A new day

 Gosh it is SO warm. It poured rain all night and the snow thundered off the roof at intervals. The yard is a slush pit. When the temperature drops tonight it will be turning into a skating rink! We have some extreme cold sliding in after today.

I was awake really early this morning so I read on my tablet until it was full daylight. Well, that was the plan, as I fell back to sleep about 7AM and didn't wake up until after Ten!! I had a shower and put clean jammas on. I'm not going further than the garbage can this afternoon. M. is doing his regular Tuesday gig at the SPCA so I"m baking again.  I wanted to make some more mudpies to send to my grandson's house.  

We had some lovely flowers (from eldest daughter and her hubby) arrive today to  brighten up the house.

I'm still following the fallout from the political catastrophe that hit our nation yesterday. It's a good day to just sit quiet and knit.

I'm glad we aren't doing any hoopla on Christmas Day. For the first time in a many years we are going to someone elses house and can just relax and be guests. (I've even started putting some of the Christmas tat away. I'm done looking at it. 

According to the local news, our local post office will not be accepting any parcels until next week. My family won't be getting gifts in time for Christmas. :(

What a difference a day makes

 After that blast of cold it really warmed up today. The glaciers on our steps and walkways melted. Tonight it is just belting down rain.

I tried to have a quiet day. The rugs got vacuumed and I did a bit of laundry. I actually like doing both of these chores and find it kind of therapeutic. In the afternoon I burned the mountain of packing paper and cardboard boxes that had accumulated.

The post office will resume operations tomorrow. We've been advised that mail out of town will probably NOT arrive before Christmas so I'm holding on to the kids boxes for awhile yet. I'm posting the Christmas cards tomorrow though. I know they are machine sorted so they should move faster.

Our government erupted into chaos today. The Finance Minister (she was also the deputy Prime Minister) quit on the eve of delivering the year end financial report. She published a scathing letter to the Prime Minister where she criticised his fiscal moves. The House of Commons was pretty much unanimous in wanting the PM gone. About a third of his own party too! It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings. My fellow Canadians will know what I'm referencing when I say he needs to take a walk in the snow.

Done and Dusted

 I'm exhausted now. Let the fun begin.

We had a friend walk up the road. 

M. brought home another big bag of bird seed and some of those nice suet things. The little chickadees are feeding so heavily. We had a downy woodpecker today too. First of the season. 

Baking and stuff

 I've got an awful pile of plastic containers full of treats sitting around. Today I whipped up some bakewell tartlets. Oh my goodness, they turned out great! 

There are three more containers in the freezer. I always bake lots of treats for my grandsons three generation household.

I'm working down to the wire on a genealogical research project. The gentleman in question has no idea of his heritage. I've got his paternal line traced back to late 1700s in Ireland. His maternal line goes back to late 1500s France! French records are a joy to research. I have a very poor command of the language. After learning a few key words, though, it isn't to difficult to decifer the record in front of me. I hope this gift his wife has commissioned is a big hit.

So, it has been a rather tiring day as I dash between projects. ( I only managed to burn a small pan of shortbread)

i haven't been any further than the garbage can and the bird feeder for a few days so I really hope to get outdoors tomorrow.

Every time I turn around our holiday plan is changed. This weekend s dinner party better come off without a hitch. M (chef) has been cooking up a storm! (He cooks, I bake.)

Counting down the days

 I have finished Christmas shopping. Mr. Amazon still has to deliver two outstanding items that couldn't be found in town. I think they are just coming from Ottawa so I'm not worried.

We have had two snowfalls that necessitated plowing the lane. The plow goes by and leaves a mess of snow, gravel and rocks at the the head of the lane. Those humps and bumps need immediate attention.

M. is running into supply issues with his work. The ongoing postal strike is impacting load on the other delivery companies. His two big suppliers can't give him time lines for parts as some of the companies are not picking up now. What a nightmare this is starting to be.

I have been watching various programs about the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral. What a beautiful restoration has been done. 

Not much else newsie around here.  I intend to spend the afternoon vacuuming, dusting and working on the puff pastry I whipped together yesterday. It's very easy to make, but needs multiple rolls and chills.  (I make REALLY good sausage rolls with it!)

We haven't had too many visitors. Just the usual cast of characters

 These guys clean out the feeders really fast. I've had to stop buying seed in bulk because it is attracting mice. My B.I.L. is going to bring us an old refrigerator. I'll store seed in it after the holidays. 

 (Running squirrel)

Talking to the elders about fixing stuff

Looking out toward the road

The ATV is tucked into the woodshed. On a sunny winter day I will sit in the red chair and soak up the light. Sheds still have lots of wood for a burner we no longer have, and miss so much

 I had a great long chat with my Aunt S. yesterday afternoon. She and I are both members of this strange family by marriage so we often have something to complain about. Since our husbands passed away, we found ourselves "outside" of the family circle. 

