My Era.

Though we are finally having a warm

Winter after all the snow in December,

it's still my "I want to stay home"era. I

do love to be home, cozy and warm. If

the snow is swirling outside and the wind

is blowing, that's even better. For now,

we have sunny days that melt the snow.

And warm air that means we don't have

to be completely bundled up. A January

that we're not used to but are embracing!

How is your January going?

💗 Chy 💗

Winter Solstice.

 

💗 Chy 💗

March Bucket List.

We have been so fortunate to have a really love "early Spring" though my daughter keeps reminding us that our "3rd Winter" should come along anytime soon! One can only hope. After a week of bitter cold, this past week was filled with beautiful blue skies, warm air and melting snow. It's slushy and I have no idea what color our car is, but the feeling that just around the corner, we'll soon be seeing buds on trees and flowers in our garden makes me so happy. It feels lighter. I wore a sweater to the centre yesterday, instead of a big Winter coat and boots, with hat and scarf, and layers of mitts. It was nice to put on a cotton pair of socks, instead of my wool ones. And to not have to warm up our wheat bag to warm our bed at night. If "3rd Winter" comes along, this little reprieve has been so lovely for my heart and my spirit. 

Love the "March Bucket List" as my visual for today. It has me excited for this month. The thought of starting some seeds inside, to wear lighter clothes and to decorate for St. Patrick's Day makes me smile! As a 4th generation Irish lassie (maybe 3rd, not sure how it works), this is one of my favorite celebrations. A whimsical day that truly signifies Spring for me. I've put all of Christmas away now, and have started to get out the green for the day. And then a bit of Spring is happening too. Changed out the front door wreath and hung up the wind chimes on the back deck. We couldn't put "Bruce the Moose" away as he's actually buried under some ice but once that melts, we'll hang him to dry and then tuck him away until next Winter. I'm starting think about our Spring projects for outside and what we'd like to accomplish this year. 

Hope you are starting to get excited about Spring!

💗 Chy 💗

Into the Gray.

"The weather is a friend if you make it one.

I look forward to the gray, quiet time for

solitude, contemplation, reading, long

conversations with friends. Colors are softer,

sounds have more depth, the pace is gentler.

Instead of resentment at the lack of sun, snuggle

into the gray velvet quilt and make yourself

a cup of tea."  Written by Jennifer Jones

I love these words by Jennifer Jones. Such an amazing way to describe Winter in our region. It may be gray outside, but inside, we are full of life, activities, memories and love. I'm not always crazy about the season but love it at Christmas, and on those days where we can choose to stay home when it's nasty outside, or we're forced to stay home if it's too dangerous to travel anywhere. Those are the days we're extra thankful for our warm little cottage, and work that lets us have the flexibility to just be. Making a pot of soup, steeping our tea, and cuddling down with warm blankets and sweet lights make those gray days very precious. Yesterday was a brutally cold one, with temperatures hitting almost - 40 C. A stay at home day for sure. Today, the numbers were better but the wind did keep the air bitter. We spent some time at our new centre, folding laundry, putting the dishwasher on, hanging curtains and installing blinds. Though we are now open, we still have a small task list that we're trying to complete before we go on our trip. Just a few more items and then we'll be all done. Looking so good! I shared with dh today that it now feels like out 2nd home, not an office, or clinical space, but another version of our cottage here in the big woods. This one just happens to be in the little hamlet, though there is a forest to explore across the road. So happy we chose this amazing spot. 

Enjoy your Sunday tomorrow!

💗 Chy 💗

Wintry Day.

We are officially snowed in today! Yesterday, a heavy snowfall warning was issued for our region and we quickly shifted our day around so we could stay home today and just work, while the snow fell silently outside. One promise we made to each other was that if we moved to the country, we would not chance our lives if the weather was bad. So far, for the most part, we've been able to navigate this each Winter. It was hard when I was at the hospice to travel all the way into the Big City but I managed to work thru it all. But now we have more flexibility and it's made Winter less stressful. The snow started last night and has been falling all day. Road reports have not been good. We plan to venture into town tomorrow for a Christmas breakfast with the Chamber and to visit my mom's new care home as she moves on Monday. But we'll wait to see if the roads get better. Not worth the risk if we can avoid it. 

The one thing I love about snowy days out here is how beautiful our landscape becomes. It's so quiet out here and the snow sits so prettily wherever it falls. In town, there is such a rush to shake the flakes off everything that it's not as breathtaking. We feel so very fortunate to have this beautiful spot we call home. And snowy days means we can be inside, cozy and safe in our little cottage.

