Winter Notes- Wednesday, January 17th. It got down to EIGHT DEGREES and snowed- not much.

 Yes, you read that number correctly- EIGHT DEGREES.  And, the Sun is shining.

Let's all just weep for the California Boy.........Culture shock is one thing....A 77 year old housemate is another shock.......but EIGHT DEGREES for the California Boy------OMG!!! (for ME, TOO)

The Plow Guy arrived well after we went to bed....the driveway got plowed and he shoveled the walks. I am going to call and leave a message that he doesn't have to shovel the walks...we can handle that.  It's really way too much for this guy- Who knew my husband etc etc.... he feels duty bound, I think to help me out.  And I am grateful..Very. but not enough to want him to drop dead shoveling.

The Oil Company also stopped by to fill the Oil Tank--just in case.....Which I am also very thankful for- as I do get a bit twitchy if I think we might run out....and freeze to death.

I am going to collect onion skins at my next visit to the grocery store....sometimes they have already cleaned up the bins but I could get lucky.  I read an article about dyeing cloth with onion skins...new to me info.  I have some scraps of fabric that could use additional color.  And I feel like doing a bit of that sort of thing.  My son is NOT going to think this is a "good idea" so...I may not get to dye cloth with onion skins.

I had hot dogs for lunch yesterday...I reminded myself that I like hot dogs for lunch.  With mustard and relish.....I also like them well charred...blackened.  I did not appreciate the news...so I watched something else.  Is Nicole EVER coming back???????

Winter Notes- Post number 4482- Light bead sized snow, Temps in the 20's

 The Weather People always threaten us with this much snow....then we get hardly enough to cover the still green grass.  We used to get this much....always.  Not now...

I have a smear of blood on my desktop calendar-- another of the big fat black flies... Sat on my keyboard and it was the very last thing he will ever do in his Fly Lifespan.  He's now smashed compost.

I have yet to find out where they come from...this is the third year of waiting around for them to show up and then smacking them to death with the fly swatter.   Daughter thinks from the Cutsie Cabinet next to the fireplace we will never use...for fire wood storage and a neat pass thru from a garage pile of dry wood.

Maine homes were originally supposed to have two sources of heat....furnace and fireplace.   Because electricity was never a SURE THING.  Now the two sources are furnace and generator but every home on the street has a fireplace.....and when they light them up- I cannot breath.  Smoke shuts my windpipe down.

Daughter thinks the flies have found a spot to sleep in the fire wood pass thru.  I taped all the open edges of the cabinet doors closed...... but they might have already gotten in.

I have a few more "might be great" books to read and I ordered a book (from Library) recommended to me by a woman standing in front of the romance section of a new to me bookstore.... We exchanged titles of favorite books.  I have a few more to add to my new list.

Now to find something to make with my cabbage.

Winter Notes- Monday, January 15th. Belated Post- Nothing Is Wrong Here

 Cinnamon bun.

Football yesterday was the WORST.  

It's like Elections.  After all the Primary fights you end up with two supposedly good candidates and ...well,  Bad Sportmanlike Conduct.... geez.

So today more of the same? GAG.

I went to Freeport with my Master Gardener Classmate.  She's working and has the discount.  I got two fresh white LLBean tee shirts.  My old stash was getting worn out...I needed fresh tees minus the holes..  We didn't find any pants under $100 or pretty darn close. They also refused to change the battery in my old watch.  An LLBean watch.......bummer.

I also had a BLT that cost me $16.

The Book Store where I scored a book light for when we have a power failure....only I have no where to charge it DURING the power failure....  but I will have 10 hours of reading....once it gets charged. I will have to make sure it's charged before any snow storms.  Husband's bathroom has the right socket for charging things (ie.. his hearing aids)

Well, that was my Monday from 11am to 4 pm.  Now I have tea in a big cup and the couch.  Son put the garbage and trash out by the curb- alongside the recycling can.  I had that on my list.

I am finding myself losing interest in the books I chose last week.... oh and a book to see if I can ask for at the library.......

Winter Notes- Sunday, January 14th. 36 degrees and Sunshine.

 Sally Muir's A Dog A Day.  Paintings.

We had Wind yesterday and further south from us- major flooding with some wharf's going out to Sea. We, Son and I watched the Browns game but don't "do" Peacock so didn't see the second game. I am always perplexed by the playoff games being not very good.  Boring, even.  And often this then moves on to the Super Bowl being less than Super.

I finished  Good Fortune and am considering buying the book for my Pride and Prejudice Collection. 

The book I am reading now is about Financial Traders.  It's very very well written but.....I just do not care for either the lead woman or the lead man.  Which pains me, as, I haven't read a book like this one in a long long time.... but I am done with it..on page 115.  I read the ending...I had no idea we were getting into Trump politics but it went there... so I'm done.  Title is Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess.

I baked my Sweet Potatoes and ate both of them with butter, salt and Swiss Cheese.  Melted the cheese in the just out of the oven potatoes.  It sounds weird but it's really fantastic.  Sweet, Cheesy, Melty.

Today we are having Football Pizza.  Yesterday, when we could not watch the Kansas City game because it's "streaming" on Peacock.....(which had to be explained to me)....the Super Bowl is also being streamed on Peacock.  So you can watch it on your iphone or laptop....sounds delightful (not).... pretty soon people and their iPhones will be ONE.    I won't be joining in the fun.

I forgot to take my morning pills again yesterday.  I have my pills in the pill dispenser husband used- has the days on each little section of the container...for some reason I remembered when they were in bottles but not when they are in Sunday, Monday etc snap open dispenser.  I remembered today but noticed yesterday's pills still in the Saturday space.

Son unpacked his last box- a Large Kitchen Box.  We found places for everything and there is even a Coffee Maker.  I had one long ago.  And liked it.  I even had freshly ground locally roasted  beans that I used to make coffee.  I am tempted to forgo the "instant coffee" and actually brew coffee.  Husband had a Keurig and candy flavored coffee pods....ICK.  That is going to Goodwill.  Right now I have a jar of instant decaf...  very very boring....I also have a collection of French Presses in the cupboard...because i liked that at one time also with the locally roasted beans.....(now being sold at my grocery store).

I seem to move thru things- slowly but always changing...letting things go and keeping other things way to long.  So it's a process.  I got an invitation (advertisement) to visit a community of small homes for those of us "living alone now in retirement"...... It's down by Portland, Maine...the "big" city of Maine.  Odd that it arrives the same ..week we have discussions of me living somewhere managed and smaller.

or perhaps not odd at all.

Winter Notes- A Very Windy Rainy Saturday Morning in Maine. 99% humidity. 38 degrees

 I have zero idea of what images I have on the desktop.  We've had this one before...and I just deleted it. From the desktop array.   The images are so tiny I can't make them out.  This is from December I think.

I need to return to the cactus drawings on index cards...now that Son says I can send pictures again.  He says. I have no proof that it is possible. Of course, I might need to draw something other than cactus. I was pretty close to not having any decent source material at the time the camera went nuts.

A handful of drawings over near my left elbow...pretty nice looking.  I can draw.  

