Tuppence a Bag

Winter wouldn't be complete without a trip down to Irondequoit Bay with a bag of something to feed the birds. This time it was Cherrios. The wind was fierce and biting.

Frozen Dinner

It's been a cold week and that's no exagger- ation (not that I was trying...) I'd love to don extra layers and head out for a photo taking excursion, but small children have made that a challenge so I snap a few here and there where I can. Lake Ontario is getting more visible from upstairs every day. This morning, with the sun shining on the frozen shoreline, I could actually get a fairly decent, though distant, shot. Yes, all that white stuff back there is ice and snow over the water.

Yesterday afternoon I was invited out to dinner with two old friends from high school. I don't go out with friends often so you might say I jumped at the chance. We met at a very nice little Chinese restaurant and sat for hours just visiting, and then we decided that next time L. is in town, we should meet at the Rheinblick German Restaurant in Canandaigua. Eventually the Chinese restaurant cleared out and not wanting to cause the owners grief, we decided to call it a night, said our goodbyes, and headed back out into the cold.

B is for Brutal

B is for brutal, bitter, and blustery.

Two weeks ago, for the letter Z, I posted about zero. We're there again this week and it was below 0ºF this morning. (That's about -20ºC.) It's too cold to stand at the bus stop in my opinion, but then nobody asked me. It even looked cold out there this morning.Every time I took a breath my nose threatened to freeze shut. I call it Booger Freezing weather for a good reason.

The house, which usually stays warm and toasty in the winter, felt cold and drafty today. During the brutal, bitter, blustery days of midwinter, I am always reminded of my dad, his guitar, and the songs he'd sing when we were little girls. He was a country boy at heart. I don't know exactly where he learned the old folk songs he sang, I only know they're an unforgettable part of my childhood. I had to look this one up today. They don't sing it quite like Dad, but it'll do.



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Mouse House

A friend stopped over the other day and the conversation turned toward the miniature sized door I have glued to the bottom side of one of my cabinets. It's what I call a "fairy door" but it doesn't open and there is nothing inside. It's purely for the imagination and probably utterly silly. Lora told me how when she was a little girl there was a hole in a wall of her house where here mother said a mouse lived. It was nothing but a tiny hole. Lora often found herself peering into the darkness hoping to catch a glimpse of the tiny resident, but she never saw him.

The following day I stumbled upon a photograph that took me back to our conversation. It was a real "live" mouse house built into someone's wall. It had a light inside which made the whimsical dwelling serve a double purpose as a nightlight. I found myself intrigued and wondering if maybe I have the perfect spot somewhere in my house for a nightlight "mouse" dwelling. (I'm really just a kid inside...)

Yesterday my bird feeder needed filling and while I was at it, I decided to toss a cupful of peanuts to the blue jays as well. I scooped up a cup of peanuts and when I pulled it out of the bag, an involuntary (and hideous) scream escaped my lips. There on top of my cupful of peanuts lay a still and apparently lifeless mouse. Miraculously, I did not toss the cup or spill anything. Feeling rather foolish, and slightly skittish toward the mouse I was holding, I regained my composure, stepped outside the door into the cold, and tossed the little creature into the snow by his still limp tail. I've since decided to keep my bag of peanuts a little further from the floor and clipped up tight with a bag clip.

I keep saying I'm not afraid of mice, after all, I've had them as pets, but I can't seem to convince myself.  I'm stepping a little more gingerly around the birdseed bag.

The Weekend

It's not been quite the weekend I had envisioned.

Unmet expectations often bring disappointment and frustration, and this makes being flexible an absolute necessity. I had imagined my house quiet and uninhabited for a full three days, but that was not to be. Instead of staying home alone in our house Saturday evening, James and I headed out to Home Depot and Jo-Ann Fabrics for some time alone. (As if that weren't exciting enough, we took his big van through the car wash on our way home.) This afternoon, since the house was once again occupied, we took a drive and then went to see a movie. "Saving Mr. Banks" is a tearjerker and I needed a good cry, so it was the perfect choice.

