Savouring the Days

 

"There has been some lovely weather

--to look at."

Beatrix Potter

Early last week another "atmospheric river" flowed through our area. Oh, the rain. It poured down for two days, making little lakes in our garden and running in small rivers on a daughter's property right into their home. So much water! 

The first thing I do when I get out of bed in the morning is open the curtains. On Tuesday morning I saw very little. Thick fog obscured everything but the street lights. By mid-morning it had burned off and blue sky emerged. The world was full of light and so were my spirits. A beach walk seemed just the thing! 

Alas, as I crested the hill to Island View Beach I saw more fog covering the water. How mysterious and quiet it was. Bufflehead ducks played in the water and made hardly a noise. After walking for about 25 minutes the fog began lifting and when I turned to return to my car the sun was so bright I had to shade my eyes with my hand. What a difference! 

I heard the eagle cry out and hoped he would turn to face me for the photo, but perhaps he, too, was protecting his eyes from the blinding sun.

Soup has been on the menu this week. Split Pea Soup here, made from my mother's recipe with the substitution of a smoked turkey leg rather than a ham bone. Equally delicious. I do love soup and also made a smooth broccoli soup one day. 

Motivation has been low this week and I'm savouring the slow days of January. I stirred myself enough to make some Bran Muffins. I add raisins or dates to them and this version had chopped dates. Yummy with a bit of butter. 

I did a sketch of houses that remind me of our visit to Leiden and Amsterdam in the summer of 2024. The unfinished watercolour has been languishing in my painting box and this week I took it out and finished it. 

Another thing I'm savouring are the snowdrops appearing in various places - this small patch is in my garden, near to the house and quite sheltered. How white and crisp the flowers are! Our temperatures are unseasonably warm, so much so that a daffodil is blooming in our daughter's garden. We could very well get a blast of winter yet, and I rather hope we do. This warmth is quite strange. 

And so ends another week. We're getting together with friends for dinner one evening this weekend and also taking a short road trip. My husband is becoming interested in beekeeping and wants to visit an beekeeper who is full of information to share. I'll go along for the ride. 

Friday Favourites: Amaryllis, Snowdrops, Books and a Robot

 

The Amaryllis (unnamed) that I planted a number of weeks ago has grown so tall that one morning Tim found her lying down. So I've tied her up to the stairs and she has rewarded me with this beautiful first flower. The gradations of colour are so pretty, and there are more blooms to follow.

Now that the snow has melted from my garden I went looking for signs of life. Wispy crocus leaves, clumps of bluebells stems, and the first sign of snowdrops cheered me immensely. January is not yet half over and already I'm pining for warmer, brighter days. 

A small flower bed belonging to our neighbour adjoins our front garden and when I went for a walk today I was astounded to see it filled with snowdrops. Perhaps it receives more sun than my bed. I'm so glad I can enjoy her snowdrops while mine dally along. Such a hopeful sign. 

"Snowdrops. Theirs is a fragile but hardy celebration...in the very teeth of winter." 

Louise Beebe Wilder

This week's reading. I have not yet begun Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black, but I hope to this weekend. Mary Lawson's Crow Lake is a sad, but beautiful story of sibling love and understanding (and misunderstanding) set in Northern Ontario. I highly recommend it. A Cruel Deception is another book featuring Bess Crawford, a WWI nurse who solves mysteries in addition to caring for patients. 

Young Iris is interested in robots these days, so together we created this fun toy. She loves that the head wobbles when she shakes him. She drew the line for the mouth, and it was very straight, and Iris decided that he didn't look very happy. So Nana drew little upward lines at the corners and that was much better. The robot made little "bee-bo, bee-bo" noises that indicated his contentment. 

These days are grey and dull outside, but with little ones to play with, good books to read, and plenty of things to do, they pass quite happily. How is your January progressing?

Winter has arrived!

Our corner of Canada is much scorned by the rest of the country when we fuss about snow. It comes infrequently and is usually gone in a day or less. However, we've been in a "deep freeze", or perhaps just a cooler for the past week or so. Some snow fell late Friday, followed by punishing winds that battered against the house and caused multiple power outages, uprooted trees and debris to fly everywhere. 

 On Sunday afternoon the snow began again, this time in earnest. Tim and I went for a long walk. It was magical. Fat snowflakes landed on our faces and we turned our open mouths upwards to catch them, bits of cold on our tongues. Snow fell until around 9 or 10 pm. This morning is white and beautiful - and schools are cancelled. More snow is falling. I'm looking forward to taking a walk on my own later this morning. 

