The north wind has us in its grip, and we keep inside as much as we reasonably can. The work on the treehouse has halted entirely, because our fingers and hands wouldn’t cooperate if we tried to be out there unrolling roofing materials, or up on the tower in the wind trying to nail shakes on. The suspenseful part is whether or not we can get the roof closed in before this dry northeast wind encounters a warmer air mass. Generally these frigid blue-sky days give way to something falling out of the sky, and the world goes back to being sodden and grey.
Anyhow, I painted a bunch of maple branch slices and strung wire through them for Christmas tree ornaments. It was a fairly last-minute project, just to have a table-ful of something to sell at the island school’s Christmas Crafts Fair, two days ago. It’s a small, cozy affair, but it’s even more fun if you’re there with something to sell. This is one of the ornaments. I sold ten of the twenty I brought, so I felt contented with the day’s proceeds.
Today, Tuesday, it was a disorganized day. It began with a chimney fire, which is definitely NOT the way you want to start the morning out when it’s about 18 degrees outside and all your water barrels are frozen solid. But Bob dealt with it calmly and efficiently, and within half an hour the stovepipe was re-connected properly and the flames had stopped shooting out the top of the chimney. We didn’t even have to be cold for very long, before we could re-make the fire and consider the matter of coffee and toast.
But, it was too chilly to be really effective at anything, and we were still lazy from having had a couple of hectic days. We dinked around the house today, reheating the chickens’ water at intervals and doing odds and ends. Bob sharpened his chainsaw, I watched news videos from Nicaragua online, he made scalloped potatoes, I made poppyseed pound cake with brandied plum topping. Elaborate carbohydrates are an important part of how we get through winter.
Frozen in place
One of the ornaments I sold at the crafts fair
The north wind has us in its grip, and we keep inside as much as we reasonably can. The work on the treehouse has halted entirely, because our fingers and hands wouldn’t cooperate if we tried to be out there unrolling roofing materials, or up on the tower in the wind trying to nail shakes on. The suspenseful part is whether or not we can get the roof closed in before this dry northeast wind encounters a warmer air mass. Generally these frigid blue-sky days give way to something falling out of the sky, and the world goes back to being sodden and grey.
Anyhow, I painted a bunch of maple branch slices and strung wire through them for Christmas tree ornaments. It was a fairly last-minute project, just to have a table-ful of something to sell at the island school’s Christmas Crafts Fair, two days ago. It’s a small, cozy affair, but it’s even more fun if you’re there with something to sell. This is one of the ornaments. I sold ten of the twenty I brought, so I felt contented with the day’s proceeds.
Today, Tuesday, it was a disorganized day. It began with a chimney fire, which is definitely NOT the way you want to start the morning out when it’s about 18 degrees outside and all your water barrels are frozen solid. But Bob dealt with it calmly and efficiently, and within half an hour the stovepipe was re-connected properly and the flames had stopped shooting out the top of the chimney. We didn’t even have to be cold for very long, before we could re-make the fire and consider the matter of coffee and toast.
But, it was too chilly to be really effective at anything, and we were still lazy from having had a couple of hectic days. We dinked around the house today, reheating the chickens’ water at intervals and doing odds and ends. Bob sharpened his chainsaw, I watched news videos from Nicaragua online, he made scalloped potatoes, I made poppyseed pound cake with brandied plum topping. Elaborate carbohydrates are an important part of how we get through winter.