BR-R-R-R

That seems to have been what everyone was saying for the past few days.
Monday morning it was -10' on our deck.
Daytime highs went all the way up to 15'.
Finally yesterday we had a heat wave of sorts . . . the temp climbed to 32'.
Who would have thought the freezing mark was warm.

The bitter cold reminded me of days gone by. At home, as I grew up, I remember the steam radiator in our bathroom. If you put your bath towel on it before you jumped in the tub it was toasty when it was time to dry off.
Then my dad decided to remodel the bathroom and covered the radiator with a fancy grating surrounded by wood. Alas, no more warm towels.

My husband had it a bit rougher. His parents home didn't have central heating. The only heat was a coal stove in the kitchen. Some heat made it to the second floor if the stairway door was opened. However, my husband's bedroom was on the third floor, also known as the attic. No heat up there.
He would put a brick in the oven of the coal stove to heat. Then he wrapped it in a cloth and put it under his covers.
His blanket was what they called a feather tick. Essentially it was a quilt, but the batting part was comprised of goose down and feathers. Once you got under it, the warmth from the brick and your body heat made a cozy nest.
He had a very smart cat that crawled under the feather tick and slept like a baby.

As much as I complain about the cold it is much more comfortable than the first year we were married.
Our first home also was heated with a cold stove.
I didn't have an electric or gas cook stove either. I baked (burned) Christmas cookies in that thing.
Thankfully, the second year of our marriage we put in central heat, albeit a coal furnace which required feeding it coal and emptying ashes several times a day. We thought we were living in luxury. However, I do remember the chimney we had to have constructed cost $87.00. That was our paycheck for the week. The man didn't work on credit either. Needless to say we ate a lot of soup the next week.

Then we bought an electric cook top and wall oven. My dad built a cabinet for it. Wow, now I really was able to cook without burning everything.

When I look back I realize how the trials of life have made me grateful for the small things in life.

So never fear, winter is only a season, it too will pass and the re-birth of spring will come soon . . . I hope.

JANUARY DOLDRUMS

For some reason January has slowed down.
The days were flying by and we were getting through the month and then Whamoo, it came to a crawl.

It's probably due to the snow that seems to keep coming every other day.
Freezing rain and snow yesterday. Snow overnight last night. Now more snow again tomorrow night into Friday. Yuck.

The days are cloudy so that adds to the problem. Even though it stays light longer in the day, when it's cloudy it doesn't matter.

I've tried to keep busy. Today I polished an assignment for a course I'm taking, and emailed it off to my instructor. Two more to go and it will be finished, the course that is.

I've been trying new "legal" recipes. Ones that are in accordance with my diet.

I've been amassing information for income tax prep. I hate doing that, but a necessary evil.

Yesterday I went to the dentist for my bi-annual cleaning. Exciting stuff isn't it?

I keep looking out the window for bluebird activity at the bluebird houses . . . nothing.
It should soon be time for them to build their nests and start this year's family.

Here is a small taste of spring.
I went through my pictures and found this one from a previous year.
It's just to remind me that winter will pass.

One of these warmer snow-free days I should go shopping.

 No, not for soup and crackers, which is the term for what I call pre-shopping for a snowstorm. I came up with that when the last time I was grocery shopping it happened to be on Senior Citizen discount day and the day before a snowstorm. Customers weren't in the milk and bread aisles, they were clogging up the soup aisle.

Perhaps I'll go toTarget and just mosey around, then maybe to Best Buy and see if I can get some input on Kindles and Nooks. A stop at Jo-Ann's will be a treat, to see all the quilting fabric and notions.

Enjoy your tomorrow no matter the weather where you are.

          JANUARY IN MY BACKYARD

Last week, in their seven day forecast, our local meteorologists predicted the snowstorm slated for the east coast would go south of us.
One even said he was quite sure it would miss us.

Beware when a weather person says they are quite sure.

As you can see in the picture above, my backyard is covered with six inches of white, fluffy, piled up snowflakes, which now the wind is going to re-arrange.

So much for modern meteorological science and technology.

Things could be worse. I could be living up in Maine where they received two feet of snow.

On to a much more serious matter.
My thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families who were gunned down in Arizona.
I pray for the speedy and total recovery of those who survived their wounds and comfort for the families that lost their loved ones.

Man's inhumanity to man never seems to end.

Wow, can you believe it's the third day of the new year already?
I hope it keeps speeding by, at least until  spring.

So how is your new year going?
Did you make resolutions or a "to do list"?

Are your Christmas decorations still up?
I was so anxious for 2011 to get here I put Christmas away several days before the new year.

This is a job I usually undertake on Jan. 1.
So this year New Year's Day was quite enjoyable.

I put the pork and sauerkraut in the crock pot in the morning.
I did some end of the year bookkeeping and got set up for the next year.

After our traditional dinner I actually had the luxury of reading a novel from the stack of books piled high on my bedside table.

I usually reserve that treat for bedtime, when I read for an hour or until I get sleepy.

Then we watched Penn State get trounced by the Florida Gators. I couldn't really decide who I wanted to win. Since I'm from PA I wanted to be loyal to the Nittany Lions. However, I love Florida. Where we visit in Florida is about an hour from Gainsville. So needless to say it is Gator territory.
I also wanted Urban Meyer to end his coaching career with a Gator victory.

Easter is the last Sunday of April this year. I think spring will also be a long time appearing.
I remember when we were in the nursery business, spring always came late when Easter was. It wasn't nice digging and planting trees in the cold and sometimes snow.

So I'll await the appearance of the robins and hummingbirds, passing the time first and foremost writing, and if I have some extra time, do the nagging, boring things around the house that are crying out to be done.

But now I think it's time for a cup of Earl Grey and maybe read one more chapter of that book.

Have a great week.