Fire in the sky

 Yesterday morning there was fire in the sky and this was taken toward the east from my patio.  The other was toward the west and even in that direction, they sky was lovely!!!  I also pulled the living room blind to see deer on the front lawn. The antelope are elsewhere on the prairie, but the deer will spend the winter sleeping in my yard now. We will occasionally see the coyotes, fox, badger, moose and weasels, but the bald eagle perches daily in the tree south of us and the deer are here every evening.

 Snow arrived as predicted, but only a small amount and the temperature is proof that winter has arrived!!  With that in mind, time to turn to indoor activities and below is the first of many projects I have planned for my summer craft retreat with dear friends. Picked up at a thrift shop, I scored 6 wine glasses for $5.00 and this is my version of a painting project for the gals.  My mind is thinking of jack'o lanterns, witches, Santas, lop-eared bunnies.....endless new projects for painting.  With the tea lights on top, what do you think?

"It is said that we do not make our friends, that we simply recognize them." ~ Faith Baldwin

Holiday happenings

 I have been a little lax about posting...working on a quilt and the Mr. and I went to a pool tournament last weekend and I am preparing for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons upcoming.  Almost my favorite time of the year.  Girls, I have a craft project that I think you will love!!!  Just beginning to work on it.  Last weekend I met with several of my friends over in Cheyenne and we went to a couple of Christmas craft shows and that is where I saw this painting project.  My retreat gals like to paint and if the project can be a gift...all the better.  Wait for the finished project soon.  Also, since I am a baby boomer and of the generation that came during the first half of the last century, I still retain that simpler love for life.  Technology will cause that to change for other generations but I have the time and love to bake for the holidays.  Above are real fruitcakes!!  Not the kind you buy at the local market or the specialty stores, but the old fashioned Christmas fruitcakes.  We always had them at home and my dad loved these.  They are expensive to make and were a real sweet treat for those who struggled to make a living for their families..we had them once a year.  Mine is a very old recipe, but there are similar ones on line.  It has 4 cups of sugar, 7 cups of flour 8 lbs of candies fruits, dates, raisins, nuts, molasses, 10 eggs and lots of spices. Then when it is cooled, it is drizzled with brandy, wrapped in cheesecloth, then foil and placed in a tin.  Every few days, I will drizzle brandy over the loaves and rewrap until Christmas.  Yummy!!!  (not everyone loves these, in fact I find that mostly people my age appreciate the traditional sweet, but there are a few that do and I will gift them one)

The leaves are long gone from the cottonwoods and the Canadian cherry tree in our yards, but the pine makes a pretty silhouette against the firey sky sunset.  For us it is way too early for the Christmas decorations, but this pine will get it's lights soon and we are planning our 2nd annual trek to cut our indoor tree. 

When I was growing up, my mom had Thanksgiving dinner with aunts and uncles and cousins.  It was always festive with lots of food, games, a little bottled cheer and lots of love. When my children were growing up, we lived too far away to be with family most of the time and the Mr. and I are too far away from our children to travel at this time of the year.  We still live in snowy, windy country with travel advisories most of the time, but we have been fortunate to have family and friends most of the time.  Even if it is just the two of us and the furkids, I still cook a turkey and have all the trimmin's.  So when it snows and it does regularly, I bake cookies etc. and the holiday happenings have already begun!!

Cold snowy days

 I got a call from my buddy in town (50 miles away) checkin' on me to see if I had been in...and not contacting her, but alas, I assured her that I had not.  I understand why snowbirds travel south in the winters here.  It was a freakin' 9 degrees yesterday and the wind is blowing this morning at a speed that rattles your teeth.  The inch and a half of snow we got yesterday a.m. is blowing like glitter everywhere and NO...I am not venturing out!!  Maybe I will quilt!!!  Above are finally the 1126 or so pieces stitched into arcs for the quilt I am making, but there are many more pieces to add.  The furkids below know how to handle these cold, snowy days which is why I have leather furniture. And I do have alternate seating. 

 Some of my favorite things are the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets and even with snow on the range, we still have those.  Thanksgiving is creeping up on us and looking at the calendar, I realize that we have so many birthdays in November.  2 nieces, a couple of nephews, a son-in-law, several dear friends and my sister,  and daddy and the Mr.'s mother had November birthdays.  Could explain those cold snowy days in February huh? 

The eagles still perch in the tree south of us as they look for prey, and the deer are starting to venture near for foraging, but the antelope are now in large herds on the prairie and a little more scarce.  Watching for tracks in the snow that on chance the moose may have visited this morning, the snow was only disturbed by a small bunny that has taken up residence in my garden.  The Mr. wants to feed him, but he is probably preferring the remnants of the flower bed and garden.  They can be ravenous and destroy so much, but I am not launching a battle yet.  Although we have cold snowy days, we don't have most of the natural disasters that much of the rest of the nation has and we are thankful for that and the fact that spring will eventually be here!!