Snow is one thing, but ice? Ice shuts everything DOWN.
If you look on the step, you can see we got a fairly substantial amount of ice and temperatures hovered near freezing.
It’s very pretty, but very hard to navigate the landscape when the ice covers everything.
This is why we sometimes shut down for a good week in the winter. You can see the road has been plowed and is passable. Not passable? Getting into the car, which was covered in ice.
Zoe sent me this delightful postcard to make up for not sending me postcards from Texas and Mexico City, where she and Nick visited in December.
She said that they saw the pyramids of Teotihuacan both via hot air balloon and via the ground.
She also let me know that she and Nick decided to get engaged and thanked me for “modeling the long leadup (lol)”
I wondered if this particular duchess was one of the Mitford sisters. Indeed, that was Deborah.
Matt has ordered a new fold-a-day calendar. I will report back in 2036 when he finishes this one.
18° is a rare Portland forecast. Winter in Oregon is being in the 40s for months on end.
And! We have a Winter Storm Warning! I’m not a fan of “Today’s temperature will be 20° lower than yesterday.”
Sara said that Shawn got this postcard when he ordered something from Minnesota. I quite like its retro charm.
She reported that she will be back to school on `1/10, which meant she was back to school by the time the postcard arrived.
I made it about a year with my new electric kettle. Though to be honest, the last seven months were full of hate for it.
I kept thinking I would go to the store and get a new one, but the months continued to pass and I didn’t, so I eventually ordered one from Breville. It’s a fancier version of my previous setup, and I like it much better.
Photo fail. Tilt your head to the side to see what I completed with the final 2023 YOS sampler.
There are some things that went very well with this sampler, but I didn’t love the color of that bird and gave up on the whole thing. The bird is done in raised chain. The branches are in twisted chain. The flower that is filled in is done with reverse fly and square palestina.
What slowed me down was this twisted chain. I liked the effect, but I think my usual MO of stacking thread closer than it needs to be made this take forever.
I also thought the herringbone ladder filling went well aside from that point where they join.
Here’s the back view for those who are interested. It’s also oriented in the proper direction.
While cleaning out the liquor cabinet at 7611, I brought home this mini that promised me an Old Fashioned with minimal effort.
The effort was minimal, but the taste had faded somewhat in the 60(?) intervening years.
Back in 2011, my mom gave Matt a page-a-day origami calendar. Matt added it to his rotation.
It is now 2024. You can see how quickly his rotation rotates.
It only took him 12 years to fold all of the pages.
It was a long-lasting present for sure.
I wrote my usual yearly letters to myself and took this photo to include with them. I had a cold, and I can tell by my expression in the photo.
On my week off from work, I went to soak at Common Ground and really liked this Turkish towel, so I bought it. First order of business: monogramming. My favorite chain stitch with a variegated embroidery floss.
Doesn’t it look great?
