Spring!

I know I haven't posted since the holidays.  I'm bad like that.

Life has been busy, as usual, and I've thrown myself wholeheartedly into my new job.  It's amazing!

I guess you could say I've been bringing my work home with me...

My living room certainly looks like spring, doesn't it??

And now, the PEEPERS ARE PEEPING!! This is the first time this year, and I'm so thrilled to hear them that I have the windows open.  It's almost 60 degrees outside right now anyway. Wohooo! Spring!!

My first Empty Nest Holiday: a Silent Night

Edited, because wine = typos.

This year, Little Sis opted to spend Christmas with her Special Person and their family.  That left myself and Eöl at home...alone for the holiday.

I'm pretty sure Eöl's holiday wish was for peace and quiet.  Not only were there no kids in the house, I lost my voice.  I'm pretty sure I left it on the table, but when I looked, it wasn't there.  Lost.  Lost, I tell you.

Anyhoo...it's been a different, but still nice, holiday.

We went for a hike in the unusually warm temps and sunshine Christmas Eve.

We saw perfect fairy landscapes...

 Roses that think it's time to put out new growth...

Brown Eyed Susans still in bloom....

And even honeysuckle bushes with new leaves.

It *is* December, and this *is* Ohio, right?

We had a fun evening of wrapping presents, because we are still having Christmas here, complete with ham, family, fun, and fruitcake.  We are just having it a week later, to give me time to recover my voice (I know I left it here somewhere!) and to give Little Sis a chance to have her own adventures.

While she is away, we are in charge of The Velociraptor, who decided to lay on the wrapping paper, wiggle around, and generally get in the way.

And this sad state of affairs...I dropped a present I'd purchased for Eöl.  Egads!  The horror!!

We did exchange one gift, saving the rest for our "official holiday".  The one I'd intended to give him was the one I dropped...egads again!...but thankfully I had a backup.  Anyway, this is what happens when alcoholics...I mean Wine Connoisseurs...shop for each other.

 The poor Velociraptor misses Little Sis...and is still in my way...

Then, on Christmas morning, we slept until noon.  Yeah, that never happens, even with teens in the house.  Instead of cooking for just the two of us, we went out for Chinese food.  Eöl looks very serious about this meal...

All in all, not so bad.  But I'm looking forward to next weekend:  kids, grandkids, presents, noise, hubbub, hooplah, and hopefully my voice back.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!

Silly goose

So much is going on in the world right now that is frightening.

Bigotry and hate speech are suddenly ok with many.

Well, maybe certain people were ok with that lot all along, but they knew better than to spout that stuff in public.   They knew their coworkers, friends, and relatives would look at them with disdain and disgust.  They knew it was a sign of poor breeding and lower socioeconomic status.

But now, well, there's some idiot trumpeting around like a mad goose, honking all about banning Muslims, deporting Mexicans, making rude comments about women and belittling anyone that dares disagree with his point of view.

This foul fowl is one percent of the one percent, so if he can say it, it must be ok for Joe Trailer Park to spout all this stuff he's thought all along. Now his friends won't realize he was raised by rats in a dumpster, no siree, now that the rich say such things.  In fact, he can soon admit the real reason he's never agreed with the current administration, and it really does have nothing to do with economic policy.

Nope, Joe is a bigot, through and through, but was never vocal.  He kept his rebel flag belt buckle, but he took that stupid sticker off his truck after some woman told him off at a red light. (She was scary.) He had plenty to say with a few drinks in him, but that courage comes cheap and no one respects it.  Now folks will have to listen, have to understand that the reason this country is not as great as it once was...he's not sure exactly when that was or how it was so great...is because too many people are different than him.

Oh, and of course because those different people are probably terrorists.  Terrorists that shoot up schools...no, wait, that was a white male.  Terrorists that shoot up theaters.  Oh, wait, also a white male, dressed as the Joker.  Terrorists that shoot up clinics where women seek affordable health care...oh, no, also a white male.

Well, hmmm.

Suddenly, Joe is not so sure about what he doesn't like.  He knows that trumpeting mad goose is going on and on, honking and honking about all these things, but he's realized something:

You can't spot a terrorist, or a mad goose, just because of their color, their religion, nationality, or their gender.

