When Winter gets Weird

A friend once told me that I think a lot about the weather and she was right. I know I certainly talk a lot about it in my blog postings!  The weather has a lot of influence on our day-to-day lives.  In the winter our discussion about it starts first thing in the morning with “what’s the weather today?”.  A sunny day means we will have solar power, and a cloudy day means we likely will not.  Snow in the forecast means that the panels will have to be kept clear.

Thankfully, a new extension on our snow rake has proven to make that job a lot easier this winter.  No more standing on ladders and having the snow sliding down on top of Rob!

A forecast for a lot of snow means we should check to make sure we have extra diesel for the tractor as we will be plowing ourselves out. 

The weather also affects our daily tasks; even something as simple as whether we have enough solar power to use the toaster to make toast for breakfast. I have been searching for a method that would allow us to use our propane stove as an alternative.  When my mum and I lived in England our gas oven had a special broiler unit above the stove for toasting and it worked perfectly. I looked online on off-grid forums and found a number of people recommended an Italian Brustolina. It's a metal rack with holes basically, and it is supposed to be awesome for bruschetta too. We had a friend who was visiting Italy, but didn't want to ask her to haul one around on her travels. I tried to find a supplier in Canada, but in all of North America it appeared to only be available from one supplier in Philadelphia!  Luckily we were able to buy one from them, they shipped it to friends in Florida and our friends kindly mailed it up to us. 

Unfortunately on our first attempt to use it though, we placed sesame seed bagels on it, fired up the stove and the seeds immediately started burning and producing smoke.  I then had to turn on the stove vent hood fan, which sucked out our remaining power, and our power went out.  Sigh.

I have since had email conversations with a very kind food writer in the USA who had recommended it, as well as the supplier and have determined that I need to use much lower heat, and perhaps skip using anything with seeds.  I have tried it with other breads with mixed success, but am determined that I will figure this out.  I have since read that it is commonly used in many cultures, and it can't be possible that it is smoking everyone out of their kitchens!

As our day progresses, the weather dictates what we need to wear for the first of daily walks.  We both love to be outdoors, and the key is to be warm and dry.  I went into this winter with some new extra warm and comfy winter boots as my old ones had completely fallen apart and I bought some wonderful warm and waterproof mitts. More on that later!

As we make plans for the week, the weather forecast will help us plan the best day to drive to town to get supplies and groceries, especially when there are snow storms on the way. We use it to determine which days might produce some solar power for running anything like a vacuum, or washing machine, or tools in the workshop. It lets me know the best day to view and edit my photographs, as I try to limit the power use of my large PC monitor, and my laptop monitor isn't my first choice for that job.

At the same time, we check several times a day on our solar power system health and our power usage. We headed into this winter knowing that our batteries were not doing so well, and knew that this would likely make November and December rather difficult months. Neither of us could fathom that the month of January would present us with 27 days of cloud cover though.  We kept hearing from other off-grid people that they had never had to use a generator as much as they did this winter.  None of us like to use a generator if we can possibly avoid it. (It was sort of the whole point of being off-grid in the first place!)  For a few weeks we had to often use ours for a bit of time in the morning, and sometimes again late in the evening.  Many nights we woke up to the audible beep of our cell phone letting us know it was disconnecting as the power had gone out. Usually in January we expect very cold but sunny days, which are badly needed so that our solar panels can charge our batteries, but this certainly wasn't the case this year.

Those grey and dreary January days were dark ones.

The weirdest thing about this winter though, was the predominantly mild temperatures. Not only were our day time temperatures above normal, but sometimes even the night time temperatures rose above normal day time temperatures ! 

Although we did have a night time temperature eventually of minus 35, it was a very brief cold spell, and within days it was back above normal for the time of year. Those extra warm boots and mitts I bought for the winter?  Well, so far I haven't really needed them so much. Still, I have been glad enough to have them.

I love winter, and I love the challenges it sometimes presents.  I love being outdoors, and out with my camera. I really love winter as well for the opportunity it gives me to do lots of indoor projects on those days when I really can't be outside as much as I would like to be.  But this winter my brain just couldn't wrap itself around the fact that it was winter.  It was so mild that many days I went for several walks just because it was so lovely to be outdoors.  I kept putting off some of my indoor projects, assuming there would be some bitterly cold or stormy days when I would rather be inside.  But it almost never happened!  Not that we didn't get snow, as we did, and for a while we had storm warnings every single week.  But even then, they usually arrived during the night, and we simply had to clear the snow the next day.  I don't remember a single day of howling winds and blowing snow like we usually get. And of course, with all the mild temperatures, we had several thaw cycles, and a lot of the snow melted before the next storm.

