Day 38 - 7th February 2013 - Leaves, Old wood, Birch Bark and Bling

Another chilly morning, temperature is -9.4. Today I've got to get some things done that I've been going to do all week. Seems that I get easily distracted. Woke up to see the stars are all out this morning, that must be a good sign although they say a storm is coming. Hope they are right for a change. 1 snow storm per winter works for me then lets move on to spring. They say February is a short month but I've always found it to be usually the coldest. Friends are off to the sunny south today for vacation and to escape the winter weather. Hoping they have fun and stay out of too much trouble.
So it felt like I wasted most of Wednesday but I was deep in research for almost 6 hours of the day. Thank goodness Lexi drags me out periodically for walks and we did stop and have tea with Lois late in the afternoon. Among my photos was one of a lady on the deck of a ship, written across the top was "Enroute to Bermuda, Anna G. Mack M.D." Looking at her outfit and guessing her age I'm thinking it was taken circa 1920's.  I was off and running again. Finally I did find some more information about her and an obituary which was on a paid site, so I had to put a request out on one of the lists to see if someone has access to it. I did know that she was from Clyde River, but found out she went to University in Boston and worked in that area most of her life. The saga continues. Now if I can just find out about the trip to Bermuda! I'll spend a little more time today on her but not the whole day.

 Sometimes I just like to play around with some editing.

 That looks a little more normal, but blue was fun.

 Looks like a Woodpecker's dream tree!

 I'm still trying to capture that little bit of bling in the snow.

 Should have taken a minute to look inside.

I guess it was more of a textural day.
















The rest of the household will soon be up. Enjoy your day!

Day 37 - 6th February 2013 - Birds and Bread

Wednesday and another cool morning, temperature is -9.2, too cold to go anywhere today. Slept in a little this morning, but then I was later going to bed than normal so that's all good. Will tackle that last student funding grant and some research today. No cooking or baking today, although I do enjoy spending the bulk of my time in the kitchen.
I've come to a revelation  for all of you using bread makers you don't know what you are missing doing bread the old fashion way. Recently a friend got me re-hooked on bread again. Now it's becoming a weekly event. There is nothing more relaxing than kneading that dough, works out all your stress and takes you to your happy place for 10-15 minutes. My Mom says she loves to knead and I can see why. Those machines take all the fun out of it and honestly how much more time does it take. I'm thinking that years ago it was probably the only peace and quiet many women got in their busy lives of running a household, children, husbands etc. Had a nice potluck supper last evening, lots of good food (and you know that's important), got home and the fire had gone out and boy was it chilly in the house. Wood has it draw backs - can't leave home for long.

Kind of sparse I would say.

 Beautiful day on the lake.

 The acrobatic goldfinch.

 And then he flips, I think he fell from there.

 My favourite girl, Lexi.

The Wisteria is even interesting in the winter months.

Looking a little more dignified here.

Rolls for the potluck supper and bread for home.













Time to check out the scrabble games. Enjoy your day!

Day 36 - 5th February 2013 - Sky, Birds and Pie

Tuesday, temperature is -7.4 more flurries forecast for today. I'm back in the kitchen today, going to make brown bread again and a shepherd's pie for the pot luck this evening. They had ground turkey on sale at Sobeys and it will suit my purpose nicely as well as my budget.  So that will keep me entertained, along with the odd roam around the hood and maybe going through some more of those photos. Would like to get them rehoused and away again.
To say Monday was not a good day is putting it mildly. I was all primed to tackle the pie crust and so I started...and threw it in the compost instead of the pie plate. Made the chocolate chips cookies instead, at least I can't go wrong with those. I was watching the birds at the feeder and bang one hits the window, I look down and it's a brown creeper, frozen to the floor I know I should go out and help it but I can't. Sounds really weird, I love to watch them, take photos of them but I am scared to death of birds. I guess it's the wing motion, I'm worse about bats but that's for another day. I watched and eventually he flew off. Thank goodness. Actually if he hadn't of hit the window I wouldn't have known he was hanging around, seems a bit shy. Decided with all that, Lexi and I would take a walk, clear my head and maybe revive my mood. I got to thinking about a lady I worked with many years ago at one of my first jobs. I waitressed at the Loyalist Inn through high school and college. Evelyn was a pastry cook there in the early years, she passed away last week at the age of 97. She was one of the best cooks and I would often sneak into the pantry where she made all the good stuff - roll, donuts, pies and cakes. Being kind and jolly she would often give me a roll hot out of the oven, but it was hard to convince her to ruin a piece of pie while getting it out of the pan. So I went home with renewed determination. Well crust #2 did make it to the pie plate and the oven, but still didn't look anything like it should, I filled it with lemon and made meringue for the top. Larry was happy. I told him it will cost $5. as it was suppose to go to a pie auction. It seems my very good friend has been missing the birds the last few days, so thought I had better get on the ball. Had a hard workout at exercise class last night, it was good to do stations for a change.

I guess during the big wind last week these chairs went topsy turvey.

The sky and my mood were very similar yesterday morning.

 Flying in or out I'm not sure which.

 The nuthatch is one of my favourites, just wish he would stay away from the window too.

 They are so funny, most of the time they are upside down.

I'm sure the Red Poll flock is increasing.

This is the brown creeper that hit the window. Appears to have made a full recovery.

And this is what started the problems of the day.













Time to get another coffee. Enjoy your day!

