Needle work ........ but not my kind!

It's been one of those rare weeks when I've been working in the local office. Very fortunate as we both had a trip to a local doctor to get a medical for the green card process. It was actually three trips in all, what with x-rays, TB tests, blood tests and shots. My arm is looking like a pin cushion. Rob says I'm a wimp.
I've been able to get home and enjoy the warm evenings with Rob, admire the new landscaping and watch the birds. Talking of which, we spotted our first humming bird. They are tiny, iridescent green and flap their wings faster than a fast thing. Rob scoffed when I bought the humming bird feeder and now he has to eat a hat or something else made of felt. He claims that the bet's off because they were attracted to the new plants and not the feeder. It's great to see them, whatever bought them to the garden.

Monday just gone was a holiday here in the USA. It was Memorial Day. It's the day that they remember the servicemen lost. They take it very seriously over here with parades and everywhere decked out in (even more) flags. So we took advantage of the long weekend and went to southern Vermont. It's a mainly rural state with a big history of independence. The home of the Yankee! Naturally, everywhere you turn, there is a reminder of how they kicked out the British. Charming. Farming isn't really viable any more and things are mostly geared up for the tourist trade. They do a great job at keeping up the traditional look with red painted barns and well managed land. A lot of very hard work must have gone into clearing the trees and rock to create fields. There are lots and lots of both! And ......... I finally got to see a moose.

We made our base at a cosy B&B in the small town of Bennington. On Saturday morning we were able to wander down main street, closed to traffic for a fair. Stalls had everything from arts and crafts, chainsaw carvings, hand made furniture to complete tat. The town was displaying the life size sculptures of a local artist. Placed in locations around town, the life size figures depicted people going about their daily lives. The tourist (below), the window cleaner, the little girls sharing an ice cream etc. They'd be vandalised in a moment in the UK.

We then went is search of covered bridges ...... a bit of a speciality in Vermont. There were five or so in the area and we saw them all. The locals must have thought we were a bit mad to be taking photos of an old bridge. It didn't distract them from their fly fishing though. It's very popular in the area with dozens of people of all ages in just about every stream.



From Bennington we travelled north to the town (village) of Manchester. They've turned it into a tourist/retail destination. The old part is quite small but dotted around the centre are factory outlets and craft stores. There is also a major fly fishing centre there.

Sunday we travelled north east taking in part of the very scenic route 100. It winds it's way gently through the Green Mountains. It was a very pleasant trip up to the small preserved town of Grafton to fetch some really good cheddar cheese. Some rich philanthropist decided to put lots of money into the town to ensure that it would not be forgotten. It was once a very important place when sheep were the big thing.



We were able to pick up some water and delicious sandwiches at the village store. This would be our lunch following our climb to the top of Bald Mountain in the nearby Townshend state park. A 2 mile climb up alongside a babbling stream and through the trees to the top. Unfortunately I was followed by a pack of hungry midges that wanted to make me their lunch so we didn't hang around too long. It was a lovely walk though. Steep, hard work but worth while. Dang midges. Bitten several times. We took a gentle drive back to base, even finding a quilting shop on the way. ....... result!

Monday was travel home day trying to avoid the major roads and taking in the countryside. On the way we stopped off at Saugerties to walk the short distance to the lighthouse on the Hudson. It's all automated these days but you can stay there on a B&B basis. It was names as one of the best lighthouse breaks in the world (The Telegraph or Guardian). We arrived home to find Tony the landscaper irrigating his handy work (with a hose). The grass seeds had germinated and gave the dirt a green tinge. It's nice to go away but lovely to sit on our front porch with a nice cup of tea. Back to work tomorrow............

It's May Already

We can't believe it's May already! We've been in our new home nearly 6 months and a lot has happened since the last post. Winter has gone and spring time is is rushing into summer and temperatures have been up to 27 degrees (80 in old money). That said, there was a very sharp night frost late in April that upset a few fruit growers. As you can see, the trees are full of leaves now and the grass is a lush green. Rob has had lots of fun on the lawn tractor.

Not the one in the picture though. He's not allowed on that toy. Work is nearly complete on the landscaping. Most of the hard work has been done, the planting is almost there and the new grass shoots will be up before we know it.



It's also great that we have had visitors out to see us and have re-stocked Rob's essential Euro food store. (Branston, Cheddar and Tesco Muesli - No Added Salt or Sugar). He gets (even more) grouchy without his regular fix.



