Rock Island Geese

We've often had Canada Geese use our little island as a nesting site. It's got lots of advantages--protected from the wind, gets lots of warming sun, fairly high so it's easy to see intruders, etc.

Sue took the canoe out on a beautiful sunny morning during the Memorial Day weekend and got some good close-up pictures of this year's nest. It's amazing how well camouflaged the mother is as she's lying on the nest with her head down. We won't be able to get back to the cabin until late June, so we'll probably miss hatching time.

beauty, dust and rain

Those were the three key elements to yesterdays outing to the Taj Mahal.  But it was worth every minute of it.  the city of Agra is about 4 hours from Delhi, in very interesting highway.  Once we were out of the main stretch in Delhi it got smoother, but it was not uncommon to see carts being pulled by humans, cow, and camels all in the same stretch.

However walking through the gate into the gardens was truly a moving experience.  we went all out with it as well, complete with the "tourist" photographer.  we didn't really want him to take out pictures, but he kept posing us and taking them.  It turned into such a funny experience that we did end up buying the photos after all.  

But things changed when we were leaving the Taj.  we were supposed to go to the Agra Fort, but the weather told us otherwise.  when we returned to our car (not driven by us)  the skies turned orange and menacing, and within seconds the winds kicked up and we were engulfed by sand.  Which after 20 minutes turned into pouring rain.  and with no sign of letting up, we called it a day and made out trek back to Delhi.

Oh Crepe!!

well Amanda and I have successfully run around Paris and did about as much as we could cram in, while still trying to relax.  The weather was fantastic, really sunny and warm, which made it that much more tempting to sit outside in the parks.

London has been great as well.  We were fortunate to witness a secret graffiti show that was announce the Thursday we arrived.  There were hundreds of artists painting in an abandoned roadway tunnel.  the festival was organized by street artist Bansky.

a few pics from NH weekend

We had, as usual, a glorious weekend up in NH. The weather was great, and of course, Max couldn't have enjoyed himself more. Here are a few pictures to capture the weekend.

Moon Rise Over The Bronx

We get to see some pretty amazing things out our windows. The newest thing we have noticed is just how large the full moon looks as it just clears the buildings on the horizon.

Blek le Rat

Amanda and I have been having a great time out in LA and Southern California. We came out for a couple of reasons, but the main one was to go to the opening of the Blek le Rat show: Art Is Not Peace But War show. Blek is a well known French graffiti artist and Amanda's Brother Jeremy has become his US manager.  He also works for the gallery and was able to bring both things together.   We went to both openings, the private screening for buyers and the one that was open to the public. It was very impressive. Over the two nights approximately 1000 people came through and most of the items sold.

Now we are spending a night in Laguna on the water and head back to LA to fly home. It was a much needed vacation, and a fun trip overall.

Winter @ Rock Island Point

Our Oquossoc neighbors, the Fees, are doing an extensive addition to their house. They visited in February to check on the progress of construction and took this photograph of our driveway.

According to the NOAA maps, there is still 35-40 inches of snow on the ground in the region--far too much snow to make the trek down the driveway!

Green

After talking about it for years, we finally painted the "fireplace wall." We like it! Makes Eric's painting really stand out, doesn't it? Same for the Chinese lanterns.

Max is 3!

Max had his birthday party this weekend. We had an introduction to gymnastics class where all the kids got to stretch and run around and do summersaults and jump on the trampoline and tumble and have a good time. Then they ate cake and proceeded to run around some more. Max had a really great time with all of his friends and just LOVES jumping on the trampoline.

Sledding

Not sure if this was Max's first-ever sledding experience, but he got the hang of it very quickly.