The river remained open all winter as well.

I would go down to the edge almost daily, looking for animal tracks and hoping to see signs of the river otters, or a glimpse of some of the ducks that sometimes linger when the water is open a bit.

I even set up a small trail camera, and did catch deer, coyote and a fox, but no ducks or otters so far this year.  I did see a beaver out at the edge one day, and a muskrat swimming across, both of which I thought were quite unusual for the time of year. I will guess that the ducks had lots of open water to choose from and simply didn't have to come to this section of the river.

Indoor projects weren't a complete bust, as Rob continued to take online guitar classes, and is enjoying the community of players he has met through the process.  He also spent time in his workshop, trying to get it in order for the first time since he built it.  Now that he has had some time to use it, he was able to figure out what he needed to do to make it work better. He had to move the dust collection system (yes again!) (now commonly referred to as "the DCS" for brevity). I have teased him enough I think about his use of "linear actuators" (I don't know why but I always think that is the just the coolest thing to say) that help move his dust barrel up and down more easily when it needs to be emptied.  Rob pulled the actuators out of a high-tech dumpster many years ago, knowing they were going to come in useful for something someday. Oddly enough, our dear friend Joe, who is so similar to Rob in so many ways ALSO pulled linear actuators out of a dumpster years ago.  So he is perhaps the only person we know who really appreciates the gizmo Rob built using them. In retrospect I should have documented the whole new DCS system, but I did not.  Let's just say it used to run in roughly this location, then was moved to the upstairs of the shop to create more space downstairs, (with a really clever system that let Rob know if the barrel was full) but it wasn't sucking the sawdust properly, so it is now back in roughly the same place but with vast improvements. (Like those linear actuators!) Rob will no doubt correct me on some of this explanation, but I tried to keep it short.

The DCS is also going to have a new movable section of pipe, but that is still a work in progress.  This is part of the fixed section. 

The moving pipe section is going to be made out of an old metal level, bearings, wire and a bunch of other parts, including pipe of course.  Hopefully I will document this gizmo better, although probably not as I tend to avoid the workshop except for brief visits, and quick photos.  Everyone should have their own "space" and I consider this to be entirely Rob's.

His workshop also has a couple of "new" counter tops installed, with thanks to the ReUse area of our local waste/recycle site, that offers a chance to drop off and pick up various items and keep them from simply ending up in landfill.  So thanks to whoever it was that took the time to drop off several counter tops, all in pristine condition. We have salvaged several great items from this area, including our bathroom mirror, bedside tables, double stainless steel sinks, Moen brand faucets and more. 

A local online auction site has been providing us with some great second hand items (not to mention entertainment!) and we were pleased to pick up some items this winter that have been put to good use in the log cabin, as well as a few items for the workshop, and the house.  I am always happy when I can take some items off my long term to-do checklist, or wish list, especially when it's at a great price! 

My indoor project list has not fared quite as well as Rob's, but I keep reminding myself that winter isn't over yet.  I did sign up for a terrific online Photography course, with the amazing PhotoCoach, called  "Seeing with New Eyes" . Here is the link if anyone is interested:  https://photocoach.co.za/ 

I am still finishing my work on the fourth assignment of the course, but have now completed the first three.  The first part was Abstract, which I love.  For the Abstract portion I first wished I could spend time in the city, thinking there would be better photographic opportunities there, but the reality is that we live here. I set myself the task to get creative, and use what was available for my photo submissions.  So I already learned a good lesson before I started!  You can photograph anywhere; it doesn't have to be exotic or remote. Here's one of my Abstracts taken from the inside cabin porch that has tarps up on the outside of the screen.

The second assignment was Flora and Fauna, and I thought that would be a snap living where we are. For two weeks I wandered through the deep snow, looking for elusive birds or mammals, but none appeared, not even a cheery chickadee!  I had to settle for plants poking out of the snow, and trees.  This turned out to be a wonderful exercise and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The third assignment was People.  Hah, hah, I knew that one was going to be difficult as we so seldom see anyone here, and I am not one to take photos of strangers.  I did considering hanging out around outdoor skating rinks, near snowmobile trails, or one of the local ice fishing competitions, but was running out of time, and the rinks and trails closed during an unusual thaw, and the ice fishing was postponed until colder temperatures would arrive.  So I settled for photos of Rob and myself.  Not exactly "street photography" but it worked.

Now I am working on my fourth assignment which is Landscapes.  This is taking me a bit of time as I chase the occasional sunrise or sunset, having read how important light is to my landscape subject.  I must admit that I do sometimes think I could have chosen an easier season for a photography course.  But then, winter is the best time for me in terms of time, as all too soon it will be spring and the outdoor jobs will beckon once more.

