Ben and Rachel in New York

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-06-03T21:07:00.000-04:00

A little early birthday present for Rachel . . . Three hours before my birthday begins, NBC just declared Obama the "presumptive nominee." (Nevermind that I could have told them that six weeks ago.) Anyway, I've been saying for days that I hope Clinton will concede on June 4, just for me. Keep your fingers crossed.

We'll miss you, Annie

2008-05-15T18:10:00.000-04:00

Our lovely little dog, Annie, has been failing in health for several months, and it was time yesterday to put her to sleep. She was almost 13 and aging rapidly, so there was no surprise. But still heart wrenching. This was the last picture taken of her, about 10 days ago when Rachel's parents were here. Thanks, Mom, for the great photo.

2008-04-30T17:22:00.000-04:00

Sprintime is really showing at our dog park. Too bad there was just a little bit of snow at lunchtime today, and there's a frost advisory for tonight. Spring has to come sometime . . .
Lyle looooves the river. We can wear him out in just a few minutes with a stick in the river.
Rachel at almost 24 weeks. Still feeling great.

Anyone remember that mole on Ben's forehead? Except that the doctor said that it was a "hard cyst," and that it had to be removed. Here Ben is after the procedure, stitches and all. Cute, huh?

the newest spring fashions

2008-04-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

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You can almost see the signs of spring around -- green grass, buds on the trees. In the four days since this picture was taken, this same tree has leaves. More pictures of spring to come . . .

mud at the dog park

2008-04-21T20:49:00.001-04:00

Lyle cannot believe how much he loves the springtime -- all the muck he could ever want . . .
. . . and he wants a lot of it.

Annie likes the spring, too, but prefers to stay out of the mud (thank goodness).
Our friend Nikki and her beautiful little one, Charlotte. We see more of them now that it's lighter later in the evening and there's more time to walk our dogs.

Pregnant Rachel

2008-04-01T18:03:00.000-04:00

Our friends Dania and Jonathan had a wonderful wedding ceremony in February. Dania looked lovely, everyone had fun, and Rachel's tummy was just starting to pop.
Taken a couple of days ago, at 19 weeks.

My secret boyfriend

2007-12-07T19:30:00.001-05:00

I know I'm a little late jumping onto the "secret boyfriend" wagon (see other blogs, including Lauren at http://www.arredonald.blogspot.com/), but I had to add my love. I was truly, madly, deeply in love with the Edge from U2 from 7th grade through I don't know when. Looks like Daleth and Bono and the Edge and I could have had a double wedding.

But Ben shouldn't be too worried . . .

2007-12-07T19:23:00.000-05:00

. . . because The Edge is now a beanie-wearing mustachioed dweeb. My heart still breaks a little about that.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . .

2007-12-02T22:08:00.000-05:00

We bought our tree on Friday night, but didn't have time to put it up before we went to bed. We woke up on Saturday morning with an appropriate first snow accumulation of the season all over our tree.

In her thirteenth winter, Annie still has fun in the snow. Lyle had never seen snow before, but wasn't too impressed. He did think the frozen puddles at the dog park later in the day were pretty entertaining.

the tree of 2007

2007-12-02T21:58:00.000-05:00

Mom, this picture's for you. Mom wanted to get our teapot picture in the background of our family portrait, but our big heads kept getting in the way. Ben is obliging enough in this picture to bend over while putting up the lights.
Ten points to anyone who can find Cassie in both of these pictures.

a bunch of pictures we took but didn't blog when our computer was deathly ill

2007-12-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

Did you all ever see the early early pictures of Lyle? This picture is from our very first visit, when he was barely four weeks old. OMG, he was so cute, and he only got cuter.
About two weeks later, trying to find extra food where his dish had just been.
He loved his papa from the start. (Although Ben could barely wake up for the visit.)
Rachel was a little more alert for her time with the pup, but Lyle's not so sure about the cuddling.

2007-12-02T21:29:00.000-05:00

The "twin bridges" just to the north of Albany, on the way to Saratoga. Very pretty.
Ben messing around in Lyle's crate. Lyle got very uncomfortable with the alpha dog in his cave.

2007-12-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

Lyle living (and loving) the life of a retriever on the shores of the Great Sacandaga Lake.
What our bathroom looked like for a short time this fall. (Stay tuned for more before & after pics soon . . . just a couple of things need to be done before we can show off the transformation.)
Happy dogs at the dog park in the fall.