Not nuts- it's old..senile....the Camera... and forgot how to send things.  It just forgot mid-process what was doing....like me.  Walking into the kitchen with a fantastic idea for a snack and then standing by the counter and saying- there is nothing there to eat.  I bought bagels instead of a loaf of bread....Just for variation on a theme......

I have a handful of pages left in the Pride and Prejudice themed Good Fortune book. Darcy is making his move- slow as usual but getting there.  My favorite thing in a Rom Com is the awkward leading man.  This Darcy is plenty awkward...and this Elizabeth is prickly.  If this was a movie in a theater I can hear the people in the audience yelling- kiss her already you butt head.  Imagine a book written by me.......

Winter Notes- Friday, January 12th. Waiting for the Next Weather Shoe to Drop.

 I think the last of the Postcards from Provence.

I might have a coffee pot like this in the very way back of the cupboard.  

We did grocery shopping today as Monday is looking like a Weather Hell Hole...but things could change???   I got red grapefruit to peel and segment and eat with Greek Honey Yogurt and Bran buds.  One of my Favorite Lunches to take to work at the Greenhouse.

for a Reader who asked-- the name of the company with the deconstructed appliqué kits is as follows:

Wattle & Loop Handmade Slow Stitch Kits  https://wattleandloop.com

So...I have Library Books, I am eating a very delicious Pear while I type....I will be refreshing my coffee cup and then reading my Chinese Family- Pride and Prejudice book.  Good Fortune.  All the characters are now in place. The slimy bastard just arrived.  The print is tiny and I can't read for long periods of time... the print is also not dark....I am thinking that most new books have this problem- tiny print and light ink. Saving money but losing Readers?  At least 77 year old ones...

My Master Gardener Classmate has her car in Intensive Care...it didn't pass inspection and needs work. That happened to daughter and me with our Honda Fit's....we had to have extensive body work done on the rear/under parts of both cars.... Honda paid for it... a "design flaw".  Not sure Toyota will cover her rusty parts.  But I hope they do........

Winter Notes- Thursday, January 11th. Sunshine and 39 degrees

 Postcards from Provence----Bread and Water.

I started the day with a hot shower and freshly washed hair.  Old woman white as Snow hair.  Getting longer and weirder as the weeks go by.  I am hoping to pull it all into a topknot with a rubber band eventually......by next year?  Right now it amazes me with it's ability to curl..... I am just starting to value having curly hair. About time!!!

So.....what's new?  Sunshine is new..... Melted snow is new........Actually finishing a project- making work mittens out of wool socks for my daughter.......is new.

Another storm on it's way so we might be going to do grocery shopping today and not on Monday. We actually have very little in the fridge to eat right now....so would be in our best interests to do a shop today. I have one yogurt, a few slices of cheese (but no bread for a toasted cheese with pickles) sour cream, milk, pickles and 6 eggs.  I have oatmeal.  I could make pancakes.  We need pizza stuff..

We lost most of the freezer contents on the first 3 day per outage.  We didn't have the generator going fast enough to keep the freezer cold.  And then we did ...but it was too late.  Large things were okay but small items thawed out.  Big Bag for the garbage men.

I am asking my sister in law to resend the info on the free wheeling appliqué...  I seem to have deleted it.  I actually thought I had just moved it...but no.  Stuff happens.

My Son says if I used the CLOUD I would still have it- along with every other piece of crap that ever appeared on this computer....you cannot get rid of anything once you Cloud it.  I know...I spent quite awhile getting that f...er to disappear.  Right now I get messages 24/7 about the Cloud on my iPhone which I delete.......NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Even with their threats.....see, that's what I don't like...the threats that I will lose everything.....I got nothing left to lose on the phone. Zero. I delete everything..

Winter Notes- Wednesday, January 10th. All is Well here in Maine- Sunshine 45 degrees

 This is the image of one of the raw edge, loose stitched pieces in the kits....not the best image for seeing the random fill in stitches on each petal.  No turned edges.... you know that bothers me.

So. it's Sunshine and Happiness this morning.....here in Maine.  We, son and I, were ready for the worst... but ....not today.  I could hear the wind last night...I had a flashlight next to the bed....so I could safely get to one of the exits....  the grass under the snow is nice and green.  I don't even see a breeze .....

So...on to the next STORM, I guess.  I watched the weather channel and we were lucky and others were NOT.

I have my oatmeal in the microwave growing colder by the minute....so this will be a short post.  I am reading a sad romance book- about a widow in her 30's- husband died of cancer-- and she is using a dating app.   She is also emptying out the farm house where she and husband were very happy. There is an opportunity for a new career..... Her mother and brother have a drinking problem.....  sigh. I need to get thru the book. She just finished a cancer fund raising run... and I hope she decides on which guy is the ONE.  Then on to the next book on the shelf.......

so, Readers, you can stand down....we are safe, dry, warm and the fridge is still running.  And...bonus...INTERNET.... Life is GOOD TODAY.

Winter Notes- Tuesday, January 9th. It's as if the Weather is doing maximum damage here.

 We may have had this one already----I can't quite see the tiny image screen.  Postcards from Provence.

Well, as they say......"some weather" we are getting this Winter... son is for sure not living here.... but he did make an appointment to get the Jeep inspected.. later this week.... so it will have a valid sticker on the window.  He also shoveled two exit points in case we need to get out of the house in an emergency.

Here in Maine having TWO cleared and easy to exit the house opportunities is a MUST.  My Lunch Buddy lives across the street from a veteran firefighter... House Number Two.  Having a two story home makes it even more tricky.  

Law and Order on BBC has started over from the beginning again... I love the older ones. Wide shoulder pads on the women and enormous hair. I think I wrote the same comment last time the old ones started ...

I went thru husband's word search puzzle books and the newer ones with just a few puzzles done- I tore finished ones out and will leave a few books at a time on the Library drop and share area in the vestibule.  The newest books hadn't been touched. And the pen marks got shakier and shakier as time went on. Some of the pages were quite chaotic.  Like a timeline...

I put out the recycling bin last night.  Filled to the top...I didn't put out a garbage bag as we didn't have enough to fill it and it's pay by bag so I only like to have a full bag.  I usually, in the old days, would walk around the house looking for stuff to put in the bag until it was full.....I am not that involved these days.

I am not really focused on anything these days.....just getting thru a day is a win.

I was going to bake a cake- but the two boxes of cake mix had expired use by dates...so I checked with the internet and...the mix was fine but the leavening ingredients weren't...so adding fresh baking powder would make everything okay...so do I or don't I????  Do I really want to have cake in the house?????

Winter Notes--- Monday, January 8th. Much to do about something so I am late posting.

 Postcards from Provence- Onions? Shallots?

It snowed...I was Almost Positive it would just rain...but there is 12 inches of Heavy Wet Snow out there.  My neighbor's plow guy came at midnight with his truck...he shoveled her walks but when I looked out to see how things were he very sadly told me he could not shovel the snow and did not have a snowblower- so no sidewalks got done.  Son did a bit of clean up this morning and a narrow shoveling to get from driveway to front steps....opening the back door is not possible.  Walking to the compost pile or Bird Feeders is not possible....when I mentioned that his father had run the snowblower around the yard to make paths- he said- "no wonder he had trouble making it run".

