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Vermont Maple Tree Tappers

Happy National Puzzle Day!

In honor of the day, and as a reward for completing the home blessing and dealing with some feisty prescriptions at a new pharmacy, Dale and I put a jigsaw puzzle together. We chose one of our favorite illustrators, Charles Wysocki

500 pieces of pleasure

Excellent details

A place we'd like to visit

It's a wonderful life

Try a Little Kindness

There's only one rule that I know of, babies ... damn it, you've got to be kind. 

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Crowded Place

The ice storm is about over now, but many trees have lost limbs, many power lines are down. Much of Eugene and Springfield are without electricity. Luckily in our part of town, most of the power lines are buried so we still have electricity and warmth.

Daughter Jodie, her husband Ken, and baby Abby are staying with us for a few days until their power is restored.

In the mean time, Dale and I have decided to keep a table set up in the living room this Spring so that we can have a jigsaw puzzle going on at all times. Our first for the year is this colorful astronomical masterpiece, Outer Space Crowded Place.

It was super fun. Just the right amount of pieces. Just the right amount of difficulty. Took just the right amount of time. It's from a puzzle company that's new to us: Easy Planet. Very nice quality!

I'm looking forward to another year full of puzzling fun.

Ice Storm

 We can't go anywhere, and the electricity is intermittent, but we're warm and cozy. The snow and cloud-bubbled sky are awfully pretty as we look through the windows.

All the Christmas decorations are put away. Dale's cooked up a big batch of his famous chicken wings. We have new-to-us TV series to watch, podcasts to listen to and discuss, and many, many jigsaw puzzles to put together.

I've got all kinds of blog post ideas in my head, and photos stacking up. I'll eventually get back to regular posting. Right now, I'm (emotionally) feeling winter. My moods are fluctuating more than I wish, so I'm doing activities that help me stay centered and waiting it out. I've got lots of (emotion-stabilizing) tools to help me. 

And in Oregon, Spring comes much earlier than in north Idaho!

All is well.

It's Our Winter Day

Last night I had a very sweet dream featuring my first husband. He was wearing wool tweed pants. We danced.

I woke up rested and serene. 

My weather app predicted rain all day today, with a short pause at 9am. So I bundled up, grabbed my Big Girl Camera and went for a walk. There were lots of dogs pulling their owners down the sidewalks. It seems they, too, wanted to get out before they got drenched.

Along the way I noticed:

a streetside brook running into the wetlands

statuary

leaf tips

and winter berries.

What a pleasant start to my weekend.

Italian Cooking

Growing up in a family Italian food establishment, working there from the time I was 10 until I was 18, cooking Italian pizza, spaghetti, meatballs, lasagna, and grinder (hoagie) sandwiches was second nature. I literally did it in my sleep/nightmares.

Now, I don't much like to cook at all, much less make the food of my childhood.

But I got a bee in my bonnet last week to cook some meatballs. I was hungry for a meatball sandwich, and the ones I get from Subway just don't quite fill the bill.

So I made some. They look good! They smell wonderful. I had the first meatball with pasta. The next day I made this sandwich. Sadly, my unfortunate meatballs are crazy bland!

I took this photo before my first bite. 

My sandwich was such a disappointment that I nearly changed my mind about bothering to write this blog post. But then, while editing, I noticed this:

A heart of parmesan cheese. Well, how can I pass up posting another heart?

I swear that hearts seek me out. Let's spread some January/Winter love, OK? 

Caught in the Rain

 in heavy traffic. When we broke through the jam, this was out the north window.

A perfect complete arc. 

Live in the rain = Rainbow Rewards