Early Signs of Fall . . .

Tired flowers.

Bushes heavy with hydrangea.

The neighbors' tree changing colors.

Fog coming off of the pool from cooler mornings.

Although it's still getting up to the 90's during the day, the nights are getting cooler and the days are getting shorter.  I'm getting that wonderfully familiar feeling of wanting to nest.  Autumn in Cornwall is so beautiful.  It reminds me so much of Vermont.  For now it's packing and purging but soon it will be feathering a new nest.  : )

Megan and I are off to our first trip to the Fairway Market that came to town last year.  My friends rave about it.  I'm a Trader Joe's kinda girl myself but we don't have any of them close by unfortunately.  We're having a gathering this afternoon to celebrate Labor Day.  Looking forward to spending time with family.  : )


Many blessings ~ Wendy

A Super Moon and a Super Summer . . .

What an absolutely brilliant super moon we were blessed with the other night!!  I stood out on my driveway and took a bunch of photos, playing around with the settings a little bit.  I tried to post these the other day but Blogger wasn't being very cooperative with letting me upload photos.  Or is it download photos?  I always get those two confused!!  : )

Miss Meggie in the pod.

On a completely different note, we hope to be signing the contracts on the house in Cornwall-on-Hudson this week. It's been a little stressful waiting to hear back from the seller as he's been taking his time but it looks like we have a light at the end of the tunnel.  We won't do a jig of glee though until the contracts are signed!!!  We had the first of the pods delivered and started to load it up over the weekend.  For anyone who isn't familiar with pods, they look like giant storage containers and are delivered to your home to be filled with your stuff and then they cart them back to the storage facility until you're ready to have them delivered to your new house (in our case).  We ordered the large one.  You can tell how big it is by the photo of Megan standing in it.  We think we're going to need at least three for all of our stuff.

We have lots of exciting things going on around here including the first day of school tomorrow.  Brendan begins 8th grade and Megan begins kindergarten.  It hasn't been the most exciting summer for the kids this year due to the sale of the house but they're happy nonetheless.

These two got to spend another most of the summer together for the fourth year in a row.  They are turning into young men right before our eyes!!!  

Brendan and Jakhai summer 2013.

 And this girl of mine learned how to whistle AND how to swim!!! 

I'm now trying to balance the excitement of the new season that is just around the corner now (which happens to be my FAVORITE!!! season) and trying to take life one day at a time so I don't feel overwhelmed by all that will be taking place in the next couple of months.  Life is good.  My children are good.  My honey is good.  I am good.  We are good.  I guess that makes us . . .

Happy Tuesday!!! ~ Wendy

A House Update and Our Little Pear Tree . . .

Our house has been on the market for two weeks now.  The first weekend it was for sale we got two offers.  We've received four now in total.  I've gone into this with no expectations but I also know how the Universe works its magic for us all the time so I'm not too surprised.  We've accepted an offer and the house should be going into contract in the next couple of days.  We've also fallen in love with a house in Cornwall-on-Hudson that would be perfect for our family and our needs right now.  Again, I have no expectations.  I learned my lesson when I fell in love with that big old house last year before we were ready to buy anything new.  Once our house goes into contract we can take the next step toward officially moving.  Yes, it's still bittersweet but now we're feeling excited as well.  

 
One of the things I'm going to miss the most is taking photos of the wildlife that visits our current backyard.  In particular, the birds and squirrels that come to feed at our little pear tree all year 'round. 

I've taken countless photos from my dining room window these last few years since discovering my love for photography. I've captured so many different kinds of birds feasting from the suet dispenser that hangs in our little tree.  My favorites are probably the cardinals in the winter time when they are pretty much the only bright color out there.  But in the summer when the pears are ready to be picked, my favorites are the squirrels.  I had just remarked to my husband that I was a little worried that I hadn't seen any squirrels around for most of the summer and, lo and behold, this little guy was up on our pool deck munching away yesterday. 

He was definitely camera shy and only let me take this one photo thru a foggy window before he ran away with the pear still in his mouth.  : )

We're definitely going to miss this little pear tree of ours.  The family that we hope will be buying our house was very impressed with it so my hope is that their family will love it as much as ours has.

 Now we're off to celebrate my middle guy's 19th birthday with king crab legs and cheddar biscuits.  Can you guess where we're going??  : )


Many blessings for a beautiful Thursday evening ~ Wendy

From Scaredy Cat to Fish . . .

We've seen so many changes in Megan this summer.  She's grown up so much and is not as afraid to step out of her comfort zone as she once was.  At the beginning of the summer she hung onto her daddy's neck as tight as she could while in the pool.  Now she tells him to leave her alone.  Lol!!  She and her friend Hailey had races in the pool the other day and Megan held her own.  Hailey has been swimming for a couple of years and beat the pants off of her every race but that's okay.  It gives Meg a reason to keep practicing.  She's even starting to go under water now.  She still has to get out and dry off her face with her towel afterwards but it's a step in the right direction.  : ) 

 

In a few weeks she'll be starting kindergarten.  I remember the first time I held her like it was yesterday.  My sweet baby girl that I never, ever imagined I'd ever have.  In five short years she has already taught me so many life lessons.  I am so blessed to have her in my life and I thank God for my children every day.  They are happy and healthy and caring and compassionate.  I can't ask for anything more.  Amazing Grace!!!