There is zero chance Son will be here next Winter.  Its only the 8th of January and he is "so over it".

We chatted (gingerly) about where I would BE next Winter...sigh.

Before we watched Football my best friend in Cleveland called. (and I missed the Bengal's game)....from 5th grade thru high school.  Once I went away to college we lost touch...her dad was worried I had "bad habits"--I didn't..  She went to college and lived at home.  We lost touch and then saw each other on one of my summer visits to Ohio from Florida.  A photo she took of me and my two small children was found in Gary's wallet when I emptied it.

I gave her the address for this blog- I hope what I gave her got her here!  Let me know, Diane.

My sister in law sent a link to a site selling Whimsical Botanical Fabric Art...... I really loved the way they look.  No turned edges, just layers of cut pieces and then some random stitches.  Very very interesting. I may have a photo and address for you all tomorrow...today I am a bit off center.  Emotional...Apprehensive......

About what comes next.... difficult for me to even type this post- ...sigh.  Well, I think I need to eat something.  Past lunchtime. Son polished off the Orange Chicken.  I will finish the Lo Mein- I did manage to add extra vegetables.

Winter Notes- Sunday January 7th. Light Dry Snow. A few inches. Nothing to See Here In Maine Speak.

 

Scallops.  

I never thought I would like them- I don't like fishy things- but I do love scallops.  We don't have any but I saw this picture in the NYT feed and liked it...reminding me of other times... going to restaurants with G.

So......snowblower WORKS and Son found it "fun".  Did the sidewalks. Cleared the area around the Jeep parked in the driveway (because my not working Honda Fit is taking up garage space).

Pizza is out on the counter and ready for Football Pizza whenever we decide which game is the least amount of boring.  I usually chose the Bengals.  But...we'll see.

Snow is supposed to fall until 4 pm.  Then it will RAIN? Always a good time here in Coastal Maine.

I had son carry all the fabric containers (next to and in front of my couch) to the sewing room....I rarely do any sewing now that Riley is no longer my co-pilot.  He always watched the work as I did it....Letting me know he liked it or did not like it.  He was 100% correct in the stuff he did not like. It was always bad.

The Male Cardinal is outside in front of the living room window.  He was there yesterday as well. I notice the spot of bright red and look and there he is.  He is now eating the seeds the small birds drop on the porch.   

That's all for today. I have to stretch my arm....I think G had exercise bands somewhere.....

Winter Notes- Saturday, January 6th Cloudy and 27 degrees

 The East Coast Snow Map with no little box saying what the colors mean...Useless.  And it's from the New York Times.......  in case you don't recognize Maine- we have a slice of pale yellow and then dark blue way up at the top jutting out into the Ocean.  I live like 10 minutes (driving) from the Ocean so....there's that.  I can't see it....or smell it.  I might like seeing it...never smelling it.

We went Grocery Shopping.  TODAY....we did it so that ALL the Lovely Women Worrying about my Safety...could rest easy.....we also stopped in at the Library..I got two books and returned a few.  

It's 12:39 and I already need to turn on house lights...And it's really bright outdoors so I have no idea what is going on with daylight.  Son went out to a gas station to add some air to one of the front tires on G's Jeep and to fill the Generator Gas Can.  And to tell me he was REALLY getting tired of this  (blank).. 

He also ate Chinese takeout leftovers for lunch.  I fried extra carrots and green beans to add to my leftover Lo Mein.  Never can have too many vegetables. But I am not hungry yet.....seems like I ate breakfast oatmeal only an hour ago.  And I think that is exactly what I did do.  Newspaper was dull.  Sports was dull.  Politics....sigh..... rehashing January 6th......sigh.  I watched recorded Civilizations (PBS).... Lovely images....I enjoyed it.  

I finished  my book before going to bed last night (very late)....and have to decide which book to read today.  I did get two new ones at the Library..no more than that...as I really should read some of the books I own.....I  recently bought all of my favorites that I check out at Library ALL THE TIME.....in case...I can't leave the house but now I can leave the house.....I think  my Lunch Buddy and I are having Lunch this coming week......I think she has lots to talk about..... and I am happy to listen and not make suggestions...  I hate people making suggestions when I just want to air out my complaints..."oh, you should...."  Just don't say it.   So that's me...

Winter Notes- Friday, January 5th. Sunshine and 25 degrees

 Postcards From Provence.

Sunshine but very cold outside.... I have the house temp at 64.  Wearing a sweater.  Wool socks.

I had a shower this morning...to get my hair in some sort of manageable position.  It chose this morning to go Horror Movie Crazy.  Having curly hair is a very interesting situation when you have always gotten it (hair) cut very very short.  But I sort of enjoy the mystery of it. And it feels really nice when I run my fingers thru it.

Son just finished making Tater Tots in the Air Fryer daughter bought me.  I haven't tried it out as yet. Yesterday I had two baked Sweet  Potatoes for dinner....lovely.  We are having Chinese Take Out later today.....We are both pretty excited about that. And Son will stop at the grocery store to buy a few things before picking up the Chinese Food.   I have everything I need to make soup. We will be fine.

Snow is supposed to arrive Monday....it hardly ever arrives on time.  And hardly ever when it's 25 degrees.

We are still looking at Green Grass here in Maine.  I just leaned back in my chair and the backyard looks like August with so much SUNSHINE..

I have something on my desk calendar- "I don't want to. I don't have to. You can't make me".  That's ME. ME as Maine.  I am actually living in the perfect State for my attitude.  Oh, Donald you have no idea....

Well, I have a book to finish......and another to start and this tiny ad for a internet class in Abstract Embroidery.  Oh...perfect for me.  The example looks like a mess of threads..... and NO I am not taking a class......I did that and ended up helping everyone seated next to me with the stitches etc...I can look at the sample and know everything........and I never follow the rules anyway.  

Well, on the road when I used to drive....I did follow rules there.  Perhaps that is way I never liked driving????

Winter Notes- Thursday, January 4th. Dark but warmer......Snow on Monday?

 Postcards from Provence.

Dark Skies Today...not sure what is coming.....in the weather....but not till Monday. Snow may hit us or may miss us!!!

Got a strange notice from "Xinity" about security etc.  I asked the engineer to look it over and he said it was fake....and the return email address would have been for Xfinity and it wasn't.  I can see how the fraudster would work this.......you email to check and he says give me your password and zap...it's all over but for the circus clowns.

And, if there was a serious Xfinity breach- letters would go out to cover their butts.

So, that was that....I like paper....so if anyone wants to tell me about serious stuff- send me paper.  I can read it, I can copy it and send to my Attorney etc. or even take it to the Police Station in Town.

Son and I are down to almost nothing in the Food department.  We missed our Monday shopping day and now we wait for next Monday (to get back on schedule)........I have two sweet potatoes in the oven baking.....he finished off the one slice of Football Pizza and made a Burrito out of what ever he found in the fridge.  He has a Chicken Parm Dinner....We won't starve.  There is ALWAYS SOUP.......And there is always driving somewhere and buying food.  

We haven't had Chinese yet..... we have had Vietnamese.

Son is outside working on the Bird feeders- cleaning and filling them. And now he is collecting broken branches off the back lawn.  A few trees back there need a good clean up of dead branches.  