Work has been keeping me busy with trips to California, Nevada, Florida and also Montreal in Canada. The next big trip involves golf. That means I've been trying to get back into the swing (hehe) of things. I've got a good caddy to carry my clubs around the practice course! He needs a little training to stop him trailing the trolley across the greens and to stop giving advice ...... but he's not bad!


There has been lots of animal activity in the garden. We have regular visits from a group of wild turkey (now that Thanksgiving is a long way off). The old male shows off to three or four young ladies each morning.



Yesterday we got our selves sorted and went out for a long walk. We are so lucky to have a mountain in our back garden. We took a circular walk from "Sam's Point" for around 9 miles through dwarf pine trees, past lookouts that gave us terrific views of the Catskills and the surrounding area. We were both pooped at the end of the day and collapsed on the sofa. We had a really good day though.

17th February 2008

A journey to work NY style

Tuesday of this week we had lot's of snow again and the temperature dropped to below freezing. I spent the day at the office and then prepared for the long hike on Wednesday. I left the office at 9am on Wednesday with Rob one of our sales guys and we drove across Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, We got to the client site at 3.30pm, after a lengthy meeting we booked into the same hotel that Toni and I stayed in 15 months ago when we visited Boston for leaf peeping and quilting material.

A little visitor in our garden

While I was away we had a little visit from some of the local deer. I travelled back on the Thursday retracing our route and arrived home at 6.30pm totally exhausted! Saturday morning we left the house at 6.45am and 8.15am we were buying our lift pass at Belleayre! not a bad life lovely blue skies, plenty of snow and so close to home. The only downside at all was the temperature; it was about -10 degrees. We skied all day and left at 3.30am.

On Sunday morning we drove over to Beacon and cleared the apartment. Then off to Poughkeepsie to do some shopping, bought some additional furniture for the lounge, some lamps and for all our American guests, we bought a coffee machine and beans grinder. So Ruth we are ready and waiting! You will be our very first guest

10th February 2008

Our House at Sunrise

It has been the longest gap ever for writing my blog - but I have some good excuses !! after NY I flew straight to California and stayed there for 2 weeks, before flying to Mexico and getting very sick with Flu, then off to Vegas for 4 days and back to Newburgh for one day before flying back to California for another 3 days.

I am so glad this new job is less travelling.

Ok lets backtrack a little, New York City for 3 days at the retail show conference. This was very busy we had back to back interviews with press and clients from 7 till 7 every day. Everyone wanted to know about the acquistion but as it was not closing till the 7th February, I could say very little.

Epicor stand at the show

Drove back to the flat on the Tuesday evening and then into the office on the Wednesday before driving to Newark to fly to Irvine California. Left it quite tight on the timing and made my life even more difficult by leaving my laptop in the office, luckily it was only about 30 mins for me to turn around and get it and get back to the spot where I realised I did not have it.

Spent all day Thursday in a budget meeting and then the rest of the time preparing for a conference the following week. On the Friday I flew to Mexico and alongside over 60 other people I was completly knocked out by a bad dose of flu. Rob arrived late that Friday evening minus his suitcases again!. The cases arrived late on the Saturday - I spent nearly all of my time in Mexico in bed, getting up on the Monday for a massage and facial and then leaving Tuesday morning to fly to Vegas ( after Rob spent an hour trying to find his passport). One of the only brightspots in the whole trip was eating a few meals with Paul and Robyn, we had such a good laugh.

Sunrise taken by Rob at Cabos Mexico - the reflection is the infinity pool

Even in Vegas I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday sleeping, quick trip out that evening to go meet Fliss and Roy for dinner then back in my room and back to sleep by 8.30. Toni arrived on Thursday just in time to dump her bags and come with us to Fliss and Roy's wedding. It was very nice. We all piled into a limo to go to the "little white church" They were married by a Hawiian chief in full regalia. Limo to the Stratoshphere for dinner where we had a lovely view of the city lights and then off to see the Penn and Teller show

Roy Fliss and the "Chief"

On the Friday we went for a walk up the strip and I finally managed to see the dancing fountains at the Bellagio. Lunchtime Gary's sister came to pick us all up and took us back to her house for lunch. Rob has not seen her for 20 plus years but she was talking to us as if it was yesterday, lovely woman and I am sure we will keep in touch in the future. Jayne works as a dealer in the Rio as well as buying and selling property in the area.

