Cloudy

 We have said good bye to the sunshine for several days, now it is dull and damp.  All the outside work done just in time.

Hubby is still working on the work bench in the garage, putting on new doors and installing shelves so there is more things can be stored in the cupboard.  "Stored?"  Read "stashed".  Like me, he hates to throw anything away, for your know "you might just need it someday",  however, I must admit he has been able to throw a lot of stuff into the recycle container this past week.  I am a "keeper" in the sewing room, and I must admit I do have a stash of small pieces of fabric.  Recently made a quilt from some of those pieces, I could make several more as I still have a lot left.  Once I have finished my grand daughter's quilt, that will be my focus during the Winter months.

I did work in my sewing room quite a bit yesterday and was able to get a lot done on the Cardinal collage wall handing I am currently making.  Love the way it is looking.  Photo to follow soon.

Not much on the agenda today, have just finished giving myself a manicure, I have my own nails, none of the stick on ones for me and I don't put nail polish on  my nails either.  My hands are so busy all the time it would be of no use to spend all that money and ruin them. When my grandchildren were married I went "all out" and had them done.   Do you have your own nails?  go to a salon to have them done?

Cleaned the bathrooms and after lunch going to give the microwave a good clean.

In the coming days I am going to write my Christmas cards. I send them to relatives and friends in the U.K. and relatives and friends here in Canada that I don't see on a regular basis.  I remember years and years ago, we used to send lots of cards.  An unsealed card could be posted for just pennies.  We would send and receive dozens of them, so many in fact, we would put up a string on opposite corners of the living room ceiling and display them there.  Do you send Christmas cards?

Dinner last night was lovely, and the best part there is enough left over for dinner tonight, so we have steak, au gratin potatoes, will have to do another veg.  Dessert.  fruit in jelly I think.  We had apple blossoms and ice cream last night.

Well that's me for today. 

Moon and Sunshine

 And sunshine we have, the sky is a beautiful clear blue with no clouds in sight.  The moon last night was  so bright we had shadows of the trees on the lawn and it lite up the rooms on the south side of the house.  I expected it to be very cold last night with the clear sky, but it only went down do 3*C.  All this beautiful weather will come to a screeching halt tomorrow, wet snow rain mix and cold temps and we might see some sun on Wed and Thurs.

Hubby and I usually have the same thing for breakfast day in and day out, last week we decided that on Sunday we would have a different breakfast.  Sunday last, we had scrabbled eggs, sausage and toast, today, blueberry pancakes and bacon   We will have a smaller lunch on these days.

Hubby was up early, he has to take some medication once a week and cannot lay down or eat for a period of time afterwards.  After our breakfast he went out to work on the work bench in the garage.  He is putting in some shelves underneath  for more storage.

What am I up to today, as mentioned above the sun in shining, shining on my dirty windows, so they are going to get a clean, likely the last one until Spring.  I do not use any commercial cleaner, corn starch, vinegar and water, and newspaper, always have nice clean streaky free window using this.   I do not like dirty windows, glass is suppose to be looked through and that cannot be done when they are dirty.  Next, a walk is also in order for today, can't miss being outside in this weather.  When dressed appropriately it is not cold.  Then I think some work done in the sewing room is also going to be done. 

Dinner tonight, Hubby is going to cook a steak on the BBQ, veg to be determined as well as dessert.

Must 

Bright but cold

 Finally we have some sunshine, it has been cloudy, dull and wet for too many days as far as I am concerned.  More energy today to get some things done.

Bedding currently swishing around the washing machine, then two more loads left to do.  No housework is wanting to be done today,  I do a bit every day, just to keep on top of it.  This is a big house for little old me to keep clean.  Kitchen, two bathrooms, three bedrooms (one is used for my sewing room), living room and dining room upstairs.  Two bedrooms, rec room, bathroom, laundry room and a big hall downstairs.

On going saga of computer order......received info stating the part Hubby wanted to receive right away, is now on back order, trying to get in contact with this someone is almost impossible.  I know they are likely busy and we are very impatient., but it is frustrating. Wait and wait some more.

The salmon we had for dinner last night was delicious.

Dinner tonight Swedish meatballs, in mushroom sauce and noodles.  Not sure what we are going to have for dessert.  

