Just a touch of snow

A light snowfall on Thursday and again last night.  Paul managed both very easily with a shovel.  The snow blower still waits in the garage.  I will be quite happy if it stays there all winter.

colour correct certainly changed the look of this shot but I rather like the effect so it stays

Lots of ads and lots of conversations about flying south this time of year.  Several of the girls from the gym are heading to the Dominican Republic  soon and although I envy them the warm days I am not a go to the beach and sand for 2 weeks kind of traveller.    Instead I've been looking at the idea of Ireland in May or a tour of the Maritime provinces here in Canada.  

Thinking about it got me thinking about the size of our suitcases.  They are small.  I can see why we bought them for our trip to England in 2005.  We were going to have to heft them on and off buses/underground for our stay in London  and get them in and out of a small rental car while we toured around and stayed at Bed and Breakfasts.     I barely made due on our trip to France and Newfoundland and last year going west with my sister I lugged a very heavy carry-on so I could take my second pair of  walking shoes.

Yesterday I bought a new case, on sale.  It's just one size up but looks like it will make a comfortable difference.   With the Senior Tour company I plan to use I will just have to wheel the case from the van that picks us up to the weight-in at the airport and put it outside our hotel room each morning for transfer to the bus.   Paul decided to stay with his small case.  I won't be finding room for any of his things in my new case.  *grin*

Now it's just a matter of worrying over my wardrobe. 

Better than Paper Roses

Does anyone but me even remember the song ?

It was runny through my head the whole time I was planting my wooden tulips in the snow.

Yesterday Mother Nature decided we needed a reminder that winter isn't over and kindly dumped 13cm of the white stuff on us. (and she's not done from the sound of the forecasts)
Thankfully Stephen was home and he did the major removal with me following behind tidying up the corners.

Paul's back is still fragile so he got to stand and watch from the living room window and put the kettle on for hot chocolate as we finished.

It is pretty when fresh and white.

...........

Car repairs are still on going. How a lightly damaged bumper can cause such grief is beyond me. The body shop the insurance company recommended has had it twice. First the replaced bumper didn't fit, they totally messed up the headlight sequence and aim and managed to leave me greasy finger prints on the carpeted rear trunk area to clean up. The second time the bumper fit, the lights set marginally better but the paint colour didn't match and they stained the driver seat ... black on the nice cream leather.

We've had it to a different shop and had an adjuster to the house to check on our complaints and it is agreed there are 3 different shades of paint now on the front end.

Return it to the original shop for a third try ?? I think not.

I'm still here

No problems, all is well, I just been lazy. My life feels very boring at the moment. I read, I watch movies from the library ... oh yes, I did take myself to see Avatar in 3D. Paul wasn't up to sitting in the theatre seats and I was afraid if I waiting much longer it would have finished it's run nearby and I do the same-old-same-old daily chores.

Paul is much much better. He is doing dishes again - yes yes yes ! -, hardly taking any pain medication and has had a hair cut. He even managed to trim his toe nails. Progress.

Our family doctor has recently added a nurse practitioner to her staff and we saw him last week. He gave Paul a once over, checked all his recent blood work, set him up for some more and gave him his pneumonia shot. Apparently after 65 you can get one that is effective against (I think he said) 28 varieties. Alas, I have a few years to wait to get mine and we both had all our vaccination shoots updated.

The weather has been reasonably decent for this time of year. We've had very little snow which is good seeing as Paul won't be up to using the snow blower and I have no intention on taking over that job.

He has talked to a neighbour who can take over if necessary. photo from last Dec. Keeping our fingers crossed that we will make it to spring with this current trend. We've had temperatures just hovering at or above freezing the last few days .

I have had remarkably good luck shopping for myself lately. Two blouses at half price, a mid calf length dressy winter coat 60% off and a pair of high suede boots that were comfortable as soon as I slipped them on. Mind you I had to fight my way passed the incoming spring and summer clothing to find them but well worth the effort.

On the Sunday before Christmas

With Christmas carols playing and a husband standing by to clean up after me I made things yesterday. Fattening tasty treat things

Over the years Rice Krispies squares have been my one traditional thing, but this year I expanded my horizons and made peanut butter balls.

I had half a container of corn syrup leftover from making Pecan Pie (quite some time ago) as well as all the other ingredients on hand so it was just a matter of following the recipe. I just wish they had expanded on it a little.
Should I have taken the pot off the stove as soon as the melt happened? Probably yes, giving the mixture a chance to cool before trying to roll. I'll know better next time because these are rich and delicious and I'm saving the recipe.

