Unknown's avatar

Snowed In

After two full days of high winds and heavy snow, the sun woke us this morning, bright and blinding over the deep blanket of snow.  I’d say we got at least two feet; in most places it is knee deep, and the drifts between the cars are at waist-deep (and I had to chase a loose hen through there).  We are all impressed that we never lost power, though who knows when all the schools, etc, will re-open.

Sadly it wasn’t only the sun that woke me this morning, but a terrible cold that’s left me achey and miserable.  Good thing I managed so much work yesterday and could reasonably relax today (though I will admit to having done all of today’s chores and feeding in my pajamas, in a sickly, Cold & Flu Alka-Seltzer – induced haze).

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Yesterday there were points where I did begin to worry about the sheep. Not because they had no shelter to escape the snow, but because they had no interest in availing themselves of it. They simply took turns gorging on hay and laying in the snow to chew their cud, allowing it to build up on their backs.

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Sabine and Orzo weren’t exactly thrilled about being out in it, but they spent enough time running about in it that they kept the area around the hay bale and feeders rather packed down and easy to access.

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Oona braved it for longer than anyone. It was pretty hard to see with the wind blowing the snow directly into our eyes, but she loved it.

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I just couldn’t believe how heavy and for how long it snowed; I haven’t seen winter weather like this since I lived in New York. Not this intensity, anyway. I love this kind of weather, and I know how crazy a lot of people think I am for it. But I will tell you this: if we reliably had snow like this that stuck around, I’d be investing in cross-country skis.  I miss that!

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I’m loving this view from the living room window.

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With the weather outside so…..frightful (ha!)…..I did what any sane person (who loves to eat) would do: I made cinnamon rolls. As always, I used Susan’s recipe, because it’s fool-proof.

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I’m so glad I did, too.  Waking up feeling like the back of a bus this morning was made somewhat better when I simply had to pop a roll in the microwave for 10 seconds and I could console myself with a delicious treat.

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The cats spent the day watching all of the birds out at the feeders.

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And THIS, my friends, is a happy man who worked very hard and fixed his tractor.  He’s currently out plowing. We did discuss wishing we knew for sure who the neighbor is that threatened our dogs (we’re pretty sure, but not 100%), so he could plow everyone else OUT, and him IN.

Oh well.

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He’s out there anyway. Most of the neighbors will be very happy and thank him. Some won’t. That’s life, and people, I guess.

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Either way, I’m grateful it’s him, and not me. I need to sleep off this cold virus.

Right after I enjoy how still, and clean, and fresh everything looks and smells. Breathe it all in, everyone. It’s fleeting.

 

Unknown's avatar

First Snow(ish)

Yesterday we were very pleasantly surprised by several bouts of thick flurry activity. The kids were ecstatic, and we all just wished it would actually snow, rather than just tease us.  Still, we did get a tiny bit of dusting on the deck and the back of the sheep.

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See? You can just tell there’s a bit starting to stick on Darby’s back. Barely. Squint, maybe.

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It’s there, I swear! Let’s just hope that this isn’t the sum total of our winter experience this year, because for several years after we moved to Virginia, this really WAS all we saw.

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When the gate out front is open all the way, the sheep, goats, and dogs have access to the front porch.  It’s not ideal for us humans, because it means poop everywhere, and they’ve broken several porch rails. They like to sit by the door, though, and stare in at us.

Yesterday was also our first day back doing school again. It went well, considering we are all way off our sleep routines and no one wants to do anything other than cuddle kittens and do fun things.  Getting back to reality and regular life and appointments  is hard. Emily is getting braces in a few weeks and our lives are consumed with visits to various dental specialists when we are not working on school or doing farm chores.

I’ve been chugging away on my Chimney Fire.

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I hit a few snags early on (once when I needed a bit more clarification and then realized “continue in pattern” simply meant to “knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches”, and once when I had to go back and place extra markers to keep the sleeve pattern and the increases on the sides better delineated.

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Since then I’ve been flying along at it and it has been a very enjoyable knit.

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And yes, since you asked, it IS covered with cat and dog fur.

In this house, it’s a rare item indeed that isn’t blessed with fur.  From school work……

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……to puzzles.

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Unknown's avatar

Baking Christmas

Every year I draw up an ambitious list of cookies I plan to bake, and every year I begin to falter a few days before the holiday, having worn myself out in the process of producing so many goodies.

This year I have an ace up my sleeve: Neve.

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She’s been a great help with prep work and with getting everything into and out of the oven and onto cooling racks.  She’s also made up several batches of Peanut Butter Blossoms on her own.

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As always, we also made a large batch of Hamantaschen.

