the new normal... a shelter at home day

This is how my day went yesterday...  

DH gets up to go to his radiation treatment early. Used to be he went at 2pm, but now they want to close the office early so he has to be there by 8:30 (and now they take your temp before letting you inside). 

Anyway, he leaves the house and I get up, make a cup of tea, share my cream with Ghost... (she only gets a tiny drop, but loves it), put the TV (news comes on), as soon as I see a certain face - I turn it off, start work on my clay, take a break and make some Lost Bread (French toast) for DH so he can have coffee and 'something' when he gets home. He'll be surprised as usually we only have coffee/tea and toast.

As the morning progresses, DH feeds Ghost and the outside ferals, then puzzles, (I actually found 5 pieces today when he was gone. I was so excited!)

This is what the puzzle looks like complete

This is it so far...

There are so many tiny pieces with just eyes or solid green, ugh!

The sun is out today, so we took a walk before lunch. I heard that sunshine and Vitamin D was effective against viruses... (?) Sounds good to me. There were several people out walking the neighborhood. We all said hello but stayed far away from each other. 

However, as I was passing one man who was mowing his lawn, I coughed. Now mine you, I was on the other side of the street... and it was just a little cough. (For those of you that know me, I have had a radiation cough for 20 years. Doctors told me that the radiation I received for BC probably irritated my lungs). Anyway, as we passed and I coughed, I swear to you, the man stopped mowing and went inside!   

And my daughter told me that she and her daughter were in the grocery in the hill country the other day and there was a police officer stationed outside the grocery making sure that everyone wiped down their carts before entering and there was an announcement over the loud speaker saying for people to please not stop to talk with others, but to remember to social (physical) distance. She said that while shopping, her daughter said "I'm going to sneeze..." and she said, "DON'T!"

Such a strange time...

Anyway, we watch TV while eating lunch. We both had tomato basil soup and he had a sandwich while I had a slice of cheese and a few chips.  DH usually watches sports or something military while I've been watching a series called "Love Hurts" on Acorn. It's really good.  I only watch while I'm eating, then turn it off and go on to either blog, write, or continue sculpting. 

Today I wanted to finish this little pie bird. He's drying on top of my Aga right now.

He's off to the right with the home flock drying

Oh, and see that red fabric there... that's a mask one of my pottery friends made for me. Isn't it sweet? We're suppose to wear a mask when working with dry clay as there's a lot of clay dust. However, I think that if and when I have to go somewhere during this Pandemic, I'll wear it. It probably won't be terribly effective... but a lot more fashionable than the others.

By 3:00, it's tea time... or coffee as the mood strikes. Both of us stop what we're doing for this break... and sometimes (most of the time if I'm honest) have something sweet to go with it. Tea to me is very calming so that's usually my drink of choice these days... a cup of tea with a dash of cream in a pretty china cup.

This is another of my favorites... It's called Remembrance.

That tiny lavender rose in the center of the saucer makes it so perfect... (or is it just me?)

Then naptime (DH doesn't do naps, but he does fall asleep in his chair!)  Naptime means I retire to our bedroom and read or text friends for a bit and sometimes but not always do fall asleep. By 4:30 I need to think about supper... and this is also the time my kids tend to call. After talking to them, I'm usually late getting supper started. But that's OK. So we tend to eat anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30 depending. 

Supper, TV (during which I Pinterest), then bed by 9 or 10 where I continue to read until my iPhone rings an alarm that says "Go to sleep... musically." It always makes me laugh... and I try to obey and put my book down (but not always).

Most nights I sleep well. Occasionally I get up between 3 and 5am  for a cup of tea with Ghost. She likes it when I do that. Then back to bed until morning. 

That's it. Not very exciting... but with our  'Stay at home' order, not really so bad. 

Take care!  Sending you my thoughts, prayers, and virtual hugs!

Rian

Imagination running wild...

My imagination is having fun this morning...

Looking back on my almost 74 years, I think I can see more clearly now what might have been a good idea to follow up on... I love cats. I love pastry. I love tea and coffee. I love books.  And I love art that depicts these things.  So...oo  possibly 'in another life' I might want to open up a Coffee/Tea Shoppe. I would call it "The Black Cat Cafe" with a sign similar to this hanging outside like an English pub.

Then I would have posters and pictures of black (and black and white cats) hanging about the walls... like these I found on Pinterest:

 And I would have windows that were 'inviting' and opened wide so that when the weather was nice, the cafe could be filled with the soft breath of fresh air... (and of course a fireplace for those dark dreary days of winter)

...and there would be hanging and potted herbs about as well as stacks of books here and there.

...and of course we would serve fresh Tea and fresh ground coffee... (in pretty tea cups as well as mugs) and a  few choice desserts like brownies, tea cakes, scones, pie, etc.

