We are in a deep freeze and it’s friggin’ cold out there! And it looks like it will stay around for several days. If December and early January have lots of snow and cold, does that mean that it might get milder for the rest of the winter? (Asking for a friend – a friend who will be on her own for much of the winter.)
Such lovely late afternoon light yesterday.
New leaves are unfurling on the monstera deliciosa.
The paperwhites that sit on the table next to my blogging chair are opening.
I haven’t opened it yet. I know I’ll start crying.
I found this vintage putz sheep at the antique store the other day. It’s in great condition. It may be time to gather all my little putz sheep and display them together. Right now, one is on the shelf above my desk and two are in the cabinet in my office. These guys are in the den.
At least it’s sunny out there. But Don is getting the recycling together at the moment and he came in to say he can’t believe how cold it is. I’m running drips in the kitchen and the bathroom. Don’s on his way to a friend’s house to assist in getting him up and out of his bed and into a car (his back and neck are causing him tremendous pain) so that he can go see his doctor.
Stay warm!
Happy Wednesday.
Yes, you will cry!
I thought as much. xo
That kind of cold weather makes me so happy to live in Georgia. Stay warm and keep Stella baking, those photos of the coffee cake made me hungry! It’s raining here but hoping for no ice since Ashleigh is flying out tomorrow. We had a great Mother/Daughter day yesterday. Today is her day with her Sister. We all want time with her of course! Hugs.
Of course! Enjoy, my friend.
We haven’t opened the book yet ourselves. I shed tears this morning as it was, saying so long to my son and DIL. It is frigid here as well. I’ve had enough of winter myself. I have no answer for your friend…but I’m hoping that if the cold is here now, we can expect an early spring. Probably just wishful thinking. Stay warm! ;)
I’m hoping, too!
It’s in the low 70s here during the day and my boys think that’s warm, but it’s just right for me. :) I’m sure the book is wonderful. I love all the pictures and captions Pete Souza posts on Instagram.
I’d love low forties at this point!
It’s cold here, but no where as cold as where you are, Claudia, so I will stop complaining! Kudos for Don playing Good Samaritan to his friend in need. Today, it has been a year since Carrie Fisher died. I saw The Last Jedi last night. I’m used to her being very sharp-witted and even sarcastic (in a good way?), but her performance of General Organa was so full of dignity and quiet leadership. The scene she had with Mark Hamill oozed with the love and respect they had for each other as screen siblings and as fellow actors. I’m sure the Star Wars franchise will go on and on, but she sure will be missed.
I’m sure it must be very moving to see that last performance. What a loss!
It is cold here in NW WI too. Below zero temps for several days. Did you see the clips of the radio interview President Obama did with Prince Harry? Oh how I miss the careful sensitivity, intelligence, and eloquence of President Obama!
I know of them, but I haven’t had time to watch them yet.
I voted for him both times. the first time I was standing in line outside. and a few feet ahead of me was a sight I will never forget.
it was a young black father… tall with great posture and he was holding the hand of his small son who looked to be about 5 years old.
the dad was handsome and beautifully groomed. they each were dressed in a white shirt and a dark suit and tie … as if for a private and personal celebration.
and I think of course it was.
they were the only African Americans in the line that morning while I was there.
tears filled my eyes and a silent sob suddenly came to my throat watching them.
they were a beautiful sight and it touched me on so many levels that my words here might even cheapen it somehow… given the suffering that his ancestors and even my own ancestors as women without the right to vote had to endure.
they seemed to be honoring those people so that we both could vote that day!
I stood there in my fleece~wear and sneakers… seeing it all from a different perspective.
just their solemn presence in those beautiful suits was a reminder to me of the privilege I often take for granted.
the dad bent down and quietly talked with his little son every now and then and I remember that they smiled. was he explaining what it was all about? I don’t know. but I do remember that the little guy didn’t fidget at all. which is unusual for a 5 year old! he seemed to mirror his dad’s dignity for that occasion.
and I remember thinking “I am actually experiencing an amazing moment in American history.
I am voting for our first black president!”
seeing the two of them in line that day made it indelible for me.
and when I’d heard his speech at the convention that year I said aloud all by myself in the living room… “there’s our next president.”
