Let it snow ...

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful ..."

In the last two days, over 6 inches of snow blanketed our world, and temperatures plummeted.   Elsewhere, this might be greeted with trepidation, but hearty Montanans welcome it.  (Almost) everything is better with snow - skiing of all kinds, snowmobiling, building snowmen, sitting by the fire watching the flakes flutter to the ground.  So I dedicate this post to SNOW!

I am linking up to I Like Thursday with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  If you need some positives in your life, you will find it among the bloggers who join this party!

"It's a marshmallow world in the winter, when the snow comes to cover the ground

It's time for play, it's a whipped cream day  I wait for it the whole year ' round"

We've had our first ski/ride day at Whitefish Mountain Resort.  

"Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go;  The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh, through the white and drifted snow!"

Well, it's my best friend's house, and it's a Toyota 4Runner, but I can pretend, right?  

Snow and cold is not all fun and games, especially for animals, domesticated or not.  And for the humans that take care of them.  Something as simple as keeping them watered is challenging in such frigid weather ...  It doesn't come through in this video, but the parade of turkeys was punching through the snow with many of their steps ...

"You could've come like a mighty storm  With all the strength of a hurricane

You could've come like a forest fire  With the power of heaven in Your flame

But You came like a winter snow  Quiet and soft and slow

Falling from the sky in the night  To the earth below"  Chris Tomlin

LeeAnna's prompt for this week asked about Christmas traditions.  The first thing we do on Christmas morning is sing happy birthday to Jesus.  I was pleased to see this Nativity scene in our neighborhood this year - I learned that a father/son team made it by hand! (We usually go to Mass on Christmas Eve.)

Armed with coffee and Christmas cake (see this post for more details), we move on to our stockings - did Santa pop coal or other goodies in there overnight?  Just a few days ago, I finished a new stocking for #1 Daughter.  I started this project in March, as you can see in this post.  She will use this stocking at her home; her "kid" stocking will remain here.

#1 Son will drive here on Friday, and we are thrilled beyond measure that he can join us for Christmas.  For many years, I have teamed up with him to bake gingerbread cookies.  I can almost taste the ginger as I imagine biting into the soft cushion of cookie, shaped as trains, gingerbread people, stars, moose, angels and more.

While all of this goes on (before and on Christmas Day), we are listening to Christmas music ON VINYL.  We have at least 10 records, and many of them I inherited from my parents.  It gives me great joy that #1 Son adores them as much as I do, especially the Andy Williams album.  In the last couple of weeks, I relished a choral concert from Valley Voices and a quirky, delightful hour of fun called Tubachristmas - tuba, euphonium and baritone instruments playing carols.  Check out this audio (sorry, picture is the carpet in the hotel!)

After the stockings, we open gifts, taking turns.  When we still had furbabies, we could find the cats under the tree, or nibbling the ribbons.  #1 Son is leaving his two cats at home - sad face.  They don't normally cuddle with each other; do you think they know he will be gone for a week?

At some point, we will pause opening gifts, to Skype with family in the UK and with #1 Daughter in the Midwest.  On a timeline known only to Head Chef, we begin dinner preparations - he has decided to smoke the turkey this year.  #1 Son is on dressing duty, and I lend a hand wherever I am trusted.  When our bellies are full and the sun has disappeared (early this time of year), we will retire to the movie room - I vote for Klaus even though we have watched it before!  And so, another Christmas will become memory.   Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Linking to Saturday's Critters.

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Mosaic Monday #161: Merry Christmas!

Greeting cards have all been sent, the Christmas rush is through.  But I still have one wish to make, a special one for you.  Merry Christmas! (and yes, I borrowed the lyrics from the Carpenters!)

In the spirit of relaxing and relishing this time, I am borrowing heavily from Christmas songs for this post, rather than put in all the work of writing my own prose.  Perhaps that is as much a gift to you as it is to me!!!

For me, the Christmas season officially begins the day after Thanksgiving, the first day Spousal Unit will let me play Christmas music.  I wasted no time on that, as well as creating pine swags for our fence and near our front door.

Some aspects of Christmas start earlier in the year, such as selecting designs for cross-stitch ornaments for the "kids", and then executing them.  I can show these to you now since they have already opened these presents!

Haul out the holly  Put up the tree before my spirit falls again

Fill up the stocking  I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute

Candles in the window, carols at the spinet

Yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute

Hasn't snowed a single flurry, but Santa dear we're in a hurry

The snow was late in arriving (the ski resort had to delay opening two days, and with limited terrain) but in the last week or so, Mother Nature has been making up for lost time!