Joe, no longer a small minded bigot, now thinks for himself and is respected by his peers.  He invites them all to Christmas dinner.  He is serving goose.

Happy Halloween! Um... I mean Happy Trick or Treat?

It's Trick or Treat time here in Ohio.  And though I've probably blogged about it before, I'll say it again - our village is the best place to trick or treat.  Even adults dress up, and after trick or treat there's a parade and a costume contest.  It's like HalloweenTown or something.

Tonight was pretty windy and cold, and I took teens instead of little ones, so I ended up roaming around on my own and looking at the adorable costumes.

But as great as the experience is, I find it odd.  Here in Ohio, at least in our area of Ohio, Trick or Treat is almost never actually ON Halloween.   Not only that, but it's TIMED.  As in, you have one hour to trick or treat.  At the end of that hour, if you are still trick or treating, I suppose you turn into a jack-o-lantern or something...or probably people just stop handing out treats.

The kickoff usually falls about 5 or 5:30 p.m., which is really hard for working parents that need to rush home and dress the kiddies.  The day, as far as I can remember, is always on a weekday, also, which means a school night for most children, and a work night for most adults.  Not the best time for that sugar binge.  The trick or treating is generally wrapped up at dusk.

To people that have always done it this way, it seems normal.  And there are advantages:  you can trick or treat your own town, then visit a neighboring town on their trick or treat night, and so on.  Our first year in Ohio, the kids trick or treated about five or six times.

However, for those of us that grew up with a more conventional Halloween that, for example, fell ON Halloween, the whole thing seems odd.  As a kid, we didn't even start trick or treating until dusk, and we'd go for as long as our little legs could hold out, or until people started turning off their porch lights.  (Turning off that light is the universal sign for, "We are out of candy.  Bug off.)  Then we would stay up late sorting our haul, while our parents looked it over for dangerous items (and took some of their favorites from the pile).

I remember being sad when I outgrew trick or treating.

That's another thing:  why do people get so upset when teens trick or treat?  So what if they are teens?? Sometimes it's nice for them to have a chance to still be kids, and not expected to be grown up before their time.  (My teens didn't trick or treat today, but enjoyed walking around and watching the costumes.)

What's the custom in your area?

And....she's back!!

After a hiatus, Country Life with Country Wife is back.  I did so much writing for the column, Country Life with Candace, that I really didn't have time to get to blogging in addition to my other writing.  So, if you feel you've missed anything, just search RichlandSource.com for Country Life with Candace.

I've recently taken a new position as coordinator of a Teaching Garden with a local non-profit.  It's an amazing garden, and a total bonus that I get paid to work there, teach others to garden, and help encourage self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship.  If you are curious, you can read a little about it here in my final column.

I'll be back to blogging, and I try to keep up with my Facebook page, so be sure to stop in and give it a "like".

So....what's the weather like where you are?

We've had our first freeze already (around Oct. 16), which came the day after our first frost.  We even had some snow flurries that weekend.  My home garden is done for the season, but the work garden has a nice selection of cole crops still growing strong.

Today is a rainy, windy day, and I feel a bit under the weather, so I'm enjoying a rest and watching the leaves fall.

Ugh. Mornings.

I've never really been a morning person. Sure, I like watching the sun rise and the sky turn pink, then blue. I love hearing the birds sing. I love the smell of early morning.

But not EVERY morning.

I like sleep. I like staying up late.

But right now, I'd give about anything to just go back to bed. Instead, I'm off to the office...after I down a gallon of coffee and take a shower, of course. Can't go out in public with bed head, right?

I suppose it is nice, as I sit here getting ready for work and watch deer and rabbits in the yard. Thankfully, they are mostly in the clover and not in my garden.

My garden, by the way, is minuscule this year. Teensy, even. It's just weird to have grass and clover where I once grew food. I don't think I like it much.

But what's a gal to do? I only have so many hours in the day and so much energy. Gardening has to be cut back in order to make time for working on the house - stuff is actually getting done, by the way. Hoping to get mowing and even some painting done on my day off this week.

Yeah, it could happen.

After I catch up on my sleep.

Mulch

Yes, I will write about anything. Even mulch.