Sandhill Cranes Part II

Sweetie and I got home yesterday and realized that we hadn't quite found the perfect vantage point for seeing the cranes. So, after a bit more research, we ventured out again this afternoon. We first drove down across a bridge, and turned into a curious little village. If you want to know more about that, you'll just have to ask me.

We eventually reached our planned destination, but there were too many trees in the way. Sweetie scrambled down an embankment slightly, but then the 1000+ cranes all flew up and relocated further up the lake (someone assured us the cranes were NOT skittish...).

So, we rumbled back to the car in the zero-degree windchill weather. And headed back to the state park and our original vantage point on New Year's Day.

We eyed the mudflats, and having heard yesterday that someone else had walked across them, we decided to try. I had my long camera lens and its teleconverter. So, it was worth trying to get closer. We made our way down the mudflats and looked north to find a suitable crossing point (ie: one that did not involve crossing 20 feet of thin ice). We eventually made out way to within about 60 yards or so of the cranes. The low light made picture-taking challenging, and as I told Sweetie, there was NO WAY I was dragging my tripod out there and setting it up. As it was, I think we were mildly hypothermic, certainly I was, by the time we made it back to the car.

At any rate, it was an incredible site to be so close to thousands of cranes. At one point, they started flying around up above us and their sound is so distinctive. Truly a New Year's to remember!

Happy New Year

Today, Sweetie and I drove about 25 minutes south of our house to a lake where we heard cranes had been hanging out the past week or so.  I wasn't sure they would still be there.  It was bitterly cold, but sunny, and after driving cluelessly around a state park that we had never been to before, we finally found what appeared to be the "mud flats" that people who had seen the cranes had referred to.  

So, we got out of the car, and Sweetie stopped and said, "Listen."  We heard birds.  And they weren't geese.  We walked down a short path.  And heard more birds.  Then I looked up.  And saw them.  Hundreds.  They were flying into the mudflats for the night.  They kept coming.  There were about 1,000 in all.  It's very good luck in Japan to see cranes on New Year's Day.  

It was incredible!!!

Another Blog Challenge question

Stationery. When you touch the paper, your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?

Ummm....stationery? What's that? Doesn't everybody just use email these days?

Blog Challenge

I just read about and joined a Blog Challenge where bloggers like me answer a different question for each day of December. Today's is:

Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

EASY. Amazon.com. It's just so easy to buy things on Amazon. We all know have to navigate the site. Everything is clear. There are no nasty crowds. I find shopping in our little town very unpleasant, for various reasons, most of which if I explained them, you would think I was uncaring and elitist.

So, I'll leave it at that.

Further Tales of Family Christmas Decorating Moments

Sweetie and I have absolutely NO lights on the outside of our house. We are clearly the Grinches on the block. Our next door neighbor said he and his wife only had two fights while decorating the mailbox.

Speaking of outside decorations, my dad used to do an amazing job with the lights on the outside of the house. It was the best decorated house on the block!! So one fine spring day when it was time to take down the lights, Dad was taking the lights off by the living room windows when Mom came home and drove in the garage and heard a "crunch, crunch, crackle, crackle" sound. Not realizing what it was, she put the car in reverse and heard some more "crunch, crunch, crackle, crackle" sound but not as much. She then looked over to the sidewalk by the front door and saw Dad with his jaw dropped down to his chest and realized by his expression that she had just run over most of his Christmas lights. She wisely decided she had not finished running her errands, said same to him and got the "heck out of Dodge." She really could not help laughing - without him seeing - as she thought "Well, whatever I did not run over the first time, I think I certainly got when I put it in reverse."

It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without....

It wouldn't be Christmas without a tree.

So, yesterday, Sweetie and I went down to the local golf course where the YMCA was selling live trees as a fundraiser.  

I've never had a live tree before due to my allergies (they have better drugs now).  Sweetie and I were slightly limited in the sense that whatever tree we got, it had to fit in the Fit.  So, we went for one about 5 feet tall.  And we fit it into the car with no trouble.

Then we got home and retrieved Sweetie's German tree holder.  And we proceded to put the tree into the holder, except that the trunk was too wide for the holder.  Lovely.  

Sweetie luckilly noticed that if we just sawed off one of the knobby things sticking out of the trunk, we could probably slide it into the holder. So, he ventured next door and got a hand saw from the neighbor.  And he sawed off two knobby things.  And then it fit.  Hooray.

I boiled some sugar water, as that is what the lady at the golf course told us.  And we filled the basin.  Ta da.