Thanksgiving in Albany

2007-11-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

The whole Macdonald/Arredondo/Kennedy family was at our house in Albany for Thanksgiving. One of the best things about that is that Alan spent about 100 hours getting our computer back to working properly. So here we are blogging again. We made many promises to keep the blog updated, so keep checking in.
Pablo trying to raise one eyebrow, and Aida looking beautiful, as usual.
Most of the family out for a walk at our favorite dog park.

2007-11-27T19:54:00.000-05:00

Like father, like son

2007-10-04T12:27:00.000-04:00

Ben and this dog are going to get along well.

By popular demand

2007-10-01T14:29:00.001-04:00

We've gotten lots of requests for more pictures of the pup, so here he is. The cutest, smartest, best dog that ever was.

The front porch

2007-10-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

We have a sun porch on the front of our house that we have only ever used for storage, because it was so unappealing when we bought the house. We had already removed the old, ugly window coverings and the ugly thing covering the floor by the time we got around to taking the "before" pictures . . .

But we're very proud of the "after" pictures. It has turned into a really nice place to sit and read a book or talk.

Autumn is here

2007-10-01T14:23:00.000-04:00

We went to Bennington, Vermont over Ben's birthday weekend -- to go to a fabulous diner called the Blue Benn. It was beginning to look a lot like fall then; it's even more colorful now.

More Lyle

2007-09-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

The only thing that could make us happy to come back from our island vacation is a puppy -- good thing there was one waiting for us!
He hasn't quite gotten used to the collar yet.
Lyle on our (newly, but not yet completely) red deck.
Annie cannot believe that we're making her go through this all over again. Poor thing.

Jamaica!!!

2007-09-10T09:46:00.000-04:00

We're posting on a different computer (ours is still out for the count), so the posting is a little messed up. Nevertheless, we had an absolutely fabulous trip to Jamaica. Lots of sun, sand, warm ocean, water sports, and all the drinks we could drink at the swim-up-bar.

Ben's goal was to learn how to wind surf. He almost got it.

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A 360 degree view from our deck.

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Rachel was at the beach late one night and came across a sea turtle laying her eggs. Rachel threw a fit in order to get the eggs protected. (see the picture below!)

2007-09-10T09:27:00.000-04:00

Supporters of the labor party, who won the election for the first time in 18 years. Almost everyone we spoke to was excited about the change.

The room

2007-09-10T09:21:00.000-04:00

We had the best room in the place . . . no joke.

That's us on the corner, with the wraparound deck.

There was a new towel and flower sculpture waiting for us on our bed every day.

Way too long

2007-08-29T09:57:00.001-04:00

So the computer is still super messed up (sorry to all of you who are checking regularly for puppy pics!), but I've figured out how to get a few pictures up. Don't expect anything more for at least a week, but then look out for our pictures from the Carribean! Here are a few pictures of our puppy-to-be, Lyle. We'll pick him up next Friday, and we'll make sure we can get more shots of him.

These didn't post right . . .

2007-06-05T19:55:00.000-04:00

I tried to post these last week, but the pictures didn't go up correctly for some reason. I bet the clever among you can figure out which pictures go to which caption below.

A weekend of goodbyes

2007-05-29T16:55:00.000-04:00

We said goodbye to our wonderful cat, Roxie, on Friday. She had been sick for a couple of weeks, and the vet finally diagnosed her as having an incurable, untreatable sickness. None of you ever got to know her (unless Matt or Jamie is reading this), since her favorite spot during company visits was under the bed. But, to us, she was the most loving, easy-going cat ever. And much, much too young. We miss her so much already.

2007-05-29T16:48:00.000-04:00

A less sad goodbye was to Rachel's Saturn, which will hopefully make lots of money for needy kids.

A beautiful weekend, nonetheless

2007-05-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

This is how the sky should look in May.
Cassie is loving the spring weather.

2007-05-29T16:19:00.000-04:00

We had to build a path between the new(ish) gate in the back yard and the steps to the deck.

Here's how they turned out.
The gate that Ben built yesterday. The old gate is the one in front in the picture below.

2007-05-29T16:13:00.000-04:00

Ben just loves spring!

