Look what’s going on at my house today.

SNOW! Okay, it’s not too exciting in the amount department right now. We might get three inches, but I am not complaining. Oh no. I am ecstatic! An doubly so because today was the day we designated for getting the tree and decorating the inside of the house. How more perfect could it be? For once the weather forecast was spot on!

This morning we had to get up early to go to Goshen, New York to pick up Johnny’s tire. The other day when the traveling John Deere Spa came to our house to service Johnny and change out the mowing deck for the snow blower (what great timing!) they were supposed to bring a new inner tube for the tire but they forgot. They took the tire back up with them to fix it, and really, what good is a tractor without four wheels?

After that we did our grocery shopping for the weekend so we wouldn’t have to go back out. A few members of the local high school band were playing Christmas Carols outside the store. Festive! When we have no plans to go anywhere we just like to get everything done so we can just chill out for the rest of the weekend. It’s so peaceful and restful that way without any running around to do. We’re trying out a new recipe we saw on Food Network last week from Giada: Honey-Mustard Pork Roast wrapped in bacon. We’ll see how that goes a bit later!

Then we went to our favorite tree lot at Bear Swamp Farm (the same place where the CSA is), run by the Hosford family. (Allison Hosford also does our mushroom forays.) It was cold and damp and just starting to spit little fitful flakes of snow. The parking lot was jammed with cars; some already loaded with a tree strapped to the top while other still awaited their “topper.” They sell already cut trees fresh from Pennsylvania, or you can cut your own from the 15 acres available. No chain saws are allowed and they have a good supply of hand saws to take with you on your search for the perfect tree. People were singing carols as they searched, taking photos of getting ready to cut their tree, and just having a great time. Rick and I have cut trees from the same little spot for two years now, and after looking over some different areas decided to go back to “our” spot where there are mostly spruce trees.

Have you ever noticed that they look much smaller growing in the forest? We never learn. Anyway, after much deliberation between two trees, we selected our tree and carried it back to be wrapped up for transport. I couldn’t believe that they were selling big bundles of cut boughs for $1! I also bought a 20’ garland. Not sure just yet how I am going to use them. Neighbor Kim and I went back to Jungle Habitat and cut some fresh bittersweet the other day, so I plan to incorporate that into it somehow.

We get the tree home and into the house. We set it up still bundled in its netting. We unclip the netting, let down the boughs and ... it slightly overwhelms the space. It’s really too big. Not only that but in the forest the tree was gorgeous and perfectly straight up and down. This tree is, well, shall we say, a bit wonky? It grows straight from the trunk but something goes wrong about half way up. It’s totally crooked!!! Leaning like a drunkard, our tree is. Oh my. How could one tree look so different? Poor Rick twisted and turned the tree with me giving directions ... no, a little left ... maybe a bit more to the right ... trying to get it to look less crooked. I think we succeeded, finally. It will be beautiful once it’s decorated. Right now only the lights are on or I would should you a pic. Wait. I’ll get the camera. Hold on a minute. Now, remember, so far it’s just the lights.

See? You can’t tell it’s crooked, can you? I think it’s going to be lovely! (Note the snowy visage out the window!) A pic of the fully decorated tree in all its wonkyness will soon be posted. Right now I am going to pour myself a glass of nicely chilled Chardonnay and watch the snow drift past my window.

Have a peaceful night.

Addendum: Oh my goodness! I forgot our snowy visitors. They wanted to be included and I forgot them. They are too late for Thanksgiving, however.

Also, have you noticed the “On this day ...” in the right hand column of my blog? It shows blog entries posted on this day in previous years. This is today’s in case you missed it. Bella hasn’t changed too much ... except she’s much bigger. The attitude remains the same. But look at all the leaves in the yard! No snow yet!

**lyrics from Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin

The moon was beautiful last night with a little aura surrounding it. I took this photo and this song immediately popped into my head. I always loved the part of the song where he almost whispers these words.

I usually strive to do “good deeds” whenever I can. Or maybe it just falls under the category of doing something nice for someone you don’t know. It might be something a small as letting a car out ahead of me into traffic, or letting someone with only a few items go in front of me in the checkout line at the grocery when I have a cart full.

Last week, just before Thanksgiving, I was at the grocery store. An elderly woman was checking out in front of me and they had to call for an extra cart for her to get all her bags in. I’m not sure how she got it all into one cart to begin with! When I got outside she was standing just outside the exit looking a little lost. I offered to help her to her car with her extra cart. “Oh, my,” she said, smiling at me, “my son is coming for me in a few minutes, but thank you so much for the offer!” One good deed not completed.

My next stop was the Dollar Store to pick up some cheap bows for the Christmas wreaths I planned to hang outside (see my last post for photo). I was third in line when a man came to the counter with an aluminum roasting pan in his hand. He told the girl checking us out that he was sick and needed to get out of the store—fast. He pulled out a dollar bill, threw it on the counter and asked how much tax there was. She told him and he just turned around and left the store without putting down any additional money. The girl was very upset with him and talked about the situation with the woman in front of me. When it was my turn I took out 7 cents and laid it on the counter. I told her I was paying for his tax. She looked at me incredulously and said “Are you with him? Do you know him?” I replied no, that I just wanted to make sure she didn’t come up short at the end of the day and it was nothing for me to pay her 7 cents to make up for what he didn’t pay. She would not take it! She said her father owned the store and it wouldn’t matter. Hmm. Okay, second good deed foiled.

