TIME

 

Time has a way of getting away from us.  It’s hard to believe that:

February is gone,

It’s been 2 years since everything shut down,

2 years since I went to work,

Decades since I was born (my birthday was the end of February),

Nearly 4 decades (or 2 score) since I became a Mrs. (still am!),

 Over 3 decades since I became a mom for the first time,

 Have had some of the same friends for 40 to 50 years! 

Don’t even get me started on how quickly the weekends go, blink your eyes on Friday afternoon and suddenly Monday’s alarm clock is ringing.  It’s always shocking to me when I realize how much time goes by without realizing its happening.

               When we are young we think that we will always be so and we have all the time in the universe to do things that we like to do, until one day we wake up and realize we qualify for an AARP membership card and a discount on a meal at IHOP on Wednesday afternoons.  Seriously, did you ever go to an IHOP on the senior discount day?  My husband and I did that fairly regulary years ago when he first qualified for the discount.  We didn’t do it because of the discount, but rather because at the time we had a respite worker come to stay with our daughter for a few hours and that’s the time that she was available so we’d meet up when he got home from work around 4:00.  We were the youngest patrons there, and it reminded me of a dining room at a senior living community with men in their best shirts smelling of Old Spice aftershave walking around telling lame jokes, women with their hair freshly done twittering in response to their mate’s attempt at humor.  There’s even a special senior menu with lower prices and smaller portions.  I kid you not. We don’t do that any longer because it’s been years since we had the respite worker.  I miss regularly having a date day but don’t miss going to IHOP!

               This weekend we turn our clocks ahead an hour so we lose an hour’s sleep, of course when I was much younger and more foolish it was an hour of party time that we lost.  Haha! Those days are long gone!  I think it’s a hard thing to try and be mindful that time is going at jet speed when days can feel so endless sometimes.  We have so much to do and so little time; or so it seems.

I took a walk at the local park recently.  I can't wait until the grass is green, but it was nice to get outside on such a beautiful day.

These are the flowers my husband gave me for my birthday, a beautiful taste of spring!

My friend sent me this picture of us when my first born was only days old.  Who are those young people?

This is me at my little birthday party last month.  We had so much fun and a lot of laughs.  I think I was being a smart aleck about something in this picture. Haha!

Hello February!

 

               Here we are at the beginning of February again, still in the heart of winter.  Recent snow and now an impending ice event are pretty typical for the beginning of this month.  At least it’s a short month, and once we get through we are just weeks away from spring.  January felt really long, as it always does; I think because we were so busy from Thanksgiving in November until ringing in the New Year that January just feels like a huge let down.  When there is nothing really special going on and the weather decides that it means business the days just seem to drag.  Maybe that’s why Groundhog’s Day has become such a big thing around here—people need to focus on something outside of themselves and celebrating a rodent seeing or not seeing its shadow is a frivolous and lighthearted thing to do.  Of course football fans are now looking forward to the super bowl and the winter Olympics are starting so we have a bit of a break from nonstop virus coverage and controversy.  It’s a relief to think of something else for a little while!

               This is my birth month as well as my dear friend’s and so there are 2 celebrations that will be happening.  We will be celebrating each other from afar since we live about a 12 hours’ drive away.  Valentine’s Day is also this month so the stores are well stocked with red and pink things—candy, cards, stuffed toys, hearts, shirts, and all kinds of kitschy things to give your love.  Restaurants are advertising their V-Day specials, pizza places are asking for preorders of heart shaped pizzas that you can share with your loved one.  Let’s not forget Presidents’ Day and the fact that it is Black History Month as well as Heart Health month. Whew!  Lots of special things in February!  It’s another nice diversion from the wintry weather we get this month.

               Even though it’s a short month, and typically a cold and stormy one, I look forward to it.  Not just because of my birthday, but the sun is getting a little stronger and higher in the sky every day, and setting later as well.  Birds sing a little more even though the trees and ground may be covered in a blanket of snow and ice.  It’s a month filled with the promise of the coming spring.

