Christmas Eve Day

 

 

Late yesterday we got rid of an ugly brush pile.

 

Papa Pea collected much of this debris in the fall and was waiting for the required 3-6" of snow on the ground before burning it.  He's been frustrated looking at this eyesore while waiting for a good snow cover.

 

Since we have nary a bit of the white stuff on the ground, he checked to see if he needed a burn permit to set fire to the pile.  Most of our recent days have been very damp and foggy with no wind, as was the day yesterday with rain forecast starting last night and going through Christmas Day.

 

He was told they had not been issuing permits but the weather was certainly appropriate for burning a small pile.  

 

The question then remained could we get the pile to burn! 

 

But burn it did, although the flames looked a bit weak at first.

 

It wasn't long that our voiced encouragement helped the fire to really get going.

 

We had some impressive flames for a short time.

 

We were happy to see the pile burned quickly without producing any ugly black smoke, and with Papa Pea using a pitchfork to make the base of the pile smaller and smaller it was well out at last check before we called it a night.

 

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We got this good shot recently of a brush wolf (coyote) looking as though he was posing in front of the trail cam.  What a healthy, good-looking fella.  (Gal?)

 

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I'll close this Christmas Eve day post with this quote that is our holiday greeting to all of you.

 

'Tis the season for kindling

the fire of hospitality in the hall,

the genial fire of friendship in the heart.

 

                               - Washington Irving

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 

 

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas . . . Not

We're doing our best not have bah-humbug attitudes for the fast-approaching holiday season, but Mother Nature is not helping one bit.

 

Our landscape remains snowless, brown and drab as can be.  I'm reminded that a friend of ours always said, "It doesn't have to be sunny to be a good day."  Well, we can change this around to mean it doesn't have to be snow covered to put us in the spirit of the season.

 

The temperatures, day after day, remain too warm for any snow to accumulate.  This is if we had any snow.  Okay, yesterday morning I did wake up to an actual inch of the white stuff on the deck railing.  The first we've seen so far.  But the thermometer read 33°, started to rise immediately, and it all melted in a blink.  Back to our mantra of, "It doesn't have to be snow covered . . . "

 

I finally baked a couple batches of our traditional holiday goodies yesterday and if all goes well, some more may appear today.  'Bout time.

 

Two Christmas gifts ordered in plenty of time (we thought) have yet to arrive.  At least the companies ordered from have been good in communicating with apologies explaining they're experiencing delays beyond their control.  'Tis not the end of the world.

 

Early last week I broke out in a nasty red rash covering most of my body including certain areas where one should never (ever) have a stinging, burning, itchy rash.  Never having had personal experience of such, I was at a loss to know what the heck was happening.  Turns out it's hives.

 

In my ignorance, I had always assumed (never assume, eh?) hives were individual spots much like bad mosquito bites.  Nope.  Picture raised, red bumps covering my skin in areas about the size of Rhode Island.  Miserable?  Yep, it's not been fun and six days later I'm still feeling the effects, though greatly subdued, that are not allowing me to exhibit my normal stellar outlook on life or ramp up much energy or allow me to get a good night's sleep.  Could be a lot worse.

 

I have butter in a mixing bowl on the counter softening for a double batch of Spritz cookies.   (We add a titch of almond extract flavoring to ours -- yum.)  I think I'll get going on them because I know my current low level of oompf will require some couch time later on.

 

Hoping all of your holiday plans are coming along smoothly and that you'll have a White Christmas.  Or at least will have the sound of Bing crooning about one floating through the house! 

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting . . .

I can't guarantee you won't hear me some day soon bemoaning the fact that I've just had to shovel that pesky two-foot drift of snow that the wind regularly dumps across our door leading out to the front deck, but here it is this first week of December and we're still waiting for our first decent snowfall.  We've not had more than one or two weak flurries thus far.  No, our landscape doesn't look like the scene depicted in my current blog header photo taken a few years ago.  Our daughter did report she saw two rabbits in the woods a day or so ago wearing totally white coats so perhaps they know the snow is coming any day now.

 

I may have mentioned before that the Old Farmer's Almanac predicts a warmer and dryer winter season for us.  So far, gotta say they've been right on the mark.

 

Even though I have still been thinking it's autumn because of our continuing mild weather and no snow as mentioned above, in the last couple of days I packed away the Thanksgiving and all fall decorations.  I told Papa Pea it felt strange to be putting up the Christmas decorations but if one takes a good look at the calendar, Christmas Eve will arrive in a mere twenty-two days.  Eeeep.  And we all know how fast time flies.

 

Dear daughter has been experimenting making homemade egg nog (her dad's favorite holiday drink) and a knock-off Irish Cream (which her mother could live on).  The egg nog has been very good although I think she still wants to tweak it a bit.   We all agree the current batch of Irish Cream ain't gonna put Bailey's out of business.  We're so fortunate she loves fiddling around with recipes like these.  Not only am I in a period where I'd rather eat toast for every meal (with an Irish Cream chaser), but still have no desire to cook.  Period.  (I will confess to having taken a peek at our traditional holiday goodie recipes, however.)

 

Papa Pea is gone for the day so I'm logging in quilt room time.

