National Pie Day

According to the American Pie Council, today is "National Pie Day."   I learned this from fellow blogger Pat of Mille Fiori Favoriti.   Today is another cold but sunny beautiful day in northwest lower Michigan.  It warmed up to zero at noon.   So I dove into cooking again....  While Split Pea Soup and my basic recipe for Goulash/Chili Base simmered, I tried Pat's Apple Cheese Tart.... doesn't it look yummy?  I added a pear as well because I had one!

Sunday Afternoon ~ 10 degrees

It seemed the best thing for this frigid day was to do a bit of meditative chopping and put a couple of pots of soup on the stove to simmer, then settle in with an enjoyable book:    Reading ~ "A Servant's Tale" by Margaret Frazer.  Simmering ~ Creamy Chicken Vegetable on the left and Buffalo Black Bean Chili on the right.  Stay warm!

New Year Thoughts..... diary, fireplace, knitting....

Aren't these lovely cup and plate snack sets?  "Old Country Roses" by Royal Albert.  I listed them on eBay today but so hope they do not sell.... yet can I possibly keep and display every last pretty thing I find?   I am doing some serious purging again... sort of early spring cleaning.   Have found an old diary I kept from 1971 - 1975.  Was just sharing some of the entries with an old friend from those days.  We have had some good chuckles over some fond memories.

Have you made resolutions for this new year?   Usually I make a list, but seldom act.   This year I skipped the list and in time I have found a few important projects.  Like sorting through old slides... next I will put the keepers on DVDs.  Also sorted through my knitting books, needles and yarn.   Found a sock knitting class that begins tomorrow evening and runs for three Thursday evenings... just what I needed.

A blogger friend commented on our fireplace and thought I'd mention that it was made of split Michigan field stone by a remarkable local craftsman.  He spent about three weeks building it.  Never in a hurry, he sorted, arranged, contemplated every possible rock split and position.  He included us in his decision-making process as we went along.  He found the pine log for the mantel.  All in all, it was a great experience and we are so pleased.



 

Playing in the Snow

An afternoon off for everyone found my son and granddaughter sledding down our steep driveway today.

We have lots of fresh snow and more on the way, but we dress for it and enjoy it.   The lake has wonderful ice for skating if we can keep the rink shoveled.   Here's my daughter and her dog enjoying the process.

Happy Ice Skating in 2011

After two days of rain and mild weather our beautiful snow is mostly gone.   Just look at the ice on the lake!!!  The sun came up bright today, this first day of 2011.  The temperatures are dropping.  The wind is whipping the flag!   With any luck at all I'll be on my ice skates tomorrow.   Happy New Year to you all!