You could read while you enjoy the ambiance

or write...

and possibly just for fun, I would have one wall where people who actually owned black (and black and white) cats could bring pictures of their cats to hang on the wall...
and

 part of the profits could go to homeless cats (of any color)


Huh, I guess this is a dream I never knew I had until I began to realize that I've reached my mulberry days and these things can only be found in my imagination. But lucky for me, I have a very vivid imagination... so I can enjoy these things vicariously.

So please come
and have some coffee or tea with me
 at
 The Black Cat Cafe



(Do you have a dream?)





 

an insignificant, but interesting retirement question...

While reading Postcards from Across the Pond today I was taken by the fact that Michael mentioned that he brought his wife tea in the morning. Since we do this also... except it's coffee (tea in the afternoon), I wondered just how many couples (retired or not) do this. I know my daughter and her DH do it. In fact, she was saying that they alternate.  I'm always the first to make coffee at our house and bring DH a cup while he's feeding the cats. Then he makes the second cup and brings it to me. 

Such a little thing... but somehow significant and I don't even know why. Makes me wonder how other people distribute their chores. Here I do almost all the cooking even though DH is a pretty good cook. He will occasionally make a Cajun dish like red beans and rice or jambalaya (makes pretty good stuffed peppers too!)... and actually makes  great chocolate lava cakes and flan when the mood strikes. And even though I love to cook, I still enjoy it when he takes over.

Since we've retired he does the heavy duty chores like mopping and mowing. I tend to do the dishes and the dusting, etc.  - although on occasion again I will cook and he will clean up. It works. Grocery shopping we do together... although he goes off with his cart and I go off with mine. We meet before checkout. Usually he's buying all the catfood and supplies while I'm picking up fresh meat and veggies for us.

We both wash our own clothes. I think we started this when the kids were grown, but still at home. We told them that they needed to wash their own clothes... and they did. I occasionally folded as somehow kids (even grown ones - especially boys) don't seem to care if the clothes are folded or worn right out of the dryer.  But we kept this practice up even after the kids were off on their own. Again... it works.

This is probably a weird subject (coffee and the delegation of chores), but it does touch on retirement practices... 

And before I go any further I want to mention that I read the Kindle sample of Dee Ready's "Prayer Was Not Enough"... and do plan on ordering the book. My friend lent me her Kindle and I didn't feel I could buy and download the book on someone else's e-reader, but did enjoy the sample pages I read. Dee has her own blog, "Coming Home to Myself" where you can read more about her new book.


Have a great week!  

My *One a day Women's petites* order came in. I haven't tried them yet, but they do look small enough for  me to swallow without too much trouble. They are not tiny, but about the size of a Tylenol caplet.

Wednesday ramblings... tea, Ghost, and more pumpkins!

Sitting here on my bed drinking a cup of peppermint tea and multi-tasking... meaning I'm also reading a mystery novel, knitting, and texting with a friend who is house-bound due to ankle replacement surgery. Ghost usually keeps me company...

DH and I were up early Tuesday morning in order to run a few errands. We went to the cleaners, dropped one car off to be inspected, went to vote, then did our *walk about* at the mall... yes, the mall with all the pumpkins I mentioned in my previous post. Here are more pictures of the abundance of pumpkins there:

I told you... they're everywhere... all colors and sizes! DH and I were wondering just what they did with all of them after Halloween??

In this last picture you can see one of the ponds where there's usually ducks and/or turtles. Right now there are turtles (Red Sliders I believe).  Most were in the other pond that is connected under the bridge you see on the far left of this top picture.

We also received NEWS yesterday about a new Ebola specialty facility that is being created at one of our area hospitals. I don't know much, but from what we hear it is is to be another one of the CDC Special  Ebola Centers... similar to the ones in Atlanta, Maryland, and Nebraska. Since it is basically  *in our backyard*, we naturally have mixed feelings. First feelings were OMG, then... well,  we certainly need more hospitals that are trained and equipped to care for Ebola cases.

Since it seems that we may have things under control at the moment in Dallas with the first group of quarantined and self monitoring persons deemed well, we are only waiting for the second group to have the same outcome. So possibly we're on the right track in our ability to contain this issue. Let's hope and pray that this is true.

one of those nights...

watercolor of coffee cup found on Pinterest

Well, it's 5:05 am now and I've been up since 3:30.  Too much on my mind, I guess. This doesn't happen often, but it does on occasion.   I shouldn't complain as many of my friends have trouble sleeping most nights while I normally don't have trouble sleeping anytime or anywhere. But this morning around 3:30 I sat up in bed and the conversation went:

DH: "What's the matter?"
Me: " I need a cup of tea..."
DH: "I thought so."
Me: "Why's that?"
DH: "You've been restless"
Me: "Yep... best get up."

So I made myself a cup of tea and a piece of toast (comfort food), cleaned the kitchen, told the cats that everything was alright (they hear me up and gather round), and that I wasn't going to feed them this early... much to their dismay. Then I headed for the computer room where I've spent the better part of the early morning reading blogs... and commenting.

