Welcome to Sunnyhill

I’m in Prince Georges County Maryland, on the outskirts of D.C., visiting my nephew Liam (Shayne’s youngest), his lovely wife Dawnea, and the newest addition to the clan, Shane Logan Ball, three weeks old. He is Shayne’s fourth grandchild, my Mom and Dad’s sixth great grandchild, and a lovely baby, perfect in every way. I…
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I wrote in the last post about seeing work the beavers were up to. What I had seen then, a week ago, was their work to fell a couple of pretty large trees next to the stream at the bottom of our driveway near where the stream crosses under Gulf Road. The trees are still…
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Charlie and I went for a walk Friday morning, before the snow started. The pair of geese who have returned to the neighbor’s pond were walking on our driveway, looking for bugs to eat, as they often did last year. Jay has named them Fred and Ethel. Charlie seems to be entirely uninterested in them.…
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The Coast Starlight Express left Diridon Station in San Jose exactly on time at 8:23 PM Sunday night, 3/24. We had finished dinner before Oakland and were asleep before Martinez. Our little cabin is 4x7x7, just big enough for two narrow beds at night and two comfortable seats during the day. I take the upper…
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Jay plowed the driveway today, and it struck me that it may be the last time he plows it this year. When we come back from our trip to California and Washington on April 2, we will be coming back to spring. People remember that there was once snow on Mothers’ Day, and with the…
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We spent most of Monday watching the wind and staying inside. Our neighbor, Peggy Quinn, wrote that they were staying inside to hold the house down. It did feel like the kind of wind that could push our place down the hill, but the only damage was a few more shingles ripped off the garage…
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Saturday morning. Jay was off early to meet Mike who is going to do some work on the building at Laurens for us. There’s a light snow falling. Charlie, Hazel Tov and I are on the couch in front of the pellet stove and the great, west facing window. It’s a beautiful place to sit…
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The Oneonta celebration of MLK’s birthday had been postponed because of stormy weather. It was held this past Sunday at Temple Beth El at the start of a few warm days following the visit of the polar vortex (which was as bad as it sounds). The beautiful sanctuary was packed and sun streamed in the…
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Jay turned seventy yesterday. The evening before, he got a lovely birthday blessing from Rabbi Molly at our tiny congregation in Oneonta. There were 10 of us, including the rabbi, for Shabbat services and a pot-luck dinner. The contrast with our huge congregation at Beth Am is still a little stunning. I do miss the…
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The talk in town as early as Thursday was all about the coming storm; what would be closed, what was canceled or postponed, how folks were preparing. We had a dusting Friday and another Saturday morning, but the main event was scheduled for last night. This morning it was clear that the wind we heard…
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