Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Another blizzard today and I had a snow day from the bank. Looks like we got 18.5 inches so far. I decided to walk around the neighborhood before tackling some shoveling.



This is the house across the street. The trees are really weighted down and that makes for a dangerous situation. I just heard about a tree branch that fell on a fire truck and one of the firefighters was injured.



Lots of people without power in Massachusetts, I think the newsman said 101,000 without power. Thankfully, I have heat and electricity because it is bonechilling cold with the wind.



The houses in my neighborhood look absolutely gorgeous with all the snow.




As you can see, it was really coming down when I was walking around and I could hardly see through the lens. I didn't want to wreck my camera so I didn't stay out too long.



Here's the view looking down my street.



This is my neighbor Emily. The two of us shoveled some of the walk and parking lot.



Emily's husband dug their car out, what fun!



This is what my sleeve looked like after I shoveled. I had so much snow on my coat after taking my walk around the neighborhood Emily said I looked like the abominable snowman.

Well, it is really pretty and tonight it's supposed to end. And the sun will come out tomorrow. (I suddenly feel like singing).

Mosaic Monday- Coffee

What better way to start the week off than with a nice cup of joe? These are some new and old images from my vast collection of coffee photos.

Going for coffee is one of my favorite ways to socialize and there is no shortage of good places to find the perfect cuppa in the Boston area.

Please join Mary of Little Red Schoolhouse for Mosaic Monday and check out the other participants too!

Cozy by the fire

"There is no place more delightful than one's own fireplace"- Marcus Tullius Cicero

With more wintry weather headed this way, I think we will just sit by the fire and relax this weekend.

What I did with my week off

I had eight vacation days to use up by the end of the year. I really had no big plans between Christmas and New Year's I really just wanted to relax. So here's the recap of my days off.

Actually I did have some plans. I had tickets to the Nutcracker Tea in Melrose. My sister and friends Lori Lee and Karen attended with me. We knew it was sort of geared to children but I was told adults would enjoy it too.



And I did enjoy looking at all the little girls and boys dressed for a tea party.



The Christmas Tree at Corinthian Hall was lovely and had some very over sized candy themed decorations on it.



The children decorated a castle with candies.



All the little girls were dressed in their party finery. So cute!



I thought this girl looked perfect as she waited for tea.



Then she caught me snapping her photo and well, not so pretty!



A local group of dancers performed some scenes from the Nutcracker. This is the Sugar Plum Fairy.



Our tiered tray was filled with delicious treats- sweet and savory.



Another look at the candy castle.



The ballerinas won over the audience.



Our centerpiece. I loved his hat.




The ballerinas graciously posed for photos with their fans.




And then they served us dessert. One for each of the dances.



Even the cupcake holder had a tutu!




I think the dancers really enjoyed themselves too!



I know the children enjoyed it.



After Christmas we had a blizzard so no shopping after Christmas sales on Sunday. But later in the week I did stop by my favorite store in Concord, Nesting on Main. They had some beautiful decorations for sale at 40% off. Yippee!




Here's the view as you enter the store.



This angel is made of paper. She went home with me. I am thinking she is more of a Winter angel than a Christmas angel and so I can display her through the Winter.



All their displays are so gorgeous.



It really was a Winter Wonderland and it got me to thinking about my New Year's Eve tablescape. I always have a small party on New Year's Eve.



One more photo of Nesting.



While I was driving to Nesting I passed by a farm with a snowy field, very picturesque. Out of the corner of my eye I spied what looked like a beautiful white horse illuminated by the sunlight. I decided to head to Nesting and check it out on my way back.




I was so happy that the horse was still in the same spot when I returned. There was a no trespassing sign so I parked my car and walked down the snowy path towards the horse. He was
magnificent!



A man came down the path almost immediately to see what I was up to. I told him I just wanted to take a few shots of the horse. He proceeded to tell me the story of Drummer.

Drummer was rescued by the man 3 years ago. He was about to go to a slaughterhouse in Maine. He had been abused and was a former dressage horse. He is 20 years old.



Drummer has some good days and bad days. Lucky for me he was having a good day. He is one gorgeous animal and I can not imagine who could possibly abuse him.