That's it for today....I paid two bills and...moved the emergency candles.

Winter Notes- Wednesday January 3rd. 34 degrees and cloudy

 More Postcards from Provence.

Yesterday was my Annual doctor's visit.  At 3 pm.  Before darkness falls in Maine.

I lost 40 pounds.  Since my summer visit.  Doctor is worried.  I told him my husband's story.  He was only slightly less worried but pleased to hear Son is living with me.  He says alone would be troubling.

I got two shots...vaccines....and I will be getting two more (??) at the grocery store (pneumonia and shingles).  Flu in my right arm as I am right handed and COVID in the left.  They also took blood.  The Good News- I don't need to come back until next January..... so.unless the blood work spikes alarm...I'm going to live another year. Or More.

We came back home just as it was getting dark.  I am now thinking I will need to take a taxi for next year's visit.  Son was only staying for one year...October.  

I had cheese, some corn chips and pistachios for supper when we got home. A cup of sweet hot tea. I should have eaten one of the last two pears.  But I didn't. I will today.  I also have rice my Son made me days ago (in that fancy rice cooker)....I'll add green peas to it.  I think we have made our way thru all the Holiday Food.  So will have to actually cook something.  We didn't have any "plans" for this week. I am thinking he would enjoy take out or just going out to eat...he could bring home something for me.

And that's it.  I am reasonably sure I will live to be 80 (3 more years) or even match my dad at 86 (nine more years).  I once thought I would like living to 100....but now, I am not so sure about that.

Winter Notes- Tuesday, January 2nd 2024- Sunshine and 23 degrees in Maine

 Good Morning.....cold.  We put the recycling and garbage out last night.  My neighbor has her bags out also.  It's cold.  It's only 9:36 and why am I awake????

My oatmeal in the microwave is ready to eat so this post will be short.... I am hungry and I have very little "new" to share with you.   I haven't filled in the first two days of the new desk calendar as yet- still wondering what I want to do here.   Sometimes it's newspaper headlines....other times I draw and color with pencils or pens.......other times I write where and what we are doing things.....I also paste images to the surface...and then color around them.....this morning I am still not sure the direction I want to take in 2024.

I feel like this is a POINT in Time when I stay put or move in a new direction.......I feel like I have been stalled for a long long time.....and it might be Time to jump off the safe roof and do something new.

Re-invent myself.  It's there...on the edges of my thinking.  This little Hint of "what could be" going forward....all this "letting go" has given long abandoned dreams a bit of room in my head and my heart to stretch and expand...  sounds like the beginning of Startrek. (excuse the spelling)

Well Oatmeal waits for no woman...... episode two tomorrow.

Winter Notes- January First 2024.

 Well, it's cold here in Maine..... no snow and 27 degrees.

We had Football Pizza and watched several games yesterday.  I finished a very very strange book...I seem to have checked out a handful of strange books on one of my Library Visits.  Not the last one but the one before that.  I am often rolling my eyes.  And they are very very X rated. (laughing)

I have my first real visit with my new doctor tomorrow.  I am hoping he has at least one flu shot and possibly a COVID shot for me.  If not...I will continue as I have been.....carefully.

My oatmeal has binged in the kitchen so this post will be short as I am hungry and do not like reheated oatmeal. Football  Pizza yesterday had pineapple and mild pickled peppers on it...also pepperoni and cheese. Son and I are experimenting with pizza toppings...... we are finishing off the last of the Christmas Food.  Then we have to confer on what else we might want to cook together.  

I have to say....having him here has been quite wonderful.

Winter Notes- Sunday, December 31st. Sunshine, 34 degrees and Green Grass. In Maine.

 Lemons Today   Postcards from Provence.

I am wondering how long it takes for him to do these paintings?  I like the background of worn slate.

So, Son is doing laundry- he sets a timer to go off on his iPhone.  I think the iPhone also lets him know when its time for meals and snacks.  I thought this was odd in the beginning but he can get lost in his computer games etc so...it makes sense now.  And when he comes down the stairs I have a general idea of what time it is.  Like having a clock chiming the hour.

We have sunshine today.  The snow is all just a thing of the past..... It feels strange to be entering January with green grass.......would be stranger if the trees had leaves. ...but in a few years...that might also be something that happens.  Eventually my yard and house will be part of the Atlantic Ocean.  Yes, dear Readers ...the Ocean is that close...a few miles. 

Birds are visiting the bird feeders.  Street is quiet- not even one person out walking their dog.

I was up late reading a very "sexy, fun" book from the quote on the cover.  30 Days.  She wrote a second- 30 Nights --but none of the libraries in my search engine has the second book.  2015 isn't that long ago.

So...on to the PILE and choosing the book for today....I will not be finishing a book today as we have several football games to watch.  And Football Pizza to make... with mild banana peppers and pineapple additions.  We checked the tv schedule to choose the games we will be watching.

It hasn't taken us much time to adjust to each other and make plans etc... that we can both look forward to. We decided which games to watch and agreed on the ones we would NOT watch.

Well, the afore mentioned SUN has clouded over and I have to turn on lights.... 

Winter Notes- Saturday. December 30th. Careful What you Say- It's SNOWING

 Another Image from Postcards From Provence.  Julien Merrow-Smith.

It's Snowing here in Maine- Not sticking as the ground is still warm-ish.  Son filled the porch bird feeders. We get regular visitors.....so the Bird Feeder Rule is "if you start, you must continue" especially in Winter.  If birds are feeding at one spot and then you stop---they go without food until they find another feeder or a Winter tree with berries.  Otherwise- they starve.

The ONE TIME I was asked (allowed) to do the Bird Class at the Greenhouse I was very strong in my thoughts about Feeding Birds.  My employer never let me teach that particular class again.  I also have water available near the feeders.....always...in Winter I carry my electric tea pot out to fill the frozen birdbath with hot water-  melting the ice.  It freezes again but ...the ice they peck is fresh.  In Spring, I dump and fill  the bird baths every day (with cold water) as they are ALL needing a BATH.

I know..."regular pain in the ass".  I am the poster child for the sign VIRGO.

So...what are you all doing?  Son and I are working on eating/finishing the Christmas Food. Thank Goodness we did NOT bake cookies...... 

Son has just had his Lunch and I had just finished my oatmeal before he came down.  We are not on the same meal schedule.  He has a four hour rotation????I am not sure about that.  I do know it's four separate meal times and one of those is a snack.  I think he has a reminder on his phone.  He feels my "no schedule" eating is worrisome.... as I am not eating the prepared food in the fridge as he expected... I do get around to every so often but not "regular".  But somedays, I just like TOAST.

Winter Notes- Friday December 29th- A Mouse, A Calendar and Groceries.

 Terrarium Building Kit.

I used to teach a class at the Greenhouse and we built Terrariums.  I think I have the glass bowl around here somewhere.  Very difficult to keep them alive. Everyone- me too- overwaters them.

I visited Staples and got a 2024 Desk Calendar and it is under my keyboard right now....  very smooth and new and each date block has the correct day number and lines for journal writing if I want- Or Book Lists.

3:15 and I needed to turn on the house lights.....

