Starting 2018

The first week of 2018 is all but in the books and as it turns out, the coldest days of the season have fallen in the same week as well.  I know we have nothing to complain about compared to what folks on the east coast are enduring this week.  But still, it’s been brutal!

With the incredible cold, I thought it might be a good time to try my hand at making some ice ornaments and an ice lantern.  I’ve seen these throughout the years but when I saw Reading My Tea Leaves post I was reminded of them again.  I did some frigid foraging, assembled my creations, and left them out on the deck overnight.  I hung the ornaments near the front door and on the bird feeder.  (The new window feeder has been seeing a lot of action too.)  We lit the lantern on New Year’s Eve and positioned it near the window so we could enjoy it from the living room.

My first morning of the New Year was spent cuddling with our youngest grandchild, Sophie, while she cuddled with the doll I made her for Christmas.  Her mother says she adores it which thrills me to no end. This was her second New Year’s Eve with us and this year we made her a balloon drop.  We did this all the time when our kids were little.  (We never were for going out much.)  I was delighted the next morning when I saw on our son’s Facebook page they had done the same thing for their girls, keeping the tradition going for another generation.

During these single digit temperatures, Paul and I have been spending our time huddled inside watching movies and listening to audio books.  We’ve listened to Mr. Mercedes and are a third of the way through Finders Keepers, the first two of a three book series by Stephen King.  It feels great to be reading again, something that falls away during the holiday making season.  I’m also finishing Tom Hank’s book, Uncommon Type.  Another blog I read, Small Things, is having a Yarn Along where we link photos of what we’re reading and knitting 

All that sitting under blankets has created a lot of time for knitting. I went with a bunch of smaller projects for some instant gratification.  I finished a hot water bottle cover and now I’m knitting some socks.  I also finished two hats for Paul and me from the same pattern I made for everyone else for Christmas.  Several of us were out to eat together this week and had our hats on.  The bartender made a special trip over to our table to comment on the hats, a nice moment for me.

            The moon print behind us in our hat photo is a photo Paul took last month of the super moon.  Yesterday I was looking at the newest Sundance catalog and there was a print of the moon for $698 dollars.  So I thought I would include ours that Paul took and that we had printed on canvas at Wal-mart for $29.  Just as wonderful in my opinion.

             During the holidays we always try to make it downtown to Union Station to take in the Christmas decorations and holiday festivities.  While we were there a young woman's Quinceanera was being photographed.  One of the young men in the party spotted me stealing a photo of them and shot me a pose.  I loved it!