Daily Notes- December 31st- Street and driveway are wet but no snow or ice.

 My "inner child" is tempted by the tiny gingerbread cookie houses.  There was a "time" in my Life, when I would have made these cookie houses for a Social Tea Meeting at my house.  I was very social.  I loved putting together a party or a lunch or anything.  I had everything from cocktail glasses to champagne glasses to tea cups.  Plenty of tablecloths.  Cloth napkins.  Ah.  And I had friends.  Had.  Most of them have already passed on to the next Life.  I already feel like the Bus has left me behind.

There were days when I couldn't get my grocery shopping done for all the stopping to have conversations  with quilting friends, work friends, with greenhouse customers with just "a question".  Life was abundant.

This simple little cookie house balanced on the edge of a cup of tea...........it's like opening a door to the past.

I managed to feed myself yesterday.  The Crock Pot Pulled Pork was  (is..as there is so much in the fridge even using the tiny crock pot) delicious.  I ate it with pasta.  It was cold here in the house yesterday.  A green salad felt too chilly to me.  Husband continues to eat the prepared (by the grocery) Chicken Parm meals.  Which is pretty amazing and easy enough.

I, just now, realized I have brown felt and white embroidery floss.  I could make a few little houses- six- for a Christmas Tree.  If I managed to ever have a tree again.  I was reminded that I had wanted to make a new ornament in early December but couldn't think of one.  And here it is- on December 31st.

I am thinking a tallish, skinny tree.  With wide spaced branches.  So I could fill the branches with all the ornaments in the boxes.  Lots of lights.  2022.

Daily Notes- Thursday, December 30th. 36 degrees, wet and dismal here in Maine.

 Well, almost done.  Record numbers of cases of "new" COVID here in Maine.  200K and counting. Our population here in Maine is 1.2 million souls.  So-- It's EPIC as they say.  I used orange crayon because orange seems to be the COVID color.

Grocery store visit today.  I bought a Tiramisu Cake.  Expensive but we are worth it.  I am also making pulled or BBQ pork in the crock pot.  First cooking was overnight. I did the shredding of the pork after breakfast and added in the BBQ sauce, some brown sugar and the cooking juices.  It smells delicious. I have some soft flour tortillas if husband wants to eat any.  I like it on top of a green salad. So I bought Romaine lettuces.

I am considering using the crock pot more often in the coming year.  I would welcome any recipes Readers of the Blog out there use and enjoy.  I am thinking my pasta sauce might benefit from Crock Pot treatment.

My husband drove me to the grocery today and gets to park up front with the handicap tag he has.  So, he got to witness an elderly guy in the handicapped car parked next to us---- get out of his car and "check out my groceries". I am laughing.             He also wanted my cart when I finished unpacking it.

When I got in the car...I mentioned to husband that he now "knew my demographic" for men interested in me.  "Good to know" was his only comment.  But he made sure the cake was in OUR car.

Daily Notes- December 29th. Cold with the Sun shining

 I wish I had been a better formed person when I was in college.  This is the sort of thing- not this good even in my dreams- but something simple and organic- that is what I should have been drawing. It's who I was and am even today.  But I wasn't well formed or emotionally healthy back then.  I was a mess. Just getting up on time and to the right class was EPIC ACHIEVEMENT on my part back then.

So my neighbor is home and beginning her 5 day quarantine.  She was in Boston and with New York City family members. (the NYC people tested positive).

So it goes after a indoor winter Holiday.  With eating and drinking so- no masks.

We had to shovel snow again yesterday.  This time I was exhausted and had to rest on the couch to regain the ability to breathe in and out with ease. Breathing in and out is something...not to be taken lightly these days.  Not one single thing on cable or on the TiVo that I wanted to watch.  The week between Christmas Day and New Years Day- stinks on television.

So.... I stripped the bed and did two loads of wash- turned the king sized mattress (I just spin it clockwise) and got all the fresh sheets back on and stuffed the down duvet into a fresh cover.  To say I was exhausted is to be too kind.  I felt every year of 75 when I was done.

