Can’t let a blizzard go by without giving you a report! Here’s how the day began for me . . . MUSICA First thing I needed to do was light some candles so I could find my way through the house.
It was obviously not going to be a regular day! The wind was whistling, the snow was blowing, windows were shaking, there was no computer, no internet, no heat, no light, no toaster, Joe was sound asleep, so I made a fire — with the help of Jack — wearing a wool beret. Not him, me. Which isn’t something I usually do, but I think it was almost as cold inside as it was out! When I walked a cold wind blew in my face!
I made tea on our gas stove (thank goodness for gas stoves!), wrapped up in shawls, Tweeted a little bit on my iPhone which I had charged last night — I knew Twitter would be my only contact with the outside world and it was! And then I went to work like “normal” — and here is what I learned: not being warm is one thing, but watercoloring in the dark is just plain dangerous!
You know that old adage, it’s coldest before dawn? That is a true thing. It was getting colder and colder in the house. And then it started to get light . . . and I could see the snow for the first time . . .
And I could see the poor birds. They looked like they’d had a rough time of it, their feathers were wet, and poking up on the tops of their heads, even the ones that weren’t cardinals! I felt bad for them.
This is Jack’s bird-watching perch in the pantry. Every twig is covered in snow.
They were having a field day out there. Even on a normal day, it’s hard to go work when there is so much beauty going on in the kitchen!
As you can tell, at this point, I’ve given up on working, and am now concentrating on getting warm . . .
I closed all the doors to the kitchen, and started the bacon . . .
I turned on the oven, and just then, suddenly, the lights came back on! Then Joe came downstairs.
And we were saved!
So sorry you can’t see Joe…he had such pink cheeks! I could barely see the cardinal through the viewfinder, but he definitely stands out, doesn’t he? This is why I call cardinals “Nature’s Valentines.”
Here is something you hardly ever see in the part of California I’m from, snow on the floor! You would think that you would need to clean it up! But you don’t! (At least if you’re me you don’t!) One of the good things is, when the heat is on, snow that comes off your shoes dries in a snap and you don’t have to do a thing! And that’s my day girlfriends. Back to work. Hope you enjoyed our blizzard, it’s a beauty, still going on, prettier by the moment . . . and I really hope it’s just this “bad” for everyone, and no worse!
Pretty perfect, I’d say.
Just a few more birds before I go . . . ♥
Look at this cutie!
Poor robin, although well-fed, looks frazzled . . .
Beautiful feathers. Brave souls!
Well, all my excuses are gone so bye for now girls! Hope you have a wonderful day! Don’t forget we have a new Willard coming next week! Love you, me xoxo
I just love this photograph. I took it at the 
My theme today is Romance. Has to be, because yesterday Joe and I celebrated our twenty-sixth anniversary! This is one of the wonderful postcards in his collection.
Cooking is my idea of deep, dark, delicious romance. Romance is all about the five senses and cooking appeals to them all, smells good, tastes good, looks, feels, sounds so good, and cooking includes the 6th sense, the sense of imagination and creativity. These books are my idea of romance novels. I love to read them and be inspired; sometimes Joe and I read recipes out loud to each other, like storybooks. He will say something like, “Listen to this, they’re putting cinnamon in a taco!”
on the bottom; a very fancy pair of numbers are painted next to the stamp, “24.” That’s all I know about this little pink bowl. I always wish these things had tiny little chip video cameras on them so we could pop it into our computers and see everywhere they’ve been during their lives. I’d love to see the women who bought these bowls, the very first tables they sat on, the cupboards they were kept in, who washed them, and what was in them. Look how lucky the people of the future will be, we have videos of EVERYTHING. But then again, maybe what makes it all so romantic is that it’s gone forever, and we just have to imagine.
where I test the paint on my brush, or do quick squiggles — that’s what this is — don’t worry, it’s not going into the book!). Joe is scanning the finished pages and sending them in as they are finished. So yesterday, our anniversary was just a regular day, no special plans, 
we wished each other happy anniversary and that was about it, a special day, like any other. Then he went to the supermarket for groceries and came home with roses. He surprised me with them, I didn’t expect it, so I was very touched. He is such a doll. It was kind of like that heart cup in the picture at Emma Bridgewater’s — just the littlest bit of romance brightens everything. He also hid a coconut cake in the back freezer. So after dinner, which was ribs and sweet potatoes, he pulled out his surprise cake. 
