If there was nothing else to do, the sky would keep me entertained 24/7.
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A surprise this morning:
A dusting of snow.
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On days like this, it takes me forever to get the dishes done as I watch the clouds morph.
Dustings of snow are not our norm.
But they are certainly easier to manage.
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Returning to New York from Washington State 5 years ago, I was prepared for it.
The heaviest snow that winter was back where I had just come from!
Yet for the whole 18 years that I was in the Seattle area, I only ever saw significant snow once.
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This morning I accompanied Grant on his mail run.
We rent a box at the Post Office but most people seem to keep a box down on the nearest State route. If your mail doesn’t fit into your box, chances are it will end up on the ground where it can get quite soggy, very fast.
Renting a box seemed sensible.
Still, on occasion FedEx has been known to dump our parcels beside the cluster of boxes on route 372. Once as a real challenge, they delivered a shipment to a completely different address.
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When we tracked down that shipment, we went to collect it and ended up being delighted because it was at a small farm which has all sorts of animals, goats, alpaca, chickens…
We drive that way sometimes and always wave now!
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This morning, a circle trip…
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Snow hats.
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Just enough to be pretty.
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A thin scattering.
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Not a breath of wind to brush snow off branches.
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It brings to mind the little Christmas tree decorations my mother always put on her cake.
Mum went on making Christmas cakes right up to her very last Christmas.
Christmas cakes are not the most practical thing to travel with, but I was annually presented with one and always got it home intact, then shared it with whoever wanted a bit. I was not a fan myself.
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Mum wasn’t well when she made that final cake, but she was determined to do it. My father had recently taken her to Tahiti, thinking a holiday would cheer her up, so the cake was decorated to reflect this I think, but it hadn’t quite worked.
Nevertheless, I ceremoniously wrapped it up and brought it back. I had realised however, that it would be Mum’s last cake and I couldn’t bear to look at it, so I thrust it at my friend Tim who dealt with it.
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Christmas in Cambodia in 1956 was a great challenge for my mother, one way and another.
None of the normal ingredients were available either for a cake or for traditional Christmas dinner.
There was certainly not a Christmas tree. So Mum purchased a large green plant that had a suitable shape and she made little red roses out of crepe paper to decorate it.
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Mum always managed to improvise which she had obviously done constantly during the years of WW2.
There was no occasion to which she could not rise smiling.
She never showed her feelings, but she must have missed my brother terribly as he did not fly out to join us that first year that we were abroad.
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Winter colours.
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Muted, but lovely.
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Winter has its own beauty
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It has hardly been really cold here yet.
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Though I daresay it will feel a little fresh tomorrow morning when we leave the house at 0615.
Another road trip in the dark!
This year for some reason I am more aware of the extended hours of darkness.
But it’s not long till the solstice and the approach of Spring.
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As ever, not a soul in sight.
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Does anyone actually live here?
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It wouldn’t be much good hitchhiking.
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The Wedding Barn.
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Home sweet home.
Beautiful pictures of your dusting of snow – the shadow of the bear at the post boxes makes one look twice! I love that your mom was so creative with a Christmas tree and decorations in Cambodia. Oh, please don’t talk about Spring yet … I want to enjoy a wonderful Summer holiday first.
Having to rent a post box that you have to drive to, and getting parcels dumped by the side of a main road are two good reasons why I cherish having a letterbox and a post-lady who delvers to the door with a smile on her face.
I never spent Christmas anywhere hot, though I always wanted to. But my wife won’t hear of travelling at Christmas, and we also have Ollie to consider.
Best wishes, Pete.
Travelling at Christmas is never a good idea. Every year we were subjected to the same wail “You have ruined our Christmas”, as if it was our fault there were snow drifts across the runways and as if we wouldn’t rather have been home with family! I would certainly never go away for more than a quick overnight if I had to leave an elderly pet. I never liked going away when my cats were young but I had very good people caring for them. The USPS is a mess but like all other problems in this country it sits in a queue waiting for the folk in Washington DC to stop behaving like school boys (it’s mostly boys). I think the country is ungovernable in its current form but I doubt anything sensible will be decided until the big punch-up after which we will be a secondary power. I dread next year.