My granddaughter and I sometimes hang out via FaceTime.
She plays with her Barbie dollhouse, while I watch and knit…
Grandma, my Barbies need school bags, she informed me recently. Could you knit me some?
I found a pattern online. Looking at the picture, I realized that I didn’t really need a pattern. I could improvise.
Here’s the first one, finished. Not exactly like the online picture - but it looks boxy - which it what I wanted.
I’m happy with it. I hope she likes it, too!
I’ve never bought a flowering bulb to grow indoors before - until I purchased an amaryllis bulb - on sale half price after Christmas.
When I got home and opened up the box, I discovered it contained a bulb, soil and double pot - all in separate plastic bags. Amazingly, the bulb was already sprouting.
I planted it, as per instructions - a third of the bulb sticking out of the soil - at the same time wondering if it was too late for the plant to succeed.
But before long, it straightened up and began to divide into leaves. Then another sprout appeared.
I watch it daily, amazed at its development.
Recently I noticed a bit of reddish brown on the tip of the tallest sprout… Was the plant getting enough water?! Was it dying?!
I felt the soil, relieved that it was moist to the touch… The next day, the red spot was larger. After a day or two, a crack in the stem showed that the red was really a flower tucked inside.
Watching the amaryllis grow and develop has become one of the highlights of this cold month of January. It’s so fascinating!
Growing an amaryllis may just have to become an annual winter event!
My daughter told me she was planning to make a recipe that went viral on TikTok: pasta with feta cheese, garlic and cherry tomatoes.
Apparently so many people in Finland made the recipe that the country ran out of feta cheese!
I watched the video she was referring to. Easy to watch, it made the recipe look so simple.
How was it? I later asked.
Easy to make - no chopping things up. But I found it a bit acidic - salty feta paired with acidic tomatoes. Mac and cheese tastes better. But it does look pretty!
Occasionally I come across something on Facebook that is so humorously true!!
(I hate to admit that’s me!!)
I recently came across an interesting recipe for waffles made out of frozen hash brown potatoes.
I rarely eat hash browns, though my mother and grandmother often made potato pancakes (also called latkes) - and they’re similar. My son was joining us for brunch, so I made a few more. I mixed together
I have been working steadily on the sweater I started a few weeks back. The yarn is finer than I normally use.
I’m glad to have reached this far. Now I can try it on!
Next come the sleeves - then the collar. Finally 2 bands down the front for buttons or a zipper.
I initially wondered if it would be long enough - but now I’m happy with the length.
If I like it, I will be tempted to knit another using this same pattern - but in yellow. I have yarn in my stash that should hopefully be enough.
I like these details - small pockets and narrow knit cables. I haven’t knit cables in a long, long time!
I don’t leave the house much these days…
The weather has been very cold the past week and the extreme cold is continuing.
Today there is a cold warning in effect. This was yesterday’s heads up.
Here is this week’s forecast in Celsius…
Or Fahrenheit. The blue numbers are our overnight temperatures.
The one plus is that our hours of daylight are are taking bigger leaps… Four whole minutes some days.
The sun will soon be warming our northern world up! For me, that can’t happen soon enough!
To understand what happened here, you have to know two things...
One, that my daughter has a cat named “Panda.”
Two, that my daughter is interested in buying a house or a condo - and she regularly forwards us real estate listings for our perusal.
Recently, I opened a real estate email I assumed was from my daughter. It featured a new high rise called “Panda” in Toronto.
How cute, I thought... Our daughter doesn’t normally like living in tall apartment buildings - but this one is called “Panda”!
After reading a bit, I realized that the building hadn’t been built yet. They were looking for investors...
I quickly replied:
I wouldn’t invest in something that hasn’t been built yet. XO Mom
Later, talking to my daughter, I mentioned it:
Were you seriously thinking about that Panda condo? I asked.
She looked puzzled. What Panda condo?
The information you sent me in an email...
I didn’t send you an email, she replied.
Well, I sent a reply saying I thought it was a bad investment - and signed it, “love, Mom”!
We both had a good laugh!!
I suspect that someone in the condo sales office is going to be very puzzled!!
I wasn’t planning to get any more plants when I went into the store.
Then I saw this box...
One of my friends recently posted a picture of a beautiful red Amaryllis on Facebook, together with the comment: First time it has bloomed...
Should I try?!
It didn’t take much to convince me!
When I opened the box at home, I saw the bulb was already sprouting! With this kind of determination, this plant looks like a winner!
Hope it will be!
I haven’t been going out much the past few weeks... a perfect opportunity to de-clutter!
I started by shredding receipts that were more than 5 years old... then moved on to other papers in our filing cabinet.
Now Terry tells me that he doesn’t want to recycle this box of paper until it’s completely full...
“No point in wasting a box...”
So my daily goal is to add more paper. I don’t want this box sitting in the hall all winter!
Monday was a snow day in many parts of Ontario.
For my son who lives in Ottawa, it meant shovelling snow before he even got out the door.
For Terry, it meant trying out his new snowblower. (The starter on his old one no longer worked...)
For my granddaughter in Toronto it meant having fun outdoors - delaying the first day of school yet another day. (For the past two weeks students have been doing classes online due to COVID.)
For me it meant staying indoors, working on my latest knitting project - a sweater with pockets, something I’ve never made before.
Yesterday we had our first major snow storm.
The snow came down so thick, at times, that we could barely see the houses across the street.
Just as I was watching the blizzard unfold outdoors, my daughter forwarded me a video of an outdoor art contest (in summer) in England.
The location was Winston Churchill’s former home in Kent.
The artists had four hours to complete their paintings...
Watching the artists at work was so inspiring!
It was also a great escape from all the snow!
I didn’t expect anything special to happen as I headed into a hardware store with Terry one recent cold January day...
He had a shopping list; my plan was simply to get exercise by walking around the perimeter of the store, inside.
Then I saw the gardening section!
My mind suddenly fast forwarded to spring!
If gardening displays are out, surely spring can’t be that far away! My mood immediately brightened.
Winter can be beautiful... especially if you’re inside looking out!
These views were taken downtown from a 22nd floor - looking north and north east - around 4:30 in the afternoon.
Looking north, the white building is the Supreme Court of Canada.
Looking east, a view of Parliament Hill... There’s a little snow. And the pink in the sky shows the beginning of sunset.
(Thanks to my son for sharing them.)
It was a cold day to be outdoors, so Terry and I weren’t sure whether to go for a walk.
We headed out for a drive instead - near the canal.
To our surprise, there were a lot of skaters out, all along the length of the canal.
Maybe skating keeps you warmer than walking!
