The sun is shining...

...and the sky is blue, and it is beautiful. It is cold, but that is alright. It is just so nice to see the sun.

When I woke this morning, it was strange not to hear the wind. It was quiet, so quiet.
I did not get up very early this morning, as I was and still am, very tired from my weekend, which is the price I pay for enjoying myself.

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Halifax, and so did Sadie, though she did spend time looking for her puppy pals. She and Jack, the cat, sort of got along. I do not think Jack appreciated the intrusion of this thing, that definitely was not a cat, but not quite a dog either. It was funny to watch them. Jack was very protective of his things, and gave Sadie a few reminders that she was invading his home.
I think Sadie was glad to see E and D, despite the cat.

Our evening with Stuart McLean was very enjoyable. He is very funny. The show was being taped, so he had to repeat some lines, when what he had said, wasn't quite right.

Saturday morning, after Dawn and Heather visited the market, Dawn and I went to a basketball game that Rae's team was playing. Her team won, so Rae had to play another game. Dawn, Sadie and I headed home, as Dawn had to walk in the Coldest Night Of The Year campaign at 5pm.

I was tired when I got home, and had an early night.
Sunday, I played at an extra church service at 3pm plus my regular morning service, and by the time 7:30pm came around, I could barely keep my eyes open. I went off to bed, read a short time then gave in to my weariness and turned off the light.

Today....well, I am still drooping, but having been here before, I know that the feeling will linger. I just have to keep on keeping on.

Oh Joy.......

I found myself just sitting, gazing, staring out the window, watching the branches on the crab tree bounce and dance in the wind. I am not sure how long I had been in that trance like position, but I seem to do it quite often lately.

We have had a round of freezing rain and more is expected, since the valley school board has cancelled school. Right now, the road in front of me seems fine, and the temperature is above zero. I can't guess what the rest of the day will bring. The birds are franticly feeding. Perhaps they know more than I do.

Yesterday, I took a couple of pictures showing the tracks in the snow where the pheasant have come across the field in search of the bird seed that the wind has scattered around. The pheasant are very skittish, and are always on guard, running from any movement. They will startle at my moving past the window. I am amazed that they notice that. They half fly, half walk back to the safety of the woods.

I am looking forward to a trip to Halifax on friday with Dawn, and meeting up with Heather and E., to take in a show with Stuart McLean. He is a very popular radio host on the CBC, and a great story teller, with his tales of Morely and Dave, on the Vinyl Cafe. He travels all over Canada, and the USA, and I think he has even taken his show to the UK, though I might not be right on that front.
He tapes his travelling shows, then they are played on the radio. He has been doing this for years.

Dear Sadie is going with me so that she can visit her Halifax family, E & D. I am wondering how she will react when she realizes that her best puppy pals are no longer there. She has played with Jerry and Simba since she was a puppy, but sadly, both have died. I wonder how much dogs remember.
We will stay overnight, heading home on Saturday, as both Dawn and Heather are walking in "The Coldest Night of the Year" to raise money for the homeless. I would walk if I could, but will have to satisfy myself with sponsoring both teams. Dawn says I have to do that, 'cause I'm their mom.
Here's hoping the weather will co-operate for both the Halifax trip and the walk.

I find it hard to get going most mornings, but I must get up and get baking. The community card party is tonight and I must prepare a plate of sweets.
Sadie's hungry too, so this is it, for now.
A HEAVY rain is falling now....
Oh joy........

ps..I finished making squares, interupted once by a DOWNPOUR in the bathroom......Quick, grab the buckets....then put the squares in the oven to the tap, tap, of the drop, drop, drops.
Once again.......oh joy........

How to Get a Headache...

 I thought I would have a good practice at the piano, this afternoon, as it is choir night, and so I did. Sadie settled in on the couch, (she always does this when I play) and I started to play, first the songs for Sunday, and then a good go at a few pieces by Mr. Bach. Not difficult pieces, mind you, but ones that I can't just "wing it" as I sometimes do.

I would dearly love to play well, but I don't know if I have enough years left to do that. But, if I work, perhaps I will be able to play better than I do now.

The Captain was out, so I played and played, and then when I stopped, I realized that I had given myself a headache. This, said I to Sadie, is definitely not a good sign. Oh well.

My piano is a very old upright, in need of tuning. Make a note, call the Piano Tuner. It belonged to the Captain's mother, and had spent a year in her house, without heat, then moved by the Captain and his brother to our house in Shelburne. Then it was moved here. The first time I had it tuned, it could not be brought up to pitch, and even now it isn't, but when tuned it sounds pretty good. There are just a few notes that are off, so I think I got my headache from not using my glasses half the time. It's either that, or my playing itself. :) I wonder......yeah, that's probably it....

I'm pretty sure it is over 75 years if not more.

 

Have a great day, without any headaches. They are no fun at all.

 

 

 



The storm has almost blown itself out now, and midday finds the snow still being swirled and piled by the lessening wind. It is not a good day to be on the road. Church and other events were cancelled for today. Yesterday was a lost day, with extremely high winds, blowing and falling snow, white outs, storm surges and extra high tides. I know of at least 2 coastal towns that were hit with flooding, and high winds. The Historic Properties in Shelburne was flooded, other places had flooding, or docks destroyed, and waves thundering over the breakwalls. It is sad to see the damage.

