It's embarrassing to see how remiss we are in keeping up this blog. Yikes, we’ve actually got lots to say, but seem never to think about sitting down and writing. What with keeping the rooms as close to a “10” as we can, spending time with guests, keeping in touch with the family, volunteering in the community and a massive amount of yard and house work most of the year, we seem to rarely remember to “blog”. One very fun thing we’ve begun recently is to sing with our local community choir “Letz Sing” where we finally sing outside the shower. Haideh sings with the Alto section and me with the Tenors. The Canadian Tenors, who recently performed at our local Sid Williams Theatre, have nothing to fear, but I’m having a great time.
The two of us are doing well. Haideh took up knitting over the winter and is completing some surprise gifts for the grand kids. She continues to cross stitch Christmas stockings for each new family member. We both still enjoy the physical work necessary and especially the fun we have with guests. Last year our visitors came from as far away as South Africa with many from Europe (especially many from Switzerland). Because of the tight economy, more and more are taking close to home vacations and enjoying our beach as well as the opportunity to ski Mt. Washington and sleep by the sea, after all we are just a 35 minutes drive from the slopes.
As some of you know, I’ve had an arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat) that has caused me some serious discomfort and can be quite debilitating when it acts up. Luckily, the last time I had a serious episode it lasted long enough for the doctor to record an “F” wave indicating that the heart muscle is OK, but that I have a problem with my internal electrical system, which is curable. I am scheduled for an ablation procedure soon, which is expected to correct the electrical issues and get me running right again.
Tip, our Flat Coated Retriever, will turn 4 on May 18. He is the perfect lodge dog--- well mannered, loves people, doesn’t roam, rarely barks, doesn’t chew on things (except bones), and is excelling at agility where he has (thanks to Haideh’s incredible dedication) completed his novice rating and is nearly done with the advanced. Tip continues to beguile our guests with his good nature and genuine friendliness. Haideh continues to astonish me with her energy and commitment.
We’ve made some good changes here in the last year. The living room now has an insert in the fireplace that allows us to have fires that actually help warm the house, besides just looking cozy. The berry patch doubled in size as blueberries, blackberries and some new raspberries and strawberries were added. Our herb garden is growing too and now offers fresh basil, oregano, mint, chives, and Italian and regular parsley. We look forward to even better breakfasts as the new plantings mature. So far, fresh herb omelets have been a big hit. We stopped growing veges as we never seem to have the time to harvest them.
Sadly, we had to remove one of the big fir trees in the front as the trunk had rot in it and the arborist determined it was a danger. The good part is that we have a lot more sun in the front yard now and got over three cords of firewood too. Still, we hate removing any trees and overall have planted quite a few including about 100 Scotch Pines on the upper portion of the lot. I’ve used up a page, so I’ll close for now and give Haideh a chance to write about the holidays and other neat things. Walter