When we get on the blower, it's not unusual for us to be an hour or two setting the world back on it's feet. The big topic of conversation yesterday was getting things fixed. I was telling her about a CBC Radio broadcast I had been listening to earlier in the day. The topic of that was the Right To Repair Law which is in effect in many locations. Aunt S. told me how lucky I am to have a fellow like M. available to fix anything and everything that breaks or just needs servicing. (He looks after her stuff too). She went on to tell me how useless her son in law was in that respect. (M. looks after his stuff as well! Keeping it all in the family, even though it isn't his family.) Her son in law was raised in an old fashioned family who encouraged their children to get university educations, at great sacrifice to the parents.  As a result, F. never had to lift a finger to do a darn thing. Now F. son C. has no aptitude for anything either.  Aunt S and I were talking about how society is losing the fixers.  Young people are not being taught, nor encouraged to learn how to take care of stuff. It breaks, they replace it.  

Going back to the program I was listening to: One of the speakers was talking about how young people do not have a clue about changing batteries in things. The batteries die, they throw the thing into the landfill and buy new. How many people will discard an item because it requires at $500 repair, but they will pay $2000 or $3000 for it's replacement (which is often of inferior quality to the first). This is something M. sees too often. We have a number of tractors and snowblowers in our shop yard that simply need a fix that the original owner didn't think was practical. He was showing me a part that just came in to fix a very large newer, high end snowblower. It is a dash piece. It is of such flimsy plastic! M. figures it will be smashed in no time too. 

We had a pretty good snowfall over night (though nothing compared to our friends in the lee of the lakes!) I got the snow pushers out and cleared off the two porches. M got the big IH Case tractor out and did the lane. It is heavy wet stuff so he had to plow, not blow. He was still poking the snow out of the blower with a big stick though. When that wet snow freezes in the works it can cause a lot of damage. We are anticipating lots of calls about snow blowers with broken belts in the coming days. They will be out of luck because M. is booked solid almost until Christmas and I am insisting he not get ahead of himself and get sick again. 

It works

 I won't let on that this is only half a tree if you don't!

Grrrrr

 I'm mad as a hornet because I'm an idiot.

I threw out half of the Christmas tree I bought just last year! 

We still have the top four feet so that will have to do. I'll watch the sales after Christmas.

Hello December

 We are having a very quiet weekend. I've done a lot of knitting. My latest obsession are these toques/aka beanies. I'm knitting nice designs in them. I'll be posting a photo of my hoard in the coming days.

Dog and I went for a long tromp through the woods yesterday afternoon. There are so many trees down across our trails. I fell down several times. I got lost at one point but knew that if I kept the sun at my right shoulder ?I'd eventually come to the road. I was so whooped! I slept until after 10 this morning!!!

We are thankful the snow burying our friends on the west side of Algonquin Park is staying there. I know our turn will come eventually.

Happy Thanksgiving to my family

 All of my paternal first cousins are in the US.

I suited and booted and gloved up and went shopping very early this morning. I have been feeling pretty fantastic today. The only time I coughed was stepping outdoors and the cold air hit me.

My Christmas shopping is done.

There are three boxes destined for my family in S.Ontario. I can't afford the couriers fees, so they won't be going out until postal services resume. My kidlets will have an extended Gift Orgie if that's the case! Hahaha.

Yep, it's November all right

 When I woke up this morning there was a virtual white out blowing outdoors. By the time I got myself organized and downstairs, the sun was shining! It was like that all day.

I'm feeling quite a bit better today! Honestly, the key to my good days seems to be a liberal slathering with Vicks VapoRub the night before.  I'm hardly coughing at all today.

If I feel up to it, I'll get suited and booted and masked and gloved and go do a bit of shopping. During these dark dismal late fall days I get cabin fever quite a bit. 

The pup and I walked out to the road today and gussied up the mailbox tub a bit. I found more floral Christmas pics and ornaments in the basement earlier so I put them to good use. 

The man and I decided to take stock of our pantry today. We dug out 8 tins of garbanzo beans well past their best before label, and many tins of various veg that are just at the mark. We're going to be eating a lot of those veggies for dinner in the coming days. The jury is out on the chick peas though.

Just Blinding

 Everything was white as the new fallen snow this morning. Oh, wait, it WAS new fallen snow. It was all gone by noon though. I never so much as stuck my nose out the door.

M and Poppa had a project here early this afternoon. B. and I chatted while I made a meal for us to share. I made shnitzel and perogie as our main. M. cooked up the bones and skin into a beautiful broth and made wonton soup. We finished the meal with a bit of black forest brownie cake. It was a trip around the globe on a plate today, hahaha.

I'm enjoying a quiet evening knitting and reading. Early to bed. Cold is that little bit better today. Baby steps. 

Another outing

 Today was another cold, wet, miserable specimen. The sun was shining when I got up but didn't last to long.

M and I had to return the big escalade to his father. That big suv was a real gas guzzler. I complained about our vehicle making an odd noise. M forgot to tell me he put the snow tires on. They rumble!

We finally got out to a restaurant about 40 kilometres from here in the little hamlet of Douglas. We've been hearing great things about it. I had fish and chips and M had a pizza. The food was pretty good. We will probably go there again. It's not a fancy place, just a diner in an old hotel.

It's early to bed again.