Last Day of 2022

 

 

Happy last day of the year! I must confess my day had a rather unfortunate happening. I turned the kitchen tap on to fill the kettle then went away and forgot about it for a while. Maybe 5 or 6 minutes. Enough time to create a minor flood in our kitchen and a worse one downstairs in Middle Son's dining room. (The water  ran down the heat register, onto their overhead fan, which  threw it in all directions). I feel dreadful and I vow from now on  I WILL NOT LEAVE THE ROOM WHILE  FILLING THE KETTLE !

 So I changed my header, as you may have noticed, then I changed it again because I saw how the picture made it look like all the teacups were going to slide down to the left. Hopefully this time I chose a better one. 

We've had quite a lot of rain and most of the snow has disappeared. No snow in the immediate future which suits me fine. I know the daylight is very slowly starting to increase and look forward to the longer days. Meanwhile I'm still tidying up around the house which seems to be a never ending task.

Thanks for visiting,
Granny M

Happy New Year

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a lovely Christmas. I'm excited by the new year; there's something recharging about new beginnings. Meanwhile I've been reflecting on the past year and making plans for the next months.  No resolutions because I never succeed in keeping them anyway. Just plans and hopes and ideas of what I want to do. I'm not putting my Christmas decor away just yet. The tree is set to go on at 6 A.M. and greets me with pretty lights on these dark mornings. 

I find January the best time to organize and declutter as I find spots for some of the gifts I received. 

Would you like to see my new mug? It's perfect!!

Another gift was this small fountain with a cut glass ball that is kept in motion by water coming up from underneath. There's also a light that keeps the ball changing colours as it turns.  It's not going to stay on the kitchen counter.  I'll find a nice spot in the sunroom.

We're still eating leftovers so no great need for me to make meals. As for sweets, I think we have enough to last weeks, if not months. I've frozen most of them and will take some out as needed.
I wanted something less sweet and maybe a bit healthy so I baked bran muffins. I used my regular recipe and besides raisins I added dried cranberries and chopped up candied ginger that I had bought for a different recipe and didn't make after all.  I like the little kick I get when I hit a piece of the ginger. I may just add some every time I make bran muffins from now on. I made a spread for the muffins. I used spreadable cream cheese, a bit of icing sugar and some crushed (thawed) strawberries. It was delicious.

I've nattered on long enough. I'll go do something useful now. Let me know how your Christmas was.
Thanks for visiting,

Granny Marigold

Merry Christmas

 

I just wanted to pop in and wish each one of you a very merry Christmas!!

 We are in the midst of an ice storm which has resulted in trees coming down, power outages, planes unable to fly and all manner of inconveniences.  We are fortunate because we have no need to be anywhere so we can just stay home but so many are not so lucky. Since our grown children all live in the same town  ( and there's a few 4WD pick ups in the family) I'm quite sure we'll be able to get together both on Christmas Day and also Boxing Day.

 I hope where you are the weather is good and you are safe and warm.   G.M.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

SNOW

 

 

It snowed overnight and all morning. My eye appointment was cancelled, schools closed as well as libraries and many other services.  We may have broken a record for the amount of snow in one 24 hour period. 

 On the lower left side of the picture you can see our make-shift bird feeder. Because of Miss Kitty we have had to put all feeders high enough so she can't get at the birds. That's an upside down garbage can lid  with a suet feeder.  I counted 11 different species of birds as we sat in the sunroom and watched them come and go.

Here she's looking at the feeder that DH put up just before the storm. I think she's trying to decide if she could possibly leap across.

So it's a quiet day. We defrosted the extra fridge in the buttery. It's an old manual defrost one and it really needed doing. Don't ask me why 2 old people need 2 fridges but they are sure handy to have.
So now I can put my feet up and enjoy the afternoon. I hope you're also having a lovely day.

Thanks for visiting,  G.M. 

 

 

Christmas Teacups

 

 

 Not much to post about so I took a few pictures of some of my festive teacups.

 

I've been looking through past issues of Christmas magazines. Lovely pictures to amuse myself while sipping a cuppa. 

Thanks for dropping by,  Granny M.

Halvah and a Birthday

 Are you familiar with Halvah?  For us it's part of the special foods we have only at this time of the year.  The internet explains that Halvah is a confectionery originating from Persia and is made with sesame paste and sugar.  I chose one that had layers of dark chocolate while DH prefers his plain. Either way it is delicious.

 This week just flew by.  We celebrated my DH's 80th birthday. That's a big milestone!!  Otherwise it was all the usual things we had to do. I hope your week went well.  

Thanks for taking time from your busy lives to visit,  Granny M.

