Christmas Dinner 2010 in Glens Falls

Herewith but a sampling of the community that assembled to celebrate Christmas at the Nasons in Glens Falls this year. New family units kept arriving in cohorts. Not even this collage captures everyone present--and my camera had problems on this trip... Therefore we're awaiting Monique's additions to show the visit to Jim and Elena Magees and, possibly, our winter walk...

Beatrice Flower

We call this one the Beatrice Flower, after my mother, Mommer to the clan. It is a Gerber Daisy, originally a gift from Monique, but this splendid exemplar is a descendant of that one arriving, surprisingly, just to announce the arrival of winter this year.

The reason for this bloom is that we, alas, confuse our flowers by raising them under lights indoors, in the basement this year, and the poor things really do forget when it is supposed to be Spring.

Thanksgiving Lasts This Year

Belatedly some additional “portraits” from the wondrous Thanksgiving Celebration at Monique’s and John’s. Pictures of that festival are already below, but I have been extraordinarly tardy in downloading my own photos. From these, herewith three that pleases, each a closeup:

Here is one of the Turkey itself, still safely in its huge pan, a great masterpiece by John this year that, in retrospect, did not get the hurrahs it deserves—because we were all in some blessedly sleepy states.

Herewith the Pie. They were all great, but this one has long been on the throne of all pies made by John.

And finally, here, my favorite of Brigitte and her sweet smile.

More Thanksgiving Pictures

These are from Michigan where Monique, John, Brigitte and Arsen gathered, with Katie looking on to give thanks. Here are a few pictures.

First, the evening before was pie baking and stuffing preparation time, as we raised a glass to wish Michelle a Happy Birthday from a distance.





While the turkey was baking, we had deviled eggs, olives, and cheesies. We added the pies to the picture because they looked so nice. John sure makes lovely pies!



And then, right on time, the turkey was ready. Too bad John was making such a silly face...




We foolishly neglected to take a picture of all of us around the table using the automatic camera control as our Parisian family did. But, Monique got a nice shot with John and Brigitte at the table.



After dinner we headed next door to join Wendy, her mother, Ann, her brother Jed, and her little girls Anna and Lexi for pie and coffee.







It was a lovely day.
We hope yours was too.

Happy Thanksgiving from Paris

Bon appétit!

A close-up of Max who has now reached the age of discretion...

And a belated Happy Halloween from Stella...

Soon Michelle will penetrate the Google wall and post here ad libitum—as we who speak Neanderthal might say—but this time she lacked the time.

Happy Birthday Michelle!

So who is this lovely young girl?

Why, it's the birthday girl herself.
Our dear Michelle, just a few years ago...

Still Red Although the Frost Has Come

Red to the left of us...

... and red to the right of us.

November Shopping Trip

The men try on hats...

The ladies try everything, not least—well, you find the object in this pic...

The place was Loehman's on Orchard Lake Road. The challenge was to find the right sizes...

Footnote to Halloween

At our Wolverine Lake Pumpkin Carving Night, Brigitte was too busy separating pmpkin seeds and helping with the cleaning to advance all the way to the Grand Finale—the carving of her own pumpkin. Never mind. Halloween night she decorated three little left-over pumpkins in a hurry so that our own visitors would have something to behold. As it happens, we left our camera at Monique's and didn't get it back until yesterday. So herewith what might be labeled as a “Historic Reconstruction” of the event!

A Michigan Halloween on Wolverine Lake

A few pictures of our annual pumpkin carving get-together, a favorite event around here. This year we combined this event with birthday cake and gifts for Monique's birthday. However, as she was the photographer, a roll she likes, there aren't any pictures of the birthday portion of the evening. It was fun!

We'll start with pictures of the finished pumpkins.


In the dark....


and in the daylight.

These were carved, clockwise, starting on top, Monique, Anna, Arsen, John, Wendy, and John. Busy knife, there, John! The hearts, we think, have it!

And here are a few of the artists at work.











Hummnn... looks like we have mostly pictures of the cleaning of the pumpkins, which was fun. Let's see, any of actual pumpkin carving?

Ah, here are a couple of the artists really carving away:






And there was chili too. It really wasn't very spicy as Monique made it to be enjoyed by people who have varying levels of tolerance to spiciness. John decided to spice up his bowl a bit and then forgot to stir before eating so that first bite was... HOT.



In addition to chili and two beautiful and tasty cakes—yes TWO cakes!—there were...



COOKIES!

A very fun evening, indeed. And, we can not conclude a Halloween posting without a picture of some costumes. Here are Anna and Lexi in their trick-or-treating duds, Anna the Avatar and Lexi the butterfly fairy.



All for now.
Cheers!

Fall Walk

Property taxes due. We arrange trips to City Hall as walks for me--so that the sacrifice in money will translate into a gain in health. While Brigitte prepared to take off for her swimming exercies, I went off in my usually direction, which is past this cluster of trees on Ridge avenue. I visit this scene obsessively now because I've taken pictures of it in Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Once done with the taxing chore, which takes me to Kirby Avenue, the temptation is then always great to walk the three block east to see Lake St. Claire. Here is the approach.

And here a panorama of the lake on a lovely October afternoon.

Walking on Jefferson, I saw the sign above. It marks the spot where Brigitte swims--but in the summer, not these days. These days she swims at a local high school. The weather's too cold for outdoors swimnastics, and Pier Park is here shown decorated for Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, I passed this driveway on Jefferson on my way back, one of the most elaborate  I've ever seen.

Here is another angle on it. These are wealthy residences, and displays of this sort are actually arranged by contractors who arrive with four or five people and a kind of "director" who supervises the erection of displays. The same crews arrive in mid-November to stage the Christmas decos too.

Then, leaving busy Jefferson and the smooth waters behind, I like to go up this deep cul de sac--except that it isn't actually closed to the knowing pedestrian.

One Stop on Our Sweetest Day Excursion

That, of course, was yesterday. We try to come here every year, this time of year, to this roadside vendor out on M 53, north of Romeo, where pumpkins await the carvers laid out as far as the eye can see.

Fresh vegetables galore under the awnings, too, and...

...this year, the biggest califlowers we've ever seen.

A Spider of Distinction

This was a season of spiders, from eency-whincey on up to big and bulky. Brigitte spotted this rather large Spider of Distinction. She has good eyes because this formidable harridan had disguised herself magnificently hanging in the air very near to a brick wall. Indeed, the spider is still there today, as patient as the ages.

It seems to us, looking at the creature first in Nature and now in Pixel Land, that this portrait is taken from under the harridan, featuring mostly her belly, and legs, but there was not space enough to squeeze between her web and the wall—and, moreover, we would have had to photograph into the sun.

Brigitte Is Still Harvesting

Despite my protests that this picture really does belong to another season, Spring, Brigitte insisted that I consider this splendid specimen “The Last Dandelion of 2010.” Well, all right. The picture indirectly reveals the crowding of our basement. It was taken with the camera held just above the monitor on which this post is being written. But it wasn't the only photo I snapped. I remembered that my trusty little Kodak has a “close up” feature:

Here is the same bloom up close and personal. You might call it the Portrait of a Weed. Everything is present except the eyes, nose, and mouth. But the hairdo is most delicate, don't you agree?

Last Harvest

Herewith a collage that Brigitte calls her “last harvest.” That isn't strictly true. Plenty of tomatoes and all kinds of fragrant herbs remain outside yet to be fetched, and they will be.

To go around clockwise, the green leaves are part of the pepper plant to show how they are wilting. Lying on top of them is the husk of an expired cone flower, an immigrant (but I hasten to add a legal immigrant) from Philipsburg, Mo., some flowers that came from Rex a couple of years ago and have flourished here ever since. Tomatoes (red). Tomatoes (yellow). A close look at the bigger one shows that somebody has taken a little bite out of it; that person was a squirrel. Around here we don't draw sharp distinctions between people with and without much conversation. Finally the hot pepper, whom (we also think of plants as people) visitors to this site have already met. In the center, in a kind of place of honor, is our pumpkin, actually an acorn squash, officially Cucurbita pepo. The great plant that brought it forth has also been featured before.

The two chestnuts managed to get on the paper towel on their own. They came from a walk I took the other day. Their pleasing shine was irresistible. They're here to to give an accent to our display...