Family

Busy bees

/ one2travelfar / 2 Comments

A lot of wood has gone into the stove since my last post. We had snow, then a melt and torrential rains and finally, flooding. I couldn’t get home from work for several hours because the road was flooded and then washed away. I had to walk over the bridge but the road was repaired the next day.

We travelled near and far. First to White Pine Camp, where we plan to spend a lot of time in the next several years. We spent three days at President’s cabin, where the fireplace was blazing.

Our bedroom had a quilt pieced by former President of the USA, Calvin Coolidge. How many of our former presidents were quilters, I wonder.

We were reminded that Adirondack black bears look sweet when compared to those of Manitoba. They do not stand taller than me and like to dress up for holidays.

Christmas quickly approached and we spent a few days in Kittery, Maine with family. A good time was had by all. I received this knife, to add to my collection, and now it looks like we have the makings of a murder mystery in the kitchen.

I did not walk away from this holiday season uninjured. First I burnt my finger on the new wood stove, which is much less forgiving from the old one. Then it became infected and entailed an ER and doctor visit. That finally healed but then we went ice skating with the grand kids, and I decided to show off and demonstrate speed skating form. Well, I fell and broke at least one rib, maybe two. You would never know it from my happy smile taken after the fact.

It’s been two weeks now and I no longer tense up for a sneeze or cough, but I still hold on.

On the home front, a friend had a new baby and I got to make baby things. I tried out my new to me standard gauge knitting machine and made a cute little fair isle sweater. Note to self, it needs more contrast in the bands.

The event that will dominate 2024 is my daughter’s wedding. I already took a trip to DC and she found the perfect wedding dress. I am working on linens for the newlyweds, so can’t preview them, but here is a shot of my weaving area, where I will be spending plenty of time.

I’m going to try downhill skiing again in a few weeks. Hope it doesn’t slow me down!

Tis the season

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Our family winter gathering has come and gone; we tested, we laughed, we cried and, generally had a great time. We had planned a VRBO trip until the landlord tried to screw us. VRBO did nothing, but AMEX came in and saved the day. Amex refunded my first trip and through Air BNB we found a mansion to stay in with a heating system that sang and clanged us to sleep. Unlike our first rental, when a storm was predicted, the Air BNB landlord offered us another night for free! Enough said.

Storm King sculpture park

We spent a frigid day walking around the sculptures in Storm King, played Go Fish countless times and marveled at how funny 3-8 year old could be playing charades.

We returned home to a foot of snow that had to be cleared to pull into the driveway. Sub zero temperatures have settled in.

Always scary when the ice starts to creep inside.

But we have been able to ski out our door and the snow is beautiful.

Here’s to an almost normal holiday season.

Still waiting…

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in place. The new reality. At least the place is beautiful and offers plenty of room to enjoy nature alone. I walk for about two hours a day and rarely see anyone.

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This view looking west towards our little homestead always gets me.

So what have I been up to in the little cabin? I’m always sort of on edge while I wait for the worst to hit our rural county. There is a chance I will be called in when it does. But in the meantime I have to keep busy.

Like everyone who is lucky enough, I do a little work from home most days. Those walks eat up a good chunk of time and do wonders for my psyche. They haven’t helped shed any pounds from all the baking I do these days though.

I had a virtual party last week with my family and it was the most fun I have had in a long time.  Since they live in urban areas, I was able to have cakes delivered to them. Tim generously offered, but I baked my own birthday cake. It was a little over the top with decorations but delicious. Actually I baked half a birthday cake.

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I picked up these cards at the last trip I made to the post office. I went because I was shipping some masks to family and friends.

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We had cake, played games and laughed for hours! I highly recommend it. My French lessons continue on Zoom as well.

The bee hives are ready and just waiting for warmer weather…and the bees. Not yet though. There’s a chance we will still get some snow tomorrow.

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In the meantime, I will continue to bake, cook, read,  binge watch, knit, quilt and weave. And stay in place.

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