It's Friday

It was cold again this morning. 14F/-10C when I went for a walk. Colder at my daughter's (BRRR) -6F/-21C. The roads were still icy, but I decided to sort of cheat. I drove through our neighbourhood (where the traffic is lighter, and the speed limits are a lot lower) crossed over the main road into the opposite neigbourhood and parked at the back entrance to the nature preserve. It was lovely and quiet. In all the time I walked there I only saw my walking friend and one other regular walker. It was lovely. There was a bit of sun too! I expect that, because it was so cold, all the sensible people were still indoors. It was pretty calm, the wind not blowing so fairly okay to walk in. The lake is freezing over already. It's amazing how much things can change in just a few days! 

This was Tuesday

This was today

The beavers are keeping a channel open as long as they can. Lots of work, but it's going to warm up again next week for a few days so it will probably melt. 

A beaver popping up through the ice (taken with my camera)

They were quite busy today!

After my walk I drove straight home. I got quite a few things done today and then spent about three hours messaging with my sister. She sent me lots of lovely photos of the Christmas Trees that were decorating Christchurch Mansion - I'll share them tomorrow. 

WOW - I've Made it to Day 12!!!

I survived the dentist. It was a rough one. I found this one really tough. Not quite sure why. I was so glad when it was over and really thankful that husband was able to drive me as I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to drive myself. The roads were slick, and it was snowing. It was also really cold, so nothing was working on the roads (not that the road people had even attempted anything). When we went out it was 10F/-12C and the wind chill made it feel like -4F/-20C. So bitterly cold! I looked at daughter's temp and hers was even lower -11f/-24C with a wind chill of -23F/-31C. When I tell sister of these temps she can't even comprehend. I'm still scratching my head trying to work out why I moved to such a cold place!

Husband drove me home and I spent the rest of the day inside. I took a nice hot bath as I was having trouble getting warm and just feeling a little off. I think it was just due to the dentist thing. I am so thankful that husband has a job that he is able to just go in later if needed. 

I was feeling a bit better by the afternoon. My mouth is a little sore, to be expected, but I managed to get house stuff done and a few extra bits.

I also enjoyed a nice cup of soup - Broccoli and Cauliflower (yum!) in my lovely Owl Mug

And later on I snuggled under my blanket in my new pajamas.

They are so comfy and warm. I wish I'd bought a couple of extra pairs but they were a Thanksgiving Special, and all sold out now (sad face)

Did it Snow?

Well, not until about 3.30 in the afternoon! Of course, it had to happen right before I was supposed to go to my meeting! There was no snow at all until then. Sigh. Husband ended up driving me to my meeting. The roads were so icy, and the snow coming down was so thick, and it was, of course, dark. There were several people cars stuck on the hills, trying to get up and not able to and cars sliding through where they should have stopped! I am so glad I didn't drive! I would have cancelled if it was an ordinary meeting, but we were having a person come in to speak from the University which owns the preserve. I'm glad I did go as it was a really interesting talk and informative. 

Husband is going to go into work late and take me to my dentist appointment which, of course, is first thing in the morning. I was really anxious today and the snow/ice certainly doesn't help. I can relax a little more now I don't have to worry about whether I can drive there or not. I'll be glad when it's all over!

Good things today - I got quite a bit done. I was able to package up some more things I was planning to get out on Friday and get them to the post office (something I wasn't going to do!). I was able to get out for a walk today as the snow came later in the day. I had some lovely cheese bread with marmite. Yum

Photo for today - a Christmas Ornament MIL made for me. I think I've shown these before, but I thought that as Christmas is almost upon us, I'd show some of the ornaments that will be displayed this holiday season. 

It's a Blue Jay made out of felt. We have Blue Jays in our garden. They are fun birds to watch, quite loud. It was snowing by the time I photographed it lol 

A Blue Jay in the garden last week. 

Memories.

 I had an okay walk today. I was thinking about Mum as I meandered about. It's getting to that time of year when songs on the radio (or streaming lol) are all about being with family for Christmas, or home for the holidays, and everyone seems happy or jolly. For a lot of people, it's a tough time of year. I'm missing Mum and I'm missing daughter and Granddaughter. I miss having chats with Mum, the virtual hugs and looking forward to seeing the New Year in together. I'm also missing daughter and Granddaughter. I won't get to see them for Christmas. I'll miss Baby A's first Christmas. She's standing on her own now and almost taking that first step. I'll see her for her birthday (Jan 2nd) but not Christmas. I was thinking about how I'd like to talk to Mum about it. She'd understand. She wasn't around me or my children and she'd know how it felt to be far away. I miss her. 