Daily Notes- Tuesday, December 28th. More snow overnight.

 Dinner.  I prefer not to eat something cold like this in winter but....I wasn't interested in any of the leftovers yesterday.  Today I might be. Will be.  Or I will cook something.

 I ate this fruited yogurt while watching Ancient Aliens- Australia.  Did you know the Australian continent is one of the least explored continents?  And, it's isolated inhabitants have DNA going back 30,000 years?  Because no one arrived to dilute their blood until Captain Cook arrived. This is the sort of stuff that's on Ancient Aliens.  On the Regular.

I watched because they also gave me lots of lovely Ancient Art and Cave Wall Painting to look at. And after a wall painting/rock carving- I got to see the actual Milky Way and lots of Cosmos - so I could appreciate how similar they were in content.  I also got to watch the men mix Earth into lovely colored body paint.  And paint themselves. And, they also smoked and ingested various intoxicating substances to reach "a higher plane" and communicate with the Ancient Gods.  It was quite beautiful.

Certainly MUCH better than the extremely AWFUL football games.  OMG.  What has happened in the past 10 days to football?????   There was more excitement (less athletic ability) in the fist fights on the benches and in one case...on the field.  If I remember correctly. I've stopped watching.  

I spent the Time after Australian Ancient Aliens watching old recorded (TiVo) Christmas movies.  I watched the waltz one again (fives times in two days).  It's actually titled Christmas Dance.  And I watched the one where two children  are seated at the children's table at Christmas Eve Dinner.  We see them grow up.  Year after year. Until they break each other's hearts.  And I watched the movie where the marketing ex goes to Vermont to manage an old bookstore for a month.  Falls in love. Then leaves. Comes back.  There's one more I forgot to watch.  The "kiss in the elevator movie".  I hope I didn't erase it.  There were three elevator movies. Only one was good enough to see again and again.

Daughter called from a bookstore yesterday where she found shelves of romcom.  None of it was my kind of romcom.  I have two here on the ottoman.  And another five on the book table.  But my head and my heart are tired.  And sad. And feeling rather broken hearted.

It snowed.  So I shoveled my way out to the street to get the newspaper.  And then dragged the recycling can back up the driveway but gave up when I got to the sidewalk.  My chest hurt.  Difficult breathing. I decided not to have a heart attack and die in the driveway. Stopped shoveling.  Did you you know women rarely survive a heart attack???? Or heart surgery. Husband's surgeon and nurse told me. A Warning.

Daily Notes- December 27th- Sunshine. Clean Driveway. Bills Paid.

 We'll be going for a ride in the car in a few minutes to return books to the library.  It would be lovely to be able to walk to the library instead.  Daughter lives close enough, in Town, to walk (but she doesn't).  I have often thought it would be nice to live in Town.  To walk places.  To take a walk and get a coffee and read a book or have a short conversation with someone. Husband doesn't do conversation. Never has.

The car, and the need to drive everywhere, creates a wall of sorts between me and the Town where I live. Years passed with me not being the friendliest of people.  Now..I like to be around people for short periods of Time.  I often think....I could manage to be around people more often and for longer periods of Time. If I practiced.  I miss the greenhouse and the many people with problems.  I had lots of great conversations with them.  It seems like forever, ago.

So..the library.  And returning books and the one puzzle we managed to finish. The one on the table is taking a very long time.  Way too busy.  And there are only a limited number of piece shapes.  So easy to put the wrong ones together.

We had football pizza last night.  Ugh...the games were brutal.  The chat today on the one show I watched- equally as brutal.  COVID has ruined everything for many of the Teams. The Patriots played poorly. It was almost like no one was coaching them.  Well, I was...but no one was listening.

Daily Notes December 26th- Snowblower and Shovel Day

 Well, even when one doesn't bake...the baked goods seem to find their way into the house.  Yesterday I had a chocolate chip muffin.  Today Football Pizza which I make myself.  I haven't baked the Boozy Cake yet- maybe tomorrow.

