggie’s window, they only got a quick glimpse. Poor Maggie was almost asleep when we rushed into her room and turned off her princess lamp so we could see out the window, much to her chagrin.


Maggie observed the following:

It was very scary.


And I observed the following:

I saw the tail end of the black bear heading around the tree toward the fire pit.

Kermit gets his haircut

Well, sort of. We're not exactly finished yet. He looks like he's got big cowboy chaps on his front legs because he got so skittish about the clippers on his legs. And of course the little goatee he insisted on.

Here he is in the middle of his haircut:



Poor Kerm. bless his heart. Here he is just trying to put the whole experience behind him:



But it does make him a very popular cuddle buddy!


Can you find Henry in these photos?

I picked up some hunters camoflauge makeup from the still good table at the dump this weekend. Henry was thrilled. When I got home from going out for dinner last night, he'd showered and had his dad cut his hair. he had these very dramatic black eyebrows where he hadn't washed the makeup out - wish I'd gotten a picture of that!


Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Maggie is such a goof ball

If you ask her to smile for the camera, this is what she gives you:



This is a sweet little summer dress Maggie's Aunti Di sent her for her birthday. she really loves it - thanks Dian! I like this photo, how the center of it is in focus, and on the flower.

Monday, April 02, 2007

A word about Rudy and Kermit

Here is Rudy doing what he does nearly all day these days, laying around. He's a wise old man with many aches and pains, bless his heart.



And here is sweet Kerm. He's about to get a haircut one of these days. I noticed that this blog has just passed the 100th post mark, and that I gave Kermit his last haircut right around the time this blog got going! So Kermit's haircuts last about 100 blog posts. or about five months. not bad!



here is is after his last haircut. I love how his hair makes him look so different. Although I prefer the shorter look, myself. Makes him want to cuddle more.

Weekend Update

Well I had a great weekend. Jeff took Maggie up to Maine for the weekend (and they had their own good time), and Henry and I stayed behind. We went to see "Meet the Robinsons", which was such a great movie. Papa if you're reading this, you would love this movie. We saw it at Chunky's, which is a combination restaraunt and movie theater. We went with our good friends Bob and his daughter Emily.

Henry and I also went on a walk around sunset down to the farm. That was really nice. I'm trying to get caught up in Henry's jetstream of youth and vitality. I asked him to hold me accountable for getting outside each and every day, and the reconnection with nature and outdoors has been good for all of us.

Did anyone else notice the beautiful moon this weekend?



On Sunday Henry and I did a whole bunch of housework and I feel about two steps ahead as a result. Finally got the christmas tree hauled ito the woods (thank you Henry) and the swing back out onto the deck. a bunch of sweeping and hauling. I paid Henry ten cents for every item not found in nature he collected from the back yard (he made over 2.50!) and then another three bucks for other work too minute to mention here but certainly mattered to the overall goal. in the meantime I cleaned out the garage and got my piles set up for what will be several trips to the dump this week. the improvement in the garage is significant, let me tell you.

Jeff and Maggie got home mid day on Sunday, and he took us all out for ice cream after dinner. Another sign of spring in new england being the ice cream stands are open again (although it appears to be earlier in the season than ever before). I love mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone. you?

The kids play outside

These pictures are from sometime last week. Maggie was so thrilled to be out there, doing the same stuff as her big brother.