i just opened iphoto and realized that there is a bunch of stuff i never got around to posting. here is some of it:

jon and laurie came to visit. among other things, we threw a picnic (sadly, no pics), picked strawberries:

(i have a picture of laurie from many, many years ago picking strawberries, that i seem to remember looks just like this one. i should dig it out.)

went to the bookmill:

and rested:

a week or so later, we took a co-worker’s extra tickets to see james taylor off her hands. or, at least, we think we saw james taylor…from our seats it could very well have just been a big-screen broadcast of a recorded james taylor concert:

either way, we found out just how awesome it is to hang out at tanglewood.

***we will now take a moment for a doggie intermission***

***feel free to get some snacks before the next portion of the catching-up begins***

ok, what else does iphoto say we have done?

we visited with good friends, and their amazing twin girls, who were staying in a nearby town. (again, sadly, no pics.)

tom’s parents came for a visit. among other things, we took a boat ride on the Connecticut river:

and went to a bunch of flea markets. we came home with many goodies including, a salt grinder that looks like a bunny, though i don’t think that’s intentional:

and two display heads:

don’t the heads look like they would fit perfectly into a dr. who episode?

finally, these amazing flowers are growing in our garden:


we rescued these from the community garden compost pile at the end of last season. at the time, they were only a root and stem and we weren’t sure if they were even going to grow, let alone what they would look like. they seem to be pretty happy to be in our plot now.

phew! that was a lot of stuff. thanks for hanging in there. now i think i am back up to date!

i had promised the pups that we would have an afternoon in the woods on tuesday. the weather turned out not to be great, it was a little rainy and foggy, but a promise is a promise and they needed some good outside time. So off we went!

abby loves the brook that runs through the park and was so thrilled as we walked closer to it. once it was in sight, she went exploring:

where’s abby?

grendel isn’t allowed off-leash until he learns to listen to me despite distractions (which is not likely to happen in the near future) so he has to enjoy what he can from wherever he is anchored. but he honestly doesn’t seem to mind much. he’s just happy to be out and about:

the lousy weather cut our exploration short, but all in all, it was worth risking frozen paws for some new sights and smells.

we’re getting a true snow storm today. look how fast and big the flakes are coming down:

usually the weather predictions are blown way out of proportion, but the declaration that we are going to get “an inch per hour” is so far holding true. and it is supposed to keep snowing for another 4-6 hours.

i wanted to stay outside and play, but the pups wanted to go inside. now.

edited to add: it actually has snowed more than one inch per hour so far.

the first snow of this year is long gone (it only stuck around for a day) but pictures of pups in snow stick around forever.

grendel loves the snow. he sticks his face in it, sniffs every inch of the snow-covered yard and runs like a crazy dog:

abby…well…she doesn’t hate the snow:

it just sort of annoys her:

have i ever posted a picture of how abby and grendel travel when when we go on long car trips?

with two layers of cushiness and one blanket each, by hour two i start wishing i was sitting in the back seat.

the cozy back seat has made all of the difference in how long we can drive without stopping. they have both made it the full fours hours to nj. it is now their people who sometimes call for a break.

in that picture, they are both pretty annoyed with me for waking them up from their cuddly nap.

recently abby, grendel, tom and i graduated from a six-week obedience class at a local dog school. we spent wednesday evenings learning new skills and then were given homework to work on throughout the week.

while they didn’t really learn fancy tricks, abby got more comfortable being around dogs she didn’t know which helps at the dog park. and gren learned to pay attention much better than he has in the past. and we continue to work on, and build upon, what we learned at home. “stay” continues to be a challenge.

a wonderful side-effect of the class was how tired they were after each class. it really challenged them! just look at these two after the graduation ceremony, during which they were each given a treat and a certificate of achievement:

gren is particularly proud of their honor student status:

(let’s not tell him that everyone got one of these bumper stickers)