A Week At The Gallery

Hello, friends.  I hope you've had a good week.  We had a quiet Thanksgiving.  I made fresh cranberry sauce, a sweet potato casserole, winter salad, and heated the pie made on Sunday.  J prepared a ham, and the pups got all the bits of fat cut off.  While I worked at the gallery all week, I worked on various projects between customers.  All the holiday cards were written and addressed, some paperwork was done, good progress was made on the cross stitch, and I worked on whittling down my inbox.  I redeemed Swagbucks for a $25 gift card.  One of the lovely things about the internet is the friendships made online with kindred spirits.  I was surprised to find this beautiful handmade card and gift in the mailbox, sent by a friend.  The tree is a portion of a quilt made by her great-grandmother for her grandmother.  How wonderful to imagine the stories and history in that little scrap of fabric.  I will cherish it.

J went over and beyond last week.  As I wasn't going to be home until around 6 each night, we came up with easy meals, and he cooked dinner every night, which was a first.  I don't mean to say he has never cooked a meal for me, but it's been quite some time, and he's certainly never made a week's worth of dinners.  I was so very appreciative.  It is a wonderful thing to be self-employed, but the income is certainly variable.  I feel blessed to have gotten 5 days of work, doing something I truly enjoy.  The top pic is the view from behind the counter.  There's another section of the gallery off the upper left.  The table with my soaps is above the baskets, just right of center.  It's a wonderful space, which used to be a livery stable, back in the day, and was restored beautifully.  Leftovers (some frozen) were taken for all my lunches, as well as water and tea. We were so thankful to finally get some measurable rain last week, a total of 2", which filled our tanks up 2/3 of the way.  We had been using our small "Plan B" tank for household use, as our two largest tanks were almost empty. That rain came just in the nick of time!  

This black eyed susan vine greeted me each morning at the gallery.  Though some of the vine had died back, the more protected portion was still covered with beautiful flowers.  During the week, J got the bag we collect bones in from the freezer, and put it in a pot on the woodstove, where it simmered for a few days.  I'll can up the broth and meat for the pups, after keeping a little out for them.  I had bought what was needed online, and J changed the oil and filter in my car on Thanksgiving.  J received the veteran's discount for items we purchased at Lowe's.  We stopped for a few groceries at Food Lion, and found a cart with amaryllis and paperwhites marked down to $4.99.  I noticed a few of them had ceramic pots, where most had plastic, and got one of each with the nicer pots.  One, possibly both of these will be used for gifts.  I'm very much looking forward to having time at home this week.  I hope this week will bring whatever brings you happiness.