'Tis the season. I hope all of you, no matter where you are or who you're with, take some quiet moments to count your blessings. All the problems, craziness, and sorrow will still be there when you're done counting, but it does help to think about more positive things for awhile . . . every day. 😉
Our Thanksgiving plans were late in the making (such are the complications of blended families), but in the end we gathered at my MIL's house for dinner yesterday. My contributions were homemade crescent rolls (a perennial request), one of Costco's giant pumpkin pies, and a rather impressive, if I do say so myself, salad of homegrown butternut, radicchio and escarole from a neighbor's garden, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, and feta. I took my knitting along for any down-time, but didn't work on it until we returned home. My short-term goal to get through the colorwork yoke before the calendar turns to December, and I think I'll make it. The horses have been revealed; I'm pretty tickled with it!
before the fancy salad bowl
Last Saturday night we were blessed by our son's thoughtful and generous joint birthday gift, tickets for all three of us to a Straight No Chaser concert at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem. I've been singing scraps of songs and grinning on and off ever since; it was fabulous, great fun as always. And I love that they encourage taking and posting photos and videos, so here you go:
I am thankful for getting some more medical stuff taken care of this year, since after my knee replacements my out-of-pocket obligations have been met. After five weeks of PT for my sciatica without resolving my symptoms, I was referred for a lumbar MRI and was able to get in for that right away. Now I'm trying to get into a pain management practice for a consultation (at least) and possible treatment (likely an injection) before the end of the year.
I am thankful for beauty. The sensory feast of fall is abating, but it is still lovely to me in its more muted phase.
entrance color, before the 'fall'
HUGE, beautiful mushrooms just up the hill, seen on a walk with Poppy
Mt. Hood, across the Willamette Valley, taken from horseback
all of these are from just one changing sunrise
I'm not counting blessings that haven't happened yet, but I'm encouraged by an email exchange with someone interested in buying three ewes. That would be a boon in several ways, including being able to merge the 'barn ewes' with the bigger group, and easing the demand on our too-meager hay supply.
Speaking of sheep, I've been swapping out tight coats for bigger ones as I can. The other night Bitta got a fresh coat, and even though it was after dark I snapped photos of her and Bauble mid-side. Considering that Bitta is black and Bauble is a black gulmoget, the photos turned out surprising well!
We had a record-breaking January dry spell that ended last night. Today looked like this (from the clinic in town):
Talk about monotone!
While the clear, cold weather was a wonderful mood-enhancer, we need rain to make the trees and shrubs and flowers and grass grow – to make this part of Oregon look like Oregon. And we need that moisture to fall as snow in the Cascades to feed rivers, lakes, and reservoirs throughout the summer. This week should help those needs, according to the forecast.
I hope it makes our grass grow; the ewes have pretty much eaten it all.
Frost so heavy it looked like snow; we turned around.
A view of Mt. Hood from the saddle.
As the weather started shifting, we awoke to fog and heavy frost in unusual places yesterday morning.
By this morning . . . well, refer to the first photo in this post.
Besides recent scenic blessings, there have been other gifts as well. Last week a church friend surprised me with this lovely antique piano chair that I had admired at her house. It made a great staging piece for my nearly finished Advent snack scarf.
Unfortunately, I ran out of the yarn I was using for the bind-off. It was one of the holiday snacks, and I have nothing the same color in my extensive stash. So I asked the others who had participated in the holiday snack exchange if they would be willing to part with that snack if they still had it in fiber or yarn form. Someone was, and her singles arrived today. I quickly plied it up tonight, and may finish my scarf yet tonight, too.
Other daily gifts have shown up in my IG/FB posts, shown below.
"Almost 180° of color this morning! A bit past its prime because my phone was dead, but still glorious."
"Chuckie, begging for attention (he got some.)"
"Our God is so creative!"
"My black beauty has filled out a lot since I got her!"
"The sarcococca is powerfully aromatic all around–and INSIDE–the house right now."
"Good night."
"I love our downtown!"
The big news of the week is that I met with an orthopedic surgeon on Thursday who is willing to replace both my knees in one big operation. He says I meet his requirements of age, health, and fitness for doing it, and sent me on for labs and an EKG immediately afterwards; I meet with an anesthesiologist to go over the results next week. I don't have a date for surgery yet; the surgeon said March or April. I'm going to vote for April or even May, as my mom thinks her move-in date is May 1 and mentioned she'd appreciate me driving her in her car from TX to NE. And I really need to get my flock of 15 sheared and skirted before then, too. Now if Rick would just find someone else to run his office and a place to move it to....
ETA the other good news of the week: DS is gainfully employed again. Hallelujah!
Excuse the lack of posting; as forecast, it has been a busy couple of weeks. I did manage to keep up with my Advent spin but for the very last one on Christmas day; did not get my sweater finished for Christmas; had a lapse in my daily IG/FB posts when life got overwhelming for a few days; and did my best to just be present with my mom when she was here. Did I mention my mom was here??? (I was going to format the following as a numbered list, but it messed up the photo placement.)
