Sunday Snow Day

We woke this morning to find that the sun was out and the snow had finally stopped falling.
Because the back porch door had stayed closed, we had snow piled against the outside of it. Look at that height!
I started to cook and to prep for baking. While I was in the warm kitchen, my honey worked his way to the garage, got the shovel and cleared, first the back walk, then the front walk. He was pretty pleased with himself.
He had lots of layers and said that he didn't feel the cold at all. Hmmm, okay, but to me 21F is quite cold, no matter how many layers I have on.
The Carrot Cheese cake turned out really nicely. Here's a picture of how a small slice looked. Very moist and cheesy. Last night's potato soup turned out good, too. Today, I made a tomato sauce and am making chocolate chip cookies right now. I added pecans and dried cranberries to them. I like being my own prep chef, using all my little bowls to set up my ingredients. It's like: make believe I'm doing a TV cooking show. I'm going to bring some of the cookies around the corner to my little neighbors. Yes, I plan to step outside! With enough layers, I think I can make it around the corner and back home without feeling too arctic.

What to do on a snowed in day?

The snow finally stopped falling in the late afternoon. Look how deep it got!
I baked a carrot cake cheesecake combination. Can't wait to taste it! I'm also making some potato soup. While preparing the soup, my doorbell rang. It was my little neighbor. She announced to my husband that her boots came off and her socks were all wet, so he popped them in our clothes dryer and she joined me in the kitchen. Her jacket was the same color green as my new nail polish, so naturally, I offered to paint her finger and toe nails. And naturally, she accepted my offer. What fun! Last night, I'd painted mine and got fancy with some addition of a dark purple squiggle. What to do when it's snowed in time? Amuse yourself!

Yes, Richmond has snow again.

On Thursday, the sun was shining, it was windy but not so chilly. I took a mile walk to Spa310 to get the entries that came in for the mail art call. See it here and send us something. I, also, stopped in and visited Patricia and Misty at the tea shop, here. I was feeling good. The walk home was nice, especially nice to see the plants in my front rock garden looking so ALIVE!
But that was two days ago, today, the snow is coming own steadily and the temperature is -6C/22F. I will surely have the opportunity to take more photos with the snow piled even higher on the back garden table. Luckily, I bought supplies yesterday to make some cold weather meals. I'll share!

Back home in Virginia!

I arrived home very late Monday night and because of the time difference, I didn't get to sleep until 3 a.m. which meant that I slept until noon on Tuesday. I was feeling such jet lag that I gave myself 2 days to recover. Wow, it was like a vacation, though I was feeling badly that my sister is back to her 24/7 mom care. At least, we had two weeks to have some laughs, and some relief from doing it all by herself.

In among my pile of mail were lovely postcards and letters from my correspondents and Postcrossing, and also this water color fish by my young neighbor.
My son and his girlfriend had been to India and brought me this cookbook and rupee note. I can actually make some of the recipes in it. The rupee note will be collage material, for sure.

I pulled out this can of Spotted Dick, which was given to us by our neighbors. I'd heard of this dessert (jokes about the name) but had never seen it nor eaten it. I'm thinking that this weekend will be a good day to heat it up. We're supposed to get a terrible snow storm. Hard to believe but I may be posting more snow images.

I'm glad to be home!

Dramatic Dog Rescue

We were glued to the television set yesterday watching a dog, who had somehow gotten caught in the Los Angeles river, usually a cement trench with a trickle of water, but because of the storms it was a raging, swift moving river. The poor dog was walking back and forth on thin pipe or ledge right in the middle. Some fire fighters were on a bridge trying to scare the dog into walking down to another bridge where there were other rescuers ready to rappel down to catch it. The dog headed that way, but the water got deeper and faster and the poor critter couldn't get a visual on pipe/ledge so he went back to where he could see it. The dog was shaking. A helicopter came, but there were over-head power lines, so they couldn't lower anyone. The dog got more frightened and started walking down to the 2nd bridge, we were so scared for it, that it'd step into a hole and drown or get swept away. Finally, he walked toward the side, but it was too steep, though a 100 yards down he probably could have climbed up, the announcer said. The helicopter at that point was in a place where it could lower the firefighter, who grabbed the frightened dog. The dog bit the firefighter numerous times, but the rescuer never let go and the helicopter lifted man and dog and flew to the bridge. Once lowered to the roadway, a number of rescuers surrounded the dog, sedated him it looked like because he looked limp as they carried him to the rescue vehicle. It was VERY dramatic. You can see the rest of the photos that I took of the incident HERE.

