Yesterday morning, my yard was filled with birds of various sizes and types: small ones flitting all over the place, chasing each other, it seemed; a couple of mockingbirds; a dove; and a woodpecker high up on one of the elms.
He stayed a long time, so I finally decided to try for a video ... and here it is!
And yes, you should be able to tell that the ash and elm trees have begun to put out this year's leaves. I think they're confused, but then, we really didn't have much of a winter around here!
In very northwestern Massachusetts, there are Williamstown and Jiminy Peak Ski Resort (photos below). What a lovely place -- cold, cold, cold, but lovely! Here is where Robert, Danielle, and Simone come to ski on weekends.
This is the building from which the main ski lift begins. I took the photo from inside the lodge, and it was definitely colder out there than inside! It was snowing a bit, even though they had the snow-making machines going full blast, too!
Here's the guide to which ski runs are where.
More and more skiers were starting to show up.
Snow-making machines in action on one of the runs.
What looks like fog rising from behind the trees is really the man-made snow being made on a different ski run, one not completely visible from the lodge.
And a couple of little videos ...
Now it's beginning to clear up ... and get more and more crowded with skiers, too!
More and more crowded ...
Here's Simone when she came in for lunch -- goggles are off, and the rest came off very soon.
Cutie!
Here is a view of the whole ski area from the highway as we were starting our drive back to New York. It's a very beautiful place, day or night, snowing or clear!
Last night, Kira and all the members of the Hildebrandt choir performed in the combined concert at KOHS's auditorium. There were choirs from KOHS, Hildebrandt, and three elementary schools. It was a wonderful evening ... all those talented kids!
Here's Kira with Hildebrandt's choir:
And here are Hildebrandt's combined treble choirs. Kira is at the very left of the front row of girls.
The very last song was performed by all five of the choirs together. For a few minutes, we could just barely see Kira ... and then the piano's top was raised and she was out of sight!
The following three photos show all five choirs as they were performing the last song.
This week, Simone has been visiting me during her school's Fall Break. Over the weekend, we drove to Austin to visit Austen. He took the photo below of the two girls when we were at Chili's on Saturday evening.
On Tuesday, we went to Kira's school to have lunch with her. Here's Simone, standing in front of Kira's school.
Today is the last day of Red Ribbon Week at Kira's school. She dressed up for Tuesday (Safari Day), Wednesday (Tie-Dye Day), Thursday (Halloween Day), and today (Crazy Hair Day). See the crazy hair!! Purple and green spray-on color!!
