Retirement "Perk"

One of the perks of retirement is watching it snow from inside the house instead of having to drive to work in it. Thursday's snow was wet and clung to the branches.

(This is not a black and white picture.)

Gone

Now you see them.


Now .. you don't.


I am greatly disappointed in their trimming skills.

The Art of Patiently Waiting

I'm just waiting for the "pig" at the feeder to leave.



Yeah, SOOOO what!



Have you noticed the suet is GONE? Big PIG!

Where are you Charlie Brown?

Hello, sunbeam my old friend

Some days all you need is a place in the sun.

'Scuse me Mom but did you know you furgot to dust under here?

Muddy Monday

The anchorman at News Channel 8 called Monday an "Odd January Day". We had a flood watch, high wind warnings, and thunderstorm watches. At the time it was 55 degrees and POURING. In Connecticut! In January! He said the birds were having trouble flying on the shoreline. (Is that even possible??). Here on Huckleberry Hill, the road looked quite drenched and I was glad I could get the shot without leaving the doorway.

His Royal Highness tried to convince Pawpa that his morning constitutional should be deferred. Ultimately, he was unsuccessful due to the fact that he weighs 18 pounds and Pawpa .. um .. somewhat more. When he was .. ahem .. lovingly persuaded to venture farther than the doorway, he consented to proceed. Upon his return from a very abbreviated visit to the great outdoors, King Gizmo returned to his favorite position in the living room ... sleeping on the weekly circular for Home Depot.

Before he completely zoned out, however, he asked me to say "Welcome" to Mistaya's M.O.M. and twinkietinydog who came over to visit from Jack's blog. We are going to stop over to see you two too!

Rear Window

Pink Clouds at Sunset

Inspector Gizzy

Hmmmm....I wonder what's going on here.
My new red pillow is on the kitchen floor.

Oh? Dad's fixing the drawer?

I better check to be sure everything is OK inside.

The Hook

Years ago, women wore aprons when they cooked. My Mom had more than one apron that she used. I never really got into the habit of using one. With washers and dryers so prevalent and fabrics being "wash and wear", my clothes could be thrown in the washer if I spilled or splashed. But...I've got these really warm wool sweaters that I wear all winter. Yeah, they just aren't "wash and dry" if they get nailed by a splash or drip with my sloppy cooking skills and dry cleaning isn't cheap. So I went out and bought an apron. I had a convenient place to hang it but discovered to my dismay there was no hook so I sent Pawpa out to find a proper one.

Look what he came back with. It is sooo cute. Good Job!

Sad Day aka Goodby Mr. Pillow!

It's time to admit it. The time has come. This is a day I did not look forward to. Gizzy's favorite pillow is kaput! I find little tufts of stuffing all over the floor. It can't be washed. He's scratched it into a comfortable position too many times until the fabric is thin and it can't be sewn shut. The pillow must go!

Hopefully, he will accept a red pillow, that formerly graced the couch, as a replacement. (It and it's companion red pillow were replaced by the striped ones.) He liked it fine when it was there and would pull it into a position that was perfect for a sleeping dog. Wish us luck!

Afghan Squares

Since the weather is icky (and since I bought a book with instructions for 200 crocheted squares), I decided to make an afghan. I made one for my oldest son 30 years ago. It was exhausting. I'm not making that one again. I'm making an afghan using 8 different squares from the book. I would have made one with all different squares but some of them are multicolored and they look good because they ARE different colors. I wanted my afghan to be all one color.

This is 6 of the 8 squares. (I haven't made all 8 yet.)

This one is my favorite.

I ripped this one out 3 times before I got it right.

Snow Hole

From the January 19th Waterbury Republican-American:

Meteorologist John J. Bagioni of Burlington calls the snow drought a "snow hole."

"It's an oddity that happens every winter somewhere," he said. "A location of below-normal snowfall is surrounded by areas of above-normal snowfall around it. So far this year it's been the Northwest Corner."

Bagioni said that normal snowfall totals, which can average 100 inches in places like Winsted, are down by as much as 75 percent in some areas. In contrast, coastal Connecticut and eastern parts of the state are above normal, he said.

One can hardly dispute this theory by looking at our yard.

Ice on the Spillway

Building up on the rocks

And on the branches

Snow Angel

........ at the park

This is MY lap

.....and YOU can't have it!

Proper Picnic Table Placement

YES....


NO.....

I'm not sleeping

I'm just checking for wear on the rug.
I think I see some here by my nose.
What do mean "go back to sleep"?
I thought you'd want my help since I'm closer to the ground.

Sunday's Sunset

Nice sunset from my window Sunday night.

Footprints

belonging to THIS guy and his friends.....

The silence of snow...........

And the barely seen footprints leading to
the birdseed on the ground below the feeder.

Ravioli Day

I made homemade ravioli last week. Years ago, when I was a young bride, I learned how to make homemade ravioli. At the time, my mother-in-law had a formica topped kitchen table and she just threw the flour onto the cleanly washed table. She added water and eggs and mixed everything by hand. She didn't measure anything. She could tell by feel if the dough was right. Then she'd roll out the dough with an handmade rolling pin. I don't make them very often. As I got older, I tried using various things to make the job easier and they just don't work for me. This time, I tried using the ravioli attachment that I got for my much loved KitchenAid mixer. Did it work? Not so much. They didn't "fill" very well for me. Even if they had filled, they were way too tiny.

