Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Finished. It’s really quite beautiful – Eurographics designs puzzles that feature famous works of art. In this case, the artist is Haruyo Morita. She is a Japanese artist who worked as a kimono painter and her primary art subjects are women in kimonos, like this one.

It was a challenge, but worth it.

It did get warmer yesterday, enough to melt some of the icy snow. We still have a lot of thick ice on the parking area above the driveway and we’re going to have to get out there with our ice chopper this afternoon. It won’t go down below freezing tonight, and that will be a big help.

What a week it has been: snow, ice, trapped in the house for days, the horrors in DC, subzero temperatures. But the sun just came out and even though it will be partly cloudy, I’ll take whatever sun there is. Hey, it’s 9:16 am and it’s 35°! It isn’t freezing!

Who is surprised that the Felon is a Russian asset? Not me. I’ve known that for years. I’m just happy I can now use his Russian name on social media. It’s all starting to unravel.

We are officially in the last week of February, which has been a brutal month here in the Hudson Valley. I’m quite happy to see it hit the road. March can be challenging, but even so, we’re that much closer to spring. And that is very good news, indeed.

Sorry there’s not more to share with you! That’s the best I can do today.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Little Wren (on the right) received a new dress in the mail, so I had to redress both of the little ones. A friend from the Blythe feed sold her little doll like Wren and reached out to ask me if I wanted to buy some of her clothes which were made by Bonjour Cheries in France. She makes fabulous clothing for dolls, especially these small girls created by Eat Zongzi in China. I have several of her pieces. I could only afford one piece and chose this sweet pink checked dress. Lily is wearing a Blythe dress and I must say, it looks lovely on her.

Dressing these two was a good thing to do. I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately and it extends to the dolls as well. I just didn’t have much motivation to take photos of them. I’m slowly coming out of that now.

My mood will be much improved when the darn ice melts. As of now, it’s still a completely frozen landscape, but we will see a high of 37 degrees today, and it will be even warmer tomorrow. I imagine we’ll see a difference in the landscape by Monday. I hope we never have to go through this kind of thing again. It’s been a nightmare.

Speaking of which, Don made it safely home last night, but, even with parking nearer to the house, he said it was very scary out there. He had to hold on to the car. I was upstairs in bed, and when I heard the side door shut, I breathed a sigh of relief. We’re staying in for the weekend and then we’ll do clean up on Monday when the ice has begun to melt.

I cannot wait for the day when I get that ‘spring is in the air’ feeling. Oh, heavens, it will be wonderful!

The puzzle is almost finished. I might accomplish that today. Or tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday,

 

 

 

In progress. It’s a beautiful image.

I just don’t know what to say about this week except it’s been a surreal week from hell.

My car is trapped by ice. The temperature has not gone above freezing since the ice storm. So the ice remains. It is treacherous out there. Very, very slippery. Yesterday, I wanted to put some pieces of mail in our mailbox for our carrier to pick up. I decided to walk on the area of the front lawn, stomping my feet to create a hole for each foot as I walked. I’d done that earlier in the week. But I began to panic because it was much more slippery than it had been and there I was, stuck in the middle, afraid to go forward. At that moment, I noticed a dead deer in our culvert – it must have been hit in the early morning hours – and I was so distracted that I lost my footing and fell. I’m fine, but that’s how bad it is out there. (We’d previously seen a herd of deer on our neighbor’s property and watching them try to keep their footing on the ice was upsetting. No food and slippery ice is not a good thing for deer.) I called the county and a man came and picked up the deer. Don and I said a prayer. Poor thing.

Anyway, I made it to the mailbox and then tried another route back. Still scary, but a bit better.

We’re essentially trapped here and it won’t start to warm up until tomorrow. It’s just too much. That, along with the heartbreak of this insane administration, is making us very depressed.

AND THERE IS NO ROAD SALT ANYWHERE. NONE. The roads are clear but unless you already had a lot on hand, property owners cannot clear their driveways. There’s a state of emergency because of the shortage. Ice storm + no salt = cannot move.

We just have to wait until it starts to warm up on the weekend.

Don has a gig tonight. He had one tomorrow night, as well, but it’s over 2 hours away from us and he decided to cancel as the route there is not on a major highway and we don’t trust the weather. Tonight’s is about 45 minutes up the thruway and he’ll be home relatively early. Still, I’m nervous about him navigating his way to our side door when it’s slippery. So I’m making him take our big flashlight with him and I’ll stay up until he’s safely here.

I’ve never seen anything like this, and I grew up in Michigan, and lived in Philadelphia and Boston.

It’s like some sort of dangerous lunar landscape out there.

So I finally started the newest Louise Penny. But I’ve barely started. No info on it, please. I always delay the pleasure of reading her newest book and I protect the entire experience.

One good thing: I saw more bluebirds yesterday, but they didn’t hang around long because there is no food.

Okay.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.