 

Late again

I do not know where the days go, we were up fairly early, breakfast, shower and bed made.  Hubby has been waiting for a part to repair his riding lawn tractor, however, the business he ordered from must be having issues getting it, as he has been waiting for a long time, so he decided to look on the internet for another supplier.  He found one in Ottawa, so we ordered the part plus two more items he needed.  He went that route as the business he usually deals with is going out of business at the end of the year, and wanted to find a company that he could get parts from if he needed any in the future.   

We are both getting up in years, two,  am fairly computer/internet savvy, able to get myself around both with little trouble, however, with Hubby it is a different story.  We went to the web site, it was not easy to navigate, but found the parts he needed, then proceeded to order them.  He does not have a lot of patients with the internet, however, order placed and paid for with just a couple of hiccups.  Received confirmation and then an e-mail which indicated the part that he rally wanted is on back order with that company too.  So it is still a waiting game.

I worked in the sewing room this afternoon

Last night I went to my quilting guild meeting, masks, social distances, temps and tracing information were all in effect.   We now rent a hall that can provide all of the necessary precautions, in the past we have met in each others homes, but that does not work now due to the virus.  We had a good meeting  with lots of new quilts to ooh and ahh over.  A short business meeting in which we discussed the block of the month for our comfort quilts.  I mentioned before but here it is again,  members are paired  up and those two people choose a colour combination and a month of the year.  Then each member makes a 12 inch block in those colours for that particular month.  Then the paired members put the block together to makes a comfort quilt, is then donated to a local hospital for the chemo patients.  They get to keep those quits.  We have donated many quilts each year, but sad to say, they are always needed.

Dinner tonight, baked salmon, stuffed mushrooms, rice, left over broccoli, (thank goodness for the microwave). lemon poke cake and ice cream for dessert.

Rain

 We had rain overnight and mild temps which have melted all of our snow, ready for more when it comes.  But being damp it feels colder than the actual temp of 9*C.  Can't complain, it could be worse.

Did not do much yesterday, just the normal household routine and some sewing.  Hubby is getting into a new routine, breakfast and then reading the paper.  Then doing a chore, if necessary, outside.  He is waiting now  for the ground to dry up so that he can put stakes and burlap around our shrubs to protect them from the snow and deer.  .I saw a big buck in the field across the street from us yesterday, I am sure he is looking for a mate, at they do at this time of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my U. S. readers, whatever you decide to do I hope it is something to keep you, your loved ones and everyone you are in contact with safe.

My Christmas cactus is full of buds, should be out soon, just a bit early but that is OK.  I also have a dragon cactus, it is suppose to have pink flowers, no sign of any.  Also trying to get my African Violet   to bloom, any hints you can give me.

If the facility where we have our quilting meetings is still allowing us to do so, I will go to our guild meeting tonight.  We fill out a form with all of the necessary information, have our temp taken and everyone wears a mask, so feel safe going.

Dinner tonight left over pasta casserole, salad and broccoli, made a chocolate mousse dessert yesterday, two portion left, so dessert all sorted too.

Damp and dank

 The two words that describe today, it is also cold, I do not these days of November, too depressing and I have no energy.  But, there are things that need to be done, so plod on through the day.

So what is on the agenda for today, lets see,   I try to do a deep clean of something every day, so it will be the drawers that holds all of the cutlery,  food wraps and the dish cloths and towels.  I dont know how the cutlery drawer gets all the  bits of stuff that seem to collect in there.  The two other drawers just need to be organized a bit, then they are done. Then there is all the daily jobs that need to be done, make the bed, clean the bathrooms, lunch, dinner, dishes....... woman's work is never done!

I then need to make a block for the quilt that I did not get done yet, and also work on my collage.

Hubby is replacing the carbon monoxide detector, it started beeping this morning, not to warn us, but it indicates it needs to be replaced.  Which we have done, however, it keeps on beeping even though it has been disconnected from the power.  He is now looking for the information in his files, to see how to shut it off completely and also how we are suppose to dispose of  it.

This brings back a memory..... when my late husband was alive he had a '57 pink and white Desoto, and it was kept in the garage, he would start it during the Winter months, (never was it out in rain or snow) just to keep the fluids moving.  So when he passed I did the same thing until I sold it.  It was a late November evening cold and still. and as he used to do, I opened the garage door about two feet and started the car and let it run for about 15-20 minutes.  Turned it off, closed the door and went inside for the evening of TV watching.  After about an hour the carbon monoxide detector started blasting.  Not knowing what would be causing it and not taking any chances, I called 911 as we all have been instructed to do.  I was told to go outside and stay there until the fire department arrived.  Three fire engines, sirens going and lights flashing and  8 - 10 firemen arrived at my house.  They hooked up their fans to removed the fumes, however, unbeknownst to me they unplugged my bar fridge and everything  thawed out, ending up with water all over the place.  Apparently due to the air being so still, there was not enough air movement to removed the fumes from the garage and over time they seeped into the house through the storm and wooden doors.   Had to go and buy a new one as once one has been activated it does not work properly.  They work people, buy one and install, it saved me from becoming desperately ill or dying.  

