Happy Holidays

While on the coast this past weekend we decided it was time to visit Shores Acres State Park on the Oregon Coast. We hadn't been there for the holiday lights in over 10 years. There are over 300,000 lights, countless volunteers putting them up, taking them down and hosting every evening. Cookies & hot cider are served in the cottage, young high school girls were serving Sunday evening. There's also musical entertainment, we listened to the tuba ensemble performing holiday tunes. Very worthwhile going to for the holiday lights or any other time of the year, the rugged ocean views are incredible and the flowers showy......but it's truly a magical place at the holidays.  Enjoy..........

Happy Holidays to you all no matter what holiday you celebrate - be safe, treasure spending time with family and friends whether big and boisterous or keeping it small and quiet....the best to you all.

Weekend on the coast

We took off Saturday morning for a 3 day weekend on the coast. We were worried about finding broken pipes knowing the temps there got pretty low while we were in freezing temps here in the valley - all was ok - phew.

It was a weekend of relaxing and walking on the beach - many small treasures to be found.....it was a big weekend for seaglass, probably 2 handfuls full, many sea snail shells which I find actually house little hermit crabs......picked up a handful of cockle shells..........although have to stop picking those up, they were on the beach by the thousands this weekend and we've already got way too many antique blue ball jars full of them.....but sometimes I just can't help myself. My goal this year is to find some fun project to use them for so I can gift them and continue to pick them up by the thousands...........

The top shell is a olive shell, this one a baetic olive shell as it's brown, I've also found olive purple shells that have a blue/purple tinge to them. These were once very valuable among the Indians to use in necklaces and to decorate clothing with. The other shell is a clam shell, I think, I couldn't narrow it down in my shell book but it looks to be some sort of clam.........it's the first I've found in these colors.

Driftwood on the beaches is very fun, from minuscule to gigantic tree trunks like this. This one caught my eye because of the incredible patterns on it....some close ups below.

Look at those swirls......

.....and these.......

.....and this neat knothole........

I did a little spinning while over there - went to the spinning group at The Wool Co and worked on some drop spindling I leave over there.....problem is that this project has been going on for so long that my spinning isn't real consistent.........too much time..........need to finish it up soon. It's some superwash merino I had dyed a while back. Not sure how many yards I'll end up with, am hoping for enough for a cowl......it's not a large amount of roving. Sad news we knew was coming - The Wool Co is closing by the end of January - from what I understand it's time for the two partners to move on after many years.......aging parents need help out of the area for one and the other is ready to retire.

I need to do some editing of pix for my festive post for tomorrow of where we went last night over on the coast....but right now back to preparing yummies for our family Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow evening.......

Relaxing and a sigh of relief.......

Oh yes, I watched curling today - I know those that know me well are probably getting a good laugh over me being so enthralled with curling but it's my sport. Last night the finals for the Olympic Trials were on tv so I dvr'd it to watch when I had time. The US team beat out the Czech team to make it into the Olympics - they were so happy, it was fun to see them win but I felt so bad for the Czech guys. I'm already looking forward to watching it during the Olympics.....if they broadcast much of it, certainly not a sport that's at the top of the popular list.

I can't just sit and watch tv, I have to be doing something and that something was knitting the foot on the second sock. I was wondering if I'd get these done in time to put them in Sam's Christmas stocking as he'll be with me all the time starting this evening through Christmas. Finishing those was my sigh of relief. They are wrapped and in the stocking.......well, didn't actually hang the stockings so they're in a gift bag......a Trader Joe's brown shopping bag recycled into a gift bag.......

 This was the spinning I started yesterday while the power was out. It's from my stash, bought it several years ago from Janis Thompson of Dyelots up in Eugene. It's Karaoke - a blend of merino and soy silk. Soy silk is not one of my favorites to spin but the resulting yarn is lovely. I don't know what it will grow up to be after spun.

 

Here's some  roving I spun last week, just 4 oz from a Inglenook Fibers batt. I generally don't buy novelty batts because I don't tend to like spinning lumpy bumpy yarn but I thought I'd give it another try......not sure how many tries I have to give it before I stop spinning novelty yarn......so much happier spinning nice smooth yarn but I'll find the perfect project for this because it is lovely spun up. I spun it so it goes from one color to the next. It's plied with black quilting thread.

