Wizened little apples..

The poor squirrels are making a little trail to this ornamental crabapple tree just outside the bedroom window.  I can't imagine they taste very good....although, having said that... perhaps they are fermented from the intermittent freezing and thawing and have a lovely wine-y flavour!

This little guy..or gal....I am voting for a female, was doing acrobatics to get at some of the remaining 9 apples.  They are more like wrinkly cherries they are so small.  She was clinging by tiny toenails upside down and right side up..but moving so quickly I didn't get any shots of the tricks.  Darn it.  She is pretty spry for her shape.  See that fat little tummy?  I bet babies are already hibernating in there ....

Just look at these silly things..... who would want to eat them?  But, there is so much snow... maybe there's not much for them to find unless it is up in a tree.  There are spruce cones nearby ...but, perhaps a bit of fruit is on their dietary requirements list .... don't forget to click on each photo to see them bigger....not the silly wrinkly cherry like thingies of course, .........the cute little squirrel....

Uh, oh..... I think she sees me now....and is ready to bolt.....  she was watching me all along, but enough is enough I guess.

Winter has arrived

I hope it's not here to stay for the duration of the wintery months.... like, until spring...which in this part of the world could be, erm... May.....

We usually have plenty of sun though... and, we also usually have lovely warm spells called Chinooks... but, last year it was pretty much from Hallowe'en til .. oh, yeh...... May ....  darn it.  .........I hope this year is not like last year.

My Christmas cactus has bloomed; when is American Thanksgiving?   must be soon.... seeing as it usually blooms about then... so I changed its' name to that instead of Christmas cactus.  It might be finished blooming by next week this year...what the heck? ...

Those are new little ornies I found already.... it's kind of a tradition to buy a few new little things for the tree each year... and, to give away some of the other ones I've enjoyed for years....

The snow began to fall late Saturday night....

By morning the top of the patio wall was chest deep on sparrows... they don't look particularly pleased do they?
                                                                               





                                                                                 





They had a look at the bird bath.... hmmmm... the snow was beginning fill it as well... the water is frozen solid of course..... no bathing today guys!

I'm not sure they believed me.

They went away and didn't even bother looking at the feeder for seeds.  Hmmm.... weird.

I thought they would be hanging around all day til it was empty and then...beg for more.

The snow continued throughout the whole day yesterday .....

Cupid disappeared ...............

Definitely no bathing today guys........ but, did you notice the thermostatically heated bird water I put out? ...it's over in the patio .... come on back..........!!!  Not for swimming mind you...but, how 'bout a drink? ....

Awww... come on............ I paid good money for that thing....

We have snow ... and mistletoe.. and,,, la la la...

.................oh....it's not mistletoe? .... alright then....it's Hawthorn berries..... but we do have snow!

... and blue skies and brilliant sunshine..... what a glorious day....

looking out the kitchen window yesterday...

my arm is still not up to shoveling...so I just took pics..... hey....this is not so bad.....it's usually me on the end of that shovel.  I may be able to get used to this.....NOT !!.... I love shoveling!

Pink Ribbon Grass.. in winter turns a soft golden shade.  I never cut it back til spring because I think gardens can still be pretty to see in the snowy yard.

The neighbour's Mountain Ash.  The birds seem to save these berries til last... well, I think they do anyway.

AND....for a day that is snowy and cold....what better thing to do than.... make soup.  Oh, of course and all the Christmas baking etc...but, what really matters is something tasty for supper, right?  Check my other blog for this soup...

We're home....

and of course, it's the pits.  Even though I'm sure I don't have jet lag....I also don't have any motivation...or energy ...or much of anything really. Getting back into some sort of routine is proving difficult.  I've been just wandering about the house.... trying to decide where to begin.  Of course, it's only been a day and a half.  Or, perhaps it's looking out my front door and seeing this that has some detrimental affect....













after all....it's a long way from this isn't it?....

It's tough to go from sun, sand and surf ....to snow, cold and dull......

That does it.  I'm just going to look at my little collection of sea glass, shells worn to a glass-like finish...and my cute little hand painted souvenirs instead.

..or my cork and silver jewellery.. Portugal is well known for its cork oaks... producing about 50% of the world cork harvest.  It is a great sustainable resource with big impact on the ecosystem and it's now illegal to cut down a cork oak.  No longer just used for high end wine corking anymore either  ..... jewellery, hand bags, even clothing, made from cork, is pretty amazing to see and feel.  It feels like velvet. We even saw an amazing wedding dress in Batalha made from cork.  I'm not sure what happened...we must have been too stunned to remember to take a photo.....or maybe it was because we were so busy looking at all the beautiful hand bags... which we didn't buy but probably should have... they were lovely. It was a stunning dress ...and so unlike any wedding dress I've ever seen.

Funny how a new and exciting holiday routine becomes so quickly embedded...and yet getting back to the old and familiar, or perhaps the mundane, takes much longer.  Hmmmm........

