Seed Pod???

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I was walking the dog to pass the time while waiting for my wife to finish her dance class when we came across a row of trees. Around the base of each of the trees were a large number of these objects – I assume they are some kind of seed pod. Many had already fallen, but this one was still on the tree. Our dog had been merrily walking along when suddenly and unexpectedly he stopped and sat down. I encouraged him to get going, which he did but then after a few steps he sat down again. We repeated this a few times until I noticed that he had one of these things stuck to his backside – must have been rather uncomfortable. After I’d removed it we continued along as usual.

Lake Geneva 2004 – View from my hotel room

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We lived in Geneva from 1990-1995 and you can almost see our house in this picture. It was on the lake, just out of the picture to the left on the other side of the lake. After we’d transferred to New York I returned often on business, which was great as I got to see old friends and our younger daughter who at the time lived in Geneva – she still does in fact. I can’t recall why I didn’t stay with her – possibly because she had a very small apartment and I didn’t want to impose. More likely I’d found a great rate at one of the lakefront hotels – I believe it was the Beau Rivage. I arrived early in the morning and went directly to the hotel, gave them my name and they couldn’t find the reservation. I was tired and livid that I couldn’t check in until we looked more closely and discovered that in my haste at finding such a great rate I’d booked at a hotel with the same name (I think there’s a Beau Rivage in every town around the lake) in Lausanne – about 45 minutes away. Talk about embarrassing! It turned out that this one they did have rooms, but at a much higher rate than I’d anticipated. Still I thought it might be nice to stay in a really nice hotel, at least for one night – so I did. Great view of the boats and the fountain, the famous Jet d’eau in the background.

Harley on the table

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It was a gorgeous sunny day the other day: warm with blue sky and no clouds. I put Harley’s bed on our patio table and he lay there for some considerable time looking out over the garden and the still frozen lake. I too sat at the table, reading, drinking rum and coke and watching the last, tiny piece of snow melting on our patio. What an exciting life I lead.

On the Newburgh Waterfront

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Getting our ducks (or mostly geese) in a row.

As mentioned in the previous post March 31 was my wife’s Birthday. Since she’s fond of fish and all kinds of seafood we thought we’d try Captain Jake’s Restaurant on the Newburgh waterfront. After a nice meal: Surf and Turf for my wife and a Ribeye steak for me we took our dog for a short walk along the waterfront. Our previous dog would have chased the birds, but not Harley. He just calmly walked by them.

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Geese and ducks on the river.

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I wonder what they all found so interesting and why the mallard at the bottom didn’t. Obviously he’s too busy grooming.

My wife took these pictures with her iphone 5s. I provided support through post-processing.