Montauk Daisies

Powered Parachute

Following the Atlantic coast line on a summer morning I envied this mans view.

Duck Pond

 The duck pond in East Hampton is not only a great place to watch and feed a variety of water foul but a very pretty and peaceful place for a little stroll.  The elegant swans are always a highlight but I found the geese with their noisy sass a lot of fun and the ducks are so cute.  And then there are the busy beavers, ignoring everything but the job at hand.

A little nap

Beautiful colors

Preening

Ballet

Beaver

Geese

Turkey Time Continued

The "Turkey Time" gazebo in summertime. It is surrounded by waist high Goldenrod that is just beginning to blossom, maybe the wild turkeys are in there somewhere.

Albas Mouse

Toadie On The Roadie

I met this little guy sitting in the middle of the road on a rainy day. We called him Toadie (surprise?). He was about six inches long but stretched to a foot when he jumped! I gave him a little nudge with my shoe to help him on his way. It took only three jumps to clear the road and disappear into the hedge. Maybe I will see him again some day.

By John Neary

Fruit Crumble

Custard, cream or vanilla bean ice cream? The ice cream won the vote! I haven't made a crumble in years so I was more than a little nervous about making one for a Father's Day meal. A family favorite was rhubarb (just rhubarb...no strawberries to soften the tartness). But this crumble was made up of apples, raspberries, blackberries and one little peach.

What I did:
Skinned and cut up the apples and little peach (bite sized pieces or larger). Put in a baking dish with the berries and a couple of tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of flour.

I preheated the oven to 375 Fahrenheit.

The recipe I followed for the crumble (this we have always eyed, but I didn't want it too sweet or too floury) was from a 1977 edition of "The Dairy Book Of Home Cookery".

6 oz of flour.
3 oz of cold butter (I used salted).
2 to 3 oz of sugar.

Everything is up for interpretation or whatever is in the cupboard for a crumble so I used my last spoonful of brown sugar. In a bowl I put the flour, sugar and butter together. I then cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a knife. But that doesn't last long the best way to get it crumbly is to use your fingers. Scooping up handfuls at a time and rubbing the mixture gently between your fingers then scooping up more until it's all crumbly (it doesn't take long). Put on top of the fruit gently, no patting down. (I doubled the recipe for my crumble).

Into the oven until golden brown, put a pan or tin foil under you baking dish in case of fruit juice bubbling over.

Crumble always tastes even better the next day, cold or warmed up.

The Daddy says "The crumble was delicious, it reminded me of the old days"

Peony

Hibiscus

Critter Conga

Iris

Cherry Blossom

Sometimes Spring comes late but it's always worth waiting for!
By
John Neary

Chocolate Bunnies

At first I couldn't remember very much about this project even though I made four bunnies as Easter presents for family members back in the 1990's. But as I began to think it all came back to me. I used a favorite soft toy bunny called Binky as inspiration, after more than twenty years he is still a favorite. I sketched his likeness onto paper then cut it out to use as a template for the craft felt. I made a front and a back stuffing him with polyfill and sealing it up with a blanket stitch. His cotton tail is a yoyo and button and the eggs were filled with chocolate. I used dark brown felt for my Auntie Christine as if it were a real chocolate bunny.

The Great Pretender

The rocks come alive.

This beauties sleep was disturbed.

Off into the water for safety.

A Quacking Good Time

"Boys will be boys"

"Waiting for a human hand out"

"Long Island Ducks"

"Swan Goose"

John took these photos for me of the social happenings at the duck pond on Davids Lane.

Cotton Candy Quilt

This quilt is going to it's new home very soon, birthday boy Gavin turned one on St.Patricks day and is having his party tomorrow. The quilt is 39"x55", a little longer than I wanted but I let the piece of batting I had dictate the size.

I chain stitched the letters with the pearl cotton thread I got for Christmas, I marked with a pencil where I was going to stitch helping to keep everything neat and even.


I did the binding a little differently than I usually do so I was a bit nervous at the corners, hence some puckering. My brother Jonathan bought me a leather thimble for my birthday, it is fantastic, miles better than my layering on band aids for some protection against hand quilting.


The backing was one large piece of coordinating fabric that had enough overlap to use as the binding. I've never worked with such bright colors before so this quilt was a huge departure. Not long into my project I began to really enjoy playing with all the primary colors. Sam says Gavin loves monkeys so I'm hoping he likes this quilt and will one day find the letters spell out his name.

Snow Drops

This is the same spot as last years "Signs Of Spring" Snow Drops. They are in a shady and protected area undisturbed by deer and rabbits who don't like to eat them. The Tulips however are a different story, even though they are growing quickly every morning I see new evidence of nighttime snacking. Everything is still so brown that these little patches of green are like treasures!

Turkey Time

The Brad Pitt of Turkeys

His girls checking out the new digs

I'm looking forward to seeing this beautiful rustic gazebo in the summer time.