A Man, A Chainsaw, & A Snow Blower

When we arrived home on Saturday evening, we discovered that our driveway was blocked by a fallen tree. Jeff and I walked to the house. A few minutes later, I heard the whine of a chain saw.

Jeff cut up the tree and dragged it out of the way. He then  cleared our elderly neighbor's driveway. Once the driveway was passable, he drove the Lexus up to the house.

Sunday morning found Jeff snow blowing the driveway. What would I do without him!

There are 800,000 people in CT without electricity. 80% of Wilton is without power. It is estimated that power will not be restored until Wed evening or later.

Happy Halloween! It is hard to believe we are talking about snow storm damage in Oct. We are lucky to still have our electricity.

St. Augustine

Our Westport family was selected to receive the St. Augustine Medal of Service for St. Luke's parish. We wanted to attend this special ceremony and headed to Bridgeport in the lightly falling snow.  When we arrived in Bridgeport, the snow was falling heavily and a few inches had accumulated on the ground.

St. Augustine's Cathedral is beautiful with  arched ceilings, an immense pipe organ and stained glass windows. Bishop Lori presided over the ceremony, honoring lay people for their commitment and special works for the church.After the ceremony there was a reception with sandwiches, fruit and eclairs.

We made a mistake and took the Merritt Parkway back to Wilton. We were briefly delayed (10 minutes) for a rollover accident and thought we were very lucky. 10 minutes later we were stopped dead for 80 minutes. Tree limbs were all over the road and there were several accidents. As we waited in traffic, we heard that 50% of Wilton was without power.

2 hours after leaving Bridgeport, we arrived home to find that a tree had fallen across our driveway. We have a very long driveway and slogging through 4 inches of snow and slush in high heels was challenging. The low hanging tree limbs make me think that we will soon be without power.

The Governor is predicting that by tomorrow morning, 550,000 people in CT will be without power.

Giving Back

The other day we posted photos of Otis and Coop playing.  Coop looked like he was being terrorized by his much bigger brother. These photos show Coop on the attack.

Joyful

I love this photo of Coop. He seems so happy. Cooper loves to run in my Mom's fenced yard chasing the falling leaves.

Ellis Island

After visiting the Statue of Liberty we went to Ellis Island.

The museum at Ellis Island is very large. We did not have enough time to tour the entire  building. There is an interesting movie which describes the immigrants journey and what they encountered once they arrived at Ellis Island.

 If you are planning to visit Ellis Island, you should allow several hours to tour the facility. There are no security checkpoints within the museum, so once you get off the ferry you are free to wander everywhere.

Statue of Liberty

We spent Saturday at the Statue of Liberty. It was sunny and warm, a perfect day to be out in NYC.

We took the subway to Battery Park. As we approached the ferry dock, we saw a long line of people waiting. We were lucky that our reserved tickets allowed us to bypass the outside line and enter the security tent. Before you can board the ferry, you need to take off your coat, belt, watch, and handbags. All items are x-rayed and then you pass thru a metal detector.

If you want to enter the pedestal or go up to the crown, you need to pass thru another round of security screenings. This second screening took even longer than the first. Before you enter the pedestal, you pass thru a museum which explains the history of the Statue.

After climbing 143 stairs, we had reached the top of the pedestal. All I kept thinking was that I need to go back to the gym. It was amazing to see how many international tourists were visiting. If you are thinking of visiting, be prepared to spend a lot of time waiting for security checks and the ferry.

Let's Play

Cooper looks like he is being terrorized by Otis, but Coop gives as good as he gets

Marist College

While we were in Poughkeepsie, we decided to stop and visit Marist. We were stunned to see how much the campus has changed since we graduated. All of these photos are of buildings that did not exist when we were students.

I always wished that Marist had a nicer library. The James Cannavino digital library was beautiful and very impressive.

I had read about the recently opened Hancock Center and was wowed by the electronic trading floor classroom.

The Dyson Center now sits where our graduation ceremony took place.

Walkway II

More photos from the Walkway over the Hudson

Walkway Over The Hudson

The Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge has been converted into a pedestrian walkway. Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park is a linear walkway spanning the Hudson River. At 212 feet tall and 1.28 miles long, it is the longest, elevated pedestrian bridge in the world.

On a beautiful fall morning it was the perfect place to take a walk and enjoy the spectacular water views and  changing leaves. In about two more weeks the foliage will be at its peak. Parking is $5.

I was  surprised by the large number of people that were walking on the bridge at 9:30 am. There were Mom's pushing strollers, couples sipping coffee, groups of joggers and dog walkers. If you are ever in Poughkeepsie, I would recommend visiting the Walkway

Having a WHALE of a good time

You're Home!

Otis can't wait to greet us when we get home from work.

Seeing how happy Otis is always makes a tough day better.

Bionic Ears

I was baking in the kitchen. Jeff and Cooper were upstairs, with Coop sound asleep.

I pulled a metal pan out of the cabinet and it made a loud clang. Jeff said Coop's head jerked up and he immediately raced downstairs.

It seems that Coop thought the noise came from the dog treat jar being opened. Coop immediately sat down in the kitchen and lifted his paw, waiting for a snack.

New Grass

After the new walkway was installed this spring, Jeff planted grass seed. I had hopes that the grass would grow and we would have a lush front lawn. When the turtle tried to nest in this area the grass was torn out and weeds took over.

We are now trying to once again get the grass to grow. I was happy to see little green shoots appearing. It seems all this rainy weather does have a positive side!