View from the Stratosphere at night

On the way back from Jayne's we called in at the Mandalay Bay hotel to see the aquarium as you can see from the pictures below, it was very impressive. The Shark reef was very good as well, you were in a perspex tunnel so you got a very good view of the them.

Fish at the Mandalay Bay

Toni and I at the Forum

That evening we walked down the strip again and went to Caesers palace to have a look at the forum and also eat dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Sataurday we flew back to Newark. Toni was flying standby and had problems so she eventually flew into JFK and got to Beacon at 3.30 in the morning. We drove to the station to get her and then all had a lie in the next morning before going to one of the local diners for brunch. We then drove up to the house so that Toni could see it. Before dragging round some of the local shops for bits and pieces to enable us to move in. Monday morning we went and hired a truck for Rob and I went off to work. Toni helped Rob over the house for a few hours and then flew back to the UK.

Rob and his Truck !

On Tuesday I flew to California again. The container from the UK arrived as did our new giant bed, washer and dryer, Telephone , cable, internet, mattress, guy to talk about the garden and a few other things. needless to say rob was kept pretty busy till I flew back late on Thursday. Off to the office on Friday and then spent my first night in our new home. It is pitch black here at night as there are no street lights and also it is very quite no noise at all except for the occaisional bird or other wild animal. Saturday and Sunday we have had snow and on Sunday we had our first power cut, no electricity for about 3 hours. Phew finally up to date! I will make sure I do not leave it so long next time

12th January 2008

Completing on a house US style - Take one small room about 6ft by 9ft add 3 lawyers (one for me, one for seller, one for mortgage company) one deed writer, one realtor and 2 builders and then sit there for nearly 2 hours signing some 26 documents and 6 cheques. Amazing !

But I got through it all and we are now the proud owners of 4.5 acres of prime US real estate :-). We will be open to guests from mid February.

Rob is going to build a website and put a calendar on it so that you can see available dates - we would love to see you all. It is a great base to go and visit the local beauty spots and also spend time in the the big apple or go spend your dollars at the nearby outlet mall ( this paragraph has been sponsored by the Hudson Valley Tourist Board)

Last Tuesday I drove to Harrisburg Pennsylvania, well actually Mike Jones drove, but I sat next to him - it took 3.5 hours and the scenery did not vary - just lots of bare trees and rock it has to be some of the drabbest scenery I have seen in the US -- it did not improve on the 3.5 hours drive from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh (pictured above) Got to Pittsburgh at about 5.30 just in time to go and visit the second customer of the day and then out to dinner with them. Fell into bed at about 9.30 pm bone tired. The weather was the only bright spot on the day it has been really surprising it was 60 plus degrees and bright blue skies.

Walked to meet the final customer of the trip early the next morning, unfortunately the temperature had dropped 25degrees and there were winds gusting up to 50mph brrrrr......... Thank goodness we were not driving back to Newburgh - although having said that our flight was delayed for 2 hours because of the high winds which meant we were driving back from Newark to Newburgh in peak hour traffic.

I have had people out at the house this week quoting for water filtration, we have high sulphur content in the well and I figured that people would not appreciate me going into the office smelling of rotten eggs. Also someone out to measure up for blinds for the windows. It is amazing how all these things add up - I forgot tht moving into a new house is usually more work than buying old.

Sunday I am off to New York -- I am at a trade show for 2 days and have about 8 meetings with different analysts and trade reporters as well as many meeting with clients and new prospects. If you know how to search press releases in google you should see my name coming up a few times over the next few weeks. Back home on Wednesday then off to Irvine, Los Cabos and Las Vegas. So glad I am not travelling so much with this new job!

Rob got his visa on Wednesday and all of our worldly goods were packed into a container which will hopefully be here early February. We have also had 2 families over to look at renting the house this week which is pretty impressive as we only put it with an agent on Tuesday.

2nd January 2008

On behalf of my husband and I ........ OK enough of that nonsense! for the avid readers of this blog, sorry for the gap in posting (that means you Mum)

As most of you will be aware, I flew back to the US on Sunday we had delays because of engine issues and I arrived back at my flat at 2 am in the morning -- spent a full day in the office and then slept my way through the new year and most of yesterday. But at least it means I am fully refreshed now.

I took pictures of the house on the 22ND just before my return to the UK -- It looks lovely doesn't it . I left for the airport shortly after taking this picture and the SatNav took me yet another route. At least I got back on time. Went shopping with Sarah Peter Alana and Rob on the Saturday, last minute Christmas presents or in my case all of them as I had done very little in the US. Nice lazy day on Sunday, more shopping on Monday and an early night ready for Christmas day.