And G used the snowblower and I used the shovel to clean up the mess that the snowblower leaves behind. We got rain followed by snow and then rain again so mostly we had a layer cake of hard and soft snow. Now it's all clean dry asphalt and 36 degrees.  Cross the street has a plow guy and it looks really awful over there and she's lost half the side lawn.. plow guy digs right into the grass.

Christmas was a lovely day.  Great gifts, Phone calls and the Christmas Burritos were very tasty and I got so many great books... and read one of them......delightful.  

Daughter also found a book titled "the Modern Natural Dyer" and it has a list of dye plants.  So I am making a list for me to have handy in my purse and one for daughter to carry when they go plant shopping next Spring for the Landscaping business. 

I know that Artist Supply in Portland has all the dyes for sale.  I could just visit Portland someday and buy them- it's just with reactive asthma I am afraid of the powders.  Inhaling them. Killing myself. So the plant material itself sounds safer.  The Maine plant catalog never has Madder root. Always sold out.  And then..I wonder if I actually want to get into this dye pot thing.  When I can paint the cloth the color of madder. I have a picture of the color-- I can mix color.  It's something I am good at.

The Patriots lost.  Sigh.  I had a few spoons of ganache to soothe myself.  Now a book to read.  

Six more days on my desk calendar page.  Daughter got me a new calendar- just like this one.  Perfectly DELIGHTED.  That's me.

Daily Notes- December 25th. Merry or Happy Christmas to All!!!!

 Merry Christmas.

Gifts were found on the couch where we sit doing nothing, sewing or reading or watching tv.  They got into the house all by themselves while we were sleeping.   Books.  Candy.  That's what I got and fruit flavored sparkling water (lemon and strawberry-rhubarb) that mix very well with gin and vodka when everything is ice cold. All from Trader Joes about a 40 minute fast drive from where I live.  

I still haven't gotten my wish for a local Trader Joes.

Husband got a stack of new coloring books of mandalas and a BIG new word search book.  He is circling words as I type these.

Our son called from California.  He has to get up early to make the call.  But he does it.  Lovely boy.  Lets us talk and ramble on and on.  A true gift from his heart.

We were eating breakfast at noon.  We are really degenerate adults. I am reminded of how I scolded the two 18 to 20 something -year old children when they got up past noon.  And now...it's me doing it.

I was up late.  Two of my old favorite sweet Hallmark movies on TiVo.  I watched them both twice.  The last- the Christmas Waltz (a busy business man learns to waltz) had such sweet music to accompany the waltz lessons.  I mostly just kept hitting rewind to listen to the music.  Like winding up a music box. I think I might have done it for a few hours if the hour wasn't so late.  I am going to check the CD's I own- to see if I have a waltz.  Last year it was Edith Piaf.  At full volume. In French.  Glorious.

Daily Notes- December 24th. Christmas Eve.

 Christmas Eve.  One of the Twin boys came by yesterday with a gift of homemade cookies.  And News. Regarding the hockey ice rink not yet built.  The Puppy who now outweighs both boys.  He said he couldn't visit longer as he had many cookie deliveries to make to the neighbors.  We wished him a Happy Christmas. 

An email from another neighbor getting her sleigh ready to travel to see her son and her three (or four) granddaughters.  Four if her daughter travels north as she is traveling south.  We are picking up mail and watching the house while she is gone.  We got a bottle of wine and a glass jar of Brandy Balls.  Yum.

Cookies, Brandy Balls and Wine.  I melted a can of sweetened condensed milk and dropped in pieces of Lindt very dark chocolate 85%.  Ganache.  I did a very very tiny taste test and am "sugar" dizzy - not even using the amount of chocolate asked for in the recipe- It's cooling.  Later today I am baking the Boozy Chocolate Christmas Cake.  And I might loosen up the Ganache with some Kahlua.  I need to make a quick trip to the grocery for Vanilla ice cream.   

I planned dessert but not actual food.  

And really....who cares????  I can have a Christmas Grilled Cheese&Ham Sandwich. With Cheetos. And husband will be happy with the usual Chicken Parm he has every day. I can buy something to eat at the grocery..  