February is the month of "love", not only because of Valentine's day, but the fact that this year we celebrated 45 years since our first date, and 45 years since we moved in together. We enjoyed celebrating with some good homecooked meals, and lots of reminiscing.  Of course 45 years ago, there was far less photographic documentation of events, so sadly there are no pictures of that time.

Apparently there are few pictures of our celebrations this year as well, as I seem to have been preoccupied with my photography course!  But here is one dinner, a pasta dish with tomatoes in the shape of a heart.  Sweet eh? On our first date we went for a beer at the Saucy Noodle in Ottawa, so I try to always celebrate with a pasta dish.

 It looked even better after it was baked, but the "heart" shape sort of melted in a bit.

For Valentine's we actually fired up the barbeque and made burgers, as our temperatures climbed up to an unheard of plus 10 degrees Celsius outside!  There may have been some flames involved, but they were still really good.  And amazing to be able to BBQ outside without a coat on in February.

For our "moving in" anniversary we had Mexican Chipotle meatballs, rice and roasted squash and peppers.  There was much laughter as we remembered the events leading up to our moving in together.  That is all I will say, although I have added some tags to this post such as "flat tire", "running out of gas", "pushing the van out of deep snowbanks", "ferry to Wolfe Island", "possible stop by police" and "having to find a cheap motel in Smiths Falls".  Just kidding, there are no such tags.

I noticed in the photo above, that there is no visible pile of snow outside the window.  That certainly has changed in just a few days as we had over a foot of snow after two storms, and then it all slid off the roof outside the window, adding to the pile that was already there.

And now here we are in March.  The daylight hours are steadily getting longer which is good for our solar power, and we notice a difference even when it isn't sunny.   We do however still have to clear the panels when it snows, although even then sometimes with the mild temperatures the snow will simply slide off.

We have now been living in the new house for three years.  It's hard to believe really.  I still feel like I am discovering how to live here, and only just settling in somehow.  I still find things that we placed in odd spots, thinking we would hang them later, or find another spot for them, and they are still there and I am only just now dealing with them.  To me it feels like it did whenever I started at a brand new job, that day several months in when I would feel myself finally coming up for air, and realizing "I am here".  I am not sure why it took so long in terms of this house, but I suspect that moving in only a couple of months before Covid arrived has something to do with it.  I think a lot of people have forgotten the intensity of that time, and how it was for all of us, living with fear of the unknown.  And it somehow overshadowed everything.

I think it also has a lot to do with loss, and grief.  In the past 10 years we lost seven friend and family members (two in the past year) and four beloved family pets.  

The building process was intense, and we made a lot of changes in our lives as well. Somehow I am only now just feeling like I can truly relax in the new house. I am slowly slipping into my new routines, and enjoying the process.  It has taken me a while to get used to having more time, and removing the pressure of having to get everything done "now" while I have a chance.  I hope this continues for me.

I think too that we have both benefitted from some time to simply "be" in the new house.  We needed time to see what works, what doesn't, what really needs to be finished, what we can live with, what we can live without.  Already we have realized that we installed more lighting than we use, more opening windows than we ever open.  We weren't making our own beer before we moved in, and in hindsight we could have built in better means to deal with the large equipment, and the clean up. Overall though, there is little that we feel we got "wrong".  I think that's a good thing!

I've been cleaning up my 1800+ photos of the building experience. This has definitely contributed to my reminiscing lately.  It's been amazing to look back on them all, and more often than not I find my self simply looking through them, rather than sorting or deleting which was my original intention.  It's a work in progress, and I have been trying to set aside some favourites, but almost every photo has so many memories that I love them all. It seems like a another time that we were at these stages:

Rob says he feels quite exhausted when he looks at them.  I can see why.  I try not to remind him that there is still a bit of exterior siding to be done this year!  

For now though, it is still "winter".  We have a few weeks yet before we have to think about outside tasks, like siding and gathering firewood. Our firewood usage was amazing this winter.  We used maybe only a dozen pieces of our purchased oak, and the rest of the time we simply used wood that we gathered, split and stacked last spring from downed trees.  We still have a bit left here at the house and still have 2 more piles on our concrete pad that we haven't touched.  

The longer daylight hours are helping with our solar power, and we are seeing a bit more sunshine than we did in January.  We have a forecast for a long cool spring, with more snow on the way, but we still have lots of indoor projects we are hoping to work on.  So for now we will enjoy whatever weather we get, and I will set myself a promise not to write so much about the weather in the next blog posting. Well, maybe ....

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.