Happy New Year!

 

If you climb in the saddle be ready for the ride! 2014 Here we come! Happiness, good health, prosperity and blessings to everyone! May your hearts desires come true, your family stay close and success knock on your doors. Happy New Year!

2013 has been a great year for the B&B - new roof on the house & front canopy complete.  Great room floor and tile complete.  Powder room downstairs complete. 

  Lots of wonderful visits with old friends and new!  Thank you for everyone who came to see us last year and share our little piece of heaven.   

Lots of plans for 2014 as the B&B continues to grow.

Winter is back in the North Country - time to pack up your cold weather gear and come for a visit!  Call us at 315-376-2488 to make a reservation or visit northernlightsbandb.com to reserve your room online.  We look forward to welcoming you back!

(graphic from Kick Ass Cowgirls! find them on Facebook!)

Gifts for the Holidays

Happy holidays everyone!  You can purchase gift certificates for the Bed and Breakfast through our website www.northernlightsbandb.com and also for the Stillwater Shop www.stillwatershop.com online or via telephone 315-376-2488.  We ship via Priority Mail but can also ship Express Mail or even email you a printable gift certificate so no worries - we can get it there on time!

Wishing you all a magical holiday season! 

And don't forget to trot on over to Moose River Farm and pick up a copy of Anne's new book!  Another great gift for the holidays!

Welcome Spring

Winter this season has been a traditional long snowy cold Adirondack experience.  We welcome spring with grateful hearts and thanksgiving to everyone who came to visit us at the B&B and the store.  We're also thankful for the many people who live here who collectively make everything here work!  My husband for fixing things and figuring out all the things I just don't know about.  Our road crew for getting out there and clearing the roads ALWAYS - and leave just enough snow behind for the snowmobiles!  The trail groomsers who are out evenings nights and early mornings....Our bus drivers for making sure our kids can get not only to  school but all over the place for ski races and everything else.  Our teachers for always showing up to work even when they are driving to Old Forge from other towns.  The many parents who volunteer at all of our great races and events in the area so things can happen for our kids. 

Snow you see doesn't stop the North Country.  We have not had one snow day yet have had a ton of snow.  Somehow everyone here figures it out and I for one am thankful because it is truly our collective community in the area that makes it work for everyone.  When I listen to the news about the paralizing snow storms I wonder when did people decide that it wasn't going to ever snow again?  Of course we will get snow - maybe not every year but if you live in the north east it's going to come.  Did we forget what it was like when we were kids growing up?  I know a lot of us forgot how much fun it can be....thankfully enough of us remember that people of all ages travel up to the North Country just to play in the snow!  The key to it all is you have to always be ready. 

So this winter we've enjoyed lots of time outside - enjoyed shivering with fellow parents at McCauley and other ski areas cheering on the kids - breaking out the snowshoes for hikes and AM runs - skis accross the ice on beautiful sunny days - snowmobile rides as a family - picnics on the ice - great dinners with friends and family - horses are good - dog is good - cats still in my barn - it has been a good season.

I've started a yoga study which will be a journey for the next few months and hopefully finish up with a fun yoga retreat this coming fall.  More on that to come in future posts - but for today I'll leave you with some of my favorite things from my new little odd hobby which has become collecting quotes.  This all started with a dear friend in need of support and sometimes at a loss for words I'd look for the right message - sometimes photos combined with that message can really just change your outlook for the day - the result of this searching is that I've found myself benefiting just as much - life is truly all about attitude and remembering you get what you give. :)

 credit provided when available - others author is unknown - hope they make you smile! 

Snow Shoe

My only problem with snow shoeing is that I just don't have enough time to go all the places I want to go - absolutely love it!  March looks like it will be a great month - there is still a ton of snow in the woods and warm sunny days make time on the trail unparalleled - especially after spending the week indoors in the office.  Here are some shots from last Sunday.  Charlie loves to come along.  Nothing recharges the batteries like getting out on the trail in the quiet.  I am so thankful to be able to get out when I can - gives one time for reflection, thanksgiving, and time to mentally plan the week ahead.   

My life with cats

So, I’ve been prompted by my much admired friend and author Anne to write an animal story.  An animal story, an animal story, I’ve been thinking and thinking and it’s so hard to decide but here’s a try. 

