Summer Hopes

On a blisteringly hot day in mid July with a forecast of 37 degrees C, air quality warnings from northern wildfire smoke, severe thunderstorm and possible tornado warnings, and a humidex that makes it feel much hotter than the temperature displayed on our outdoor thermometer, I open my photos for the next blog writing and find myself staring at a photo of snow.  Taken April 10th, just 3 short months ago.  Somehow I can't help but feel instantly cooler.

At the same time, I try not to think that in 3 months we could be looking at the same scene. Instead I simply marvel at the diverse weather conditions of this place we call home, grab a glass of cold water, and opt to sit quietly in the coolness of the house and think about writing a blog update.  It is a lovely 24 degrees C in the house, the windows are closed to keep out the midday heat, and as soon as it cools off later in the night to an outdoor temperature that is below our indoor temperature, we will open the windows wide, allowing the house to drink in the cooler air.

Back in April we were hoping to begin gathering our firewood (we have this hope every April, but it seldom transpires). We were preparing to travel for a family wedding (hoping the weather would improve not just for travel reasons, but because I was worrying that in our absence ice and snow on the solar panels could cause a loss of power to our fridge and also slightly worried that the house could get rather cold as we heat solely with a wood stove). I had also offered to do a dog sit/farm sit at a nearby farm and was a tad nervous when I found out that I might be bottle feeding a newborn calf for my first time, and I was hopeful that I could manage. Lots of "hope" in our minds for the month of April!

Not unexpectedly, we weren't able to start on our firewood due to the weather.  It was a rather long cold spring, and April continued that trend, with a bit more snow arriving as late as the third week of the month. Fortunately it all melted pretty quickly.

A week before my dog sit/farm sit I went to the farm for instructions on how to bottle feed the calf. First we had to find the calf, traipsing out into the fields, and calling it's name as it would apparently sometimes come running! I was surprised at the how big he had grown already, and how strong he was when feeding! Still, it was a pretty cool experience I must say.  By the time I arrived for my day at the farm though, the calf was no longer in need of a midday feeding, so I didn't have to add that to my list of chores.  I don't know if I was more relieved, or disappointed!  But I did still have an opportunity to collect chicken eggs at two different locations away from the farm, (the first time I've gathered fresh eggs!) had a lovely long walk with Jax the dog through muddy but pretty paths in a forest, and kept an anxious eye out on the herd of cattle to make sure they hadn't broken through any fencing, and that their water trough was always filled. I had also been shown the greenhouse vegetable seedlings and plants and instructed on how to make sure they were all faring well when the day suddenly warmed up. It was a great glimpse into just a few aspects of a busy farm life, and a nice opportunity to "hang out" with a lovely dog!

We were able to make it to the wedding with no weather or travel issues, and the temperatures finally warmed up so I could stop worrying about snowy solar panels, or loss of power, and the house stayed at a perfectly decent temperature in our absence.  It was a very lovely wedding, small and inviting, and Rob and I visited a bit with several family members, and also managed to squeeze in some time for a wonderful walk or two along the Niagara River before heading home.

Cool temperatures in early May saw us still using the woodstove most nights for a short period of time to take the chill off of the house.  We noticed that the blossoms and leaves seemed slow to emerge this year due to cooler than normal temperatures, and hoped that maybe the arrival of the mosquitoes would be delayed as well!  The second week of May we began scouting around the woods for fallen trees suitable for firewood gathering.  We found quite a few that we would have loved to pull out, but they were too deep within the forest, so reluctantly had to leave them where they lay.  Even with ropes and chains, they were beyond the reach of the tractor, and the forest floor footing too tangled to try to safely carry out heavy segments of the logs by hand.  

I was surprised when I checked one of our trail cameras one day, to discover that a bear had strolled by just a few hours earlier, at the very same spot where we were gathering trees! 

By mid May we felt like we had stockpiled enough, and began to get ready to chain saw what we had, in preparation for splitting and stacking.  When we first start on firewood every year, it feels a bit daunting, but as the days progress, it feels much less so.  