 

 

Rude awakening to the morning.......

Interesting morning here today......Sam left for the gym at 5am, I was almost back to sleep when I heard him slip sliding back up the icy drive. I figured he forgot his clothes for the office but no, there was an overturned lumber truck in the ditch alongside our drive down on the road. There were two fire trucks there already, fire fighter came over to tell Sam to turn himself around and get back up the drive as the power pole at the edge of the drive was cracked, the line 10 ft from the ground, arcing and burning.....easier said than done to get turned around on ice and back uphill on the 1/3 mile driveway. He ran in the house and jumped in the shower figuring we'd lose power any minute which means we lose well water. I jumped out of bed, boxed up etsy orders, printed postage. It was 3 hours before we lost power but then it was off for several hours. No leaving the property as the power company was using our driveway to put in a new pole and had all the wire laying running up the drive. Our road has been closed all day, once the power was repaired the lumber company was out there picking up the load. Sam has just left here hoping to get out with my orders to the post office. Phone box down on the road was also hit with wires hanging out but not disconnected - we have phone and internet but we've put a call in to them to come repair it. Truck broke a good portion of our concrete culvert - supposedly it will be fixed according to the owner that Sam and neighbor Merle talked when they ventured down the drive. Heard the driver had a broken clavicle, bumps and bruises and was taken to the hospital but is doing ok.

All this on a day when we finally had sun - no frozen fog - but still the below freezing temps and snow and ice from the snowstorm 2 weeks ago plus a trace of freezing rain overnight - there was ice all over the roads here in the north valley.

Of course no power totally changed my day - everything I planned to do today required power. I spun for a bit, wrapped gifts once it was light enough to see in the room I had everything stashed in, then I spun again. I could have knit on Sam's socks but he was here and they're a gift....not quite sure if I'll get them done in time for Christmas as he's with me for almost everyday between now and then......oh well, into the Christmas stocking still on the needles.

When the power came back on I decided to bake my Nani's (Italian grandmother) biscotti cookies, one of my favorites. This is the kind of biscotti I grew up, I had never heard of the biscotti we see these days in the stores where it's twice baked, hard and crunchy, these are soft and melt in your mouth lovely. I have the best memories of helping her bake all kinds of Christmas cookies every year - this is the only one I'm baking this year.

I mixed up the dough and then rolled it out into logs and cut those into small bite-size morsels. My grandmother actually made her a two bite cookie.

Here they are ready to go in the oven - they have almond flavoring in them - yum

Here they are out of the oven - they're not meant to be browned or they'll taste dry

 

And here they are iced with a simple confectioners sugar icing with almond flavoring and then sprinkled with non-pariels - I restrained myself, I usually put many more on. Nani split up the icing and used food coloring to make half with green icing and half with red icing - I kind of like the look of white.

Road report - Sam is back from the post office.....our road is still closed but they were letting those who live on it get in and out. The entire thing is graveled because of the ice. He said it looks like there's at least another 2 hours work of loading all that wood onto another trailer. No mail today, guess they wouldn't let the mail person past the barricade to deliver.

I got out yesterday to the weaving guild meeting....Sam driving.....nice time, yummy food for the potluck, gift exchange and bidding on auction items to benefit our scholarship fund. From the auction I ended up with a John Marshall sheer overtop (whoo hoo) and some of the yummiest lighter than air cookies. In the gift exchange I received some fun sheep socks and a woven Guatemalan band that is begging to be used as a tote handle.....which means I'll have to weave up some fabric for it in the future.

Today Sam kindly said yes to trying to scrape the ice off the bad spots on the driveway so I can get out tomorrow. The entire drive would still be packed snow had he not shoveled a layer off last weekend. Bailey supervised - he was out of the picture frame rolling in the snow.......I braved the cold out on the deck to get the picture and then went back inside to warm by the fire.

I decided to make some marshmallow pops today......lollipop sticks in marshmallows dipped in chocolate and then graham cracker crumbs.........

........smores on a stick - yum.......

 

.........then I found some fun holiday sprinkles that I mixed all together........

.....dipped marshmallows in almond bark and rolled them in the sprinkles........