Not sure what is for dinner tonight.

  

It's going

 A lot of the snow we had has now melted due to the 6*C weather we had yesterday.  Today we had some early morning sunshine, but it did not last long, however, more of that white stuff melted.  Tomorrow Wed, we are forecast rain, so do not see the snow lasting much longer.

Grocery day, and again we went early in the morning, only one person shopping other than us.  The mall is in a senior houses complex, so I think the snowy, slippery ground, and the cold temps are keeping people inside.  I believe I mentioned previously, we buy several of something that is on sale, but only if it is something we use.  We have a cold room, cupboard, fridge and a freezer all full of food, so next week we will not do a full shop, only milk, eggs fresh fruit and veg.  If someone came in the house they would think we were expecting all the stores to close for at least a month or more, so we are going to start using our store cupboard food.

Today I did the kitchen job I  hate  to do......clean the oven.  It is a self cleaning oven and I have never used that feature, good old elbow grease is my method.  The oven door comes off, that really did make the job so much easier.  (Do you have a job that you just hate doing ?)   Now it is spic and span, ready for me to bake a few Christmas cookies, it not Christmas for me, if I don't bake cookies.  Will not be doing my regular shortbread cookie  recipe, it makes so many, and there will not be any one to eat them, so what is the point.  I do have other recipes that are just as good and results in fewer cookies.  Do you bake special cookies only at Christmas?  What is your favourite? 

Working on my collage wall hanging, loving the way it is looking so fsr.

Dinner tonight was chicken, baked potato and asparagus.  Butterscotch pudding for dessert.

Five Inches

 When I took this photo last night it was still snowing a little bit, it was  a snow that came straight down, no wind, so I am going to say those five inches was a true amount of snow we had.

This is the amount on our patio table.

It is beautiful outside this morning, and it is melting as the temp is above zero.   All of it will be gone in a few days, high temps of 10*C  and rain mid week.   

Hubby was up and shoveled the snow off of the driveway, which is a long one I must add.  We can  easily park eight cars on it.  It is cement so an easy job to remove the snow.  

We usually have the same breakfast every day, however, on Saturday, we decided to have a big breakfast on Sundays,  Yesterday we had scrambled eggs sausage, toast and jam, orange juice and coffee. We both enjoyed it very much.  Next week I think we will be having blueberry pancakes. 

The blueberry pancakes remind me of our first vacation together.  We had only known each other for three months and he asked me, if I would like to go to British Colombia to see his brother.  I had never been there, so why not.   We travelled through the U.S. before heading to B.C.  In one of the hotels we stayed at they served the most delicious blueberry pancakes I had ever eaten.  Unfortunately I cannot remember exactly where that was.   We were gone for almost three weeks and can say we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.  Saw and did so many things we had never seen or done before.  We had a lovely visit with his brother and SIL and travelled home through Canada.  

 Did not do much yesterday, a lazy day watching some programs we had recorded some time back,

Cooked a lovely roast beef dinner, and took out of the freezer some of the lemon poke cake I make last week.  It always increases in flavour after being in the freezer.  Hubby loves anything lemon.  

Today is an easy dinner.................leftovers.

I am going in the sewing room this afternoon.  did not get there yesterday.  I need to make a block for our guilds chemo quilt, our meeting is on Thursday.

That's all for me today.

Sunday snow outside my window.

 It started at 6:30 a.m. this morning and the forecast is indicating it will not stop until later this evening.  It looks beautiful from the inside out, however, still not fond of it.  

Outside my window dining room today.  I took the photo at 11:45a,m, oops need to change the time on my camera.  Hubby says we have about three inches now, I see some snow removal happening in the near future. Just got all the leaves gathered up in time, any left now will hopefully be all decomposed by Spring.

Slow day today, I plan on doing some sewing, a want to start on a collage that I purchased on line.  

