Still Cold and Random Thoughts - Beavers!

It was cold again this morning, but not quite as bad as yesterday as the wind wasn't blowing when I went for my walk. I was so excited to see a beaver today!!! Asylum Lake is still mostly frozen, but the beavers have managed to open a small area. Really made my day today! When I got to the beavers' lodge, there was only a pair of Canadian Geese in the small area of open water, but as I arrived a pair of Sandhill Cranes flew in and landed. This caused the geese to swim down closer to the beavers' lodge. A beaver promptly popped up as though to warn them they were too close! The same one (or another one) popped up a little later close to where the Sandhill Cranes were standing. For a while it was pretty eventful. I love watching nature, animals, birds and their interactions with one another! A little later three more Sandhill Cranes flew in and for a while, as the two that were already there walked across the lake to the newcomers, I was sure they were not going to be happy with one another. It was lovely to watch them all end up walking together! What a way to spend the early morning. 

After my walk, I dropped off some items for shipping, picked up a couple of things I needed and then headed home. It was a semi-productive day at the house. I got all the things checked off my list. I was trying to find five items to declutter, and I found it a real struggle. I did manage it, but barely. It really shouldn't be that hard. 

I have pulled out a few books to look through and let go. 

I found one quite fascinating and might struggle to let it go lol. It is going though; I've already made my mind up. 

I really like the pressed flowers cards. They are really beautiful. I think I'd like to give it a go. I don't think I've pressed a flower since I was a child, but I really like the way these were done and presented. It looks like it might be fun. Has anyone pressed flowers properly? How do you do them? I looked on Amazon and there were a couple of cheap-ish presses I'm thinking about buying. Thanks for the input!

Wednesday and Random Thoughts - books/Scrapbook/Journal/Ephemera

Another dreary start to the day. I did go for a walk. My friend and I were about ten minutes away from our cars when the rain started to come complete with wind. I got a little bit wet. Sigh. This afternoon brought a few brief glimpses of sun between rain showers. Not nearly enough though!

I did my food shop, and I did get to the library to renew my library card and to drop off the books/DVDs I've been decluttering. I did have to go inside to renew my card and was going to stop at the library bookshop, but it didn't open until 12 and I was there at about 11.15! A little bit of me was disappointed, but I was also pleased as I wasn't tempted! 

I came home and did some house stuff and a little bit of sorting and even more procrastinating!

A bit of a random twist in the post but these thoughts evolved from my thinking about decluttering. 

I enjoy nature journals. If I could draw at all I'd have lots of them. As it is I take photos, and I enjoy creating nature journals. I keep an eye out for interesting bird/flower/nature books at secondhand shops with plans that I can use the illustrations in journals and notebooks.  However, I'm struggling with pulling them apart, using them. Anyone else or is this just a part of my funny brain's thinking? It isn't just the old books. I have several previous planners by Marjolein Bastin that I can't seem to cut up and use. If you don't know who she is, google her, she does the most wonderful nature sketches. I love her planners! It shouldn't be hard to at least pull those apart!

It's another lot of things I have to decide what I'm going to do with. Do you have any trouble pulling apart books or magazines or such? 

Photo today - one of the beavers being busy before winter comes!

Ups and Downs

It's been a...challenging couple of days mentally. Mother's Day (UK) is coming up this weekend. I can't believe it will be the second one without Mum. I've been thinking about her a lot lately and it makes me feel like being on a rollercoaster of emotions. I don't suppose going through menopause helps either when my emotions feel all over the place recently. I miss her. I suppose this time of year is a struggle for a lot of people who are missing their Mums or don't have them in their lives for one reason or another. There's lot of adverts around and mention of Mums and frankly it hurts. I was chatting with my sister today and she said she tries to opt out of any Mother's Day emails. She also mentioned how difficult it is for me when there are two Mother's Days (UK in March and US in May). I used to send Mum something for both. It's difficult over here when most people don't understand why I'm feeling a little sad. 

Anyway, enough of that. After ups and downs, daughter and SIL say they are coming this weekend so that's something to look forward to. I am pleased to see them but hope I don't bring the mood down. I think there will still be moments. 

On a things-that-make-me-smile note, I saw the beavers on Thursday. It was sunny but chilly. I stood and watched at least three (maybe four) of them. So lovely to watch. I took a little video early in the morning and managed to catch one. 

Also took a few photos of them. Here's one. 

Today was horribly rainy and snowy. I didn't take a walk. We're under a Winter Weather Advisory for ick snow. So we shall see. 

As always, thank you for the comments. I do appreciate and read them. 

Ugh Winter Weather Blues

Happy Solstice! I am excited that the days will start getting longer. It's a long time until Spring - we still have the worst of the winter to go - but just the thought of longer days comforts me. 

