Enjoy Winter

With such an unusually mild winter here.... so far.... I decided to put my summertime thinking chair back on our little covered porch today.  It's a lovely place to have a cup of coffee and listen to the woodsy world wake up in the morning.  I have a 3/4 length down coat that keeps me cozy.  Notice the beady little eyes watching out the door.... my corgi, Sadie, doesn't like to miss out on anything.

Yesterday my husband put up this feeding tray for the birds outside my kitchen window.  It is fun to watch them come so close.  The ever-faithful chickadees and nuthatches have visited already.  The squirrels aren't a bit shy.  I am hoping for blue jays and cardinals, but I expect we will need some foul weather to bring them in.

And to round out a perfect winter day there is nothing like a fresh pie.  This time I used apples, pears and cranberries.... a wonderful combination!  I add cinnamon and nutmeg to this pie.  Try it!

Father Time

The month of December 2011 left us with almost no snow which is most unusual for us here in the northwest corner of  the lower peninsula of Michigan.  I had a couple of days of nice ice skating on the lake and now we are getting some real snow today.  Predictions are for up to 20" but we will see. 

Regardless of the forecast, I got extra grocery staples just in case.   The wood is stacked in case power goes out and we lose heat from the furnace.  Bird feeders are full as are the squirrel stashes.  Most importantly, perhaps, I organized the garage this morning so I could get my car inside.  That meant moving my pack and ship table, sorting items to be listed in my Etsy shop, loading the recyclables and Goodwill drop off items into my car.

I feel ready for anything now.   I think I'll curl up with a book and let it snow!

Here is a 1909 postcard from my collection.  Happy New Year!

Christmas Away from Home

This lovely poinsettia tree greeted us in the Fort Myers, Florida, airport.

We rented a lovely home in Venice with a pool and an excellent location between the beach and downtown shops and restaurants... all within walking distance.  Here are my son and granddaughter enjoying the pool.

We spent a day visiting a friend who spends winters in Florida.  Here is my husband getting acquainted with the egret who regularly visits my friend's deck overlooking the intercoastal waterway.  Across the water we had lunch in Cortez, an older working fishing village with every kind of luscious sea creature available for purchase in the market. 

The unexpected bonus for me was a free daily yoga class on Venice Beach.   I attended every day.... it was rejuvenating!  We had a lovely holiday week with family and friends in a beautiful, friendly community.  Hope your holiday was special, too.

Cookie Baking

I love my granddaughter's intensity in her first serious stint at making rolled and cut cookies at Nonna's house!  Her attention span was greater than I anticipated for a 2 yr. 9 mo. old.   She spent the weekend with me and when her parents came for supper and to take her home, we all enjoyed frosting and decorating!

 Ernie, Bert and Emily loving the snow globe music box....  we played it again and again.... and again!

Hope you are having a joyful and peaceful holiday!   And Happy Solstice, too!  Longer days will be here soon.

Christmas Village in the Library

You know how one activity must precede another?  I so badly wanted to set up my Christmas village on this deep window ledge today, but first I had to sort stacks of books first.  I should have taken a "before" picture.   Books were stacked 18" high every-which-way on this ledge, on the floor, two rows deep on the upper shelves.  So I was ruthless and went through the entire wall of books from the ceiling to the floor and have three shelves full in another room now that will go on Half.com after New Years.  This felt so good - so right, and now I have the reward of seeing my Christmas village with all it's pretty lights.

The two shelves of books directly beneath the village are the children's lending library.  I have books for toddlers up to older elementary.   Some were my own children's books when they were young.  There are several visiting neighborhood grandkids who come to the lake in the summer and I encourage them to come borrow two or three books at a time for those occasional boring or rainy days.   It is fun to have them here.  And now I have a toddler grandchild of my own to enjoy my library as well.

Red

Irresistible apple tree!  An untamed, untrimmed, unpicked tree along the side of the road just loaded with gorgeous red apples.   It deserved a photo on a chilly December day.  This was last Friday as I took back roads along the shore of Lake Michigan to set up a day early for my final craft show of the season.  The day of the show our roads were covered with black ice, so I am especially glad I did not wait to drive the distance on Saturday.   This scene was within walking distance of a quilt shop which is one of my favorites in the north.  I had the extra time so stopped to purchase supplies for new projects.

Also on this route is this neat old Dodge Power Wagon which is under a lean-to so is well-protected from the weather.  Notice the bit of snow on the fender and running board.  I have been driving past this oldie for a couple of years and longing to inspect it more closely.  Again, time was on my side so I stopped for a photo.  I am tempted to crop this pic for the landscape reflected in the side windows.  What do you think?

It's beginning to look festive

The Christmas tree lighting ceremony in our town is this Friday night.  The very large donated evergreen is set up in one of the busiest intersections of our 3-block downtown.  The trunk of the tree is secured in a man-hole and what was a three lane street is now 1/2 lane on either side of the tree, and, yes, traffic carefully gets through.   No one seems to mind this minor inconvenience for a few weeks.  I'll try to get some pictures of the lights.

In the meantime, I found myself with extra pie dough again last night and nothing special to put in it.
I sliced two apples, two pears into the pie shell and topped them with a cup of raw cranberries.  Spices then a crumb topping made this a very tasty and festive pie.

From my postcard collection I selected this beauty from the 1920's and placed it in this wonderful little vintage art deco swing frame.