I am not making the Christmas Eve Polish Potato and Sauerkraut Pierogi.  Making them last December nearly killed me.  I might be too old for it.  I tried to come up with some sort of "easier" meal that included all the Pierogi ingredients but didn't come up with anything....yet.  Any Bohemian/Polish Cooking People out there with ideas?????

So...Merry Christmas to all.......you mean the World to Me.  What a Gift you have been to me all these years.  

And, yes, Paula...send more yarn.  In a bag this time not a box and closer to February....when I have worn new holes in my socks!!!! Connie- how did you know my big frying pan needed a big potholder????? thank you.  

Daily Notes- Thursday, December 23rd Sunshine and 21 degrees.

 Occasionally, I use my brain to make life easier.  Today I pulled out the really old Scrabble game (we upgraded a few years (many years) ago to one with little indents for the tiles.  So they didn't move around. This old school one has a flat board.  

Husband was having difficulty with his Jumbles.  So he stopped doing them.  It's one of the exercises for his brain and thinking processes that I encourage.  So....I got out the little stand and assembled the letters and presented it to him and he figured out the word pretty fast.  So......that felt like a "good thing".

Nothing much on tv so I did a bit of sewing- felt bored and ate too many things- I tend to eat when not involved in doing something- be it tv watching, reading or sewing or even mending socks.  Today I have all the supplies for mending the underarm sections of my favorite sweater.  I have the cashmere donor sweater ready to cut into patches.  And my friend in Colorado sent me sock mending yarn so I will be using some of that for the patching.  I already mended my socks.

The sweater I am wearing is more patches than original sweater.  I have more of the donor for the sweater  I am wearing so eventually it will be a "new" sweater-all the sections being sandwiched and sewn together.  But who cares????  In Winter, I am wearing my old black wool ankle length coat. That's all people see.  The old white haired woman in the huge black coat.  When I do fall on the ice- I tend to bounce. Or at least I did bounce when Riley would pull me down to the ground on our snowy slippery Winter walks.  That old coat has saved me from serious injury.  Many times.

I mended and patched the sweater I have on.... on January 6th.  During the rioting at the Capital.  I was standing the entire time.  I could not sit down while all that violence was going on.  I patched.  And the patching looks like I how I felt that day.  This is the first time I have worn the sweater.  Since then. Pretty emotional.

I am thankful for my friend in Colorado (who I have never met) for sending the mending yarn for my socks..  I mended four pairs of socks that I love almost as much as these very old worn thin sweaters.  Daughter checks Goodwill on every visit for a black, dark grey or middle grey cashmere sweater for a one or two X woman. Even men's sweaters.  These sweaters are all over 20 years old.  One or two might be 30 years old.  They don't make them like this anymore.  New sweaters are very thin and they smell funny.

I  hand wash the sweaters with a very nice lightly scented body wash that Trader Joes used to sell..   They stay soft and bouncy with a neutral smell..

Daily Notes- ICE and more ICE on all walking surfaces this morning.

 My Sports Radio Show is playing all the hilarious stuff from the year.  Dirty Christmas Songs with the dirty words bleeped out.  Last song was all bleeps- which was actually even funnier than having words. And they are re-playing calls from listeners which are so so funny. Lots of Naughty.

The snow plow is driving around spreading salt etc.  To take care of that ice.  Husband has gone out to spread sand on the front walk and steps- where he face planted one year.  Wow.... was that exciting. Lots of bruising, swelling and luckily no broken teeth.  His nose took the major hit.  

We had pizza last night.  And watched the Washington /Eagles game.   Today Gary returns to Chicken Parm and I will be having Pantry Soup.  We got mail this morning- it came late yesterday- two Christmas Cards- one from my brother and sister in law.  I am still looking for some kind of "FANTASTIC" recipe to use up the two boxes of instant vanilla pudding mix.

My Master Gardener Friend Patty left us a stack of gifts.  I got really lovely boot socks.  Soft and cozy. And a puzzle.  Husband got rub on tattoos. My library friend left him a stack of new puzzle books.