Last night, we were at severals events, and in between dh commented how he was loving our activie social life but couldn't wait to get home to the cottage to be cozy and warm! I totally agreed. Loving this time in our lives but home is where we most often want to be. Today, I slept in a bit, knowing I didn't have to travel in, then had a hot shower, put on my cozies and settled in on the comfy couch to work away at several projects. We applied for funding for Summer Students, attended a webinar on marketing our new centre, caught up on emails, posted on Social Media, read a lot, wrote a bit and tonight, I hope to bake a bit for our Christmas Celebration on Friday for all our littles and the parents. On Monday, we'll work a short day, and have a Christmas lunch for our team, then head home to get ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have our neighbors coming over a couple of days after the holidays to celebrate (we have them over each year) but the rest of the time will just be us. We do hope to visit with our son and his little family. Waiting to hear what their plans are, If not before, then after. Love the holidays every year!

Wishing you a beautiful evening and hope you are cozied down in your little cottage, wherever you live and with whatever weather you have in your neck of the woods! 

💗 Chy 💗

Frozen Treats.

We let our pumpkins, uncarved and

unpainted to be left out for the deer

visit our cottage often. Since I took

this photo, they've devoured 2 of

the gourds, and the other 2 we did

move away from the brick pile for

easier access. A lovely treat for our

little friends in the woods. Yummy!

💗 Chy 💗

Closed for Winter.

Officially, our bird bath is now closed

for the Winter. I feel bad for the many

birds who visit it during the Spring,

Summer and Fall. Nature has taken over!

💗 Chy 💗

Hello December.

The month of snow, celebrations, love and gifts! I

love this month, though I wish it was less busy and

more spread out. Truly a time of spreading joy and

cheer. We have the snow. Bring on the celebrations!

💗 Chy 💗

Snowed In.

As predicted by the many weather guys,

we were hit with our first real blast of

Winter. And it was big! Thankfully, in

our region, we just got tons of snow.

Some areas had power outages and wind

storms too. We prepared to as soon as we

heard the news, only going in to town on

Friday to meet a client, and got groceries.

Then we came home and settled in for

the next few days. The snow started on

Friday, continued all thru the night and

then all day and night on Saturday too.

It ended late last night but then did add

in a few more bits today. We've stayed

in, except to go out to shovel the very

light fluffy snow. Later in the day on

Saturday, our sweet neighbor came to

clear our driveway so we don't get stuck

in the snow. He did the lane too and it

makes it so much easier in the Winter.

We thanked him with ale and freshly

baked cookies that had just come out

of the oven. Truly, they are the best

family ever to have as neighbors! It

is not just because he has a tractor

but because they have been out here

longer and have so much experience.

We are so thankful for their kindness.

Have you been snowed in yet?

~ Chy

Hello November.

Our landscape is cold now and snow has come

and gone but will soon arrive with a force and

stay until Spring. It's such a pretty view, even

though I don't like the cold. Hello November!

~ Chy

Blogtober: Day 7.

Frost! The first bit but it melted an hour

after I took this shot. Too early. But pretty!

~ Chy

Winter .... Again!

We woke up to more snow again over the last 2 days.

It is so fluffy, perfect ski snow. Lots of accidents

happened in the big City but we didn't have to go

out so we avoided the risk. Today, we did get up

really super early to head in to town for groceries.

Left the cottage at 8 am, and we were back home by

10:40 am. In that time, we did our big grocery shop, 

stopped at the dollar store for ribbon, another food

store for my favorite chocolate milk, a big box store

to buy a carpet cleaner and then we headed over to

the park fo the annual Winter Festival. All the time,

the snow kept falling. It was quite magical but I had

a board meeting at 11 am, so home we zipped after

chatting with friends and community members. We

loved getting our errands down so quickly. Every

store we were in had no customers. Best time to shop!

How was your day today? Any snow or is it all gone?

~ Chy

Snow on the First Day of Spring!

Yes, that white stuff is snow! It was virtually gone

in the last few weeks. We even got up to 18 C on

Friday. And then today, on the first day of Spring,

it snowed! Hopefully, this is all we get for now.

How was your first day of Spring?

~ Chy

The Storm.