Still and Snowy

It's a quiet kind of day. A little junco was hopping about my back porch this morning and left itty-bitty birdie tracks on the steps. The bird feeder was full so I'm not sure what he was looking for. Maybe my cats. These little fellas show up mostly when the ground is snow covered and it snowed during the night leaving the grass buried and the roads slippery.

Hannah and I headed out for haircuts this morning. We go much too long between as I have a tendency to drag my feet making the appointment. No drastic changes, just fresh trims and a bit of thinning on mine.

The errands have been run and the cupboards are full. On my way back home I stopped to snap a few pictures of this old house up the street. I keep expecting to drive by one day and find it has been either burned down or bulldozed. For many years after we moved here it was occupied each fall by seasonal orchard workers, but the windows are all broken out now and the land around it has been cleared of old trees. I think it's not long for this world.

It's a quiet weekend without Mom or the little ones.

Take Off, Eh

This was my earlier this evening post. I tossed it back in the draft folder and just pulled it back out again. I never did put my jammies on....

It's an "off day". My body and mind have been kicked into another gear (or maybe two) leaving me sleepy and slightly achy. I caught a short nap this afternoon, but it wasn't the restful kind and I might have to send myself to bed early tonight, or do the unimaginable and put my jammies on after supper. *gasp!*

As often happens during the long, dark days of winter, I am once again thinking on what to do with my time. The start of spring brings promise of a milestone birthday, and a pang of fear in my gut. I am so not ready for black balloons... and no matter how many times I've said I'm counting backward, the reality is that time doesn't even stand still much less slide in the opposite direction. Each year I find myself longing to escape the confines of the living room and small children, and the need to move my body while it will still cooperate seems imperative and immediate.

I am caught between what others want and need, and what I want and need. (Or maybe mostly what I want. I'm not even sure I know what I need. I do know that we only get one life and I don't want to spend the rest of it sitting on my butt getting fatter and lazier, which is what appears to be happening.)

It's going to be a slower, quieter weekend. The little ones, who have kept the house full of noisy activity the past few days, are gone for now. Mom is at Rachel's, and there is no school on Monday. By the time Tuesday morning arrives, I should be well rested and recharged. Maybe I will even have had some fun. :0)

A little Video ... or Two

Since Betsy posted a pretty snow video, I went in search of something with a "Rochester" accent. Instead I found this. Not quite Rochester... Skip the first twenty seconds unless you like high pitched nothingness.
Or perhaps you would enjoy this instead...

Sleepy Time Tea

Apparently rest time is over... It's one of the perks of having multiple children in the house and a daddy who just returned home and doesn't realize his daughter hasn't even fallen asleep for her nap yet. Rocky won't be getting a nap today either. She hasn't had one all week, but then again, she did just turn four. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I'm the one who really needs a nap anyway, not the kids.

So, maybe I can turn this into a 3X Thursday...

1. Do you take naps? If you do, where do you sleep?
2. Do you have "jammie days" where you never bother to get dressed? Or are you one of those people who needs to be "decent" all the time?
3.If you have a pet, do you let it sleep with you? Or would you if you did have a pet? (or maybe you prefer a stuffed animal?)

Since I'm not going to get a nap, and since the children aren't going to be quiet, I may as well go mix up that batch of royal icing for the cookies I'm planning to paint.

Cat Food

Oreo, the beggar cat is certain good things come in bowls. That is where he finds the last few drops of milk after my breakfast, and that is where, on very rare occasions, something else tasty. I'm pretty sure Grandmanita was eating squash soup which Oreo found quite delicious.






We told her, "No feeding the cat," but of course, she is the momma and she does what she wants, after all, what are we going to do about it? (Not that we really cared...) I decided I liked the scene and it should be recorded and documented for posterity.