Up here on the mountain, we just experienced the strong wind and snow. At times I could not see the house across the road..The most amazing thing is that we did not lose power, except for a few seconds, through the night on Friday. Even now, we are not plowed out. Our driveway has a couple of very high drifts. A neighbour just visited, and had a difficult time getting his truck in our driveway far enough that he wouldn't stick out on the road. It is hard to tell how much snow has fallen, but Greenwood Base noted that there was 51cm on the ground there. That is down in the valley.

I went out to feed the birds first thing this morning, and I sure didn't stay out very long. The birds are hardy creatures.

I am posting some pictures, though they do not really show the extent of the storm, you can see where there are drifts and bare ground.

I am looking forward to reading a good book this afternoon, and perhaps doing a little felting. I have a new bear on the go.

As far as I know everyone up here fared alright this weekend. Some dear soul is right now plowing the driveway with a blade on a four wheeler. I don't even know who it is, because he's wearing a bellaclava. Whoever it is, bless him. The captain would have a hard time getting across the road to get the tractor. And now he is gone, just as fast as he appeared. Eventually, I will find out and thank him.
Stay warm and safe.

Brrrrrrr....

We are getting the promised storm, and the wind is blowing the snow around. There are whiteouts, where I can not even see the house across the road. It is strange to see the road bare in places as the wind whips it and piles up drifts further along and across the pavement. It is nasty. I haven't noticed any cars going by, and that tells me that most people up here are smart enough to stay off the roads.

Drifts are building up across the yard, and it has been interesting watching the birds. I don't know how they manage. A while ago, there were about 20 birds, all on the side of the drift, pecking away at something with the wind catching them and blowing them sideways. Perhaps the wind has blown seed there, because I can't think of anything else. These little birds do have trouble flying against the wind, but they are still managing to come to the window feeders. They take cover in the cedar tree, then venture forth again. Two pheasant also made their way to the cedar, looking for feed on the ground. Hope they found something.

Stores and malls are closed, wisely, and we are due for another round of snow this afternoon. This storm seems to have all of Nova Scotia in its grip.  I am concerned for the coastal towns, as there is also a forecast for storm surges, along with extremely high tides.
Old man winter is definitely not finished with us yet.

Birds...musiic..grooming.....

The other day, I was sitting, enjoying one of my favourite pastimes, bird watching. The sky was blue and the sun was shining, making the trees and shrubs cast their shadows on the white snow. The tree just outside my den window was alive with redpolls, goldfinches, chickadees and snowbirds (juncos), and earlier there had been blue jays. A lone nuthatch and a downy woodpecker also came by. The redpolls are beautiful little birds, especially the males with their red patches above their beaks, and the splash of red on their chests. This is the first year that I have noticed the redpolls here, but I am happy to have them. I have yet to get a decent picture of them.

We are expecting another snow event here in the valley. Tomorrow is supposed to be quite blustery with a large snow fall. That is what is forecast, but as usual, one needs to wait and see if it will happen. It was very cold this morning, around -20. It has warmed up some. I did a few errands this morning, as the roads are pretty good right now.
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A family in our community is hosting a student from overseas, a very nice, and talented young man. He takes music in his home land of Austria, and plays piano. Since there isn't a piano in his host home, and he needs to practice, he will be coming to the church on choir practice evening to go over his music. I didn't realize the treat I was in for.  Beautiful. I usually go over early to get ready for choir, so as I got books out and put up hymn numbers, checked the library for returned books, (another job), he played. Finally I just sat down, shut my eyes and listened. He played jazz, and he played classical. Such a talent. He is going to come every Thursday evening before choir to practice. Nice!
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I got tired of my kitchen sink tap leaking like a sieve, and finally I called a plumber to come a fix it.
In the fall, I had bought a new tap, with the intensions of putting it in then, but the 'captain' said that I should wait until after apples. But......why, said I. Just wait.  It is well after apples, and then having to contend with the argument that what I had purchased was cheap, and would leak within days of being put it, I finally just called the plumber and got it done. I really try not to 'set the captain off', but I get weary of waiting for things to be done. I apparently am not smart enough to buy the right taps, or make decisions about anything else in this house. It is very hard to assert myself, after years of not doing that.
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I was almost finished my shopping this morning, when the light came on showing that the tire pressure was low. The first thing I thought of was, sadly, calling home to see what the captain wanted me to do. I tried to call him, but he doesn't answer the phone. Then, I thought, what would I do if I was all alone, and I drove to a garage to ask for help. Do you know that there are garages that only sell gas and groceries, and can't help with tires? I went to one. I ended up going to Canadian Tire, as it was close, and they took me right in, checked my tires, topped them up, and with a 'have a nice day', sent me on my merry way. Everything fixed, warning light off, and a smile on my face.
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Most pictures of Sadie, that I post on here, show her as looking more like a black and white slipper, than a dog. I decided that she needed a good hair cut, and her nails clipped. I spread out her blanket and got the scissors and comb, and settled her on the blanket. She is not really partial to being groomed. She likes to be combed, but when it comes to cutting she is not impressed. Her hair was so long, that when she went out in fresh snow, she brought little snowballs into the house, as they had attached themselves to her hair. To be honest, I am not a groomer, but I just set about cutting, and trimming....and now instead of a slipper, she looks like a badly groomed Japanese spaniel. But, she doesn't care, as long as the grooming is over, and that's good enough for me.

Till next time.......