Sigh. Think of the good things. 

Son-in-Law sent me a video of Baby A. She was laughing and giggling, standing up on her own but not quite ready to take that first step. I am thankful that I've got a good son-in-law, one that thinks about sending videos and photos to me. It was lovely to see her so cheerful again. She wasn't feeling good last week and has been a little grumpy!

What's on the docket for tomorrow? (does anyone say that anymore - it means plans). Hopefully a walk. The quote thingy I posted yesterday really is proving true. Nobody's sure about snow - if, when, it's coming, how much, or maybe rain. I suppose we just have to see. The rest of it is an at-home day. I did a bit of tidying of the dining room table today. It seems to be somewhere things get dumped. I want it cleaned off so that's what I'm going to work on. There are also a variety of small projects around the house I want to get done.  I also have my ALPA (Asylum Lake board meeting) tomorrow night.

Photo - something that made me smile. Looking through memories (back in 2019) when I got a newer phone I 'discovered' the camera bit on it that made a generated 'photo' of me and then you could take photos of yourself but with the generated face on it. Not sure why this seemed like a good idea, but it did lol. I took several of me (hate having my photo taken)

I was showing Jane and she wanted to have a go too!

We both had a good laugh!

Rainy Monday

Not a great weather day today. I got wet on my walk. According to my phone it wasn't supposed to rain at all. Sigh. I'm glad I enjoyed the couple of good days we had as things are seemingly going downhill again. Another Winter Storm Watch has been issued from Tuesday 7pm until Thursday 7pm. I also have that (I don't want to think about it) dreaded dentist appointment on Thursday. Ack

After the walk I did run a couple of errands and managed to get all the things done on my list. I'm going to rearrange a few things and run some more errands tomorrow while the weather is good. If there's snow again, I won't be going far. The forecast is for between four and twelve inches but who knows. I saw this on some social media thing before and it made me smile 

Beautiful Sunday

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. Husband and I went out quite early as we decided to go further up the lakeshore. I had him pull over so I could take a quick sunrise phone photo. It was absolutely gorgeous again. 

When we got to the lakeshore we got out and walked along the beach. It was quite windy, but it wasn't a cold warm. By late morning (and another walk) it was quite warm. We're not talking hot, but it was about 11c/52F which is a LOT warmer than our freezing temps of earlier in the week. I was really surprised there weren't more people out walking. Our last walk, along the channel of the lake was really peaceful. At one point there was absolutely no-one in sight. All I could hear was the wind and the birds. Really lovely. 

There were lots of fishermen when we walked out on the walkway to the lighthouse. It was the most we've ever seen at this particular place. There must be some kind of fish in season, though I'm not sure what kind is - we forgot to ask!

It was a lovely few hours out. The good weather isn't going to last. Tonight and tomorrow, we are forecast for a bit of rain, Tuesday good, then Wednesday the temperatures are going to drop again with snow, Thursday really cold 17F/-8C and snow. Ugh. I have a dentist appointment on Thursday (not thinking about it, not thinking about it). I'll be even more anxious if it snows. 

Anyway, I've written tomorrow's list. Hopefully I'll manage to get a walk between rain showers!

Saturday

Another day has flown by and I feel as though I got a whole lot of nothing done!

It was a lovely start to the day. I had husband drop me off for my walk. It was nice and peaceful for a little while. The sunrise was absolutely amazing. I wasn't expecting it and almost missed it. I was watching the beavers swimming about and happened to notice the bright pink in the water. I turned around and saw the sunrise. Wow. 

 

It really was that bright! 

Husband picked me up and we ran a couple of errands. It's always busier on a Saturday and he has a lot more patience driving than I do so I thought he could drive lol. 

The rest of the day I did a bit of sorting, a bit in the craft room and a whole lot of nothing more. I did look through and recycle four magazines, so that's four less in the house, right? As I was looking through them I came across this that my daughter made. It certainly made me smile!

