Yuletide Village

Dale and I put another jigsaw together. I did the edge and most of the sky last night. Dale put the rest together today. This illustration is just his kind of quaint scene.

He bought me this puzzle for Christmas. It's by a company galled Galison. Very nice quality and lovely packaging.

I like this little backlit snowman

and the Big Guy flying overhead.

More puzzle fun to come this year!

Your Choice

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

The Day After

Christmas is over and the gingerbread Candy Shoppe's busiest season is at its end. The kids had a ball eating all the sweet treats. Their parents are reminded of the day after Halloween -- the last time their kids had to be tethered to the ground so the kids wouldn't fly away on their sugar high.

The owners decorated the Shoppe in an extra special way this year. The theme? Candy Cane Christmas, of course!

The snowmen down at the pond were dressed in their finest red-and-white attire.

The "Rockefeller Center-sized Tree" was bedazzled with red and pink pompoms, and gifts wrapped in candy cane print paper.

Now, on Boxing Day, something is afoot! Customers have been spotted running down the sugar sidewalk with candy cane decorations over their shoulders!

Kids have scaled the tree to abscond with the glittery star! Is there looting afoot?

It certainly seems like this tot is trying to unwrap a present that's much bigger than he is.

Oh, dear! Or should I cry, "Hey Goat!" It looks like the fence came down at the neighbor's farm and the animals have escaped into Candyland. Look who hopped up onto the roof's ridgepole.

I suppose the goat wanted to lick the peppermint roof tiles above, just as the horse took a chunk out of the roof's eave.

The wooly sheep is sniffing at the Kiss bush by the front door

while Mr. Porky plopped his piggy bottom down and started chomping away.

Where are the adults? Aren't they paying attention? If the animals and kids have their way, the Candy Shoppe will be gone!

--

But oh. 

That just might be the plan. 

I see the owners down at the pond with businessmen in suits. It appears negotiations are in the works. Throughout December, rumors wafted through the air like steam off a cup of hot peppermint chocolate: the owners may be retiring in January. 

It appears to be the sad truth. The Candy Cane Christmas fun is, indeed, over.

But no fears. My eldest kid and I love to build these gingerbread scenes. 

2013: Gingerbread House

2014: Gingerbread Village

2015: The Gingerbread Train Station

2018: The Caroling Peanuts Gang 

This year Jeanne helped build the shoppe and landscape. Dale helped come up with the story and place the characters. We'll likely be back in the wintertime with another sticky adventure.

The Stockings Were Hung

On this quiet night with traditions old and new,

our Candy Cane Christmas wishes

are about to come true

Wishing you many Christmas blessings of gentle gratitude from Dale

and me.

Happiest of Holidays to All!

A Very Merry Swag

This is the idea that started it all. I watched a video about using wrapping paper for Christmas DIY projects. One of the crafts was to make a banner/swag from wrapping paper. That was my jumping off point for my entire Candy Cane Christmas.

I gathered these supplies from my stash: my second-hand banner flags templates, part of an old gift box, and some baker's twine. From Dollar Tree I bought two tinsel swags: one red, one red-and-silver. The wrapping paper is a texturized metallic silver.

I glued the silver wrapping paper to the flags. I hand sketched and cut the letters from the shiny red gift box, then glued them in place. I punched holes in the upper corners and threaded through the candy cane striped baker's twine. The swag is tied in place on small nails. 

I wrapped the two tinsel swags around each other to make one thicker swag. I also wanted it to be primarily red with silver accents. This is attached to the wall separately from the "Merry" swag, but positioned to sit right at the top of the letters.

That completes the dining room setup. How festive!

Later in the day I started baking cookies -- 8 dozen so far. I'm hoping for two more batches tomorrow. It's almost time ...

Santa's Coming! Santa's Coming!

Placemats

This project was such a no-brainer that I thought I'd have it done in 45 minutes. 

The best laid plans ... sigh

The idea was simple. Turn this pile of six large rectangular dishtowels into six wedge-shaped placemats that work on our round dining room table.

The microfiber-like towels I found at Dollar Tree are about 25 inches wide and 18 inches tall. They're a beautiful shade of red. Super inexpensive. Dressy enough for a Christmas dinner.

I laid one of our daily-use placemats on top, lining up the straight edge of the wedge with the long side of the towel.

Then cut it out with a rotary cutter, leaving the straight edge intact.

The cutting went very quickly. But wow. What a mess it left behind. That fuzz flew everywhere. It took at least 10 minutes to vacuum up the table and floor and under the desk and worktable.

That cleaned up, I went to my serger to give the edges a nice clean finish. I'd purchased new cones of red thread for this project. Since I've not used my machine in ::mumblemumble:: months, I had to re-learn to thread the four spools and fix the tension and all that goes into using the complicated overlock sewing machine.

I tried and tried. After about 2 hours and some *expletive deleted,* I finally gave up, feeling rather defeated. Time for a lunch and grumble break.

I reasoned with myself for a while, realizing I only need these placemats for a single meal. Why not use my tried-and-true old Singer that's been my go-to machine since my high school days. After several experiments, I decided to sew a wide zigzag around the cut edges of the fabric.

It came out ... ok. If my serger had worked, all the edges would look as nice as that top edge. But by using a zig-zag stitch, there was still a lot of fuzzy bits along the curved edge. 

My next idea was to use Frey Check to stabilize the edge. I couldn't find mine. I improvised with some watered down white glue, painted around the edges. I experimented on just two of the placemats, then re-evaluated. No. No. No. It was simply too crusty.

So into the washer and dryer they went. The six completed placemats came out beautifully soft. The fuzzy edges smoothed themselves out. There was plenty of red fluff left in the dryer's lint catcher.

So ... several hours later ... Look!

The placemats are just right! There will be five for dinner on Christmas (six, counting baby Abby). We'll all fit snuggly around our little dining table.

I even found Candy Cane colored plates at Dollar Tree. It's a festive table setting.

I'm so looking forward to hosting Christmas dinner next week!