By now Grandmanita should be back home in Nova Scotia. She has been away for many weeks and was probably ready to be home in her own little apartment. I am blessed to have had her here with us for a little over two weeks. It wasn't quite the restful visit I had envisioned... but I am glad she came. James' cousin Angel (Angela) and I have decided that maybe one day we will run away and find ourselves in Nova Scotia. (Wouldn't that be fun?)

A is for Acrobat

A is for Acrobat.

She wasn't swinging on a trapeze or partici- pating in a human pyramid, but she still looks like an acrobat to me. I'm not entirely comfortable with a seventy-five year old standing on one foot atop a step ladder, but then again, a ladder is supposed to be safer than standing on a chair... Thankfully she didn't dismount by doing a flip.

She can now reach the top shelves without standing tip-toe on a kitchen chair and maybe, just maybe, she'll get around to painting her kitchen ceiling. (It was her idea, not mine.)

Staying active appears to be the key to a long and productive life. It also helps with attitude and outlook. Maybe I should try standing on one foot atop my kitchen step stool... :0)

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The Plant Lady

Grandmanita's friend Gail loves plants. I love her little "tea room" with the big windows and plant collection. A few years ago Grandmanita brought me a handful of seeds from Gramma Gail. She tossed them in a pot of dirt and voila! I soon had a pot full of pretty little leaves. Sadly, I wasn't familiar with this plant and I no longer have it. (I can't believe I got it all the way to this point and gave up on it.)

It's a good thing there is something called a "second chance". Yesterday I saw Gail's Mexican Hat Plant and it was blooming. The foliage isn't super beautiful, but there is something whimsical and fun about the flowers.

I wonder how long it takes from planting to blooms? Maybe I can find myself a pretty little tea room by the time my plant gets this big. (It's not even in the dirt yet...) I am dreaming when it comes to a 3-season room, of course, but I do have some nice big windows and maybe I could clear out a spot for a tall and gangly plant, especially if it has such cool flowers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a little bit of research, I find that in some places this plant is highly invasive. It's also toxic, every part of it. Blah.

North of the Border

We took Grandmanita back to Canada today. While we were north of the border we decided to drive up to Niagara Falls and check out the water. There's still a ton of ice from last week's "polar vortex".

After our ride to Niagara Falls, we turned around and drove back along the river to Fort Erie where we stopped to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant, the May Wah. (Love the lemon chicken!) After taking Grandmanita and Gramma Gail back home to Gail's place, we hugged them both goodbye and were on our way.

It's been a long day, and an even longer weekend, so enjoy the pictures. It's time for me to get some sleep.

The Happenings

A lot has been happening here...

Grandmanita has been in town for two weeks now. When she visits we normally do a bit of visiting and running around. This time,

not so much. She did go out for a ride with My Darling one afternoon. She thought maybe he was taking her to visit her niece, but actually he was taking her to the doctor because she had a terrible, awful, can-hardly-catch-your-breath kind of cold. Thankfully the medicine worked and we all slept better after that. The weather kept us home, family dynamics kept us home, and watching children kept us home. As antsy as we were, we never got out together. Tonight she has gone to visit the beloved niece and spend the night there before heading back to Canada and her childhood friend on Sunday afternoon. It's been a "different" kind of visit this time around.

Our house is a little fuller the past few days. I won't get into the details here but things have been wild and crazy, and I would appreciate continued prayers for all kinds of things including an extra huge helping of patience and calm for My Darling. I'll take some extra love and patience too, along with scattered moments of quiet and maybe a nap every once in a while. It doesn't even have to be every day. Hannah would appreciate a very long night of pure and restful slumber. She's been fighting a headache today and thinks it may be from too little sleep.

I'd love to find some time one day to enjoy baking and frosting some fun cutout cookies. We have a nice collection of decorator tips and maybe one day I'll actually learn how to use them. Maybe first I should find someone who needs a batch of beautiful and tasty cookies so I don't polish off half them myself. Yeah, ... that might be a good idea.

3X Thursday

It's time to meet at Kristina's again. No cookies this week. We've all had enough of them.

(I'm a little "behind" today, but I'm getting there...)

