started out with shovelling the sidewalk… my oh my, we had a lot of snow since yesterday…
then friends arrived to pick me up and take me to Polo Park to mall walk… it was very nice to be able to walk in a space without ice and snow, where there was lots of space, and few people…
forty minutes and three laps later, we went to their house and had a lovely visit and lunch…
we topped lunch off with a few pieces of dark chocolate…
later I was brought home with a bagful of books to add to the stair bookshelf;-)…
since Tuesday, when I shovelled the snow in the sunshine, I have been out three times, two of them while it was still snowing…
during one of those times, it was magical… the snow was gently falling, there was no wind, and it was absolutely silent… no cars, no animals, no people…
I have been trying to get some good shots of the snow falling but it has not gone well, lol…
yesterday I was sitting in the living room watching the snow fall gently outside as I prepared to do some reading…
thinking of how blessed I truly am as I send healing thoughts to so many in my circle and beyond who are struggling with difficult times…
having good health, a comfortable home, food to eat, and companions during these wintry days is life-giving and it is important to remember what a good life I have…
many people start their New Year’s Day with a cold plunge;-)…
I like to start with a hot tub… it was beautiful out, the sun was shining, there wasn’t much wind, and the chickadees were busy at the feeders…
a lovely way to begin the year…
I took out the fancy selfie stick and set it up to get a photo of me in the tub, even though Google told me it felt like -20° Celsius… which it didn’t, lol…
I did look at the plunge tub for a hot second as I walked past it, lol… if my housemate had been home I might have gone in…
New Year’s Eve hasn’t been a big deal for the last few years… in fact, I’ve slept through it a few times, lol…
usually I’ve had a dark haired person to first-foot the house on New Year’s Day, but this year no one with dark hair was available… currently my hair is gray but in my earlier days it was a dark brown;-)…
I did some research and discovered I could first-foot myself as long as I was out of the house before midnight…
I also learned about the tradition of opening the backdoor to let out any bad vibes and then opening the front door to let in the good…
so I packed up my little bag of goodies, opened the back door to leave the house just before midnight and left it open for a few minutes…
then I went into the garage and out the big door, walked up the driveway and watched some fireworks across the creek for a few minutes before entering the house through the front door… the doorbell camera caught me as I entered;-)…
the tradition is supposed to be a tall, dark haired man, but really, I have had a few women do this cause why not…
my bag held a candy cane, heel of bread, an orange, 3 pieces of charcoal, a little bottle of Baileys, and a cookie…
it was fun to have the actual charcoal, because that is what my dad procured just before New Year’s each year to add to the little bags that he distributed to family and friends just after midnight;-)…
I did laugh when I discovered that I did the same thing last year, although on New Year’s Day morning, lol…