Reactions and Attractions

 

Our first Hellebore is opening! I wish they weren't so shy. You have to get down low to see their faces. So I did. 

I have pondered the reactions to the closing statement of my last post. There weren't many, and one was private. This is not a political blog, but in my comments on daily life, my strong feelings about what is going on in our nation do creep in. Most of us are of a like mind, but some are not. While I would like to know more about their thinking, this is not the forum for that. I honor all politely stated points of view, and appreciate those who have the courage of their convictions to go against the tide of the majority.

Sometimes rainbows help. 

On sunny days at just the right time we get them on our kitchen floor as sunlight streams through the beveled glass on our front door. 

I have been going for walks in the park, sometimes with Tom, sometimes alone. I play music from my phone through my hearing aids. It is peaceful. 

The catkins are lengthening on the wild hazelnut tree. 

Here in our maritime climate spring tries to push winter away early, but balmy temps now may bring a deep freeze to come. Like life, seasons here are uncertain. 

The snowdrops will soon be opening.

Tom has been using the dry weather to get work done in the garden.

On the hall tree the Seahawks gear is ready. I might wear some of it when we go to a local protest rally at noon on Saturday. We haven't been to one since before the holidays, and I need to go and be counted among the resistance. Then at 5:00 we will be settled in front on the TV for the playoff game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers. Jill and Jake will be there in person. Just like in politics, we have family on both sides. 

Go Hawks!

Santas Away, Snowmen Stay

 

On Sunday we packed up all of the Santa collection, cleaned the shelves and restored the pottery collection to its usual place. I did decide to part with one piece of pottery. It's a start. 

Now everything Christmas is back in tubs and waiting in the garage to get stuffed back in the attic. Isaac will help. I left the snowman display in the bathroom, deciding it was Winter, not Christmas. That may be the only snow we get. It's heading for 57 F today, and sunny. I refreshed the bouquet of greens with some very fragrant Sarcococca. 

On Saturday we celebrated Isaac's 23rd birthday at Anthony's at the marina. You may notice he shaved off his beard. He said his face is now getting cold so he might grow it back. After good food and conversation, Tom and I went for a walk along the docks. 

Yesterday I had a dentist appointment, routine stuff, but I forgot to take my antibiotic, so the cleaning couldn't be done and I will have to go back. Bad me. Because I have an artificial aortic heart valve, I am required to take an antibiotic before any dental work. At least the dental Dr. could do her exam and found no issues. Yay me!

I have too much on my mind. No wonder I forget things. The news is awful. ICE is becoming Gestapo. Revenge drives politics, and policy is unimportant. I search for truth amidst the lies. I have more to read than I have time for.

So now I'll sign off and go for a walk instead.

Little Bits And Big Deals

 The big deal is that today is grandson Isaac's 23rd birthday.

He's at work today. We'll celebrate with him on Saturday.

The little bits are the decorations we still have left over from Christmas. 

The candle and placemats will stay on the kitchen table at least through January.

I might need to put the snowmen in the bathroom away sooner because they get stored in a bin that goes in the attic. Those are all sitting in the garage for now.

Tom will start putting away the outside lights today, since it's not raining. I will miss them.

The Santa collection, not exactly a "little bit", is still up. I decided to leave it up until the weekend. I think this is the first time it made it past Epiphany. 

Once it's packed up and put away, the pottery collection can come back on the shelves. Each year I think about what I would get rid of first when I decide to downsize. 

The last gingerbread cookie is still sitting on a plate in the kitchen. One of us will eat it for lunch. I cooked a pot roast yesterday, so supper will be mostly left overs.

There is still a lot of candy around here, so I'll need to get out for my walk this afternoon. Those holiday pounds don't come off easily. 

Out With The Old

It was very dark and rainy today, one of those PNW January days that hover around 42 degrees and no one wants to be outside.

 After our Zoom meet up, we spent most of the rest of the day changing phone service.