We drove down to the New Forest to meet Sue, Malcolm and the rest of the Quinn Family. Lunch was a lot of fun and the food was really good. The pub had plenty of atmosphere so the whole experience was truly Christmas. We left there late afternoon and drove over to see Mum and Dad Fox and the Grossett Family, Home by 10pm and packed the car ready for the boxing day adventure. Up early and over to Theale to collect Sarah and Alana then a quick drive down to Wales. First stop Mum and Mikes, greeted as always with a nice cup of tea. David and Nada came over to say "hi" to Alana and Sarah. Alana is a little sweetie she just sleeps through all the hugs and cuddles as she gets passed around the family members. Sarah is a sweetie as well letting it all go on without getting over protective.

The three girls went over to visit the Beasley's and spent a few hours there with visits from family members and neighbours and then picked Rob up and went to visit Aunt Hazel and all her family. it was really lovely to see Angus Bennett and their respective families as well as the Senior Ruddles. Dropped Sarah back home in Theale at about 10 pm. Thursday we just relaxed and also most of Friday. Rob and I were on babysitting duties on Friday evening.We called up to see Bev and Bobby and they had some lovely clothes for Sarah and a beautiful wedding album for us - Thanks both ( shame you could not come to the wedding I am sure you would have enjoyed it.)

So to Saturday -- at the hairdressers by 8.30, Toni arrived with a bottle of Champagne to get the day off to a good start, we were running a little late with my hair so it was a mad dash back to the house to get my make up on, get dressed and help with Alana so that Peter and Sarah could finish off as well. Off to the register office on time, the assistant had a great sense of humour opened the door when we arrived and announced they were closed on Saturday's !!! the chief registrar had also married Charles and Camilla and Elton John and David so we are keeping the right company. It was the service that we wanted it to be, close family and friends and lovely reading by Toni and a unsolicited one by the Registrar lots of smiles and hugs. We all trooped around to Jonathon's for lunch and spent a lazy 3 hours eating drinking and chatting. Back to the house for a freshen up and then off to Southampton for the party. It was lovely to see so many people there, it must have been about 70 of them. Thank you so much, we knew we gave you very short notice but we were thrilled that so many were able to come. The wedding cake was really great if a little unusual and we all danced the night away till about 11pm.

December 20th 2007

So I obviously survived the snow and the drive home ( my first ever in real snow) we had 8" over night and it was a fun morning trying to dig the car out so I could get back to work. They obviously clear the roads very quickly here so they were fine on the Friday.

Saturday morning was a bright clear day although the temperature had dropped to 20 degree Fahrenheit which is minus 7 in real money !! Had an early breakfast at one of the local diners it was just me and all the guys off night shift from snow plough duty so I caused a little bit of a stir. I heard one guy had a British accent and as he was paying his bill the same time as me I asked how long he had been over here. He said he came over in 1968!! so please don't expect me to lose my accent anytime soon. His observations on the people and the area were the same as mine. they really are a very open hearted generous bunch and like nothing more than to either feed you or try and do something for you . Later drove around looking for a mall to at least start my Christmas shopping and eventually settled for one in Newburgh. Stuck it out till at least four and then took a drive to a very pretty town called Cold Spring -- It is full of little antique shops, restaurants and gifts shops and is really nice to walk around. The only downside was the cold -- when there is no wind you really do not realise just how cold it is until you are out in it for about 15 mins and then you suddenly realise you; are to the bone cold!

I decided to pick up a take away pizza from a really nice Italian place they have there and headed home with no plans to do anything on the Sunday as the forecast was for more snow and freezing ice. Sundays forecast was accurate so spent the day reading and sorting the place out for my last week before coming back to the UK. Monday morning I had to be in the office for 6.15 as we had some big announcements to make. But first I had to chip away the 4" of ice on my car windows. Made it into work on time and what a day it was - wall to wall meetings - we had to tell all the staff that I was taking over as GM from the 1st January and at the same time announce that we had put in to buy another company that will grow our retail team from 350 to 900 employees. I know my future is safe but do not yet know what my role will be when the acquisition completes ( although I have a very good idea :-) )

The rest of the week has been as normal as you can expect - no major news, just looking forward to flying back on Friday and seeing everyone. I have to say it is really pretty when you drive around out here, although the picture below is a little extreme most of them are very tastefully decorated and the towns look really lovely. See you all soon XXX