I just like this picture

2007-05-21T20:54:00.000-04:00

The brewmasters

2007-05-21T20:35:00.000-04:00

Our friends Jenn and Levent came over on Saturday for a barbeque. Ben and Levent also broke out Ben's beermaking kit (his Christmas present). We now have 24 liters of beer beginning to ferment in our living room. Come to our house in three months and we'll fill you up with (probably) mediocre beer!

Working on the back yard again

2007-05-21T20:22:00.000-04:00

We mulched our new bushes. Check out the beautiful red and purple flowers in the boxes above. Who would have guessed that they'd still be flowering 6 weeks later?
And look at the pea plants!
These are our favorite bushes.
The ugly chain link fence is looking a lot better now. Especially since our neighbors are putting in beautiful flowers on the other side, too.

A bicycle built for two

2007-05-21T20:17:00.000-04:00

We went for a beautiful ride near Lake George last weekend. This is Rachel's view.

The tulip festival

2007-05-21T20:08:00.000-04:00

Ben loves the flowering trees.
Even Moses is excited about the beautiful weather.
These beautiful tulips are absolutely everywhere in Albany this time of year. Lovely.

2007-05-20T20:12:00.000-04:00

It's hard to tell what's going on here. The picture is taken from directly below, looking up at Ben above the stairs. Rachel doesn't really like to watch him do this . . .

The funniest thing this spring

2007-05-04T19:16:00.000-04:00

Annie has discovered that she can "pet" herself on the pine tree in our back yard. Just like she does on your shoe when you're sitting cross-legged.

! ! !

2007-05-04T18:51:00.000-04:00

Spring is springing up everywhere!

2007-05-04T18:49:00.000-04:00

Just pictures from the backyard and around the neighborhood.

I know this sort of thing is no big deal to those of you in California, but we get really excited about big, beautiful flowers here.

2007-05-04T18:27:00.000-04:00

2007-05-04T18:24:00.000-04:00

The dog park is beautiful in spring.

2007-05-04T18:21:00.000-04:00

Love Spring!

What do you do on the first beautiful weekend of the year?

2007-04-27T19:03:00.000-04:00

First, spend a whole lot of time working on the backyard. We didn't work on it much last year, and it really needs help! New flowers, new grass seed, and new bushes to line the fence we put in last year.

2007-04-27T18:54:00.000-04:00

And then we went on a great tandem ride down by the Hudson River. Thanks to Rachel's mom & dad for the fabulous gift -- looks like we're going to love it. It'll take us a bit of getting used to, but we had a lot of fun on it.

LOOK!

2007-04-18T17:18:00.000-04:00

Not to beat a dead horse . . .

2007-04-18T17:16:00.000-04:00

. . . but we're just so stinkin' happy about having the kitchen done!!! I promise, these are the last pictures we'll post.

2007-04-18T17:12:00.000-04:00

Here were a few steps along the way.

2007-04-18T17:08:00.000-04:00

2007-04-18T17:07:00.000-04:00

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And remember where it all began!

Kitchen

2007-04-12T19:11:00.000-04:00

Here's what our completed kitchen (at least one side of it) looks like. Believe it or not, we really are almost done! More pics in a few days.

Finishing the tiling

2007-04-12T19:09:00.000-04:00

We decided that it was time to get the countertops fully tiled, which meant pulling out the kitchen sink. Here we are in the beginning stages.

2007-04-12T19:08:00.000-04:00

The finishing touches.

2007-04-12T19:07:00.000-04:00

Just about done (but pre-grout on the backsplash).

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How it looked before we got started.

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The classiest part of the old countertops -- the brace that Ben used to secure the counters to the wall.

Our cutie patooties

2007-04-12T19:02:00.000-04:00

The most important thing we missed.

2007-04-01T21:25:00.000-04:00

Ok, we know it's been ages since we've blogged. But there's only so many pictures of snow and 11-year-old Cocker Spaniels that you can post. As many of you know, March has always been Rachel's least favorite month (it ought to be spring, but it never is). So, no posting. But, we did miss one very important day: Aida's Birthday.

Can you believe this beautiful girl is nine?!?

More kitchen progress

2007-04-01T21:22:00.000-04:00

We're still working on it! One of our countertops is fully tiled and grouted (tiling the other counter will involve taking out the sink, so we need to have a few dedicated days before we attack that). We're spending a TON of time on the little stuff, like painting the baseboards and molding.

