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All over the house my Paperwhites are blooming and the house smells so sweet. They're such beautiful little flowers with such a powerful scent.......I smile every time I walk past one of them. They're also blooming out in the garden.......can Spring be far behind? They often bloom here in December, poking out of the snow......this has been an exceptionally cold year so they've waited until now this year .
I went down to see my mom today and , as always, had a nice visit with her. I stopped by Beverly's .......a local craft store...on the way home and bought some new yarn and some new needles. I hope to increase my knitting skills in the next few weeks. I just can't sit without something to do with my hands and knitting has always intrigued me. I've taught myself the basics and I think I'm ready to expand my repertoire. I've also recently taken up dulcimer playing again. It's going slowly, but there again. it's something I really enjoy so I'm sticking with it ! Hopefully, I'll be able to post a new dulcimer video soon......without embarrassing myself too much !
Minestrone soup , fresh baked Dilly Bread and baked squash from the garden for dinner tonight.........all of Jim's favorites !
Well , we did make it out alive and I did have some Butterfingers in my pack ......so there was really never any danger of a search party finding us this Spring.......but, it was a little mini adventure .
Molly, Ross and I started out the day with a trip down to Roseville where we met Granny at Chevys. We all split an order of the fajitas......more than we could eat ! We had a wonderful visit on a beautiful warm, sunny day.
We headed back up the hill and picked up Jim and Jenny and headed up Foresthill Rd. to China Wall. It's been sunny and warm the last couple of weeks so the amount of snow was a little disappointing, but there was enough to tramp around on our snowshoes. It was a little treacherous due to snow conditions, but that didn't deter Ross.......I think his next career will be that of "speed snowshoer".......he was flying.....and I mean in a good way ! The rest of us ambled around for a few hours......it was wonderful to be outside in the winter air. From one of the wettest Decembers on record to one of the driest Januarys......I hope we get more snow soon......this snowshoeing thing could be very addictive .
Playoff football today and it's actually a lot colder and cloudy, but no one's predicting any snow any time soon. A cozy fire's going and before the games start I plan on finishing my book .......Sundays are awesome !
A new endeavor here on the farm......all natural homemade laundry soap ........a concoction I brewed up out in the laboratory ! I actually made my first batch a few days before Xmas, but I wanted to give it several wash loads before I started singing it's praises. Some 25 wash loads later I feel it's safe to say I love it ! It smells fresh and clean, is much less expensive than store bought brands, gets the clothes nice and clean.........and, bonus, it is the must delicious shade of yellow....my favorite color ! It takes me about 10 minutes to make the amount shown in above photo and, since I only use about 1/4 cup per load, this amount lasts me at least 8 weeks at a cost of roughly $5.00. I may start selling it on Ebay or Etsy and it's a natural to go with my kitchen towels.
Yesterday my Dad came up and spent the day. It was beautiful. sunny and warm ......as opposed to the Valley which had dreary fog all day. We had a nice visit, watched a little football and looked at some old photos he'd brought along.
Today was another beautiful day, however, I drove down to see my mom and enjoy our favorite salad at Chilis. It was cold and damp down there, but always wonderful to see my Mom's bright, sunny smile !
I've got apple muffins in the oven right now .......crab in the fridge for dinner....even a Kings game recorded to watch soon.
Me and my Bobby McGee, aka Jim, spent the day on Sunday in San Francisco.....or on the way to San Francisco ! Jim had gotten me tickets to go see Willy Nelson at the Filmore and Sunday night was the night ! It was such a fun day.....Jim's been so busy at work that we haven't been able to have many fun adventures lately and so it's nice to know that we still have it in us !! We took the long, winding road to S.F., through Napa and Marin counties....so beautiful and so nice to have each others undivided attention ! We arrived in the city just in time for a long walk on the beach at sunset.......perfect timing, perfect company, perfect place.
We found a great Chinese restaurant on Clement St....bullfrog on the menu, Jim was game to try it ......I stuck to Kung Pao shrimp !! It was really quite a place. From the street it just looked like a little hole-in-the-wall and so we were very surprised when we were lead upstairs to a huge ballroom type room......chandeliers and mirrored walls......appropriately psychedelic for a San Francisco night !
When we got to the Filmore we even found free street parking....saving ourselves some $20 ! The show was absolutely awesome.......Willie's still amazing , his band incredible and the Filmore as magical as ever.
Smooth drive home.....sound asleep in bed by 2:00 am........waffles the next morning!
............but then nothing ever is......only one thing in my life that was..... the smiles of each of my babies..........Ahhhhhhh! Sweet big, juicy smiles....not really comparable to dried grapefruit slices , but I did hope these would be a little brighter. Maybe next year , if I score more grapefruit, I'll add some more to these strands.......maybe that's what they need.
It's been a quiet day at home today. Lots of playoff football......Go Seahawks !.....a big slash pile burning down by the big fir tree, always exciting !.......and Molly, Ross, Jessica and Monica came by on their way up to snowshoe.......always good to see them !
Tomorrow Jim and I are headed to S.F. to see Willie Nelson at the Filmore. We'll probably leave mid-morning and head to the coast, maybe some chowder for lunch and then hang out in the city until showtime, which starts at 8 pm. It'll be a late night getting home afterwards, but it'll be a warm and cozy reward to crawl into bed.
Don't tell me it's going to be another one of those years.....you know, the kind of years that fly by.....you turn around and another week's just passed ! I guess I need to resign myself ......it's always one of those years !!
Last Friday evening.....New Year's Eve.....we drove down to Jerry and Barbara's house for a quick visit. They weren't able to make it up here for Xmas and we wanted to see them. Jack and Donna and also Marcy were there too. They had all prepared a delicious dinner....Shepherd Pie for dinner.....Lemon Pie for dessert ! A lovely dinner.....pie heaven ! We got home around 11:00...sound asleep before the strike of midnight, although I did wake up briefly at 12:00 when someone shot off some fireworks. I may have even rolled over briefly and kissed Jim "Happy New Year !" !
It was a cold, snowy rest of the weekend and we never left the house. I read half of a book " The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" on Saturday......a thrill for me, a good book and a warm fire ! Sunday was the last day of the regular season of the NFL and so we watched every game available ! A little excitement.......alot of moaning !
Today I spent most of the day cleaning the garage. Amazing how garages get cluttered up......especially around the holidays. All clean now and it feels so good !
Oh....I also got all the Paperwhite bulbs started this weekend......in a couple of weeks the house will smell like Spring !!
