Merry Christmas from my home to yours.

Happy New Year too.

 I'll be back once we ring in the new year 2023!

Wednesday's Walk

 Wednesday we stuck to a road and walked only a half hour out and half hour back.  Then we headed to one of the group's new condo apartment for a cookie exchange.

At that house was our turn around point.

We then walked back in silence for 10 minutes, something we've been doing on most of the walks because this is a really chatty group.

Didn't notice this brook on our way out but captured it on our return.

Here's the spread of cookies.

More Snow

 

A dear friend sent this to me for my birthday.  She made it for me.  I have it in the window though it could hang.

How appropriate as we await another snow storm at the end of this week.  This one could involve heavy rain too.  I'm sure you've seen the warnings about storm Eliot - the bomb cyclone.

Birthday Plant

 

This is the amaryllis my daughter brought to me for my birthday.  It's one she repotted from last year.

Notice the little speck of green?  That wasn't there Monday morning.

There's a bigger spot on the other side. These showed up Monday evening.

Below is one I have had but didn't treat properly.  There is still green but no new shoots.  I'm still hopeful

If it blooms again this is what it will look like.

Broken Record

 I've been trying to post every day since November 28th but I broke my record and missed posting Sunday.

I had extenuating circumstances.

We were hit by that big snow storm.  We got at least 18 inches. The storm started Thursday night and snowed through most of Saturday.  A heavy wet snow that brought down trees on power lines. 

Yep, we lost power Saturday at about 3 am.  I know because I had just gotten up to use the toilet and when I returned to bed and closed my eyes, I was aware of a bright light.  It was the emergency flashlight going on outside our bedroom door.  I looked at the clock and it was dark so I knew no power.

No power meant no heat, no water (we have a well) and no wifi.  

Dan woke at 4 am and went down with the flashlight to use my cell phone to report it.  We reported it again at 9.

What a "great" birthday present!

Emily and granddaughter #2 came at 9 to bring me birthday cards and an amaryllis.  She said they didn't have power but they do have a woodstove.  We went over there by 11:30 to warm up and have lunch.

I checked with the venue for Paula Poundstone and it was still on.  The restaurant was open so we were going to go no matter what.

Luck was on our side and the utility repaired the downed wires before 1 pm.  We had showers and headed north to St. Johnsbury VT for the show.

If you ever see that Paula Poundstone is coming to a venue near you, get tickets.  We laughed so hard for two hours.  She is so quick on the up take with her responses we were impressed. She involved the audience which was also amazing.

We arrived home after 10:30 pm and went to bed.

Sunday morning we slept later than usual but got out of here on time to see granddaughters in the Christmas Pageant at their church.

It's now Sunday night now and I thought for sure I had planned a post for today and sat down to write Monday's.  

Oh well, records can be broken.

Friday morning.

Friday mid-day

Saturday morning.

It was just above freezing when this photo taken so snow has slid off roof or Dan has scraped it off already.

Thank you for all the birthday greetings, friends.

Birthday Plans

 For my birthday today we're going to hear Paula Poundstone in person.

Don't know who she is?  Here's her website.

Should be a laugh filled evening.  We've always enjoyed her on the NPR show "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me."

Dinner beforehand will be at a Filipino restaurant.  I wonder if I'll remember the tastes from when I lived there in 1952-57?

My Book Stack

 I don't usually have so many books in my stack to read, but with the slower days of winter ahead and not much on the calendar for the rest of the month, I think reading will be my activity of choice.

Currently reading this one I picked up at the library for Dan but he had already read this one by Nathaniel Philbrick.   I've read two others by him in years past - Mayflower and In the Heart of the Sea - and enjoyed both of them.  It's a nice change from the murder mystery authors I've latched on to: Ruth Rendell and Kathy Reichs.

In the stack a reread from years and years ago: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  I read The Moonstone by him this past year.  Another re-read or skim will be The Lost Man for the January book discussion at the library.

What are you reading?

8:30 AM Addendum

We have snow today - all day!

Maybe 3 inches already.

Wednesday's Walk

 Snow on the ground.  Gray sky. Temperatures in the low 20ºs, though could have been colder than that. Everyone dressed warmly some even remembering their Yak Trax (I didn't).

I was in charge of picking the place and I selected Skyline Drive which Dan and I had walked in the fall at the recommendation of daughter, Emily. To my surprise none of these women who have been walking as a group for 13 + years had ever heard of this old road. 

We gathered at the old store next door to carpool there because there is limited parking.  Three cars went with me taking 5 passengers.  I had to put up one of the third row seats! One car had only the driver as she was going on from there to grocery shop in Claremont and the other car had two walkers and a dog, Denali.

Getting ready to start.

The road is maintained by the township only for a short way.  There is one residence past that point and then it was fresh snow.

Above looking back at those behind me.  Below the fast pacers ahead of me.

There was ice under the snow in patches and once I slipped and went down.  No damage done.

An old stone wall with caps of snow.

Our return trip a bit more slippery since we were walking in our own footprints.

Here's the old remains of a gate with cellar hole behind.

Below how it looked in the Fall.

One person commented that the only thing missing about this hike was a blue sky.  Plans were made to return here to snowshoe at the end of the month.  I know I'll suggest it for other seasons of the year. 

It was nice to acquaint the group with some place new.

Bathroom Signs

 Why aren't they standardized?  Well we wouldn't have these.

Best Restroom Signs Ever!

AND FINALLY PLEASE DO NOT ARGUE!!!.......

White Christmas Coming!

 

We had snow on Sunday evening!

More predicted for later this week.

Our green barn stands out.

A White Christmas it will be!

The Last Cookies

 I baked these almond butter cookies on Saturday and decorated them on Sunday while on FaceTime with granddaughter #3 who was also decorating cookies. 

I left these cookies until last because they are the most labor intensive.  Rolling the dough, cutting out, baking, then decorating has taken hours on both days.

I make icing from powdered sugar and milk, coloring with food coloring to make green, red, yellow and white.  I also melt chocolate chips to use as icing and drizzle. 

I'm more the drizzle type decorator then extra fine details as you can see.

Next step is to package them up with some of the other cookies I made to give to neighbors and friends.

Forgotten Post

 Do you ever take some photos thinking you want to blog about the subject and then forget?

Happens to me all the time.

But I did remember and found the photos from October that I wanted to share.

Subject is fraktures. 

Saw this in Williamsport PA at the Historical Society Museum there.  A fantastic museum by the way if you are ever in Williamsport. Its full name is the Thomas T. Taber Museum.

The reason I took the above photo and the one below is because my mother painted fraktures.

My thinking was I would feature the house blessing my mother made for us.  Here it is below.

Mom's birthday was December 7th.  She would have been 104.