A Little Afternoon Trip, Rain & Cookies

Hello, friends.  Last week, I potted up the amaryllis and paperwhites, and wrapped all the presents for the family gathering on Saturday, while enjoying free holiday music.  While working on this post Sunday night, it occurred to me that all the amaryllis are still sitting in my studio windows.  Oops!  I somehow totally forgot to take them with me.  Sheesh... The GPS sent me a new way to the dentist recently.  While driving home, I drove through the most quaint intersection, and realized it was the edge of Gold Hill, a tiny historic town my sister and I had planned to visit a few years ago, but never did.  I asked if she'd like to go while it was all dressed up for Christmas, and we did.  I actually saw a chicken cross the road at the intersection, and bought one last gift for J.  We had dinner before heading home.  It was a fun afternoon trip.  I made Pasta Norma for our gathering, using our garlic, onion, eggplant, tomatoes and herbs.  

We lost the blind rooster last week.  We're actually surprised how long he made it after his health challenge.  I think having one of the hens in with him the past year kept him going a while longer.  Now the hen is back in with the others in the main coop, and we have our chick area free again for the spring.  We enjoyed homegrown pesto and a salad for a dinner.  I cut up, blanched and froze a large bag of our broccoli, ending up with 17c of broccoli for future meals.  Lettuce, oregano and chives were harvested.  At the grocery store, I was able to get asparagus for $1.59/#, and dogfood on sale for $6 off.  M is still attempting to create drama from afar.  I'll be so glad when the last few belongings he has left are gone, which we've said must be by the end of the year, and that chapter is in our rearview mirror.  

We got more rain, including just under an inch over the weekend, and were able to switch our home back to rainwater.  Hallelujah!  J then had to work on cleaning out the shower head and the toilet float valve from all the gunk from the well water.  We're hoping we don't have to go back to well water any time soon, if ever.  I've been making good progress on the cross stitch.  All the details are done, and I'm just working on filling in the main color.  I'd been feeling sad about not being able to bake some of my favorite Christmas cookies, due to not being able to have gluten, eggs or butter.  But then I started seeing cookie recipes that MM posted.  I made the first ones, Snickerdoodles, on Sunday, and they're good.  Not exactly the same as crispy, buttery cookies perhaps, but still quite good.  While the oven was hot, I roasted garlic and baked sweet potatoes for future meals.  

Many wishes from our home to yours for a peaceful and joyful holiday!