Many blessings for a happy Monday and a beautiful week ahead ~ Wendy

Keeping it Real . . .

I've sat down and started this post numerous times but always seemed to get side-tracked in the vortex of house selling and buying each time I begin to write!!  I keep reminding myself to breathe and let go of the outcome.  I'm better at it now then I was a couple of weeks ago when I was in the midst of so much anxiety I felt like I was ready to fall into a puddle on the floor.  I've been struggling with anxiety on and off for the last couple of years.  It came out of nowhere when I had to have a root canal done and basically had my first ever panic attack in the dentist's chair and left with my mouth still numb and still in need of a root canal.  I'm the person that never understood why people would freak out over what I thought was not something you should really be freaking out over.  I have friends and relatives that suffer from anxiety on many different levels.  I had been on medication after my husband passed away.  Something very mild that made me feel like I could be happy again despite losing my husband and suddenly being a single mom to three young children.  After I went off of that medication I was fine until the root canal and then all hell broke loose.  It's hard for me to talk about and I haven't said anything before now because I think there's some kind of stigma attached to taking medication and in "blog world" you try to keep it light and happy.  It's not always light and happy though and I truly respect bloggers who talk about the bad as well as the good.  Bloggers who keep it real.

My doctor and I made the decision that I should go back on medication.  If I told you I didn't feel a sense of defeat I'd be lying.  It took me so long to get off of the meds I was taking after my husband passed.  Unfortunately, the first new medication she put me on made me feel worse.  I kept hearing and reading on line that you have to give it time to completely take full effect.  I waited and waited for almost 7 weeks and then I couldn't do it anymore.  I switched doctors and she found the right medication for me.  It's only been a couple of days but I'm already starting to feel like me again.  My reality today is that I have a chemical imbalance.  It's not just "all in my mind" so to speak.  It's real and it's scary as hell.  The thoughts that go thru your mind are scary as hell.  I knew HAPPY Wendy was in there some place because I would catch glimpses of her every so often and then she was gone.  I know this is a hard thing for people to talk about but I wanted to share my experience just in case there is anyone out there experiencing something similar.  I'm here for you if you want to talk to someone that will not stand in judgement.

I'm sorry for such a heavy post today.  My intention for this post was to give an update on our house situation but I guess I felt the need to share something different and I had to go with it.  The house stuff can wait.  : )


Many blessings for a beautiful and happy day ~ Wendy

Summer on a {mostly} Wordless Wednesday . . .

Spending time with friends, tending to our little garden and doing a lot of swimming in the pool while the heat in New York is sweltering.  This is our summer so far.  Nothing too exciting but happy nonetheless.  We hope to have a beach day on Friday.  I've been wanting to sit by the ocean and smell the salty air.  A photographer is coming tomorrow to take photos of our house for the listing.  Exciting times, uncertain times, stressful times but still times for making happy memories.  How's your summer going??  : )


Happy Wednesday!!!  ~ Wendy

This Moment . . .

Fun and friends!!  This is what summer is all about when you're 5!!!  : )

Happy and safe weekend ~ Wendy

July 4th Celebrations in Cornwall-on-Hudson . . .

We took a drive up to Cornwall-on-Hudson to celebrate July 4th this year and I have to tell you that any doubts I had about moving up there were completely erased as I drove thru this beautiful little town.  There were American flags everywhere you looked!!  Hanging on porches, flying in the back of pickup trucks, on the front of cars, on bandanas around dogs' necks and on and on and on.  People were preparing the floats for the parade that went thru town at 5:00.  There were bbq's and gatherings on porches.  The gazebo in town was decorted in red, white and blue.  Honestly, it was kind of surreal and made me feel like I was in some sort of patriotic movie of yesteryear.  LOL!!! 

Waiting on the parade.

After feasting on sausage and pepper parm heroes, penne a la vodka and peach pie at my sister's house, we walked down the street to where the parade was held. 

A refurbished milk truck, complete with old milk bottles and crates!!!

A giant wooden eagle.

I could not resist taking a photo of this guy's pants.  He was dressed in red, white and blue from head to toe!!!  : )

This is Grandma Doris.  She is the matriarch of Jones' Farm, the cutest place to visit in Cornwall and the subject of many blogs here thru the years.  : )

The back of Grandma Doris' float.

This band really surprised us.  We thought it would be some little Dixieland band until they started playing some serious disco music.  Fantastic!!!!!

Brendan and Jakhai waiting for the parade to start.

No Main Street USA parade would be complete without the Boy Scouts!!!

It was such a wonderful day.  The skies cleared up right before the parade started and it wasn't too hot.  That is ALWAYS a plus for me!!!  This time next year we hope to be residents there and not just visitors. Still working on getting the house on the market.  We can't believe what a long process it is to get all of those unfinished projects done but it looks like we should be good to go by next weekend.  From my mouth to God's ears!!!  : )


Happy Wednesday!!  ~ Wendy