Good Morning Sunday :-)

[dreamer]

Brr..its cold and so snowy. Not sure why I'm awake right now, except I fell asleep on the early side cuz I shoveled the whole day yesterday and the whole day the day before. Something about living around Chicago area, there is always the weather to ensure you do not get bored. But now it looks like it might snow everyday for the week, plus plunge into severe bitter cold, and PCs baby shower is next Sunday and I HAVE to get the last minute things done. The roads have just been so bad, it is hard to get around town.
Son started some homeschool extra curriculars this week at our community college, hes getting a kickk out of saying hes going to college with easy child, LOL. difficult child meets with transition agency tomorrow, so today she is already awake with anxiety over that.....the hope is that they will help her become employable, get her to come out of her shell some and out of the house some.
Right now it is so peaceful outside, the snow is muffling sounds and glistening in moonlight. The air coming in my bedroom window is crisp and fresh. Hope you al have a wonderful day!

 

[Marguerite]

G'day for Sunday.

Dreamer, I can only imagine what it's like to have to spend so much time shovelling snow. I know I wouldn't be able to do it, I'm not strong enough, I have no stamina. I love yourdescription of the snow and how it looks - I have very little experience of this, but 18 months ago in NZ when it snowed, husband & I were sleeping on the fold-out couch in the living room and when we woke in the morning we could lift the curtains aside while still lying in bed, and look out on the sunrise lighting the snow-covered mountains right down to the lake edge. husband set up his camera to take a photo of the scene every fifteen minutes, so we now have a wonderful memory of that sunrise.
difficult child doing a community college course - that's really great for his self-esteem. It's fun to be able to say you're a college student, even under those conditions. We have community colleges here, too - I've taught a few courses there.

We got back to the beach today, husband needed a break from difficult child 3 obsessing about the old computer he's trying to fix up. The water was a bit chilly, not helped by a cool breeze, but the day was otherwise very hot. difficult child 3's godmother came too, she & I lie in the sun and talk philosophy, or classics, or solve the world's problems. On the way home I stopped at the store to get a couple of ingredients for dinner, I also indulged and bought a small packet of bell peppers stuffed with feta. But despite being sealed in the container, the thing leaked olive oil on the way home, so I dealt with it by rubbing it all over my skin.
Then I showered off the sand and salt, washed my hair, then did the leftover olive oil thing all over again.
I made a Cypriot moussaka for dinner, I used the leaking olive oil to pan-fry the zucchini slices. Someone gave me the over-large zucchini last week, from the local community garden. It's huge! Despite making a moussaka that fills my largest baking dish, and another four individual ones, I still have a lot of zucchini left over.

It is forecast to be sunny and hot for at least the next week (I hosed the garden this evening) so we should get in plenty of beach weather. I have a funeral to go to in the morning (a former Scripture teacher of difficult child 3's) but intend to go to the beach afterwards. Dinner - there will be leftover Sri Lankan curry, plus loads of leftover moussaka. I'm taking some to mother in law as well. It's a summer dish, it uses up the aubergines or zucchini you've forgotten in the garden until they're too huge for anything else; it's for the gardens neglected while we get on with more interesting summer delights.

Enjoy your Sunday. I will continue to share the summer delights of Sydney, to warm you all through your snowy winters. As I deepen my tan from latte to flat white, eventually heading to milk chocolate, I will be thinking of you all and gathering shells for you.

Marg

 

[dreamer]

Marg, you know I always love to hear you talk about your homeland. It always sounds so beautiful, altho I remember you wanred me it also has dangers. I love how when it is winter here, it is summer there. I never really enjoyed summer weather...altho becuz of my life, I never reallly enjoyed much of any season until recently, they kinda always ran together. I never tolerated heat wll at all, until maybe the last 2-3 years, when Ibegan to do yard work as therapy, once my rheumy got me back on my feet. This is my first winter of my life shoveling. Previously I kinda just sorta punted and wished hard my car would get thru if I gunnned the engine. LOL. But this sh9oveling IS hard on me..and I have injured my ligaments and tendons in my elbow and aggravated rotator cuff injury .....but easy child really needs drive and walks clear and so does my little vw bug I got last year. I think if I had not begun doing the summer yard work, first, I might not have been able to do the shoveling now. I am finding that it is a sort of pleasant mindless chore, after all, provided it is not TOO cold. But I am torn becuz of the elbow and shoulder- the rest of my body is seeming to rather like the exercise. I never considered myself athletic, far from it.....but, until illness derailed me, I was always a very physical laborer.waiting tables and nurseing....and I have found that if I go out immediately when the snow begins, I can mstly just push the shovel along.....it is only if I wait until there is accumulation that it is more difficult and requires more active shoveling actions. But, it IS far too time consuming, and this holiday, I wound up getting no bakeing at all done becuz one day I shoveled 19 hours and another day 12 hours, in the week before Christmas. Now we have snowfall forecast for everyday from now till Thurs....and the shower is next Sunday.....but yes it is magnificent and beautiful, fresh snow sparkles and is so pretty. And if light hits it just right it glistens just so. And it smells so fresh. LOL well at least here by me it does, I am at the north edge of civilization, LOL (so to speak)

