Monday, January 9th

Conditions at 5:30 am: a thin layer of new light snow, and -5', moving to -6' later this morning but maybe some sun this afternoon

We have a little bit of snow but not enough to do anything with as yet. It was a pleasant, somewhat relaxed weekend out here on the island. Friday afternoon Brenda called and suggested that if I were to pick up some tortilla's on my way home they would feed me fajitas for supper. Works for me. Saturday morning I worked and when I got home it was very calm and very mild - perfect weather for filling up my wood rack. It's so much better than last year, to have it inside and covered. It was really a challenge last year when it got wet before it froze so having to break the logs apart from the ice and  then try to dry them a bit before burning was truly an exercise in frustration, not to mention very inefficient heating. The girls who visited from Ontario last February thought I was such a pioneer woman, and last winter sure felt like it. This year is so much better - at least so far. I spent a while outside puttering around. I emptied the ashes from the stove and moved  a few things around - it was nice to be able to spend some time outside. After coming in and having something to eat, I tackled the craft room. It seems at least once a year it needs to be cleaned out because I'm really not using it and it just becomes somewhat of a dumping ground. So after putting the Christmas decorations all away, which had been sitting in a pile at the bottom of the stairs, it was time to get cracking on the rest of the room. I did make some headway and then came downstairs to watch some TV for the rest of the evening. Then Sunday morning I got back to it. I did manage to get most of it cleared out but I still have the bins to sort through as they've gotten all mixed up. Later in the morning Brenda arrived with the scrapbooking stuff that was at her house. We have a plan - to get it all set up with the two work surfaces that are there so we can actually use it on a regular basis. Once it's functional we can just leave our stuff where we left off and continue the next time. We're thinking even if we did a couple of hours a night when we get together we'll actually accomplish something. We're more likely to use it if we do it together. It's kind of lonely doing it by yourself. So we've set our first night to work as Thursday, when she's done her exercise class. I need a deadline so I'll actually get it ready in time. I guess I work better under pressure. If there's no deadline, it's too easy to just keep putting it off.

After we unloaded the stuff and stashed it in piles in the craft room, we prepped our meal for the evening. I had brought home a small moose roast from her house on Friday and researched a bit on Saturday and found a recipe for moose in the clay baker. I was wanting to give that a try. So we got everything ready and put into the oven then headed out to the woods near her house to go for a hike. Bernie had already gone and we thought we might meet up with him but he'd already left when we got to where he had been parked. Not to worry - we just followed his footprints in the snow to Camp George - a lovely little spot on their property along the river that actually has a small beach. It was covered in snow and ice, of course, but it's quite park like in that particular area. We'll have to go in by kayak sometime in the summer. After eventually making our way back to the car Cooper and I headed home followed soon after by Brenda and Bernie. We had our moose which was somewhat stew like and quite tasty and a red cabbage that was recommended to go with it. It had spices in it such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamon but was unlike any braised red cabbage I've had before. It was good but not what I expected. Everyone was a little tired and we thought it was much later, when in fact it was only 6:30. After cleaning up they went home and I sat down to watch a bit of TV but struggled to make it to 9:00 so I called it a night. Better get to it - it will be a challenge to actually have to work for 5 whole weekdays for the first time in a while.