98 Days

 

98 days until spring.  

I figured since folks countdown the days until Halloween, I can countdown the days until spring.

However--I don't want spring to come too soon.  I want to hibernate for the first three months of the year and sew as much as possible.  

Are you thinking about your 2026 projects or just focusing on finishing 2025 projects?  I am but not in a pressure way, just excited to be over the holidays and on to sewing.  

Out in the garden...

The rabbits appear to be all around the garden and eating all the plants I didn't cut down.  I didn't feel like working in the garden but from now on, I'll say I did that on purpose.  However the rabbits are driving Lucky a bit crazy....

The squirrels continue to eat the Beauty Berries.  The ground is frozen solid so any food they had buried is unavailable.  😟

Here's a fun fact but I don't know if it's true.  I couldn't find any basis for this except that the call of the birds denotes territory.

Bird calls at sunrise are called "Dawn Chorus" a phrase I just love.

How are things in your area of the world?

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Stop Doing That...

 

Still so many things going on here.  We can see the light at the end of the tunnel...perhaps we will be through all this paperwork stuff by 2026.  And I'm still caregiving.   Yesterday morning I woke up sick and it was a relief that Brad had to walk the dog and I needed to stay home.

I absolutely need to clean out my sewing room...again.  Fabric I know I had is missing.  I had bought new penguin Christmas fabric...and it's AWOL.

I suspect that I inadvertently put it in a bag with the fabric I donated for the quilt guild show. 😖

Now an older piece of Christmas is MIA...a vintage holly fabric that I had some yardage in.  😟  I'm really hoping that surfaces somewhere.

I need to stop doing this.

The office outside the sewing room is a mess too.  At this time of year, I'm rushing around so much, things just get stacked in there until I can get to them...whenever that happens.

Do you have those issues too?

Hope you have a calm and happy day!

Winter Garden

 

We had another snow on Tuesday, probably an inch or so here.  By Wednesday there was a coat of ice on the snow that had fallen and it was a bit trecherous walking the dog.  

The squirrels in our area seemed to have a problem finding their food.  By Wednesday we caught one enterprising squirrel on our Beauty Berry bush devouring the berries:

Thanks Barb for giving us the bush!  The birds will feast on the berries and the seed heads in our garden through the winter.

It's interesting because squirrels are always burying their food.  Whenever I dig soil, I find peanuts that they have hid in the soil.  The thing is they seem to forget where they have buried them. 

So this little factoid fascinated me:

What kind of wildlife are you seeing in your garden?

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

Shepherd's Pie

 

My family background is Irish/Scottish/Welsh/English with a wee bit of German.  When I was a child, there didn't seem to be any kind of potato that wasn't served on a regular basis.

On Monday when Beth and I talked about cooking ideas, we both settled on Shepherd's Pie for Tuesday's meal.  Now here's the thing...some foods remind of specific memories.  Shepherd's Pie reminds me of the lack of them.

I had never heard of Shepherd's Pie until I was in my 30s. Even yesterday, I mentioned to my mother that I was making Shepherd's Pie and she said, "What's that?"   This is amazing to me because the pie originated in the UK and was often referred to as "Cottage Pie".   I don't know of anyone in either side of my family that made it.

My Pop-pop's family came from Centralia, the town with the underground fire.  There's really very little to see there anymore.

My maternal great-grandmother had never made spaghetti or heard of lasagna until my Nana cooked it for them.   It got to the point that my great-grandfather would open Nana's front door when they visited and throw his hat in first and yell, "What are you making this time Betty?"  😃 An action that made all of us children laugh.

Nana's family lived in Shamokin, Pa.

After World War 2, many folks emigrated out of the coal regions into other areas.  All 5 of my grandfather's surviving siblings moved out to cities and one even ended up in Saipan (government work).

Anyway, I thought about all these things yesterday as I cooked my husband some Shepherd Pie.  It's funny how things come back to you when you are in the kitchen...or the lack thereof.  Does any specific food bring back memories for you?

The First Snow

 

Hello December!

Yesterday the first snow of the season fell.  It was a light snow.  Still my husband and I think it suggests a snowy winter when the precipitation falls this early. 

Lucky and I enjoyed our walk because we were both bundled up!

"Is this really necessary?"

I am grateful that we had replaced our front pathway and removed the slate path that was so slippery during inclement weather.

I'm not a fan of bad weather but I do appreciate the one thing it always seems to bring:  silence.  We didn't see or hear a car for hours and there was an unusual calm to our city neighborhood.

This type of weather makes me want to hibernate in the sewing room where I can watch the snowfall, listen to music, and hang out with Lucky and the snowing machine.  How's the weather where you live?  Have you had your first snow yet?

Have a safe and happy day!

Happy Black Friday

 

I worked retail a total of 17 years; I started as a teenager and kept working in retail after my first husband left.  Often it was a second job because back in those bad old days, the state didn't pursuit deadbeat fathers for child support.

But today is about celebrating!  For the last 30 some years, I haven't had to work on Black Friday.  Yippee! 

Soooo... here are some of my favorite memes for today:

Hope you have fun today and if you are out shopping, be nice to those haggard store clerks!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to folks in the U.S.!