 

My Mother would have turned 93 on December 22, and that was a tough day for me - the first birthday she has not been with us.  In her honor, I made Divinity for the first time in my life.  It was one of her favorite treats to make at Christmas.

Winter sports help me outweigh eating my way through the holidays!  At the encouragement of my Dear Neighbor Friend, I am now the proud owner of a set of cross-country skis.  Swishing my way through the woods and meadows near our house is just about as Currier and Ives as you're going to get!

Hark the herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled"

Joyful, all ye nations rise

Join the triumph of the skies

With the angelic host proclaim:

"Christ is born in Bethlehem"

Hark the herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

A week ago, the moon rose over the hillside opposite our house, and we were in awe.  It wasn't the Star, but I could easily imagine how the Three Kings might have felt upon observing it as I gazed at that shimmering orb.

O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time).

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mosaic Monday #60: A Little Taste of Christmas

Felt board - a gift to #1 Daughter

Santa shot glasses - a gift to Spousal Unit

As quickly as it came, it went.  The wrapping paper, crumpled into snowball-sized shapes, waits to serve as fuel for our next fireplace inferno.  The spent poppers and shells of the Christmas crackers have been swept into the bin, save for the ribbons, which I keep for some as-yet-unimagined craft project.  The turkey has been picked over, the meaty bits in the Tupperware for sandwiches or the occasional late-night steal direct from the Fridge.  Yet the memories are as sweet as the brandied fruitcake that we enjoyed Christmas morning. 

I may only have a limited window to compose this post, but for all the right reasons - our kids are still here and I am maximizing my time with them.  So, I will give you a little taste of our Christmas through photos more so than the written word, but I think you will forgive me that, just this once?

No shortage of yummy snacks around the house!

Christmas Eve morning, we woke up to snow - a white Christmas after all!

Middle left: Maggie tired out from opening presents

Bottom left: Hand-made ornament for #1 Daughter

Middle: Listography book from #1 Daughter

The Christmas feast

Hand-made ornament for #1 Son

I pray that your Christmas brought you what you seek the most, be it peace, freedom, joy, good health, refuge, time with family, relief from sorrow, or a new pair of hop-a-long boots! 

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mosaic Monday #47: Celebrating Josie

January 2019

She was the five-pound cat that thought she was a Doberman.  She had gourmet tastes, leading to an obsession with brie and grilled salmon.  She abhorred being picked up, but she still wanted to be in the center of the action.  That was our Josie.  On September 20, we made the tough decision to have Josie put to sleep.  She may have been 16 years old, but she still looked like a kitten and she will always be that kitten in my heart.

In 2005, on a visit to Rescue Village in Chesterland, Ohio, we planned to adopt two kittens.  But, as we walked the rows of cages, we noticed two adult cats in a single cage.  The sign indicated they had been residents there for almost six months; the previous owner had found that her new dog and the cats did not get along, and she gave up the CATS!  We knew kittens would quickly find homes, and none of us could abide the thought of these two spending another day in that small space, so after a short visit with Josie and Maggie in a guest room, they joined our family.

2005 - Age 2 - Rescue Village estimated her age 

We enjoyed her antics (mostly) for fourteen years.  Both kids graduated from high school and one graduated from college.  We moved to Troy, Ohio and then to Montana, first in Whitefish and now in Kila.  Maggie and Josie have seen it all.  As Josie's health began to decline in the last 12 months, we prepared the kids and ourselves for the inevitable.  But it was still an emotional event for all of us, and even as I write this the tears are streaming.  I certainly could not bring myself to write this post last week.  On the day we lost Josie, #1 Daughter paid tribute to her on FaceBook with this post:  

November 2017 - in the "spa"

From the moment she stepped into our home, Josie was a grumpy oddball. She did not like to be picked up.  She did not want to sit on our lap for pets, but would sit on a kitchen chair and meow her face off 'til Mom stopped what she was doing to pet her.

Josie liked sunny spots on hardwood floors, ribbons as chew toys, holiday decorations and cardboard boxes as beds.

Josie liked to lay under the Christmas tree and collect pine needles in her fur.  We would be hard pressed to find a ribbon or bow at Christmas that didn't have little kitty teeth marks on it.  Looking back, I think it was her way of showing love.