A few of the logs were too heavy for us to lift onto our splitter, and Rob had to hand split them first.  We prefer handling smaller logs, but of course have no control over the size of trees that come down during a storm.

One of the logs we had gathered was quite hollow in the middle, and I was super surprised to discover in the debris within the hollow some suspiciously familiar threads and fabric.  After poking around a bit in what appeared to be nesting materials, I realized they were the remnants of my prayer flags ! I had put a lovely long string of them in the garden at the cabin a couple of years ago, and they were mysteriously completely removed just a few days after I hung them up.  I always suspected the red squirrels had taken them, but had no proof.  Until now!  

Although we always hope to finish the firewood as quickly as possible, there are days in between that require us to stop, sometimes due to the weather, sometimes to recuperate a bit, and sometimes just because we need to work on some of our other ongoing projects. 

One of those jobs for me was to get some seeds into my garden, and to pull out my herb pots and get soil and seeds into them as well.  The snowshoe hare in the meantime was busy trimming our "grass" so I didn't need to! 

Some days we would also try to limit our work hours somewhat, leaving ourselves some free time to get groceries and supplies, do laundry, help get our neighbours to appointments, pick up diesel for the tractor, or service the chainsaw. Rob is still making (delicious) beer, and we generally try to make some before the heat of the summer arrives, so he needed to get a couple of batches on while it was somewhat cooler.

Keeping track of the time when we are working on firewood was made easier by this amazing little clock.  I bought this cheap clock for Rob 14 years ago, when he was timber framing up at the top of the property and would lose track of the time. When I bought it,  he made it pretty clear that he thought he would be lucky if the clock lasted more than a couple of weeks. What a surprise to find that this clock, that sits in a unheated shed year round, is not only still working, but it is still running on the original batteries!  

With most people using their phones now to tell the time, I wonder if clocks like this even exist any more ?  Of course, it may just run another 14 years, so no need just yet to search for another.

Although it felt like we were behind in terms of completing the firewood, we finished it on June 1st, one day ahead of when we finished the previous year!  Overall we are pretty pleased with the wood as most of it was quite sound, and should do well for us this coming winter.  It is primarily spruce, poplar, aspen and ash with a bit of cedar and birch.  In previous years some of the wood we pulled out had sat on the forest floor for too long and had deteriorated quite a bit, and although we still used it, we know now to try to scavenge logs that have only been down for a relatively short time. 

We also had some wood left over from the previous winter that we have stored elsewhere.  I always feel happiest if I think we have more than enough, as we never know what kind of winter we will come up against.  

Although this spring seemed slow to warm up, eventually we began to see blossoms, and perhaps because of the long cool spring, it seemed to be the best year ever. Wherever we drove in the valley, beautiful blossoms were in full view.

We always look for the first sign of turtles; in particular the snapping turtles.  We were pleased to catch sight of one making it's way up our creek and into our wetland area.

As well, some baby foxes appeared again this year on our hill, and were still young enough that they were curious and would peek out at us from the underbrush.

With the firewood completed Rob and I went off in different directions, doing many of the usual spring jobs that are required.  We pulled out our slightly tattered garden chairs and Rob fixed them up once again with braces and screws, and we should be able to use them all for at least another year.  I started "spring" cleaning the house, and we both worked to get the cabin open and running ready for the arrival of some family members in June.  

If this was the year of excess blossoms, it was also the year of excess aspen/poplar "fluff", and the air was thick with it.

It gathered along the edges of our laneways like snow!

It also filled our window screens, and the screens of the cabin porch, and we will likely need to use a power washer to get it off of the porch screens again.  Luckily this doesn't occur every year.

We took down our "temporary" firewood shelter, and began to think that maybe this year would be the year that we build a permanent firewood shed.  (How many times have you read that in previous blog postings?)

