Snow and cold....

 We're settling into winter with a vengeance now.  We had a nice little crust of snow started on the ground,  just enough to cover the ugly brown and grays that this season brings, but today we've got another 4-6" of  new snow on top of the crusty stuff.  It's very light and fluffy and dry and is easy to shovel.  I've shoveled the front porch three times already today and the minute I turn around, there's a fresh dusting of powdered snow over top again.  Not only do we have the new snow, but we've got some wind along with it and plummeting temperatures that make it super cold.  As I write, it is dipping 4 degrees below zero and will probably go lower as the sun sets and the long night settles over us.


Yesterday was unseasonably warm for us (in the 40's).  That's a very common occurrence -- a nice day preceding a storm. Yesterday Hazel Peach and I spent the entire morning sledding and playing in the snow outside.  My legs definitely feel the exercise of getting in and out of a very low, plastic sled.  I also took the Montgomery Ward U.S. Flyer out for a spin.  It's been hanging on it's nail in the garage for quite some time.    You remember those wonderful wooden sleds with the red runners, don't you?  This particular one was HP's mommy's sled when she was a little girl.  It's in super good shape, unlike the sleds of my family's childhood.  That's the difference, I suppose, between a houseful of boys (and one tom boy) and a couple of girls.  Anyway, I snapped a lead rope onto the Flyer and took HP for a long sled ride on the snow-packed roads around here.  It was fun for both of us.

The Cousins have been here visiting for the week.  They are brothers, ages 17 & 21 and so they have a great time with our two sons who are home now, ages 18 & 20.  Let's just say I spend a good deal of time in the kitchen cooking up food that will fill young, empty bellies.  So far they have consumed bacon, sausage, eggs, waffles, spaghetti, chili, sandwiches, pizzas,  a number of cookies, cake, ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce, and tonight there will be a ham dinner with cheesy potatoes.  I haven't planned for dessert, but this afternoon I baked off the chocolate chip cookie balls that I had saved in the freezer.  There is just nothing like a fresh-baked cookie from the oven and a hot cup of Joe is there?   I have this recipe on the menu for New Year's Eve.  The weather outlook is for more deep cold, snow, and wind, so I think the Cousins' plans to leave tomorrow will be called off and they will stay with us into the new year, or till the roads are suitable to drive.  The plows are slow in coming to our neck-of-the-woods.  I'm so glad I talked the guys into bringing in the big stack of wood from outdoors into the garage so we'd have plenty of dry firewood for these bitter cold days.  Warm fire, lots of good food, hot drinks, card games, and good company is how we'll ring in the New Year.


I did a teeny-tiny bit of sewing today.  I need to practice my binding skills before I have a couple baby quilts to make, so I made two pot holders using this No Snit Binding method.  The instructions say that the more you do it, the better you get.  I hope so or I'll need to make lots and lots of potholders before I finish the baby quilts.

It's time to get back into the kitchen!  It's almost suppertime!