We got power back last night around 8:30.   Then Son went out and shut off the generator- he's getting to be quite good at it.  Husband was not.  I don't think he had the arm or shoulder strength to pull the thing that gets the generator going- we needed a push button starter.   We (son and I) continue the debate on the whole house generator.  Which I would need when he returns to California.  And I decide to remain in this house. 

 I was pretty sure I would (remain in this house)......but now I am not so sure.  Son is upstairs quite a bit so I am getting a very good "taste" of living alone.......and I might not want to live Alone in the Woods.  But I might be okay with a Cottage Community and a generator.  Depends on the neighborhood.  And the Neighbors.

Some Communities are quite snotty and like to play Bridge.  I can do Snotty but never have understood Bridge.  

Winter Notes- For December 28th. written the night before at 11:02

 Another of Julian Merrow-Smith's paintings.

The power went out AGAIN.....this has never happened before (so many power failures in a row so close together)...and it's not the best introduction to Maine for the California Son.  He put up with candles for 30 minutes and then went out to drag the generator out of the garage and got it going ( I think it was raining also).........after a few hours the power came back...we think it was something on Middle Bay Road. To the left and around corner from here. We'll need more gas in the can if this continues.  

Son sat at the table in the living room doing a puzzle by candle light...and then noticed lights on across the street...so I texted my neighbor to tell her the power was back on...they had gone first to the Library- so the tiny grand daughter could play (run around)..and then to dinner....no generator. So no way to cook....  My neighbor was happy to be able to come back home.  Son and I were happy to have the power back-- upstairs where he has his computer and internet. ( he went right up)

We decided to move the grocery day to tomorrow.  I need milk for cereal and creamer for my coffee. And oranges or pears for my daily fruit serving.  I might also get red grapefruit to eat with yogurt and Bran Buds.  I also need oatmeal and Bran Flakes. We have a list.....and Monday is another of those Pesky Holidays when things are Closed....like the Library.

I finished my book.  I am going to buy a copy to own and read whenever the mood strikes me. A good solid love story.... 

I put on a load of wash...it got interrupted by the power failure- during the dry cycle and not the wash. Thank Goodness.   Well, it's bedtime- past it really...so good night.  Sweet dreams...

Winter Notes- Thursday, December 28th. Working on my Desk Top Calendar.

 Sometimes we see ART on blogs and can't SEE the SIZE of it.  These images on a screen could seem be page sized but are actually WALL SIZED.  

My eyes are very dry.  House AIR is drying them.....this is not new- it's a Winter Problem- I have drops but need to have them on the dining table- breakfast, newspaper and eye drops.

Any OTHER YEAR--that would not be a problem- the drops would be right there.  But I don't get out of the house like usual any more.  Just on Monday. If it is not a Holiday.  It was...I didn't...and my eyes are dry. I have a bottle of drops by my Reading Spot.... in the living room... I'm going to get them......

I was adding a few images to my December desk top calendar. before coming here... daughter always got me a fresh one each Christmas. Not this year...I am going to have to ask Son to make a special trip past the Office Supply place (Staples) on Monday .  To buy one. Because decorating, drawing, writing and pasting things to a surface under this keyboard is now HABIT and I would miss it....it's part of what I do....how I live my Quiet Life.

I remembered to eat supper.  Yesterday.  It was good.  Then I washed my dishes.  I think I will put eggplant on the shopping list- but first we need a shopping list to be taped to the microwave door.  I think I want to make some breaded fried eggplant to eat next week- after or with the Christmas Food.

Shopping List was on the Microwave....

My Christmas Card arrived in North Georgia.  Minus a few sparkles. Brother emailed to ask- where do I put them?   My reply--anywhere. That's how I do it.

I am reading a book- The Lost Recipe for Happiness.  Barbara O'Neal.  2008.  So well written that I forgot to go to bed. The book before this one- Main Character Energy was so good- I am going to order a copy from my local independent book seller.  When I get a chance to go there.... I will order both books.

I am getting my new wall calendar for 2024 ready to hang on the wall-- I bought it at the grocery store..  My doctor's appointment. That's it for stuff to write on the new month/year so far.

I think 2024 is going to be a very very Quiet Year.

Winter Notes- Wednesday, December 27th. Another Dismal Wet Rainy Day.

 Another picture from the same artist as yesterday.  Red Pear this Time.  I have a drawing of a red pear somewhere.  I should go looking and I should also make a New Year Resolution to at least.....do one a week. I have a vague feeling I saw some of this Artist's work years ago and that is why I have the Pomegranite Drawings.  Possibly why I have a Pear.  It seems likely........and now I find this artist again. Like Fate has a hand in this re-discovery. A Nudge. In Hallmark speak- a Godwink.

We had a Family Meal together yesterday.  There was the usual bickering... but now I realize it's just the way we deal with each other......because we are all, consciously or un- trying to be the "best" at anything. I usually give up on that......older and slower and just not really trying anymore.  Who cares if I dice onion better than you do????

After the visit to the new kitchen next door I am really WANTING a WOLF RANGE with Red Knobs..... which is 20 years TOO LATE.....I just don't cook anymore.......I'm happiest with a grilled cheese sandwich with the addition of a whole lot of sweet pickle slices.  Finally at 77 I have lost my appetite for food. I miss meals etc.....just not hungry.  I did eat TWO Desserts at Christmas Dinner.

My Additional Medicare Coverage sent me the listing of all charges made...for husband.....pages and pages and pages. Lots of them denied. And they sent my new card.  Just mine.  So much washed over me........like waves of memory....the bad days and the worse days...all in the past but echoing.....so I am in a very fragile place right now....just going yo finish reading a possibly good romance.......hard to say at the halfway point- things are moving very very slowly.  I could still be disappointed.

My eyes are dry...from salty tears or just dry Winter house.....Hallmark was even a disappointment yesterday.  I need to find a new source of entertainment..

.....as to Kansas City Football.  Difficult to say why things are going so badly....for some teams and not others.... Lamar Jackson and the Ravens!!!! Locally we all love Zappe. 

Winter Notes- Tuesday, December 26th. Misty ( 97% humidity) and 42 degrees. House Lights on.

 I found a website where Julian Merrow-Smith does an oil painting each day (or perhaps just several a week) and puts them up for auction to highest bidder.  There is a web site, Postcards From Provence- which is a daily painting blog.   I selected this image because of the Pom.

My Artist Model Pom is still on the kitchen counter waiting for me to draw.....sketch...paint or whatever.

This painting was already auctioned off...when I discovered the site.  To say I love the image would not be close enough to how I feel about it. It makes me very happy.

So...dinner with the neighbors was wonderful.  Their Christmas Tree was lovely as usual.  One of the twins played Christmas music for us on the piano.  Grandmother had died a few months before my husband.  So A's father and I talked about grieving a bit.  He seems as lost as I am.  But he has a new puppy to care for and I have my Son visiting......the puppy is young and very curious.

What is lovely is that the older, so much larger dog (Twins pup) has taken on the duty of protecting the puppy and teaching it manners..  It was wonderful to see......they go out together and the older dog corrals the puppy back into the house ....

