Christopher Donahue

Tonight, I am enjoying the view of a blizzard outside my window.   The snow is coming down in swirling and blinding sheets. The street-lights reveal how fast the snow is coming but somehow there’s no darkness. And there’s no sign of it letting up: the snow started in the morning and will go through the night.

All my snow-gear and boots are on a towel in the kitchens drying. Quiet Rustle, my cat and I sit in the dark with some Christmas lights still left up in the windows. I clack away on the laptop. The first big storm of the season is always fun and this one is a big multi-day cozy event.

For sure, I will wake up several times in the night to see how it’s coming down.

I will then fall asleep and dream of the brownies my wife will bake for my snow-blowing this morning!

copyright Christopher Donahue  2026

The snow is coming down nicely on Christmas Evening. My wife and I are relaxing after a nice Christmas Day.  We stayed home instead of traveling because of the weather.  Our cat Quiet Rustle purrs happily on my wife’s lap.   All three of us are together for another Christmas!

But it didn’t look that way in the September when Quiet Rustle was ill. We didn’t thin he would make it a month!

Consequently, My wife and I didn’t exchange big gifts this year.  But we both agreed, the money spent at the veterinarian was worth it: Quiet Rustle’s recovery is the best gift of all!

Tiny Tim agrees!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

copyright 2025 Christopher Donahue

We are rocking Gratitude Month here and here’s my latest!

Back in September, we thought we were going to have to put our dear cat Quiet Rustle to sleep.   He had been a robust fifteen-years-old until he suddenly got ill and lost two pounds! It was terrible. We were taking care of him and helping him get through his day.  But things didn’t look good.  He was thin as a wisp.

Then, miraculously, he rebounded! (with the vets help!)

Quiet Rustle’s appetite came back. He quickly put on weight! Then he started doing athletic activities we forgot about.  He leapt off the cat tower, flew over my head and landed on the couch (A few times).  All kinds of fun stuff.

And one of the best things was when he sits on your lap in the morning, we don’t feel like we are going to lose him.

Thanks for sticking around  is what my wife said.

Another reason to be grateful this November

copyright 2025 Christopher Donahue

Every morning, my wife and I have a wonderful routine.  In the pre-dawn gloom, we sip coffee and watch the sun come up with our cat  Quiet Rustle who sits on my lap.  I suspect Quiet Rustle sits on me to get a better view of my wife.

We started doing this during the pandemic when not commuting  freed up an  hour each morning to chill out. Previously, we only had time on the weekends.

All three of us love it!

But life is transitory.  Outside the window, I notice the arbor vitae is bearing little red fruit.  The sparrows have noticed too. Farther, away, the foliage has fallen off my neighbor’s tree and I can now see the local red hawk family landing at their roost a tall pine.

Consequently, I try to always stay in the moment.

And be grateful for everything really!!!

copyright 2025 Christopher Donahue

Summer weather is arriving early today. The red, blurry orb of the sun is slowly, rising over the local hill. I can look directly at the sun’s disc  directly through the haze, but soon our friendly neighborhood star will be blazing away for the rest of the day.

Quiet Rustle, my cat, is taking the whole scene in from the vantage of my lap. My coffee is holding out and everything is good for the next several minutes before I have to get up and go to work.

And that’s when I notice the rhododendron outside the window.

I have a sinking feeling because the blossoms are just past prime and I wanted to get a picture.  Wait! I wanted of picture when the buds first popped!

This is another reminder life keeps moving.

Maybe next year!!!

copyright 2025 Christopher Donahue

The weather is a fine subject for a blog.  Generally speaking, weather is usually something everyone can agree upon, at least to the extent that it is happening at the moment. This January, we here in New England can all agree the good-old- fashioned snowy winter has returned this year.

I go easy looking for consensus in the current world climate.

And that would really be something for January 2025!!!

STAY POSITIVE!!!

copyright 2025 Christopher Donahue

Christmas on a Wednesday is a strange thing but we went through with it anyways.  We don’t have kids,  so the Holiday is usually subdued, but that doesn’t mean it is not joyous.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

copyright 2024 Christopher Donahue

Most everyone knows November is gratitude month.   I have had a wonderful almost thirty days appreciating some of the good friends, family and fortune I have in my life.

I am always reminded that good and bad fortune can change in an instant. So, I took it in stride that an ice storm prevented us from driving to Vermont on Thanksgiving Day. My wife and cat at I stayed home and watched the bad weather outside and football on TV. We drove to Vermont to see my ninety-five year old mother-in-law  the next morning.   It was all very nice.

Lots to be thankful for so I think I will keep it going in December!

I am hoping to be thankful for lots of Christmas Gifts!!!

copyright 2024 Christopher Donahue

It was a tough growing season for tomatoes. At the start, I could not have imagined the impact of having ground hogs (a.k.a. wood chucks) decimating the plants in my and the neighbors gardens.

Basically, the first several crops of tomatoes in July and August never made to harvest because the ground hogs ate them all. As noted form previous blogs,  I plant with expectation of losing some but no tomatoes all my tomatoes.  Eventually, the ground hogs became such a pest my neighbor had them trapped. It was all unfortunate.   But that wasn’t the last of the unfortunate effect.

My old neighbor had to complain about them every morning.

Now my neighbor is a dear elderly man and a wonderful neighbor.  He lost his wife several years ago and spends lots of time in his elaborate garden.  But every morning when came out of the house in the summery morning quiet and beauty  he had to complain about the “sonsofbitches” and “bastards” who were eating his tomatoes.

“Don’t they know this is my hobby and I just spent good money on these plants,” he would ask…EVERY MORNING!!!

And the answer is , No they don’t!

So much for starting each summer day in  positive way.

But, it is all okay now.   I have a big, bag of harvested green tomatoes. And a whole winter to decide what to do for next year!

copyright Christopher Donahue 2024