The only "event" today is husband taking his car in for an oil change and state inspection.

Temps are now 40 degrees and snow melting pretty darn quick.

I managed to get two cloth items finished- added another round of strips -- and now have them starched and basted to batting.  Now I have to wonder what to do- hand or machine quilting.  Since they are almost 100% hand sewn, I think I need to hand quilt.  I am not that great at it.  But in the ditch- who sees it?

Daily Notes- December 21st- First Day of Winter. Cold and White outside.

 So here we are- First Day of Winter.  The Long Slog until March or April.  Sometime Spring is Late showing up here in Maine.   I plan to start seeds in my recycled milk jugs on the back deck the first week of January..  Mostly Marigolds.  They were very much appreciated last summer.  By me.

I have been thinking of growing my tomato plants in the compost bins this coming growing season.  It's sunny there.  Soil is deep.  Watering might be a problem as I will need to run a hose over there or carry water.  I didn't notice ANY pollination of flowers on any vegetables in the fenced garden the past two years. No blueberries.  Very little rhubarb.  I worked so hard over so many years to get that raised bed fenced area going.  It was great for many wonderful years.  Abundance. And now Old Age.

I have to admit- there are fewer and fewer insects flying about.  And they do the work of pollination. I have hand pollinated in my younger years.  Now- it's too hard for me to be out there everyday.

Sports Boston was dull and irritating.  The evening Football games- like watching high school football in August.  No one knowing what the heck they are doing.  And getting hurt.  When Omicron and Delta teamed up- everything should have been cancelled.  Or delayed.  I did hand sewing. My eyes got blurry.

Here in Maine the hospital numbers keep going up and up and the UNMASKED population stays unmasked.  I want to move to a State with good numbers and a population that stays masked.. I know- that's "crazy talk".   No State has good numbers and a population that stays masked.

I took inventory of the pantry and the freezer and fridge.  Seeing what's available for our Dining Pleasure. Today we'll be having Pizza with, hopefully, the Washington Football Game and the Patriots Practice Team Quarterback (with not even 7 days notice) leading the Team.  What could go wrong??? I guess it should be What Could Possibly Go Right.  I have a good feeling about this.  Washington has spunk.

Daily Notes- Monday, December 20th-- Snow Day!!!!!

 Snow yesterday- G and I got to clear the drive and walkways.  He used the snowblower and I used a shovel.  I had started to think we wouldn't get snow this year.  It's VERY bright outside with sun shine and temps going to the high 30's and even into the 40's.  Snow will become ice overnight.

Football.  I stayed up late last night and alone- the snow removal tired husband out--and watched the Saints take Brady and Tampa apart.  

One part of me felt bad- the other part just thought it was wonderful.  Brady can be beaten. And at the very end- 9 to zero- Brady smashed his Microsoft tablet and then threw it in the dumpster behind him.  And to add more battery acid to the burn- the coach that brought him down was the Saints practice team coach, I think------- everyone else had COVID. The Saints real Q-back has something wrong with his foot and he was on the sidelines screaming and yelling and so so proud of his TEAM.

Today (I think, but this week for sure) the Patriot's Practice Squad Quarterback is heading up the Washington Team. COVID is making opportunities for some bench players to SHINE. We'll see what this guy is made of.....And I like the Washington Team.  The resemble old school Patriots from years ago. Just get the job done guys.

Today the Sports shows have plenty to chew.  The Patriots epic mess of a loss and then Brady"s REALLY EPIC MESS.......I have cloth chosen, thread and a needle- ready to listen and hand sew.  Let the good times roll.......Soup is ready to eat when I get hungry.  Nothing to do but enjoy the day.  Sigh.  Happy Me!

Daily Notes- December 19th- Snow overnight. Possibly 3 inches.

Well, inserting the picture a new way and now all sentences begin in the middle of the page. It's always something.  You get this image because I made soup for myself yesterday while it snowed. And my soup looks very much like this image of vegetable soup off the internet. 

Cabbage, carrot, onion, tomatoes, white beans and two potatoes. Pantry Soup - Covid 2020.

