Welcome to Sunnyhill

Life on the hill

Home

We left our wonderful home in Hartwick just over a month ago on 6/11.  It was surprisingly not hard to leave, much as I loved that home.  I think that over the years I’ve made some progress on not becoming overly attached to things.  We had a wonderful run on our beautiful Sunnyhill, and there…
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Two Weeks

The sale of Sunnyhill should close on 6/11, two weeks from today.  If things go as planned we’ll be at the closing in Oneonta in the morning and hit the road in the afternoon, going only as far as Erie, PA that first day.  Since it will be our first day on the road with…
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Improvements

I’ve written so little this year, even with plenty of Covid imposed time on my hands. But in the last few months so much has happened that I want to record. As our fourth winter here was winding down and our plans to move to California for two years were taking shape, we came to…
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Sisters

Here on Sunnyhill life is in full swing. I’ve seen 16 goslings poking their tender little heads above the grass. I should make a sign for our driveway – Slow, goose crossing. The grass on either side of the driveway is shorter, so the geese often congregate there. Most of the time we’re able to…
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Springtime

The pond is still frozen solid, but there were geese on it anyway this morning. I’ve seen small groups and pairs flying over the last few days, but this is the first time I’ve seen them land. Almost all the snow is gone from the hill, except in the shady places near the wooded borders,…
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Moonrise

The eastern slope of the hill was white before dawn, bordered by the filigree of rime covered bushes, a lighter shade of pale with the dark statues of bare trees beyond. Between the ridges of hills in the distance there were pale clouds of mist. Beyond them, at the horizon, the sky was soft orange…
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Cattails

On the west side of 205 heading towards Fly Creek, there are dried cattails standing stiffly in a frozen pond, each with its perfect cap of snow. We go to the Fly Creek General Store for breakfast, sharing a western omelet sandwich on rye. The General Store is warm in every sense. We’ve gotten to…
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Preparation

We had been tracking reports about the coming storm since early in the week. At first it looked like we’d just catch the edge of it, with only an inch or two of snow predicted. But by Wednesday, the predictions were more certain, and the word was around 14 inches. We spent part of Wednesday…
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Ice Cold

As late fall shifts down to winter the pond freezes lightly many nights and thaws most days by midday. But for the last couple of days the temperature hasn’t made it above freezing, and instead of thawing the ice has covered the whole pond and looks somehow more solid. When we left the hill this…
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Writing

I’m not sure why I’ve been writing so little lately. I had thought that I would write more with Covid keeping us home so much, but it hasn’t happened yet. I’m not even writing to the grand kids. It’s not that there is nothing to write about. There is the morning light, the evening light,…
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