There I was..    having coffee by myself this morning (ours seems to pale in comparison) ..... wishing I had some company and some lovely Portuguese bread for toast..... then I found myself surfing the 'net for recipes for breads... Portuguese breads.  I did find several.  Bookmarked now.... and ready to go..... I sure hope I can manage a dense, tasty cornbread like some we found... mmmmmm..... not anything like the cornbread we think of at all.  This is a rustic, yeast based loaf...with a firm dark crust.... oh, man..my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  I'll keep ya posted....

I remember thinking about how I would be so organized before we left.  Oh, sure....absolutely.  I was going to take photos.... upload them.. label things... write about them... blah, blah..blah.... yeh...right...as if......

Both Maria (my friend and wonderful hostess) and I... somehow managed to take at least 100 to 150 photos a day!   Every single day!  Hahahahahah.... and, now?   Three weeks have evaporated; I have totally forgotten some of where we were; what we were doing and even which day it was.  And, who even wore a watch or cared what time it was either? So...I will probably just post lots of the beautiful pictures and try to add a name or a town or something and call it a day.

If I do post some that you absolutely must know the name or origin of, ... please just ask.... I will definitley enlist Maria's help...and let you know exactly where it is....


ps...... oh, great....I just looked out the window...and it's snowflaking....arrghhhhh!

yoyo'ing .....

See what I mean?

Two days ago we were the second coldest anywhere in the world .... so "they" say...whoever "they" might be ......

..... and, today....look how warm it is already this morning.... and still climbing....

already warmer than "they" said. Those "they" again ..... and they sure as heck don't always seem to know of what "they" speak.  Must be a Chinook wind blowing out there. ..... oh, look...at 37 kph.... yep.... it's blowing alright.... sun is shining now too..

Must go out and brush off the foot of snow still on the van... and the rest of the ice can melt.... we love our Chinooks... although, it is tough on the foliage.  Trees and shrubs can't always figure out what is happening....

I'll be sweeping gently and carefully ..seeing as I wrecked something in my ribs the other day.  After shovelling a ton of snow, I bent over to poke some leaves out of the downspout  ... perhaps at an odd angle...and something in my ribs went "proinnnggg"!  It was on fire and I coudn't even move for about 30 seconds.  Man...I feel like the walking wounded.  Anyway... it was just getting so I could breathe a bit easier and I was sitting on the couch, sort of massaging..no..I was more like caressing the area..and all of a sudden... "proinngg"! yet again.  What the heck is happening?  I couldn't sit, stand, or lie down it hurt so much... and I was gasping for air trying to stand up.  You would hardly think broken...and yet... one wonders....

No point in going to the doctor... they don't do anything for ribs anyway.  If there is a break...they just give you pain killers and send you home to wait it out for 6 weeks or so.  Oh, after taking plenty of xrays.  If it is torn tissue... same thing... wait.. til it feels okay and then do some light stretching and strengthening when you can.  PLus...they want to take more x-rays...and I don't want any more this year... I already had some a few times for my hand... for my teeth... which is another story and I had a tooth extracted yesterday after many visits and many second opinions...and many $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ .... plus a scare about having any dental work done when a person is taking Actonel...  it's been an annoying several months really.  Totally off-putting in the motivation and creation department...but... now... I think I have it mostly under control.

The ribs feel pretty good today, but, I did get some good drugs for jaw pain in case...and they totally work on the ribs.  Hardly feel 'em at all this morning.  Wheeee......    I did the ice packing of my jaw...and so far..no swelling at all.  If the clot stays in the socket and healing begins... I will be fine.  If it pops out; a dry socket and infection occurs..well...I'll probably be taking them.  If you've ever had a dry socket you know what I'm talking about.  But., so far,  so good.  Having worked as a dental assistant for 18 years...I know the ropes and the possibilities... which isn't always a good thing...but, at least it helps in the "doing the right thing" department as far as healing goes.
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And... my friend Maggi came to play on Monday...

we cut out a bear!  Finally...I'm going to do something....

look how cute.  He will be a fluffy guy... about 6 inches.... here is a side head piece.... just a second...that looks like a dog I know!

It's officially winter..

For me it always begins with cold weather and snow... and it has been snowing since Monday.  And... it is cold. ( -15C right now.)

It began innocently enough.... a few inches of heavy wet stuff ... pretty on the red branches of the barberry ... still plenty of colour on them because we have had such a nice long autumn.

I love how they droop so gracefully under the weight...

The spirea also still have plenty of colourful leaves...

I shovelled for over an hour... ooooh.... heavy and wet and it was sticking to my scoop... I almost threw my arms out of the sockets with every scoopful. We have a long expanse of city sidewalk because we live on a corner lot... and I got fed up with that half way up the side of the house.
I was resting on the shovel handle, grinning at a huge flock of geese trading places in their formation as they flew over .... ... I love the geese.  They were honking away and doing all sorts of weird maneuvers and then, all of a sudden, they were in a perfect V.
 I was thinking how clever they were.