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Once again I also attempted Springerle. In the past, these cookies have consistently defeated me. This year I tried a new recipe, using King Arthur Flour’s Speculaas dough. There was a lot of chilling, rolling, chilling, molding, chilling, chilling, and more chilling. The results? Not too terrible. Not perfect, though, and I had a hard time with them. Still, I consider it progress!

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We have many, many more to go, but the doughs for our butter cookies and gingerbread cookies are already chilling and ready to be cut and baked.  I am going to try and get the Meringue cookies whipped up tonight to set in the oven overnight.

I also felt overly ambitious (or stressed?) and decided to make the gingerbread for our gingerbread houses this year. I used the recipe from the America’s Test kitchen cookbook and simply measured out shapes for the houses by hand. Neve wasn’t thrilled with how thick it was (and not perfectly straight-edged), but Oona was ecstatic that she had a house she could actually eat this year.

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Emily and I have been stuffing ourselves with all the extra gumdrops. I am going to need a major sugar-detox after this Christmas!

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Tomorrow I’ll work on getting the cookies ready for the kids to decorate, as well as trying some new recipes. That is, if I have the time. Paul is taking them out to see the new Star Wars movie so I can wrap gifts (and drink gluhwein, of course). For a few glorious hours I’ll have a Christmasy house all the myself (and the kitties).

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Unknown's avatar

Getting Festive Up In Here

Happy Hanukkah!

We like to celebrate with food every opportunity we can.  So even though we are not Jewish, this time of year there are plenty of latkes and blintzes to be had. If I had other culturally Jewish food in my repertoire, there’d be that as well (I mean, aside from all the cookies and breads and cakes, natch).

Tonight was our blintz night.  We LOVE blintzes. One of the kids usually asks for them for their birthday as well.  Honestly, though there’s a lot of steps, they’re super easy. I whip up some crepes, and fill them with a cream cheese/ricotta/powdered sugar/vanilla mixture, roll them up burrito-style and pan-fry them until they’re browned and hot.

Then I top them with some pre-fab blueberry pie filling and whipped cream. Done! Happy family.

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Then we eat them by candlelight. It’s really the only way to properly enjoy them. 😉

The weather has been working against our holiday spirit – it’s been so warm that we have been sweating while trying to do our schoolwork. In the evening, once it has cooled down again, we’ve been trying to keep the holiday ambience going as much as we can.

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The kitties enjoy it as well; if by “it” we mean chewing on the branches and swatting the candy canes off the tree.

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“Who, us???”

We have had morning frosts, which is a reassuring sign that it really IS winter, even if it doesn’t feel so much like it.

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It would be nice if the cooler weather would hang out long enough for us to wear our nice winter sweaters, though. It’s hard to stay motivated to knit with wool right now and create even more sweaters that will sit unhappy and unused all through the festive season each year.  Not that my Chimney Fire sweater is growing that fast or anything.

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During the week it’s usually evening before I have a chance to pick it up, and I’m pretty tired by then. As for the weekends, well…it IS gluhwein season, and you know wine and cablework don’t mix.

This weekend we’ll be hitting the holiday baking pretty hard; I’m feeling the usual ambition for lots of cookie variety and quantity. Now to figure out how to distill some of Oona’s energy for myself!

 

 

Unknown's avatar

Sunday Progress

It was so sunny and warm out today that we opened the windows early and had vegetable omelets and coffee in the fresh air before getting to work outside.

Oona and I mulched a raised garden bed for her use and she planted peas.  When it’s warmer she will plant sunflowers and mini pumpkins as well.  She is beyond excited!

After we took care of that we finished mulching the back garden and Oona helped plant peas back there as well.  We got tomato and pepper seeds started inside, and I tied the long, spindly rose branches down to the trellis after some pruning.

I checked on the bees and they were happily buzzing about and working hard to bring nectar and pollen back to the hive.

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There were tiny little blue wildflowers blooming all over the lawn, and I found two little crocuses in the front.

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It was great to have the kids all outside all day for once!  Oona conned Paul into playing on the swingset for a little while before dinner.

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Our house lamb is getting used to life outside once again, and is walking and eating on her own.  Her head is unfortunately still turned a bit back, but very slowly that seems to be improving as well.

In the coming weeks we will be putting in the cooler weather crops: lettuces, beets, carrots, radishes, etc.  I can’t wait for them to be ready.  I’ve been craving crunchy salads like nobody’s business!!!!

The sheep have been running and playing and kicking up their feet, and the dogs have been rolling happily in the grass.  Everyone’s got spring fever!

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I think Lucy is the most photogenic dog!

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Though Orzo doesn’t want to be counted out.

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I know spring doesn’t officially start for a few more days, but we are enjoying life as though it is here already!

