Merry Christmas

Went to my daughter's last week (she is sheltering and it is about the only place we go). She showed me the amaryllis, 3 in fact that, she had planted and were blooming.  This above is just one and isn't it beautiful?  She is such a remarkable gardener.  I have never attempted to do this, but for Christmas it is just amazing!

We have been sheltering still, doing some small construction projects...well the Mr. is doing that and below you can see that Bogie crawled into one of those plastic shoe box size containers.  The Mr. had just a couple of small tools in it to assist in removing some old baseboards and the crazy cat thought it would be a great bed.  He doesn't realize that he is getting too big for these things.  Every morning the two of them play under the tree with  whatever treasures they find to hide there during the night.  They amuse us so much! 
I have been working on a quilt that needed to be finished still and baking some cookies, but this Christmas will be different for lots of folks, and we will not be traveling.  I did not even send cards this year for the first time since I have been married, but will answer some of those we receive.  We are blessed, but some of our family are struggling with illness and with the vaccine now on the near horizon, surely our new year will be a much better year for all of us.  My neighbor said it has been a year from hell and for some, that's a good description.  

Merry Christmas and a better New Year is our hope for all!
 

Sheltering still

It has been how long now since we began sheltering?  I find it difficult to find anything to blog about as each day seems to start and end just like the previous one.  We have opted not to send Christmas cards and I did mention in last year's letter that it might just be the last.  That was before the pandemic emerged with a vengeance.  We order nearly everything we can as so many others are doing and the strain on the delivery people is apparent.  So many of our orders arrive late in the evening and with the holiday upon us, the demand for delivery has increased.  We do everything we can to acknowledge the service workers and the health care workers who especially are becoming overworked.  Mail carriers have increased loads and postage is not really an essential for the most part.  We receive very little mail of any significance since we do most business on line.  I plan to communicate with friends though as time goes by.  

    That brings me to another important item.  At least it is important to me.  My friends know that I like to stay in touch, but we have had some dropped calls recently.  In fact..a lot. Not knowing exactly what the problem was and not getting a definite answer from my carrier, we opted to go with a new phone.  I really don't like to spend money on phones, but they are essential.  It seems now, that we simply have lousy service for some reason.  This issue became a burr under my saddle just recently as I never had a problem in the past year.  We have purchased a signal amplifier for cell phones and it arrived last night (delivery personnel again) ~ bless 'em.  That will be an adventure getting it installed and determining if it will improve things. Wish us luck!

In the past, I have written about our kittens, who have now become almost full grown cats.  At least they eat like cats!  They are so darned entertaining and above you can see that Bogie found a shoe insert in my closet, drug it down the hall and into the living room.  He will wrestle with it and pack it all over the house.  They love the Christmas tree skirt..not the tree especially, but they hide things under the tree skirt.  Then they literally get it bunched up and pulled away from the tree trying to find the treasures they hide.  I heard that cats don't like oranges but when I hid orange peel under the skirt, they just made a game of hunting for them and playing with them.  

With my new sewing machine, I am finally getting some of the quilts finished. This panel was purchased years ago, but it is getting quilted. And by the way, that machine is a big improvement over the old one which was pretty good actually.  Life is good, we are healthy and happy and getting pretty accustomed to a life of leisure since we have very little obligations now that staying home is the norm.  This will not last forever folks..mask up, social distance, wash your hands and don't be selfish in thinking this is an inconvenience for you. 

"To the world you just may be one person, but to one person you may be the world." ~ 

Josephine Billings
 

Christmas with kittens

I have had cats for years, mostly indoor/outdoor cats, but never two kittens.  Although they are about 7 months and nearly full-grown, they are still playful kittens.  The tree went up yesterday and I knew that I would not be able to have all of my beautiful glass ornaments and icicles on it.  I have had several trees at one time for Christmas in the past, so I have had a lot of different ornaments and culled a lot before we moved.  I did get plenty of unbreakable decorations on the tree and the cats love napping under it and trying to play with the lower ornaments.  No harm done!  But above I made a few new ones after getting instructions from a friend for the hats and I used batting for the mittens.

These kittens are a lot of fun though and they have been a blessing during this time of sheltering.  We had a lovely Thanksgiving, although I think the turkey got a little too done.  Erica and Jeffery came and we are all acutely aware of masks and sheltering.  So many are not taking precautions even now as we lose more people. 

I have had so many calls dropped from my phone this week..actually every call has dropped once or twice.  So, we did truck out safely to the Verizon store and I did get a new phone.  Turns out, the calls are still dropping.  So----it must be our provider.  But on the other hand, nearly everyone I have spoken to has had the same issue...perhaps not as often as me but it is so frustrating.  Covid?  I am sure that there are so many using all of our technology now that some systems just overload.  There are vaccines on the horizon and I will be in line for sure. I was about 10 when the polio vaccine was available.  My father had us in line for that as soon as it was being given.  My grandmother's neighbor had a daughter in an iron lung with polio and he would take me to look through her window to wave to her and tell me that I wouldn't have to be in one of those with the vaccination and we weren't allowed to play with her sister.  I have known several people who were affected with polio.  Some of the long term affects of Covid are now becoming apparent, and there may be more. 

We try to carry on as normally as we can, being aware of our actions, but staying vigilant.  When my phone allows, I stay in touch with friends and family who understand the situation.  Things will get better.

"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting." ~ Anonymous