Waiting

for Christmas is hard...

 

 

 

we celebrated Sam's 37th on the 23rd with the traditional Page birthday cake and presents to open--a happy diversion to the waiting,

but then it was still 2 more days to wait:

 

 

 Rachel caught up on e-mail,

 

 

 

David on phone messages,

 

 

 

Jess did some cooking,

 

 

 

Toby some laundry sorting,

 

 

 

Maddie some photographing,

 

 

 

Max and Simon some movie watching,

 

 

 

and Gwen some just plain waiting!

 

 

 

The elves got dressed in their matching pj's

 

 

 

with the paparazzi snapping away.

But still, there was more time to wait.

Arrivals!

 

 

First, Katie Harris comes to see us on her way to Hawaii.

Then the Page/Bethels arrive from Panama--

 

 

parents catch up

 

 

 

 

as children confer.

 

 

 

The next day, Maddie, sadly with a tummy bug, is surrounded by brother and cousins, all watching a movie on the IPad.

 

 

A bit later Jess puts into action a great assemblage project: creating edible acorns from Hersey Kisses, chocolate chips and small round cookies.

 

And the Page/Bethels walk the 4 blocks to see our new house.

 

 

 

Rachel tries out the red chair in the studio

 

 

 

as the kids swiftly inaugurate everything-- testing the fireplace-to-sofa leap, the bounce of our king-size bed,

 

 and the suitability of Toby's slippers.

So great to have the two families here together!

Pre-Christmas Activities

 

 

UPS parcels start to pile up--the delivery man left this neat pile--and he travels by bicycle! 

 

 

 

Toby counts the parts of a coat rack--one of the zillions of things we've bought for the house from Ikea or Target and struggled to put together.

 

 

 

More organizing:  sewing curtains and shower curtains. 

 

Then some fun:

 

 

 

selecting the Christmas tree with the Page/Kenders.

 

 

 

Maddie and Max raced around the lot, weaving in and out of the tall spruces and evergreens.  The only way Toby and I could figure out where they were was to watch for trembling tree tops as they squeezed their way through.

 

 

 

Max's school concert was so sweet with the charm of many pre-k'ers singing Christmas songs, full of excitement, slightly uncoordinated hand gestures, and great stage presence!  Max is right there in the middle.

 

 

California Classes

 

No sooner were Toby and I out here in LA than we got to go to kids' classes:

 

 

 

Maddie's karate.  Note that she is the only girl in her class.

 

 

 

Max's dance recital.  Note that he is the only boy in his class.

 

 

 

And note Sam and Jess, the proud parents. 

Coast to Coast

 

We left our lovely Chocorua on a wintry, cold, end-of-November day,

and came out, for the winter, to a warm and sunny Burbank, and this small and very sweet house.
The red Prius, driven across the country by David at the end of September, was here to meet us.

Leaving Chocorua

On November 22nd, 

Christina and Tom traveled to Chocorua.

That evening we all went to the Watkins' new home up the road from us

for a very festive dinner.  Myles and Ned were also there.

Early the next morning we went to Rosie's for breakfast.

Here's Tom's "selfie."

Then, after Tom did a quick check on his water system down by the lake (which is still working very well), we piled into his car,

 

 

and drove to Newbury, MA where we had another wonderful meal, an early Thanksgiving, at Sarah and Alan's with more family:  Ben and Christine up from New Haven, Rebecca and kids, Peter and Glenn, over from Cooperstown, NY, Charles and Allison from quite nearby, and Kifle and Wunesh in from Barrington.  What a feast!  What a fine family!  What great friends!! 

 

Getting Ready

 

Not all preparations for going out to Burbank for the winter involve decisions about what to pack in suitcases, cleaning and closing up the house, stuffing cardboard boxes very full and hoping that  lots of tape keep them safe, and more than one trip to UPS.

 

 

Nope, there's personal vanity too.  Here I am at Kristen's "station" in The Cut Off, denying my age and my grey hairs, getting a cut pert enough to feel stylish even in LA.

'Tis The Season

 

 

Last Saturday Toby and I had a delicious pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Remick's farm.  Lots of fun even if the turkey, one they'd raised (not a butterball!), was a bit tough.

 

 

 

Remick's is a great place -- we sat with two interesting women and saw several people we knew.  You can't get far in Chocorua and Tamworth without running into someone familiar.

 

 

 

Then the first snow--very light

 

 

 

but enough to bring out the old snow shovels. 

 The winter season is upon us.

Good Visits

 

Tom came over from Portland last weekend and immediately got to work on a project-

lucky us!

 

 

He and Toby spent hours mucking out the little streams that weave their sluggish way down to the lake.  After cleaning out the debris near the log at the entrance to the lake, the water started flowing fast and began to drain some of the wetlands below our house.

 

 

 

Then Tom saw a possible nifty picnic site for us all a little to the north of where we now swim.  We spent some time clearing the area and Tom lopped off some of the low limbs of a lovely, large white pine there.  This might possibly be a new place for our dock next summer!

 

 

 

Love this old, woodpecker-pecked tree standing there.

 

 

 

An old friend of Toby's, Susan Bombieri, came a day later for a visit. We had fun roaming through the Remick Museum in Tamworth.  Dr. Remick was Toby's childhood doctor and Susan, a Remick relative, spotted her mother's name in the family tree.

Eating Us Out of Trees!

 

Lately, since the leaves have fallen,we've seen  evidence

of beavers down by the lake.

 

 

Lots of small trees down, even some bigger ones.

 

 

 

In fact, the beaver(s) have made their own path from trees to lake.  Our path is on the right, theirs is on the left.

 

 

 

And they've made a mess of stripped branches in the water.

 

 

 

Mystery through--except for the chewed trunks we don't seen any evidence of beavers down there--not a dam, no scat, no footprints, certainly no sightings.  When do they come?  Where do they come from and go to? How do they get those big trees out of there?

 

 

 

Maybe we'll get a clear view of the lake, but we're not sure this is the way to do it.

The Raft

Almost 25 years ago Toby, with Sam's help, built our Chocorua raft.  Here are the launching photos:

The tractor and trailer with raft and giant blue prune juice containers to float the raft.

Cast of launchers:  Sam, Carolyn Garner, Rachel, Rebecca Regan, Toby, and in the back Mathew, Alan and Carol Phenix.

The confident tractor driver, Sam, taking us all down to the launching site.

 

In the water--hurray!

And now--

a little sad but probably necessary--the raft is so big and heavy and hard to move from the shore to the lake in the spring  and back in the fall.

We paddled it down to the old launching site with the help of Alan and his dog Chaz,

tied it to a big oak tree to be taken up by it's new owners, our neighbors down the road,

and said a little good-by.  

We hope to have a smaller, lighter raft built for us next summer.