A Crazy Day

Yesterday was quiet and still. Today was anything but quiet and still. It's been a day full of toys, noise, and boys, and few girls too. The after school girls are finding it nigh unto impossible to calm two little boys, and I am making a valiant attempt to squeeze in a post. (The children are not unattended. I think their dad is watching them... )

This is Today

God is good... He is stretching and growing us all.

It has been a fairly quiet week. I put one child on the bus Monday, Tuesday there was no school and no grandchildren came to play. Today I put two girls on the bus and one came back after school. Tomorrow there will be grandchildren, lots of them. (Grandmanita is plotting her escape... ) Friday promises to be busy too. (I probably should have purposed to enjoy the quiet, but sometimes I don't see what is happening until it's too late.) Now I shall purpose to enjoy the activity instead.

This week I learned that my days with Rocky are numbered. Her mom and dad have big plans that will change their lives dramatically. They are moving. They are moving far, far away. The move involves a foreign country and a new language. I never saw it coming and yet it doesn't totally surprise me. The move involves the Reformed Church and a position in social work, something they are all well suited for. Knowing ahead of time will help me treasure the time I have left with my little friend and maybe give me a much higher tolerance for her continuous chatter. Truthfully, I'm going to miss her.

Z is for Zero

Z is for zero, below zero actually.

Baby, it's cold outside! It's most likely not news to most of you, because it's been in the news for several days now. We were warned of it's arrival. They call it a "Polar Vortex". The wind howled all night long and it sounded blizzard-like and wintery. The schools have been closed and we're staying inside, but for most of the morning the out of doors has been clear and sunny, at least where we live. I guess it's a tad different at the eastern ends of the Great Lakes.

The pipes to our kitchen sink are frozen. My Darling is attempt- ing to thaw out the mini- scule crawl space that houses the pipes. It's a slow process.

My photos are from Saturday when the temperatures were a much milder 33ºF. Not sure I'm up to venturing down to the lake today

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No Fun, No Fun at All

It's really no fun watching a marriage fall apart. It's no fun seeing people you love in emotional pain and turmoil. It's no fun knowing there is very little you can do to help. It's no fun and I am feeling helpless. I am begging for God's mercy, praying He will intervene and take what looks utterly hopeless and impossible and make something beautiful. Deep inside I know He can, but I find my faith often lacking. I'm almost surprised when I see Him at work. I almost don't believe and yet I desperately want to.

  ... sigh ...

Dave was here with the kids tonight. We had fun building a railroad with the wooden train tracks. We ate pretzels and Clementine oranges. We drew pictures. At some point in time Aubs decided to follow her Aunt Hannah upstairs... None of us knew until we heard the terrible sound of a child falling down the wooden staircase. Kind of threw our evening for a loop and put several bumps, a bloodied chin, and swollen jawbone on the child. She howled and cried, and we decided it might be best to have someone who knows check her over.

  ... sigh ...

God does work in mysterious ways. I hope this is one of those times.

Happy Birthday, Joe!

Today is Joe's birthday. He is our middle child. He has two older brothers, and two younger brothers. He has an older sister, and a younger sister. He is 7 1/2 years younger than Jim, and 7 1/2 years older than Hannah. He is Smack-dab-in-the-middle Joe. Joe's birthday often gets lost in the holiday madness. It comes when the craziness has just begun to wind down. (He's here tonight for a quiet observance. We had sherbet with lots of whipped cream, and horse shaped sugar cookies left over from Christmas.)

Last Saturday we had our big party. The entire family was here and the event was catered by an acquaintance/ former co-worker of Joe. We celebrated Christmas, New Year's, and Joe's birthday all rolled up into one. (I know. That's cheating.) In order to make sure Joe's birthday (he's turning 26) was remembered, we made sure there were extra presents (mostly clothes, he needs them) and a special cake. (This Cake Boss watching is coming in handy...)