I miss him.
we are also in an arctic deep freeze! but no snow. possibly an icy mix over the weekend.
I’ll be staying in. I love the sunlight on Stella!
Such a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it! I remember very well how I felt on that day, how proud I was to vote for our first African American President and then, that night, when he won? Don and I were screaming. I need to remember that because Trump has brought us so far down, it’s horrifying.
I’m thinking that friend is EXTREMELY close to you……almost close enough to be as one!! I know the winter is a bad time to be on your own. So glad that Don is at least only a couple of hours away. If the weather gets too bad, if a bad storm is coming, maybe you could hop on the train and go into the city to be with him for several days. Of course you still have to face the crud when you get home. Mowing is hard in the heat of summer, but shoveling/ clearing snow is the very worse.
It is crazy cold here. I think it was -10 (real temp) this morning. The wind chill is ridiculous. At least the sun is shining. Tomorrow is my birthday, and as it has for the majority of Dec. 28’ths in my long life-time, it is supposed to snow. ugh. I always thought it was less likely to snow when we were suffering these Arctic blasts. Not fair to have them both!!
Hope your Wednesday is a good one. Stay warm!!
Yes, that’s always a possibility, though I’d have to shovel it eventually. It’s insanely cold here and this is supposed to go on for a week!
Happy Birthday tomorrow!
It’s crazy cold (and sunny) here, too. High of 1 measly degree right now. Wind chills have been going down to -25 at night already. More snow coming tomorrow. Love your little sheep!
I’m not ready for it to be this cold! It’s only December!
ohmygosh, my husband showed me on his phone, all these states with the minus temps and, as I’ve said previously, he was raised in the Midwest and ‘knows snow’ but he was pretty stunned with your low temps; I’m sure glad Ashley and Pliers aren’t in that lean-to shack and are instead in a nice barn…wow, that’s one of my feel-good stories now and I’m so glad you told us their ultimately-happy saga/fate…you were part of something BIG with those dear horses, Claudia…
They wouldn’t have made it, that’s for sure. So glad they are safe and have shelter.
How nice of Don to help the friend. My husband did that Saturday in of all places, Wheeler Canyon, where the one lady died in the car wreck fleeing from the wildfire between the towns of Santa Paula and Ventura here in SoCalif. The guy’s radiator blew and the sun was beginning to set. He and his passenger were stranded and the only people we saw were guys in a fire truck who we assume were going back in there to check on a new hot spot to the north (hot spot as in new fire which they got a handle on thankfully quickly; we had a near-miss, too, to the South [another mountain range] last Thursday). Anyway, we still had all the water in the trunk for evacuation, so we bailed him out and he got back on the road – at that point, all of us needing to get out of the canyon due to the intense smell of scorched trees and land and barns and fences and outbuildings and, unfortunately, homes. People have brought back in some of the farm animals now – llamas, ostriches, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, horses; I have no idea what happened to all the cattle and I’m hoping it’s that they’ve been taken to other pastures which remained green.
The skies are bluer but we still smell smoke heavily at night and in the early morning. Of course we then removed our respirator masks and are now all coughing and wheezing, thinking bluer sky meant an improvement. I’m totally glad I got a pneumonia shot this year because I’ve had pneumonia and I don’t like how I’m feeling right now (I have prescription cough syrup and am waiting to see the primary care physician just to make sure; not great to be an asthmatic in this kind of air quality). I came across this: ‘Wildfire smoke is a shifting blend of gases and particles…thousands of individual compounds, many of them toxic. But what worries doctors most is the particulate matter in smoke, the tiny bits of feathery ash and dust-like soot, much of it invisible to the eye…they’re so small, they go deep into the lungs and the smallest ones can even get into the bloodstream. Not to mention that the smallest particles are the lightest, and can travel vast distances on the wind. The particles first damage the body simply by getting inside of it –- triggering inflammatory reactions that themselves can trigger breathing difficulties, heart attacks and even strokes. Within a few days of smoke exposure, damaged lungs can succumb to bronchitis or pneumonia.” Terrific. Ain’t your typical woodsmoke from a fireplace. A lot of people here are starting out the new year sick.