Sad to say that daughter and son-in-law will not be coming to visit for Christmas. They have a Winter Storm Warning, and we have a Blizzard Warning. There are 600 miles in between us. It's the sensible thing to do but will miss having them here for Christmas. We're not sure what we will do yet for Christmas. Son lives right by the lakeshore and might not be able to get here and the other person MIL was having lives about an hour away to the north. We are hoping that the snow and wind won't be as bad as they are saying. Daughter has had snow today, ours starts late afternoon tomorrow. We shall see from there. 

Went for my walk this morning. I saw two beavers. I wonder whether they know that the bad weather is coming. I saw them a lot before the last bout of snow and they were around a lot today. Beautiful to see. One found a branch, went to some shallow water and sat there and munched. Was beautiful to watch. 

Sometimes they are a little shy and go under water as soon as they see someone watching. This one didn't seem to mind at all. You can see that he looked right at me as I was taking photos. 

After that I braved the shops. Not a good idea. Lol. Not only is it really close to Christmas, but the local news is going on and on about the snow and that makes people panic. I had to get things for Christmas - in case we do actually have it. Everyday food we have enough and always keep some extra things on hand. 

What's the plan for tomorrow? I shall go for a walk in the morning as things aren't supposed to start until the afternoon. Then I am coming home, cleaning house and finishing up getting things ready for Christmas. If there is a lot of snow on Friday I plan on reading, stitching or just watching tv - that's IF I have everything done. It's a good incentive to get things done!

Day 354 (Tuesday)

There was actually a lovely sunrise yesterday. It's that low winter sun that gives off a lot of yellow. 

Day 355 (Wednesday)

The calm before the storm. It's been cold enough that the lake is beginning to freeze. The beavers have been keeping holes open to pop up in. It's always funny to hear the ice breaking and see them pop through with ice on top of their heads. 

Friday Again

 This week seemed to pass quite quickly! It's the weekend again! Yah! Not so good for my son who came home and told me that he has to work all weekend again. He worked nine hours each day this week and now this on top. It's quite physical work and being outside (sometimes) in the cold all day can be quite tiring. I think he would be okay working the Saturday but with Sunday as well he won't have a day off until (maybe) next weekend. He did the 20+ days in a row before Christmas and was hoping it was done. The only good news they did have this week is that because both husband and son do work in the Pfizer building they are taking sign ups for the vaccine. I suppose they want as many workers being protected as possible. 

I had quite a nice walk today. It had snowed/rained a little overnight and we thought that the paths may be even icier, but they weren't any worse than the day before. We both wear the ice thingys on the bottom of our boots so we didn't slip and slide. We did get to see one of the beavers again! Really exciting. We had just passed a woman who asked up what we had seen (nothing at that point) and said how much she enjoyed looking at my photos on the lake's Facebook page. Just after we passed her by we looked out to the lake and saw one of the beavers swimming near its lodge! We thought it was swimming to try to stop the ice from building up close to the lodges. A lot of the lake is iced over but by the lodges it has open water. 

It was quite the treat! 

I did do some clean-up in the craft room today. I have come to the reluctant conclusion that I shall have to do an honest sort out and get rid of a few things that I won't use. Sigh. I have lots of lovely things, but really I need to downsize as I am running out of space to put them. I shall have to work on this. It doesn't help that I always seem to see lovely things that I could make something with. The other day when I was in the dollar store I came across this lovely sticker set. It's so unusual to see anything with Mum on it that I just had to buy it. I know I shall use this. I can make Mum's mother day card with it. 

I'm not sure what we're up to tomorrow. Sunday - weather permitting - we are going up to a wastewater treatment plant. Yes, I know it sounds weird but there are birding paths there and supposedly lots of birds. You have to apply for a permit which I did the other day and it is ready to be picked up. I am SO excited to go!

Today

 It was really frosty this morning. On the weekends husband usually comes for a walk with me, but he's been working overtime this week so I left him at home to relax while I went out. It was a nice walk despite being cold. The sun was actually shining! There have been several cloudy days this week so seeing the sun certainly made me smile. I think I might have walked a little too much as my foot has been hurting since this morning. It has been quite painful to walk on. I'm hoping it will heal overnight so we can go out for a walk tomorrow. It isn't supposed to be a bad day tomorrow either so it would be nice to go just a little further. It's been a while since we have been to Warren Dunes State Park and I was hoping to see how the beach has been weathering the autumn winds. 

I Skyped with Mum today. She seemed quite upbeat. Skype worked well today and it was really good to have a nice chat. I wasn't going to send a box this year as post is so expensive and I thought to order something to be delivered to her, but I think I'm going to spend the money and put together a box that I hope will make her smile. I think that will be money well spent. 

This afternoon I did some cross stitching and watched some Vera. I must have seen them all a handful of times, but I love the show and as I've seen them before I can catch up if I get distracted by the cross stitch lol.

Phone photo of the frosty morning at the lake, sitting on a (wet) downed (by a beaver) tree. 

A card I made for husband's aunt's birthday. I hope she likes it!