The hydrangea keeps hold of the clusters of flowers and give a little shelter to small birds through the winter and a subtle color to the snowy landscape.

 

                                                    

I really like how the sun highlights the ice on the branch of this plant through the shadow of the deck railing.

The Teeth of Winter

 

The credit for this picture goes to my friend Jenyfra Nelson, she thought that the words to my  poem fit her picture so she put them on it. I have to agree with her!  This was a snow several years ago before she moved to a different part of the state.

This was just a hot chocolate that I had one snowy cold afternoon recently. It was more of a windy kind of day with flurries so I was alone waiting for my loved ones to return home from work and daycare.  It was delcious!

                                               
This was a recent snow event.  It wasn't much, just a couple of inches but enough to be annoying and also pretty up the ground with a fresh coat of white.  The poem is from a couple years ago, but  I really like it so put it on this picture to share it.  It makes me laugh with the little bit of snark at the end. Haha!

We seem to be in the teeth of winter now.  Temperatures are below freezing most of the time and snowy, icy weather threatens every few days which is to be expected in January. My least favorite kind of storm is the wintry mix, which is what we seem to get the most of the past few years.  It includes accumulating snow, sleet, freezing rain, plain rain, and then the temperatures tumble and it ends as either layers if snow and ice or a frozen slightly slushy mess that if not cleared away before sunset freezes into lumps of ice which can only be removed by Mother Nature.  There are spots on my street and driveway that do not get much if any sun until sometime mid-February when it is higher in the sky.  I use lots of ice melter in this kind of weather.  Of course, at some point, probably in February, we will likely be in for a huge (to me) amount of snow of 18+ inches.  It’s pretty while it’s falling and spectacular when freshly fallen and the sun hits it.  At that point it sparkles like billions of diamonds and looks like a lovely Christmas card;  but then the realization hits that we must go outside and wield a snow shovel and clear off the cars and we begin grumbling about the “stupid snow”.  Like most everything else in life there’s good and not so great things about it.  The squawking heads on the television news really hype the storms that head for us, and the weather casters can barely contain themselves with the excitement leading up to and reporting during the storms.  I suppose it’s a relief to have a weather event to talk about rather than when it’s tranquil with perhaps a light breeze, sunshine and temperatures that are mild for the season but still within the norm.  They must get a little bit bored by quiet weather maps.  We do tend to give credit for weather to the forecasters on the television, as if they had any control over it.  Nice weather?  Thank you weatherman!  Rain on my picnic?  Thanks a lot, weatherwoman, sheesh!  Snow on the way? Geez, weather-people, what do you have against us?  It’s pretty funny that we do that.  They have no more control over the weather than anyone does, guess it’s a case of blaming the messenger. 

               When it’s very cold all the time I look for things to keep me cozy and warm.  Sweatshirts and hand crocheted blankets on the couch are good for that, as is sipping tea or hot chocolate (don’t forget marshmallows and whipped cream on it!) while reading a good book or watching a movie on TV.  Some people snuggle up with a pet to help chase away the chill and dullness of a gray wintry day, and some head out to the kitchen to make soup or bake cookies; all great ways to feel cozy and warm and a bit more cheerful while we wait for Spring to begin.  Some people use the inside time to start seedlings they can plant outside once the ground thaws and the sun warms everything again.  It’s something nice to look forward to and a great reminder that winter doesn’t last forever.  In a few weeks the snow will melt, the sun will be warm, and plants will begin to grow again.  Until then, stay cozy in whatever way you can.

Time Flew

Well, Christmas and New Year’s Eve came and went with all their busyness and celebration and food.  I felt like I didn’t stop eating from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve!  We had so many cookies and so much food on Christmas that we could have easily fed an army.  It was worth it, we have some nice memories now and new relationships to build as our children become adults and find significant others.  Gifts were exchanged, there were many laughs and it was wonderful.  I welcome 2022 and hope it brings us good things.  Even though it feels like we took 2 steps forward and then one step back, there is hope that we can move forward more this year than last.  Happy New Year!