Dinner tonight roast beef with all the trimmings, so that we will have some left overs for tomorrow.  I get tired of thinking what to cook for our dinner, going out to a restaurant is out of the question for us right now.  Don't want to jinx our  run of avoiding the virus, for the sake of a meal that could easily be prepared at home.  Do you get in a rut trying to decide what to prepare for your meals?  Any ideas on how to perk up those lazy taste buds?

Just wrote a long e-mail to my long time friend in England, so glad we both have computers, the postage is quite expensive for snail mail.  I should start writing my Christmas cards, I do make the effort to contact all of my relatives in England, albeit only at Christmas and on their birthdays if I know that information.  There are not too many left there anymore as they are all getting elderly and the new generations that are now there I have never met, so they are strangers to me.  Photo's of new husbands and wives, children and grandchildren mean nothing.

Well that is all from me today.

  

Missed Thursday.and Friday

 Yesterday and Thursday were both beautiful days, sunny with a high temps of 16*C and 18*C, after the snow we had earlier this week this felt so nice.  Today, was cloudy and cool.

Because the weather was so nice both days, windows were open and I washed sheer curtains and cleaned windows.  Have a couple of windows left to do, feels good to get all that is done and I can see out of the windows a bit clearer now 

Went for a nice long walk both days, however, did not go for one today, house work and laundry done, and went to the fabric shop to get some Steam a Seam for a new project I am going to start  hopefully tomorrow.  It is a collage of a cardinal, the bird.  I bought it from a web site that I follow and thought it was a lovely picture and just had to have it.  We have a lot of birds come to our feeders and the cardinal is always there.  I plan on making a wall hanging out of it and will put it in my kitchen. Will show  picture of it when it is done.

I said I was lazy today, so all we had for dinner was hot dogs, beans and a salad with a apple blossom and ice cream for dessert.

Quieter morning

We had a lot of snow yesterday which was blown around by the high winds, sometimes it looked like a blizzard. could not see anything.  Sun looks as if it shine and the temp is climbing above the zero mark.

Housework day yesterday, need to do some more today, my house is not dirty or untidy, but I need to know that it has been cleaned every once in awhile.  The bathrooms and kitchen, of course, get more attention than the rest of the house.  

Just downloaded the pattern and information of a collage wall hanging, I debated for a few days before doing it, and then decided it was a late birthday gift.....for me.....from me.  It a picture of a cardinal, the bird, not the religious one.   We have a lot of these coming to our feeders throughout the year, so thought it fitting to make this small wall hanging.  It will only be about 14 - 16 inches square when it is finished so just the right size for the hanging bracket I have in the kitchen.  Looking forward to assembling the fabrics later today.  Currently making the block for our quilting guild's chemo quilt for the month of November.  Still working on my grand daughters quilt also.

Speaking of my granddaughter, she is the youngest of my grand children, and she was enrolled in aviation collage, however, due to the COVID her year was cancelled.  She is a member of her local Canadian Air Cadets, (a bragging moment, she is 18 years old and already has two pilot licenses) .  Back to what I was going to write, she and three other cadets are doing a survival camping weekend.  Sleeping, cooking and eating everything outside, except for the toilet necessities.  They also have to visit historical places throughout the two days and I assume write a report on everything they do.  All this is to hopefully received the Duke of Edinburgh Award and a scholarship.   All I can say is, I hope the weather improves for them.

Well should get myself moving.

Dinner tonight, pork shops, applesauce, broccoli, salad and lemon poke cake.  Hubby's favourite.

Snow

 Woke this morning to a white landscape........snow.   Most of the winds we get come from the West and to reach us they need to go over Lake Huron,   At this time of the year there is no ice forming on the Lake and the winds pick up moisture, when the winds blow the clouds, they are called "streamers" we end up with the snow falling on us.  One minute, as of right now, we can hardly see across the street, then a few minutes later the streamer has moved through and we might have blue skies and sunshine.  If we get stuck under a long, wide streamer we could have snow for hours and of course it accumulates on the ground.  This weather is suppose to be with us for today, tomorrow and Thursday warmer temps and all this willl melt.  On Saturday, we are suppose to have rain.  A mix bag, for sure.

Groceries early this morning,  the store was very quite, I think the weather kept the normal number of shoppers away.

Not much happening here today, Hubby had hoped to do some work outside but that certainly will not be done today.  