......all packaged up ready to give away.....looks like they'd be great goodies for kids......they're all going to my spinning group......big kids......

.....and before I could pull out the White Christmas DVD what do I find on TV just starting but that very movie - my favorite holiday movie of all time....the holidays aren't the same if I don't watch it which is why Sam put a copy in my Christmas stocking a number of years ago, no panic time trying to find it on TV.

Today may be the day the snow starts melting - woke up to 30 degree temperature and it's now 33 and the sun is trying to come out - whoo hoo. Just in time so I can attend my weaving guild meeting tomorrow - it's our potluck holiday luncheon, gift exchange and silent auction to raise money for our scholarship fund - an all around fun day.

Did I mention that in yesterday's windshield wiper debacle that I was wearing my jammies when the snow fell in my lap?  In the freezing cold.......but I did put my boots on........

Status quo......

...... for days we've been promised temps would get above freezing, hasn't happened yet, today it was frozen fog with a high of 30. And tonight into tomorrow morning the forecast is for freezing rain.......on top of the snow........that's not melted.......one bit.......just venting.......   

Today I put together more felting kits and got them back up for sale in the etsy shop. After that I started a fire, got disc 3 of The Vikings out of the Netflix envelope and sat down with my knitting. I finished up the first sock, got started on the second, these are to go in Sam's Christmas stocking finished or not.

Irritation of the day - 15 phone calls, only 3 of them from family ( 3 is a lot for me), the rest all recordings.......and most of them while I was deep into watching The Vikings which I kept pausing in order to answer the phone.

Funny of the day - Sam asked me if I'd start up both vans as they're sitting outside the garage in the frigid cold covered in snow, the older one has an old battery too. Old van started a little slow but ok, left it running for a while - the front end is in front of the garage partially under the deck so no need to clean off the front windshield, just the back one. The new van is sitting around front in snowville where the only tracks are Bailey's, mine and assorted wildlife. I started it up, left it running around 15 minutes then went back out to turn it off. Sitting in the front seat with the door open I thought I'd turn on the windshield wipers......a windshield with 6" of snow still on it......can you see what's coming next?!  Yep, before I could shut the door all that snow was pushed off the side right in on top of my lap, in the pockets on the door and all over the floor. I swear Bailey was laughing at me. I hope you got a laugh out of picturing me doing that.........I was happy to share..........

Enough already......

Ok, enough already - the snow is just as beautiful as the day it fell last Friday, it's not all crusty and ugly, it's still fluffy, fly away and powdery.....but it's not going anywhere.....and the weather forecaster was wrong again yesterday, it never got above freezing, doubt it will today. There is hope by Friday but I'll believe it when I see it. I'm tired of hearing the water run in the sink and worrying about pipes freezing which is happening all over the place.....I'm tired of being cold.....I'm not tired of being stuck at home though, that's kind of enjoyable even on day 6.

This morning Bailey and I took our face freezing walk in a different direction, down the driveway. Our driveway is 1/3 mile long, downhill, curvy, in this picture above we've already come out of our gate and onto the common drive we share with 3 other properties, this is halfway to the road. There are some tire tracks, a couple 4WD trucks ventured out and the UPS truck ventured in yesterday although he left our package on the gate, he knew better than to try our section of the drive which is very steep and curvy. See way down the drive? That's where our road is - let's go see if it's improved....

Nah, not much improvement since last Friday - not passable for my mustang if I could make it down our drive without sliding off into the ravine - it will never be plowed or sanded, we just live too far out along with tons of other folks. There is around 2" of solid ice under the snow.

Here's the road looking in the other direction......the Rogue River is at the end of this side, maybe another mile down.....the Rogue River that has ice floating down it which never happens....I have not seen this in person as I can't get there but a friend lives on the river sent a picture of what it looks like with ice on it. Southern Oregon just doesn't get this type of weather - we get snow, it warms up and disappears - we are not used to these prolonged cold temps.

And here's Bailey sitting down at the road...he's loving the snow. Wow, look at that face, he is really getting gray, I don't usually notice it but in the photo it really shows up......I'm not ready for an old dog yet.......

