Winter 2015

Winter continues its icy grip

We're supposed to get yet another big blow tonight with up to 6" of snow and bone chilling cold in the single digits. Throw in winds predicted to gust up to 55mph and you know we are in for a frosty night!

Summer in February

In moving my summer garden plants to Kingston, I snapped off one stem of a New Guinea impatien.  Tho' they never grow in water, I still plunked it into a glass and hoped for the best.  It must really have liked the spot it was in, or was just so appreciative of not having been left in the garden to freeze, that it rallied and amazingly began to send out roots (you can see them in the bottom of the glass) and then, even more amazingly, it formed buds and began to bloom!  It has been in continuous bloom for many weeks.  As flowers drop off, new buds are formed.  I've slowly been adding bits of dirt to the water to transition the plant over to a soil-based environment.  This marvelous little plant is so hardy and I love to see its bright blossoms smiling at me against the brumal background.

Albert Einstein and the Giant Snowflake

What in the world was Einstein doing hanging that giant snowf...  wait a minute!  That's not Albert Einstein!  That's Michael P. Lynch!

Move to Kingston, NJ

On October 11, 2014 I moved from Fort Lee to Kingston, NJ.  I had great expectations that my job at Learning Ally would be great but, alackaday, it is a total bust.  However, there are quite a few very positive aspects of my move.

First, I got a really spacious apartment with lots of light.  My unit is pictured below.  I'm 2nd floor right in the middle of the picture.  My living room looks east and so I can watch the dawn come up and fill my space with sunlight.  Off my kitchen, on the west side, I have a large balcony that gets all the afternoon sun that also pours into my kitchen.  I dug up a number of New Guinea impatiens from the garden at the house and put them in pots as well as geraniums and some annuals.  A few didn't make the cut but most did and my kitchen is full of summer blooms in the dead of winter.

My complex has a really nice, large pool that I look forward to using this summer.  Most of the residents are slightly "older" so it is quiet and peaceful.  In fact, Kingston has a curfew law that states you must turn off your loud music or end your party by 10pm. The curfew lasts from 10pm till 8am.

Moving Day is always chaotic but mine went very smoothly.  I used a company that moved the Super Bowl Host Company, Main Street Movers, and they were great.  Of course I was super organized so the move went very smoothly and quickly.  And tho' I watched the truck be loaded and unloaded and nothing went awry, I ended up missing a selection of odd items.  For example, the glass plate that goes inside my microwave... gone.  I had a backup backup Seagate drive... missing.  And lots of small things that I am unable to account for.  Everything was packed in sealed, taped boxes.  They were unmarked so nothing stood out like a box labeled "computer" so if there were any mid-move pilfering no one would know which box to take.  And the Seagate drive and microwave plate were not packed together.  And the other small missing items were also packed apart from the kitchen and computer stuff.  So, I am utterly perplexed.  It's such a random selection of my stuff to go missing.  But as you can see from the photo below, taken on moving day, I still have plenty of other stuff left!

Kingston is a tiny little place with under 4,000 residents.  It's about 5 miles north of Princeton on Rt. 27.  And very historic.  It was founded in the 1600's.  There is an historic location nearby called Rockingham which was one of Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War.  And the architecture and houses are old and impressive.  Pictured below is the old windmill right in the heart of Kingston.  It was not used for processing grain but was used as a pump to draw up water for the original settlement.  There are a few businesses in Kingston including a number of dentists and other medical professionals as well as a bakery, pizza place and one restaurant and one sports bar.

One of the best features of Kingston is its proximity to the D&R Canal system (Delaware & Raritan) which is now all hiking trails.  The old towpaths have been pretty well maintained and travel for hundreds of miles.  The nearest point to my apartment is about a mile.  The trails are well-used by bikers, joggers, hikers and wanderers.  In the winter, you can see the tracks of cross-country skiers (something I have yet to try).

And wildlife.  As close as we are to civilization, there is a bounty of animal and plant life.  Of course, the deer are in abundance.  In fact my apartment complex has its own permanent herd.  On the trails I have seen deer, geese, ducks, cormorants, other aquatic birds I've not been able to identify, a beautiful red fox and countless types of birds.  There are groves of Osage orange trees, which I have never seen outside of Ohio.  In the autumn I collected a big bag of the exotic fruit and tossed them into the woods around my house in The Hollow.  Maybe in future years, people will marvel at this strange fruit in PA.

I look forward to the warmer weather as I will be able to bike my way to work traveling almost exclusively on the Canal trails.  I should be able to do the trip in under an hour, tho' I have yet to test it. And below is a photo of one of the old buildings on the Millstone River which parallels the Canal for quite a ways.  The Millstone is where the Princeton sculling team works out and that is fun to watch.

Peabody Reflects on Life in The Hollow

Peabody, our latest addition to the cat crowd, was a crazed, mean, feral little beast fo most of last summer.  He chased all the other cats and scratched us maliciously just after we gave him a nice dinner.  Truly a case of biting the hand that feeds you.  But we worked with him because I knew inside there was just a little kitten trying to break out and needing affection and a place to be at home.

Tho' we don't altogether regret our taming of this little beast, he has caused such discord in the house. All the other 5 cats positively hate him.  There are tremendous kerfuffles where the fur flies in epic proportions.  It feels like he will never quite fit in.  But he is here to stay.  And he has turned out to be an extremely affectionate animal.  He loves bedtime when he can snuggle down into someone's counterpane to snooze.  And he snores, little grumbly-sounding snores.

But, he also has a temper and every once in a while he will take a swipe at me, just to let me know who's boss.

This picture caught him reflecting on himself in his improved circumstances as the brutal winter beats down upon The Hollow.  I think he likes what he sees.

Flora Belle Lou, Christmas Cat

Perhaps it was against her will, but Flora Belle Lou became the official 2014 Christmas Cat and proudly wore the official Christmas Cat Head Bow... for about 30 seconds.  Why is it that cats hate to wear head bows?

Exciting new windows and doors!!

Finally bit the bullet and ordered the new windows and doors.  They cost a mint but they are terrific.  The doors are triple paned glass with Venetian blinds built in.  That was a very expensive extra feature and after the fact, we realized, rather unnecessary.  The idea was privacy but with all the windows to look in, closing off the door didn't really make any sense.  We have not used them so far in the first couple months of ownership.

But we are enjoying so much more light flowing into our dark little house.  That is a joy.  And my electric bill dropped from $650 this month last year to $280 this year.  

We still have two replace the two deck doors upstairs with the same style (without the blinds) but I want to pay down this debt before taking that next step.

Snow Geese in PA

I've never before seen snow geese.  I've heard of them but this was a unique experience.  As I drove along Rt. 248 near Wilson, PA, I saw ahead a field that looked like it was covered with snow, but as I drove closer, I saw it was all geese.  This was just before Christmas 2014, maybe the 23rd or 24th.  I stopped and turned around to try to get pictures but the highway is two lane and very busy -- to dangerous to stop for very long.  I pulled into the parking lot of an old steel mill but I was still too far off to get a decent picture.  And by this time the bulk of the flock of thousands of birds were taking flight.  I drove back along the road and pulled off just opposite some of the remaining flock and got the picture below.  I almost got stuck in the mud!  But at least I got a picture of some of these beautiful birds.