While the bread was cooling I decided that I’d take my camera outside and see what this beautiful, sunny day had to offer.
The sun hit these icicles so perfectly.
Couldn’t resist the woodpecker!
My flower lights from Christine that I forgot to bring in before the winter hit.
(Doesn’t the snow look like sugar??)
I love experimenting with my new camera and seeing what it has to offer.
I can’t wait until spring!
Ah, Monday.
I still have 4 more months to have Monday’s off for “Me Time.” A day that I get any leftover chores done that I was too lazy to do during the weekend, finish up last minute homework, or do nothing at all.
Normally, it does entail me running to town to do this or that, and today was no different. Hubby had made the trip in yesterday to pick up some essentials, but unfortunately, I still needed cat litter (the supplier that I get it from is closed on Sunday). So, also realizing that I probably should pick up some cat food for Calie, I head to the Grocery Store and proceed to find things that were not on my mental list, but could always be used. Plus, they were on sale.
As I round the corner from the frozen foods, I walk past the bakery and get hit smack dab in the head with the realization that this is also bread baking day.
Crap!
Forgot about that. If I had been crunched for time, I could have picked up one of the loaves that had been baked there, but Rick didn’t really care for them. He says they just don’t have the taste that mine do. Fortunately, it was still early enough in the day, so there was plenty of time to whip up a loaf.
You know, there’s just nothing to compare to the smell of fresh baked bread.
It all starts from the time all the ingredients are coming together, and you get that pleasant smell of yeast in the air. 2 hours later it is in the oven and you get transported to your childhood and the familiar scent of bread baking, that tantalizing smell of home cooking. And you get that urge to want to rip a big hunk off of it right out of the oven and slather it with butter.
Thank goodness I have restraint.
Friday brought a nice surprise in the mail.
We got our passports.
I don’t think I have seen Rick so happy over something in all our years together!
Of course, the first place that we will be using this is when we go to Canada to visit our friend Patty. She wants us to wait until the snow is gone so we can see all the beauty that her area has to offer. I think that’s a good idea, considering this time of year is very unpredictable when it comes to snow.
Where to go after that? Rick & I each have ideas of places that we’ve always wanted to travel to. Europe? Norway? St. Thomas?
Yes, we can start dreaming now. And when we have fulfilled some current obligations, we can make those dreams come true.
It’s that time of year again.
When the seed companies start filling my mailbox with tantalizing ideas for my gardens.
I hate them.
Don’t they know that I crave to get out and play in the dirt?
Don’t they know that I have been cooped up in the house for the last 4 months, dreaming about warm sunshine?
Don’t they know that I still have 3 more agonizing months before I can even consider putting my garden it?
Of course they do!
If you think that these are the only catalogs I’ve received since the beginning of January, you are sadly mistaken. I think that I am on every list there is of companies that provide any type of gardening product there is.
Unfortunately, the only catalog that I have ever ordered from is Gardener’s Supply Company. And I have have done that online. Good products, good price.
Don’t get me wrong, these other companies have great products, but I prefer to buy my seeds and plants locally. I have my “dealer” that provides a spectacular array of plants that are grown without chemicals, so I feel quite happy putting them in the ground knowing that they will grow in my area.
One thing that these catalogs do provide me are great ideas of what I would like to put in my garden. Unfortunately, since I technically live in Zone 4, a lot of the products that I drool over are not suited for my area. So I have my local connections to find similar plants. And since I do not have a large area to grow everything that I want, I get the word out for veggies that I am looking for in the event that others have an over abundance when harvest comes around.
Almost March. Days are getting longer, and will start getting warmer.
It’s almost Sugarbush, and when that happens, you know that planting season is right around the corner.
I’ve said this before, Thor is a very photogenic cat.
And he is quite goofy, too.
He often comes and lays by me when I’m working on the computer, and the other day provided a great photo op that I couldn’t resist.
Look Mom, I caught a mouse!
I will kill it for you!
Eh hem… sorry about that, wrong kind of mouse.
Carry on.
Never a dull moment.