Once again, I've totally whiffed on the Holiday Homestead Share, but at this point, there just doesn't seem any point in continuing. It is the last day, after all. Today's topic is Ring It In, but it's been so long since I've actually done any ringing in, I wouldn't even know what to post.
That kind of stuff is for the youngsters.
Back in the day, I used to do some year in review types of posts. I haven't done that in a while now, though. Not quite sure why. I'm not going to do tonight, either, because I'm just not into it. Truth is, I've had trouble even getting into the Christmas spirit this year as well. I guess I was just really missing family.
Me, I've spent today watching football and taking down my Christmas decorations. I still have the outside lights and the stuff on my mantle to take down, but that'll wait until tomorrow.
The older I get, the more I understand why my grandparents only put up a three foot tall tree. Now, my mammaw always had a full sized tree, but she had all of us -- plus my aunt and uncle and cousins-- to help. Yeah, Cody and Brennan helped put it up, but they don't come take it down.
By the way, I checked out the clearance sales yesterday when I was in town, but all I got was a new bow for my front door wreath and a few more picks.
I was really tempted to get some wrapping paper, but I've already go so much of that I want to use it all up before I get more. I've really cut back on paper usage since I've started having my family's gifts shipped directly to them.
So anyway, I haven't yet put all of my regular stuff back out, because I'm going to have to make some changes. I'm going to put my trebuchet on top of the book shelf where the TARDISes are right now.
Which means the TARDISes will have to go somewhere else. Not quite sure exactly where yet, but I'll figure it out.
Tomorrow....
For now, I'm going to bed, so let me sign off here by wishing you all a very happy new year.
I’ve been wanting one for years, and this year, I finally have one! Yes, a real, working trebuchet.
It's been in my wish list for years, and now I finally have one.
In the interest of full disclosure, this isn't the exact model that was in my wish list. Cody found this one at a hobby store up in Memphis, and it's actually better because it's a more authentic replica.
He wanted me to put it together right away, so he could see how it worked. Happy to oblige, I moved the cookie decorating stuff to the side and sat down at the table to do just that. The instructions were pretty clear, and easy to follow -- and clearly written by someone with a sense of humor.
I hope coke and cookies work, because that's what I ate when the instructions called for them.
Unfortunately, Cody was disappointed, and didn't get to see the completed model. It took longer than expected, due to having to wait for the glued parts to dry. And I mean, I had to glue the part into place, then wait for it to dry before I could go on to the next step. When it was time to glue the base into place, I ran into a snag, because the wood was warped. I had to go find these clamps I use at work in order to clamp it into place, and I wasn't too sure about the glue they'd included in the kit, so I went and found my Gorilla glue, and used it instead. Just to be on the safe side, I let the whole thing dry over night.
I won't bore you with all the details of putting it together, but I eventually I got it done, and here is the finished product.
Time to try it out!
It took a little bit of trial and error, most of which involved figuring out how much weight to put into the counterweight basket. I also figured out it works better if I hold the base down, because the counterweight was flinging the trebuchet across the floor.
Once I got the kinks worked out, I tried it again.
Cool, huh? I sent that video to Cody and told him I wanted a full sized one next year. I'm thinking about making a bit of an adjustment, though. I think if I use a longer string -- and I'm talking about the string I use to crank it down -- it would allow that counterweight to swing freely and I could toss the little balls even farther.
As it is, this is as far as the counterweight goes.
A longer crank string would give it more follow-through, and perhaps more power. Or maybe if I just untied that string so it wouldn't stop right here...Hmmm, it'll take some experimenting. I'll keep you updated.
The only other thing I've done since last we spoke was to watch a lot of TV, and decorate two more cookies.
The stocking isn't too bad, but the star didn't turn out at all like I'd imagined. Still, they aren't bad for my first time.
I've got me a freezer full of food, that's for sure.
Last night after I posted, I put up five containers of gumbo. I save my old mayonnaise jars to freeze it in, and I find they're the perfect size for two to three servings.
When I was done with that, I vacuum sealed three dozen chocolate chip cookies and two dozen snickerdoodles. I still had more to go, but decide to save them for today, and sat down to watch the Call The Midwife Christmas special on PBS.
I got up this morning and finished putting up all I was going to, and ended up with some 10 dozen cookies, and maybe three pounds of fudge, plus a couple dozen sausage balls. Not to worry, I still have plenty of cookies and candy to eat.
