Spring Countdown

It was three years ago that I started doing a spring countdown for my friends on Facebook.  I began on the winter solstice.  Every day I posted the days until spring and the length of the day.

I began again this shortest day of the year.  Here  in Seymour, December 21 was 8 hours 49 minutes and 31 seconds long.  That means when I woke up at 6:00 the sky was dark.  The sunrise was at 7:20 a.m. By 4:15 the skies darkened again.

Not much will be different tomorrow. It will be 89 days to the equinox and all that will be added is 2 seconds.  We have a long way to go to get up to reach that blesses 12 hour day.

To make the countdown more interesting, I am going to post a song that reminds me of summer.  Today's was "The Southern Cross" by Crosby, Stills and Nash.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9gLjEGJrw
It reminds me of sitting beside a campfire at a sheep station near Canberra, in Australia and days on boats in southern climates.

I am looking for more songs that speak of summer.  I would appreciate any suggestions.

Meanwhile, we have to survive these dark days.


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Don't forget to check out our short stories at Black Coffee Fiction. They're a way to while away the winter. http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com

Snow Day

This winter is getting a bit old.  Except that today is the last day of autumn.  Winter doesn't officially start until tomorrow.

However, it was winter in every way but the calendar.  It was snowing when Gary got home last night. It was snowing when we woke up. It snowed all day and is still snowing.

So other than running the snow blower and doing a bit of shoveling, we've been home all day. I missed a funeral I meant to go to.  I missed going shopping for a present for my grandson.

Instead we stayed in, watched a little television, read, and snacked on snickerdoodles.  I baked up some squash left from the farmers market this summer. I packed it in bags to put in the freezer. I thought about baking more cookies but I think I learned my lesson with the snickerdoodles.

Though our Christmas trees are on timers to make them light up two hours in the morning and three hours in the evening, today Gary turned them all day to lift our spirits.

Gary settled in next to the living room tree for a long winter's nap in his recliner.

I told him he really needed a cat to make it perfect, but we have agreed to avoid pets until we have moved, probably next summer.

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I finished the last in my series of Christmas stories for people who don't like Christmas.  This time it was a coming out of the closet story.

http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com/2013/12/let-your-hearts-be-gay-at-christmas.html

There are two things that should never be done at Christmas:  tell your parents something they are not prepared to hear and giving someone a puppy.

Winter Mornings

Each winter morning, I rise at 6:00 a.m. As we come to the winter solstice, that hour is dark here in Wisconsin. However, there is much to cheer me.

Gary has timers on the Christmas lights so that they all go on at 6:00 a.m. As I come down the stairs, I hear a click and the rooms are bathed in lights.  The dining room Christmas tree is the big one. In my office the poinsettia tree turns everything red.  The living room is green from Gary's father's old tree.

This morning, a surprise.  Gary managed to fix the three foot tall fiber optic tree last night and it, too now rests on a table in the living room casting rainbow shades.

I light the candles I found at summer rummage sales. There are enough of them to last until March. A lavender scent in the living room, cranberry in the dining room, vanilla here in the office.

I boil water and turn on the computer. When I sit at this desk, another light show, the almost full moon setting in the western skies.  I drink my morning tree and watch it until the sun rises in the east. By the time I eat my toast, the moon disappears.  I turn on the stereo for classical Christmas music.

That is the signal for the birds to get busy.  By 7:00 a.m. the downy woodpecker is at the suet feeder just outside my office winter.  He is followed by the hairy and red bellied woodpeckers in turn.  Soon the mourning doves, chickadees and juncos are fluttering around until the blue jays arrive about 8:00 a.m.to scare them off. Next come the cardinals. Who needs Christmas lights when the birds are putting on a show? The timer flicks off the lights when full daylight makes them unnecessary.

Now it is time for a frothy cup of cappuccino, my big winter treat. I add a snickerdoodle and set to work on Friday's story for Black Coffee Fiction.

Gary's coffee maker turns on.  Gary comes down the stairs soon after. Our day has begun.

The Podiatrist

I've had malformed feet all my life. My big toes turn toward the other toes leaving big bulged like bunions.  I always figured it had to do with wearing bad shoes when I was a child and lived with them. I bought shoes to fit around those awful toes and always managed.  I wound up a hiker. If there was pain, it was never bad.

Then I developed hammer toes. The second toe on each foot began to cross over the third.  According to web sites, this could be caused by bad shoes, either high heels or shoes that are too tight.  However, I haven't worn high heels in years.  I've always thought they were rather a silly fashion. As for tight shoes, I wear size elevens.  I mostly wear canvas sports shoes with a certain amount of "give".  I don't have to have supports because I was born with flat feet.

Up until the hammer toes, I had little trouble. Then at my yearly checkup, my doctor suggested I see a podiatrist who could operate on my feet.  But yesterday, I found out that the hammer toes could not be repaired by surgery because my big toe is so deformed it would just continue to push on the other toes. This is a genetic problem, he told me.  It was the same with the flat feet. (That explains my son's feet.)

The podiatrist finally suggested simple devices I could buy in any drugstore for $7, tubes to put over the second toe on either foot.

It helped right away. I am now pain free.

So I will live my life with crooked feet, accepting that my feet will never be pretty.

  

Snickerdoodles and Cookbooks

A few nights ago, I dreamed of snickerdoodles, those wonderful buttery cookies.  When I woke up I thought I was safe from the calories because I probably didn't have the right ingredients.  I was wrong. I had everything in the house.

The next step was to avoid baking.  Gary and I are trying to lose weight. According to the internet calorie counting sites, one snickerdoodle has 140 calories.

