Oh, I'm late.. Happy Solstice, even later, Happy New Year

 Oh Dear, I meant to start this on the Solstice in December of 2024. I got as far as the heading (the first half of the heading now) and dropped the ball. I did have a lot going on this month, but now I'm not letting it go any further. So much has gone down since I last posted on August 3, 2024.

For one, I have had quite a few poems curated at various journals, and I have also had some acceptances that are coming in 2025. so I am very psyched.  Here's a link to a listing of some of my online publications: 

https://linktr.ee/cb99videos  This listing is always on my bio at my instagram: https://instagram.com/cb99videos (where, if you follow me, you might see my postings of images more frequenly than on this blog, of late).

but if you don't want to go to the listings on linktree, Here are a few links for you.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBkAhIlPXgQ/ (This is a haibun inspired by our camping trip in the van to the Potomac River last spring).

https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/table-of-contents-20-3/haibun-20-3/carla-schwartz-musing-weather/ This is a haibun about writing poems

https://www.spankthecarp.com/issue84_schwartz.html and this is a love poem both about writing and about geometry

Verse-Virtual Online, "The Mistake of Cutting Down" and "The Mesh of Root" https://www.verse-virtual.org/2025/January/schwartz-carla-2025-january.html

I'll stop there for now. 

So what have we been up to since last August? Well we have had a few van trips here and there, out to hear live music and to see friends, and we spent some nice times on Lake Winnipesaukee, and we finally closed up the camp in November. The lake level was so low at that time that we had to winch our houseboat off the sand from the dock in order to move the boat off the island. That was a challenge. 

Over the Christmas holiday we traveled by van to visit with our sisters and otherwise have been cycling, hiking, and until close to mid-November, swimming outdoors. There hasn't been any skiable snow around here yet, but we did go ice-skating in Lincoln and Concord last week.

So, here's our life in photos for the last 4 months...As always it's lovely to hear from you. Carla

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This first picture is from one of our van trips, camping at Dolly Copp national forest in NH. We went there between going to hear music in Chicorua at the Farmstand B&B Feel the Barn Series (Christ Smither) and going out to Jackson to hear some music. I'll post the rest of the photos from that trip beneath that one:

Houseboat Tours

We gave tours almost every week last summer at Three-Mile Island Camp.

Some Island Shots

Island Harvest

Our  van Trip to the Highland Center (AMC) to hear live music surrounded by Mountains

Breakfast the Next Morning at the Mount Washington Hotel

Riding the Presidential Bike Trail up to Echo Lake/Franconia State Park and back down to the Flume via the Basin

Camping at Three-Mile Island Camp Lake Winnipesaukee

Having a Tree cut down on the island

Hiking from Dolly Copp National Forest Campground

Exploring Gorham, NH, where the supposed best Northern Italian Restaurant 

in New Hampshire is located

On the Way Back Home to Bear Island

The Marina at night

Mushrooming on AMC's Three-Mile Island Camp

Lake and Island Photos

New Console Cover!

Claude said he wanted a cover for the motor controller for the houseboat  so as to keep the moisture out, and I used some leftover Sumbrella fabric from our bimini and produced this complete console cover.

Island Fauna

Island Garden Produce

Fungi

More Lake Photos

Hiking Red Hill near Meredith

En route to Chicorua for live Music (Mark Erelli)

Hiking near White Lake State Park Tamworth, NH

Back Home on the Island

Camping at Three-Mile Island Camp with the Houseboat

In Carlisle, Chicken of the Woods on our property

Bruce Marshal Band Playing in Shirley

Old Car (Sad Story)

New (used) Car (no learning curve)

Poetry and Scuplture walk and reading  Event at the Beals Preserve, Southborough, MA

Back on the Island, waning summer

Hey, get off of my boat

Sophie C USPS Mail Boat at 3-Mile Island Camp

Houseboating

Back on our Island

Cape Cod Trip near Labor Day

On the Lake

Van Road Trip to Stoddard, NH and then to Mount Monadnock

Our First Paw Paw (we grew it in Carlisle, harvested in October)

Bike Touring from Ayer to Nashua

Kevin So in Lincoln, MA

Night Sky Carlisle

Lake Life

Bear Island Walking the Last Day living up on Bear Island

Cooking Green Tomoatoes into Breakfast

Halloween in Westford, MA

Claude built a new shelf for our record albums

Last day on the lake (taking the boat out, see the skid marks where the housboat had beached)

A Few More Lake Photos

Jesse Cook Lexington, MA Nov 15

Chris and Meredith Thompson, Westford, MA 2024

Hiking the Fells

Papa Car and Baby Car by GM

Thanksgiving 2024 on Cape Cod

Thanksgiving 2024 (Turkies)

Pumpkin for my Pies

Pies in the Oven

Walks in New York State, New Palz

West Springfield Connecticut River Path

Ice-Skating W. Concord, MA

Amaryllis 2024

Peach Tree Moving Operation (Scary, to me)

But look at those shovels on the blue machine!

First Day, Today, New Year's Day hike at World's End, Hingham MA

A few random poems in print

One of my favorite haiku in the Art on the Trails chapbook for 2024.  And a poem about black peppermint in the Poet's Touchstone (which also includes beautiful art work).