I also kept out some of my roll out cookies for me to decorate. I whipped this one out in a hurry, and will probably do the rest later this week.
I'm telling you, it's not as easy as they make it look on the cooking shows, but then, I'd bet they have better icing than I did. Still, it was fun doing it.
In other news, yesterday morning I went into town and hit the clearance sales, which I don't normally do. I typically avoid stores on December 26th as rabidly as I avoid them on Black Friday, but alas, I was out of cat food, deer corn, and almost out of bird seed, so into the lion's den I went.
It was just as much of a madhouse as I expected, but I managed to pick up a few things on sale, like these bows.
Yes, next year, our packages will have bows on them, and maybe even ribbons as well. Depends on how fancy I want to get.
You want to hear something funny? I was trying to think of a place to store these bows so they won't get squished between now and next Christmas. Some place out of the way...where they'll be safe.... I finally put them into the bottom of the nightstand in Cody's room. Knowing I'd be tearing my hair out trying to find them, or will have completely forgotten even buying them by next year, I put a reminder in my phone for November 1st to get the bows out of the night stand. Seriously.
You may laugh. I don't mind.
I also picked up this little enameled metal mug.
and some picks for decorations.
Some people put those kind of picks on packages, too, so I may pick up some more if they have any left when I go in Friday for my regular shopping day.
The only other clearance items I bought were a couple of boxes of Christmas cards, which I will not show you as most of you are probably going to receive one here in about 11 more months...and despite already having enough candy to give an elephant diabeetus, I bought even more. They finally got some more Hershey's cherry cordial kisses in stock, so I got a few bags of those, since they're my favorite.
It's funny, but these last few years, they've had either the cherry cordial kisses, or the mint truffle kisses, but never both at the same time.
Heh, I was in the store, and they had a whole big stack of chocolate covered cherries. Cases and cases of them. I got a couple of boxes, but I saw one lady pick up a whole case and put it into her buggy! I got a good -- covert -- chuckle out of that.
I spent most of the rest of the day doing mundane things like cleaning up the kitchen, but I also sat down and watched the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. A lot of people say that is their favorite version, but for me it's not even in the top 5. My favorite is the Patrick Stewart version, followed closely by the Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge with Albert Finney, the Alistair Sim version, and the one with Reginald Owen. Then there is the cartoon version I posted about the other day. They all rank ahead of the Scott version in my opinion.
Before I forget again, here is your Holiday Homestead Share for today
#27 -- Winter Warmer
There is nothing like a cheery fire in the wood stove to warm the cockles of your heart. Alas, there will be no more fires here until I get some more wood. I'm not completely out, but I want to hold some back just in case there is another power outage in 35' weather. Like the one we had in 2020. That thing was a lifesaver, I'm telling you. The wood stove, not the power outage. Well, maybe not a lifesaver, but it sure made things much more bearable. That was probably the only week of my life I was actually glad to go to work. I was warm, had lights, and could charge my phone.
That last day, when I was on the way home and saw the electricity people just up the road...I was so glad to see them I literally started crying. Tears of joy. And when they finally got my power back on, the first thing I did was to take a hot shower, even though it was the middle of the night.
Speaking of, I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know my redneck solution worked. This one, I mean.
I turned the water fully on Sunday afternoon, and it flowed freely! Woo Hoo! No frozen pipes here! Rednecks for the win!
And finally, despite my good intentions, and weeks of practicing, this is the only Christmas song I got recorded for you.
I still don't like the way they sound when recorded on my phone. It sounds like I'm pounding the heck out of those keys, but I'm not. I wonder if it has something to do with it being recorded digitally, and how it would sound on some sort of analog recording system.
I was going to record more, but my keys have gotten somewhat loose and rattly. I don't know if you can tell from that video, but I sure can hear it. By the way, I've done some research and this seems to be a pretty common problem with electronic pianos, and is pretty easily fixed, well, by someone who knows what he's doing. It's somewhat akin to needing a piano tuner every few years. After the holidays, I'll look around and see if I can find someone who can take care of it.
If not, I've found YouTube videos on how to do it, but don't really want to go there unless I absolutely have to.
Anyway, the whole point is the rattly keys annoyed me so much that I didn't even bother to try to record any more songs.
Since I bought that phone stand thing, I may try to record more of my regular practices. You'll just have to put up with the rattly keys for a bit.