We've been getting ready for a big storm that was predicated to hit our region over night on Sunday night and continue in to Monday. However, I was heading in to town yesterday afternoon to do a few errands, visit my mom and then go to an event meeting at 2 pm. As I started down our country road, the snow started to fall. The ground was bare and earlier, there had been some sun. By the time I finished my errands and visited my mom, the snow was a bit thicker. I headed to the meeting but did decide if it got too bad, I would head home early. As the snow continued, we all did decide to head home while it was still light and manageable. The photos above show the progression in about a 4 minute time span. Please note, I was on our lane and pulled over to take these shots, with no traffic around me at all. The snow got thicker, the fog set in and visibility was so poor that I'm glad we ended early. The last photo was of the cottage, which is not visible with the fog and snow fall. So crazy how quickly this came on. We were at +10 or 12 C on Friday (different weather reports have different recorded temps for the day) and basically no snow on the ground, to - 30 C today with the winchill and over 24 cm's of snow falling in 24 hours. Crazy! But happy for snow. 

Last Summer was the first time we've ever been on alert for a fire close to us. The dry weather we've had all Winter has been a big concern, so this new and huge snow storm is quite welcome in our area. I truly hope it helps to cut down the risk of fires this year. We've worked so hard, like everyone around us, to live in a beautiful area, in a sweet cottage and to lose all of this to a fire would be devastating. For now, while it's freezing outside, we're cozy and warm inside the cottage, with lots of tea, movies and books to watch, and my Lego to build. A quiet work week helped as well.

Where every you are and whatever weather

you're experiencing, wishing you well today!

~ Chy

An Eclectic Winter.

This Winter has been the most eclectic Winter that I've ever experienced. From no snow, to a bit, to a warm trend that felt like Summer, to a bit of snow, to a week of bitter cold, followed by another warming experience that meant we all have had messy cars as the bit of snow had melted, creating muddy country roads. On the weekend, we had some snow again, not much as you'll see by my photos, but enough so the mud was less. And then yesterday, warm again, so out came the mud. In between all of this, we've had warmer than normal temperatures (I still haven't put my - 40 C Sorels yet!), some rain (in Winter?) and a ton of fog (spooky and scary!). As much as we've loved that we haven't had any blizzards and travelling into town and even into the Big City has not been a challenge at all this year, the big worry is with very little snow cover, we run such a big risk of more forest fires this coming year. After being on alert last Spring for the first time ever, this has created some stress for us. Fingers crossed we get more snow and have a rainy Spring. We're hiring a tree company soon to come in and ensure that our little forest can be cleared a bit to decrease our risk. We don't want to take trees down but I do worry the brush under the trees is too much right now. I'd rather have this taken care of then be worried every time there is a fire near by.  Please keep our region, our whole country in your thoughts and blessings. Thank you for this.

You may be wondering about my photos above. The top left is the sweet branches we were gifted by a client for our front steps. I loved placing these as a welcoming path for guests who visited us over the holidays. There were smaller branches too and I put these in our dining room on the table, surrounding the big candle, as well as on our vintage cabinet in front of the windows, and a bit on the tea wagon. 

The second photo on the right is Bruce the Moose and Santa Claus, sadly, resting on the ground with a bit of snow cover. I'm glad they are not buried but they look so sad when they are not inflated. I love when they are up. With the higher cost of electricity this year, we haven't had them up as often but when they are up, I feel like a kid excited about something as simple as an inflatable!

Third photo is our new Hydrangea bush. I didn't cut all the blooms off as I wanted to see what it looks like in the snow. I love how this looks, even with the little bit of snow.

Fourth photo is showing our little girl and boy statues on their seesaw, in the snow, in the snowy forest.

Fifth photo is our stone bench right by the statues. Looks so empty and needing some company. I look forward to the Spring when we have flowers growing close by. A sweet spot to sit and reflect on a warm Summer day.

The final photo shows a bit of green that has popped up. Some of our plants are a bit confused by above normal temperatures and lots of sun. Today was cloudy and foggy but the sun should be back soon. 

It will be interesting to see if we end up getting a blizzard or two along the way. Hopefully not, though some steady, frequent snow would be so very helpful. 

Hope all is well where you reside!

~ Chy

Goodbye January.

Saying goodbye to an amazing

month. It was so cold for a few

weeks but we are fortunate to

work from home. And then we

headed into a warming trend

that makes it now feel like we

have entered Spring! Last year

was beyond hard so I'm hopeful

that 2024 is a better year. All we

can do is work hard, and hope!

Goodbye January. You were great!

~ Chy

Hot Treat.

Life is so different now. We don't have to drive in to town each day and right now, with the deep freeze surrounding us, we are staying home even more. The other day, I innocently mentioned I was missed going out and especially grabbing a Timmie's hot chocolate ~ my favorite is their very yummy white hot chocolate. And then look what showed up in my face a short time later! I wasn't asking for a treat, just ruminating that it had been a while since we had driven in to town. Feeling extra loved by my guy when he treats me!