And... all of a sudden.. I, too, had a bright idea and thought how clever was I !  Marched myself straight back to the garage and found some silicone spray.  Sprayed it all over the scoop shovel and went back out there.  It worked like a charm!  Snow slid right off every time instead of clinging to it.  Whew.... that made things a lot easier.  When it is wet like that it is the worst to shovel...it sticks in huge blobs and is just too heavy to shove or to throw.  It's also the worst to drive on.  It fills the cleats of the best winter tires and makes it like driving on slicks.... there were hundreds of driving accidents in the past few days. And..it's still snowing..... my van is sitting in the driveway covered in snow...and it can just stay there.  It doesn't get around well enough to chance it.  If I need to shop or have an appointment...I'll just wait til Greg gets home.. and use the 4 wheel drive ....

Yesterday... it was this deep.  The squirrel who buried his peanuts in this pot will be tunneling through about 8 inches of snow to find his stash..if he remembers where he put it.  Personally, I think it is just instinct for them and they immediately forget where they put things. I'll be digging up peanuts in the spring when I turn over the dirt before planting my pots.

Elmo decided we could measure .... and, apparently it's only 7 inches...

my calibrated eyeball was off by an inch...

....as soon as I finish my second coffee....I'll be out there...shovelling.

... ...... ..... Jingles Bells anyone? ..... Now I'm thinking my Christmas Cactus knew exactly what time of year it is....no wonder it bloomed.

blue sky day...

One look through the (faux) lead glass window of the door and I knew it was a perfect day to head out to post some Christmas cards. Brilliant sun, bright blue sky ... cool but not cold. It was only -10 C or so by noon.... not too bad.

Later, a light snow began to fall .... by suppertime it was a white wonderland all over again. I love the look of the new snow. I love how light it is outside even after dark.... the way the Christmas lights all look wrapped in a layer of cotton wool... the softness of it all.

Everything is so quiet and muffled. When the temperature drops further... -23 C or so...and a few cars have already driven over the new stuff...it gets squeaky. Car tires crunch or squeak over it when they drive past... ... the jets almost whistle and hiss as they pass by on the way to the airport ... the sound goes on forever after they pass... if it is that cold. It is so different in many ways when it gets to the deeper cold. The other night it was -25 C when I went to the grocery store and my nostrils pinched themselves off when breathing in through my nose... your forehead begins to almost ache if you are out in it for over 15 minutes... don't really like it that cold......

Oh,....... hadn't even been out for a few days....so, there was a bit of work involved.....

Here is what we do with snow in parking lots... front end loaders begin to make piles each time they clear a new snowfall...which they try to do immediately. These piles get huge and wide by late winter. I made sure I got that car in the shot for some perspective or you could easily have mistaken it for a small mound....

oops... ran out of stamps... just walking to the nearest post box to drop them in was not an option..... had to drive to a post office to buy some more......

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Serena.... you are the winner of my hidden prize contest..... you mentioned the new header photo. I have had 3 different ones up there since December...nobody noticed .. or at least nobody mentioned....or perhaps they came by way of the post title and didn't see it.... either way... you're the first!!

Send me an email with your snail mail address .... and I can get it in the mail right away....

and thanks for noticing..... lol.....

Christmas Stollen

More snow overnight yesterday and today... along with some wind and drifting...











A perfect day to stay home and bake... after shoveling for about 45 minutes... I tell myself it is my workout and I don't have to do any weights that day...











Yesterday I wanted to try a Christmas bread... so, after much "mulling" over, I decided on Bavarian Nut Stollen. The recipe seemed pretty intricate; I don't know how many times I read the darn thing and still I didn't feel any confidence about getting started. I am notoriously slow in the morning anyway... my eyes don't seem to focus well and my brain never really kicks in before noon most days. Yesterday must have been one of those days......it took forever to get moving in the right direction...




















Once I did, I was on a roll.... the kitchen got pretty crowded...I had every conceivable appliance on the go.... and all the countertops filled with "stuff".... but, I was baking Stollen, guys.... which meant there were actually two recipes on the go. One for the basic egg twist bread..and the other for the filling and glaze.














..... finally I got my head around what the recipe was trying to tell me....and lo and behold... Stollen!










The recipe made two loaves...and they were HUGE! Hanging off both sides of my cooling rack. About 8 inches across and a foot long each. Oh, and......... sooooo yummy!














At one point, the recipe actually warned me to tidy up and get ready to knead... hahahhaha ... whew... thank goodness somebody said it and I read it aloud... .. ... actually I had to refill the sink plenty of times during my busy baking spree because later in the afternoon I moved on to tarts ... ...my hands feel like velcro...... maybe today I'll just dust, tidy and decorate ...