I sure hope you’re not going to face huge blizzards when Don is hours into the City, four hands being better than two. I don’t want you ever to go through a winter like you did when he was somewhere north doing a play and you were up there on ladders trying (by yourself) to get ice off the roof or gutters, and trying not to slip and slide when Scout had to be in the corral. Claudia, you MUST put your phone in your pocket whenever you’re out there in it. Just concerned here!
Oh, dealing with that smoke on a daily basis is just too much for so many people!
I always take my cell phone with me when I work outside now. Even when it’s sunny and warm!
I know I have to follow my own ‘vow’ to stop talking about wildfire and I’ve said that like three times or six times or ten times over the past three weeks at least, but it’s on the lips and minds of EVERYbody in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. I had a doctor appointment today in a rather large 4-story clinic which serves scores of patients and it was one person in the waiting room/lobby after another, inquiring as to safety/welfare of loved ones and the one degree of separation where, due to the immense number of residential homes lost in Ventura particularly, there seems to be no one who doesn’t know of someone who is displaced. I guess many homes which weren’t per se, damaged, are more often than not having to be gutted at least to the insulation (that, and more) because of the smoke odor (so the numbers of people out of their residences is far more than statistics show), and they’ve spent an inordinate amount of time professionally cleaning all the schools, especially ventilation systems. One person said her kids are actually yearning to go back to school after a month or more off; people [who can] just want to go home. My cousin has a friend who tried – they even tried sleeping in their respirator masks on new sleeping bags instead of their mattresses which is I think a terrible idea – but they gave up although, to the eye, their house looks fine; the smell is just too overpowering. It permeates everything.
My doctor’s receptionist/manager has two evacuees living in her house right now; and her daughter lost her place and is now living with a sister. Again, turn to the person on your right, then your left, behind you or somebody standing in line in front of you, and this is how it goes with the stories. My husband and I went out to breakfast after my appointment and it was nice, sunny, a view to the beach and not the charred black hills, so I felt myself relax but my husband said, “I can’t take much more of this; it’s just too sad; somehow everybody in our big population of nearly a million people in two counties on this large stretch of affected coastline has to find a way to move on in the new year, because this is just killing us.” He was so quiet. I decided right then and there that I’ve got be sensitive to how he is feeling; I think he’s reached his personal limit on the stress; we’re the lucky ones but it’s hard not to take the pain of others to heart. Gotta change the tone at home, here on the blog, with whomever’s in my path; people I guess will eventually start talking about something else, wherever we go around these parts, and it’s been understandably a huge event in life here as the biggest wildfire in California’s history, but…yes…onward; not ever to make lighter of it as it will always be so serious, but positive talk and thoughts are healthier for everybody.
One last thing. Did I mention here that there’d been county emergency alerts of a mountain lion which had come down out of the hills onto a city street (he was captured, tranquilized). Little guy was a baby/youth, estimated to be five months old. I don’t want to be too graphic, and the story has a better/good ending, but his paws/pads were burned; and he will be treated at UC Davis, far north in our state who has an excellent veterinary school. They may or may not return him to the wild which I guess might mean he’ll live the rest of his life at a sanctuary; the officials think it’s likely (no surprise) that he’s orphaned. It was heartwarming to read that this trio of local animal control, Fish & Game and the university are busy at work helping what wildlife they can. One animal control officer said he’s ‘encountered squirrels with damaged eyes running into fences, lethargic opossums breathing heavily in school playgrounds and rabbits hiding under apartment awnings because their natural protection from aerial predators burned away’ (I happen to have met this officer on a previous occasion and I called him today, left him a voice mail thanking him for doing all he’s doing to help the injured and confused wildlife; it’s certainly not the norm for his job description; he called me back and said he appreciated the call; he’s seen some tough stuff; these people are tireless and weary, heroes all). I’m trying to somehow look at this as a cycle of life for the natural world and its creatures here (fire, flood, etc.) although it’s a harsh and hostile world until we ever green up for them again.