Our guild has a challenge every year,  for 2020 we had to use the title of a song we liked, make a quilt of our choice to show the song we chose.  It was to be a secret, at our last meeting we had a reveal and members had to guess the title of the song depicted.  We had to use the musical note fabric somewhere in our quilt.   Can you guess mine?   Sorry for the fold in the middle.

Dinner tonight, our regular chicken from the grocery store, asparagus, and a salad.  Still have some of the chocolate mousse left for dessert.

Calmer

Yesterday was a wild day weather wise, very windy bringing down trees and branches, causing power outages.  We did not have any problems except for a few small branches blown down and ....leaves from other properties all over the areas we have just cleared.    The rain gauge indicated we had 3/4 of rain over night.

I started writing this early this morning and just getting back to finish it at 7:00pm.

Hubby had an appointment at the Dr. to have a little growth removed from the back of his neck, he has to go back in two weeks to get the stitches removed.   He then started to clean out a drawer, it contained everything under the sun, quite a daunting task, he only finished part of it.   He is planning on doing a lot of this sorting out in the days, weeks and months ahead.    He was a teacher and has kept all of his teaching test books and materials he used.  They have not be looked at for a long time, so he thinks its time  he did something about them/

I did some sewing, so a quite day for both of us.

Had a facetime with my eldest great grand son  (10) today, he has am app. that can change his facial features, so funny to look at.  We had a nice chat.

Dinner tonight, beef on a bun, salad, squash and chocolate mousse for dessert.

Done and Dusted

 Today we finished picking up all the leaves, another ten large paper garden bags off to the recycle.  We recycle the bags, emptying them and bring them home again for a refill and that will not be done until the weeds are pulled from the gardens in the Spring.

There was ice in the bird bath this morning and the temp went down to -1*C, there was a beautiful sun rise and we had a lovely sunny day, albeit  cold.  It might be the last sunny day we see, as rain is forecast for tomorrow and the "S" word, for the first couple days next week.  Getting my Winter tires put on, on Thursday.

We got our "high dose" flu shot yesterday, so we should be OK for the flu, if it starts going around.  We have always received it and thankfully we have never got the flu so hope it is the same for this year.  Reports in the paper are expecting fewer than normal cases this Fall and Winter, due to more people wearing masks, distancing six feet and staying in their homes. 

Tomorrow is my birthday, 79 years old, how it that happen.  I am so grateful for being healthy, (I do have high blood pressure though) but meds keep that under control.  I do not feel that old, well.....maybe the morning after I overdid  some work the previous day, but other than that I am good.  Once I get my eyes done in the next couple of weeks I should be as good as new.

Dinner tonight was salmon, mushrooms, broccoli, and kale salad.   Fruit in jelly for dessert.  

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Yesterday was a wet day, .....no not rain........ when I went to wash my hands at 7:30a.m I discovered there was no hot water, going to check out what might be the problem I found waster all over the furnace room floor.  The water heater had sprung a leak.  Using the wet vac I started to suck up the waster, however, now the heater is leaking faster than I could pick it up.  Called Hubby to found out where I could find the telephone number for the service company.  (You have to remember I have only been in this house for five years and we have never had a problem like this before, and he keeps all of this information in a file in his desk),  thus the reason for calling him.   Called,  they would be here between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m.  that is not acceptable I said, so now got a time for he will be there in 15 mins.  And he was, very helpful young man, a new heater would be installed early afternoon.   And it was.  we now have hot water.   We are a spoiled society, can you believe I had to boil water in the kettle to be able wash the lunch dishes.   I can't remember how many times I automatically turned on the hot water tap.

We were going to have a stew for dinner, however, it did not happen as I did not have time to get it ready so it would have been edible later in the day.   Found some ham in the freezer, so it was ham, beans and biscuits and it was quite good.  Tonight we had the stew.

This afternoon we got our flu shot. we were able to get the "high dose" designed for those people over 65 years of age.  It is four times as effective as the regular dose, so feeling good about that.

We take a vitamin for our eye health, and originally purchased it in our local drug store, but while shopping at a well known department store I found the same brand a lot cheaper than what we were getting at the drug store.  We were getting low so purchased some at the dept store.  the price $11.47 on special,   at the drug store when we were getting our shot, the price was $23.99.  ????   

Cool day today, cloudy and the air felt damp, so feeling a lot colder than the actual temp.

Phone calls

Today, so far I have received three calls from "Visa" telling me my card has been compromised and it is only 7:50a.m.   Yesterday I had the same thing happen, get a bit sick and tired of answering the phone just to get this garbage.  I know my card is safe and if it wasn't Visa would not be calling me like this.