I held off as long as possible, but we've had so many cold nights and I convinced myself baking would keep the house warmer.  Tonight some friends called to say they were coming over.  It was as good an excuse as any and I flew into action.  I sent cookies home with Susan and Bob but Gary and I ate three this evening each. I still had three dozen left. I knew what I had to do. Into the freezer they went.  I hope they stay there.

The recipe came from the Betty Crocker New Good and Easy Cook Book.  New?  Well maybe in 1967 when I bought it.  I was living in Chicago at the time. The book plate I placed in it says "Colleen Doersch."  I was single then.  Within a few years I added The New Settlement Cookbook and the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, a 12 volume set. Those books were the best investment I ever made.

Unfortunately, after almost 50 years, they are all getting worn out.  The Betty Crocker covers came off. The spine of the New Settlement book  is gone.  The covers of the 12 volume set are dirty from years of sitting on messy kitchen counters but it is the inside of those books are really messy. I can scarcely make out my favorite recipe for banana nut bread in Volume 2.

Tonight I searched the Internet, that fount of anything anyone would want to know about and found out that all the books can be purchased on line.

Yet replacing the books seems like abandoning old friends.  I wonder if I will.

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For more on cookies check out Wade Peterson's story at Black Coffee Fiction
http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com/2013/12/pick-your-poison.html
  

Winter Nights

In 2013, I was the evil weather goddess. Whenever I wanted to do anything the weather turned bad.  In February, I went South and found horrendous storms, including one tornado that wiped out the campground I meant to go to.  In March, April and May the sturgeon spawned then stopped when the weather turned cold, then started and stopped again. We never got to guard along the banks of the Wolf River.

Because of snow the campgrounds did not open at the beginning of May.  It was almost June before we got started and then it rained for most of the month.

I went around Lake Superior on a storytelling tour in July.  Canada had rain, extreme heat, or chills. On the only two pleasant days, the little black flies came out.

Then came July, August and September in the national forests with more rain and cold. Far too often we were inside the camper instead of hiking in the woods. So the year has gone. Whenever we wanted to do anything, the weather intervened.

This morning the temperature in Seymour was -8 degrees F. (-13 C.)  We've had days of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. I cannot get out to walk so we make do with the fitness center.

Tonight we are home as the temperature plummets again.  Once inside the house, let the winds howl, let the snow fall.  Mathom House is well insulated.  We stay warm.

Our meals reflect the weather.  Tonight we had spaghetti and meat balls, the perfect comfort food.  Later, we'll follow that with hot apple pie.  We'll sit next to our respective Christmas trees with our laptops and e-books. I am listening to Christmas music on the stereo. Gary is playing video games. Candles flicker on all the horizontal surfaces.

We are warm and content with life. If I have to be the bad weather goddess, at least we can be comfortable.

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Since I wrote about my Christmas tree, I am getting more ornaments from friends around the world. Today's came from Carol Ferguson in Sonora, Kentucky:  a crocheted guardian angel, like those she makes for the children's hospital.  It is a reminder that I should get back down there for a visit as soon as I can.  

Calendar 2014

I started planning for 2014 on my brand new desk calendar today.  There's is something so delightful about starting a New Year with fresh paper and fresh ideas and looking back at the ratty old calendar and realizing I can soon throw it away.

Last year so many of our plans were upset when Gary had to spend the winter in Illinois taking care of his aunt until the end of April.  

There was no Green Bay RV & camping show for us then.  But this year we should be here in Wisconsin for it on January 16-19.  We will climb in and out of trailers and RVs to see what's new. At the same time, we will buy our state park camping stickers, pick up brochures and maps, and talk to old friends among the dealers. Click here for information:

http://www.wbay.com/story/24925/wbay-rv-camping-show

It was my intention to do several book signings in Illinois in January when we are back in Dixon to do some more work on the farmhouse.  Instead, I am going to be doing jury doing here in Outagamie County. Instead, I am going to try to do the signings at the beginning of February.  I'll be in Hawaii February 11-28. 

That brings us to March.  On March 7-8 we'll be in Madison for Canoecopia, the nation's biggest canoe show. Gary already has four canoes but he is interest in kayaks. Because of the weather, we missed canoeing as much as we wanted. Our first canoe trip of the year is often at the end of March but this year, Wisconsin had snow almost to the end of May.  This year we hope things go better. If nothing else, we'll reconnect with canoeing instructor Becky Mason, daughter of Gary's hero, Bill Mason.

http://www.canoecopia.com/canoecopia/page.asp?pgid=1001

In April there's the Midwest Crane Count on April 12.  I haven't made the count for several years and unless I can find a partner, I may not do it this year either. It really takes two people to do the job properly, particularly if the site is busy.  

https://www.savingcranes.org/annual-midwest-crane-count.html

Somewhere in April or May we want to guard the sturgeon on the Wolf River and its tributaries.  Last year was a disappointment, too, when the giant lady fish kept changing their minds about laying their eggs on the rock piles along the water.  It never happened on any of the three days we selected.  We are not deterred. We will keep trying.  The sign up sheets will not be available until January. I've marked that on my things to do list for the first week of the new year.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/sturgeon/sturgeonguard.html

Soon after we will be camping in the north woods.  The campground all will be open by mid-May. 

Calendars offer so much promise starting with the first entry on January 1. I'll be forcing tulips in pots on that day.

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Something else for the calendar.  Starting tomorrow, a holiday blog parade of writers.  You can follow the list at Nikki Kallio's blog, More Purple Houses:
http://morepurplehouses.blogspot.com/