Tuesday, December 13th - it would appear that winter is here to stay ... for now, at least

Earlier I had reported that we had snow but that we usually get one snowfall in November that promptly leaves. Apparently Mother Nature has other plans this year. Our earlier snow is still here along with even more.  Schools closed early on Monday afternoon and it snowed most of the night. This moring has dawned with 15 cms of new snow but the wind has died down and it's not as cold as yesterday was.

The constantly changing weather has made for some pretty interesting skies. One morning I was sitting in the living room having my coffee and reading a book and I happened to look outside and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning with lots of newly fallen snow. I had to drop everything and go out and try to capture the scene with my camera, but of course, the picture is never as lovely as the real thing.

Then a few nights later as I was washing up the dishes, I looked out the window as the sun was setting and again, it was a very different sight.

Mother nature never ceases to amaze me. 

It was a busy week with trying to get some little jobs done before Christmas. Lloyd has made good progress on his to-do list, as have I. 

Our newest source of entertainment is in the form of a tiny ball of orange fluff by the name of Pumpkin.

Napping in front of the fireplace

Coopers still not sure what to think of having to share his mat AND his people...

 

He may be tiny but he's certainly mighty, having already caught his first mouse. You should have heard the growling coming out of this tiny critter when I picked him up and he hung fearlessly onto his  prize.  It was quite the sight to see. We have two other new kittens but they are a bit older and reside with the goats and chickens - Smokey and Bandit.   They love climbing among the hay and straw bales and playing around in the barn.  Hopefully they can keep the rodent population to a dull roar come spring.

Patti and the kids spent Sunday at her aunts for the families annual Christmas Cookie Day. They've all gotten together to decorate cookies since the kids were very small.  I love that they have this tradition that they still participate in. It's nice to see they don't think they're too old for it (yet). 

 We enjoyed the company of some neighbours on Sunday evening as guests to Ray and Marlene's annual Christmas gathering. It's usually held after Christmas but their daughter was home for a brief visit so they decided to move the date so she could be part of it. As usual a lovely time was had by all and we ate way too much.  I usually bring something sweet and couldn't decide what to bring this year. Patti's photos from Paris last week had macarons in the window of a shop so that was my inspiration (although mine didn't turn out nearly as lovely as those) but they were still plenty edible. I filled them with two types of filling - chocolate orange and chocolate rum. After I made them I realized they all had chocolate in them and at least one person in the group can't eat chocolate. So I decided to make some butter tarts to go with them. I had some pastry left over and Lloyd suggested that he'd like some mincemeat tarts as well. Then I had some of the filling from the cookies left and I made some truffles with that as it was basically a chocolate ganache.  So one idea turned into several. I put everything into a pizza box and carted it over with us.  Needless to say we were all well fed, so much so that some of us didn't have room for dessert. Fortunately there were some left overs that I could share with special friends!



And finally
"Where in the world is Patti ?"

This week she's doing 6 red eye flights from Toronto to Halifax and back - in 8 days. Does it get any more exciting than that???  I did receive a photo from her on Sunday night of this scene at the airport, as they were waiting to leave, but the weather in Toronto wasn't being very cooperative. 

That's no reason to send it down here!  James had said he wants to set up a Biathlon course here over the holidays and we told him there likely wouldn't be enough snow - he may get his wish yet!