Man, I totally whiffed on the Holiday Homestead Share these last few days, so I'll have to do a bit of a catch up. I'll put the days I missed at the end of this post, but today's topic is Christmas Aftermath. And here it is.
OK, I didn't take this photo just to show you my pretty Christmas containers. No, this is the aftermath. All of those are filled with homemade cookies and candy. What is aftermathy about that? Just that now I'm the one who has to eat it all up!
Cody and Brennan didn't take anything with them, so it's all up to me to somehow consume about three million calories worth of leftovers. And this isn't even counting the cheese ball, or sausage balls, or Bartley Snack stuff...
Oh, and we mustn't forget the store-bought candy...
I think I'm going to try to vacuum seal and freeze most of the cookies and candy, just to keep from eating it all at once. I've frozen my chocolate and peanut butter fudge before, so I know it'll be OK. And I'm going to freeze most of the sausage ball mix, too. And all that gumbo...
I also wanted to show you the rest of the gifts I got.
The baking pans are from Brennan, the Snoopy record is from Cody (as is the trebuchet -- but more about that in a later post), the piano book and dish towels are from my brother Scott, and the Texas tea towel, coasters, and cutting board are from my sister and her family. My older brother sent us checks.
When I was straightening up yesterday morning, I found Cody's check that he'd forgotten to take with him when they went home Christmas Eve. No problem. I just forged his name the way I used to do when he was little (it's what the teller at the bank told me to do), signed my name right under his, then did a mobile deposit into my credit union. Once they approved the deposit, I Paypalled him the money.
Modern technology for the win.
But I digress...I'd put this cutting board into my wish list, because I need a new one. However, after seeing how beautiful it is, I don't even want to use it.
I'll have to find a place to display it...or something. It's too nice to be hidden away in a drawer or cabinet.
And finally, I managed to get my trebuchet put together last night, but I'm going to save that story for a different post, as this one is already pretty long.
I hope all my readers had a very Merry Christmas!
Before I go, here are the rest of the Holiday Homestead Shares that I missed.
#21 -- Stockings
These aren't just any stockings. There is a story behind them. When I was along about 10 or 12ish years old, I found them in the sewing department of the old Kresge's department store in McArthur Shopping center, which has since been torn down. They were those pre-printed panels that you had to sew together.
Now, I could sew a little bit. My mother had taught me, and I wanted these stockings. I wanted them so badly, I worried my mother to death until she gave in and bought them for me. I promptly sewed them together, then gave them to my Mammaw for Christmas that year. She hung them up every year, until she died. Now they hang in my house, and in my mind, they are Mammaw's stockings.
#22 -- Snuggle This one doesn't really need any explanation....Other than to say the movie on the TV in the background is called The Holiday Stocking, and is well worth watching. You'll need tissues. If you don't, you need to pray to God to remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
#23 -- Tradition
Even thought it was just me, I still got up Christmas morning and made our traditional family breakfast of sausage balls and monkey bread.
I'd already started eating before I thought to take the photo. This year, I did something different, in that I bought the Pillsbury kit instead of using canned biscuit dough and my own cinnamon and sugar. It was all right, and a whole lot easier to do. I bought canned dough as a back up just in case this wasn't good. Now I need to figure out what to do with that. Oh, and I used the new pan Brennan gave me.
#24 -- All Is Calm
Sunrise this morning. I don't often get to see these, as I'm at work before the sun comes up. I chose this photo because the days I do get to see the sunrise are usually pretty calm.
#25 -- Magic
May we never grow too old or jaded to have this much joy when opening a gift.
8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Well, we almost had a white Christmas, but not quite. Most of the snow -- what little we got -- has melted, leaving just a few spots in the shadowy places. The good news is, it's supposed to get up above freezing tomorrow afternoon.
You know, when I was younger and used to read a lot of Jack London novels, I wanted to live in Alaska. Now that I'm older and wiser, I realize how little I am prepared for a life so far north. North Mississippi is too far north for me! This cold spell turned my icicle lights into literal icicles.
There was some doubt about the roads in Memphis, but by this morning, they were clear enough Cody and Brennan were able to make the trip down.
I just wish they'd gotten here in time to see this guy behind my fence.
I tried to sneak a little closer to get a better picture, but as soon as I opened the door, he took off into the woods.
Now that was a deer with a nice rack! I hope he's the one making the babies out there, and not those other deer -- you know, the one whose tines are flipping us off.
