recently watched an interesting Cornell Lab webinar about chickadees and learned something about squirrels…
gray squirrels hide their food – one seed, peanut, or acorn – at a time, with each item in a different place… and they remember where each bit is…
red squirrels hide theirs in one spot…
now it makes more sense to me as to why they scare birds and other squirrels away from any of the feeders as they consider them to be their property, lol…
this little red guy was at it this morning, chasing away the crew of sparrows…
and a bit later, this gray one was sharing the deck happily with the sparrows;-)…
so happy to have my Friday night dinner delivered from ModernPlate… they produced weekly meals between November, 2020 and May, 2021…
at that time they ended the Friday night meals, so I was pleased (for me) to see that it was back, but sorry (for them) that we’ve come back to this…
I also ordered a spinach salad with feta, fennel, seeds and pecans, which I had for lunch… it was very tasty…
the dinner is for two so I get at least two meals from it… this one was pork loin with smashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts…
and then there was dessert;-)… kept half of one piece of the cranberry and orange sticky toffee pudding…and sent the rest home with my grandson… which was a good plan, because I would have eaten more if it was here, lol…
such a treat to have meals made for me… and they are always delicious…
had a wonderful time with my BS buddies to celebrate Christmas, even after the decision to stop gathering in person…
this morning a charcuterie board arrived from DeLuca’s and I divided it into five along with a veggie tray, crackers and pistachios… there was ranch dip with it and I made some fresh hummus to go along with all the other goodies…
a couple of elves fetched gifts and then dropped them off at other locations with the boxes of food…
shortly after that we gathered by Skype and enjoyed our meal… there was lots of conversation and laughter… eventually we went around the rectangle and opened gifts…
lots of thought had gone into each offering… there were cozy things, handmade goodies, items for the kitchen, donations and love;-)…
we slid back into Skyping without a hitch… we had only been meeting in person since the end of July…
these are some of the most special people in my life…
yesterday I made the decision to go into my own personal lockdown…
it was a very hard decision at this time of year, but I have been struggling with the worry of getting sick after all these months of taking such care…
so, my Monday/Tuesday group will meet by Skype tomorrow for our Christmas celebration… I’d ordered a charcuterie board and I will divide it up with some veggies… two of my friends will pick up gifts and then drop off the snack packages before our call…
lunch and goodies via Skype… just like we’ve done before, lol…
and I won’t be having my grandson over for lunch on Christmas Day, although possibly he will stop by for a short visit in the garage… or go to my daughter’s for Christmas dinner…
presents will be picked up, phone and video calls made…
I have all the things I need in the freezer (I think) to make a lovely chicken dinner on Saturday…
another solo Christmas, and although I will miss everyone, I feel I will be safe…
and at this point that seems the most important thing;-)…
decided to make a vegetable terrine for our dinner…
I thought I had the recipe in my cookbook, but not so much…
it had come from an old Company’s Coming cookbook… I am sure I photographed the recipe before giving the cookbooks away… unfortunately, I didn’t mark them as recipes and had no idea when I gave them away, lol…
I had looked online at various recipes, but none of them were even close…
I checked the computer, contacted my sister-in-law and even called the Company’s Coming company…
the person on the other end of the phone was very helpful… I was wanting to know which book the recipe was in so that I could order it online… once she knew what I was looking for she hung up and started searching… she called back within a few hours to let me know which book it was in, but that the book was no longer sold, and that the recipe wasn’t in any of the new books…
finally my sister-in-law sent me a text with a photo of a handwritten copy of the recipe…
yay, made it and enjoyed it with dinner… lots of memories…
I’ve been feeling a bit bad for the birds since I took down the bird feeder and haven’t added any seeds to the one that is still hanging, in an effort to dissuade the raccoons from coming into the garden…
so, for the last few days I’ve been broadcasting seeds in the grass and on the decks…
I think the birds are liking it as they can all get something to eat and no lineups are required…
been enjoying the Harris Sparrows, the White-Throated Sparrows, and the Juncos…
and the bonus is that I am able to stand at the patio door and watch them…