Memories from Murphy

As Christmas is but days away, I wanted to stick close to home today. We've been asked numerous times about going home for Christmas, but although it has only happened once before when we were in Vancouver, our Orlando family is okay with us not being there. Of course it helps that we have sons who have wives with families which, let's be honest, should take precedent over ours! Happy wife, happy life and all that jazz!

Where shall I start?? Maybe reporting that the prints are in the store? As far as I know, only one has sold and that was to Jenn our friend with the wine bar. She wanted to be the first to buy something of mine. Now how sweet was that? Would you look at that...a birdhouse! There is quite a bit of competition around here, so I am keeping my expectations low.

Christmas cookies! Nothing new, been making them since 1977, but for some odd reason, this year they turned out crazy good with perfect size and delicious taste. It's funny how some years that happens isn't it? 

You might note something striped in the background and that would be two potholders made with the fabric Nancy sent me as part of our Christmas gift. I suppose I mentioned that I brought the sewing machine this trip?  As well, I made some Christmas napkins along with a decorative placemat for the island.

Perhaps I mentioned that while in Asheville we popped into JoAnne fabrics and these are the results of that shopping excursion. I brought almost nothing Christmassy with us, in spite of knowing we would be here for Christmas, but I did bring placemats, something we use daily. It made me happy to get them out of the cabinet in early December.

Laura made us some lovely Swedish Christmas bread featuring cardamon that her family has been making for generations. 

It was light and yummy! Fantastic as French toast too!  

A funny thing happened a few weeks ago that might amuse/interest you. Atop the living room bookcases here, there was a huge metal bucket with an emblem of some sort imprinted into the metal.  I thought to myself, "self" why don't you gather some pinecones and fill that up with them as part of our decorations. Going down to the property edge, I gathered what I could find, pinecones unlike any I've ever seen before.

Before we could put said pinecones in the bucket, which btw, I had nowhere near enough, Laura got in touch asking if she could come pick something up from the cottage. Well, duh! It's your house, so yes indeed! The bucket, she wanted the bucket to use for letting the dough rise. Perhaps I'm imagining this, but it seems to me that she said she would be making 50 loaves!!! Honoring her families traditions, which if you have watched any Hallmark movies, and it must be said, the litany of other companies who've gotten into the Christmas movie act, she would be in good company. Last week we were treated to a small gathering at their home for other Swedish fare including her recipe for spiced wine in the Swedish tradition. If I could make the symbols on my computer to type the name I would. 

There is so much of Charlotte here at the cottage that she helped design and lived in for five years or so. For one thing, there is Huckleberry, her cat, who is still roaming around today. Oftentimes he loves perching on John's truck,

and on these winter afternoons he is often to be found sunning himself on our front steps. How he stands the cold is beyond me! And it has been cold to the tune of 23 degrees the other morning, although we are now in a mini warming trend. An 80% chance of rain is the Christmas forecast with no mention of anything white! 

One of the things I periodically come across are recipes that Charlotte printed out in 2002, one of which was for focaccia and I thought, what the heck, I'll try it.  We'd had it at the restaurant and it was delicious so here we go.

It was far better than it looks!! I will definitely try it again, and as for the holes, Bruce did them for me because my attention span is so abysmal, I would begin doing them in a row and then before long, well you know how I am. Next time I will not flatten it as much and we will make the holes deeper. As to olive oil, I think it could use more. 

While we are still in the kitchen, setting up my sewing machine on our dining table, the ironing board is in the kitchen with plenty of room to move around. Continuing our thrift store goodies, this iron! Would you believe $2.00? You should.

Lastly in the kitchen, let's talk fresh eggs. I bought the eggs at the last farmer's market and they were left on the kitchen counter per their instructions. When we returned from Asheville I wondered, had I let them get stale? Contacting the folks via facebook, she told me about the water test, meaning if the eggs floated they were bad. If they stayed on the bottom and laid on their side they were still good but not as fresh and if they were on one end, you are golden. I gave it a try.