Anyway, Cody and Brennan made it down without too much trouble, and the minute they arrived, I put Brennan to work chopping the onion for gumbo. As I told her, I've watched all the YouTube videos and all the Gordon Ramsay tutorials, but when I try to chop onions, it ends up being a mess. She did a good job, though. I'd already gotten the bell pepper and celery chopped, and the turkey cut up, so that was all there was to do. Except Cody did cut the sausage. And made the gumbo. Which turned out really good, despite my early misgivings, because we used turkey broth instead of chicken. It's very rich, but still very good.
Once all that was done and the gumbo was simmering on the stove, Cody said, "When do you want to do presents?"
"We can do presents any time you want." So we did.
Brennan was very excited about the book I got her,
until she opened…
the box of rocks.
"Oh, I'm going to cry!" she said. Which made me really happy. I'd thought about getting her a rock tumbler, but Cody said she already had one, so I got her rocks to tumble in it.
I don't even know what this is that I got Cody, but it was in his wish list and seemed to make him very happy.
Some piece of electronic gear he needed. For his PS...whichever number he's up to.
And look what I got!
A trebuchet! It's been in my wish list for ages, and I finally got one. Several years ago, Cody asked me, "Why do you need a trebuchet?" and I said, "So I can throw stuff...at stuff..." Now, I can, once I get it put together.
And Cody got me the one album I was really hoping someone would get me.
As is our family tradition, I had them lay out all their loot for a photo.
Mine isn't in this one, because I saved a few to open tomorrow. Once I do that, I'll get a photo of my stuff.
After we'd opened all the gifts, Cody and Brennan decorated cookies.
Brennan said she'd never done this, and thanked me for setting it up for them. I said it was my pleasure. Their cookies turned out pretty cute, too. Brennan made a Taco Bell bell, a tree, and an ornament.
Cody made a house, an ornament, and a snowflake, which he ate before I could get a picture.
There are still quite a few cookies left. I might try my hand at decorating some tomorrow, and I still have to do my gingerbread house (which I hid from the kids). But for now, I'd better get to bed, or Santa won't come.
So good night, and a very Merry Christmas to you all!
If you follow me on either Facebook or Instagram, you might think I haven't done anything today but watch movies. I mean, based on what I've posted in my feed, that is.
It all started with this one:
It is a made for TV cartoon version that we watched every year when I was a kid. My dad always made us watch it with all the lights turned off, except the Christmas tree and maybe a candle or two. I'd found it on VHS when Cody was little, but something happened to the tape. I'm not sure what, but luckly I found it again on YouTube a few years ago.
Before I continue, I have to confess this is the most terrifying Marley's Ghost I have ever seen. Especially to a 4 year old...
I guess I was just in a Scrooge kind of mood, because after that I watched the 1935 version, the 1938 version with Reginald Owen, and the 1951 with Alistair Sim. I finished the day with A House Without A Christmas Tree and A Charlie Brown Christmas, but all that Scrooging put me in mind of a post I'd written years ago about the fictional character I'd most want to be.
I felt it was time for a rerun. Here for your enjoyment is the post in its entirety, complete with original formatting.
The Fictional Character I Most Want To Be Like
I think you may be a bit surprised by my choice. It's not Galadriel, or Arwen, or Xena the Warrior Princess or any of the strong, beautiful women out there. No, the fictional character I would most want to be like is
Ebeneezer Scrooge.
Huh? Why would I want to be like Scrooge? He was a
tight-fisted hand at the grindstone,...a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner...hard and sharp as flint, ...as solitary as an oyster.
Aren't there enough Scrooges out there? It would seem that there were. All over blogland and the web I've seen evidence of his presence. Those who've grown hard and bitter toward Christmas, because it's become too commercial, or it has lost it's true focus, or the pressure to buy, buy, buy has grown so great. So these people let society determine how they will, or will not celebrate, Christmas.
Yes, refusing to celebrate because you don't like the societal pressures is allowing someone else to dictate how you celebrate your holidays.
So why would I want to be like that?
I don't. The world has plenty of those. That's the image people have of Scrooge, but it is an inaccurate one. You see, most people forget that something happened to Scrooge.
He changed.
Now, what happened to bring about that change is an interesting story, but it is less relevant than the fact that he became a different person. So what did happen to Scrooge?
He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for...his own heart laughed: and that was quite good enough for him...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that truly be said of us, and all of us!
