There have been many good little things this week. Yesterday I finished making marmalade. It is the first recipe (and easiest) I used to learn canning years ago, but you can make a small batch of marmalade and not can it, too, with one orange and just keep it in the refrigerator.. Homemade marmalade is 100 times better than store bought! I used four oranges, one lemon, 6 cups sugar this time, lol, and 4 cups water… sliced the orange and lemon peels as thin as I possibly could, chopped the orange and lemon centers, threw everything into a big pot, heated it to boiling and turned off the heat to let it sit overnight. The next day I boiled it until it was at the jelly stage, and this time I canned it. Letting it sit overnight releases the pectin and also makes the peels nice and soft.
I also made fresh bread yesterday and worked on my little needlepoint purse. My husband made a lovely dinner, though our friend was feeling anxious about the storm and he didn’t want us picking him up, so he cancelled last minute. That was fine, we will probably see him next week.I’m also thankful for Laura Ingalls Wilder. I needed some “feel good” reading so I am rereading Little House in the Big Woods and enjoying it. Later today I will have coffee and a biscotti from the batch I made a few days ago, and that is something to look forward to. The day is quiet. Most of the storm skipped over us and we have just a few beautiful flakes coming down. I will start a load of laundry and start a project of some sort next. I hope all of you have a beautiful day.

yeah, I feel for you… having just shoveled 7 inches of snow by hand before breakfast… HAHAHAHA! Izzy is visiting us, and we are among the lucky… less than an hour from here they are expecting 15.” And we still have power! So… very lucky here.

Are you glad for just the cold now??

We missed you here, buddy!

I use “agricultural cloth” when needed to protect plants, but you could cover your philodendron with an old blanket or burlap and it would probably help, especially at night. 🌳 A thick layer (like 6 inches) of wood chips around the base will also increase the temperature (true! It is another agricultural trick… it gives off heat because it is breaking down, as well as helps to insulate, so we use it around vegetable beds for growing veg in winter). Good luck ☘

For those of you who haven’t made them, they are basically a toasted cookie, or a twice-baked cookie. First you make a cookie log, long and flat. You bake it about 25 minutes, pull it out of the oven, let it cool 5-10 minutes, and then slice the log into about 2 dozen pieces. You lay them on their sides and put back in the oven for 10 minutes, then flip them over, and toast them for another 10 minutes. This is what makes them dry. They keep well for a very long time, and are great for dunking in coffee! (Though a baker friend of mine told me that in Italy they are often dunked in port… is that true, Anna?)

(reply to below)

Thank you, Mica. Sleep issues have been lifelong with me, fortunately not all the time, and much improved in recent years, but occasionally recurring. Naturally, I have tried many theories and techniques concerning sleep over the years. Right now, for me, the poor sleep is mostly due to some health issues, and some from stress. I wake every hour and a half, and sometimes have disturbed dreams which then wake me. I’m working on my own theories at the moment, but I always consider suggestions, too. I had some yellow glasses recently, but unfortunately I think they are away now.. Thank you so much for being concerned. ❤

oh, that must be frustrating. I have been having difficulty sleeping well lately, and suddenly realized it was affecting how sensitive I was this week and making me feel more stressed. I’m going to try this week to have better habits so I can sleep better. I hope you can get more sleep this week, too. My friend Mark uses a cpap machine, and when it broke he was not getting restful sleep. When he got a new machine he started sleeping better again and he didn’t feel so depresssed and anxious, either. That’s why I wondered about your mask and if it was helping. It must be interesting not to sense when you’re tired. I hope you have a good day today, Drew. It is terribly cold here today, so we aren’t getting outside, brrr!

That sounds delicious! I know what you mean about take-out food. Sometimes it is hit and miss! I’m going to have to pick up some Spam and try something with it now. My strongest memory of Spam from my childhood is when we were in Mexico one Thanksgiving, and my mom could not find a turkey anywhere, so she fashioned a turkey shape out of several containers of spam and made a turkey tail out of paper and brought it to the table! It was also storming, I remember and the power kept going out so she’d light candles and then the power would come on so she’d blow them out and then the power would go out…. LOL.

I’ve been considering this, and since we have people around the globe, and many people work, I don’t think there will be a perfect time, but what we can do is try different times to give everyone a chance to gather. With Sandra, Christine, and Anna in Europe, and a couple of people in California, I think it makes sense to try late in the day in Europe, middle-ish in East Coast U.S. and early in California, for a first time. Let’s see, 8 a.m. PST, would be 11 a.m. EST and 4 p.m. GMT and 5 p.m. CEST, which I know is awkward on the ends, but oh well. Now we just need to figure a day, or did folk want to try it daily?. ☕