New England's Narrow Road

First Breakfast in January

berries and yogurt — My Favorite Breakfast

I admit that I did not take this photo this morning – January 1, 2010 – but I did eat this for breakfast as I do most mornings.

I don’t always add all the fruit – it depends on what I have in the freezer. Sometimes I have it with banana too but I always add Flax seed meal and wheat germ to my (usually) Strawberry yogurt. Both ingredients are excellent for good health and so simple to incorporate into your meals.

Here’s what I use: *Stoneyfield yogurt (a large carton to last all week) ~~ *walnuts crumbled in my fingers ~~ *semi-thawed frozen blueberries and or strawberries ~~ *Flax seed meal -a big spoonful ~~*Wheat germ – 2 big spoonfuls

I will make my son his favorite cinnamon rolls once he gets up. He’s only 12 and not into healthy eating.
~~~~ Have a wonderful first day of 2010 ~~~~

Red Barn in Winter

A couple of years ago we rented a house just outside of Concord, NH and in winter I had a partial view of this barn out behind my house.

I love to hike in the winter even though it’s a bit tricky when not following a trail or road, because you never know what lies beneath the deep snow. But the leafless trees give great views to places otherwise unseen.
I ventured out into the woods and navigated the little stream to get this shot of the red barn. It seemed like the perfect country winter photo to me.

Staying Warm and Happy New Year!

I’m not sure I get the point of having a wood stove in the basement. It seems like the house would be nice and warm much sooner if it was upstairs.
Not that I have any choice, but it seems goofy to have to heat the basement first for little reason. I know that the heat rises and I am sure it helps, but I don’t think it would be my choice, but the living room is way too small for any size stove so it had to go in the basement.

For now, I run (okay- walk) up and down the stairs a hundred times a day to turn the dampers on my stove, play with the coals, add wood and check the temp. At least I am getting some exercise since the days are too cold for walks lately.
The cat (Richie) follows me up and down each time so I will probably trip over him at some point….

snow covered wood pile — My Snow Covered Wood Pile

My outdoor woodpile is quite frozen and piled with snow (thanks to the snow sliding off the metal roof) but I managed to get some pieces and threw them in the back door to dry out.
I read one time that wood makes you warm twice – the handling- cutting, moving, stacking, lugging and then the burning.
At least I finally figured out to put the temperature guide facing the stairway so I could just glance at it from up in the kitchen… duh…I catch on eventually!

Happy New Year to all! I will be watching the Stooges marathon tonight with my son. I hope you will be doing something just as exciting. 🙂

Animal Tracks Preserved

Taken last year, this is one of my favorite winter photos.
My son and I were at the lake and found these tracks. They are frozen prints leading across the thick ice all the way to the other side. We’d had a warm spell where everything turned slushy and apparently an animal of some kind – can anyone “read” these tracks?- had walked across in the slush and before the prints vanished, they froze.

At first I assumed it was a deer that made this trail, but since they are in a straight line, I’m not sure. I turned the photo into a postcard and as I’ve said, it’s one of my favorites.