Plenty

This morning five inches of snow rests lightly on the deck railing. The pre-solstice snow is always beautiful to my eyes. In January I start to need snow goggles, by March I am as driven as a snowflake in a blizzard, to see the last of it. Falling on all that beautiful snow this morning is freezing rain pellets. I cannot see them, but I can certainly hear them as they pepper the windows.

Yesterday I saw a sunbeam, early in the morning, just one. What a cheerful thing a sunbeam is!

Last night Attila brought home a Christmas tree, a real one. There is a wealthy aroma of pine in the house. Such memories are elicited by the scent of pine needles; of school Christmas crafts, singing Christmas Carols, Mother Santa Clause, pretty coloured lights reflecting in glass baubles, Christmas Stockings, turkey dinners, sweets, and happy hours with a colouring book and crayons. My Mother made sure Christmas was a special time of peace and plenty for us. Under the circumstances in which we lived, that was no small task.

I just finished saving a complete entry to file, that I decided not to post. Sometimes I write just to find out what is going on in the depths of my unconscious. What comes out is often surprising, and painful to deal with. However, once it is out where I can see it, things become much clearer. Writing, with honesty, is a wonderful tool if one seeks self knowledge.

We stopped by a roadside stand to purchase “winter” vegetables, on our trip home from the little house in the city. We now have a plentiful supply of cooked, frozen squash, and rutabaga. The squash we purchased for a mere $3.00 was the largest I have ever seen, bigger than a basketball. We will save the seeds and try to grow this type of squash at our little house in the city. I am planning on trying the rutabaga Finnish Christmas dish Lanttulaatikko (Finnish Mashed Turnip Casserole).

The biggest Hubbard Squash I have ever seen, and it is all ours!
Giant hubbard squash dscf3956

Cooking is a time consuming activity, particularly from scratch. It is very rewarding work.

Today’s project is scanning photos taken in England, of relatives on my maternal Grandmother’s side of the family. They hail from Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and the photo’s were taken between 1903 and 1950. I have yet to locate any of my living relatives in England, as contact with them all but ceased when my Grandmother passed away. My Aunt kept in touch with them, but she too has passed.

Polly and Percy, probably their wedding day, 1903, England. Polly is my first cousin twice removed, my Mom’s first cousin once removed, and my Grandmother’s first cousin.
PollyPercy1903

Worldly Distractions

Weather

Cloudy, Freezing Rain
-2°C
Date: 10:00 AM EST Wednesday 4 December 2013
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 101.8 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -2.2°C
Dewpoint: -2.8°C
Humidity: 95%
Wind: E 9 km/h
Wind Chill: -6

Quote

“We don’t know a millionth of one percent about anything.”
Thomas A. Edison
1847 – 1931

7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Joan Lansberry

That is an amazingly huge squash! I hope you get some tasty dishes out of it.

Bex

Wow, that squash is huge. I would have a hard time cutting that thing up. Squash is truly one of the most delicious vegetables in the universe. We had butternut squash last night and it was just right with out little English pork pies that I get from The English Pork Pie company (made just like the ones in England but located in upstate New York – to die for! and you can buy online and have them sent).

Bex

I looked for that edit button but no go… where is it? I meant to write “…was just right with OUR little English pork pies…”

I am also now getting a pop-up box that say they want a user name and password in here… which is something new. I wonder if that’s related to your edit thing which I have not found yet?

maggie

test

It should be right under your picture and say “Click to Edit” – 5 minutes and counting down. Worked for me while I was logged out, feel free to experiment with test comments, I can delete the tests later, don’t mind a bit.

Bex

testing… there is nothing to clink on under my picture… no words, nothing. I wonder if it’s because of my browser? I am using mozilla firefox. I don’t know enough about this stuff either to investigate. Aww shucks… I hover my cursor and there’s nothing…