Unknown's avatar

Winter Weekend

More snow!

I know, I’m probably the only person on the eastern seaboard right now who gets excited over seeing snow anymore. Can’t help it.  Even after trudging out in it in the morning to put out fresh hay and again for evening feeding (and to knock the accumulated snow off the shelter) I was still smitten with it.

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The kids stayed mostly in their pj’s all day, snuggled on the couch with hot cocoa and popcorn watching Rise of the Guardians and Bob’s Burgers.

We also spent a not-insignificant amount of time watching the cat, who was watching the birds.

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She knows how to keep us entertained!

I was able to get a decent amount of knitting done on my Shepherd sweater. I’ve got one sleeve finished and I’m about a third of the way done with the second. I can’t believe how slow it’s going.  Not that I am a quick knitter or anything, but man! All that cabling really slows me down.

I’ve got some patterns pulled out that I am hoping to get to work on soon as well. I want to make a few more Renfew tops, some Espresso leggings, and at least one more Lady Skater.  I’ve also got some lovely Moda Crepe that I want to use to make another Lonsdale.

It probably won’t happen today, but it’s an exciting prospect to have it lined up.

I’m also toying with the idea of making a rain jacket with Minoru since I will need one in June, because……and here comes the super big news of the year……I am heading to Europe for 15 days with my sister and middle child!

Specifically, we are flying into Edinburgh, Scotland and staying there for 3 nights.  Even in June I will likely need a light jacket or sweater in the evenings.  My friend Jessie and her family will be there at the same time. We are already looking ahead to having a pint together in Scotland!

We are then taking the train to London (where a rain jacket will be a must) where we will stay for 5 days before taking another train to Paris. Happily, my friend Jennifer lives in London and we will be able to meet up with her while we are there.  We are also lucky enough to be able to stay with my friend Aurelie at her apartment in Versailles for 3 nights.  I haven’t seen her since before Oona was born, so I am crazy excited!

After Paris we are heading to Wiesbaden, Germany to stay with my friend Diana, who’s been there for work since August.

I am still amazed that we will see someone we know in each European city we are visiting!

We’ve got our tickets and our hotels in the UK booked and I can’t even tell you how hard it is now to just wait. I’m throwing myself into my knitting and crafting and garden planning  to stay occupied.

Before we get there, spring will come. The garden will be planted and the bees will be out gathering pollen and nectar. And most important of all, Susan’s baby will be here!

It’s going to be an incredible year!

 

 

Unknown's avatar

Random Wednesday Ravings

I’m not going to lie. Right now, getting any school done during the day has been a real effort. I have very little desire to keep everyone on task, and they have even less desire to do so.  The weather has been weird, there’s a lot of chores that need to be done (and furry friends needing to be snuggled) that I’d rather take care of, there’s other things that everyone would rather be doing.

Yet we slog through it as best as we can anyway, and hope it sticks. Today I cut Neve off before math because she couldn’t sit still and I sent her into the kitchen to make these:

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This book is full of wonderful recipes for baking that are perfect for Neve’s current abilities.

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It calmed her down, avoided the usual math tantrum, and kept her from distracting Emily. And bonus! She has to measure stuff, so…..math!

Ugh. Actually, no. It’s nice when you see homeschool people and blogs talk about using fun activities that incorporate learning math and science, and that’s great when your kids are like 7. But Neve really needs to be working on more complicated geometry and elementary algebra that she isn’t going to learn from whipping out a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Sorry, unschoolers. I’ve seen what happens when a kid isn’t well prepared for the SAT’s and college. You pay for two years of “Math for Dummies” and the like at the local community college before your kid can even start working on their degree requirements.  As much as we don’t love math, it is far easier for them to learn it young and keep building on it than trying from nearly scratch at 18.  And that whole argument about how kids will naturally learn what they need based on their interests? Also no. Not every kid is born motivated to work on improving their brains. It’s a discipline that for many has to be taught, along with time management skills.  And when at 16 your kid suddenly has to cram an entire school  lifetime’s worth of math into a year to prepare for college…it isn’t pretty.   Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m no fan of our public school systems. But there is a level of base knowledge everyone needs, no matter how they are educated.

This is where my brain is these days. It’s mired in the many things that have to happen each day and it certainly feels many days that we are just getting further and further behind. So we keep at it, knowing that this time is finite, and we will never get it back.

 

 

Unknown's avatar

All That’s Fit To Spin

Happy New Year!  It’s been a quiet one for us so far.

The day after Christmas Paul packed up the kids and went to see his parents in New York for 5 glorious, peaceful days. They saw the tree at Rockefeller Center, went ice skating, went to the American Girl store, and saw the holiday show at Radio City Music Hall.