We also had to deal with a shelter cover replacement, that we wanted to do last year, but had decided to leave for another year, hoping that it would make it through one more winter.  Which it did! But now it really needs to be replaced.  They usually have a life expectancy of three or four years, and ours has been on now for 14 years already. Before we went to the effort of swapping in a new cover though, it seemed like the perfect time to move the entire shelter frame first to a better location.  Rob set to building a site for it, and moved rocks into the perimeter, and filled in some gravel for the base.  Just as he was preparing to dismantle the old shelter though, one of the Phoebes decided to build a nest in the rollup doorway. 

So the site is prepared, but now we will wait.  Approximately 16 days for the eggs to hatch, then a further 16 - 20 days until the little ones leave the nest.

There are also Phoebes that nest at our front door, and they are currently feeding their second brood of the season. I was enchanted to see one of the eggs on our porch (hopefully the adult phoebe was just nest cleaning and tossed out the shell after the little one hatched). 

How tiny is this shell?  Smaller than a penny.  (For those of you who remember pennies!). It is hard to imagine how small the little one is when it emerges from this size of egg.

When the Phoebe adults are busy feeding their young, they like to perch close by, swooping out for insects, and bringing them to the nest.  One of their preferred places to perch seems to be the driveway markers we have, so we moved one closer to the porch area, where they have a good view of the nest. They seem to use it quite happily.

The robins here and at the cabin have also successfully raised a couple of broods already.  Here are two little robins not long before they got brave enough to jump off of the beam and flap away.

This year Rob and I have both noted that the number of bird sightings seems greater than previous years. We have been seeing (and hearing!)  more Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Northern Flickers, Brown Thrashers, Catbirds, Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, Black and White Warblers, and Baltimore Orioles than previous years.  The areas around the house are always full of bird movement, and there are several more birds that move too fast for us to identify. It has been really lovely to see all the activity.

One day while I was waiting for Rob to finish up on the new shelter site, I was fortunate to look up and spot the Oriole, and then saw it dive head first into a nest.  I had been wondering where the nest was, and all this time it was right above our laneway. It's pretty hard to spot, but when the wind blows the leaves a bit, it's location is more easily revealed.

One of life's amazing observances for me, is when I am down at the river at the exact time that some of the dragonflies emerge from the river.  I read that dragonflies live first as nymphs, under water, and can live anywhere from several months to several years, until one day, they climb out of the water, their skin then splits open, and the dragonfly emerges. Although I often search the shores to witness their emergence I am not always lucky. But this year I was once again able to see it happen.  I am completely intrigued by the process, wondering what it is that makes the nymph decide that today is the day it shall move out of the waters, shed it's skin, spread wings and fly.  It's an awesome sight, and I am so pleased that I was able to see it happen again.

With the moving of our shelter on hold due to the Phoebe nesting, Rob had gone back to working on the design and placement of a firewood shed.  It will be about 8x20 feet, and a timber frame structure of course. It will look very different from our usual shed, built out of scaffolding and platforms each year!

It was somewhere around this time that Rob started talking about "concrete".  I didn't pay much attention at the time, as I was busy tending to my little raised bed garden, doing some more "spring" cleaning both inside and outside the house and cabin, and all the other little jobs that come up when summer arrives. Friends were arriving in early July and I was making plans for meals, food items to leave in the kitchen for them, and making sure all the bedding and towels were ready after family visited here in mid June.  The local farms were beginning to offer lots of fresh produce and I was happily freezing strawberries, and enjoying making fresh salads from their roadside stalls.

Rob was off sawing wood to use for the firewood shed.

And from time to time I could hear him out using the tractor, and catch sight of him moving stones, and gravel.

I 

But then he began to talk a bit more about "concrete".  A small concrete walkway between the house and the workshop.  A small concrete walkway and/or pad at the cabin entrance doors.  Concrete posts for a future porch.  And a concrete pad for the firewood shed.  I began to realize that he really was set on mixing it himself, and doing all the pouring and levelling as well.  And then the word "we" began to creep in ! 😀 Not really. Truthfully, I already knew that I would be involved (despite saying I might have to be somewhere else on those days!) and I have full confidence that we will be able to do it ourselves.  Not all at once of course, but in steps and stages.  And with the help of some well planned "concrete gizmos" to make the job easier on us both.  

