Saturday at the Celery Farm

Yes, I am a little obsessed with this place. I am loving heading there early in the morning and walking around the trail and just watching the wild life. I have been lucky enough to see not one but 2 ospreys fly in, dive down, catch a fish and then fly off. Awsome. Yesterday I saw a kingfisher- so beautiful and a reminder of Africa where I saw some of his relatives. The swans are waiting on the hatching of their babies and the carp are having a field day mating or whatever it is that they do along the banks of the water. I saw a molestation of a female duck by a male mallard, at least it seemed like a molestation, the female did not seem too happy. This morning a muskrat swam almost right up to me before he dove down under water to disappear. I just love being there.
Can you blame me? This place is so beautiful and nestled in, right there in the middle of surburban Bergen County NJ.
Ok, picture this... I am walking along the trail and I hear some tapping. "Ah, must be a woodpecker I say to myself," and I start searching the trees where I Hear the noise. I see nothing..I am actually looking at the wrong tree... until I see a woodpecker come flying up and land on the tree next to where I am looking. Another woodpecker peeks her head out, flies out of the tree and the male woodpecker pops in. Tap..tap..tap..tap. It goes on for about 5 minutes(or maybe it was one but it seemed like 5 minutes) and they switch places again. I watched for a couple of switches before moving on along the trail. What a cool experience. Tomorrow Jay wants to come with me and see this place I keep talking about. 

Colorizing my world

Finally the paint is going on the walls in my house. All last week while I was away the painters have been working on the addition and my living room. Jay has given up some of his fear of color and I am having fun. Our living room is a lovely shade of blue. I think it is called belladonna. I am loving it but think I might need to get all new upholstelry (however you spell it)
My craft room is a very bright shade of yellow, I am happy just thinking about it.
The new bathroom is a bright (Almost neon) shade of green
The mudroom is going to be this grayish shade of blue. I am going to love it with the stone floor. I can't wait to see it all done. 

National Postal Museum

Shelby and I had seen a show on the Smithsonian and both wanted to visit the postal museum it featured. They have a letter that survived the Hindenburg's explosion and another that survived a train robbery from the 1800s. I know this sounds more like my inner nerd coming out but this was a cool museum. We all enjoyed walking through it's exhibits and while I won't say it is my favorite museum I can say I really had fun there.
 

B&O Train Museum

On Tuesday we headed sown to VA to visit with Tamsen and her family. On our way we stopped at my Uncle Bill's and had breakfast with him. Then we headed into Baltimore and went to the B&O Train museum, a place my dad has tried to visit in the past but never made it. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time wandering around looking at all the exhibits. The Round House was a beautiful building just on its own.
One of the trains on display was this Gratitude train from France used during WWII. My dad shared that this was the kind of train he traveled through France when he was overseas during the war. They called it 40+8 car meaning that it would hold 40 men or 8 horses. When I looked at the train closer there was a plaque stating just that, just in French. It was so cool.
Just one of the engines in the round house
We ended our visit to the museum with a train ride on the B&O. I am so glad we got to share this with Dad. 

NY Car Show

Last Monday night we took the Ferry into NY and went to see the car show. Loved all the Hybrids on show- I hope a lot of people get them. Jay, Shelby and I all loved this remake of the Charger- Wonder if they will make it in a Hybrid?
We got to see two Shelbys there. Shelby keeps thinking we need to buy one for her. I wish we could afford it.
This Ford super Chief was unbelievable. The back seats had foot rests, real ones. The steering "wheel" was like a plane's. Very cool car.
Jay met the Geico Geecko- How cute are they? 

Easter at the Celery Farm

I went back to the Celery Farm today with my father and my sister Janet. It was such a beautiful day, we had brunch at The Mason Jar and needed to get out and walk. "Why not go to my favorite new spot?" I asked. And off we went. The park was packed once again ( I like it much better early in the morning before others are there.) I got to see some of my favorite birds and today we got to see some turtles, big big turtles, and I cuaght sight of my first muskrat!! It was way cool.
Dad enjoying the sights from a park bench
turtle love in the afternoon
Male swan enjoying the sun.

Happy Easter All! 

Embracing my inner nerd

Alright, I am going to say it right out... I am not cool. Like anyone thought I was. But this morning I realized how far gone I was when I found myself heading out at 7am with binoculars in hand to walk at the Celery Farm and look at birds along the way. I don't think I ever saw that in the rule book for cool. But I guess that is the good thing about being 44..I don't really care about being cool anymore. But I am not yet a full fledged birder either. I meet up with people on the trails and they will ask whayt birds I have seen and I will say, "Oh I saw one that had some red and yellow on its wing." At that point they just smile and walk away, not really. I have found that birders are excited to share their knowledge with other people out there and I have been enjoying the education. So this first picture is a red-winged black bird...
This is a Hairy Woodpecker (Or is it furry?) Who knows?
These are Egrets and this last picture is of a North American Alligator...Not really but had you going for a moment there didn't I?
 

Lame deer photo

OK, So I am sitting here waiting for my daughter to get home (In big trouble I might add) and I look out onto my front yard and there are three deer making their way across my lawn!! I love deer. So I run to the living room and get my camera and then fly into Jay's office to take a picture before they disappear. Well, I forget that he has screens on his windows, and I forget that the flash is automatic and so what results is this really lame photograph. AND the flash now bothers the deer so they take off to the neighbor's house. Oh well, I enjoyed seeing them and I will remember them when I see this photo. sorry you weren't here with me. 

Most mornings.....

This is how I see my daughter. Her bus arrives at around 6:45 and I get to take her to wait for it. You might ask why I drive her rather than have her walk but the bus stop is over 2 miles from the house, no way can she get up early enough and walk that with her 50lb+ backpack. Sometimes she is awake enough to speak but most mornings it is a barely awake child I deal with.
What is this, I am sure you are asking? It is an important part of my day. I am an avid Fiji water drinker. No not because I am a water snob but there is something about this bottle and the water that makes it easy for me to drink all the water I should. So this is the view that I see all day long as I drink my 6 or 7 bottles of water each day. One day I want to go to Fiji and see where they bottle the water. Then again maybe I don't!