Christmas 2011

July 21, 2017 - first time she ever sat

on a lap - it only took 12 years!

Josie was by no means a lap cat, but toward the end of her life, we could find her on my Dad's lap more and more.  I think she knew her time was coming to an end and Josie wanted us to have those final memories with her.

I miss you already, Josie Cat.  I hope there are plenty of catnip toys for you to play with and cardboard boxes for you to sleep in in heaven.

I can't promise to keep dry eyes for the rest of this post, but I am trying to focus on the memories, as our daughter said above.  As I gathered over 140 possible photos for this post, I found myself laughing out loud.  "Noodle", as I liked to call her when I was slightly exasperated, had the typical cat penchant to be where she shouldn't be.

On the bed, saying "Feed me" with those big eyes

If a kitchen cabinet door was open, she had to be through it, prompting Head Chef to grumble about "Fuzzhead".  If we found the downdraft running on the oven in the morning, you knew Josie the Mosie had been mosey-ing about the kitchen counters in the night.

#1 Son sent me this email:  

Josie had her own way of showing affection to the family. She may have come off as grumpy but she really did care for us. It showed in her wariness to strangers. She will be dearly missed.

In her lifetime, Josie became legendary with family and regular visitors - she might act all nice and even approach you.  And then she would try to take a hand off, or make a swipe at a passing leg.  One of our neighbors, who cared for Josie during some of our absences, recounted wearing socks even in the summertime, to safeguard from Miss Cuteness (and more importantly, her teeth and back claws!!!)  As our son says, I believe she thought she was protecting us, and our home.  Yes, a five-pound cat channeling her inner Doberman.

November 2017 - in the cat tree

Josie has been in many of my posts; one of my favorites depicted her Houdini talents.  But no recollection about Josie would be complete without this story.  On our way from Ohio to Montana, we were in a Minneapolis hotel for one night.  Shortly after carting all of our luggage, two cats and a bird to the room, I looked around to make sure the cats had used the litter box and settled in.  No surprise, Maggie was curled up on one of the beds.  Josie?  Nowhere to be found.  After two full circuits of the room, I was convinced she had gotten out. I roamed down two hallways, asking everyone if they had seen a Doberman gray cat.  No luck.  Returning to the room, I peered again under the beds, and discovered a hole in the box spring.  I could just see a gray spot pressed up against the far wall.  What was she thinking?  "You will never get me back in that cat carrier again".  After dismantling the box spring and retrieving Noodle, we blocked up the hole.  Egads, the things we do for our furbabies!

September 2017

Spousal Unit recollects that, even after Josie began venturing onto his lap, she was pretty fickle.  Unless conditions were "just right", you could just as easily see her perched on the narrow arm of the chair.  At times, she would not tolerate Maggie joining in the cuddles, and would jump down.  On other occasions, both of them would make a space and settle in.

June 2018

One day, Spousal Unit was listening to a band cover a Bruce Springsteen song, and Josie jumped on his lap.  I caught a little on video.


You may be wondering about Maggie - how is she coping?  Although they are not related, Maggie and Josie have been together most of their lives.  Rescue Village told us Maggie was 4 at the time of the adoption, so that means the "Old Lady" has passed the 18-year mark.  She has a little arthritis in her hips, but that doesn't keep her from jumping onto laps or the ottomans.  Since Josie's passing, Maggie has begun meowing in the morning, usually at the same time the coffee maker starts brewing.  It might be her way of mourning, or of carrying on Josie's fine legacy of the same.  Either way, we are making a concerted effort to give her more attention.

May 2017

July 2019

Josie may have had a favorite lap (Dad's) or a favorite dining room chair (near mine), but any craft activity was a friend of hers.  If you didn't want her to sit on it, you shouldn't leave it out in the open!!!

Upper left: My current project - a Christmas tree skirt.  This picture was taken September 13 - thanks, Josie, for

putting your paw prints on the last project we will do together!

A week passes quickly when you are busy, and occasionally a movement has caught the corner of my eye, and I have looked for Josie, expecting her to be there. Maybe it is these random moments that I will miss the most.

In our family, Christmas is a significant event, full of traditions.  My Josie photo collection contains more snaps from the Christmas season than any other time of year - as you already heard from our daughter, Josie joined in with gusto.

Christmas - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Christmas 2011 and 2017 - what happened in between?  Life?

I have no doubt that Christmas 2019 will not be the same without Josie, but we will raise a glass, and tell our Josie stories, and that may be enough.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter