Family Mellmann

 I may not be able to do much about world peace, but it was very peaceful on River Cove Road. Christmas Day is weird.  In our house, it's quiet; video games to play, little projects or tasks to attended to, movies to watch, books to read, Christmas cookies to eat.  When I step outside the door, there is a peacefulness around me; a palpable calm.  No traffic noise.  No industrial sounds as businesses go about their work.  Nothing.  No buzz.  No hum.  Just the sound of the snow falling.  It's a peacefulness I have only experienced during COVID lock-down when all businesses were shuttered and people were ordered to stay home and once every year...on Christmas Day.  It's weird, but I like it. As we enjoy this peaceful day, I am putting in some good time on my knitting project.  I hope to have this afghan finished before I return to school next week.  We'll see how it goes.  In the meantime, I hope you find peace in your life as well, even if you're surrounded by noise a

Christmas Eve on River Cove Road is full of tradition; the annual family picture in front of the tree, reading the account of Christ's birth from Luke, singing German and American Christmas songs, presents, and of course fondue.  This year, like a few years gone by, included a short pause in the events while I directed the children's choir in the Christmas Eve service, the same choir Patrick sang in when he was young-er. So, from the Mellmann Family on River Cove Road to all of you, Merry Christmas.    

After several weeks of long hours, lots of activities, and long to-do lists, we are all ready for a nice quiet Christmas holiday.  To get things rolling we have made our annual Christmas cookies (true confessions; this is our second batch). It has been a busy time for us.  Christmas program at school for Katherine (and me), finals for Patrick and plans for a "J term" to get his CFII (Certified Flight Instructor-Instrument) rating, big projects for Joerg, and a variety of obligations for me. One of the projects that will take up some of our precious vacation time is the turnover and full renovation of one of our rentals.  New kitchen, all new flooring, fresh paint...the works.  Fortunately, most of our labor comes at the beginning (Patrick and I delivered most of the kitchen cabinets to the unit yesterday) and then we turn it all over to our local contractor who has already pulled out the old kitchen and flooring.  Never a dull moment. :) Tonight, Patrick is out with friends c

Patrick is in the middle of his training to become a Certified Flight Instructor.  Next semester he'll add Certified Flight Instructor - Instrument to his credentials. In his training to be an instructor, it is important that he learns how to fix potential problems created by an inexperienced or nervous student.  One of those hazards would be a spin.  Today's flight was "spin awareness training".  The report from Patrick is that it was really fun.  I'm not sure I would feel the same way with a warning horn blaring at me and the earth rising to meet me in my cockpit seat, but sitting here in my office and watching the video...it does look like a fun twisty roller coaster.  If you can stop screaming long enough to look around, you'll see that our fall colors are here, but they are fading fast. ;)

 Our road trip through the Adirondacks was quite lovely...if a little warm.  After more than a year of not going anyway, we were all ready for a little time away.  Not one of our "epic adventures", this trip involved no significant plan, just a basic map, three motorcycles, and the family. We took the ferry across Lake Champlain and continued south to Pottersville where the natural (stone) bridge and caves are.  We were there twenty years ago with another couple but I don't remember there being so much climbing involved.  Back then I would have been pregnant with Patrick.  This time, Patrick was a steady shoulder to lean on as I stepped down the rocky steps in my motorcycle pants and heavy leather boots (not particularly awesome climbing gear). After the caves, we continued on our way enjoying the scenery, the weather, and the open road, stopping occasionally to stretch our legs and grab a drink, read a book, and check the map.  All-in-all this trip  put a little more t

We spent some hours today pulling the stubborn Perennial Sweetpea from the outer edge of the garden between our lawn and the drainage ditch that runs along River Cove Road.  We call it "the berm"; it's a mound of dirt that we had installed, when the logging company removed our pole pines a few years ago, to protect our property from a flooding drainage ditch.  We planted two young Maples in the berm to replace the trees that we lost (they were old and damaged) and have been adding ground cover to try to hold back some of the weeds. After I have have spent time sweating and laboring in the garden, I like to take a few minutes wondering around just looking at what the garden has been up to.  What are the new bloomers?  What has bloomed its last?  What are my annual flowers up to? During today's stroll around the garden, and inspired by what I have been learning watching Monty Don on Gardeners' World, I was intrigued to look much more closely at some of my flowers. 

Our first week of summer vacation has concluded, but where did the week go?  It seems like we were just in school, enjoying those last hours of class before saying goodbye to friends.  It has been a busy week, and pretty productive. The garden is looking much improved after being weeded.  Flower pots and baskets have been filled, bird feeders reloaded, bird bath cleaned and filled, water fountain assembled and bubbling, and the fire pit area pruned, weeded, and ready for the season.  The raspberry patch is netted (to keep the birds out) and I have harvested my first blooms from my one lonely (white) peony plant. I "saved" this peony fourteen years ago when we began construction on our house.  It has struggled along all this time waiting for me to find it a proper home.  Until a few years ago (when we had many of the pole pines removed from our property) access to sun was a significant problem for bloomers like my peony.  Now, we get lots of wonderful flower-growing sunlight a

This is it - our last evening of Spring Break.  One whole week of no school, no alarm clocks, no homework, and no lesson plans.  One whole week of catching up on neglected tasks, addressing some rental projects, and cleaning out emails and to-do lists.  One whole week to relax and knit.  Gardening would have also been on the plan for this little vacation time, but right in the middle of the week we got three inches of snow.  Snow!  How did *that* happen?!  However, I didn't let that stop me from grilling dinner.   This is the project I finished during break.  It was a kit I bought last year some time. It's called The Beachcomber Shawl.  I like it.  It is knitted in a fingering weight cotton, so it should be a fun summer shawl. This is the new project.  I bought this yarn at the same time I bought the Beachcomber kit but since most of my knitting (until now) has been in wool or alpaca (good winter yarns), I hadn't found a good (summery) pattern to put it to good use.  I fina

 Patrick continues to progress through his college classes, preparing to wrap up his sophomore year in just a few weeks.  Since starting college, he has become a pilot, earned his "instrument rating" (he can fly through the clouds, not just on sunny days), and completed aviation and "core" classes toward his BS in Aviation Science.  It's hard to believe he is almost half done with college. Currently in his "commercial" training, this semester has been about building flight hours, learning some additional skills (he calls them "maneuvers"), and fine-tuning his control; where he might have had to maintain an altitude of +/- 100 ft in Private Pilot training, now that number starts getting smaller showing that he can more strictly control the plane.  This phase of his training has involved a lot of night flights, late nights, and last minute dashes out the door when a plane becomes available or the weather is just perfect for something he needs t