Christmas in the sun.......

and the snow!

High on the hill was a lonely goatherd...

Jodi says he doesn't want me to make one for him. I just cannot imagine why! I'm having one......maybe........

Spring? Really?

Lots of things happened in the spring round here.......

.....the kids went out for Baseball practice - some of them with very little idea of what was going on.....

.......our mock cherry tree did this....

....our neighbours' trees did this....

...then the weatherman did this....

 ......in April. Lovely.

Above and beyond

We have an American mailbox - unsurprising really! It's on the other side of the road from our house, with all the other mailboxes on our very long road. The Mail Carriers (I know, but that's what they are called!) like it that way. It means they can deliver the mail without getting out of their natty little trucks. Which, incidentally, are right hand drive so that said mailboxes can be easily reached. Anyway...mailboxes here have a little red flag on the side that can be raised or lowered by the owner. This is to indicate to the mail carrier that there is mail inside which needs to be collected. Collected, that's right. The mail carrier not only delivers mail but picks it up as well. So, you raise the flag, the mail carrier stops, collects the mail and lowers the flag. Easy. Unless it has been snowing.
Let me explain. Snow ploughs in this part of the world are enormous. Huge. Gi-bungous. And their job is to clear the roads of snow. And not just the roads; these fearless drivers like to clear the hard shoulder as well. And if your mailbox door happens to get in the way of such dedication to detail then it doesn't stand a chance. In fact, it can be removed in one unceremonious drive-by. It was in such a way that our mailbox was rendered door less. And we know it was a plough because several other boxes along the way had their doors removed during the same snowstorm. Over-enthusiasm at it's best. The road was very, very clear of snow though.
So....one day I put my little pre-stamped envelope into the mailbox, dutifully raised the flag and thought nothing more of it. Until, wait for it - my mail carrier rang me up, yup, rang up our house, on the phone, to identify a problem. She had noticed the red flag and stopped to pick up the mail but - da-da-daaaaaa! - no mail was to be found! She cast an eye around the locality and spotted a very sorry looking blue envelope in the drainage channel. And she rang me up to tell me! Awesome!
What a lovely lady! Not only did she remember one incident from her hours long day of mail carrying but she got back to base, looked for our phone number, and rang me up to tell me of the problem. Still shocks me to the core.
So, I would like to say a huge thank you to the dedication of the staff of the USPS! Thanks guys, you're the best mail carriers I've ever met.

Our winter house guest.

 We were given this beautiful Bougainvillea as a house warming present by some of our delightful neighbours. Such kindness! The fact that it came with a list of care instructions frightened me at first, but after having read through them a few times and done some intensive Internet research, I'm not frightened anymore, just slightly nervous. (The day when all the leaves fell off was a particular worry.)
You see, the Bougainvillea is not native to New York but comes from much sunnier climes and thus must be moved indoors in the winter to avoid certain death. It seems to be a delicate creature: it must not be kept too dry or too moist, it mustn't be too hot or too cold, and is a voracious feeder but of course mustn't be overfed. I took careful note of everything I read then decided to believe the web page that said, "In the winter, treat your Bougainvillea with near neglect."

Done.

And it's working, wouldn't you agree?

This I include to let certain parties know that I am finally going to taste a specimen from The Chocolate Pizza Company. We received this fantastic looking slice from some friends as a Thank You. I'll keep you posted!

(And if Jodi thinks he's getting any, he's sadly mistaken!)