The weather is starting to turn. It's still cold but definitely an improvement since the weekend. We're now in the low teens vs. the low 40's. It is such a relief to not have to worry as much about our little cottage in the snow filled forest. Frozen pipes is not something we've had to deal with BUT it takes a lot of work to ensure that doesn't happen. Our furnace issue on the weekend was not related to the cold, just the timing sucked. Ironically, we opened our bank account on Monday morning and the Government of Canada was kind enough to deposit our quarterly Carbon Tax Rebate. Not quite the amount to cover the repair but between that and dh's recent rebate from WestJet for his delay in his last flight, we didn't have to touch our savings for this repair. We have an account for things like this but always hope to not use it. Thankfully, we were lucky this time. 

Rest of the week is not too bad. By next Monday, we'll be back to single digits. Much easier to deal with the Winter driving and shovelling, etc. when the air is not bitter. Hoping this was the one and only deep freeze this season but we'll see what happens as we go. The good thing is I'm getting a few things ticked off my ongoing task list. Two things that were tackled were a thorough purge of our closet, right down to the baseboards. It's so lovely now and someone will be excited when they visit the charity shop, and find some still lovely clothes hanging on the racks. I also re~organized the guest room closet, the linen closet and the laundry room. The last item is purging the Art Studio again. I did a light purge in the Fall but think it's time for a deeper one. With a new dollhouse to work on, I'm starting to run out of room for all my items. So, a deep clean it is, and another trip to the charity shop. It may even take more than one trip.

If you're still living in the deep freeze,

how are you coping being stuck inside?

~ Chy

Finally .... Winter!

"Snow Angel" by Maja Lindberg

Well, we finally have Winter! The snow has fallen, not a lot but at least the ground is now covered in white. And the cold has arrived. Not just colder than we've had after a very balmy Fall, but a bitter Polar experience. Tonight, it's going down to - 40's Celsius, which with the windchild, will be in the - 50's. I know many of my readers are in the U.S. so to give you some clarity of just how cold it is, that equates to around - 58 Farenheit. We closed our preschool today because the school busses for big kids were cancelled, though schools were open. Our dgs stayed home and we made some lovely chocolate chip cookies and he got to play games. Our week has been quiet with the cold but on Wednesday, we ventured in to town to pickup a week's worth of groceries before the true cold set in. I'm so glad we did this as the roads were very icy the last few days but thankfully, we were cozy and warm at home. It will start to warm up on Monday, with a high of - 10 Celsius on Tuesday. I can't wait for the warmth to return so we can get out of the cottage for a bit and fill our cupboards and fridge again. 

With the cold, we needed something to look forward to. We invited our dear neighbors over for dinner on Sunday and I'm so excited! Menu is planned, baking started today, tomorrow is more prep, a tidy of the cottage (okay, so it will be a power clean) and then I'll set the table with pretty dishes, sparkly glassware and shiny silver. We've left out tree up and we'll have a gift for each of them, as well as a couple of late birthday gifts for their little ones (late due to my November surgery). Looking forward to Sunday.

There is a lot of work that goes in to keeping the cottage warm and safe when the weather is this bad. We have to make sure the heat is just right so pipes don't freeze. We put a furnace in the garage and so that goes up a bit so the car, the motorcycle, the extra fridge and the freezer, as well as all of dh's tools are okay as well. It's watching the outside vents to make sure they don't get crusted over with ice. And during all this, trying to ensure we don't put too much stress on the community power grid with too many lights on. We've only had to shovel once because we've only had one snowfall so far. But that is often on the list too. Thankful we don't have to go out to shovel constantly, as currently with the bitter cold, skin will freeze in 2 minutes and shovelling takes way longer than that! 

I hope wherever you are, the air is warm and

the snow has stayed away or is very light!

~ Chy

Fireplace Snuggling.

It's still so warm but soon we'll be

snuggled up by the fire when the cold

finally arrives. I truly wish we could

have snow on Christmas Eve, then

on Christmas Day and on Boxing Day.

Other than that, it can stay away. But

I know there is concern if we don't

get a decent snow level, then we may

have more issues with fires again this

year. We do need the snow. But later!

~ Chy

In Time.

The snow we don't have! This was from

last year and I almost miss the white. I

do enjoy that we have such warm weather

right now. But know in time we will get it!

~ Chy