Our Holiday Party

Last Sunday night.

The snow was falling and nothing in the neighborhood was moving. The solar lights were lighting the tree and blinking away on the fence outside. The fire was crackling in the kitchen stove and wine flowed freely.

I was warm, well fed (thank you Rosalina's) and feeling grateful. I have amazing family and friends that are kind and generous and fun to be around. This year we decided to have a party to celebrate the holidays and invited family and friends to Rosalina's for dinner.

The food was amazing, as always and it was fun to hang out and visit with everyone that could make it out in the snow storm.  A little like every day lately. The storms are there, and we have to fight through them to reach each other and connect.

I am grateful for everyone who could make it and help us establish a new tradition! You all rock!

Much Love, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  <3 <3

Vacationing at Home: Day 4

Day 4 - Thursday

It was a rainy and quiet morning, so we slept in. Rob went to see his Dad and I worked on cleaning up the house. This paring down of excess takes awhile. The nature of what we are trying to do with our garden, and becoming as sustainable as possible, requires some pretty specialized equipment for canning and food storage. I have no problem keeping the tools and equipment we need - what I still am figuring out is the massive amount of paperwork, mail, magazines, etc. that four adults generate. If I am honest about it - quite a bit of it is mine. I'm letting all but one of the magazines expire. I really enjoy Countryside, and have read it for years, and reread them - so those I'm keeping.

I spent some time hanging out with my daughter when she got home from work, which is always enjoyable, and then I worked for hours on the Powerpoint and drawings for my Permaculture final project. Working on this project for a design to make our property sustainable reveals some things to me personally. I feel overcrowded with many of the things around me. Clothing, books, paperwork, etc. I have been spending time thinking about my habits, hobbies, and day to day living and the effect it has on the world around me - and if my personal lifestyle is sustainable. Where I buy my clothes from, where our food comes from, all of the the other things we buy or throw away and how it effects the environment. We have found a place to buy local meat, cheese, eggs, etc. through Mass Local Food and next I want to find a way to buy clothing local. I'm just starting the research on this.

When Rob got home - he suggested we go to Rosalina's for dinner. It's so great to have such an amazing place to eat that we can walk a couple of blocks to. Dinner was delicious and I have almost 1/2 of my steak left - so tomorrow it's going to become a topping when I make my first gluten free (rice crust) pizza!

It was a slower paced day - but I find that I get more done when I can work on a project, then take a break and walk around or sit in the yard - and then get back to the project. Smaller bursts of work have a longer lasting effect on the progress I make.

One project was to clear off, organize (and get rid of) a bunch of useless things on the counter downstairs in our basement kitchen. So, I cleaned everything up to make a nice area for baking (and storing baking supplies) as well as a bigger space for canning and processing veggies from the garden. The cabinets are for food storage - for what doesn't fit in the couple of cabinets we have upstairs. Most of the baking supplies need to stay in a cooler place, so this is perfect. Also - with the space ready to use like this - I will be more likely to whip up some delicious meal or treat.  During the summer, when we don't use the wood stove for heating - we do our cooking downstairs in the gas stove.

Blizzard Nemo!

So, there's a storm coming...Blizzard Nemo.

I wish that some of the previous names like Draco or Khan had been the big storm, because Nemo just doesn't sound so tough. And wouldn't it be awesome to stand in 3 feet of snow and yell KHAAAAAN!  But this is New England. The cutest, meekest name becomes "Historic, Crippling Storm" or as they as saying now "2 feet with locally more" or my favorite "36 - 40 inches locally".

I can't help it - I have a little excitement in my gut like I did when we were kids. SNOW DAY! Although I do have to go to work in the morning, I will be home for noon before it gets really bad. People are doing what they need to - shopping, etc. We went out to dinner. Some wine and a delicious meal at Rosalina's Italian Kitchen and we are ready for the storm. Some people are worked up and in a panic - out buying into the stock up and be prepared for what will be hopefully only a couple of days of snow.

Don't get me wrong, we have things that we have to prepare. While Rob is getting enough kindling and wood ready for the wood stove for the weekend, I am making sure our icepacks are in the freezer, solar lights and flashlights are charged, electronics are charged, and dishes and laundry are clean. The worst that could happen would be loss of power, hot water, etc. So we make sure clothing is clean, water jugs are filled for washing up. Since we recently dealt with a water main break, we make sure there is tap water in bottles that can be boiled if needed.

All of this only amounts to a small amount of time and no stress at all because we already have these things done. As a mom, I also want to be sure our kids are in a safe place and have what they need. Mostly, this is a conversation and them reassuring me that they are fine.

Governor Duvall has asked that everyone that can stay home tomorrow and everyone else be off the roads by noon. He also asked that all school districts cancel school. So hopefully people listen and are smart about staying home if possible. It's comforting to see that the decision makers are taking this seriously.

Now, I am off to finish putting clothes away and making sure everything is in order. Then it's just a matter of riding out the storm.

I remember the Blizzard of '78 - we had no power, so no heat and had to go to a neighbors house for a few days - possibly a week until we had power back, and then there was nothing - no school, no church, nothing for 3 weeks. North Brookfield shut down except lots of sledding and playing outside. Cars stranded on highways for miles and a snowdrift up to my second floor window. I remember that feeling of having no choice about the heat and having to leave our house in the middle of a storm, maybe that contributed to my desire to always be ready for a storm? I'm sure it did.

Now, it's just the waiting...

It's only 9:00 on Friday night and it looks like this already...we still have the whole night and tomorrow to go. I hope everyone is staying put and enjoying a quiet night in! It's only a few inches of snow so far, but the wind is ridiculous...

Fruit and Nut trees sticking out of the snow

Rob made a beginning path so Pippin could get out...

it's hard to tell how much actually fell  - at least 2 feet.