This post disappeared for a bit and I had to get it back here.... son is doing laundry and has just finished eating lunch.  I just finished eating breakfast.  One in the afternoon.

At around dessert time the couple next door to me arrived and joined the conversation.  Later they walked me home (son had asked to be excused after desert) and I got to see the results of all the banging and noise of the work being done......it was well worth whatever it cost them.....gorgeous.  The Wolf Cooktop with Red Knobs......stuff I dream about.  The husband does something similar to what my son does.  

So now I KNOW the next door neighbors I complained about (the noise and hammering at 7 am)  And I like them.  Everyone had watched the Bernstein program on Netflix recently....with mixed reviews.  Carol (my new friend) told me to do the intro thing to Netflix- watch the movie and cancel....  I am sitting here smiling.....if I ever get Netflix.....I am keeping it....Just for the Chef Table series. Both couples found the program disappointing as none of them liked the way it ended....what did you think ..if anyone reading this saw the program?.  

Well, it is really dark in the house and I have to go turn on all the lamps....at one o'clock in the early afternoon........a very SOMBER DAY.

Winter Notes- MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

 I managed to have saved an image for TODAY.

We did a Full Day of European Traditional Pierogi Making and Cooking Yesterday.  Results were Delicious!!!!!  I got to add a few tips to son's management of the entire meal.  And I offered to crimp the edges of each filled pasta rectangle.  My Artistic Abilities.

Today the house smells of onions and butter...We smell the same.  I took two showers and hope my hair isn't stinky.....we are invited down the street for Christmas Prime Rib and other delicious food and drink. Gary and I went last year and I met the Twin's Grandmother.  We had a delightful conversation.  She has passed as has Gary so- today's lunch with be more subdued.  Missing them both.

Overcast today with no sunshine..... 44 degrees.  Lovely for Maine.  A large percentage of the small Maine Population is still suffering the losses of the recent wind and rain storm.  Bridges still out. Houses that flooded and ruined the small amount of gifts under the trees....family and friends being missed because they are still missing in the flood waters....  It's a Snowless Maine December......

We are not doing a Tree or Gifts.  In Truth, just being together is gift enough for all of us.

Football games yesterday and then some saved Hallmark Movies.  Ones I love.  Then to all a Good Night. 

Wishing you all a DRY, WARM and Happy Christmas......

Winter Notes- Sunday December 24th.. Clouds but no snow at 40 degrees in Maine.

 Son was up early.  Prepping the Traditional Christmas Eve Food.  He had baked two potatoes for the Pierogi stuffing I like.  I just mixed the potato with a small chopped onion skipping the butter I used to add- as it made things a bit too difficult (slippery) to tuck inside the noodle dough covering. 

I watched a Hallmark movie before bedtime and then set another to record- spin on Bethlehem. A woman in distress with a newly adopted baby and no rooms at the Inn..  I liked the actors.  Which, in this new rendition of "what Joanne will or will not watch on Hallmark" makes all the difference.

I have a NYT's bestseller waiting to be read- 7 day loaner.  Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.  I haven't tried Demon Copperhead again... I am not in the right headspace for that story. Might never be unless I submit to THERAPY.  Lots of Therapy.

My eyes are dry.  The house air is dry. I woke up several times during the night thinking it was morning...it was NOT.  A restless quality to my sleep.  Anxiety?  I don't know what it is..but I am slightly off center. I need to start a new shopping list and add dry eye drops.....this is a Winter Problem.

Yesterday I made coffee twice and forgot both cups on the counter.....walked away.  Did come back eventually and reheated the second cup and just finished it (cold) 20 minutes ago. This is not new behavior. This is what I do....have done, will continue to do.....

Son is now mixing dough (noodle) in his big mixer- very squeaky.  He is in charge of the meal and I am just doing the potato filled ones...  I don't think I used the mixer......but...I actually don't remember.  It's bee a few years since I made this Christmas Eve Meal.....

Bengals let me down last night.  Patriots are a sure bet to let me down today.

Winter Notes- Saturday, December 23rd. Chilly Morning. 32 with Sunshine.

 My eyes are TOO DRY this morning so, difficult to see what's what in the picture files.  But this looks good. I have a lot of this kind of pine tree in the yard...not that many pinecones (if any)..... Here in Maine the grass is still green.  And it looks very little like the Usual Maine Christmas.  LOTS of ACORNS. Called a Mast Year.  In the past...the yard would be full of deer late in the evening and early in the morning...eating acorns.  I saw one.  One deer...so far.

Last evening ALL my neighbors had a fire going in their fireplaces....festive but made it difficult for me to breathe. I tried sleeping in my bedroom but the fire smoke somehow traveled in thru the drier vent in the bathroom... so I had to carry my bedding out to the couch....the same couch where I slept (sort of) while G was in the hospital bed- trying to get out of it between 3 and 5 am... I fell asleep and woke up to morning sunshine.  It's such a gift these days- to be able to sleep...... 

I thought about that and then just pulled the down blanket over my head and went to sleep.

I called and checked on my Annual Doctor's Appointment.  My first with this new doctor.  January 2nd at 3 pm.  I forgot to ask if they had COVID shots.  My friend uses the same doctor and she said they were very very busy the day of her appointment.....everyone there sick with COVID it seemed.  My friend had something else.  A cough, ear infection and something else.  I hope she is feeling better.

Today we are having Football Pizza.  My son loves the scheduled food events..... smiling....I tend to live an Unscheduled Life but eat Scheduled Meals.... I did not know this about myself......now I do. Live and Learn.

Winter Notes- Friday, December 22nd. Mail was Delicious Today

 Trees that I made...  Upper right corner is now on it's way to Georgia and my Brother and Sister in law. tomorrow you get to see what they sent me-- just arrived seconds ago!!!!  It had to be flatter than the ones with the stars as this one went in the mail... the ones with plastic stars will be delivered in person.

This is a handmade card from Paula in Colorado.  She also supplies me with tiny left over balls of yarn from sock making..... that I use to pair my beloved sweaters.  I am so touched that she sent me trees.  I actually sighed when I opened the envelope and saw the little trees.  So...ME!!!

As usual, something has gone haywire with the centering.  But I am not in the mood to fix it now. so we will just go with it...There is one more gift from my brother and sister  ( let's just skip in law from now on) I rather like having a sister.

So, that is my outgoing and incoming mail for today.  Son shopped for the Christmas Eve Food. He is making Pierogi for us...with all his fancy machines- which I now realize- I actually have in my cupboards and forgot owned- Kitchen Aid accessories.  He forgot the detailed list..at home... so as he unpacked his shopping bags I checked the items off...He got everything.

Winter Notes- Thursday, December 21st. Did some Art Work.

 I am not quite ready to try sending images to the desktop.  But I will, eventually, take a picture of one of the cards I made today.  They are all the same but not exactly the same.  A set of four.  

I asked Peggy to come across the street for first pick...she frames all the cards I make and give to her... I love going over there and seeing them....when she is on vacation and I am picking up mail.  She selected the first of the four.  Signed and numbered.  I need to make and send one to my brother and his wife.  They sent an email with one of the older cards- in a frame....Which is very lovely to see.