Oh boy I almost forgot. There is a chicken coop next door that has gone unused for some years, however, John is now set on strengthening it so the coyotes can't get to the chickens and get this, we are to be part owners of said chickens! That's the plan anyway. Holy cow, this is getting interesting!

Oh my, the winter sky with a sliver of a moon and the beginning of sunset. For those of you wondering, if you love taking sunset photos, go for it now as winter sunsets are the absolute best!

The shadows are great as well. 

As mentioned earlier, it has been cold but it has not kept us from playing pb. Layered up for sure. My side is nearly 100% thankfully. As has become my custom, I go out on the porch when it gets light in the morning to see how cold it feels.  I was freaking out on this morning as I looked to the end of the driveway just before daybreak.

Putting on shoes immediately, as well as a coat of course, I grabbed my camera hoping they would not take off before I made my way down the driveway. This little guy walked right to me!

The light was dim, the lens was wrong, but I did manage to get eight of them in this shot. Look closely!

And you better believe I hightailed into the warm and cozy house when they ran off! 

The river walk continues to provide entertainment in unexpected ways. Honestly, when I came across the Eastern Bluebird action, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Well maybe a wee bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

This was taken last Saturday and I am sad to report I've not seen any action there again! You can well imagine that I will keep trying. Exiting the official walk, I landed in front of a darling house that I may have pictured before with Corgi Christmas decorations out front. Does that ring a bell? Well, on this afternoon, I was greeted by the real thing.

And one more!

Ordinarily I might not even include these, but because I want to remember the encounter, here they are. Watching someone pick up dog poop is not my favorite pass time, but on this occasion I did so with interest because the picker-upper person was the lovely young woman who owns the beautiful Corgis. Boy did she have a story to tell! Blood cancer at 40 followed by horrible chemotherapy that caused irreparable damage to her hips! In January she had both hips replaced because she lacked blood supply to her joints. Plus, it took multiple visits to different doctors who all dismissed her complaints before she was diagnosed. That sort of thing makes my blood boil! After a horrible couple of years, she finally thinks she can get out a little bit and I emphasize little. Her husband wanted to go to Iceland, but he agreed to go to Fort Wilderness campground instead. Quite the trade-off huh? She explained that she is not quite ready for a big trip. I hope that when I left, it lifted her spirits just a little bit, knowing someone was willing to listen and empathize with her story. The corgis...our darling former neighbor Regina, who turned 87 btw, has one who is aging and whose heart will break if Argyle does not hang on longer than she! Come to think of it, Regina did act like a queen!

Winter, you have just begun, by the calendar anyway. 

I was bundled up as sunset was nearing on the Valley River. Usually we play pickleball until around lunch time and that is because we are starting later rather, like 9:30 or so when the temperature is maybe above freezing, we have lunch, followed by a little rest for the man of the house, and then we head back to town when he works on his aging bodybuilder stuff and I roam. Then it is dark and then we head home to the fireplace and our cozy surroundings. Should you be curious. :)

Friends, the birds are having a heyday at our feeders! 

Gosh if you only knew how many photos I have of the sweet things. One morning it was particularly exciting as there were so many, including two Cardinals who kept chasing one another. This photo is big and the birds are small, but it shows what they were up to.

Do you see them??? If only you were reading a blog post by a better photographer! Nevertheless, it was quite entertaining seeing them go at one another. John told us that some of the leaves stay on the trees until the new ones push the old ones off. I'm thinking what you are seeing is what he meant.

In spite of all the local festivities, it is still hard for me to imagine Christmas is but days away. Some folks we know who are from Florida are planning to go out to eat but in a first, I plan to make a Prime Rib. When I saw Ingles had them on sale, I thought to myself, "why not?". Hopefully, we will have fun cooking something new. Through the magic of Facetime we will stay connected with our beloved family. One thing to note is that last Christmas in Murphy, the temperatures plunged and folks, including Hank, had frozen pipes. Apparently it was very, very cold. It won't be like that Monday, but whatever it is, we will make the best of it!!

Merry Christmas dear friends from,

your friend,

Gail