Category: Family

You know… it seems like “just the other day” when my daughter and I built that snow fort — in our front yard. That happened in January 2011, and now we’re quickly approaching the end the new year.

It’s been an eventful year, filled with the accomplishments, challenges, and a few unexpected deaths that invaded our lives, but I cannot complain.

This school year, my daughters involved in a lot more activities. She still plays piano, but know she’s involved with a choir group which meets every Wednesday (right after school). I’m still volunteering with her schools class, and now the church — and so my hands are full.

Thus far, this has been my busiest week in December . My daughter has a musical rehearsal on Saturday, later that day she has her piano recital, and Sunday is the Christmas musical.

Christmas Decorations

Our church is having a Christmas musical, and I’ve offered to make decorations for the Christmas trees. The play is set in during the depression era, and so the decorations that I’m creating are items you’d most likely see on a Christmas tree from that period — well for those who could afford a tree.

Christmas Baking

As a child, decorating Christmas cookies in anticipation for the upcoming holiday was something I always looked forward too. I have many fond memories of decorating cookies with my mother. The kitchen was warm, and my brother and I were able to choose a cookie cutter to cut our Christmas butter cookies. My favorite was the Christmas tree cookie cutter. My brother wasn’t as particular, and would pick any cookie cutter that was free.

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My daughter and I enjoyed spending our Thanksgiving holiday in South Carolina. I do have one major regret <sighs> with all the chatter about my Nikon battery charger, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson right?

Well, guess who decided not to pack a battery charger? Stupid, I know, I know… My reasoning, I have a full charge, so I don’t need it. The sad thing is, I hadn’t looked at my camera in about a week, and I’d taken hundred of pictures since that time.

Of course, I didn’t remember that important detail, until I tried to take pictures of Lake Marion. I was wondering why can’t I take pictures? Looking at the viewfinder, cleared that up quickly. My battery charger was almost dead, and so “looking at the battery charger just the other day and seeing I had a full charge,” was most likely a few weeks ago. I did manage to squeak out one photo, before my Nikon D80 shut down completely.

Of course, there were tons of gorgeous photos I could have taken — with a charged camera. Stepping outside the condo, when there’s very little activity, except for the fisherman at Lake Marion, makes for some amazing pictures. My favorite Lake Marion shots are taken while most of the world (around me) sleeps. Oh well… there will always be Independence Day.

Crafting during the holiday

Besides that, my daughter and I had a great time bonding with the part of the family that we only see once or twice yearly. In the early morning, and late evenings, my daughter and I worked on paper crafts. One day, I stayed up until about 3:30 am working on a few ideas I had for my die cutting machine (Cuttlebug) using a common metal item, that most people might have in the house.

Although I like paper crafts, I’ve always enjoyed working with metals/beads more, and so I’ve been looking for ways to incorporate them into the paper crafts that I create. Currently the handmade cards I’ve made (a few I’ve shown here at Celebrate Life) are samples to show ideas I’ve had. I don’t consider them a finished product, but a way for me to bounce around ideas.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, I made several cards, and will be posting a few of them over the next few weeks. I also will be releasing a new website within the next few months, but more on that later.

In the United States Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month. In our country, Thanksgiving is the most traveled holiday of the year.

We’re usually away for the Thanksgiving holidays, and the condo where we reside is perfect for relaxation. It overlooks a gorgeous lake, and my daughter and I spend our mornings on the beach collecting seashells. I look forward to the Thanksgiving holidays, since it gives me a chance to reconnect with family members that I don’t see too often. It’s also a time that I completely relax.

Do we need a special holiday to be thankful? Of course not, I’m sure many of use give thanks throughout the year. I’m definitely thankful for my loved ones, and I make an effort to let those people know (throughout the year) how much they mean to me often.

Have a wonderful day, and for those in the USA, Happy Thanksgiving!

This post was written in advance, since I’m away for the Thanksgiving holidays. I won’t be checking my personal mail. My holidays are spent taking a break from everything technology related. I’ll be back soon, and will respond to comments, and visit your virtual homes.

Blessings, Opal

Do you think we have enough wood to last the winter?

I’m not sure why, but I feel that it’s going to be a cold winter. I’ve been having this feeling since springtime.

I’ve always found it fascinating to see that some animals seem to know when cold weather is ahead.

At the edge of the pool stood the muskrats’ house. It was taller than Laura, and far larger than her arms could reach around…The muskrats had gnawed dry grass to bits and mixed the bits well with mud to make a good plaster for their house, and they had built it up solidly and smoothly and rounded the top carefully to shed rain…

…Inside those thick, still walls, Pa said, the muskrats were sleeping now, each family curled in its own little room lined softly with grass…

…There they curled comfortably to sleep.

Laura put her hand on the wall of their house. The coarse plaster was hot in the hot wind and sunshine, but inside the thick mud walls, in the dark, the air must be cool. She liked to think of the muskrats sleeping there.

* Pa was shaking his head. “We’re going to have a hard winter,” he said, not liking the prospect.

“Why, how do you know?” Laura asked in surprise.

* “The colder the winter will be, the thicker the muskrats build the walls of their houses,” Pa told her. “I never saw a heavier-built muskrats’ house than that one.”

Laura looked at it again. It was very solid and big. But the sun was blazing, burning on her shoulders through the faded, thin calico and the hot wind was blowing, and stronger than the damp mud smell  of the slough was the ripening smell of grasses parching in the heat. Laura could hardly think of ice and snow and cruel cold. ”

The Long Winter (p.12) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Some animals (like beavers and muskrats) will make their walls a bit thicker. Occasionally, you’ll see other wild animals get thicker coats and a tad heavier in preparation for the potentially unforgiving months of frigid weather.

I did a Google search, and judging by the  winter weather forecast for 2011/12 it seems that the Farmer’s Almanac shares my views — well at least for certain parts of the United States.

For the winter of 2011–12, the Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting “clime and punishment,” a season of unusually cold and stormy weather. For some parts of the country, that means a frigid climate; while for others, it will mean lots of rain and snow.

Ok back to that woodpile…

To give you and idea of how massive this woodpile is, I’d like to point out that this pile is over 5′ tall. Which is how tall I am.  You’re only seeing one layer. It’s three layers deep, this is the last layer that was stacked. Additionally, on the opposite side, there’s another neatly stacked woodpile, admittedly it’s not as impressive as this one.

Even if this winter is incredibly nasty, we’ll still have enough wood to last for several winters.

I’ll be happy if there’s a few blizzards tossed into the mix. At least for my area — don’t hate me Marylanders, but I love cold weather!

* Bold emphasis mine