That's the Scrooge I want to be. Someone who still finds joy in Christmas. Someone who still loves the lights, and the trees, and the decorations, and putting a dollar or two in the Salvation Army bucket. Someone who still sheds a tear when reading the Christmas story from the Bible.
Someone who knows how to keep Christmas well.
To all my friends out there in blogland, those whom I've met in person, and those whom I've only met online, I wish you the most joyous of Christmases. I love you all, and leave you with this wish:
I'd had a completely different post planned out for you tonight, and we may get to it yet, but about the time I sat down to start typing, the storm got here.
The wind hit so hard, it shook the whole house and scared the cat. I had to bring in the wreath from the front door, because it was slamming so hard against the glass, I was afraid it would break it. The glass, I mean. Not the wreath.. The temperature has already dropped 20°, and look at this!
It’s snowing! It's been snowing for about 30 minutes, but they keep saying there's not going to be a whole lot of accumulation. Still, it's not supposed to get above freezing until Sunday afternoon, so maybe, just maybe, we might get a white Christmas after all. And yes, that is me saying, Ooooo. It was cold out there, and I only had a t-shirt on! Well, and pants of course.
I'm hearing reports of the power being out in several places, but mine is still on. I've got plenty of firewood, just in case, though I'll need to restock once the cold spell passes. I don't know if Cody and Brennan will be able to make it down; it all depends on if the roads are clear. We may have to postpone, if they aren't. And after I've spent the last two days cooking.
Which brings me to what I had originally planned on posting about.
I am almost done with the cooking, and once again, I finished everything I'd planned on doing today. I wasn't sure I was going to make it at first. The day had gone by so fast, and I'd only gotten the chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies made. I'd about decided that we'd just have to do without gumdrop cookies this year, when I heard a chime on my phone.
Upon checking, I saw that it was my daily reminder to practice my piano, which have set to go off at 2:30. Seriously, I'd thought it was about 6:30 or 7:00! It was just that dark outside. Whew! What a relief! I got the gumdrop cookies made and went ahead and mixed up my cheese ball, so that's one less thing I have to do tomorrow.
Well, that wind is still kicking pretty hard, so I'm going to go ahead and end this so I can get it published, just in case the power goes out.
I'm all done, well with what I was doing today, that is. And what was it that I was doing today?
Why, I was making candy, of course!
I made chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, lemon jellies, and cream cheese mints. You know, the usual. None of it is cut up yet, but that's the easy part, and I'll probably wait until Friday morning to do all of that. Plus, I went ahead and mixed up my roll out cookie dough, since it has to chill.
I'll get the rest of my cookies done tomorrow. I really need to come up with more savory snacks for my Christmas Eve brunch. I mean, I have sausage balls and Bartley Snacks, but other than that, everything is sweet. I'm going to make a cream cheese ball this year, so that'll be one more thing. Back in the day, Denise used to make a couple of cream cheese balls, so I never bothered. Beverly had a couple of other savory things she made, so when we were all together, we had a good mix.
I had a brief moment of panic while I was mixing up my cookie dough, because I couldn't find my baking soda. "Oh, no!" I said. "I'm going to have to go back to the store...again!" I sure didn't want to do that. I'd literally just gotten home from getting the rest of the things Cody needs to make my pot of gumbo, and I didn't want to go all the way back into town. Fortunately, disaster was averted when I suddenly remembered I buy baking soda in a large orange bag, not a small white box. Once I knew what I was looking for, I found the soda post haste, and the cookie dough is now chilling in the fridge.
The rest of the cookies will be taken care of tomorrow.
In other news, unless you've been living under a rock these last few days, you know Santa has decided to bring North Pole with him on his trip to the South this weekend. With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and get my outside pipes taken care of today, to get ahead of the game. One year, I'd waited too long, and by the time I went out to drip the faucets, they had already frozen. Fortunately, the pipes didn't burst, but I don't want to chance it this time, especially given how cold it's supposed to get.
The faucet on the South side of the house was easy to take care of. I just put one of those styrofoam covers over it and it's all done.
On the advice of a local plumber, I stuffed a few old washrags into the cover, just to be on the safe side.
But this one...this faucet on the North side presented a bit of a problem, because the standard faucet cover wouldn't fit over the T-junction. I was going to look for something to wrap it with while I was at Walmart yesterday, but as I was on the way to that department, I saw a short check out line, and knew I had to get into it right away. Alas, faucet covers were completely forgotten, along with the ice cream I'd intended to buy.