I have memories of this time, almost 20 years ago now, when Rob did some of his own concrete work for a workshop in Navan.  (I'm pretty sure I did leave the house and go off to work that day, after taking this pic!) 

Rob assures me that this time it will be much more "automated" using the tractor, a winch, a stand, a bucket, a concrete mixer (no getting away from that!) and a well thought out plan to make it all work.

I will do an update in my next blog posting!

In the meantime summer is well on its way.  My little garden is flourishing with garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro, dill, tomatoes, and tomatillos all growing well. We have already enjoyed a few fresh tomatoes and herbs, and I have some mint and thyme already drying ready for winter.  I once again did not manage to coax my oregano, chives, or thai basil to grow, and I only produced one head of lettuce before the heat arrived.  But it's a small garden, and I am happy with it's progress.

I had a few concerns when "Chuck-E", a rather stout looking groundhog, showed up and spent a few days sunning on the rocks, when not eating somewhat voraciously the leaves of several nearby bushes.

It was fascinating to see how much it used it's paws to reach the higher branches and pull them closer.

I also spotted them piling dried leaves into their mouth, and disappearing below the rocks, which I suspiciously thought might indicate a pregnant burrowing groundhog.  But there have been no more recent sightings, and so far, my garden seems to have remained intact.  In terms of the raccoons and chipmunks that do seem to like to visit my garden, I regularly spray the wood sides with a diluted vinegar solution, spread wood ashes around the perimeter, place jalapeno powder on the inside soil perimeter, and side dress here and there with some blood meal on the advice of some fellow gardeners.  So far, so good! 

As summer progresses, we've been loving the extra long hours of daylight, and have spent many evenings relaxing at the point above the river.  As darkness falls we have been treated to some wonderful firefly light shows.  We had a good visit with family members in June, and friends in July. More friends are scheduled to arrive in August.

We know that summers pass by quickly, and if some projects don't get done this year, that's o.k. We will do as much as we can, while still making sure to enjoy each and every day here. By the time I do my next blog posting, likely that snowy scene I posted at the beginning will once again be a reality!

Summer, siding, snow: the second half of 2022

It always feels strange to write a blog posting in December that begins with the warmth of July.  It is as if our world has always been cold and snowy, and to see pictures of greenery and the bare ground are somewhat of a visual shock.  I get much the same feeling when I write in July about December.  I guess our brains somehow envision that the current season is the one that exists all the time. Or maybe I'm just getting better at trying to "live in the Now". 

All pondering aside, on the last day of July the remaining Phoebe babies successfully left their nest.  

Rob had been struggling with the work on the back wall of the house, as he really wanted to save the "best" wood we had for the more visible front of the house. He did not want to later discover that he had wasted it on a back wall that no one ever sees, so with the nest now empty we decided to go back to the front of the house and resume work there.  I should add however, that almost no one ever sees the front wall either !  Just sayin'.

It's always hard to switch gears midway, but it seemed like the best solution.  The work we had being doing was coming along pretty well, and we knew the rest would go quickly when we got back to it.

It was also the weekend that would see a Celebration of Life for Rob's sister Trina. There was to be a butterfly release in her honour during the event.  Trina absolutely loved butterflies and wildlife in general. We unfortunately could not attend, but Rob was gifted the company of a single butterfly while he worked outside the entire weekend.

For a long weekend, it was strangely quiet in the area, and we were happy to use the time to reflect somewhat.  The river levels had finally dropped a bit and we were able to sit quietly in our chairs late in the day, with our feet in the cool waters. 

A bit of a heat wave had arrived, but with it came the threat of thunderstorms so we later opted to sit out at our point, where we had the treat of watching a mother deer and her fawn at the river edge.  The fawn was cautious and leapt around nervously after scaring up some mergansers, which set off the blue heron to screeching in annoyance. The mother deer seemed not to notice, so the fawn quickly settled down. It was a lovely moment to watch.

