Can someone explain to me why it is that whenever I really would like to find someone to talk to on-line, everyone is in sleeping, or out in the sunshine, or celebrating with their families or in general off living their lives????
I am probably on-line more than the average woman my age, but I have retreated from the point of being addicted to my computer. But on those rare times when I would really like to chat with a friend, it always seems that I am out of sync time-wise. Either my English friends have long ago gone to bed, or my local friends are otherwise occupied.
Why is that!?
I’ve been so busy lately working on two charitable activities that I’m out of touch with my friends. You’d think with all the bad weather and snow we’ve had, that everyone would be glued to their computers for lack of anything else to do. Perhaps laundry, dishes and cleaning have taken priority.
This too shall pass, and then perhaps I’ll be the one guilty of sleeping in, or weeding, rather than attending to my friends. If I have missed you of late, we are fine, we hope you’ve come through the bad weather well, and I’ll chat with you soon!
Monthly Archives: February 2011
BRRRRRR!!!
Mother Nature is chillin us out! We’re supposed to get to a low of minus six degrees F. tonight, and -11 tomorrow night. About all I can say is that Dear Husband better be prepared for me to snuggle!
I’m going to add an extra quilt to my side of the bed. I’m thinking about wearing an old long-sleeved turtleneck to bed with my flannel jammies. I’m going to burrow in!
I’m supposed to go to exercise tomorrow. I really need to be there, to collect granny squares for Share a Square. We have at least 80 ready to be sent off, I think, and I don’t want to miss picking them up. I want to have the time to box them so that they will be ready for the Post Office when I have to go out again on Thursday.
The mantra for this week, is BUNDLE UP, STAY WARM, STAY AT HOME IF YOU CAN!
Birds Galore!
Dear Husband took me out to lunch today. We visited a Cooper Hawk’s Winery and Restaurant and had a lovely meal. I tried tiny tastes of four wines and settled on a red wine that neither of us can name at the moment…..a red with “Bolla” or “Bolo” in the title, very smooth, with a nice body to it. I didn’t care for the Petite Syrah, or the Chardonnay. I did like the spiced wine they served as you walked in the door!
Those of you who know me are probably astounded to hear that I was actually drinking wine, at noon yet! But it went so nicely with the meal that I decided to enjoy myself.
Fortunately for me, Dear Husband took the role of designated driver. We arrived home, and I realized that I had announced that “WE” needed to dig a path to the farthest bird feeder, which is clearly empty following our blizzard. The drifts are so high near the feeder that you can’t see the raised herb garden next to it. I decided that I would be happy with a path one shovel wide, and went at it, happy head and all.
It was like shoveling three times the length of that short path. For each foot of snow, it took three scoops to clear it out: the top layer, the middle scoop, and a final push that took me near, but not to the grass. When I had the path finished, I had to walk back around the garage to get the seed. The drift is so high that we can’t get in and out of the back door of the garage.
I put out three gallons of mixed bird seed in the feeders and on a ground feeding platform that is sitting on top of the snow. I filled the nyger feeder, added a suet for the woodpeckers, and put out three ears of corn. I don’t know if the squirrels will give the deer a break and leave the corn. Thursday I looked out the kitchen window and saw a squirrel dragging an entire ear of corn toward the woods. I wish I had been there to see him carry it up the tree!
So, I’m full, the feeders are full, and I hope that shortly the birds will be full, too. The local grapevine must have ratted me out, because the air and feeders were filled with birds as soon as I made it inside. Yea….birdies! We’re glad to have been able to help!
Souper Supper
It’s time once again for our February “Souper Supper.” My quilting bee is very fond of dessert, and three times a year we add dinner to the menu. In July we have an indoor “picnic” to celebrate the Fourth of July, and in December we go out to dinner in place of a meeting.
I have the honor of making two soups for dinner, and each member will bring something to share. I have a wide variety of soup recipes but the one they always ask for is a Cheddar and ham chowder. They left the second soup up to me, so I’m going to make a pot of Minestrone. We’ll have Spinach dip, breads, salad, fruit, cheese and dessert to round out the meal. I’ll send leftovers home with the ladies.
I want to talk with my bee members about how to determine the appropriate height for a. my sewing machine, and b. the chair I sit on at the sewing machine. I can’t decide if I need to sit lower, or raise the sewing machine. If I’m going to run a quilting sweatshop for my charity group (Scraps on a Mission), I need to be able to have good back health, and these are just the ladies to ask about this!
So….Soup’s on!
Blown Away!
Well, not really. We are one of thousands of households in the Chicago suburbs who have weathered the Blizzard of 2011. Our newscasters tell us this was the third worst winter storm since they started keeping stats on the weather here.
Tuesday morning, Dear Husband finished up on a job site and made it home in time to drive me to the grocery store. The roads were clean at noon, following a small snowstorm, and I could have driven myself, but I wanted to give him the chance to pick up whatever he might want to weather the storm. It started snowing around 3:00, and the snow was so dense that it almost looked foggy. It was forecast that we would have 8.5 inches of snow by 10:00. I think we lagged behind a bit, but obviously the snowfall increased over night.
The wind picked up, and it was fierce. I was so concerned about the wind bringing a tree down on the house that I gathered my clothing and anything I might need for today, and moved it closer to the interior of the house. We have a gorgeous old evergreen tree that stands next to the SW corner of the house. That corner has two skylights over our bathroom and dressing area, and I was worried about that tree coming through the skylights Still…I went to bed. There was no point in sitting up and worrying about it.
When I woke, it was sunny, and the wind had abated. Dear Husband was plowing the driveway and the area on the east side of the house. My stepson had shoveled during the night (he’s a night owl), and DH had even put out seed for the birds. Tomorrow, I’ll shovel a path to the bird feeders and fill them up again.
We think we got 22 inches of snow. It’s tough to get an accurate reading because of the incredible drifts. We have an herb garden on the north side of the house that is raised to the height of two landscaping timbers. You can see the head and shoulders of the St. Francis statue in the center bed. The southern side of the bed has two spare timbers sitting on one edge, and you can see just the side of the top spare timber! You can’t tell where the beds are and where the walkways are.
We lucked out. No interruption in electricity or any other services. The house is warm, we have light, and the computer and TV are working. I spent the day in my fabric sweatshop, cranking out pieces for charity quilts. It’s been a great day. It feels as though it should be Sunday.
One more thought. I was railing at DH that people no longer help each other because we are afraid of being sued, but today I heard TWO stories from friends about neighbors who had come to shovel them out. There’s hope for us all, yet! Go visit Joy, at the Joy of Six blog. She was one of the lucky recipients of neighborhood kindness.