Not that I needed more sugar, but still...
I'm not quite sure exactly when the redneck in my kicked in, but suddenly I had a solution. I ran to my bedroom, opened my drawer and pulled out an old pair of sweat pants I hadn't worn in ages. Really, I'm not sure why I still had them. For such a time as this, I guess.
I went outside and pulled them over the faucets, and used the waist drawstring to tie them into place.
Then I pulled the legs up high enough I can still drip them tomorrow night, when the cold is supposed to get here. If I can find my zip-ties, I'll use them to secure the pant legs into place. If not, I'll tie them up with scrap yarn. I've got plenty of that laying around.
Or maybe Duct tape...that's the standard redneck solution. Duct tape.
The cat says, "I'm just going to sit here in my nice, warm bed and watch the cold out the window."
Sounds like a plan to me, cat!
And finally, in honor of Winter Solstice, and the first day of astronomical winter:
I'm free! Well, until January 3rd, that is. Yep, today was my last day of work for the year. You can bet when that end of shift buzzer went off, oh how the whole plant cheered!
I can neither confirm nor deny that your normally stoic, introverted blogger may or may not have let out what could possibly have been a whoop or two of her own.
Afterwards, I sat in my car in the parking lot debating on whether to go on to the store and get that over with, or wait until tomorrow morning. It only took me a few moments to make that decision and off to the store I went. As expected, it was a madhouse.
You know that awkward moment when someone calls out, "Hey Becky!" Only she's wearing a stocking hat and a mask and you have no idea who she is, so you just roll with it and say, "Hey! How's it going?" And you know the really sad part about it is, even if you could have seen her face, you probably still wouldn't have recognized her...
I can neither confirm nor deny...Ok, on with the post.
I was able to get the things I'd forgotten, so that's good. I was also able to find something....which brings us to today's
Holiday Homestead Share #20 -- Festive Treat
Yes, I found one, and it's the one I'd wanted in the first place. I don't know where they were keeping them last week, but they had a whole display up today. Naturally, I snatched one up. I may not get to it until after Christmas, but by golly, I'm going to put together my first gingerbread house ever.
Yes, I'm 58 years old, and yes, I am ridiculously excited about this.
I also picked up a couple more things of cookie icing,
but they didn't have any blue. I even stopped by the Dollar General on the way home, but they didn't have any blue, either. I can't believe Dollar General failed me! I might venture out tomorrow and see if one of the other locally owned grocery stores in town has some blue. If they don't, we'll just have to do without. Or I could really turn into a Holly Homemaker and make some. Not sure how I'd pipe it, though...
I used to have some piping bags and tips around here somewhere. Maybe I can find them...
In the meantime, I probably ought to get some cookies baked, or I won't have anything to decorate.
Today's holiday homestead share topic is winter flowers.
Huh? Winter flowers? What on earth can I post for winter flowers?
I have to admit, I spent most of the day racking my brain to try to figure out which flowers bloom in winter, but it wasn't until I was halfway home that it occurred to me.
Pansies and Violas. They bloom in winter. I even had some a few years ago, and probably still have a photo of them...somewhere. Yes, I do! Here it is:
Then, I thought, well, duh! My whatever cactus blooms in winter, too! I could post a photo of it...or them....I've got several.
They're not doing well at the moment, but in past years, they've been really pretty.
I think I need to find a better place to put them out in the summer. In my old house, I could put them on my front porch, because I had some really nice shade trees, so they got the bright indirect light they need. Plus it was south facing, so they were protected from the driving rains. But in this house, my front porch is south facing, but it is full, intense sun. I've been putting them on my back porch, which faces north, but I think they're drowning in our heavy spring and summer rains. Until I figure something out, I'll just bring them inside when it rains.
But I didn't really come here to talk about that.
So, I was all set to talk about violas and cacti, but when I got home, I found something very special waiting for me in my mailbox. See, around this time every year, the veterinary office sends out cards to everyone who has lost a beloved pet during the year.
This year, they included with the card a pawprint thing that is embedded with seeds.
In an ideal world, I could plant it and it would grow into beautiful flowers. But this is me we're talking about. I've never had success growing things from seeds, so I'll just hold on to this for a while, and imagine its potential.
Maybe in the spring, I'll put it into a pot, and see what comes up.
But for now, in the middle of winter, I'll just have to hold these flowers in my heart. Right next to the memory of my Jesse.