It wouldn't be Christmas without lights on the tree

I dragged out my various dregs of Christmas lights and at some point yesterday evening gave up finding a set that actually worked properly.  

This morning, I resumed the tree light production.  And Sweetie commented that I was "all happy putting up the tree lights."  I stopped in my tracks and said, "If you knew my family and had known my dad, you would know that putting up tree lights is NEVER a happy occasion."  

Indeed, as we were growing up, there were the various stages of the tree light production.  Stage One probably ran until we were about 7.  That's when Mom and Dad cooperated in the tree lighting/decorating venture.  Then Stage Two ran from about age 8 until age 16.  That's when Mom left the house during the tree lighting/decorating venture.   Thereafter, I think everyone except for Dad left the house for the tree lighting/decorating venture.  Dad, may he rest in peace, had VERY specific ideas about how the tree lighting/tinsel placing production had to be implemented.  And unfortunately, the rest of us did not always follow his vision (it wasn't insubordination -- just a lack of attention to detail on our part).

So, I was not exactly "happily" lighting the tree.

It also wouldn't be Christmas without....

This evening, after I painstakingly arranged our new bow on top of the tree and painstakingly placed assorted new bulb ornaments on the tree, Sweetie admired my work.  Then he made some comment that the tree "seems to be leaning."  And "we better keep an eye on it."

With Sweetie at the table grading papers, and me at the computer doing some Christmas browsing, suddenly there was a mighty "WHOOSH!" sound from the corner of the living room.  "No way!" I thought, as I turned.  And sure enough, the tree was no longer standing.  

So, we both raced over as Sweetie sat at the base of the tree declaring, "I knew it!!!" and "&*%$^%&!"  I meanwhile got behind it and pulled it up with my brute strength.  Of course, at that point I'm pretty sure the gallons of water in the holder had already been deposited onto the carpet.  It was also at that point that I realized maybe it would be wise to unplug the lights, given that I was sitting in a pool of water.

(Of course, as I am writing this, I keep glancing back to make sure it's still standing).

Anyway, the tree is back up, this time sitting on a marble cutting board and surrounded by forest green towels....

More of Sunny, Summery England

It's getting down into the 30s here now, so I'm going to carry on with my summer England travelogue.

Salisbury

Sweetie and I paid a visit to the town of Salisbury, which was really cool as I read "Pillars of the Earth" last year (fantastic read!!!) and I could just imagine it in medieval times. The Cathedral is stunningly large and very impressive inside.

We grabbed some soup and a sandwich for lunch at a small cafe in the town before heading off to our next stop.

Kingston Lacy

Since Sweetie has a National Trust membership, getting him into NT properties for free, we stopped at every NT property we could as we traversed the countryside.  Kingston Lacy was a grand specimen -- an enormous estate house with expansive gardens showcasing everything from hostas to Japanese maples.  They even had a "Japanese garden," which, while not quite my vision of a Japanese garden, was very nice to look at.

From there, we headed to the town of Swanage, along the coast, where we spent several nights in a neat little boutique B&B:   "Swanage Haven."  The owner showed us up to our room and pointed out the various amenities.  Sweetie and I took a brief nap and then showered and got ready to head out for dinner.  Except I couldn't find the hairdryer.  Which was really odd, because I absolutely positively remembered seeing it when the owner showed us the room.  I remembered him opening the top drawer of the dresser and there it was.  But it wasn't there now.  

Sweetie and I actually BOTH remembered seeing the hairdryer, which made it all the more perplexing . We eventually gave up and went downstairs in search of one of the owners.  We found David and we enlightened us about the "secret drawer" which was hidden INSIDE the top drawer.  DUH.  Anyway, crisis resolved.

Swanage was a great launching point for some amazing sites.  The town itself was impressive mostly in the sense that it had an INDIAN restaurant which we definitely took advantage of (somewhat unfortunate that we were so stuffed from good-eating on our trip that we could not quite finish our meals), and lovely seaside scenery.

Just a short drive or train ride away was the village of Corfe and the ruins of the mighty Corfe Castle, which could not have been more spectacular.  Despite some pretty ferocious winds at the ruins, Sweetie and I explored them at length and got some amazing photos.

The site was actually pretty mobbed with people, but you can't really tell that from the photo.  The village itself was absolutely adorable, and the ancient stone houses were so old that the doorways were noticeably shorter than average.

After exploring the ruins, we indulged in some delicious Purbeck ice cream, named for this region of England.