James and Hannah made a special cake, a two layer cake. The bottom was chocolate, the top was vanilla. Michele, Jim's wife and one of my favorite daughters in law, is a baker. She helped frost the cake and pipe on some nice details. James and Hannah made some broken electronic equipment out of fondant, and I bought a nice tube of insects to crawl up the sides and over the top of the cake. It was great!

Even though tonight is a very small and quiet gathering, I hope Joe knows how much I love him and that he is entirely special to my heart. I wish him wonderful things in the year to come.

Happy Birthday, Joe!

The Great White North

From whose womb comes the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
Job 38:29

Cold, cold, cold!

There is something wonderfully cozy about sub-zero temperatures, providing a roaring wood stove and piles of warm blankets are readily available. It will be dreadfully cold tonight, and then tomorrow we're forecast to have a heat wave. It's supposed to be all the way up to freezing by mid afternoon.

This afternoon my lovely and talented youngest daughter was inspired to clean the house. She hid/put away clutter, dusted furniture, and vacuumed. The house was miraculously transformed in short order. When her BFF showed up around 1:30 pm, they set to work chopping up vegetables and employing Grandmanita's assistance in cutting up and cooking chicken. As dinner time approached, they tackled the task, with Grandmanita's help, of making homemade noodles for their massive pot of chicken soup. By six o'clock guests began to arrive for the church youth groups' annual progressive dinner. I'm guessing approximately 35 people came through, in three separate groups, to eat soup, sing a song, and move on tot he next location. This was my first time ever participating (or actually witnessing, I hardly participated...) in a progressive dinner. It looked like a lot of fun whether one was a guest or host. I'm glad Hannah and Kelly decided to play the game.

Just Some Stuff

Yesterday afternoon may not have been the best time to fly, but I think today would have been worse. I am glad to know my boy and his family made it home safe to Minnesota in spite of the weather,

even if it was after 2 o'clock in the morning. (The original flight was scheduled to be there by 9:50 pm. They were only 4 hours late...) I loved having them here and I hated saying goodbye. Today the house feels quiet and empty even though it isn't, and although a part of me is happy to have the craziness of the holidays over and done, another part of me looks forward to the next time we're all together again. (We're never really totally satisfied, are we?) We're all going to miss not only Jim and Michele, but the little guy too. I can scarcely help but find myself wondering how to get back to Minnesota.

A winter storm has settled over the northeast, complete with snow, and a bit of wind here by this Great Lake. The birds have returned to check out the feeder. It's kind of funny to see them up to their necks in snow.

It's a good afternoon to curl up by the fire and try to catch up on a little bit of the sleep we got so far behind on the past week. We lent our bedroom to Jim and his family while they were here, so crawling back into our own bed and going to sleep last night was kind of like returning home ourselves. One day I'm going to have a real live guest room. Won't that be cool?

Y I Didn't Post About X

I did not write an ABC Wednesday post for the letter X. I started to, I really did, but I didn't finish. I was too distracted by Xmas and all the trimmings and trappings. I was struggling with a bad case of ADD or OCD or XYZ or something like that, and that is Y I did not post for X.

So, anyway, I was hoping if I told you Y I didn't do the X post, that perhaps I could get away with skimping on Y too...

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Off and Running

Well, kind of.... My faraway son is on his way home again, finally. The flight out of Rochester was scheduled to leave on time, ... until they arrived at the airport anyway. Maybe it was the weather this time. We did get a rather nice snowfall this afternoon. Southwest has been having a lot of delays this past week and rather than leaving at 5 pm, the departure didn't take place until 7:33 pm. That's a long wait with a 5 month old baby.

It was another whirlwind visit. We packed Christmas, New Year's and an early birthday celebration into just five days. We stayed up much too late, slept in strange beds, and threw any semblance of a normal schedule tot he wind. Now we gather ourselves together and make a grand attempt to jump back into our everyday routines.

It's always hard to say goodbye, especially not knowing when we'll meet again. Thankfully, we have pictures to bring these days back to memory, and we remembered to take a picture of this little one with each of our moms.

Safe travels, sweet child!