It's very tasty and good to have in the fridge.  I added a handful of small pasta shapes.

We couldn't SEE the Patriots game yesterday as it was on a streaming service and nothing we have  "streams" and especially nothing that streams FOX. But I got updates of the score as it was happening on my phone.  We lost. I will need to wait until Monday's Sports TV to find out how and why.

Instead of Football I watched a very good interpretation of A Christmas Carol. And I enjoyed it very much. And before that a Lifetime movie which was pretty interesting.  We got to see the guy naked from the waist up several times which I didn't mind in the least- he's very good looking..  I was thinking the director was just inserting that footage at random times to keep viewers interested in a rather "nothing" plot.  And the guy brought the girl the same fake Irises, twice.  One flower bent to the side.

I'm going to put on my boots and heavy black wool coat and shovel the front steps and sidewalks. Husband is out with the snowblower doing the driveway in from to of the garage. A very large space that takes forever to clear.  We have done it with shovels before- when we could breathe.

 

Daily Notes- December 18th. Snow is promised by 5 pm. No sunshine. 45 degrees.

 Not Christmas but it's a tree and there is snow.  We are promised snow, bad traffic (roads) etc etc. (power outage is standard here in Maine) Husband is filling the bird feeders so the birds will be able to eat if it snows..  I have emptied the paper shredder into the compost bin.  The coming rain or snow will get it wet.  Decompose all the shredded junk mail.  For awhile there I even shredded the daily newspaper.  

Last night NOVA and the Milky Way.  And the Big Bang.  And in billions of years- the end of all this. So enjoy what you can.  It's not forever.  This Glorious Galaxy.  The Boston Public channel has an entire evening of the Great British Baking Show.  Our cheap ass station does not and will possibly do Fund Raising instead.  

 I made Confetti Cookies for husband yesterday afternoon.  I had to do so much clutter clean up to get open space for the Kitchen Aid Mixer.  And the cookie sheets and then the cooling racks.  I had to dig around for all the items that go into the cookies.  He forgot to eat them.......

I haven't written Neighborhood Cards yet.  Last year they all got a set of two handmade potholders.  But not this year.  And I am not feeling like I want to make more cookies.  I do intend to bake another Pumpkin Pie.  I enjoyed that.  Football Game tonight so we'll have Pizza.

Husband did a Word Jumble puzzle this morning.  He used to do one everyday and then they got difficult and he stopped.  Today...he unjumbled all five words.  Has the limited screen time been a factor???

Daily Notes- Good Morning. Promised snowstorm can't actually happen at 50 degrees.

 This small simple kitchen reminds me of my grandmother's small house.  Just enough room for a small table-my daughter has it in her house- and a few mismatched chairs.   On one visit we made strudel. And stretched the dough so thin with the backs of our hands- you could read through it.  Lovely apple strudel.

The weather was supposed to be wintery but I went out to get the morning paper and it's very warm- no coat or jacket needed.  And the driveway was wet- overnight rain. Global Warming is real in 2021 here in Maine where we used to get 48 inches of snow overnight- many times in each Winter.  No more of that.

Terrible Thursday Football.  The early injury.  We watched even though I have no interest in either team. The game was sloppy. Mismanaged.

I have a new 500 piece puzzle on the table.  We are picking out the outside edges.  To get started. Husband finished up the 100 piece children's puzzle.  I didn't get to do much beyond the edge pieces.  It's like that here.  Disinterest in something until I show interest and then-  the puzzle I  had hoped to add to my activities- no longer mine.  Perhaps that is how I should go forward with this memory loss thing.  Show interest in my own activities to get him to lessen the use of screens and then he'll take over my projects.  Screens which impair his cognitive skills and short term memory.   No new memories- so long term is wasted as well.

Let's imagine what the iPad is doing to young children. And their attention spans. What will their adult lives be like.  Who will change their diapers?

Daily Notes- December 16th- Haircut Day- Dark with Rainshowers

 I think these are chocolate ganache balls with additions of sprinkles and pretzels.

I got my haircut and was the only person in the shop wearing a mask. And I said "I wear it to protect every one I love".  Period.  Full Stop. And everyone went back to minding their own business. And not making eye contact.

Dee was right.  Hallmark 2021 is different.  Kissing.  Lots of it. And well done.  Public displays of Affection.  I'm happy.  Each new movie I have watched has been a delight and my old favorites are showing up and I enjoy those as well.  It's a Great Holiday Season.--even without a decorated tree etc.

I am liking this "easy Christmas".

I finally got a cabbage for Dee's Pandemic Pantry Soup.  Which I make all the time with the addition of a large squirt of Heinz ketchup. Last time I made it- I subbed Brussel sprouts for cabbage as the cabbages were HUGE at the supermarket.  Today- still big but not huge. So, let the good times roll....I am having SOUP.

I bought a few things for Christmas Holiday Meal Prep.  Not as much.  Daughter is still on the Leaky Gut Protocol and is now re- introducing food (very slowly) into her diet to see which re-ignite the inflamation. She has lost all the pre protocol swelling.  Can wear clothing a few sizes smaller now. So will not be having the regular Christmas Eve Food- possibly not ever again.  Reminds me of my brother. Allergic to everything.

I need to turn on my Sports Show- Urban Meyer got fired overnight.  

Daily Notes- December 15th. Hospitals here in Maine are overwhelmed. Unvaccinated people.

 My picture file situation continues to.....morph as the days go by.  Let's hope I can make it to the end of 2021.  That, I think is possibly doable.

After that...it will most likely just be word pictures here- Like the Washing Machine Pages.  And..well, that will have to be fine. I don't actually know, anymore, how many of you read these Notes.  At one Time I had "stats" and the numbers were quite astonishing.  But that was before everyone had a blog.

I removed images from the files yesterday or the day before- tidy work- ones I had already used and added a few more to the desktop.  This one just "showed up" and I had not seen it in the file before.  But I like it very much.  I like saturated color.  

I actually did some really good work when we had the Collage Challenge everyday before COVID- so more than 2 years ago..  Really good work.  It was an incentive to make ART each day.  And it felt so so GOOD.  

An extension catalog came in the mail last week.  Art classes the next Town over. Brand new high school just opened and it seems they included a fully functional Art Studio.  Printmaking. Painting, Pottery wheels.  Kiln.  These are things I had in college but wasn't mature enough to make proper use of.  I had too many mental health issues (severe depression). I couldn't get past my own problems to see any Future.

So that booklet sits.  And I am looking at it each day. MECA- Maine College of Art is in Portland. I don't know how I would get there. I actually would like to enroll.  And the local private college here in my Town has a well put together Art Program with Studio Art- I have been tempted to ask......they sometimes allow local residents to audit classes.

I'm not who I was back in my college days.  So afraid. So unsure.  Now...I guess I just have to spread my wings and give flying a try out...for the first time.

Daily Notes- December 14th- Sunshine, Cold- People are dying.

 Chocolate Shortbread Dog Cookies (for people to eat). An Early Christmas Present so I can eat them now.  And  you can see there are also chips of chocolate in the cookies.  Spotted Dog. Thank you, Sam.

I have been having fun with the half page listing a car dealership puts into the daily paper.  Listing the selling high points of the cars on offer.  Mostly used.  For some, it's that they are "clean" or have "recent oil".  Today it was that the car came with "records" ..of what?  Accidents? Owners? Parking Tickets? 

It's fun to circle all the ones with "recent oil" or "slightly used tires".   It's nice to find this amusement in otherwise pages of not so great news.  Maine is in the dark blue of High Numbers of RECENT CASES of COVID.  Mostly North. Non-Vaccinination people who won't wear masks.  Even vaccinated people are testing positive with Delta up there. What was that great Republican Quote? "I just don't care"?

Watched an excellent Hallmark movie  yesterday after Sports and then turned to more football.  Arizona v. the Raiders. Odell had a catch.  I was wanting Arizona to win. They didn't.

