Snowy days

As I see this house on my walk, I an curious about it's history.  Who lived there?  Why is it now abandoned? It has been like this for the six years we have lived out here.  The only living thing I have seen is a healthy looking white cat.  I am sure it belongs to a neighbor.  If only walls could talk. 

In the first picture snow was falling.  This is how our place looked as I approached it.  I love hazy pictures like this. Since Ada is no longer here, having moved back with RM in Maryland, I have vowed to continue walking each day.  It is a challenge I will admit.

Dinner Party

I am tempted to not post on the blog if I don't have pictures. I was so busy that I don't think to take pictures. Last night I (we) hosted the FFF (Fabulous Friday Feast) at our house.  Three other couples are in the group and we meet once a month at different homes.  It was a busy day for me.  Since I do not have a cleaning lady like a couple of them do, I recruited G to do the vacuuming and wash the kitchen floor.  I spent the day cooking.  The menu was:  Cream of Broccoli soup, Chicken Marsala, Rice Pilaf, and Bourbon Carrots. Dessert was a chocolate cake roll.   The soup was a keeper.  After cooking the broccoli with a few other vegetables, I used the immersion blender. What a great invention.  A couple other skills I learned in preparing this meal were how to toast almonds with and without butter, and how to make almond praline. This was used in the filling of the cake. I had many different roles during the day:  Sous Chef, Chef, Hostess, and clean up lady.  I enjoyed the whole day and evening.  In the past I would have been more stressed out.  But not yesterday.  That feels great.

Decorating

Our house has three dormer windows in the front.  Two are in bedrooms, but one is on an area above our front door.  I have struggled to figure out what to put there.  If I were to put something back by the window, it could not be seen from the inside.  After I got this dried flower arrangement, a friend suggested that it looked "Tuscan" which called for a bicycle, which Gerry just happened to have collected. The vase was given to me by Stacey before she moved to CA.  

Walking at 10 degrees in Ohio

When Ada I took our walk this morning, we both were very happy.  She is sure that there are critters in every bunch of tall grass.  The snow and 10 degree temperature did not slow her down.

As we were walking, a young Amish man came by on the road with a horse on a cart.  It appeared that he was training the horse.  Whenever a horse comes past us, Ada has been trained to sit and wait for a treat.  At first she would bark and pull hard on the leash.  Now when she hears the clop, clop, she just sits and waits.  The horse was quite spooked by Ada, but with her sitting calmly it was not a big incident. I was very proud of her. 

I was able to get pictures of what I see when walking her.  There is no picture of me, but I did have on my warmest winter coat, scarf, and gloves (as well as long underwear).  

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone.  A few days (weeks) late I will admit.  It was wonderful to have our family together over Christmas.  We took this picture to remember it.  

K was thrilled to get another American Girl doll, Sage.

B received a rocket from his grandparents.  

After B and his Dad  put it together, we all went out into the field to shoot it up.  It was successful, but oh, so cold.  

I am going to make an effort to post regularly again.  I was trying to write a post for three days now.  The reason I couldn't is because DH was glued to the chair in front of the computer. When he visited his cousins in Nebraska when he attended his uncle's 90th birthday, the cousins all said "we need to have a reunion".  So in talking with his sister who is working on the genealogy from their mother's side, she sent him what she had so far.  He started searching for each cousin online, and when he found information called them using the computer.  He has located almost all of them in three days.   Guess a reunion is in the works, probably for 2015.  He really enjoys that sort of thing.