The caretaker/owner of Drummer had been planning to put this sign out front. He was putting it up just as I was leaving. I was thankful I had met these two even though it brought tears to my eyes to hear the story. I am so happy that Drummer is now in a loving home.




On to the Bedford Village Inn for another holiday tradition. My sister and I try to meet up with our friends Lori Lee and Duane for a post Christmas dinner. We love to see the Inn decorated for the holidays.

This is the entrance to the restaurant.



This is one of the rooms of the restaurant. We did not eat in this room.



Fast forward to dessert. The big one was my dessert.



My sister had the chocolate pudding cake.

I opted for the chocolate bag. What is it? A chocolate shell filled with cake, chocolate mousee, berries and whipped cream. Yum! I took half of it home to enjoy the next day.



So here's my New Year's Eve tablescape inspired by my shopping trip to Nesting on Main.

Hope everyone is enjoying their New Year! As for me, it is back to work tomorrow.

2010 The Year in Review

Happy New Year to all readers of Cafe Chatelaine! I thank you so much for taking the time to read my posts. In 2011, I hope to keep it real and interesting.

This mosaic is a snippet of the years events. A holiday event (Nutcracker Tea), trip to Martha's Vineyard, a new addition to the family who was rescued from Maine.

An 80th birthday party, Molly shows off one of my antiquing finds, and Oscar claims the infamous estate sale couch.

One of my teacup finds from the Salvation Army store, numerous daytrips to Rockport and a holiday tradition of dinner at the Bedford Village Inn.

A wintry scene and one of the reasons I love living in New England, hot chocolate with friends in Harvard Square at Burdick's and my love of coffee as one of my favorite leisure time activities.

Not too many ups or downs this year. That's just fine with me!

Major snowstorm

As predicted, we got a major snowstorm in the Boston area. I know other parts of the East Coast also got hit. This is the first time I had seen the snowplow in many months. It snowed from Sunday afternoon into Monday and it was officially termed a blizzard.

Did you know you can't call just any snowstorm a blizzard? You must have the following components: snow, visibility of less than 1/4 mile, wind gusts of over 35 mph,and it has to last more than 3 hours. We had all of that and it lasted for more than 10 hours.



Boston received 18 inches of snow. Some other surrounding towns had as much as 23 inches. I think my town had less than that, maybe 16 inches? At that point, it doesn't really matter. The cleanup is massive. Our snow plow guy made at least 3 trips on Sunday and 2 on Monday to our condo building.

Last year it cost us $880. just for snowplowing. We budgeted for $1000. this year. I am glad we did. The bill for this one storm is going to be huge.



This is the back parking lot and the patio area of the condo. I always hated that fence. It's super ugly. Nevertheless, I do not like to see that much snow on the patio. Good thing we covered the gas grill.




Here's my neighbor, one man against all that snow! We talked and he was actually in good spirits. I just had to do the end of the walk at our building. One of my condo neighbors had done the back stairs and 3/4 of the front walk and he wanted to wait until the plows were done clearing the streets before he finished the job. That's because the plows always push the snow right back from where it was just shoveled. I had to finish the last 1/4 of the walk.. If the snow had not been blowing and the wind chill had not been in the single digits I wouldn't have minded doing the shoveling. There really wasn't that much left to do.



The kitties did not lift a paw to help me either! Percy watched, and I suspect there was a smirk on his face but the snow was too high for me to see!




Goodbye air conditioner! I'll use you next... July?



Goodbye patio. I hope to see you soon when the snow melts. I don't think there will be any outdoor grilling for a long time.



I told my neighbor his barn always looks great in the snow. Little does he know his barn has been featured as my blog header many times!



Percy was exhausted from watching me shovel and settled down for a short winter's catnap.



The plan was to walk around to take some better snow shots but it was bone chilling cold. You know, the kind of cold where you are shivering the minute after you go outside. So instead of freezing outside I came in and made myself a hot chocolate and took this shot of the house across the street from the comfort of my condo.

Stay warm and drive safe! I am on vacation this week so hopefully I will have more interesting things to post.