These new cards are not what I usually do...but I am not who I usually am.....and possibly will not be that version of myself ever again.  I am not someone's wife.  I am just me. Floating free.

My hair is getting longer and more curly as the weeks go by.  The few people who have seen it- like it.. and ask me to let it grow and not get it cut short again.....they also like the "temporary" replacement glasses.  Not red. So. this is interesting..  I might no longer BE who I was........ visually.

Feels strange.  But then everything feels strange.  Really.  Everything feels strange.

Well, it's time to start watching TV- I record the cooking shows on PBS.  I watched a half hour of them making soup yesterday....Nothing I would make.  Then I watched a recorded Movie- Christmas Groundhog Day take off.....every day she woke up and it was the same day.......till she got it right

I am waking up trying to get each day right......trying is the important word here. Sigh.  But I made ART today...even if it's just a few cards....felt great.  Green trees--not brown ones.  I had to search every fabric storage tub to find green shiny fabric...but I found it.  Merry Christmas.!!!  To Me.

Winter Notes- Wednesday, December 20th. Sunshine and Electricity.

 So...the heat is back on....well, it was with the generator as well, but..now it's the power grid. We did the Library and the Grocery- though the Library was always open....we could have gone sooner. The bridge to the next Town over is closed- water coming up over the road.  Some Towns are under water today. 

Like not having power or heat in December isn't BAD ENOUGH- now your house fills up with cold water....

Power came back on after dark last night--also after we filled the generator with extra gas. Sigh.

No way to empty it.  I suggested working a reverse suction thing- my dad would know what I mean.  to move the gas from the generator back into the gas can...  Son just looked at me like I had lost more of my marbles...HE feels like I am losing more marbles every day.

Library was fun today- I didn't find many books but still have quite a few I haven't read yet.....on the shelf. I saw Carol- a co-worker when I was first hired at the Library ...and also Steve who was the Library Director when I was hired.  Lovely people.  Both of them.  Happy to see them.

I bought dried sweet apricots, pistachios, and shortbread cookies.  For myself.  Holiday Snacks.

All, that all..Santa isn't stopping at our house...so no one is buying anything......though Son could use a reflective vest for night time walks.  I could NOT find the one I wore when walking Riley at 11 pm each night.  We did find Riley's vest...sigh.

Winter Notes.....We have Power Again...It's been a TRIP!! Generator etc. 300K without power.

 Gosh...where to begin.....the power went out... we had to haul out the generator and figure out how it worked (minus husband)....but before that....we went to bed with no lights and no heat........I actually gave up and went  to bed at 5 pm... my son saying "it's five pm!!!"  and I said....I don't  care.   I took my little battery operated book light and read a book bundled to the chin in TWO down comforters..... I got out of bed at around 9 am today.   We figured out the generator.....we figured out the refrigerator- (needed the generator to go faster) but I lost all the ice cream and a few other items..... and now the generator is FULL of gas so we need to run it till its empty.  No way to empty it.  

I carried a heavy bag of ruined freezer and fridge food out to the garbage men this morning.... they waited for me at the bottom of the driveway- I must have looked demented as they had worried expressions on their faces.

We also smell of gasoline.. but with the generator we got hot showers.....glorious hot showers.

But it's over for us and daughter got power back yesterday (did not share that info).......son was just sitting and reading emails when he looked out the window and said- "oh, Peggy has power"  and we both realized Peggy did not have a generator........so..we had POWER!!!!   He has now gone upstairs to chat with a friend in Las Vegas. to just clear his head.....this has been intense...for him...I just roll with  it after so many years of this CRAP.....I am calling the Generator People....putting out the big bucks for the whole house thing...... anyone buying this house will want to have a generator already installed.  Selling the small generator we have - someone will be thrilled to own it.

In the coming days we'll be cooking and baking and making detailed notes for the NEXT POWER FAILURE....as this is Maine.  So many old, sick, half dead trees lining the roads...tangled into the power lines....just waiting for a good 30 mile an hour wind storm....people died...hit by falling trees or a fall off their roof trying to remove a fallen tree....... tomorrow I think we are baking cookies.... but I will think about those father's, brothers and husband's... so very very sad.

I have one sentence- underground power lines...Please!!!!

And here I am writing to YOU!!!!  My friends from everywhere.......possibly watching the news and not seeing  posts and being worried.....so I am writing this like just minutes after the generator shut off. and the internet came back to us....I might actually watch some tv....it's been three days.....My neighbor with a generator filled my thermos with boiling water so I could make tea at home.......and offered me a hot shower......at her house  but bathrooms were the second rooms we put on the generator- after the boiler.. Priorities. A hot shower...necessary!!!

I haven't even started on my cards....I am guessing they will arrive in the New Year when and IF I get going on them..... it's very late....December 19th.  Time either moves very very slowly for me- or seems to skip ahead at blinding speed.....I feel  like I am moving out of step with everyone else.

Winter Notes- Sunday December 17th. Waiting for Rain

 Might have had this image already but...this old computer is getting ready to die.   It's like everything or person in my Life right now has a ticket for some other destination..... sigh. Computer, car, husband.

Next thing the Library will cancel my card.  But I just renewed it?????

I keep getting the SAME bills from the NEW oil company in Boston- I paid them....  I have to go into the bank tomorrow to see if the checks arrived and cleared.....I am developing a DEEP and Overwhelming Dislike for Boston Propane.....

Hospice sent me information on six different programs relating to grief..... It is nearly impossible to miss someone who was never actually HERE for ME.  We shared the same address.  I am now trying to work on bills and other things...passwords that he kept secret....is there a program for that????

I got the TiVo settled.  No more urgent messages....of being cancelled.

I still need to get my car out of the garage....onto a tow truck and shipped to a place where it can get fixed. And possibly sold.

Everyone says I should drive it.....it's been 18 months...I am not going to drive it. Where would I go? In Maine?  We don't even have a movie theater any more...... not that I ever went to see movies.

Son and daughter went out to eat and explore downtown....they got me four raspberry jelly donuts.  And news that the Donut Shop was closing right when they visited and would not open again until February. I ate one donut and wrapped and tucked the other three in the freezer. for later...... January and February.

Sigh....I watched some cooking shows....some Hallmark Christmas Movies.  Just a bit of news.  Rudy has a large house in Florida that he will have to sell and a New York apartment.  He could also try and collect some of the cash Trump owes him.......good luck with that....but I hope Rudy has one adult child with an extra room for him to sleep in going forward...... I think there is a grief seminar for that.

Winter Notes= Saturday, December 16th. Sunshine and 41 degrees at 9 am.

 I am thinking about ham.

I am up very early today- well......before my usual time getting up. do NOT understand why I am up.

I did get all the storage containers holding quilting cloth into husband's closet- I removed the bars that held hangers.  Son DID want his father's jeans... and quite a few of his shirts.... Lots of husband's jeans were rolled at the bottoms so- now unrolled for son's height.  I think I got most of the jeans from Bean when I was working- they usually were twenty five cents each.  Stuff customers returned.

I held back ONE very deluxe pair of corduroy pants- dark chocolate brown. Might fit me.  Might need tucks.  And I don't give a damn what I look like anymore..... who looks at old women anyway???