Don't know wy but my post from yesterday appears not to have been posted, sAgaino I did again.

Lovely sunny day, but a lot cooler, a big contrast from earlier in the week,  it was suppose to happen sooner or later, it's November isn't it.

Today is my eldest grand daughters birthday, 33 years old.  She is a lovely girl, married for the past 10 years, and lives in the city I left when I moved in with Hubby.

We can almost say our leaf gathering is almost over as most of the trees are void of their leaves, the only ones we will have now are those that blow from other properties, until the snow start to fly.

Hubby's daughter is having a large tree removed from her back garden this morning, it is dying and is a danger to buildings on the next doors property and building.   It is an expensive undertaking, but it has to be done by professionals in the trade and it will likely be cheaper in the long run, if it ever came down on the large building. 

Dinner tonight, I am going to put the makings for a stew in the slow cooker shortly, so that is the mest and veg all taken care of.  Might just make some biscuits too. 

He did it....

For the past 17 years my Hubby has been driving a bus for disabled people, taking them to work, shopping, appointments etc.  He is a "para transit drive" for a company that runs school buses, school purpose vans, taxi and limousines.   He has been off work since mid March due to the virus, now the company has change the requirements   for anyone to be off work due to the pandemic, he does not fit in any of those categories now, so it was either go back to work, which he was not too willing to do, due to the increased cases we have in our city or retire.   He chose the latter.  I am happy about that as a 79 year old man who does not need the money, should not be getting up at 4:00 a.m. to go to work, and come home at 5:00p.m.  This is the longest we have been in each others company since we have been living together.  He major concern was keeping himself busy,  but he has not had any trouble doing that so far, however, Winter is coming and there will be nothing to do except remove snow.   He is a reader, and as he was a school teacher, I suggested he look into tutoring, as there are lot of children doing work from home and could use a little help.  Time well tell.

My trip to the eye clinic yesterday went well.  Now have to wait until Dec. to get my right eye done.

It seems all I talk about these days is leaves, yes we picked up for leaves today and took them to the depot.  The last couple of times we have been there it has been busy, and a police officer has been directing traffic because there are so many people going into and coming out onto the road.  As we went in today one of the staff was counting the number of vehicles  going in, we were number 735 for today so far at that was at 3:30p.m.  Yesterday she told us the count was over 3,000 vehicles.  

Dinner tonight:  store bought meat balls in a mushroom sauce with fettuccini noodles and asparagus, it was very good.

Sunshine

Up early today, grocery day for us.  At the store by 7:05 a.m. and home, groceries put away and now we are ready to start the day.

The morning clouds are beginning to fade away, and the sun is now shining to what promises to be another lovely day.  The lawns that were clear of leaves when it got dark last night are now all covered with leaves again......a never ending story, however, we are beginning to see the end in sight as only a few leaves are still on the trees.

I belong to a quilting guild and it has been meeting for 20 years, I have only been a member for about 12 or 13 years.   We were planning on have a big celebration last month but that did not happen.  Back in the early Spring we decided to have an anniversary challenge., a round and round quilt.  The first block was to be of our own choice and every month there after we were given an element that had to go into the next round.  The big reveal was last month.   Below is a photo of mine.  I wanted a throw for our sofa, so used the colours in it to make my quilt.  The final result was bigger than I had hoped but still happy with how it turned out.  All I have to do now is send it off to get it quilted, which I hope will be done late this month.

Somewhere in the quilt we had to insert something that had "20" in it.  The leaves on the branches total 20 and also the points on the corner paper piecing.

Dinner tonight, chicken veg and salad.

Almost missed

I did miss posting yesterday, it was just too nice to stay inside.  We were up fairly early and started on picking up leaves, yes leaves again.  We had a full load and took it to the depot.  We had our lunch outside, it was lovely sitting in the sun while we ate.........and watched more leaves fall.   lol.  We decided, no more work for today, and the temp was in our favour, 22*C, so we got the convertible out of the garage and went for a drive with the top down.  Our local hospital system has two fund raising lotteries, one in the Spring and a second at this time of the year.  The grand prize is the choice of one of two homes or a million dollars.  Usually they have tours of the homes, however, because of, you know what, that could not happen now, all we can do is drive by and look at the interior on line.   We drove by the first home, OMG, who needs a home that big.  Not I.  On to the second home, it is all on one floor, off to a good start, however, the view from the street is two garage doors, a small alcove to the front door and a window.  No thanks.  They are both in subdivisions, the view is houses across the street and houses across the back of the property.  So close together I am sure you could hear your neighbour talking.  We like our park like setting where we are, so our choice would be the money,   But.....our ticket has to be drawn.