Today is this fellow's 5th birthday. He had his friend party last weekend, followed by a little family party here on Sunday. His birthday is a reminder to me of how God redeems days and memories.
Twenty-five years ago, on this day, this little guy's father was just 10 years old, living in a small town on the edge of the Amazon jungle. He was struck by a hit and run driver and suffered severe head trauma. We were flown to the capital city for medical treatment. He was in a coma for 4 days. His recovery took years, and we are thankful for his agile mind and body now. But over the years, I always mourned a little on February 11th. Perhaps it was a loss of innocence for me, and some grieving in spite of the good outcome.

However, all that grief and sorrow was taken away when our boy's son was born exactly 20 years later. Now there is just joy and thankfulness. Thanks be to God. 

Tulips are brightening the days. These were last week's and I don't have any in the house just now and won't be making any trips to the store to get them in the snow.

I recently finished the binding on this simple quilt. The scalloped edge meant bias binding and I cut miles of it. Enough to do another quilt, I think. I took it out into the snow on Friday for a photo shoot. It was very cooperative.

The snowdrops are currently completed covered in a blanket of snow, so I'm glad I took this photo on Friday. The blooms are almost at their end.

On this snow day, after my walk, I plan on watching Pride and Prejudice while I sew. There will be copious amounts of hot tea, and a lot of gazing out the window, too. 

Linking with Mosaic Monday, hosted by Angie of Letting Go of the Bay Leaf. 

Of Snowdrops, Lemon Pie, and the Moon

"Anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year, for gardening begins in January, with the dream." 

Josephine Neuse

Unlike most of Canada, we on the west coast are experiencing an extremely mild winter. So mild that yesterday I went out and did a little gardening. Just some tidying up of pots - my geraniums are still green and I cut them back as they were looking scraggly. As I pottered about inspecting here and there, I noticed sharp pointed green shoots jutting from the earth, soon to be flowering bulbs. Snowdrops glow bright against the dark soil; no snow here this year. I picked a bunch for the kitchen windowsill. 

On this afternoon's walk around Rithet's Bog, I took a couple of photos and then my battery died. Poor planning on my part. It was lovely to see blue sky. The wind was sharp and I was glad for a jacket I could zip up to keep my neck warm. 

Home just in time to enjoy a piece of the Lemon Sour Cream pie I referred to in last week's post. A regular-sized piece for him, a narrow piece for me. How delicious it was!

Lemons and tulips - surely spring can't be far away!

Tonight we witnessed the Lunar Eclipse of the Wolf Moon. My camera struggled to focus, but managed to capture a few shots of the progression. I balanced the camera on the roof of my car and noticed that frost was already beginning to form. It's going to be chilly tonight. Did you see the eclipse?

Linking to Mosaic Monday, hosted by Angie of Letting Go of the Bay Leaf. 

This Week

From the kitchen window I see the snowdrops, white and green against the brown dirt. I pick a bunch from behind the porch where they are barely visible. In the warmth of the house, white petals fly upwards like nun's headdresses caught by the wind. Green circles and upside down hearts on the inner petals make me laugh. They seem incongruous with the snowdrops quiet elegance. 

I recently finished this book, won in a giveaway from Golden Hours. I was eager to read it, from a number of reviews I'd read, and did finish it quickly. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didn't. I found the setting idyllic, the premise enchanting, but the characters sadly lacking. The "Man in the Wing Chair" seemed arrogant, and the tone of the book didactic. 

I did like the concept of an ideal marriage including marrying someone "better" than yourself, in the sense that one's ideal mate has different and admirable qualities than oneself, hence the attraction. 

If you've read it, I'd be interested to hear what you think. 

I've been sewing this week. Clothes. For myself. I'm having a lot of fun. I belong to a site called Pattern Review. It's a great site for checking out others' experiences with sewing patterns, and reading articles about sewing. They host a variety of contests throughout the year, and I've joined a few in the past. The goal, for me, isn't so much to win, but to push myself to finish a number of garments within a set time period. This one goes from February 1 - March 15, with the goal of sewing six garments: 2 bottoms, 3 tops, one topper (jacket/vest/cardigan). I've got two complete at this point, one top and one pair of pants. We'll see if I can keep up the pace and finish. 

This week, we've had sunshine. Oh, it is so wonderful to see. Today, the late afternoon sun illuminated the spring bulb pot on the front porch. Golden daffodils made even prettier by the sun. 

Are they not the cheeriest sight? 

If you want to watch poetry in motion, watch this young woman, Li Ziqi, design, dye fabric, and create a flowing dress. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole when I discovered her other videos depicting traditional Chinese ways of making paper, foods, cosmetics, and more. Fascinating. There is no narration, only music, but it's beautiful.