Monday, January 03, 2011

Touch of Spring




Going through old photos I am reminded of how wonderful, and patient, Roger was at taking photos of flowers. These are blueberry flowers on his infamous 3-blueberry bush. Ironically, this past summer, the bush produced about 20 actual blueberries. He would have loved that. I'm showing these because I can't find the damn charger for the camera and I wanted to show what is going on but I can't yet. Oh how I miss my photography staff. The holiday just didn't happen for me this year. I found myself having a really hard time keeping it together beginning a few days before. The answer for me was to totally ignore the date. Family and friends made it a little easier. Bob got me a Kindle for Christmas and a lighted case to hold it. The kids got me a gift card and I got another from Dani's family so I had my crack computer wiz(James)set it up with a wireless connection and I downloaded a couple of books. Nothing outstanding but enough to hold my interest for the evening. I read the entire first book the evening of the holiday that will go nameless. It worked out fine. Bob had too much partying and fell asleep early. He slept till nearly noon the following morning. It's end of year at his business and he's been working 15-17 hour days for 2 weeks. It finally caught up with him.

The following day of the holiday that will not be mentioned, I cooked a turkey dinner for the kids and we had a great bottle of champagne to make mimosas with. Boy did that taste good. As I mentioned to another friend, nothing was the same but it was alright and that's the best I an hope for right now. Of course having Miss Lucy around gave us all a laugh as well as watching "Despicable Me". Just what I needed. A few good laughs. I can highly recommend it to chase the blues.

We are having a small taste of spring for a few days now. The temps were around 50-52 the last few days. I'll take however many of those I can get until the inevitable February ick sets in. The snow has nearly all melted which is very nice too.
I took out the sewing machine and worked up a few 16-patches in Breath of Avignon in a Honey Bun, which is 1 1/2 inch strips of the line. The bright Provencal colors are so pretty and of course I love any fabric by Sandy Klop. Her American Jane line is one of my very favorites. As soon as I can locate the charger I will show you what little I accomplished. It's been so long since I did any work that my skills need sharpening...a lot.

I'm making the leftover turkey into a dish I saw on Judy's blog. It's a Chicken tetrazzini but she makes it with turkey too. I've got a lot of left over turkey to use up and it makes for good comfort food.

As you may imagine, I am throwing a lot fo stuff away and giving a lot to charity. There are many things that I'm not tackling right now-too painful- but some things just scream out to be addressed. Clothing that will fit no one else in the family-some brand new with tags, and some really well worn(see; holes and rips in t-shirts) and some things that have hung in the closet for years that Roger insisted on keeping but never wore. He kept the suit we were married in. That got to me when I came across it. I try not to spend too much of the day doing that. It's too hard. A little at a time.

I'm still enjoying my Netflix deliveries. I got the first season of "Damages" with Glenn Close and am enjoying that and looking forward to the second season. Next up is "The Riches" a series on FX that I wasn't able to watch when it was out except for a couple of episodes. I really liked it and have both seasons on order. Also, back to my favorite BBC shows I have "The Forsyte Saga" and, on order but not yet available for a couple of weeks, "Downton Abbey". I should get the second season of "Cranford" since I didn't see that either.
Gotta go shred some turkey and do a bit of cooking. Hope to get the camera thing straightened out later....grrrr