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After the storm...

Christmas is kind of taking a back seat here to the weather forecast. About which we can't say we haven't been warned!  It's everywhere; warnings even turned up on my phone which I didn't know could happen (I have the simplest of plans on a 6 year old phone).  Some folks have just gotten their power back from the last snow event and now we are told to stock up and be prepared for more possible outages. 

We have our oil lamps ready, plenty of wood for the stove insert in the fireplace, the bath tubs ...

  Time is short; I can no longer afford to just drift. That is my mantra these days. Though in honesty I don't think I ever just drifted...I remember too much of it all, conversations for instance and my feelings during those conversations. No I have to think I was fully present, putting in lots of effort and responsible for whatever happened or didn't happen, whatever words came out of my mouth, whatever got done or got lost along the way, etc.  And now suddenly it's yet another December and hopefully bringing with it a wonderful gift- ...

This fellow is back around the ...

 I never tire of walking this property in every season. Each time my eye lands on something new or different to take note of. I was happy to read Ralph's quote that  describes my experiences as I try to have an attentive eye too.

Pinterest

It was a two cups of coffee kind of morning. I just didn't have my usual energy level on my morning walk and I didn't get to sit by the pond. I spied deer in time to lead Ned away. They sometimes sleep overnight down there- we see the grass beaten down in certain spots in the undergrowth of the bushes that rim the pond. I've read deer are the poorest sleepers of all wildlife as they only have their ability to run as a protection.  Here is one that had been sleeping and I managed a ...

I  finished another biographical book about Eleanor Roosevelt called Eleanor and Hick by Susan Quinn.  Here is one of Eleanor's lines I like and wrote in my journal.

" You can not live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be." 

How to remain caring and sensitive yet adapt and accept the unkind things life throws at us. Not easy. Especially those times when "you think you've lost a lot and then you lose even more" times. One foot in front of the other with music in my ears ...

I am still feeling so grateful for the power and internet; there are still Ontarians without it! Our reliance on being on the grid is almost scary.

A couple of the trees down on our property. 

Robbie was with us for a PA day and we did a walkabout and count. There are five blocking our trails. SIL will get the chain saw out and help us clear them. Perhaps more firewood for next winter too. 

This baby red squirrel came up to my kitchen window to peek inside. Robbie said "he's not only cute, he's ridiculously cute ...

 I made a large pot of -I don't know what to call it- ground beef, onions, tinned tomatoes, cabbage, corn and carrots all cooked together with a little broth. Sort of a stew I guess. It was tasty and I added a couple of the wild garlic that has just ripened. Being me, I made enough for the whole street, so the first night I cooked rice to go with it and the second night, mashed potatoes. I'm ridiculously happy when I make enough of something to cover two meals. 

After over three years, I finally went somewhere! My last August 70th birthday gift from daughter was a ticket to see this fellow in Toronto.  Hence the train trip I mentioned in the last post.

Ekhart is a tiny man; we joked he looked like a happy gnome. We had wondered if, because he is such a low key fellow, our evening might wind up being a little boring. Anything but! 

 He talked for two hours straight and dealt with mostly two topics -how to deal with memories, loss and unhappiness, and also about God and beliefs. He taught us ...

 My research of one site showed this was a Thanksgiving cactus. Because it bloomed at Easter, I thought it might be one programmed for spring, but no. I couldn't remember the colour of the original plant, but turns out this is pink. The Geranium there is also budding.

The pond is gradually losing it's icy surface and the water level has dropped. This morning I heard a frog, a sure sign of spring.

Prelude to this comment...I can make my clothes dirty eating an apple; not kidding.

 I've been giving Fraktur Flowers attention for the month of December. Hard to believe we are down to just hours of 2021 left, isn't it. 

 My 70th Christmas went by in a flash. All of it enjoyable and very thankful for that too. 

Rule #5 Keep walking...both physically and figuratively. I'm intrigued how the two are linked. The summer after I moved to Ontario was a very difficult one for me. I'd had difficult times before but it seemed nothing had prepared me for the new challenges I faced. Separations are never easy and it felt like new worries were being piled on top of old.  I would take my little Shuffle with my music in my ears and walk all over the small town I was living in.  I would walk fast and return to the house tired but ...

The high Arctic Polar Vortex chummy touched down here on its way through most of North America.  Instant frostier than usual temperatures. When it is -20 C straight temperature it doesn't take much of a breeze to have frigid wind chills.  But not alone with this as so many of you have emailed about your equally frigid temperatures much further south of us.

Low Winter Sun

I said yesterday can we really keep doing this. This being just the two of us here day in, day out with only a far wave or a shouted hello very occasionally to other people. Of course, we can and I know we can; after all we have no alternative even though it is feeling like this pandemic is dragging on far too long. Almost a year now we remind each other and we've made it this far, still safe and healthy which is the main thing. So good then. Then we go about our activities, watch our shows ...

  I had a funny thought this week when I ordered checks online from my banking site. The smallest order was for 100 and I figured these will probably see me through now. I so seldom write checks anymore. It wasn't a sad thought just like oh yes that's true now.

We have an overabundance of office supplies. This is thanks to auction wins and having extras thrown in during one of them that we did not bid on.  This week I'm planning on organizing the smaller totes and storage bins with the intent to lessen the amount ...