We had a lovely weekend. A weekend! My sister and her hubby came for a visit on Saturday. We had a spaghetti supper, then headed downtown to look at the Christmas display, which is quite pretty. We also visited some of the older buildings in town, viewing the architecture of the exteriors, which were well lit.
They stayed the night, and that was an adventure, but we did it. We made enough room for the pull out couch to be opened up into a bed, which Sis says was quite comfortable, with the memory foam that we added to the top of the mattress.
The next day, after a bacon and egg breakfast, we all drove down to Terra and Lares place to show it off to their Auntie and Uncle. Terra and Lares were out of town visiting Lares’ brother’s brand new baby girl, born on the 11th of November. So we walked around the property, peered through the windows, and enjoyed the wonderful view. The dogs watched us through the sliding doors, they were so cute! Attila and I also took the visit as an opportunity to drop off a chair we were giving to Terra and Lares.
Sis and hubby then drove towards home, taking the scenic route, which they quite enjoyed by all accounts, travelling through wine country, on the slower, quieter highways. Attila and I headed home.
The weather is unbelievably pleasant for mid-November! The sun shone all day, and one needed nothing but a sweater to stay comfortable out of doors.
Today Attila started working at his new job. He is working 12 hour shifts, I think they call it a “continental shift” rotation. This was his choice, he feels there are several advantages, like fewer trips to and from work, as he will be working fewer days to put in the same number of hours as the regular shift. We now have something tangible to adjust to!
My day has been happily busy.
The projects began with sweeping up the pine cones and needles on the driveway. There are a frightful number of pine cones and seeds from the next door neighbour’s ash tree. These were swept into piles, then dumped into a pail using a broom and dustpan. The organic debris was carted to the back yard and placed in the open compost.
When I took the first bucket to the back yard, our feline friend was sitting in front of the compost, trying his luck with hunting. He was glad to see me though, rubbed against my legs, and followed me back to the front driveway. There he enjoyed rolling in my gathered pile of pine cones and needles. I enjoyed his company.
The cell phone rang just after the first bucket load was dumped. It was Lares, stuck at the car dealership in town, as they decided his car needed more work than anticipated. He wondered if I would drive him home. So I stowed my bucket, broom, and dust pan in the garage. Then I loaded the firewood in to Tank, that we had saved for Terra and Lares, from the dead branches of the Crabapple tree in our front yard. Then I headed out to pick up Lares.
It was a beautiful day for a drive, Terra and Lares live about 20 minutes out of town. When we arrived I helped Lares stack the firewood, then headed indoors to visit with Terra and the dogs and the kitties. Terra was busy unpacking Christmas decorations. She does a lovely job of decorating her house for Christmas. We chatted for a bit, then Lares headed off to work, and I left to enjoy the beautiful drive home.
After a quick lunch, I prepared two more books for shipping. I was quite surprised to get an order from Australia. I know of the relatives there, and have corresponded with my distant cousin on many occasions. She ordered the book, much to my surprise, as she does excellent research herself. The postage was very costly.
Once home, the rest of the day was spent cleaning the driveway.
It has been a satisfying day.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
6°C
Date: 6:00 PM EST Monday 16 November 2015
Condition: Clear
Pressure: 102.8 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 6.2°C
Dewpoint: -4.9°C
Humidity: 45%
Wind: NE 15 km/h
Quote
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
1929 – 1968
Hi, Maggie! It does sound like you had a lovely weekend!
So glad to hear about Attila’s new job! Wishing him all the best!
Congrats on the sale of your new book! It’s always so exciting to see our work appreciated, isn’t it.
Thanks for the quote. I’m finding it very appropriate and timely.
Welcome home from your vacation Teri!
We are tickled about the new job. I think it will take a little while to get used to 12 hour shifts, but now that we know what we are dealing with we can start adjusting.
I too found the quote quite apt right now, it is so very true, glad it affirmed your experience.
Maggie, it’s beginning to sound as if you and Attila are about to settle down into a very pleasant life together. Together. That’s the big word.
It is one of my favourite words Wendy! My favourite song as a kid was “Side By Side”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNX_gayY1E
It’s great to have a day like this! Well deserved after some of the challenges you had last summer. Love your positive and appreciative attitude!
“We had a spaghetti supper…”
May I ask… how to you make/serve your spaghetti supper? With sauce (of course!) but what kind? Tomato sauce plain? Meat w/tomato sauce? A white sauce?
I would have to say that a spaghetti supper is very near the top of my fave list of suppers… might be #1… in fact, that is what I have chosen to serve to us for Thanksgiving dinner! It’s been a while since we’ve had a traditional tomato/meat sauce spaghetti supper… I may even make a baguette to go with it.
I think that neighbor kitty wants to adopt you!
xxxx
http://www.legendinc.com/Photos/WinterScenes/DSCF0010.jpg
I just stumbled onto this photo online. The irony of it is that this photo was taken by my ex-husband, Bill Purdin, and is on his website (legendinc.com) (he has always thought of himself as a legend in his own mind!!!), showing a lone boat in Marblehead Harbor, that is of course the lobster boat owned by my current husband, Paul… name of boat: “Bollocks!” —
Thanks LuckyFew! Everything feels different now. When Attila works the long 12 hour shift, it feels just fine, because I know I will see him for a few hours before he leaves, and when he comes home. And better yet, that formerly elusive but now anticipated weekend is coming up, every two or three days, and he will be home puttering around. You have it right, lucky!
Bex, I make a meat sauce, sautéing the ground beef with olive oil, onions, garlic, celery and peppers, adding diced tomatoes, as well as either tomato paste or tomato sauce, and of course that all important herb, basil! We love basil!
The ground beef we have is from a grass fed cow, so there is no fat in the ground beef. I have to add olive oil!
Spaghetti is one of my favourite meals too, and so easy to put together! The leftovers are grand too, if there are any.
I really enjoy the neighbour’s cat! The bonus is that they buy his food, and pay his vet bills, we just have fun with him!
The photo, wow Bex, that is really something, that your ex took a picture of Paul’s boat, was that before or after you and Paul were an item? I love the name of the boat! It is a beautiful photograph.
Maggie,
So glad you had a lovely weekend and such nice weather! Nice too that you had a visit from your sister and her husband.
Congratulations on the new arrival.
How many days does Attila work with the 12 hour shifts?
You remarked you were happily busy…the best way to be!
I don’t know what the pine cones look like you are gathering but did you know people buy them on ebay?
Also congrats on more sales of your book. I have a friend that has a shop on Etsy and she told me that postage was jacked up last Feb. and it was a real hike. Sigh.
Maggie, I’ve been checking my online fielding guides like crazy trying to figure out what kind of trees you have around you. You see, ash trees don’t have pine cones or needles. They have little single wing helicopters like half a maple seed and feathery leaf branches that usually have 7 or 9 leaves.
http://treedoctor.anr.msu.edu/ash/ashtree_id.html
Thanks Nora!
All of Attila’s shifts are 12 hour shifts, in a two week period he will work the equivalent of 7 days, having the equivalent of 7 days off. As with all shift work, 8 hour and 12 hour, there is a flip from day shift to night shift and back again, which will have to be figured out as far as sleeping schedules.
The pine cones might be worth looking into! Maybe next year, when in theory we will have settled in.
The postage for the book is daunting indeed, the copy I sent to Australia was very expensive, but she still wanted it!
Right you are Teri, the pine cones come from the pine tree on our front yard, and the seeds come from the ash tree on the neighbours front yard.
Oh, okay! 🙂