I spent the entire time getting to know my new spinning wheel and catching up on my favorite shows and podcasts.  I watched Broadchurch TWICE.  I’m just that excited for the new season to start in March!

I spent a lot of time watching Top Gear and Doctor Who reruns as well.  Just me, my wheel, plenty of wool and British television.  Bliss!

New Year’s Eve we had our annual tradition of game night with friends, and we’ve enjoyed all of us being home and lazy for awhile.

We are officially back to school this week and it’s not been the easiest transition after such a wonderful holiday season.

As for my spinning, I’d say it’s going better than great!  I enrolled in a Craftsy class for beginners  (“Foundations of Spinning”) and it really made it click for me. I even plied my single spun into yarn! Real, actual yarn!

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This is a mohair blend. It made sense to start with something I have an abundance of!

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With this, I am officially hooked. It’s fortunate I have a supply of fresh wool growing outside!!!

Unknown's avatar

Hygge

I came across an article about the Danish concept of Hygge not long ago; about how people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (or those who just hate the colder, darker months) might benefit from adding a bit of it to their lives.

Hygge, as it turns out, is all about the “cozy” in life.  Or, something like that. It’s a feeling that encompasses all of those things that make say, Christmas, so magical. It’s love. It’s an inviting fire with a cup of delicious tea when it’s snowy outside. It’s snuggling with your loved ones – furry or otherwise.  For most of us knitters, it’s an afternoon free and a bag full of fresh-spun wool.  It’s well-being. It’s sanctuary.

When I read about it, I knew it deep it my bones already.  It was in there all along, just waiting for a good word to put to it. Paul has always called it all of my “little things”.  Those things that make you feel at home, that make you happy. It turns out I’ve been practicing hygge my whole life.

December is, indeed, the sort of “holy month” for hygge, for lack of a better term. Think about it: the tree, the lights, the comfort foods, the festivities.  It’s a month where we all know the cold and dark of winter is breathing down our backs but we push it aside to  celebrate joy and warmth and love.

I have it all around me.

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A darling paperwhite bulb in the kitchen window.

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My favorite happy little sparkly reindeer ornament.

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My very favorite tea, which I will enjoy this evening, snuggled on the couch with my girls after a dinner of spicy vegetable soup.

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The soft glow of the Christmas tree, which still smells divine! We sat cuddled up next to it today and watched the classic Baryshnikov version of The Nutcracker.

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These fantastic little heat packs.  Great for cold feet, headaches, backaches, and cozying up your blankets at night.

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A big, furry, polar bear of a dog and a tiny sweet kitten.

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My purry little companion, curled up in a wool blanket.  A wool blanket woven from the wool of the very sheep I can see from my comfy chair as I type.  If that’s not hygge, I don’t know what is!

Go forth, fill your world with hygge!  And even more, allow yourself to revel in it a bit!

Unknown's avatar

Turkey Day Coma

Have you all sufficiently recovered from the excesses of Thanksgiving? We had a lovely, quiet,  intimate holiday. Our friend Trina was scheduled to join us for the feast, but sadly she came down with the crud.  Unfortunately, Maddie had the crud as well, and  I have come down with the crud now (and am trying hard not to feel too bad about lounging in my pajamas on the couch all weekend) ; but at least I was well for the day itself.

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The kids were happy with a quiet holiday, too.  First of all, we had actual snow the day before.  Snow. In November. In Virginia.

As if that wasn’t excitement enough, they got to spend all morning in their pajamas watching the parade and the dog show, and were thrilled when I agreed to finally putting on some Christmas music during dinner.  Neve has been pushing hard for being able to get out the Christmas movies and music and I refused to cave in to it until the parade at least had ended.

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After dinner our friends Keith and Jessie came with their kids and Jessie’s mom, Joan, for pie. I had made the usual apple and pumpkin pies, but I also tried a new recipe from Cooking Light: Mocha Pie with Coffee Whipped Cream.  It was astounding. However, there’s a tip I should pass along should you choose to make it: don’t take it out of the fridge until JUST before you serve it.  Ours had been put out an hour or so before slicing and it had gotten quite goopy.

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Now that turkey season has concluded we all have turned our attention to all things Christmas, and yesterday was spent obtaining a tree and pulling out all the decorations from the attic.  If you are likewise feeling ready for the holiday spirit, I’d like to recommend taking a look over HERE at the Gavle Goat. He’s a wonderful Swedish holiday tradition, and as long as no one sets fire to him, he should be there for viewing until after Christmas.  I have several Yule Goats I put out for the season, including one that tops our tree.

I’ve also been hearing about the German Christmas markets from my friend Diana, who currently lives in Wiesbaden.

Europe knows how to do Christmas, y’all.