Happy Chinese New Year my friends.  This is my year!

Miss you all!

Take care,

Jo-Anne

Missing you all...

Hello from Stephen and I.  This is a picture of us.  Hope all is well with you.  Thinking of you often.

Jo-Anne

Sweet Dreams

Still loving life.  I hear most of the ex-pats have left and it's YOUR plant now.

I made a homemade recording with my sister-in-law and a friend and I thought you might like to hear it.  My husband Stephen is playing the drums.

http://filmstreamvideo.com/THE_CHIC_LIC_S.html

Well we both have similar weather and I'm sure it's getting cold there too!  Take care and I miss you all!

Take care!

For year of the Snake

An Ontario Black Rat Snake - I took this picture at the cottage.  They are very slow and timid and they are endangered (rare).  They get to be about 10 feet long.  This one was about 4 feet long (just a baby).

To all my friends - may you have the greatest of luck in the new year!

Know that I will be thinking of you and wishing I was there to enjoy the celebrations and festivals!

Jo

What a wonderful summer!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all well.  I kept my eyes on the Dalian weather reports because I was worried about the monsoon season and hurricanes.  From what I read, you received a lot of rain.

We didn't receive very much rain this summer - 3 short rain falls to be exact. That was wonderful for cottage weather but not very good for the farms or gardens.  Luckily we have a good well at the cottage and we were able to keep everything alive while enjoying the beautiful weather.

We did such a good job keeping up the gardens that the deer ended up eating almost all of my hostas (about 100), and many day lilies.

Well as upset as I was, I also understand that our drought resulted in many of the creeks and water areas drying up.

At the same time, there are not many lush plants in the woods for them to eat.

As you can see, it's difficult to stay angry for a long time when they are so beautiful.  This is a yearling deer.  I'm happy that my garden fed the wildlife.

Lazy Days on our boat...

This is my mom and I.  You can see the family resemblance.  She is 83 and it was wonderful to have her out on the lake for a boat ride.

Every year at the cottage we have a big outdoor party.  We invite many musicians and our band (called Flipside) loves to play for our friends and family.  My husband Stephen plays drums, my brother David is playing harmonica and my friends of over 20 years Randy (Lead guitar), Jeff (Basse) and Ron (guest bongo player) all join in.

  As I said - it's been a great summer.  We just hated to close up the cottage and move home for the winter.

As you probably are aware, New York City and New Jersey have been devasted by Hurricane Sandy....  We only live about 4 hours from New York City.  We in Kingston  did not get any more than a strong wind.  I am thankful for our weather here and my heart goes out to all the people who are trying to rebuild their lives after this terrible storm.

On a lighter note - Miss you all terribly and I think about you every day!

ttyl,

Love Jo

世外桃源

... this poem makes me sad.

... it makes me feel like I am the fisherman who will never finds his way back...

... I guess I'm just missing my friends from China...