 

Back to it I go.  I'm putting the binding on a baby quilt and then will listen to the audio book I'm in the middle of while doing the final hand sewing.  

 

Above is the quilt and although I didn't intend to make a wonky version of a Gay Pride Flag, I have heard comments that I did so.

 

Hope you're having a good day! 

It's All Hard To Believe

The calendar says it's the middle of November and we're having Indian Summer weather.  When I got up this morning at 5:45 the outside temp was 41.  Now in early afternoon, with a glorious sun having been shining all day . . . well, it must be in the 50s.

 

Shutting down for the winter months may be something we're ready for but with this kind of weather so late in the season, we can't justify doing it.  So outside tasks that we didn't think would get crossed off the list this year are being done during the short daylight hours in each day.  Ready for a rest we may be, but using this unexpected time to accomplish a couple more fall tasks is worthwhile.  As Martha would say, it's a good thing. 

 

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Recently my daughter noticed a small quilted wall hanging of an appliqued turkey I hung on the wall and asked if it was new as she didn't remember seeing it before.  "Gosh, no," I replied.  "I made that maybe about five years ago.  Or maybe even six or seven years ago."  Taking it down from the wall I looked at the date I put on the back when I completed it.  2003.  Twenty years ago.  Oh, my.  Where. does. the. time. go?

 

* * * * * *

 

I can't cook worth beans lately.  I've forgotten how apparently.  Nearly every meal revolves around something burned or missing an ingredient (or two) or it just has a strange (not good) flavor.  Same recipes, same methods of preparation but nothing seems to come out right.  Plus, danger, danger!  I walk away from the stove and leave a burner on.  I'm thinking the only sensible solution is to hire a full-time cook.  Yep, I need to be replaced with a newer model. 

 

* * * * * *

 

Friends are stopping in tomorrow on their way through to another destination so I should tidy up the house a bit.  But how dirty can it be?  I did a thorough vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing, cleaning . . . when?  Couldn't have been more than three or four weeks ago.

 

 

Stuff

Rain threatening to turn into snow tonight and through tomorrow had us scrambling today to get a couple of those most necessary tasks done around the homestead.

 

I lent my brute strength to help Papa Pea haul our sport boat to its winter parking spot, unload it from the trailer, turn it upside down on blocks and then store the trailer.  It's really only a "little" boat but both of us have taken some Arnica to make sure a couple of tweaked muscles while manhandling the boat around don't bother us or inhibit a good slumber tonight.

 

I plant Scarlet Runner Beans in the garden each year mainly for the beautiful display of red flowers they give us for most of the season.

 

Our daughter then lets the beans stay on the vines for as long as possible hoping they will dry naturally.  Most years she has to hang them inside her house to complete the process.

 

The bean pods this year grew nearly a foot long and were plentiful.

 

Then she shells the dried beans, puts them in one of her homemade boxes and gives them to friends as Christmas gifts.  They're really an attractive bean with their black and pink coloring.

 

Papa Pea found the time to sort through our apple harvest of a week or so ago.  Not a good year for our apples as the harvest was light.

 

Our best ones are from our crab apple trees.  Or I should say one of the two crab apple trees.  The one from which this apple came gave us an abundant crop.  The other one didn't do much at all.  I like that these crab apples are quite a good size, and they're my favorite for an eating out-of-hand apple.

 

Another reason the main apple crop was disappointing is that much of the fruit was afflicted with either bitter pit or apple maggot.  At first I thought it was bitter pit but by the appearance of this one I just cut open, it looks very much like apple maggot.  Papa Pea thinks we have both problems.  Ugh.

 

It just seems the right time of year for gingersnap cookies (there's a wrong time?) so that's what I baked late this afternoon.  It created a delightful aroma throughout the house and happiness in bellies.

 

There.  I did it.  A new blog post.  And my brain doesn't even hurt.  Much. 

Thanks For Caring

It's undeniable that the calendar proves I haven't put up a new blog post in over a month now.

 

I've been truly touched by the concern for my well-being by you dear readers.  I'm glad to say that my well-being is intact, but I have definitely lost my blogging mojo.  It's gone, disappeared entirely.  Where or why, I cannot figure out.

 

Do I have writers' block?  Or the fear of posting boring fodder that's of interest to no one?  Is it rebellion against the time that sitting and using modern technology takes from actively living in (what used to be) a more personally interactive way?  Do I suffer from the inability to intelligently  share my thoughts and pictures in a post?

 

Yes, to all of the above.

 

My daughter has more than once said, "You should write about that on your blog, Mom."  Huhn.  Each time, I realize to do so has simply never entered my mind, nor can I summon up the will to do it even with her gentle persuasion. 

 

I'm not throwing in the towel and deciding to never blog again.  But how long it will take to unscramble what's going on (or not going on) in my head is up in the air.

 

In the meantime, know a couple of things:  1)  All of us are alive and well while continuing to live our much appreciated lives making repairs, doing maintenance and creating improvements here on our little homestead while having taken time for some new mini-adventures and recreational outings during this past gorgeous fall season, and very importantly, 2) I want to say it warms the cockles of my heart knowing my posts have been missed by those of you who have communicated with me.  Thank you so much.