I remember my bosses used to make moussake...Greek people? They would make it at home and bring it in and share with us. I liked it. BUT it sure sounds like you have an extreme amount?
Well, soon my sun should be rising, altho now it is becoming overcast so it might dim the sunrise. I love to be at my kitchen table which faces east and watch my little birdies at the feeders out my kitchen window while I sip hot fresh coffee. Then I suppose I will get my darned boots back on and head back out to see how much more I can clear before the deep freeze hits. Its a nice quiet part of the day right now for me here. Son, his friend and husband just now went to sleep..LOL and easy child will not get up for another hour. Its just me and the dog and the kitties and I will go feed turtle and bunny. A very peaceful time of day.

 

[lizzie09]

Good morning Sunday to you all Marguerite and dreamer

I too love your posts Marghuerite and the talk of the weather

We are expecting the coldest January in years here in Ireland.
Winter so far has had far colder days than years ago.
Europe is generally in a freeze situation at the moment too

Enjoy your day everyone and build up the stamina for the coming week

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Good Sunday Morning!


Dreamer, hopefully you are resting and are not too sore from all the shoveling yesterday. I was suprised at how warm it is here this morning. It's already 51! But the promise for colder weather (and dare I say maybe some of the white stuff) has been made for this coming week!

Marg, sounds like lovey weather you are having! Summer seems to have finally locked in! Hope your Monday is a great one!

Lizzie, building stamina for the week is a great Sunday description! Hope your day is a good one.

Not to much on the agenda here today. A run to the gym for weight training with easy child around 3 - she's working from 4-6 (just pool monitoring). difficult child has a little math review to do. They are getting ready for their district semester testing. I'm trying to get him to review a little every day so we are not in crunch mode later!!!!!

Hope your day is peaceful

Sharon

 

[Andy]

GOOD MORNING
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Dreamer - Take care in your shoveling. I am glad you are finding the positive side of all this snow. Like a difficult child, it can be fun and beautiful but does take a lot out of you when you take the shovel on. Maybe try to budget for a snowblower soon? It will still give you exercise and be easier on your body. You are correct that the more time you spend outside, the less you fear the heat or snow. You just adjust and dress for it.
What is the favorite bird you like to watch at your feeders? It is fun to watch them come and go and find patterns (time of day, what they prefer to eat, ect.)

Marg - How long does your Moussaka store? Thank you for assisting us in getting through winter. This winter for many of us is colder and snowier than many previous winters.

Lizzie - Any special ways of staying warm?

Little Dude's Mom - Enjoy the gym time. I hope difficult child gets his studying done.

I don't have much planned today either. I think I will go back into work and see what I can do with contracts again. It is so nice to be at work when it is quiet. I worked 4 hours late afternoon/early evening yesterday (completed my monthly outpatient project including filing). The area I work in has only myself, medical records, and the food service. At one point the food staff getting supper set up came to me to ask if I smelled something. It smelled like a campfire or grilling sausages. It was very distinct. So, I went downstairs and upstairs to find the source - Nothing! We work in a very old building (until Feb when we move to a brand new one). I was so confused. I poked my head into the unit adjacent to my area and nothing there either. No one was in the area. It is locked so no chance of non-staff being there. Then the head nurse was at the unit door so I asked her if she smelled anything. It took her several minutes to figure it out because the smell was out of place. She finally figured out it was smudging. The patients had gone out on the porch and the smell came through whatever to our area. I don't know the details, however, smudging is a Native American ritual (not sure if that is the correct word?) usually done outside. I had heard the term but didn't know what it meant.

We are in another winter storm watch tonight into tomorrow. I hope I can get to work - those contracts have to get done and I will not be in on Tuesday.

We have snow predicted Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Everyone have a great day today - Find a way to make your difficult child laugh.



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[Running_for_the_shelter]

Good morning, everyone! Busy day this afternoon -- party for easy child, get-together for me somewhere else ... and I have to come up with food and a white elephant gift. There are so many of those albino pachyderms about the house, you'd think I could pick one easily. difficult child had a playdate yesterday that we had to cut short because difficult child just would not play nicely. Sigh. I hope today is a better day for him. He's dancing on my last nerve.

The warm winds have started up, so my allergies are bothering me. I need to prune the roses still but will probably wait until next week. Hope everyone has a good day!