And here's the sun today - up until now we've had sun and blue skies with the cold but not today, we have fog, this was taken at 10:30 this morning.

I took the afternoon off yesterday sitting in front of the fire knitting on Sam's sox while watching a couple movies. Today I've got around 100 pounds of roving to weigh into bags, label, put in inventory and get back up in the etsy shop. Need to put together more felting kits too. I've put this chore off long enough........

A different view

Nothing much happening here except finishing up wrapping gifts, one gift still left to knit, sox for Sam........But I thought I'd give another view of the snow....the never ending snow and ice on the ground that is keeping me property bound (not a bad thing) as our long drive and road are still treacherous even with 4WD. Balmy 14 when I woke up this morning so this is an improvement over the past 2 days....we're supposed to hit 32 today, above freezing tomorrow.

I took the camera on our walk around the property this morning. I tried to catch what looks like thousands of tiny diamonds glistening on the snow....moguls in this case. Hard to catch those sparkles and I don't have enough photography knowledge to know how to do better.

Deer prints in the snow, we also saw turkey, bobcat and jackrabbit in addition to thousands of Bailey's footprints.

We walked up to the top of our property - this is looking south, at the edge of the snow it goes down into a ravine and back up to that hill opposite us.

This is the view coming back down the hill looking north at Mount Sexton. At this point the turkeys were complaining bitterly as they were high up in the trees above us. I'm really thinking they don't like getting their tootsies cold as they usually come down as soon as dawn breaks, this was 11am.

I still have a couple huge boxes, I mean huge, filled with roving that needs to be weighed into bags, labeled and put into inventory, colors sold out listed back in the etsy shop. I had thoughts of taking care of this today but sitting in front of the fire watching White Christmas while knitting on Sam's sox sound much better - I think I deserve the day off......been working too hard and too many hours lately........

It's downright balmy out..........

It's downright balmy right now - it's 20 degrees........that's up from the 7.5 it was when I got up this morning. I looked over at the thermometer this morning and it looked like it said 75 - I immediately figured it had gone wack-a-do until I went to look at it closer and saw the decimal point in-between the 7 and the 5. Yeppers, it was cold.....but now it's warmed up to a balmy 20. It's supposed to possibly be 33 tomorrow and warm up more later in the week to more normal temps.

Sam hates the cold but he decided to try and shovel out his tire tracks from Friday night. He got the top layer of light snow off, the rest is a couple inches of ice. He needs to get out to work tomorrow......and he will kindly go in a bit later so he can mail all my orders and our gifts heading east. He'll be able to make it in his 4wd truck (we think) I won't be going anywhere. Once he gest down the driveway safely he has to navigate our curvy road to get out to a bigger road. See that ravine on the left hand side? Well it's steep and a long drop down....and the driveway is very narrow and long.....total length 1/3 mile but he only shovels half of it, our asphalt section - the remaining half is gravel under the snow.

Bailey's doing a good job of supervising, he supervised the entire length of the driveway.

And here he is again making sure Sam does a good job.  We've heard that some roads, in town, are clear, but many roads including sections of I5 are all still ice/snow covered. Should prove to be an interesting morning commute......for some.......but not me who will be staying in working on finishing up holiday cards and wrapping gifts so I can move back to working on my business stuff......lots of roving to weigh out, felting kits to put together, not to mention weaving to be done........

Winter Wonderland......for some......

It's a winter wonderland out there......Sam wasn't thinking so as it took him 5 hours to get home from work yesterday, usually a 48 minute drive. He sat for hours on our little section of I5, the major north/south freeway that runs the entire length of the west coast. His 4WD Tundra does great in the snow......if there aren't miles of blocked cars ahead of him. I was beginning to think he might be spending the night out there.

So this is what it looks like now, so beautiful, so serene, hard to imagine the havoc it caused yesterday and is still causing today. This morning more snow flurries and very dark clouds but within a matter of hours the blue sky and sun appeared......too bad it won't do much to help with the snow covered roads as the temps are still below freezing and this evening the prediction is for 6 degrees. But big clumps of snow are falling off the trees every once in a while.

Good day to be inside finishing up gifts and working on our holiday cards. I'm very thankful we never lost power like so many in other areas of the country experiencing ice & snow storms right now.