Skip to main content

Weather Update

When I last posted, we had passed our cold snap and were having fairly mild weather, which gave us lots of opportunities to get out and walk.  If you're not familiar with the Pacific Northwest, it is a lovely place to live for a lot of the year.  The winters, however, are gray.  The skies match the pavement.  If you live on a lake, as we do, the sky matches the color of the water, which is the color of the cement patio and the color of the dock.  It also rains quite a lot.  If you have recently had surgery and must stay in this gray atmosphere until further notice, it can get quite depressing.  If you can't get out to the gym because you're not allowed to be around germs or you can't lift any weight and you can't walk outside because it's pouring rain, you get doubly depressed because you can't get any endorphins going by exercising or seeing the sun.



So, we had a nice change last week when it snowed!  We don't get much snow around here and I've been hoping for some for the last month.  It snowed all night Sunday and off and on for the next two days.  It was so pretty!  Monday morning Pat had to go to the hospital for his labs, but he was able to go to the one closer to us and he made it there and back just fine.  Other than that, we made stew in the crock pot and stayed in the house and looked out the windows.



I even went out and made a little snowman.  He wasn't too large since I couldn't lift a big ball of snow but he was cute.





By Wednesday we could walk outside; the snow wasn't too icy, too deep, or too melted.  It was so nice to be out although my walk was delayed until afternoon so I could finish making the pair of mittens I was determined to wear.  They ended up being very warm; I knit them very tightly out of handspun wool yarn.  Unfortunately I ran out of yarn before I made the thumbs so they're a little different color.  But they still worked great.



The lake froze again and had a layer of snow on the top, which was cool to see.  I've never been here in the winter before, so everything was new.  We worked on our jigsaw puzzle near our gas fireplace and were cozy and warm.



We threw extra seed out for the birds and watched them gather on the snowy lawn.  Doesn't take much to keep us amused!

After the snow left, we had a whole day without power.  That was when my collections came in quite handy!  Candle holders, candles (glassybaby and Partylite) and yarn (we wrapped up in sweaters, socks, shawls, and blankets) were well used that day.



Yesterday brought the torrential rain and flooding, but luckily we both made it to our errands and back home successfully.  Pat had to go have the shortness of breath thing checked out AGAIN but so far it still seems to be a medication issue that comes and goes and won't be serious.  I went to get a pedicure!


This morning we had a little break and actually saw some sun so we got going on our walk, stopped to say hello to the nice folks in our yoga class and got home before the next deluge started.  This is on the way through the field at the park.  This pond full of geese is usually just a grassy area.  But see that bright area? That's the sun!




We even had the energy to clear up a bunch of the broken limbs from the bamboo and maple tree.  The snow took a toll on them.  It felt so good to be outside and actually doing a little something!




Then the wind kicked up and the clouds rolled back in.  Back to the knitting and the next puzzle...



Comments

Unknown said…
Lori, I am so enjoying your blog and so glad to see things are progressing well. I have had the both of you on my mind since you left for "the big events". I think that cold weather is just what the doctor ordered a to keep the two of you taking it easy after such big surgeries. I know 2017 is going to be so much better for you two and look forward to your return to the desert when the time is right.
Sending my most positive Vibes and Well Wishes.
Mimi
Unknown said…
Lori, I am so happy to hear of both of your progress health wise. I know the weather is not "the best" but probably just what is needed to take life slow right now. Happy to hear all is going well. Sure miss you but know you are healing in preparation for good health soon.
We all miss you and know that we will see you again when you both are well enough to return to the desert.
Love , Mimi

Popular posts from this blog

What I've Been Up To: Part Three. Missouri

Tuesday morning The Princess and I flew to St. Louis, rented a car, and drove a couple of hours to St. Robert, MO.  My SIL joined the National Guard and graduated from Boot Camp on May 9th, so we wanted to be on hand to congratulate him.  May 8th was Family Day, so we got to pick him up at Fort Leonard Wood and take him with us for the day.  He looks very handsome and impressive in his dress uniform! The Princess and her cadre of Army Wives.  Facebook is handy for making connections! We enjoyed meeting some of his buddies and their families and spending some quiet time, then had to have him back on post at 9:00 PM.  The next morning, we went back for an impressive graduation ceremony.  When that was over, we drove to a restaurant several miles out of town.  The drive was beautiful and the restaurant was actually in a cave.  The "shuttle" from the parking lot to the restaurant and "resort" was an old, rickety van driven by someone who might

The Great Adventure 2017 Part Eleven

Okay, we are heading into our last week and I should finish the narrative in no time!  We left off as we were riding the train to Oxford, which was where we picked up our next car.  Our B&B was in Stow-on-the-Wold, which should have been a fairly quick and easy drive.  Unfortunately, our GPS again conspired against us and by the time we figured out we were indeed going in the wrong direction, we had made our drive into a considerably longer one than it needed to be.  I hesitate to say that we wasted time, since seeing any place in England was interesting, but we did have to do some backtracking to get where we needed to be. We spent two nights in a very quaint building that was built in 1640.  The narrow circular staircase and slant to the floors bore out this fact. Imagine carrying two suitcases up these stairs! We had heard good things about the Cotswolds and were looking forward to seeing some part of the area.  Our first impression was that they are indeed popular with

The Great Adventure 2017 Part Twelve - Last Stop, London!

We arrived in London by train from Oxford on Thursday morning, Oct. 12.  After deciding that we didn't want to figure out the Tube while dealing with our luggage, we took a taxi to our hotel.  We did buy our travel cards at the station so we were all set for tackling the underground later that night.  This was our smallest room yet but worked for what we used it for. Our hotel was in the Kensington neighborhood and chosen to be convenient to the things we wanted to do in London.  We unpacked and headed out for a walk in Kensington Gardens.  It's beautiful and huge.  We noticed the Albert Memorial and walked by Kensington Palace and the statue of Queen Victoria.  If we hadn't had our fill of palaces already, we would be in the right place to see more. We kept walking and ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which neither of us had seen before.  It's an immense art museum with endless collections.  A couple of things I liked were the room of tapestries