Oh I did have a nice video chat with Baby A today. She was actually in a good mood. Poor little girl has been sick and teething. She blew me a kiss and we played peek-a-boo. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Almost Forgot to Post

I have blogs to check, comments to reply to, but I'm just about ready to tumble into bed so I'm going to play catch-up tomorrow. I wanted to make sure I posted today as I am at least going to attempt posting every day this month and I don't already want to fail on Day 6 lol

I'm just going to add some of my phone photos from today. It was sunny, but cold. The first one is the state of the road just after I drove on it. Yikes. I did manage to drive it though!

We saw some sun today! 

At-home Day

Well, we did get snow, quite a bit and the blowing was fairly bad. We still have the warning, but I think we're just about done with the snow now, thank goodness! We didn't lose power, though some people did. It was really cold today so I'm glad we didn't. 

I had an at-home day though I wasn't as productive as I hoped. I always feel...off if I don't go out first thing. Sounds strange but once I'm past the time I get home usually, I'm ok. I got distracted first thing as I heard crows in the garden, so I opened the door to take a look and scared off a hawk sitting on the back porch. He flew into a nearby tree. I managed to get a few photos of him. As he sat there, seven deer came into the garden and up to the feeder table. They were obviously looking for food as it is harder for them to find it in the winter. The hawk sat there in the tree for ages so there weren't any other birds around. It finally left and they came back. 

I did get all of the things done on the list I had written down. I'm glad I wrote them down or I would have daydreamed the whole day away. It was a busy housework day (which I had sort of forgotten) and I did manage to get all the house-y stuff done too. 

The book series I pulled off the shelf consisted of (including a couple extras) SEVENTEEN books! Woah!

I struggled with the craft room bit. I had to force myself to get rid of a few items from there. I actually managed TEN items, but it was tough. It's not like I've used them, or plan on using them. I just struggled. Obviously, something I am going to have to work on. 

I still really like these, but - sigh - am I going to actually use them? I want a space that makes me feel like creating and that's what I have to keep in mind as I go forward. I think I am going to have to be a bit more brutal about getting rid of craft items, but I'm not sure I'm ready to do it quite yet. 

A few photos from the garden today

Wednesday - Winter Storm Warning

Well, our Winter Storm Watch has been upgraded to a Warning. It's currently snowing out there and the winds are blowing quite hard. Local schools have already been closed tomorrow. I'm not sure just how much snow we will get, but I think the blowing winds definitely make things worse as they cause white-out conditions, definitely not good to drive in! It looks like tomorrow will be an at-home day. I did have a good walk this morning, cold, but good, so I won't feel so bad about missing tomorrow. 

An hour or so ago I heard a sound from outside that I thought was one of the salt trucks going up the road, but it turned out to be thunder! Yes, we had Thunder Snow.

What Is Thundersnow?

Simply put, thundersnow is snowfall accompanied by thunder and lightning. It occurs when conditions are cold enough that a thunderstorm produces heavy snow instead of rain.

It was rather strange hearing the sound and looking out and seeing snow! I am hoping that we don't lose power as it is rather cold. I had husband get some of the camping lamps around just in case we do overnight. He stopped at the shops on the way home and said it was absolutely crazy. People tend to panic when they hear snow. It's not like anything around here closes for that long. We always have enough on hand to make something to eat. 

It's supposed to warm up by the weekend and we are forecast for rain next week! All this snow will be gone. Hopefully, it will be fine by next Thursday as I have the dreaded second dentist appointment for my permanent crown and a filling. I'm not thinking about it. I'm not thinking about it. 

Plans for tomorrow on my snow day (in addition to the normal house-y thing)

    *Check what I have got for Christmas and what I need to get

    *Do some tidying up. I have little piles of things and I need to take care of them

    *Pull the series of books off the bookshelf that I've decided to get rid of

    *Maybe take some photos of the birds in the snow in the garden, depending how snowy it is and how cold it is!

    * List a few more things on Ebay. 

    * Spend some time in the craft room. I am struggling with the decluttering in this space. I am going to make myself pull at least 5 items to donate. 

Photo for today - yes, another snowy photo. 

There was the slightest hint of sunshine this morning!

Back tomorrow - hopefully!