Overhead view

I have taken lot of pictures of the property nancy and I live on but unless you have been here it is hard to orient yourself. So I rented a helicopter and took some pictures. No I got these off maps.live.com (Microsoft's version of Google Earth).

The first image (above) shows our property line. We live on 1.36 acres of land.
The second image (below) shows the house (arrow at top) and then the other arrow shows the tressel from the old railroad. That path you see running along the land behind our property is where we take walks and where the beaver damn pond is located (that large body of water). There are many birds and plants that live back there. Rabbits, deer, racoons, beavers, muskrats and turtles to list a few. It is a lovely place to go wander and enjoy nature. I only wish people would stop riding motorbikes and snowmobiles back there. Click on the images for larger views.

Snowy Day

I wanted to take some pictures of the nice winter scenes up here in Groton NY but when motivation struck the snow fell AGAIN adding to the 2 feet already on the ground. I didn't venture far (in fact i didn't take these outside)but here are the pics I took this Sunday. It was fun experimenting with shutter speed and trying to capture the snow as still. There is something beautiful about capturing a perpetual movement. I have been focusing on the concept of 'time' lately having read Peter Høeg's Borderliners for which I am redesigning the cover. (Thanks Henry!) Interwoven within the plot is a philosophical study of time—its meaning, its measurement. I digress! ;) When it is sunny I'll venture out and see how the trail looks and if the beaver dam pond has frozen over.

I LOVE coffee

One of my greatest pleasures is a good cup of coffee or a well made latté. It can be an exspensive treat going to my favorite café, Gimmee Coffee (located here in Ithaca) or to Starbucks so I invested in a Super Automatic Espresso maker. I have had other models before but I decided to splurge on this one since they tend to be fragile and I think the better models make a better shot of espresso.

These machines grind the beans, brew the espresso, and discard the grounds all with the touch of a button. I have the machine at work since that is where i spend most of my time and do most of my coffee drinking. We don't froth the milk that often because it makes a lot of noise but it makes a great caffé crema, which is an extended shot of espresso to the size of a cup of coffee. It is a lot like an Americano.

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