I still have TIME to get my homemade cards done.....now that I have room to work in the sewing room.

I found some more shiny fabric I can use for the trees.

I am VERY tired.  I never did find a chart for the stages of SORROW.....but I am moving thru some and then backwards......I tend to have periods during the day of crying.....mostly due to the paperwork... I have a list of things to get DONE..and the BOSTON Oil Supply Company keeps sending me invoices for things i already paid......seriously pissing me off.

I watched one Hallmark Christmas Movie and started a second.... I set it to record as it looked sort of interesting but I was getting sleepy.  

It's Saturday so Cooking Shows on PBS.  I have some stuff in the washer- waiting till I have enough for a load........Daughter came by and emptied a cabinet where I had- unknown to me....stored half a million empty jars for chocolate fudge sauce.  Which I eat straight out of the jar.  Self Medicating at some point....not lately though........we had been looking for empty jelly jars...I must have put them in recycling......Daughter makes a layered cookie and cream dessert in the jars that I requested for Christmas..

She is still on a NO wheat diet so......she will join us for Christmas Meals but bring some of her own food. Christmas Food  (regular) has wheat flour so she will buy some Alternative Things and bring them to Christmas Eve Dinner.  But I think Christmas Day Tacos will be okay.... We do love our Christmas Day Tacos.. I might make the Boozie Chocolate Bundt Cake.....she won't eat it....but I do love it.  With vanilla ice cream.

 Son and I are invited to Christmas Dinner down the street.... Prime Rib. so all of that needs to be worked out.  Scheduled.

Winter Notes- Friday December 15th. How did I miss another day?????

 We've had the mushrooms before---- I missed posting yesterday.  It's like a memory loss hiccup or something. But here I am now...  the sun is shining and it's 30 degrees.  Next week we will get into the 50's on Monday.  Or...on a happier note---I could have been too busy to post.....I like that spin on it.

If you want to experience Global Warming- come visit Maine.  We're on the front lines.  30 one day then 50.

I called TiVo and...well, in order to get anywhere I threw in the "my husband is dead" card.  And well, it worked. The account is in my name (now) under my credit card (now) and the 3 month backlog--for when husband's card was hacked and Visa shut him down....is in the past... and will be billed to my card.

I had a flash back to the Time husband's card was hacked and that very difficult conversation with the credit card guy....I cried...he was so kind.......got us both thru it.  The Beginning of the End.

I watched Round and Round again.  The Jewish Holiday Groundhog Style Movie on Hallmark.  I liked it again.  I made Stanley Tucci's mom's pasta sauce with carrots and tomatoes.... from the Netflix series he hosted.  I have it in the TiVo.  I love my TiVo.  I didn't have the petite diced tomatoes...I had the bigger chunk tomatoes.  So the sauce isn't quite the same- but still very very delicious.

Son and I discussed the  "thing" about adding a poached egg to food.  The cooking shows on PBS did that yesterday.....adding a poached egg to a bowl of soup.  I love poached eggs....but neither of us liked them in soup.   

I need to add Parmesan Cheese to the shopping list taped to the front of the microwave.

I carried one of the sewing room storage containers to the bedroom closet (husband's closet)....to check if it fit.  It fit.

So today I will be listing the contents on each storage container, taping the list to the side of the container and moving them into husband's bedroom  closet which is empty.  And then I will have ROOM to walk around in the sewing room/office.  And it won't seem like I am working in a storage locker.  I need to move husband's pants to the Goodwill Box...Son is too tall for the pants and Daughter already took what she wanted.  I thought about trying on pants but ...husband was shorter than I am and...why???

Winter Notes- Wednesday. December 13th. Sunshine and 32 degrees

 Something with Holiday Spirit today.   We used to have stockings but I think one year husband gathered them up with the wrapping paper on Christmas Morning and put all of it....into the garbage. Never saw the stockings again.

My Lunch Buddy and I are having lunch today- 11:30.   I am getting OUT of the HOUSE.....

I spent some quality time emptying a few shelves looking for something yesterday.....I found a lot of things that...no longer seem relevant.  Like old magazines.  Perhaps I wanted them for images....for the notebooks I filled with writing..... Now the recycling box is full.

My love of Reading has always fed a need to write.....not a book or anything like that....but pages and words and feelings etc....writing. the process of it here on the desktop or on the Washing Machine Pages...no longer needed as I can set the brand new machine going and walk away.....  the new machine changed me...and now I no longer write anything on any pages.  This writing doesn't exist on paper.

My book... Charm City Rocks...is about two older (well, here they consider 40's old)  meet and get along. I am at the point when I think they will no longer be getting along.... family has decided to interrupt.

There is something I want to write about...but can't.  Now that I know both my children (are they still called that in their 50's?) read these posts..I have to type and then delete...or explain myself.....sigh.

Watched Round and Round on Hallmark.  Groundhog Day with Jelly Doughnuts.   Rom Com.  It got a bit confusing as more and more characters got involved....but I am happy I recorded it.  Will watch it again. The new movies this year are better than usual.  So that is a bonus.  Well, I need to drink my coffee and read the newspaper.   I did make a Christmas Tree but Son said it looked wrong for the tree to be brown. Well, a bronze/green.  But he thought it looked like a Dead Christmas Tree Card.  There was glittery multi colored threads..... sigh.  I like it.

Winter Notes- Monday the 11th of December. Shopping, Library and Post Office checked off.

 I think it rained quite  a bit last night.  Son said he heard it....I slept thru it.  Some other adult is "keeping watch" and I am on furlough.  The Weather People on TV blew the whole thing up....but we are on the coast and the ocean is still warm.  In the 40's today.

Football yesterday.  Some good games and some not at all.   A bit of a problem with TiVo - but they would not answer the phone or email us back.   As Tivo was recording but refusing to stop recording...so we missed the first hour of football...but did see Patrick M have a Real Hissy fit on the sidelines.  I don't know if he was given a penalty for it..son says it's usually a FINE........

No one looked at my eye...or I didn't notice anyone looking.  They might have thought it was a pigment thing....who knows. Further down on my cheek now.  Son says it is getting lighter.

Still reading Charm City Rocks..... good book....

I took a few minutes to open boxes already packed with stuff going...away...... but not to Goodwill.  I decided to make Art Cards for the neighbors......because they are giving us "space"....... I wouldn't mind  if they visited....but I DO want to share something nice that I know how to do....ART.  And I let Son pick out this year's Pomegranate Artist Model for the annual Poinsettia Drawing Business.... I skipped last year but wanted to get back into it.  The model dried up and shriveled.  Last year. that might have made good art.

I have a green tinged shiny silver cloth and some multi colored mixed yarn that is only missing sparkle but that could be in the sewing room..sparkle...So a tree shape, some "garland",  a stem..... and perhaps some beads.......I'll use what I can find easily....no Project Epic Digging.  Don't know what I will use to sew on- possibly watercolor paper.  I will sign and date them the way I used to sign and date the others from years ago.  I made the mistake of not kepis  one for myself (but do have the ones I sent to my Dad).  :I've and Learn.......we bought MORE Deep Dark Chocolates..... the jar is full. They had some filled with caramel... but son put a halt to more Candy Buying.