Now it's after 5 and I've got to decide whether I should go back to bed for an hour or so, or give it up and find something else useful to do. Problem is that if I don't go back to bed, I'm going to be really needing a nap by lunchtime and we have plans for this afternoon. Guess I'll close this for now and continue later in the day.

It is now almost 2 pm. DH and I have been to Central Market for our groceries earlier today. It's Hatch Pepper week and CM carries or makes everything with Hatch Peppers during this time.  I love the mild ones.  Cannot tolerate the hot.  But we buy Hatch tortillas, Hatch cheese, Hatch pesto, Hatch marinated chicken, Smoked Hatch Peppers, etc.  (They even have Hatch Apple Pie, Hatch scones, and Hatch Gelato).

Later a friend came by and picked me up for lunch. We tried a new (well, new to us) Cajun restaurant down the road called "Wicked Po-boy".  We split a fried catfish sandwich with home-made chips. It was good. There are two other fish places that I like, "Big Easy" and "Flying Fish".   This one fares about the same as the others, except that it is very small.... so seating is tight.... and it was busy. I love seafood, but unless I cook it myself, I usually stick to fried catfish in Dallas.

Now I'm about ready to sit down, read a good book, and possibly nap.  But the kids are due over in about 30 minutes, so I'd better forgo that for now.  My *up at 3: 30*  morning is beginning to show...

a surprise gift...



a gift

Good Morning!  It's 7:30 Tuesday morning and I'm up and about -  drinking my coffee and reading blogs. Life is good.  The cats and I had a early morning 'get together' by the Aga at about 3 am. Occasionally I awake around this time (must be age?) and if I can't go back to sleep, I head for the Aga and a cup of warm milk or tea. The cats are always sleeping on the small rag rug there (my DIL crochets these),  so I just join them.  With a cup of something hot in my hands, a warm stove at my back, and purring cats lying across and beside me, I am content.

My son brought me an unexpectant gift yesterday. Aren't they the best kind?  I had mentioned that I liked and owned a few Annalee dolls - mostly small Christmas and holiday elves.  Apparently he remembered this and thus, the picture above. Wasn't that sweet?

New grandbaby is due anytime. We're all waiting expectantly! Other grandkids are 14, 11, and 5... so, it's been a while since we've had a new baby around. We know it's a little girl, and we know her name is Aoife (pronounced EEf-fa - long E).  I'm told the name is Gaelic and means 'princess warrior'.


PS: Today the check spelling part of my blogger isn't working???

Chocolate Tea...

I'm sitting here drinking chocolate tea and waiting to leave for my Yoga class.  My friend and I bought this particular loose tea at a Quilt Fair recently and I had never taken the time to try it.  It's actually very good... mild pleasant chocolate taste. The booth that sold it was all about "Tea" with small samples, cute paraphernalia,  and info on Tea magazines and Shops.  Very cute. 

As you can probably tell, I do like tea... black tea, green tea, hot tea, iced sweet tea, etc.  And I love tea cups! Have many (well, a dozen or so...).  And I use them daily.  (I'm a firm believer in "using" what you have... not saving it away for some later date). 

But I'm a coffee lover too (couldn't be born and raised in New Orleans and not love coffee)!  Mostly love it fresh and black, but would probably drink it any which way. 



My messy corner cup cabinet



Pie fixes everything...

This was a Pie Shop in Fredericksburg that was adorable... and the pies were fantastic!  We tried to get their recipe for the crust, but they said it was 'secret'.  I really wish they had one like this here by us.  By the way, the Apple Cinnamon Pecan Tea Cake was a hit - extremely moist and very vanillery (is that a word? works for me).  I will definitely make it again.

Here is the recipe if anyone's interested:

Apple Cinnamon Pecan Tea Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
11/2 cups flour sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder sifted
1- 11/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon (didn't have any, so used 1 t cin sugar)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans
(I added about 1/2 of a chopped apple to mixture)
melted butter for brushing

apple cinnamon topping:
4 green granny smith apples (1 used 3)
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350
Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla in mixing bowl
Beat until pale and creamy
Add eggs one at a time
Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and sour cream until just combined
Add pecans
Spoon into lightly greased pan lined with non-stick baking paper.
Cut apples into halves, peel, and core.  Slice apples and push into the top of batter. 
Sprinkle apples with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for about an hour and 15 mins. 
Let cool
Brush with butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over before serving. 

These pics were taken at my daughter's place.  They have a pretty good-sized vegetable garden.  These are the raised beds.  I believe they have squash, tomatoes, spinach, onions, and cucumbers (maybe radishes too).  Their turtles love the tomatoes.

And this is an Artichoke plant:

Isn't it beautiful?  I had never seen an artichoke plant before this one.  I love to eat artichokes...with the steamed leaves dipped in butter or the whole artichoke stuffed with breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, and garlic, but I had never seen one actually growing. This one was at the herb farm in Fredericksburg.  I bought a cutting and took it to my daughter's place. Hopefully its doing well.