We must have worked hard yesterday, as we both slept in, so a late start to the day.  Hubby has a big decision to make so we discussed that in length, then lunch.    Duplicate weather today as yesterday, and yes, you guessed it, leaves and a load to the depot.   I went for my walk and the day was just about done outside, I hate these early evenings, but it is going to get worse before it get any better.

Grocery day in the morning and in the afternoon I go for the measurements and testing for my eyes ready for surgery next month.  The clinic is an hour and half drive so the whole afternoon will be taken up by that.  In Dec. the same trip for the right eye.

Tonight's dinner was Swedish meatballs in mushroom sauce, potato and salad.  Delicious if I do say so myself.  

November???

I cannot believe the weather we are having, it is beautiful and wish it would last, but unfortunately there is a change coming next week.  In the meantime I am going to enjoy it while it is here.

 Laundry day, even washed the bed pillows today and cleaned the garage floor of all the leaves that have blown in.  Plan on going for a walk, this time to the grocery store for some milk, for some reason we seem to have used more than we usually do.  It is not all that far away, but will take my time and enjoy the sunshine.   I live in an area which is all inclines and valleys, so matter which way I walk there is going to be an up hill climb coming or going.  Good exercise for the legs.

Hubby is at his daughters moving her rose bushes, they up against a building which belongs to her next door neighbour and it is going to be demolished soon, so she wants the roses moved so they do not get destroyed.  She has a lot of roses, so it will take some time.

Not much else going on today,

Dinner to night, steak on the BBQ, baked potato with butter and sour cream, salad and not sure what is for dessert.  

Another one

Beautiful day that is.. yes we have blue skies and it is beautiful, temps so nice we do  not need a sweater of jacket.

 I cancelled my dentist appointment as my tooth retracted back into the gum, so for now it is  not giving any problems, however, I am sure it has not finished coming and going and eventually it will have to come out.  In the mean time it is all good now.  I hate dentists with a passion. 

Hubby is out picking up the neighbours leaves again today, a never ending job at the present time, more leaves have yet to come down so he will be doing it for awhile yet. 

I will be going for a nice long walk after lunch, cannot stay inside today.

The salmon we had for dinner last night was really nice, we always enjoy it.  Also did some stuffed mushrooms too, they were also very good, if I do say so myself.

Dinner tonight, well have not even thought of it yet, but should do that soon.

Not much happening today, so will chat tomorrow.

Started....

Late yesterday I started a post but that was as far as it got.   Back here this morning to begin a new one and hopefully get it finished.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, blue skies and  a high temp of 19*C.  Was outside most of the day, must take advantage of these days as they are going to be few and far between shortly.

Late Tuesday afternoon we had a load of leaves and garden waste to take to the recycle depot.   Do you know anyone who goes to a recycle depot and comes home with more than you took.  Well, if you consider me someone you know through this blog, then you DO know someone.  As I said we went to the depot and they had a huge pile of wood chips free for the taking.  So we filled the bags, ten of them with the chips.  Yesterday morning we spread them over the gardens, however, needed more to complete the job, so went back for more, only this time some bush branches had been piled in front of them, so we had to work hard to fill another ten bags.  Came home, spread them and now we have a nice neat and tidy, and I must say a good looking garden.  

In the afternoon I picked up leaves once again, as did Hubby in the next door neighbours yard, so It will likely be another trip to the recycle depot again soon.  We could put them out at the curb for pick up, however, we reuse the bags, so go and dump them ourselves.  Where you live, do you have a recycle program in place for garden waste?  I do have two compost bins, one is currently full and doing 
its" thing, and the second was emptied in the Spring, so still working on filling it.  It cannot accommodate all of the waste we have, so thankful we can take the excess to the depot.  Just wish  they would sell the compost to customers, but they don't.

 I have a hair cut appointment this afternoon, it really does not look long, however, it gets to a point where I can't get it to do what I want it to.

Hubby received a call yesterday from his work, now he is having to think about actually retiring officially, or going back to work.  I hope he decides the first option.  It is his decision but I have contributed several reasons I believe he should call it a finish.  But.......