What I’ve found with my animals is what I’ve also found to be true with the people in my life – they come when the time is right and they may sometimes leave, come back, and leave again.  This is most true with my cats – I’ve never considered myself a “cat” person – they are as you know very independent and seem to choose who they ultimately want to be with.  I’ve now had several in my adult life – my first cat “Tigger” a large gray cat that I have no idea why he was named “Tigger” (as in Winnie the Pooh’s friend – seems like he should have been orange but who knows!) Tigger came to live with me before I moved to the Adirondacks.  He was brought to me from a friend who apparently had an extra cat that needed a home.

Tigger lived with me and my two dogs in my little Jersey house – he moved to the Adirondacks slightly in advance of me – he moved into the Stillwater Shop as I was selling my house and gradually moving and combining my life with Frank and his one cat “Dave”.  Combining lives never goes quite as hoped and alas our great hope of integrating the cats was a colossal failure.  After a couple of days in the Adirondacks and several cat fights with flying fur in our garage Tigger up and disappeared.  I mourned and Dave the cat happily strutted his stuff content to have his turf back to himself. 

It was several months later that our neighbor called and said – hey are you missing a cat?  Hoping beyond hope we hustled over and called out for “Tigger” suddenly this rather fat gray cat came running and meowing right to me – he had been pilfering from the neighbors cats for months.  I scooped him up and brought him back to Jersey where he stayed with me and kept me company while Frank was living here and I was still down state – both of us happy for the company - until I made my final journey finally leaving the Jersey life behind.  We moved Tigger into the “round” house as it was called back then which is now Northern Lights.  He lived here for a while but was never quite content – eventually another neighbor called and informed me that she had a gray cat sleeping on her bed and would like to keep him if I wouldn’t mind.  Sadly I realized he would obviously be much happier there!  Tigger lived out the rest of his days in her care – quite happily at that.  And my house became much happier without an unhappy cat. 

Hansel at Northern Lights

 

But that’s not the end of my cats.  After an exasperating season of mice coming into the house there came Hansel.  Hansel came from the Otter Creek stables and also turned quickly into a large black & white cat much loved by my family.  He took up residence here with our Doberman, Greta and put her quickly in her place.  He was joined over time by our barn cats outside and couldn’t quite decide if he liked them being around.  Hansel would come and go from the house – spending more time inside obviously in the winter than the rest of the year.  We respected his turf and did not allow any more kitties indoors.  He graced us with his presence for several years until Charlie moved in. 

Greta

 

The story of why Charlie moved in will have to come at another time but let’s just say Charlie is a little Jack Russell from the shelter who moved in and to say “freaked out” Hansel would be an understatement.  The cat that flattened the Doberman could not quite figure out this little dog.  Sooooo it wasn’t too awful long before the same neighbor was calling me up AGAIN saying hey – your cat is moving in and I’d like to keep him if you don’t  mind!  Once again my cat had divorced me!  Our family was saddened to say the least – children don’t quite understand – I’ve taken it as fate – sadly I am not destined to be loved by a cat any time soon.   Hansel is quite happy and content in his non-dog occupied home and his new Mom and Dad are just thrilled to have him in their lives.  I am happy to see him bring joy to their lives and them to his. 

This isn't Charlie of course but it pictures him perfectly!  That little dog can teach us alot!

 

We do still have two barn cats outside – Maggie Mae and Bella Donna – they have figured out how to quickly evacuate the scene when they hear the dog collar jingling up the path from the house.  They perch on cabinets or hay piles in the barn safe from the reach of Charlie.  We’ve had a couple of other cats over the years that eventually disappeared as outside cats do; seems I’ve never had a cat content to stay indoors.   These two little girl cats are survivors – They did not like each other at first but came to an agreement - they can climb the tallest trees around the house and know how to get down; I have had to dig them trenches in the snow this winter to prevent them from being trapped under the hay shed and they have so far evaded the many predators in the Adirondacks and that would include the infamous Charlie.  They love their little heated water bowl and I’d probably have fewer mice if I fed the cats a little less.  Here at least in the barn a balance has come to exist – perhaps because balance as in life is essential in any horse barn.   I think these two cats may actually like me after all but they probably would stop with like…after all the jingling dog collar is always followed by me walking up the path.   So I’ve told the kids no more kittens!  But I hate to confess I’d probably be the first one to cave in to a little whiskered face even though I should know better.  I’ll need to read this periodically to remind myself I am not destined to be loved by a cat but apparently I can raise little kittens to be loved by others! 

Bella Donna

My Maggie Mae

Thanks for visiting Northern Lights Living!