The last good deed has a happy ending, or it will tonight. We have a gorgeous, expensive, 10-foot prelit Christmas tree that we bought in Colorado when we had really tall ceilings. I think we paid around $700 for this thing and we didn’t want to just leave it behind when we moved, knowing full well that it would not fit in our house here since we only have normal ceilings. We tried several times to give it away to a local church or charity but no one wanted it. Last week Rick decided to put an ad on Craigslist to try once again. We specified that it was free only to a charity or non-profit organization. One person said they ran a care center and would love to have it. When we told them they would need to provide us with a letter for tax purposes, we didn’t hear from them again. Probably NOT who they said they were I’m thinking. Then there was this:

Hi,
I am not from a non profit origination but, I am a single mom of a 6 year old.  I am a productive, working person but we do not have a Christmas tree.  If this is sufficient for you please, get back to me.
Thank You

Uhm. No. What would she do with a 10 foot tree anyway? Plus, when Rick listed the tree he had it down as being 18 feet tall! (He realized his mistake after going down into the basement to check the box.) This thing weighs a ton since all the branches are metal and fold up umbrella style into three separate pieces. We can barely get it together ourselves!

I am glad to announce that we found a proper place for our tree. Father Mike from St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey is the lucky recipient of our lovely tree and is coming to pick it up tonight.

Finally, a good deed has been accomplished!

The tree in our old house.

Addendum: When Rick just now went to remove the ad from the list he found it had already been “removed by the community” for reasons such as “you can’t say who free stuff goes to” and “just take it to Goodwill”. Geez. This was the first time we’ve ever used this list and it just might be the last! How ridiculous it that? At least Father Mike saw it before they removed it. Must have been divine intervention!

Sunrise over the backyard this morning.

I know I haven’t posted much over the weekend. Well, okay, not at all. Black Lynne was in residence but I think she’s left now. For those of you who know me personally, you’ll understand. Sometimes there is just a black cloud over my head and no matter how much I try and shake it off, its persistence is maddening. If I dodge left, it follows; dodging right has the same effect. Sometimes it comes with rain, thunder, and even lightning. Thankfully this time there was only a touch of rain.

Perhaps I can blame it on the wind. (Or maybe I should just admit I’m a moody little bugger.)  But I do believe it has something to do with the barometric pressure of which I seem to be closely aligned with. It seems magnified being this close to sea level. The dogs feel it too and get very jumpy. We had a big blow overnight on Friday night into the day on Saturday. The wind woke me up out of a sound sleep. It barreled through the trees with a steady freight train roar, the gusts shaking the house. It woke up the old ghost in the attic, forcing it to walk the floorboards above me. (Not really sure what causes this phenomenon to occur but it happens whenever the wind is really bad, and believe me it sounds like someone is walking in the attic. Creepy.) Phantom tree branches scraped against the house like gnarly fingers on a chalk board. We lost power several times during the day on Saturday but at least we didn’t lose any big trees. Our neighbor across the street lost a big one that came down over the road. We lost a few small ones that got uprooted, and lots of large branches all over the front yard, but thankfully nothing major. Our flag blew right off the flag pole and ended up in the neighbor’s yard across the street: undamaged I might add. I HATE wind.

The wind did cooperate on Sunday and settled down so that we could put up the outside Christmas lights and decorations. All went well except for one small thing. Rick was hanging wreaths above the four downstairs windows and I was holding the ladder for him. When I looked up I caught a blur of motion before I felt something hit my chin hard. ouch! A large flashlight had fallen out of his pocket and found me on its way down. I have a small bruise and a somewhat tender chin—nothing big. I’m just glad it hit me there instead of in the eye or on the nose. But, the outside of the house looks nice and festive!

The wind did knock plenty of pine cones out of our tree which seems to have an overly large supply this year. I picked them all up and saved them for lighting fires in the wood stove. Look at how many!

Bella got her sutures out on Friday, but the vet still insists that we not let her out with the other dogs and to curtail her activity level. I asked the vet if she’d like to come home with us and help out with that. Honestly, Bella is feeling so good it’s a constant struggle to not let her run. The vet was adamant, however, so we will continue to follow instructions for another two weeks. Bella can’t wait to be free again to do as she’d like and I can’t wait for my freedom again either.

Yesterday I boiled down the turkey carcass and made turkey pot pie with the last of the turkey. It was the perfect day for it since it was rainy and grey out. Yum! I love turkey or chicken pot pies made with broth from scratch. The only frozen ingredient is the peas, otherwise I use only fresh carrots, celery, and onions with a biscuit dough topping (also from scratch).  I made extra filling so I could have it to freeze for another meal later on. Rick declared it the best ever but I just think he forgets from year to year how good it is.

I finished one slipper (double sole and all) and started on the next one. I had to remind myself how to roll the cuff and use the same technique to attach the second sole! (Letty, I promise to do a post on this!)

I have most of my Christmas shopping done already. This is the first year I can remember that I’ve been so far ahead of the game. I have to admit that I did most of it online—just too easy!

Johnny gets his winter gear on tomorrow. Off with the mowing deck and on with the snow blower! The snow poles are up on the driveway, so now we just have to wait for the white stuff to start falling from the sky. Fingers crossed.

I think that about catches up all that’s happening around here. More to come soon! Thanks for stopping by!

The winner for the yarn giveaway is BECKY!

Becky, you were chosen from hand written names tossed into a coffee cup. From there, husband Rick was asked to draw the winning person, and it was you! Congratulations!

Since I don’t know your snail mail address, please email me.

I would love to see what you do with this yarn! You are one winning woman!!