Friday, Dec. 13's finished spin:
Sabbath, Dec. 14's snack:
Sunday, Dec. 15's snack:
Monday, Dec. 16. Found out today when my mom is flying in for Christmas – in two days. She told me last Friday that she was coming for sure, but only had a return flight booked at that time. (This is the ways things go with her now.) After taking my car to the dealership because of persistent dashboard warning lights, I attended the memorial service of one of our church members. She was a member of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; as I was leaving the parking lot I snapped a photo of a woman in a beautiful ribbon dress. Brian came home early from work after getting fired....
Happy 5th Birthday, darling doggy! Here's to many more years together!
Tuesday, Dec. 17. Took my car to a bodyshop to have some damage of unknown origin repaired; made the appointment two months ago, not knowing if/when my mom was coming for Christmas. I have our old truck for transportation, which is less than ideal for an 85-year-old woman.
Three little trees live year round on the ledge above our front door; only one still has working lights. Better than nothing!
Wednesday, Dec. 18. My farrier came and trimmed the horses' hooves, I drove into town for a haircut, came back home to clean up the house some, and then picked my mom up at the Portland airport. Heavy traffic to, at, and from the airport; by the time I got home, my left knee was shot from all the clutching. Meanwhile, a friend and vet client asked via text if we were going to get a Christmas tree from them again this year. The price was so reasonable that I relented and called Rick to see if he could pick one up. Guess we'll do a little decking of the halls after all!
What IS that bright light in the sky, those rays of glory???
Thursday, Dec. 19. Mom went with me to work and then we ran errands (we figured out the best way to boost her into the truck). That evening we got the tree set up, strung it with twinkling lights – and called it good! I wanted to take down the longhorns, but Rick thought they were fine, so it looks like we have a 'Viking' tree – ha.
Such a pretty start to the day!
Friday, Dec. 20. I cleaned house and Mom and I both tackled cooking – me making Friday supper and Sabbath dinner and her making a huge batch of fruitcake cookies.
So, a little 'decking' was done after all!
Saturday, Dec. 21. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program at church, then came home for lunch. That night Rick and I went to a previously-committed-to Christmas party at a client's house estate. I didn't know anyone in the large, deafening crowd and Rick only knew a few, but we did get to see how the other half one-half of one percent lives.
My neighbor sent me this sweet video of one of her dogs snoggling one of my ewes through the fence. Made me think of the promised future when the lion will lie down with the lamb.💕
Sunday, Dec. 22. A more laid-back day; whew! I've been plying Advent fiber snacks as I have time so I can keep reusing my smaller spindles; I got several more done today, as well as getting today's color snack spun.
Still keeping up with the Advent spin; this rainbow Corriedale is a cheerful counterpoint to our grey, grey weather.
Monday, Dec. 23. Another "take your mom to work" day. But first, as it was one of the very few dry-ish days we've had lately, I turned the horses out to play and then rode Stella, who was very good for being pent up for too long.
It's been so wet outside and so busy inside, that there has been no riding and very little turnout lately. Happy ponies, happy rider today!
Tuesday, Dec. 24. Thanks to my first-generation American mother and her immigrant parents (one from Sweden and one from Germany), Christmas Eve is Christmas to me. We prepared for a special evening by making Russian Tea Cakes, my maternal grandma's cinnamon rolls, and vegetarian 'salmon cakes.' I had asked Mom if she grew up with any specific foods on the Christmas Eve menu and she said her mom always had lutefisk which her dad wouldn't eat, so she often made fishcakes for him, hence my experiment. They were a hit with everyone, along with the cookies, rolls, and a big tossed salad. Then we opened our gifts.
The ewes got an early Christmas gift; I opened up the lower pasture for them.
Wednesday, Dec. 25. We had a leisurely morning before I got busy preparing the dishes we were to take to my MIL's for an early Christmas dinner. While I did that, Rick worked on my Christmas present, a 'side wall' for my shearing stand that can be moved to either side – which will be most helpful!
Christmas morning goodies with Grandma, with her personal ornament hanging behind. Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you!
The last Advent fiber snack
This wasn't finished until the next day
Thursday, Dec. 26. Hallelujah! Before we left for another "take your mom to work" day, the bodyshop called to say that my car was ready. Brian gave Mom and me a ride to the shop, and we got around much more comfortably from there. I was SO thankful to have the car back in tine to take Mom to the airport!
One of my Christmas gifts is being finished–a removable side for my shearing stand,
Friday, Dec. 27. We had to be up by 2 a.m. to leave in time for Mom to make her 5:15 flight. I came back home and crawled back in bed for a few more hours' sleep, then started some much needed cleaning. The wet and mud have been steady the second half of this month, made worse by Rick's shop construction project. No, there is still no decision on where and how the practice will operate after the clinic lease runs out, but he's doing his best to finish the shop in case.
I'm a homeschooling, horse training, animal loving, garden growing, part-time business running, spinning and knitting shepherd who loves the Great Shepherd.
I'm not counting blessings that haven't happened yet, but I'm encouraged by an email exchange with someone interested in buying three ewes. That would be a boon in several ways, including being able to merge the 'barn ewes' with the bigger group, and easing the demand on our too-meager hay supply.
