It was too nice outside on Sunday afternoon to stay inside, so we went for a walk on one of the trails along the river.

Kevin spotted 3 male bald eagles. We saw one dive for a fish and take it back up into the treetop to feast.




This is the price we paid for the luxury of watching the eagles.




There were a few ice jams. Pretty cool to look at.




I know many of you are probably tired of hearing about the flood, but every time we go for a walk, we see signs of the flood that are new to us. Look at the waterline on the pole. Kevin is 6 feet tall and that line is probably 12 feet off the ground. Notice the trail map on the wooden panel is mud-smeared.

Who's peeking in our kitchen window?


Early one morning, this doe was seen behind our back yard.



Yes...we're still holding to our Saturday morning tradition.

Our version of almond croissants is a favorite of ours. We take refrigerated crescent rolls, spread almond paste on them, roll them up and bake them. Then while still hot after removing them from the oven, drizzle icing on the "croissants", then sprinkle sliced almonds on top. Clementine in the side bowl, and Kevin's beloved French vanilla cappuccino.
We love our Saturday mornings together...we have our breakfast in bed, take as much time as we want to share conversation, have our reading and prayer time, then get up whenever we want to, to accomplish what needs to be done that day.




We just purchased a vent-free gas fireplace...we're very excited about it because we will finally have heat in our basement because it gets so cold. Kevin spent a long time trying to get the blower installed, then realized that the store sent us one that is not compatible with the insert we bought. Frustration seems to be the pattern when making purchases at home improvement stores. Just a delay we're dealing with now. But we hope to have it installed within the next week or two.

We could not go to France, so...
France was brought to us.
Our friends from France invited us to their home for French cuisine...real French cuisine. It was a wonderful dining experience, and a wonderful time with friends.


First, we were taken to the fireplace room for an aperitif (there should be an accent over the e in aperitif, but alas, I have no way to do that on my English keyboard). Stuffed endive leaves, grape tomatoes, pistachio nuts, pretzels, and champagne. While savoring this aperitif (French for appetizer), Sophie and Remi showed us a slideshow of their photos taken while they visited NY over Christmas.






Ines and Apolline also enjoyed the aperitif.




This sign greeted us as we walked into the dining room.




The table was set so elegantly. Sophie made each of us a single loaf of bread.




The cream of spinach soup. (I had dropped a few grains of rolled oats into my soup bowl, I see)




The next coarse was pork roast, stuffed with prunes and apples; and rice.




Doesn't that pork look delicious?




"Hmmm...what am I missing out on?"




Remi and Sophie explained the festival of the 3 kings. This is the almond pastry that Sophie made from scratch (it was fabulous!!!). She hid the little figurine of a king inside one of the slices of pastry after she cut it. She then brings the cut pastry back to the table and offers everyone a piece of their choice. (See the video below.)




Sophie found the king in her piece of almond pastry, so she was queen for the remainder of the evening.




Here she is offering the slices of pastry...no one knowing which piece holds the king figurine.
It was a fabulous evening...the food and the fellowship. Thank you (Merci), Sophie and Remi.

Catastrophe strikes!!!
When my "Memory stick duo adaptor" wears out, I can no longer download my photos to my desktop; which means I cannot post any photos on my blog! This is so disheartening. I mean, I've gone through two adaptors in the last year and a half. What's a blogger to do???
Anyone have any recommendations? These were Sony and I don't want to have to buy a new one every 9 months.
Oh well...sorry, no pics with this posting. But when I'm able to, I will blog about our lovely dinner at Remi's and Sophie's last night; an evening of French dining and friendship.

Over the river and through the woods to.....


MacBride for cross country skiing
and walking around looking for photo ops. It was so quiet with all the new snow...several inches of it. We could hear woodpeckers, see deer, and hear the occasional skier coming along the trail....Kevin, being one of them. The conditions for skiing could not have been more perfect...fresh powdery snow, no wind, perfect temperatures, and it was Saturday!!!!
















And I enjoyed just tromping through the snow, taking care not to trample the ski tracks. (No, I did not lose a glove; but rather had removed it to take a photo.) Was so peaceful being out in the woods where the noise was silenced through the snow. I didn't see a lot of photo ops that grabbed me, but I thoroughly enjoyed being out in this and getting a good workout on my own two feet. You can see my boots are buried up to my rolled up snow pants.


Here's a video clip of Kevin on one of his favorite downhills at MacBride.