The first week of August was a see-saw of warm temperatures, cool temperatures, thunderstorms and heavy rains.  We felt like the work on the siding was going awfully slow.  But rainy days can provide time off for taking care of other tasks, so have their own use I guess.  Still, usually in the summer we can depend on more sunshine and the weather this summer seemed abnormal.

On sunny days we would sometimes spot Hoover the porcupine in one of his favourite spots.  Other days a raccoon would nab it first.

August continued to be up and down in terms of weather, but work began on the front wall of the house when weather permitted. We knew this side would take a little while longer as it required an outdoor light fixture, and a lot of finicky work around the front door and porch.  Not to mention fitting the siding up under the interesting roof lines!

It was also a frustrating time as our internet connection started to go down frequently.  We found ourselves sitting in our car, in front of the nearest public library, using their internet connection to reset our lines, and to chat with Bell customer service reps in order to try to get some resolution.  We learned that the lines out here are quite old and unreliable, and they even discovered bats they said, in their connection boxes.  Being in a rural area, we don't have a lot of options, so just had to patiently wait until they could try to repair some of the junction boxes and do further trouble shooting.

We couldn't help but notice this wire connection one day. I'm not sure if it's related to anything internet related. Still it doesn't look right!

We also discovered we were beginning to have solar power battery issues, so took time to do some battery maintenance and trouble shooting on our system.  In the summer we don't really think about the system very often as there is usually plentiful sunshine.  But this summer we had a lot of very cloudy days. Still, it didn't explain our lack of power some mornings.  

A visit from family members for a few days took our minds off of battery and internet problems.  It was nice to spend some time visiting; sitting in the river together, going for a hike, catching up on family news, sharing some memories, and of course, much laughter.

While Rob continued to work on his various projects, I was happily harvesting tomatillos out of my garden, and making Mexican style sauces to enjoy with our meals, as well as to freeze for later.  All of my plants had sprung up unexpectedly from last years fallen tomatillos. More were also growing in our compost pile! They certainly seem to love this spot, although I perhaps could have thinned them out a little.

I had made a note the previous year to start drying some of my herbs in  late August, so began drying basil and thyme, and also made some pesto sauces to freeze. I had an abundance of basil which was wonderful.  However, my rosemary did not do well at all so I had none to use all summer, let alone dry for the winter.  My oregano was most unhappy, and although I did use a bit during the summer, there was not enough to dry for future use.  As it is a perennial, I had hoped to have lots from previous years.  I tried planting some in a different spot so will see what comes up next spring.

I am part of a photography group online (big shout out to Photocoach!) so I was also busy trying to meet the requirement for 5 theme based photos a month.  It's a great group, and I was happy to spend lots of time outdoors with my camera, trying various shots.

A walking stick caught the attention of my camera one day.  This was the first of a couple that we saw hanging around our doorways!

I also spent lots of time down at the bend in the river, hanging out with the various frogs

By early September progress was being made on the front of the house. We installed an exterior light fixture that we had from when we lived in Navan and were pleased to be able to use it on the end of the wall.  It is so nice to finally have an exterior light there!  We still need to install a couple more in strategic places.

September always gives us a gently nudge and reminds us that the summer is coming to an end.  We took a look at how much pine siding we had left, and decided to stain every remaining board that we could, while the weather was still good.

Staining siding is such a rewarding task.  It ranks right up there for me along with splitting and stacking firewood.  In no time, you can see the result of your work, and you know your efforts will be put to a good use later. It took a while for us to get back into the staining routine, but in no time we were working well together, brushing and rolling on stain, flipping the boards over, and arranging them on drying racks.  We would stain in the morning, return later in the day and remove the dry boards and stain another round.  

Any boards that were deemed a bit iffy (i.e. had a split or were not straight enough) were only stained on one side as they would be used for the strapping or batten.  We were hoping we would have enough "good" boards and we did!  And in no time we were done.