We decided to take Xfinity up on their offer of free cell service for a year and to stop paying for things we don't need.

So we dumped our land line and our home security service.

We have a basket full of stuff to dispose of. The security monitor has to go back to Comcast.

We might miss the land line at first, but we hardly ever used it. Then we switched cell service from T-Mobile to Xfinity. That seems easy, and we get a free year of service. After a year it will still be much cheaper. We'll wait longer to upgrade our iPhone 12s. We have a streaming package for Netflix, Apple TV, and Peacock that we'll have to check out when we turn the TV on.

Then I spent the rest of the day notifying people via email of the change in contact phones. Too bad there isn't a "change of address" for phones. 

Now I have just enough time to play Wordle and Connections before I get supper on.

I made a resolution to post on my blog more often. Can you tell? Do you wish I hadn't?

Moving Into January

 It's a dark, lightly rainy day, 45 degrees at 4:00 in the late afternoon. It will be like that for days now as we settle into a Northwest January.

I got a little start on putting away Christmas, with lots more to do, but there is no hurry.

We put bird feeders back up in December and are enjoying little feathered visitors. The photo in the header is a Towhee, which are ground feeders. At the feeders we get Chestnut Backed Chickadees, along with Black Capped Chickadees. 

I took both of those photos several years ago. I gave my big camera away to Isaac, so my photos now aren't so great, but here is the Downy Woodpecker I captured at the suet feeder today, and then an internet photo to show what the little guy really looks like.

Speaking of birds, our Seahawks are flying high today, after beating the San Francisco 49er's yesterday to take the NFC West division and top seed for the NFC Playoffs. They will play at home in two weeks. 

Seahawks are real birds, and are sometimes referred to as seahawks, but they are actually Osprey, and we see them often fishing in Useless Bay on Whidbey Island. 

Yesterday they were fierce!

And now it's after 4:00 and starting to get dark. Tom has brought in fire wood for an evening fire and we have left over pizza for supper. I'll make a salad. Easy peasy, just right for a Sunday night. 

December 31st, 2025

 It's New Year's Eve Day.

It's foggy. 

But it will clear this afternoon, and hopefully stay clear until after midnight, so the Fireworks On The Needle can be enjoyed by those on the scene as well as the many of us, like me, who will be watching on TV. 

Yesterday we walked again at the park.

We have been enjoying evening fires. Some day we'll get around to undecorating, but there's no hurry. Rain starts tomorrow. 

Happy New Year! (I hope)

The Year Is Winding Down

 

                         Low Winter Sun

The year is ending and it has been OK. 

Yesterday we paid off our car  loan. Now we can start saving for property taxes.

A year ago last January I had knee replacement surgery. There were issues but I can walk. Sunday I did my longest walk yet since surgery, a mile and a half. Tom was impressed and praised me. I have no plans for any more chopping up.

After our Zoom meet up today, I went outside. We don't have much view of the sky anymore, what with tall trees and giant houses. I'll keep the trees, the low winter sun peeks through them, but I could do without the houses. They block all of our western sky.

Jill sent me photos of the sunset she and Irene could see at Rockaway Beach. I'm envious.

On my walk this morning I looked for anything blooming. For a number of years I would go outside on New Years Day to see "What's Blooming". I'm a few days early this year, but the sun is shining. Here's what I found. 

Winter Jasmine and Hellebore buds ready to burst. 

A few roses and many Primroses. 

Buds on Euonymus ready to flash pink and orange/

Hydrangeas hanging on.  

Fatsia blooms fed hummingbirds, but now have gone to seed.

Mahonia blooms now take their place. 

I have no New Years resolutions this year. I just need to loose weight, but with a pantry full of chocolate and other gifted candy, that will be hard. We'll go for a walk again this afternoon, and as usual, we'll keep on keeping on.

Happy New Year to all of you dear friends. May you find Joy and Peace as you journey on another trip around the sun.