No reading yesterday.  Not all that much TV either.  Mostly just sitting.  Just sitting.  Reflecting on my Life as it's been lived.  How it could have been different.  Difficult to know if ANY difference would have been better or worse.  I think I will be thinking about that for the rest of my Time Here on Earth.

Daily Notes- December 13th- Not much going on.

 I ran out of Christmas Pictures so you get a  Christmas Dessert. Raspberry swirl cheesecake. Good!

I wore myself out with three and possibly four footballs game yesterday plus a Hallmark Christmas Movie.  It wasn't all that great until during the Green Bay game the camera found this guy in the stands- doppelgänger of Rogers.  The two live images next to each other just as the guy in the stands looked up right at the camera people.  Eyes, expression etc. I have Tivo so I can go back and forth with anything on tv- called husband over and ran it for him a couple times.  It was amazing.

Today the library and I checked out two puzzles ( I finished up the squirrel puzzle last night before bed) one puzzle is from the children's area (100 pieces) and the other the adult section (500) but images that are very bright and colorful.

Dropped off my Christmas Cards at the post office.  It was super busy- long lines.  And then to the Grocery Store because we needed Kleenex and milk and orange juice.  Again, very busy.  Now, I'm home and have the weekend book which I intend to read again.  I tried getting new books but none I wanted on the shelves. So I am going to have to request them from other libraries. And I do have a big book to read.  Serious. I have been putting it off.  I am not in a serious frame of mind.

I am going to be doing "not much of anything" for the rest of the day.

Daily Notes- December 12th- Yesterday it rained and today the Sun is out and it's in the mid 40's/

 Bad lighting but it's just to let you know I have a puzzle on the table that I am working on.  For some reason husband counted the pieces and found around 15 to 20 are missing.  So....makes it more interesting. This is a small 115 piece puzzle of a squirrel.  I thought it would be a good "memory exercise" for husband- time not spent on a tablet or phone. He doesn't agree. So...in the Spirit of Old Age- I will exercise my own brain.

Power went off at some point last night (as the storms passed thru Maine) and the computer- well, I think it might have LIKED being off and dead.  It has sluggishly returned to life-- the typing letters are appearing in a "current fashion rather than a delayed one" but it was a slog to get it going.

In reply to Connie- my daughter makes "quite a few odd recipes" (an understatement).  The Frito Bark has hot stuff in it so I didn't get any.  Melted dark chocolate, Fritos and the hot ingredient.  It's a "thing" I guess.  She is still On the Leaky Gut Protocol and is not eating any of the bark so I was gifted with left over supplies like Fritos and little square pretzels. She made something else with the pretzels. 

Snacks to fill my little one cup snack bowl.

She did stop somewhere in Portland on the way home to buy vegetable based pasta.  Lentil, Bean etc. And she ate dinner (with two friends) in a Mexican restaurant and had a big bowl of Guacamole.  That restaurant makes AMAZING Guac at table side. She's careful not to come in the house after seeing "people".

When I went out to get the Sunday Paper I found a Christmas Card from a friend I went to school with from 5th grade to high school graduation.  We still saw each other on college vacations.  Her parents wouldn't allow her to go to college. She went to work instead and lived at home.  Her father monitored our visits when I would be home for breaks and summer.  Like I was a "bad influence". I think he opened letters she wrote to me- often I never got them and she probably didn't get the ones I wrote to her.. 

I saw her many years ago- she came by my parents house to meet my 3 month old baby and bring me a gift.  I was living in Georgia she was still living at home. We did meet again- when my children were 6 and 4, I think, and she was married.  She is the caregiver for her younger sister who has had a stroke.  Her parents have passed as have mine.  I offer her my email address every year and the house phone number.  Sigh. She never uses it. She wants me to call her- I have given her my phone number many many times.  She hasn't called. I have never been a "phone caller" because I -100%- always choose a bad time and the call lasts 2 or 3 minutes and the person I call has "somewhere to be".

I have begun to suspect this is just something to say- "call me" and no one actually wants to get a phone call from me. I will WRITE, (and many women I have met on the internet thru this blog know this)- long emails and long handwritten letters. I will always WRITE to you.