The only "down side" I suppose, is that we had to make a choice between putting up siding while the weather was nice or stopping to stain the boards.  Either way, both jobs had to be done, but the staining job won out of course, or we would have had nothing to put up!

Rob got back at it, and managed to get this tricky little area done with only a minimum of cursing.

Did you know that cursing is actually a beneficial coping mechanism?  Well it is - look it up! (I was surprised by the article too, but no longer give Rob a hard time about it!) 

I think the weather in early September was the best we had all summer.  We were happy to see a bit more sunshine for sure.  And happy too, to take a day off by ourselves, and to go for a good long hike in the beautiful Shaw Woods on our 40th wedding anniversary!  And then celebrated with a lovely dinner at the end of the day.

With celebrations over, work continued on the front of the house, and the front porch and entrance way.  We opted for a lighter coloured wood for the ceiling, as we wanted to keep the entrance a bit brighter, using some pine that we had leftover from the interior of the house.  The door frame was a bit of work, but it finally fit.  We are still considering a door colour but that will get painted next year.

By the end of September, it was almost complete!

We were really noticing the changing of the season though.

With the days slowly getting shorter, we tried to take advantage of the good weather to sit for a short while at the point most evenings. It is here that we most notice the shift in the direction of the sun. That, and how quickly it drops behind the trees, dropping the temperature immediately.

When some friends visited we took the time to show them our favourite hiking spot at Shaw Woods, hoping they didn't find the climb too difficult and providing a walking stick to help! 

And then we spotted another visitor hanging around our house:

Hoover the porcupine was visiting!

Well, we certainly presume it was him, as he seemed quite curious and actually came down and had a good long look at me one day before climbing back up into his tree. 

We would joke that maybe he was looking for another ride down to the wildlife rescue center and a warm place to stay for the winter.  It was awfully tempting to toss him a few apples, but we didn't.  We knew he had lots of good things to eat, as he was busy foraging in the areas around the house at dusk every night.  It was nice to see him exhibiting normal porcupine behaviour.

It took until the first week of October to finish up the front of the house.  We still need to trim the bottom edges of the boards, but that will be done along with some of the other areas next year.

The push was on to finish the back of the house before it got too cold or snowy!  We pretty much decided that the workshop would not get finished this year.  As we were pleased with our progress we weren't too concerned.

The back wall had a few challenges to figure out with windows, vents, hose tap connections etc.  And sometimes it just takes an extra few breaths to get started. 

 

And I can imagine that a certain someone was perhaps a little tired of moving scaffolding around!

As usual, October is also the time when we begin to think of the pre-winter tasks that need to be done.

It is far more enjoyable to do tractor, snow blower and vehicle servicing when the weather is nice and warm! So Rob took the time to do some of that one warm October day.

Which is good, as October 8th we woke up to wet snow! I was busy prepping the cabin for the arrival of friends, and made sure to stock the porch with some firewood and kindling, and warmed it up ready for their arrival.  Fortunately the snow melted as fast as it fell.  Rob took some time to re-grade our common road as it would likely be the last time for doing that before the next snow fall.

Fall colours brought the return of family members back to the cabin a short time later.  Recent rains had stripped some of the trees of their leafy colours, but there were still lots to be seen.

It's a beautiful time of year, and we took one of our favourite drives to enjoy the views.  Even on a slightly rainy day, it was still very lovely.

We were waking up to temperatures of about 3 degrees, and began to think our siding days were done. But just in time for Rob's birthday the temperatures rose again.  Highs of 20 degrees made for great working conditions, but we still took the day and went for a long hike, and a drive to some of our favourite places.  And a stop at the Cottage Cup in Golden Lake for pecan tarts of course!

As October came to a close, we were still hoping to finish the final back wall of the house. 

Frost at night prompted me to clean out my little raised bed garden, although I left the kale as it was still growing strong. What a hardy plant it is. 

