Life – Page 9 – New England's Narrow Road

Summer at Lake Sunapee

Did you know that Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler has a home on beautiful Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire? I watched the new Oprah show where she interviewed him at his home there. I almost believed that he was just a regular guy – ha! Who dresses funny. But I love water. Love lakes. Love boating. And it’s always been my dream to live on the water, so I found the interview fascinating and even more so because he has a home on a lake – that is only an hour away from me.

Before I saw the interview, I had seen local news reporters (months before) reporting that Oprah Winfrey had been spotted riding around in a car with Steven Tyler up that way. The reporter even tried to get some info from the maid? or someone at the house, but the gates remained locked for him. Sure enough, a few months later we could see what all the fuss was about. During the interview the two megastars ventured out in Tylers convertible and rode through Sunapee Harbor and out to someplace to tramp through the woods. (Bet Oprah loved that!)

But – I recognized the Anchorage restaurant they passed, where I had eaten a few times (and where S.T. met Joe Perry, I believe) and I decided to make a trip up to Lake Sunapee this summer and go out on the Harbor Cruise. My son from Florida has been visiting and we did just that this past week. We also ate at the Anchorage.

Enjoy my photos from the cruise – Can you guess which home belongs to Steven Tyler?

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Getting Rid of The Dead Wood

Cutting down trees — Removing dead trees in my yard.

Trees are one of the important things that make this world beautiful and I hate to see them cut down, but the three I recently had removed were dead and dying.

When I moved into my house last year, I surveyed the tree line along the front yard. Those trees are very close to the house and fortunately they all looked like they were in good shape, except for the one on the end. It was July, and that tree had no leaves. I also noticed that the big one, in the cluster of three, had a big gouge in the trunk that looked like it had been there for many years.

The top branches of the two remaining had bare branches, so I knew that something was going on with the entire cluster.

The tree guys were across the street dropping some huge pines for my neighbor and they came by to give me an estimate. They also said that I was correct and that those trees were dying. They were black birch.

So they were cut down and then cut into large sections which I will have my son cut smaller when he comes to visit in another week. I’ll let the wood dry and burn it in my wood stove, probably next year.

black birch tree cut down — Falling Black Birch

New Front Yard: Getting Rid of Trees and Grass (todaysmama.com)
Why am I raking leaves in July? (ireport.cnn.com)
Texas Forest Service Warns Homeowners Of Dead Trees (dfw.cbslocal.com)

My Kitty and The Birdbath

Skittle is my water-loving cat. She has decided that she must drink out of the birdbath each time she goes out front and especially if I am out there and spraying water to fill it.

She has a bowl of clean water right inside the garage, which I leave open a bit all day for the cats to hide from dogs if they have to, but this is more fun I suppose.

She also drinks from the hose if I have it turned on low to deep-water the shrubs, and inside the house she drinks from the sink. She is one of those needy cats who wants attention all the time and she goes in and out all day long.

I used to leave the back screen open just a bit for her until she decided that bringing a chipmunk into the house would be fun. After spending most of one day shooing it outside, I can’t do that any more.

cat drinking from birdbath — Skittle is my water-loving Kitty

Eventually she pulled the top of the birdbath over and it broke. That thing was heavy and could have hurt her, so she was lucky.

Share Your Photography With The World at Pixabay

I’ve been taking photos my whole life – like many of you. My first camera was a little Instamatic that came in a yellow box with a flash cube (very similar to the one pictured). Click and wind, then send the finished film off to be developed.

I took pictures of my cat and dog mostly, but also my backyard and some special outdoor places. The pictures were pretty crummy looking compared to what we have to work with these days, but I am still a point and shoot kind of gal.

My kids gave me a nice Sony a year or two ago and I’m having fun getting shots of my new house. Now that I am planting gardens I will be growing flowers and veggies to use as my subjects.

Recently I got a shot of my strawberry plant and added it to Pixabay where it was chosen as a front page image! Whoo hoo… I am excited!

I haven’t added many photos to their site yet, but I go there to find pictures to use for my work. They offer free, public domain images (that means you can use them for anything – no strings attached). I love that the folks there have high standards for approving uploaded photos so you will find only good quality images at the site.

If you have tons of pictures and want to show them off, consider joining Pixabay and share them with the world! And go see my strawberry. Thank you Simon and the Pixabay gang.