Sock update. It's going to have a blue stripe over the instep. Maybe a different color on the second sock.

Mid-day Saturday. Ornamental grasses are worth having for snow alone.

Yesterday, before the snows came, I found this lone snowdrop. In my mind, spring has begun.

Progress on sock.

Knitting socks.

I bought what I thought was a subdued yarn but now that sock No. 1 is beginning to take shape the color looks a bit too ... something. Not exactly zippy, not bright. Muddy. Dated. I hope not ugly.

The pond at sunset today.

Still mostly frozen over despite warmer weather all week. No sign of the otter today.

Moss loves this weather. That's about as green as it gets in this yard.

The terrible trio. What did we do as a society to deserve these guys?

On the back of my annual dues notice from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Seems like an appropriate message for the eve of M.L.King Day.

I love my new socks.

I didn't knit them myself (some anonymous knitter in Vermont did; or at least the tag said it was a Vermont knitter; I'm so cynical these days that I suspect an underpaid and overworked Chinese child made them) but I'm going to start a pair this winter. I've made socks before, with pretty hilarious results.

Death by Cinnamon Buns

Someone, I think it was Jen in Nyack, NY, got me thinking about my grandmother's cinnamon buns. Actually I was sort of obsessed for a few days. So I found this recipe and made it. BUT, I halved the recipe (6 cups of flower for 12 buns?! I don't think so) and then eliminated the milk and only used 1/2 cup butter total, instead of the recommended 1 1/2 cups. Turned out pretty good but not as good as my grandmother's. I'm sure she did use the full 1 1/2 cups of butter. She had that look about her.

I think I'll plant a lot more of this great plant. Evergreen and the deer simply won't eat it. Must taste really bad. Maybe poisonous?

Cotton Lavender is an evergreen perennial herb with aromatic strangely shaped silver leaves with that remind one of ocean coral. In midsummer it bears small yellow flowers like round buttons.
From: http://www.herbgarden.co.za/mountainherb/article_CottonLavender.htm

Hawk on my deck. He's watching me. Or she.

Otter in the pond! The beaver family is gone but this guy has been very active in the last few days.

He dives under, catches a fish, and then sits on the ice eating it. He's not nearly as shy as the beavers were. He's a mammal, of the weasel group, while the beavers were rodents. I wonder if he's living in their abandoned lodge? And I wonder if he is alone or has a wife--with buns in the oven possibly. At the rate he was pulling out fish today, there will be a lot of frustrated fisher people come spring. The pond is stocked with brown trout in April (May?) but most people seem to catch sunfish and a few other types I've forgotten. It's great living next door to a pond.

Pond and pond ice. I love this cold weather.

I do love the snow and ice and cold, but I also miss being able to dig in my garden. In the DC area we don't always get rock-hard-solid ground in the winter. But this year is different. Tomorrow I'm going to dig in my compost piles just to get my digging fix in.

In the dead of winter, when the ground is frozen solid, it's hard for me to think clearly.

For example, this interesting op-ed piece in the Washington Post about women writers. It has me thinking but I've got no conclusions. And I feel like I should have some conclusions.

Brit Hume (Fox News) is a big fat idiot. But I forgive him.

'The extent to which he [Tiger Woods] can recover seems to me depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world." ' Watch here, if you can bear to.

Some of the great stuff I got for Christmas.

Watering can from recycled stuff:

A Pantone coffee mug:

A book of lists:

Salad tongs from recycled stuff:

Over the river and through the woods to Aunt Elaine's house we went. And along the way we passed these sweet emus, who probably aren't all that sweet.

And I learned, from Erin who is sweet, about ostriches and emus. And that led me to learn about the word "Gondwana." I knew about the landmass but not the name. Gondwana. It rolls nicely off the tongue.
From USAToday online:
"... ostriches and emus ... apparently share a common ancestor who lived long ago on the gigantic landmass, Gondwana. When Gondwana broke up about 75 to 85 million years ago, Africa split off, and then Australia/Antarctica sailed slowly away.... With a widening ocean between them, the ostriches and emus were forced to evolve separately thereafter. At least, this is the best current theory."

While the snow melts in our 51-degree back yard, I'm catching up with some newspaper reading.

This is a great article, I think.
"On geopolitical issues like climate change, India and China are encouraged to balance their internal duties as developing countries with their external responsibilities as emerging giants. They are told to short-circuit history, to avoid tactics for growth that the West now sees as errors, to assume obligations that rich lands took on only when they became much wealthier."

And the not-so-pretty aftermath. I predict these snow heaps, in front of a local grocery store, will not be gone until late March.

Midnight on Saturday/Sunday. It's almost over.

4 PM, Sat Dec 19.

Compared to this morning and last night.

The geese and ducks are very, very still in the pond across the street.

There's a shadow on my lens. Not sure if it's from the weather or if it's a permanent shadow. You can see it in the foreground on the top picture. Almost looks like a curved path in the snow.

1:30 PM, Sat Dec 19: The snow is so light that it didn't take me long to make this path. But was it worth it?

10:30 AM, Sat Dec 19. "They" might be right about the 12+ inches.

Snow on a Saturday. The best kind of snow. The Senate is still in session, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

11:30 PM, Fri Dec 18. The first 1/4 inch. "They" say we might get 12+ inches by Sunday AM.

To anyone who received one of my recent garter stitch scarves.... no, it's not your imagination. The scarf IS getting longer.

Sorry.

New Annoyance from SEC. She's got a point. (Kitties are not annoyed.)

New Annoyance: “teaspoon.”

What the heck is a teaspoon anyway? Something you use to stir tea? A medical measurent?

So I get my cough syrup and it says, “don’t use a regular teaspoon; use the syringe included to get the right dose.”

So why are there different teaspoons? A teaspoon should be a teaspoon should be a teaspoon.

Time to go on the metric system. But THAT’s on the annoyance list, too.

I was browsing through a very old history book and came to the passage below.

"The English forces a second time fought their way without serious resistance to Cabul, which was entered and taken on the 24th of December, 1879….The [Afghani] rebellion was completely suppressed…It was soon perceived, however, that the subjugation was only real in the neighborhood of the [English] garrison. The remainder of the people were restrained from hostility only so far as the danger of punishment was felt. The question thus arising from the occupation of Afghanistan…[was] transmitted by the Government under Disraeli to the Liberals under Gladstone; and the issues arising from the controversy have not, to the present day, been satisfactorily adjusted."

The "present day" was 1907 or earlier. I say bring home the troops but leave the CIA and their drones in Pakistan.

Oh no. Another book that will probably make me want to stop blogging.

Classes offered at a local "spa." Could they be more different? Maybe I'll take the first one. I definitely won't take the second.

Create your own Healing Mandala Workshop
January 9, 2010 & January 23, 2010

Each workshop will have guided meditation, simple teachnique instruction, and guidance in creating your own mandala for healing. You need not be an artist or have a particular spiritual/faith journey, just an open heart and mind to being guided to new possibilities in your life. All materials are provided. Cost per workshop: $35/ person


"HOW NOT TO LOOK OLD" Workshop
January 17, 2010

1:00 pm- 4:00 pm
Cost for workshop: $25/ person