Tim, Barbara, Lee and Mary and snow and freezing cold.

Before clearing the pathway at Tim and Barbara's

Cleared the pathway, now for the driveway

 The second snowfall was a lot more than the first one a few days ago. White and powdery and beautiful, but I guess the minus 25 Celcius offset that beauty a bit with the brutal cold. It looks magnificent, specially when the sun is out, but you can only feel a little warmth on your ear if you allow it out of your Beanie. Best not to. My nose did not exactly enjoy being exposed either, but I kept breathing heavily to keep it warm-ish! I did not want to disturb the serene beauty, but practical needs must, so I wielded the BIG snow shovel and got to work to clear the pathway

My car at Tim's after the 2nd snowfall

The woods behind Tim's house on his property

A couple of hours of snow shoveling in lieu of gym!

Pathway done and looking safe. No ice to slip on luckily and so now the sun can do its little bit of magic and melt the rest of the snow as I really do not feel like getting out the snow broom to clear it all. Still got the driveway to do before Barbara gets back from her book club meeting otherwise she will not get up the driveway. It is long (52m) and steep, so no traction after the first 10-12m at all. Tim and I took a couple of runs from the road to reach the curve and flatter part of the driveway when we got back from church.

My car the next morning at Lee and Mary

Lee and Mary's home in Chappaqua, NY

Tracks in the snow

 My car shows the result of the previous night's snow. Only about 5cm otherwise we would have been able to use the snow blower to clear the driveway, but being so shallow, shoveling needed to be done. I used the shovel to clear the snow off my car as apart from anything, it is illegal to drive with snow on the car in Connecticut as it can fly off onto the following car, so it makes sense. The sun could do the rest. The battery did not exactly enjoy being frozen overnight, so starting was slow and laboured.

Lee and Mary's sunroom

Took this shot from inside the family room to show the beauty of the snow over the woods and the depth of it on the deck that Tim built. The two spruce trees on the left, is home to a tribe of Junco's and one of the feeders can be seen in front of the trees. There are about 8 more to the left out of shot. The Junco's are ground feeders, so pretty much rely on all the other birds, specially the Blue Jays to broadcast the seed down onto the ground for them to feed happily. They do come up onto the feeders if the ground is bare. Counted 15 species this morning. Quite incredible when the temperature is so incredibly low.

A view from the porch of the top of the driveway up to where my car is standing off shot left. Took over an hour to clear from the bottom up to this point just before the garage turnaround. Luckily the snow is still fluffy at this point except for the tracks which were left by Tim's car. The snow was compacted and had become iced in some places. Had to scrape it off the driveway
I left some places where the tracks of the Coyote or rather Coywolf where still visible. It had tracked around following the trail of a rabbit and a squirrel hoping, no doubt, for a quick meal. He was a very healthy looking specimen.

Arrived at Lee and Mary's on Tuesday and had a light snow overnight. The sun melted it off the car so I did not have to scrape it off at all. Yay! Once again, beautiful sunlight, but nary a trace of warmth unless I had stayed out to feel it on my ears. I would not, because at minus 20C, my ears would have been frozen before I really felt any warmth. I sure hope there will be no more snow and specially for Friday as I drive across into New Jersey. I am going to visit Mark Browne and his family there for a couple of nights.



Lee and Mary's home from the driveway side. Lee and his sons, Gilbert and Doug with some help from me each time I have been in the USA, rebuild this very old Cider Mill into a very beautiful and comfortable home. Lee is an excellent carpenter and woodworker. He was high up in IBM and he learnt his carpentry from his dad who is one of the top designers of the 20th century in the USA with works in the New York Cultural Museum as well as having one of his clock designs on an American Postage Stamp



Tracks in the virgin snow out front of the house from the sunroom. Mostly deer, squirrel and the neighbourhood cat. There was one set of tracks that we were unable to decipher. Looked like a Coyote, but may also have been the neighbour's dog, even though he should not have been able to get out at night. Normally this is a magnificent lawn leading down to the road which heads to the sports club where there is tennis, board tennis and a magnificent swimming pool. Lee is the maintenance guy at 82 years of age! He also plays outdoor and indoor tennis twice a week apart from 'gyming.'

This is the interior of the sunroom with a wonderful small caste iron stove in the corner which burns a couple of logs at a time and keeps the house nice and warm together with the furnace. Lee's design, including the table on the right.

Finally, I went to the Forum for International studies again this morning where a professor of political studies from CNYU addressed us on the present Palestine-Israeli 'peace talks'. Very enlightening as well as much on the Iran-USA talks on the nuclear issue. He had been in Cape Town in November or so, but I had been unable at the time to attend his lecture. Magic to listen, I could ask a question and then get to meet him.

One thing I am doing, is reading a lot of articles on all aspects of the USA as well as a couple of historical books on the indigenous North Americans (Red Indians - Comanche). Also watching the frightening slide of the Rand and wondering how much this will impact my intended trip. What I do know, is that my Caribbean Cruise and trip to Mexico are signed and sealed and I will be travelling all around the USA and Canada up till July 31!