More knitting!

Check out the flying knitting needles. Mom is working on a second pillow cover for my older sister's husband. Tomorrow, they'll come to visit and my sister will do the crochet part and slip the covers onto the pillow. Mom says that she always has have to her hands busy. Okay, so that's why my sisters and I are like that, too.

It's been so cold here that my younger sister said, "let's make a stew!" The "meat" is not meat, nor is the sausage "sausage." It was quite delicious and even my bro-in-law, the meat eater, enjoyed it and had a second helping. Yum!

What is Mom watching?

Mom is a loyal, fervent Lakers fan (the Los Angeles basketball team.) Check this out!! Notice how she is doing her knitting and watching the television. Here's what she's watching.

Horribly rainy days

This is a view of the walk way during a brief lull in the stormy day. We, fortunately, can keep ourselves busy. Mom is reading a lot, and in this photo she's wearing a scarf she made yesterday. Behind her is one of the pillows she made since I've been here and below is a pillow cover she's working on for her son-in-law Jerry.
Mom loves stuffed toy animals. The lady bug is one that I brought her this trip and the monkey is one she's had awhile. It used to make a noise, an awful noise, but Mom got a kick out of it. My sister decided to do some monkey surgery and opened up the toy to see how it worked. Well, it had tiny batteries in it and my sister just by chance had the necessary three tiny batteries. She popped them in, sewed the monkey back up, and now: it makes this awful noise! Mom is delighted with it. Fun on a rainy day. It's raining now and will continue to rain. Southern California in the winter time is not so sunny!

about a scary night

So last Saturday, I was helping mom get ready for bed, when she felt faint and weak on her left side. She was very frightened, of course, We called emergency and had her taken to the emergency room of the hospital,which is very close to where she lives. My sister and I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning in the ER. Mom was admitted at 4 a.m. finally and my sister and I went back to her place and were so hungry that we ate part of the noodle pudding (kugel) that I'd made for mom's Sunday celebration. We were so tired! Mom only stayed over night. We brought her home in time for her celebration. Yay! This is a photo of a tree by the hospital parking area and a view of the mountains from her room. Here is the kugel, and the recipe is here. Mom is now back to making covers for pillows. These are two that she made while I've been here. I crocheted the parts together for her. In the background is one of the many afghans she made, but now can't remember how to do the pattern. She made one for pratically everyone in the family. They are our treasures, next to mom herself!

Celebration Mom

Mom's birthday is 19 Jan. but we had a pot luck family celebration yesterday. Mom was asleep as people arrived, having been in hospital overnight. While waiting for her to awaken, some family members played scrabble, while others eyed the tempting food on the buffet, which included a gelatin mold, a big salad, tuna salad, salmon cakes, bread, and baked goods AND a fabulously delicious red velvet cake! Mom was a happy camper when she awoke to find most of her family in her tiny home. She loved opening her cards, blowing out her candles and eating her cake. Yay for Mom, just about 96. And this morning, she began to read the new Fern Michaels book that she got as a gift. Doesn't she look engrossed in it?

another day in L.A.

We've been busy here at Mom's. The items on the low boy have been dusted and rearranged. Here's one of the pix of my parents from back in the day. My sister set up the exercise equipment, like a regular rehab gym, in her living room, and mom did her exercises. Doesn't it look like Mom is tap dancing?