I ended up doing it "the old way" like my ex-mother-in-law taught me. She just spooned the filling onto the bottom sheet of dough, covered the filling with a top sheet of dough, cut out the ravioli "freehand", and crimped the ravioli edges with a fork. They don't look uniform or attractive but they taste just fine.

Once they were filled and crimped, she'd throw them into a pot of boiling water to cook until done.

I was simmering my sauce while I was making the ravioli.

Add a little sauce. Voila!

For those of you who feel you want to attempt this, this is the recipe for homemade Spinach & Sausage Ravioli.

Ravioli

INGREDIENTS
1 Large can of spinach - drained
2-1/2 sleeves of cracker crumbs (I use Townhouse and smash them)
1 pound Sweet Sausage (if you use links, remove the casings)
5 pound bag of flour
12 eggs (you may not need that many but its best to have them)

FILLING
Put the spinach in a colander and drain it. If it is very wet, you need to wring it out a little until it’s not so wet.

In a LARGE bowl, put sausage, crumbs, 1 egg, and drained spinach. With your hands, work the ingredients together until they are thoroughly mixed. If it feels too dry, add another egg. (It will almost feel like meatball consistency) Put it aside.

RAVIOLI DOUGH
2 pounds flour
4 eggs
1 Cup WARM water

Make a well with 3/4 of the flour; add eggs to the well and mix together slowly, adding water as necessary. Knead about 10 minutes; cover it and let dough rest for 10 minutes, then knead again until very smooth. This dough is now ready to use. (If you have a mixer with a dough hook, you can mix it that way. I did but wished I hadn't.) Cut the ball of dough into 4 to 8 pieces and roll each into a ball. Put back in the bowl and cover while you are rolling and filling other portions.

FILLING RAVIOLI
With a rolling pin, roll out a portion of the dough (maybe 1/4 of the dough) on a floured surface to the correct width. You want it thin but not so thin it will rip or tear. Cut the dough into pieces about 3 inches by 4 inches. At one end – in the center – put a blob of filling. With a little basting brush (or a clean finger), brush a little water (or egg wash) on the edges. Pull the other end over the top and seal the edges with the tines of a fork like you would a pie crust. Put it on a plate and put aside until you’re done filling ravioli. Continue rolling and filling until all the filling is gone. (I sometimes have to make another bowl of pasta dough.)

COOKING RAVIOLI
Bring a LARGE pot of salted water to a boil. Gently put in the ravioli and cook until the pasta is the consistency you want. Stir every once in a while so they don’t stick to the pan. It could be 20 minutes or more depending on the thickness of the dough. (Don’t forget; you are also cooking the sausage filling.) Keep an eye on it. When it’s done, throw sauce over them and eat.

Home Sweet Home

Evidently, someone decided this would be the perfect house if only the "doorway" was a little bit larger.

Snow for Saturday

The snow is still falling gently..tiny flakes just coating the top of the stone wall behind the crab apple tree.

New Year .. New Hats

Note from Gizzy: Mom hasn't taken many pictures of me lately . Not too many outside pictures either because she's been busy making hats. Only one of the hats is for her. (It's the one on the bottom.) The other hats are going to be placed in the hat box at the Cancer Center.

Note from Mom: I spent last winter with no hair. One of the things I'd never realized was how cold you can feel when you have no hair on your head...even in the house...even at temps when others don't feel cold. You can buy hats and scarfs and turbans and wigs but they don't always do what you want them to do...and they often don't look they way you wish they would. Sometimes a soft, comfy hat is just what you need.

A Special Wish

I'm still here. I'm just lying here thinking about special days and special friends and how I want to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" today to Mom's special friend "Madi's Mom" over at Potpourri in NC.

So from me (and Mom) to Madi's Mom:

Bush(el) of Birds?

A bird in the hand is worth ……………….

5 in the bush ???

(I don’t know .. I lost count.)

Tuesdays Paws for Politeness

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A "Paws for Politeness":

If you are fourth person in line at the checkout and the cashier at the next register shouts "I'll take the NEXT person in line", it's polite to .. you know .. actually let the next person in line be the first person in line at the newly opened register.

(CLUE: That is the second person in line. It is NOT you.)

(NOTE: If the second person in line has already put their items on the conveyor belt, and there are too many items to grab and run, that person should defer to the third person in line. Still...not you.)

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I'se NOT fat ..

I'se just a wee bit .. ummmm .. puffy! It's cold out....and it's snowing AGAIN. Ohhhh, why didn't I go south?

Not So Patient Pup

I SMELL STEAK! They're cooking steak here. Don't I look like I deserve some?

Lady Cardinal

Lady Cardinal waits for her turn at the feeder

Window Weather(vane)

2010

Happy New Year

Fresh New Year

Fresh New Snow