Annual Dog With New Snow Picture

Riley is usually a bit more excited regarding new snow.  This year.  Not so much.  He just sits on the stoop and stares back at me.  Wondering why I don't come outside.  It's cold outside.  Even in the bright sunshine.  No squirrels.  And the biggest source of amusement is the nearby compost pile (we decided to use the one outside the garden this winter) and Riley has decided to jump over the side walls and into the compost bin.  Every time we let him out.

G has been retired an entire week.  We haven't harmed each other.  Yet.  G has been busy.  He added a bit of insulation to the perimeter of the inside basement walls and, of course, he has been kept busy with all the snow.  We are going to the movies this afternoon.  Walking the dog is difficult in the woods.  G has to use snowshoes on the paths and that makes the going slow and tedious.  Riley has to run back and forth between where he wants to go and where G is lagging behind.  So, good exercise for the dog.

The house seems colder than usual this morning.

I filed for unemployment.  Felt like being welcomed by an old familiar friend.  This is the fifth time I have applied.  All the same questions.  All the same answers.  The results are always different.  I wonder what they will pay me this year?  I noticed that the recently unemployed Maine Hostess Cupcake employees are all getting the maximum benefit of $374 a week.   That would be nice. But I get much, much less than that.  But it's something.  Better than nothing, as my dad would say.

I made a nice pot of soup yesterday.  Hit the spot.  I had, probably 5 or 6 cups of soup.  For lunch and then for dinner.  I have more in the fridge for today and tomorrow.  Next time I make it I will add escarole along with the cabbage.  Some bitter greens with the sweet.  The escarole adds a depth to the soup that I enjoy.  I need to make a "soup list" for my next visit to the grocery.  So I have supplies for soup making at hand.  I did add some frozen garbanzo beans to the pot of soup yesterday.  About a cup in total.  So only a few in each bowl but it added a nice balance to all the veggies. I think cannelini beans are lower in carbs so I will buy some of those for future vegetable soups.  I have been finishing off my Cuties in the evenings and eating pineapple chunks before breakfast.  The pears are still very hard but I may just eat them that way.  Less sugar.  I have a serving of Greek yogurt in the fridge with red grapefruit segments.  For lunch or for dessert.  I haven't had any cheese.  Or wheat.  Or eggs. Very little meat.  Not much fat. My rings are loose.  My pants are buttoning very easily.  A vegetarian diet.  A change.

I intend to do some work (research) for the talk  I am scheduled to give in February on Roses.  I also have a Houseplant class to teach on January 26th.  I had wanted to set up a little watercolor station on the table here in the dining room and work on a little watercolor exercise each morning.  I have yet to get started on that.  I think all my paper is upstairs.  I also wanted to work on my friend Gregor's quilt for her youngest grandchild.  I have put that off for too many years.  The blocks are all different sizes (G was having mini strokes while working on the blocks and losing her right brain) and I already took apart and replaced the centers as I really couldn't leave the blocks with the very strange fabric combos. Gregor kept saying she could "see" the work and what she couldn't see was the art.  With the right side of her brain damaged.  I used the fabric she had purchased in the year before her strokes.  A very nice selection, and kept the borders as she had them.  Nice blues and greens.  I just need to lay it all out and figure out how to attach the blocks to each other.  Let someone else quilt it.

Well, I should get started with my day.