Rainy days aren't so bad.  We don't walk the loop, but we still have fun.  Scrabble, sewing projects, crossword puzzles, and cooking.

 

Yesterday we made pasta.  We added kale powder to the dough:  turning it green, a little bit healthy, and pretty.  After we roll it and cut it using the pasta machine, it gets hung on this rack to dry.  The drying process takes a while, like 8 hours, so we left it on the table overnight.  This is what we found in the morning.  Some still hanging, some crashed onto the dining room table.  

 

Gizmo?  No, he doesn't get on the table or chairs.  The New Year's Eve elf?  I doubt that.  ;)  Or maybe just successful drying.  

 

I hope you are having some kind of winter fun.

 

HAPPY JANUARY!!!

 

Yep, I took this picture on the loop just a couple days ago.  Even though it's been quite warm, there is still some ice on the north side of our mountain.

 

Just a reminder, I guess, that it is still winter.  At least the days are getting longer.  Let's be happy about that.

 

HAPPY JANUARY, 2023!!!

 

I guess we weren't the only ones having a little too much fun last night.

 

Look who we found right next to the empty Champagne bottle.  I don't remember emptying it ourselves;  it must have been the elf.

 

Wishing you ALL:

 

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

HAHAHA!!!!  We walked the loop two days in a row, wearing shorts!!!  

 

Our temperature yesterday and the day before got up to 64 degrees.  That's warm enough to wear shorts, especially when you're moving.  

 

It was also warm enough to sit on our neighbors' porch for happy hour.  Gotta love warm Winter weather.

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

Last week when we knew it was going to get really cold, I went out to the garden and harvested a few things:  a couple 

Savoy cabbages, and the tops out of a couple Brussels Sprouts.  Here is the biggest, prettiest one.

 

The leaves are edible, just like kale, so we processed them, and put them in the fridge.  Interesting:  by cutting out the top, it forces the Brussels sprout to pop out along the stems.  

 

We'll see.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We only got a little snow, but it has been so cold for the last few days.

 

My dinosaur kale isn't happy, BUT!!!  It isn't dead.  Yay!!!

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

I don't know about you, but I love decorating at Christmastime. And I don't know about you, but I am a little bit lazy.

 

OK.  I love doing it, but not every month!  So, in the winter, I decorate with snowmen.  That way we have happy decorations for Christmas, and they last until spring. ;).  Get it?  We get to celebrate Christmas and winter.  

 

These Russian nesting dolls are called Matryoshka and were a present to Momma when Will went to Russia in 1994.  I am lucky enough that they live at my house and make us smile every winter.  

 

And the silk poinsettias are good all the way up til Valentines Day.  Hahaha!!!  Seasonal decorations!

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!

 

I just wanted to stop by to wish you a Merry Christmas.  And to let you know that all is merry and bright here, and warming up!!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

Look at this beautiful Amaryllis that my friend gave me.  It has four flower buds on this stalk, and another stalk coming up.

 

I love these bulbs.  They can be "forced" to bloom,  or they can be left to bloom naturally.  And the bulbs last for years if allowed to rest between blooming.  I usually let my bulbs rest over the winter when they don't get much sun anyway.  Then in the spring when it warms up enough (over 50 degrees at night) I put them outside and they bloom and grow leaves.  They spend the summer and fall outside so their leaves can grow and make food for the bulb.  Then when nighttime temps drop below 50 degrees, I bring them into the basement to rest until next spring.  Then we start over.  

 

This one was forced to bloom at Christmastime.  That just means that the grower started watering the bulb around Thanksgiving, and in the course of a month it sent up this stalk and then bloomed.  My other Amaryllis bulbs will bloom in the spring when I put them out.  

 

I will be sure to show you all the Amaryllises when they bloom.  Each one is special and beautiful.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

From the Farmers Almanac

 

 

 

The Winter Solstice begins today at 4:48 pm EST.  It is the shortest day, and the longest night of the year.  

 

To learn more about the science and the lore of the winter solstice go to the Farmers Almanac;  here's the link.

 

 

HAPPY WINTER!!!