This is a family favorite from my mother's recipe file.  My daughter and niece  make them now so the recipe continues through the generations.

Yes there are the molasses ginger snaps on this plate of cookies along with the shortbread from my husband's family and is another recipe passed down through the generations.  I love family recipes for Christmas cookies especially.

 I always feel a bit pensive on New Year's Eve and usually write a poem to share.  I love that I had a picture of a beautiful /December sunrise to use as the background.

I spent the 23rd of December wrapping all the gifts for my family. It took me 5 hours!  It was worth it to see the happiness gifts brought them

It was exceptionally cold this morning, especially since we've been having very warm temperatures for the most part lately. I found the grill cover had a sparkling coating of frost of it, and looking closely at it I was fascinated that it looked like a floral design such as one might see on a spring dress.  It seemed like the perfect background for a little verse about Jack Frost.

Ramping Up

 

 

               We’re ramping up for the end of the year holidays, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.  Thanksgiving is in the rear view mirror and I’m still full!  Ha ha!  Maybe it’s just that all the delicious food is sitting around my waist making my pants too tight?  Oh well! Maybe all the running around preparing for Christmas will remove some of that although part of preparations include lots of treats baking so…..oh well!  We did have a very nice time Thanksgiving Day, as we usually do.  It was weird being without brother Dan; this is the first Thanksgiving without him that we’ve been able to get together with anyone not living here, although he passed away June of 2020 during the shutdown.  We talked about him and told stories also about our loved ones no longer with us, and I think that’s part of any holiday family dinner.  It helps keep their memory alive and gives the next generation an idea of what kind of people they come from.  I think it’s comforting.

               We decorated outside the weekend after turkey day and that always is a cheery thing to do although a cold thing to do.  It was windy that day, too, so the wind chill was probably making it feel like it was in the 20’s. Of course, there had to be a quick run to the corner store for another string of lights and lots of hot coffee and turkey soup afterward to warm up. It was a fun thing to do with my daughter and her boyfriend helping.  A few days later we had a dusting of snow and that was nice, it made the deck tree and lights look pretty and Christmassy, and since it didn’t stick to the roads we didn’t mind it at all.  I wonder if we’ll have any snow for Christmas Day.  I really do like it when there’s a little snow on Christmas morning, but not so much that we need to shovel and our family can’t safely travel to get here.  I guess we shall see!

               I made a new wreath during a caregiver’s support group crafting zoom, and it was fun to do.  I hung it on the door to what will eventually be an office/guest room but is currently a holding room for things we don’t know what to do with.  I didn’t want to hang the wreath on the door because I’m afraid it wouldn’t survive the opening and closing of the front door. I plan to start decorating the inside of the house next week.

               I’ve been trying to get my gift shopping done early, partly because the news about supply chains is a little concerning, but mostly because I do have the time and would rather be able to take my time wrapping and avoid a last minute rush while I’m also trying to bake and prepare for Christmas dinner with my family.  I’m finding that the one thing stores don’t seem to be stocking this year is the candied fruits and fruit peel for fruitcake!  I happened to be in Walmart before Thanksgiving and saw the red and green cherries so I picked up a couple packs so I’d have them, but I wanted more because I also us them in a cookie recipe.  I have one more store to check and then I guess I have to either order from Amazon or just use what I have this year and make another kind of cookie.  It seems curious to me the things that are in short supply periodically since the pandemic began almost 2 years ago. It’s so hard to believe that’s how long we’ve been masking, and arguing about all things covid related, and staying away from others as much as we can while still living our lives. It’s a little bit wearying, but humans are resilient and I guess we’ll just keep on moving forward to the best of our abilities.  What else can we do, really?

I love my door cane, simple yet pretty. It was a gift from a coworker many years ago.

This is the wreath I made with the caregivers crafters. I like it, although it looks a little top heavy.

The light dusting of snow which made the deck tree look like Christmas morning.  My daughter and I made the foil chains as one big long chain when she was much younger.  I recall making them as a kid with my brother Dan.