We had one more group of friends who were hoping to use the cabin, but not until the end of November.  When they gave us advance notice that they would not be arriving after all, I took the opportunity of closing the cabin down for the winter while the weather was still pleasant.  I quickly tucked bedding and towels away in bins, and removed anything that might freeze over the winter.  I stripped everything out of the kitchen, and did one final clean of all the areas. All that was left to be done was draining the pipes, pouring in some plumbing anti freeze, and erecting some tarps around the perimeter of the porch.  As soon as Rob finished his siding efforts, he would head over to do those tasks.

While I was busy at the cabin, work on the back wall jumped ahead, and suddenly - it was done!

We finished up the corner around the mudroom door, and declared the siding done for the season.

I don't think we took more than a few minutes to celebrate though, as we knew we had a pile of pre-winter chores on our list.  The tractor chose this time to completely fail, and we went off to find it a new battery.  That didn't work, so we then tried some new parts, only to discover it was a failure with the battery connection.  Fortunately, we got it up and running again.  As it was time for a new battery too, it was good that we had picked up a new one.

We then "built" our fire wood storage again for this winter, using scaffolding and platforms to hold it.  We promised each other that we will build a proper wood storage unit next year.  In truth though, this one works just fine for the winter!  It just isn't pretty. And then we filled it with rows of the wood that we had cut, split and stacked in the spring.  A truly rewarding job, as it was all wood from trees that had fallen the previous year.  I always feel better when I have a good solid pile of firewood in ready for winter.

We cleaned up all of the building site so that when the snow fell, it wouldn't bury the debris and make it difficult for snow clearing.

Two days later, it snowed!

This snow looked like it was probably going to stick around for a while.

Which it did, and it sure was beautiful.

Surprisingly though, it melted. At least for a while.

We looked out of our living room window late one afternoon to see Mom deer and her two fawns foraging.  That glow on the right is the reflection of our wood stove.   We were happy to see that they at least, had survived another hunting season.

We were well into the middle of December, thinking we might see a green Christmas, when the snow returned.  We woke up one morning to find this lovely view from our dining room window.

As we were approaching the winter solstice, the bright snow was most welcome, and made for a lovely, lovely morning walk.

  The fog however was a bit unexpected!

Christmas was just around the corner so we got busy working on Christmas Cookies (New Mexico Biscochitos - yumm!) 

Finding our Christmas Tree (scouted out earlier in the month from under the Hydro Lines)

Preparing our Christmas meal of Mexican Meatballs in a Fire Roasted Tomato Chipotle sauce (also yummm !)  It was my first time making it, so I decided to make it a few days early.  It turned out to be delicious, so I froze it until Christmas Day.  With white rice, topped with avocados and fried bananas, and roasted carrots with a honey, New Mexican chile, and cinnamon glaze, it proved to be a great meal idea.

Making our Christmas Card:

And settling in for a couple of weeks of pretty much just relaxing.  

This is a time of year I always look forward to.  It's a time to catch up on emails, contact friends and family more, and to think about some indoor projects that I can work on in the New Year.  My little studio has been filling up with sewing projects, and I have a list of online courses to watch.  There are chairs to be painted and recovered, and books to read.  Rob has his own list of course. I can't say for sure what all are on his list, but I know "play more guitar" and "get workshop in order" have been mentioned quite a bit.  He's been playing with some animation software too.  

Unfortunately one of the items on the list is to research new batteries for the solar power system.  But we have vowed not to worry about that until we are into the New Year.  (Which is coming up fast! )

The Christmas tree went up, (although due to power issues we don't light it up too often!)  Our little cat Axle is still with us after a few health scares this year.  (He seems to be planning on seeing his 20th birthday in 2023) He seemed to really like hanging out under the tree this year.  His presence is definitely a gift.

Before we knew it, it was time for that Christmas dinner.

And now here we are heading into the New Year already.

I promised myself I would post this while it was still 2022 so I guess I am coming down to the wire. I've been working on this post for a while, and could continue writing and editing, and adding more photos.  But I think perhaps I will just have to save some for next year.  I'll just add that to my list!

Wishing everyone much Love, Peace, Joy and Gentle Compassion for 2023.