2007-04-01T21:20:00.000-04:00

Our new shelves above the stove. Now we won't have to go into the dining room to get spices or oil while cooking.

Almost Spring.

2007-04-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

This is what our backyard looked like on March 16. The thing is, you can never get too confident in the weather in the North in March.

2007-04-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

This is not what you should wake up to on St. Patrick's Day.

2007-04-01T21:15:00.000-04:00

Anne likes a bit of playing in the snow.

A trip to New York

2007-02-19T17:24:00.000-05:00

We've been planning a weekend trip to New York for months and we finally made it a few days ago. Our friends Dania and Jonathan were nice enough to put us up, even though they had to leave town on Saturday.

2007-02-19T17:22:00.000-05:00

We spent most of Saturday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2007-02-19T17:21:00.000-05:00

Who knew this painting was so big? It's way more than life size and more impressive in person than you can imagine.

2007-02-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

Rachel's favorite store when she was a little girl in Ann Arbor, Michigan was called "The Peaceable Kingdom." Lots of toys and girly things to buy there. It was fun to see this painting in person, even if the picture is a little fuzzy.

2007-02-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

The view of downtown from Brooklyn.

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Driving from Brooklyn to Manhattan over the Manhattan Bridge.

2007-02-19T17:15:00.000-05:00

Trying to take a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty while crossing the Manhattan Bridge didn't quite work. Pretty lighting, though.

2007-02-19T17:13:00.000-05:00

Another picture tht didn't exactly work. This is Chinatown, where there were throngs of people celebrating Chinese New Year. Too bad we were just driving through on our way out of town -- it looked like fun.

Our first winter storm

2007-02-14T20:23:00.000-05:00

Our trip to snowland last weekend must have appeased the snow gods, because we finally got forecasted for big snow on Valentine's Day. Here's a picture of our backyard on the afternoon of February 13th.

2007-02-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

When we woke up this morning.

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The snow when Rachel got home from work at about 4:00.

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Shoveling out.

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Here's what the snow looked like out front. The bump is a car.

2007-02-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

Ben after helping a woman shovel out her car in front of the house.

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4 hours later.

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The only way to really show how much it's snowing is to take a picture at night with a flash.

2007-02-14T20:08:00.000-05:00

Roxie knows how to keep warm . . . bury yourself in clothes just out of the laundry!

Sledding adventure

2007-02-11T22:15:00.000-05:00

We've been hearing so much about snow in Upstate New York, be we haven't seen a bit of it in Albany. So, we drove a couple of hours to the northwest to see it for ourselves and go sledding. The first problem was how to get up the hill. Ben was kind enough to blaze a path for Rachel.

2007-02-11T22:13:00.000-05:00

Ben's first time sledding ever.

Ben's first biff ever.

2007-02-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

A picture of Rachel's big brown coat. (Mom's been asking to see it.)

2007-02-11T22:08:00.000-05:00

We took a lot of pictures to show how incredible these icicles were. None of them show how amazing they are, but at least you can see how big they are in the first pic.

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A little too deep for a snow angel!

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And a Cassie waiting for us when we got home.

Our happy family

2007-02-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

The cats are getting more used to each other, and Cassie's getting more used to us.

Elea O'Meara Mossay

2007-01-16T21:04:00.000-05:00

By the time I'd gotten around to posting the picture of pregnant Jamie -- about 10 pictures down -- Elea had already been born. Here she is at a few days old. Welcome!

The Yuck.

2007-01-15T16:24:00.000-05:00

Ben's California car is deeply unhappy in this weather.

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It would be a lot prettier with a little sunshine, rather than the dreary, rainy gray we've got today.

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This bush is usually not on its side.

the latest kitchen project

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Isn't that pretty?

A new member of the family

2007-01-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

She's a little shy, but she's only been home for an hour or so.

2007-01-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

There's our kitty! We're calling her Cassie.

Annie's treasures

2007-01-13T21:42:00.000-05:00

Annie found our luggage, not entirely unpacked, and decided what was left belonged to her She dragged about ten things into her crate -- a can opener (thanks, Alex & Jessica!), coasters and a day planner (thanks, Santa!), and a Marine Corps uniform belt, amonth others. The nice thing is that she didn't damage a thing!