Happy New Year!

We brought in the new year watching "The Twilight Zone" and eating popcorn. I think I've seen most of the episodes, but I still love to watch this show that lets your imagination flow into unknown dimensions.

One of the episodes has two lady's in a sweltering apartment. The Earth is moving to close to the sun and turning it into an oven. Water is scarce and sweat constantly rolls.
It turns out the young woman is only dreaming. It seems she has been running a high fever and when she wakes up the opposite is happening. The Earth is moving away from the sun. Everything is freezing and it will soon become a ball of ice.

This story reminds me of a true North Dakota tale.
In the year of 1936 the average winter temp was 30 below. Back then there where on modern conveniences. People had to brave the cold to take care of the animals. There was no indoor plumbing, so going to the out house was a very cold trip.

The summer was just as bad. Hot and dry, not a drop of rain all summer. The land was parched with average temperatures around 110 degrees. It got up to 120 at one point.

This morning it was 24 below. The high will be 10 below.

I hope we're not in for a year like 1936!

This snow reminds me of when I was a little tike living in Juneau Alaska.

Playing outside with my sister Susan and her two friends I wandered off to play in the deep snow. Stepping in a soft spot I dropped down up to my neck in the fluffy white stuff. I couldn't move a muscle. Luckily I was close enough for Mom to hear me screaming & yelling. My mom the hero came and pulled me out brought me in the house and gave me a mug of steamy hot cocoa.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day. We got 24 inches of the fluffy white stuff. No travel advised in most of North Dakota, so I worked on putting our new office together. This room was our bedroom while we worked on the master bedroom upstairs.
Now that we have moved upstairs we can remodel the kitchen with an open dining room where the old office was.

It's all a work in progress but is starting to come together.

Christmas secrets

Sometimes it's hard to keep Christmas secrets.

I remember shopping with my parents for slippers when Dad told me to go ask Mom what size of shoes she wore.

I found Mom shopping a few isles over and questioned "What size of shoes do you wear?" Thinking I better get more information I asked "Is that the same size in slippers?"

I'm pretty sure Mom knew she was getting a pair of slippers for Christmas that year.

Winter Wonderland

We have had a wonderful wintry weekend.

Ruth and Allan Kotzea came to visit from Webster South Dakota.

Friday night we bundled up with quilts and blankets in the Blazer and drove into town to watch "The Christmas Carole" with Jim Carey.

Harvey was all decked out with Christmas lights. Very pretty!

Saturday Ruth, Dawn & I made another trip to town for lunch at a very nice restaurant "Augie's" and a bit of shopping.

Back at home in the kitchen we had tea with white chocolate liqueur. (Yum)

Ruth baked a Delicious blueberry coffee cake while I made a pot of chili and biscuits.

Dawn had bought a tray of shrimp which we served with Loganberry wine (The sweetest wine I've ever tasted)

You'll have to come join us sometime in our winter wonderland.

Skating

There has been a bit of a nip in the air lately.
The lake is frozen over so we went out to play on it this afternoon.

I put on my skates and glided around. Ice skating is my favorite sport.

I remember one Christmas we all got skates. We had a pond by the house where us kids spent hours playing.

When someone would fall down we would pull them on the sled to our pretend hospital, where they would be fixed up & ready to skate again.

I spent all winter on the ice & couldn't wait to get home from school & go skating.

once we even skated on a moonlit night.

If you get a chance, go out & do a bit of skating. You'll be glad you did.

Turn The Page Tuesday

My book for December is The Northwest Heritage Cookbook "Dungeness Crabs & Blackberry Cobblers" by Janie Hibler.

This awesome cookbook was a Christmas gift last year from my sister Paula.

I've found some great recipes in this book along with amazing stories & facts about the Pacific Northwest.

The back page has an exert from the book "Conversations with pioneer Women"

"I can't hope to explain to you how happy we all were. Father Mother and all eight children had crossed the plains in good health. We children were particularly happy, for, instead of having to strike out each morning and walk barefooted in the dust, where we stubbed our toes, stepped on cactus and watched that we didn't step on any rattlesnakes, we were in a country where the grass was belly-deep for the cattle and when the sea breeze made it wave it looked like waves of changeable green silk. We didn't have to worry about the Indians running off our stock. No longer did we have to eat bacon, beans, and camp bread, and not get as much of them as we wanted, for here we had found a country of beauty, where we could have all the vegetables we wanted, where the hills were full of deer, and the streams full of trout, where, when we looked to the westward, instead of seeing nothing but a long winding train of prairie schooners with a cloud of dust hanging over all, we saw waving grass and vividly green fir trees. We looked up at a blue sky with white clouds and to eastward we could see Mount Hood, clean and clear and beautiful and so wonderful that it almost took your breath."

Check this book out. I bet you will enjoy it as much as I do.