 

Feeling Sheepish

 

 Every year we bring out our very old nativity set (creche). We started with one shepherd and a couple of sheep but it seems every year a few more are added. Some I made, some I found at thrift stores, the tiniest one I found in the little lending library near the park. It was hand made and left with a note that whoever found it could have it. So it came home with me. In the second picture it's the one in the right corner of the stable behind Joseph.  With so many sheep we've had to add 2 more shepherds and this year we added an alpaca, or maybe it's a llama.

Thank you for visiting,

Granny M

A Poem for Advent

Making the House Ready for the Lord | Mary Oliver

Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
still nothing is as shining as it should be
for you. Under the sink, for example, is an
uproar of mice—it is the season of their
many children. What shall I do? And under the eaves
and through the walls the squirrels
have gnawed their ragged entrances—but it is the season
when they need shelter, so what shall I do? And
the raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard
while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
what shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
up the path, to the door. And still I believe you will
come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know
that really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.

© Mary Oliver 2006

Thursday Trivia

 First thing this morning we went to do the weekly grocery shopping.  After we got the groceries unpacked DH left for Gleaners taking with him one of the Christmas Stollen I had made for the annual Christmas lunch.   My recipe makes quite a few and these days I am not able to knead such a large lump of dough so he did all the hard work.  If you're not familiar with Stollen you can find lots of recipes and info on-line.

 Kate sent me this picture of her kitties watching birds out her glass door.  The kitty on the right is the one of Miss Kitty's 5 babies that Kate chose.

 Years ago I gathered driftwood pieces and some other bits and painted these Santas.
DH does not like them and asked me NOT to put them inside so here they are out the back door.

Eldest son also has a problem with them and thinks they look weird. Other members of the family have chosen not to comment. *smiling here*.
 

 That's it for today. I think I'll bake some cookies later otherwise Not much is happening. 

I hope your day is a good one,  GM

Miss Kitty and the Snow

 It was snowing when we walked this morning. Then it stopped but started up again as I sat with my second cup of coffee.  I noticed Miss Kitty on the garden shed roof and she seemed to wonder what she was doing up there. I wondered that too. She must have decided to get down and you can see her making her way up and over the top of the shed gradually making her way to the Clematis pergola where she picked her way along until she reached the house. Silly Kitty!

 Diane was wondering if Miss Kitty came in the house. No, she's strictly an outdoor cat but has a cozy bed and all that she needs in a part of the garden shed. About that last kitten that found a home....we had thought to keep it for company for Miss K but the kitten missed its siblings so he joined a brother whose people were thrilled to have him.  I think Miss K is somewhat of a loner. Maybe because of however many weeks it was that she was an uncared-for stray.

I hope my tale of our kitty hasn't bored you too much.   Thanks for visiting,  GM

Also wanted to let Prairie Rose Needle Art know that I'm glad she has begun a blog and will continue to read it but am not able to post a comment.  This is also a problem on HWIT BLOGG ( Titti in Sweden).  I will keep trying though.

Monday Chit Chat

 

 Are you ready for the week ahead?  I know it will be a busy one for many. I think I'm about done getting ready except for baking more cookies.  Our tree in the sunroom is an all-white one this year.

 Almost every year I manage to drop an ornament and this year was no exception.

 
Our weather remains cold and the snow and ice are not melting. Miss Kitty was confused by her first experience with snow and kept shaking it off her paws.  She was surprised when she jumped up on the birdbath expecting to have a drink and found only ice. ( She has a perfectly fine dish of water but prefers puddles or the birdbath.) 

Thanks for coming by,  G.M.

A House Tour

 We don't have many old houses in our town, at least not many in good condition. Except for Trethewey  House which is in the park where we walk almost every day. Long time followers have seen this place here in my blog a number of times I'm sure.  This picture was taken in summer, obviously. It's all snow covered now.
The last 2 or 3 years no Christmas  house tours took place because of Covid but this year once again the house was opened and we walked over to see how they had decorated it for Christmas. Come along and take a peek.

 

  The pictures above and below are of the master bedroom.

Another bedroom.

 This is what the park looks like.

Thank you for all the anniversary wishes.   And thank you for coming by today, G.M.

Welcome December

 

 

Keeping on with my decorating, the sideboard and treadle sewing machine look very much the same as they did last year. I added a few new things but mostly it's all my old favourites.

 

The snow and ice we got earlier in the week was beginning to melt but then we got another, heavier dump of snow. Schools were closed. My eye appointment was postponed.The news was full of tales of vehicles stranded or worse, in accidents. Winter has arrived, no doubt about it.
We celebrated our anniversary very quietly. It was our 59th. We were very young and look very serious. Our church didn't allow photos during the actual wedding so this was taken afterwards, hence the empty background.

That's it for today. Thanks for coming by,  GM