Peanut Butter Balls

1 cup (250mL) corn syrup
1/2 cup (125mL) granulated ( white ) sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp (5mL) vanilla
1 cup (250mL) peanut butter
2 cups (500mL) slightly crushed cornflakes
2 cups (500mL) Rice Krispies

Bring corn syrup and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Mix in rest of ingredients.
Butter your hands lightly and roll mixture into balls any size you like.

I put them them on waxed paper on a cookie sheet til cool.

......

One of the blogs I always read is SideTrips . Leener does unbelievably wonderful art and takes awesome photos like the one she has kindly let me use as my winter desktop. Thanks E.

Wednesday Wonders

THE PRETTY: My neighbour's rosebush

THE ANNOYING: The piles left by us shoveling our sidewalks and the plows clearing the roads. It's getting harder to see around corners.

THE INTERESTING: My son says my new slippers are too pink, too plaid and too sparkly. All the reason I picked them.

Time passes oh so quickly

I Won - Pat's Fantasy Hotlist.
Nothing like good news to finish off a week. I don't often enter contests. My luck with them is on par with winning the lottery so imagine my excitement when I found out I'd won a book. A book I'm looking forward to receiving and reading. Details at the link above. Thanks Pat. Keep an eye on his blog if you like sci/fi and fantasy.
..................


Frying Friday- Our Great Southern Land
Seeing as I've managed one link here's another. Jayne keeps me well supplied with bits of interesting info through her blog and her links and I enjoy my daily visits. This particular entry got me pondering the advantages of cold weather. It might even make me feel better seeing as winter seems never ending this year.

In winter when heading outside you can add more layers to keep warm. In summer you can strip to the skin- if you dare- and you're done.

In winter you can buy all the ice cream and frozen goods you want and make several stops on the way home - you car trunk doubles as a freezer. In the summer you're lucky if things stay frozen walking across the parking lot.

In winter you can throw an extra blanket on the bed or just turn up the heat. In summer you can keep turning up the air conditioning but lord help you when the electricity bill comes in and remember that year when the grid went down because you weren't the only one ready to sacrifice your first born for more cool air.

In winter you don't have to cut the grass. Ok so there's snow to shovel and yes in the summer you get lots of nice colourful flowers but you can always stick out plastic greenery to break up all the white.

In winter you can , get to, are able to ............ darn run out of positives already.

Thought of one. In winter you can cook lovely roasts, simmer stews, let ribs linger in the oven til the meat falls off the bone. Yummy. It's almost worth being unable to send Paul out to the BBQ.

.................

I found a used book store and have stock piled C.J. Cherryh novels the library doesn't own. I've got a list of movies and books to get posted on my other blog and I have a new pile of DVDs from the library. It's probably just as well the weather gives me a reason to stay indoors.

Dear Santa

Can I have one of these please.
Take that you miserable snow bank


I'm currently cooking my squash for Christmas dinner. Tomorrow I'll make more cookies and some Rice Krispie squares.

My new turkey roasting pan is out and washed.

I'll haul out the good china and wash it tomorrow while Paul gets to check and clean the silver. It's nice to use them even if it's only once a year.

Gifts are almost all wrapped.

I think I will slide into the 24th quite nicely thank you very much.

Please, no

Considering it's not officially winter, I'm really not thrilled with what the weatherman threw our way today.

Oh sure we heard the winter storm warning last night and yes, we knew there would be more than a dusting but really was THIS necessary.

I had been expecting my sister and two of my nieces for a nice pre-Christmas tea this afternoon. I was going to hand over the presents for under their tree. The presents I rushed and wrapped yesterday. I was even going to serve my homemade shortbread. I will be giving you the recipe eventually.

Oh well we have a few more days to get together before the 25th and with any luck the second wave of snow won't happen. HA I laugh



The first photo is of Paul. He waited til the worse was over than headed out. Some of the drifts where past his knees. I stayed inside because my boots are short and someone had to take pictures.

It's amazing how well my camera works through the front window.

The second photo is our neighbour Don . He had gone out before the major portion of the storm hit and found he couldn't get his van all the back into his driveway and that was after a long slow drive home. Thankfully he has a blower too.




That just leaves photo #3. This is our neighbour Dave. He doesn't have a snow blower. Not to worry, Paul went over and cleared his front sidewalk and helped clear his driveway.

Now I will make at nice warm dinner and serve it with a hearty helping of Irish to warm Paul up.