Multiple heroes in this disaster; I still can’t get over hearing, over and over and OVER again of firefighters going into burning houses and bringing out what they could for homeowners in shock and despair, knowing they couldn’t save the house but trying to save what they could for the occupants – – heard today, not in ‘the news’ but a personal story of someone at the clinic, of one firefighter who braved the flames to take every single thing off a few downstairs walls, mostly framed photos but also a treasured, ancestral sampler (embroidery); of course, every time you hear this, we all bawl because it’s such…humanity and restored faith and hope for mankind and all the things that matter so much for humanness and human kindness. Why does it take tragedy for us to get it back?
Vicki I feel so bad for your husband…he sounds like a good man…I would think you have all been traumatized by what you have been through…it may be a while before you all can let go and think of other things…I don’t know that it would be good for you to try and force it…Take care of each other and anyone there that needs to reach out and talk about these things to get themselves through it…Each day is a new beginning and California will come back again…maybe even better than before!
Thank you, Nancy. Was in Ventura again this morning for yet another appointment (was a good one; my six-months cancer checkup and I’m cancer-free, heading into my 5 years; yay) and somebody put up a sign under the 101 freeway which says: “Stay strong, Ventura.” Amen. But, yes, again, another clinic today, and nobody can talk about anything except wildfire, even the doctors. It’s weirdly unifying. The #1 thing is to remember that for all the land and property loss (and animals/wildlife), we didn’t have the loss of human life. I was thinking of something yesterday, and of course there can be no comparisons, but what must New Yorkers have suffered, more than the rest of the country and the world, when thousands of people right there in their midst in Manhattan perished in 911.
As always, Nancy, thank you for being so kind. A happy and healthy 2018 to you, too.
Thinking of you and your husband and all those who have been impacted by these fires. It’s complicated and tragic and everyone will have their own way of coping with it. xo
Thank you, Claudia. You always know the right thing to say.
xo
Claudia, is a putz figure a nativity figurine?
They’re a Moravian tradition. They made Christmas villages and nativity scenes. There are a lot of people who collect putz houses, as well.
so nice of don to help his friend. hope that man heals quickly!
hope you can limit time in the cold (same here).
and love the sheep! i have three, though none are putz. one is painted on a quite large piece of flat wood and cut in the shape of a sheep. still haven’t found a place for it since moving to a much smaller place this summer, but love it and am glad to have it, especially since it is likely from a nativity scene from the 30s or 40s.
kathy in iowa
I love sheep, as well. And we all know the symbol of this blog is a little putz sheep!
Wow.. your house does look wonderful with the snow and the lights. We also had a white Christmas which made me very happy. I’ll have to get that book. I was pretty pleased to see Barack Obama was named “The Most Admired Man in America”. I was so proud of America when we elected him, then for a 2nd term. I just loved seeing him and how he and his family represented us for all those years. Now.. to have all that wonderfulness followed by all this horrible behavior by the criminal who sits in the White House.. it just breaks my heart on a daily basis. I swear I’ve lost years off my life in worry and disappointment.
I love your little sheep.. I have a few of them too. In fact I have quite a flock of little sheep! You’ll have to share your coffee cake recipe. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
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I saw that as well! I’m thrilled. And Hillary Clinton is the most admired woman and has been for several years running. Take that, Trump. He is a criminal. And a liar. And everything that is deplorable.
If you can Claudia, listen to the interview President Obama gave to Prince Harry on the Today programme, BBC Radio 4. Such a statesman. Big question here- will Harry amnd Meghan invite the Obamas or the Orange one to their wedding……I know who I would choose ☺
We have snow here and all has stopped…..people stuck
for hours on motorways, airports closed
I am enjoying some peace, some Beethoven, the fire and a beautuful ginger cat sleepung on my lap
Siobhan
Sounds lovely, Siobhan! (Gosh darn it, I wish we had a fireplace!)
Claudia, what about one of the freestanding ones? I’ve heard they’ve improved them SO much. I imagine for you it’s a space problem, though?
No room.
This freezing weather is awful. I like colder weather but not this cold. There is one good thing about the clear skies in this weather. Have you seen all the stars and the moon? They are so brilliant . When the weather is hot the sky is hardly ever clear. Those sheep are adorable. Enjoy your book. This is good weather to curl up with a good read. Don is a good friend.
Marilyn
Yes, this is way too cold, Marilyn! I agree.
Wishing warmer temps to all of us stuck in this below freezing cold weather!
And it’s going to keep on coming, at least for the next week!