Snowy Day Part II

It snowed all day.  Cottonwood Heights took second place for the most snow at 23 inches, but it continued to snow after last night's news.  It's a marshmallow world outside.

Back patio with poor bending apple tree.

Can you see the stump from last year's dead cottonwood tree.  It has not been carved into art yet.  Behind it is another dead tree.  This is my pine tree out front that I grew from a sapling given to me on the first Earth Day.  It is over 25 years old.  Now it has succumbed to a pine borer.




Yesterday I misnamed the day.  It was a snowy day and not a "snow day".  12 inches of snow and schools were in session.   Beat that Maryland.  Today 24+ inches of snow and I saw children going to school.  We are tough in Utah.  RRRoar!

Here is some more pix:

My front yard forest.

Three Gumdrop Pots.  (Under the deck)

Getting Deeper!

Draped with snow.

You can't get much better than this (if you ski).  Eat your heart out.  Hibernation is my idea of enjoying this much snow.  Too icy, too slippery, too dangerous for us old people.

At least we have stairs to the chicken coop now so I don't have to slide down the hill or fall on my fanny after feeding the chickens.  I am not a deer, not sure-footed at all on snow/ice.

Enjoy the weather where you are.  Remember what we get on Monday comes to you on Wednesday, my children in Illinois and Indiana and you get lake effect snow, too.  Thursday, Maryland.  

HAPPY SNOW SHOVELING

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Winter Has Arrived

At long last.  Winter.  Not that I love it that much.  I had to walk to the bank this morning because we have a foot of snow on our driveway and Dan ran out of gas in the snowblower.  It was taking a lot of work to get down to the driveway/sidewalk because the snow was so wet.  Be Warned:  this storm is on it's way East.

By the way, it is still snowing.

My herb pot on the front porch.  

Deeper than my dogs.

 Remember when the snow was higher than Koco?  It is not quite that deep yet, but it is higher than my little miniature poodle dogs.  They won't go outside for a picture.

Winter Wonderland!

All the bushes are bent to the ground.

Looks like more than a foot on this pot.

Merry Christmas!

HAPPY WINTER SHOPPING

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Plaids are back!

TRENDS ON TUESDAY

Here are a few more upcoming styles to look for on your friends and neighbors that may appeal to you:  
Booties, or ankle boots with skirts and not just with pants. oversize sweaters, huge or plaid wool scarves, shawls with fringe or ponchos, longer pendant necklaces with tassels, vests (not the oversized men's style in tapestry of the 80's) puffy and denim vests. See Four Basics to Have In your Wardrobe from KSL's Studio Five.  I have also pinned several updated styles on my Pinterest Page under Style.

And PLAID shirts and dresses. shawls or accessories.  I love plaids!!  Last time plaid made a quick appearance I missed it totally,  bought fabric and it sits still. I love plaid!! The style is large plaid and screaming large buffalo check.  Luckily, I have a cedar chest full of Pendleton Wool plaids of all sizes that I collected while working for House of Fabrics years ago.

I brought out all the plaid fabrics in my cedar chest and laid them out on the bed to check them out.  Here is the selection.  

 The top row is mostly Pendleton Wool ($30 per yard even in the 80's).  The bottom row are other woolens of various quality.  

Some are famous Tartan plaid styles, but I would have to look them up;  I have forgotten the names.






I dug out some wool clothing, too. I think they are basics as well as trendy now.  I made this skirt last winter, but it is just a bit too tight.  It is a Vogue pattern.  

Tip:  Vogue and Butterick patterns are always tighter than Simplicity and McCall.  Cut a size larger than you would wear in the other patterns and/or check the actual measurements on the pattern to determine your size.

 

These two outfits will pass for plaids today, I think, because they are basic styles.  The jacket would look good with a black skirt or slacks, and a longer sweater hanging below the hemline.  For me to wear them, the skirts would need to be cut off at the top and brought up for the waist to fit.  I was a lot lighter when I made them.  Not sure it is worth the work, but I do love them.  They are a rather long midi length, and will look good with boots and sweaters this year. 

Plaid styles are so basic they can slip into most new trends without sticking out as '80s or '90s, but the most popular color in plaid this year is red, and  black and white buffalo checks.  (Somewhere I saw that black will be the new Pantone Color of the Year in 2016???  Need to ask the Wiz.) Always keep most of your wardrobe in basic styles with a few trend extremes.  That is the safe way to stay current, but not have an outrageous or too pricey clothes expenditure,

HAPPY DRESSING

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Winter on the Way

Looks like we are in for a change in weather this week.  I was hoping for a long Indian Summer after the snow and frost of last week, but nature has other ideas.



It will be cold today for my last day of Fall final clean-up of the yard and garden and chickens.  We may have a few more warmer Mondays, my outdoors day, but nothing is certain.  I must do what I can today to batten down the hatches for winter.  There is still outdoor furniture to store and chicken coop to clean--my favorite (kinda like cleaning bathrooms).

I still have Swiss chard and kale outside

to harvest.  Kale may be good for another week.

 I plan to freeze the chard and use it for a spinach substitute.  It is a bit stronger flavored, but the color is good.

Rainbow Chard--red and yellow

  It is time for earthy soups like Deep Woods Soup from Cooking Light Magazine.  Or Olive Garden's Tuscan Soup,  Zuppa Toscana.  Yum. 

 Note (later): The day did not go completely as planned.  I picked all the chard in the front porch planters, but did not go back out to work.  The weather was just too cold and wet.  The temperature was 36 degrees when I got back from my doctor appointment so I traded jobs for a later and hopefully warmer day.