Day 35 - 4th February 2013 - Logs, Ice, Windfalls

Monday morning and the work week begins again. Temperature is -1.6, looks like it snowed a bit more during the night. Today I'm tackling pie crust. Have the recipe and instructions so I'm all set - right? Lets hope so. I just need to remember to do it quickly so I don't over think and over handle it. I know why I don't  make good crusts but have never been able to correct myself - today I tackle the task with renewed confidence. Guess I better make some cookies for the lunch box too. Will start the last of the student funding grants and get that worked out in my mind at least. I'll review the write up I did from last year and go from there.
I think it snowed all day Sunday and there still wasn't anymore on the ground as when I got up in the morning. Go figure! We tackled the small storage room - took about 15 years of business/personal records out to be destroyed. Purging with your spouse is not always the easiest thing to do but we survived the exercise. So that made a little space, and set some things aside for an upcoming yard sale for work and some other stuff for the garbage. The things we keep. Still more to do but can now actually walk in the room, where as before we just pushed the door open and tossed things in.

 I always find it cool to look through logs.

 Still hanging on.

 My favourite fungi frozen in the ice again.

A wind fall is resting among some other branches.













Enjoy your day!

Day 34 - 3rd February 2013 - The River, Mergansers and Cranberries

Sunday morning - up too early. Brought the book I was reading downstairs and read for an hour before turning the computer on. Temperature is -4.6, not quite as cold as yesterday. Turned on the outside back door light to see what the weather was doing and I see we had some snow over night. Checking the weather stations - the big red bar that said "snowfall warning" when I went to bed has now been changed to a green "snowfall ended" one. Looks like we are still getting some snow (not as much), but rain also which equals a mess. Sounds like mostly an inside day, I'm sure we can find something entertaining to do. I have a small storage room that could be tackled which could soon be on an episode of hoarders. Perhaps that's the thing to tackle today - I know half of what is in there could be tossed and a second pair of hands would truly be useful on that job.
Saturday was nice but nippy. Sam the groundhog saw his shadow so we are on to another 6 weeks of winter - was there really any doubt about that? It's kind of fun waiting to see what the little rodent is going to do. A quick trip to town to waste money on groceries and then home again. As I predicted, Larry put wood in the basement, then we took a drive down to the river to see if we could see any ducks. We parked and walked down the road along the water. A lazy Saturday evening for all of us in front of the tv.

Looking up the river as it soon goes back into the lake.

 Common Mergansers - Male has the dark head and females the reddish. They are certainly skittish.

 I'll try another day.

 Great spot to canoe down if the water isn't too low.

Nice spot, too cold for now.

 And one would a day be without one of my Red Polls.

My favs - cranberries.














Time to move on. Enjoy your day!

Day 33 - 2nd February 2013 - Windfalls, Snow and A flock of Birds

Saturday, temperature is back to being cold -9.6. Sleep was better last night and feel more rested this morning. I see we have a snowfall warning coming for tomorrow - sounds like 15-20 cms of snow. The girls in the hood will get skiing again. Wonder if the ground hog will see his shadow today? Somehow I think either way we will still have to finish winter out but we can always hope. Today is grocery day. Sounds like I do the same thing every week but that's ok, it's winter and I don't mind some boring routine. I'm guessing Larry will want to put some more wood in the basement, last week's cold snap burned up quite a bit.
Snow flurries and more wind yesterday but not as bad as Thursday. Chased some cobwebs, dust and dirt that was the excitement of my Friday. Lexi and I did manage a nap in the afternoon. Not sure what happen but all of a sudden I couldn't keep my eyes open so we headed for the sofa, she loves to curl up and sleep with her head on my legs. I felt like I was drugged, couldn't lift my head up even when I heard the furnace coming on and off and knew I should go down and put wood in.  I even dreamed which is kind of weird for a nap, but guess I was tired.

 Lexi and I checked out the wind damage - more trees in the path.

 Since it was still a bit windy I kept a close eye out just in case.

 This one is hung up on lines.

 The path is beginning to be like an obstacle course.

 Big fluffy flakes off and on throughout the day.

One of our neighbour's driveway.

Not a great photo but I counted 37 Red Polls in this tree and I think there were a few strays in another. The flock continues to grow.











Time for my second cup of coffee. Enjoy your day!

Day 32 - 1st February 2013 - High winds, Ice and Red Polls

Friday and a new month begins - wonder what it will bring. Temperature is -0.1, so not too bad but I bet the roads could be a bit slippery this morning so take care driving to work. My favourite Aunt's birthday was today, she passed away 10 years ago from ALS. She was one of those vibrant people who loved life and we were all so glad to have known and had her in our family. In different ways her two daughters remind me of her every day. And of course there are the many memories that make us smile.  Guess today I better get done what I didn't do yesterday.
Had mostly a quiet Thursday, didn't feel right great in the morning so just grazed on easy eating food, gingerale and spent part of the morning on the sofa. I did come around in the afternoon and made it to exercise class in the evening. Boy did the wind blow hard, lots of trees down in the hood, in fact three neighbours had trees across their driveways and there was one in the road not far from our place. Life in the country. By 4 o'clock the rain had stopped, wind died out some and the sky was blue with big fluffy clouds. If you didn't see the debris all over the road it would be hard to believe we had anything. One thing I can say is that the folks that built our house around 150 years ago made it sturdy, not a creak or a shake.

 Ice is breaking up around the rocks.

 I think the days of skating are over unless we get more cold weather.

 The poor birds had a hard time in the wind.

 The seemed to like feeding close to the ground in protected areas.

 Foam on the ice.

 I think they are playing peek a boo again.

Waiting his turn.














Hopefully today will be better for getting out around the hood. Should be able to get some photos of the wind damage. Enjoy your day!