Three little pansies.

Every year, I try to game the onset of wintry weather and see how long I can keep my porch plants alive. At some point, I have to throw in the towel, of course. Two days ago the nighttime temp went down to 29 degrees. I didn’t want to bring all the plants inside, so I placed them in a group on the porch floor and attached an old sheet from the back of the glider to the two Adirondack chairs. It worked! I moved this planter onto the porch, as well.

But, a quick glance at the weather forecast tells me that next week we’re headed for below freezing temps every night, so I expect I’ll give up at some point.

Last year I couldn’t play this little game because I was away working in NYC.

I missed it.

We’ve needed to reorganize the shed since Don brought home several bins from the storage facility. We finally did it yesterday. (Side note: we’re sore and tired today.) But boy, did it feel good to figure out where to put everything so I can have access to my garden/potting space and we can have easy access to the bins with Christmas ornaments, garden tools, mower, and snowblower. It’s very spacious in there. We stacked the bins vertically. It also gave us the opportunity to sweep the floor and bat down some cobwebs. The guy who owned this house before us built the shed as a place to store his motorcycle. It’s quite large.

While we had the doors open and were working just outside the shed, another murmuration of starlings took place. This time, they were flying over our heads, swirling, soaring – and we were right in the middle of it. I cannot tell you how magical that was! We stood on the ramp to the shed, birds flying all around us, filled with awe.

And as I write this, another murmuration just occurred! This time, they were flying all around the front porch and our neighbor’s property across the street.

Word on the street is that Don is making an apple pie today.

The winner of the calendar is Chris K! Chris, send me an email with your address and I’ll get that out to you.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

Confession: Remember those extra Mary Stewart books I was going to give away? I never followed through because I spilled coffee one morning and they were in the line of fire. No one asked about them here in the comments, so I assume you forgot about the giveaway. But in the interest of transparency, I’ve ‘fessed up.

I bring this up because today I am announcing another giveaway. This one is due to the kindness of reader Elaine, who lives in Toronto, Canada. She approached me about it and I thought it was a great idea. Elaine mistakenly ordered two Susan Branch 2023 wall calendars instead of one. She sent the extra calendar to me, thinking that a giveaway would be fun.

I think she’s right!

So, if you’re interested in your own copy of Susan’s newest calendar, leave a comment on this post and this post only. Only comments will be counted, so don’t email me telling me you want to be entered. I will not answer the comments because it mucks up my comment count. When the deadline has passed, I will enter all the comments in the Random Number Generator and I’ll pick a winner.

Let’s see…today is Thursday, so I’m going to make the deadline Monday evening. That gives you 5 days in which to leave your comment. Good luck, everyone!

Stay safe.

Seen when out and about yesterday.

Both Don and I had what we called a ‘spacey’ day yesterday. I was slightly off all day, so was he. I forgot that I was washing the sheets, resulting in a late finish to the drying process and me having to make up the bed at 7:30 pm. I was slightly forgetful all day. It wasn’t a bad day at all, just slightly off.

But today is another day. Hopefully, that foolishness is over.

Yesterday, Meredith and I were remembering my dad’s emails. When he was mad at one of us, the email would be in ALL CAPS!!!!!!!!! With lots of EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!! If I got one, I would read it out loud to Mere in a very loud, shouting voice. She would do the same. This memory made us dissolve in laughter because at this point, several years after my dad’s death, we have perspective on it and it’s just plain funny. My father was a yeller and we were on the receiving end of in-person yelling for much of our childhood. I hated it. Much better to receive it via email.

And you know, of course, that we loved our dad and we miss him every day. Truly. I’m glad he didn’t have to see the rise of fascism in this country or witness a Trump presidency. He fought against fascism in WWII. He was also onto T well before he ran for President and couldn’t stand him. I remember having conversations with Dad about it. He would have been devastated to see what is happening right now. My dad was very smart about things. I miss talking to him about politics. I miss calling him to ask him how to fix something or other. He was the kind of guy who always knew how to fix anything. I just miss him. I miss my mom, too. I miss laughing with her. I miss her nightly scent of Oil of Olay. Even as an adult, I often sat on her lap for a moment or two. She was a great cuddler.

Sigh. Both Don and I have been missing our parents lately.

It’s a rainy and gray day today – sort of suits my mood.

And then, last night, I was remembering my brother’s kids when they were little. I was living in a house that was about 15 minutes away from his. I would visit on Halloween and help my brother take the kids trick or treating. It was such fun. Now they’re all grown up with their own kids – children my brother never got to see. I miss him, too.

But I’m so grateful for my parents and my brother and my grandparents and aunts and uncles – all of them departed now, but all of them loved.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.