Dinner tonight, salmon, mushrooms, rice, and salad, fruit for dessert.  

Here today gone tomorrow

That is what I could say yesterday about the snow, as most of it melted, thank goodness,  however, now we have to pick up leaves, once again.  A never ending job.  I have been leaving my marigolds in the garden as hey are so colourful, however, after being laden down with the snow they  now need to come out, the Hosta and  Day Lilly leaves can be trimmed.   When it warms up later this week I am going to vacuum the garage, all the leaves have been blowing in and eventually get onto the kitchen door mat. 

Got our groceries during the senior hour this morning, there are more staff than customers at 7:00 a.m. which is nice as it does not very long to get what we need, only downside is the veg,. and seafood departments are not stocked.  Tuesday, is chicken day, there is a special on the BBQ chicken, so when Hubby goes to get that he usually stops and gets some salmon and any veg I was not able to get in the morning.  

Hubby has been off work since the middle of March,  (he does not need to work, he was a teacher so has a great pension and has been able to save a good amount during he working years),  due to the virus, he age and being exposed to a number of people of all walks of life.  He was not planning on retiring as he thought he would have nothing to do.  Well, he seems to enjoy reading the morning newspaper, and has been finding lots of jobs to do,  and he has indicated to me he "is retired", but not really officially with the company he works for.  I believe he is waiting until the end of the year to hand in his letter.  

We have some sunshine and clouds today, and the forecast for the balance of the week is looking absolutely fantastic, just have to get over today's clouds.

Dinner tonight, BBQ chicken, veg and salad, dessert sugar free chocolate pudding, (it is quite good).

Wild and Wintery

 Yesterday the north west  wind was very strong and cold, when this happens it blows across Lake Huron picks up moisture which eventually becomes snow and "streamers" of this snowy weather reach for hundreds of miles, us included.  We therefore had a wild day and night.

Watching TV last night at 10:05 our power went off, a tree had blown over the power lines just across the street from us.  Hydro crews were there fast and within the hour the tree was down, chipped and taken away and we had power again.  We were surprised more trees and limbs were not down on our property, as a lot of the leaves are still on the trees, and with the snow on them there is a lot of weight on the branches.  Maybe the wind blew the majority of the snow off before any damage could be done.

Woke this morning to temps -0.2*C and everything covered in a good layer of snow.  The wind is still blowing but certainly not a bad as last night.  Peaks of sunshine indicate the day will improve as forecasted. The forecast is looking absolutely lovely, sunshine and temps up in the mid to high teens for the balance of the week.   My Father always said we had to have snow before we got "Indian Summer", well he was right this year.  Just a thought, why do they call it "Indian Summer" anyway?

The property looks quite nice,  (if snow can be nice), the white ground and all of the coloured leaves still on the trees, white covered branches, pretty.  Ask me how pretty snow is when we have several feet of it piled at the end of the driveway and the temp is down to -15*C.  

Dinner tonight is leftover night, we have a few ribs, some shaved beef, squash, salad so its all done. Dessert is a diet chocolate milk pudding.   Thank goodness for the microwave oven and my toaster over, don't know what I would do without both of them.  They are so handy for warming up left overs,  I use the toaster oven in the Summer, so at not to heat up the kitchen.  

Rain

 Another 1/2 in of rain fell overnight and it is very windy.  

After all of the leaves Hubby picked up yesterday, our lawns looked very nice, however, this morning they are covered again.  He had to quit doing the neighbor's property yesterday because the lawn tractor was not working properly.  He is currently trying to see what the problem is so he can fix it.  You Tube was not much help to him this morning apparently, and the manual that came with it is not much help either.  Looks as if it might be an all day job.

We did not have any children around last night for Halloween, but that is nothing new, as we live on a street that is quite dark even though we have a lot of lights and the houses are far apart from each other.  Most children, on a "normal" Halloween stay in their subdivision, so suspect that what was done a bit more cautiously last night.  There were "drive bys" in place around the city yesterday afternoon, children dressed up in their costumes and were driven by organizations that were giving away candy etc.  A good idea in his day with the virus.

No sure what we care going to have for dinner tonight, I get brain dead sometimes trying to figure out what to have, it just seems we have the same thing week after week.  Do you find that, that happens to you or do you have a full recipe book full of ideas you use.?  What are you have for dinner tonight?

Should get moving, today is going to be a long day, due to the clocks going back an hour last night.   I call it Winter yet lag.