We had Zuppa Toscana for dinner (many recipes available online and on Pinterest) and Red Lobster-like Cheddar Biscuits. I use the Supreme Biscuit recipe from my later edition Better Homes and Garden Cookbook with my own changes and additions.  I will feature them later because I don't have a picture of the finished product.

HAPPY FALL



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Prayer for Sunday

I love this song:

Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;

With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav'nly Friend

Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul:  Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last; 

Be still, my soul:  The waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still, my soul:   The hour is hast'ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone, 

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.  

Be still, my soul:  When change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Text:  Katharine von Schlegel,+

Music:  Jean Sibelius, copyright, 1933

My heart goes out to my friend, Liberty Cameron, who's mother passed away.  May the Lord bless her with strength to weather the duties she is now called to take care of and the future days of sorrow.  I love you, Liberty.

HAPPY SUNDAY


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A Sew and Sew Saturday

Saturday is a special day.  Today it is the changing of the month since I was in Maryland at the first part of the month.  I have been distributing my one Xerox paper box full of November decorations.  Not so much as the two totes and one paper box of Halloween stuff.  I cannot use too much of that one because they are colored and styled for black and ghouls and goblins.

Here is my Bombay chest with the HOF cornucopia and ceramic pumpkin from the ceramic shop a few dozen years ago.  I still have the pilgrims, too. I plan to make a leaf banner from the fall leaves I have been collecting for the mantle and will show that soon, and a new wreath for the door--today, hopefully.

My main activity today is sewing up some new pillow covers for the fall and a new brown skirt with fabric from my stash.  You don't work for the fabric store for several years without amassing a bit of fabric. That is more like a six or eight tote storage.  I really want to sew some of it.

Catch up photographs:

I brought in a lot of houseplants that were lounging around outside before my trip.  Many are still out--job for a Monday.  I purchased a nice pot holder this summer for this moving indoors project. 

It now houses my herbs and my pineapple plant in the sun of the South window.  It smells so good to bump up against the Rosemary and Thyme when cleaning around the area.  I also have a pot full of ginger that is filling up with roots to eat.  The leaves smell so fragrant when they are rubbed, too.  Oh, I love herbs.

I brought in the more tender houseplants.  One is my Jade Plant.  Two springs ago I potted up all my houseplants that had been neglected for several years because of my mission.  I brought them in last winter and then back on the front porch for the summer. My Jade plant grew a lot in that time and looked quite pretty.  Then this Spring when I put it out a bit too soon, it got pretty sagged and sunburned.  See my blog on July 11, 2015 poor neglected Jade plant. 

                                     

When I brought it in this Fall, the improvement shows.

Also, before I left I dried some of the Asian Pears.  I had five bowls full, dried four in two batches in my food dryer.  They are as sweet as candy.  Yum!

Above are three of the bowl of pear-apples and below is  one load of dried fruit.  I have a large food dryer with nine trays and that holds a lot of fruit.  The problem is my husband can eat a trayful without batting an eye.  I try to gently remind him how many whole pears he is eating and he will get a tummy ache if he fills up on water.  It is an age old concern so I usually hoard it until it is about a decade old.  

Halloween bits and pieces:

I have a linen closet full of colorful towel sets and odds and ends.  I decorate for the season as much as possible.  My orange towels are a wimpy soft color and not a great POP for Halloween so this year I decided to use the grey ones and duded them up with ribbon for a festive look.

As a parting farewell to Halloween we had a fun trunk-or-treat evening and decorated up the back with my pillows and another piece of "candy corn" fleece to use for something fun next year.

We had a surprise visit from the headless horseman and that was a great hit.  He was followed around by Laura Woolston on a motorcycle so we knew the probable identity of our mystery ghoul.

HAPPY SATURDAY

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All that was October

 I would like to finish up October before I begin moving forward.  I had a lot of October stuff that I wanted to post, but my time was taken up with personal things and vacations.  I neglected my blog.

HALLOWEEN:
     

Attempted Selfie

Halloween Pillow Covers:

I had some remnants of Halloween printed fleece and decided to cover my sofa pillows;  one is black with ghosts and the other is crazy yellow.   There was a little more fabric so I made some small pillows, too, that fit the leftover fabric.    
They all have velcro openings so they can be stored easily in the Halloween totes and I can make other covers for other seasons.


I have lots of pillow forms from my days clerking and store managing at House of Fabrics.  The small 12 x 12 is supposed to be a gift and the narrow one I filled with a used pillow that I brought home from the mission and washed up. [See link on washing pillows: washday whites on February 2, 2015.] I cut one of these former Walmart pillows in half and sewed it closed then used it as my filler for the narrow yellow pillow.  Voila--recycle, reuse, repurpose.

Crazy Yellow pillow cover with velcro

This was a last minute project I threw together just before Halloween.  I have more to make next year.  See next October.

Halloween Jewelry (a small sample):

Gravestone Bones from Fusion Beads.com

Nightmare Before Christmas Tree Earrrings and Black Swirl Necklace

Fang You Very Much Necklace from Fusion Beads.com

Pumpkin Earrings

Swarovski Skull Earrings

Dare to Scare Bracelet from Fusion Beads.com

Dare to Scare Bracelet from Fusion Beads.com

Halloween Wreath:

And finally, my Halloween Wreath that was hurriedly put together from my grape vines late in the summer

fresh grape vine wreath

when I was supposed to be picking elderberries.  Dan spray- painted it black for me and I hung some Halloween stuff on it quickly including one of my necklaces--Halloween Bones.

Remember my little spiders, kids?

It was not that impressive, but it is all mine.  Perhaps I can fix it up more next year.  I love the black leaves on it, but they keep falling off.  Oh, well.

That is all the pix I took, but there was so much more.  It is all put away now.  See  you next OCTOBER. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

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