on New Year’s morning I was walking on the treadmill and happened to turn on the front camera to see if any birds were at the feeder…
there was a man standing there, so I ran upstairs to see what was going on…
it was a young friend with a gift in his hand… he said he was looking for coal… I had him step back, and put out a gift bag I had put coal and a scone into… anticipating that my middle grandson was coming over…
then he stepped over the threshold and put down the gift and gift bag and stepped back outside…
my daughter had sent a number of items to her friends and they had packaged them up and delivered them to my door…
for years we have done first-footing… this was by far the fanciest package, lol…
there was tea, charcoal shampoo, chocolate covered fruit, a Christmas cracker, little bottles of alcohol, sourdough chocolate, a delicious fresh banana chocolate chip muffin, an adorable tin with a cute gingerbread person in it and a fresh orange… and of course the chunk of coal;-)…
I’ve been frustrated for a long time because I couldn’t find my Kobo reader… I think I started the search around May…
I came across it ages before that and put it away carefully, sigh… at that point I also had no idea where the charger was for it…
so, I knew it was here, and I’d been searching everywhere for it, particularly after my daughter suggested that one of the universal chargers would likely power it up…
I’ve been using the tablet, but that only works in the house due to the way that the light bounces off it outside… so that meant I needed paper books all summer, lol… I still have one last book from my last online summer purchases…
this morning I was tidying in the bedroom and there it was tucked in along the edge of one of the shelves…
honestly…
and I even found a charger that worked, from my old Blackberry, lol…
my son-in-law and grandson came over today to shovel…
of course, he helps, lol… the oldest grandson tends to drop off the shoveler and run a few errands for me…
an excellent job, as ice and packed snow were scraped off and everything looks tidy;-)… he also spotted a piece of siding that had come loose so he went and found the ladder and then got it hooked in… it may need a bit more work in the spring…
I went outside with a mask on to visit with them for a few moments… as they were leaving he covered his face with his hat and came and gave me a big hug…
yesterday I had delicious snacks and dinner thanks to the kids in Ottawa…
early in the afternoon I started with some Prosecco popcorn, followed by sardines, olives, crackers and a bit of zucchini basil soup I prepared…
my supper consisted of beef bresaola, canned lobster, truffle potato chips and red peppers… it was a play on our usual New Year’s Eve dinner of steak and lobster…
then for dessert there were some delicious star shaped shortbread with a piece of chocolate in my holiday cracker…
of course, I couldn’t get the cracker to snap, as per usual…
throughout the day we chatted off and on and I focused on their time zone so that I could get to bed, lol…
ended the night with some sparkling wine and their voices…
last evening I spent time on Instagram… people tend to put up their nine most liked photos of the year, but I decided to put up my nine favourite ones…
I was thinking they would be flowers, with maybe a bird or piece of chocolate included…
once I finished, there were seven with flowers, one bird and a monarch butterfly…
looking through the pictures reminded me of some wonderful times over this past year…
my orchids, which provide such joy for me all year long…
planting, growing and enjoying morning glories, datura and dahlias…
time spent, with and without cameras, viewing the birds in the garden…
a rose along the sidewalk on one of the walks I took this year, with my daughter in my ear;-)…
the amazing time I spent over the summer with eggs, caterpillars and butterflies… and the day my grandson and I watched the butterflies appear…
time with hearts and flower bouquets…
the water lily flowers that erupted in the pond… had the most blooms ever this summer… and I hope to overwinter them in the aquarium…
lovely reminders of a crazy, but wonderfully special year…
