Winter Sun The house was cold when I woke up today. We are out of firewood again. At first glance outside my window I thought it had snowed. But it was just a very thick layer of frost. It's very cold but the coffee is hot, I'm wearing long underwear under my clothes, socks with my slippers and thinking of California. Someday I would like to move back, but I'm afraid there won't be any places left with open fields and sagebrush. At least non that the average person could afford. Yes, I want to be warm in the sun and have a longer growing period for flowers and vegetables. I don't care if I'm by water, but that would be nice. I would love to putz amongst my flowers and veggies, play in the fields with my dogs and be productive with my craft.

There are always so many things that I'm trying to make. I'm working on a purse for one of my daughters that I have spent many hours on. I beaded a picture of Marilyn Monroe to put on the front flap. I'm using some wonderful old pink velvet that came from some upholstery. It should be quite nice when I'm finished. I'm also designing purses and mittens that are made from old wool sweaters. I have a large collection of wool that I've shrunk and cut into pieces for such projects. I also have a large collection of silk.(I made out like a bandit at a thrift store, silk blouses for a dollar.) Then I'm collecting corduroy for quilts. Besides all this I'm also creating jewelry that I make from a wide variety of things. I love old necklaces that I can take apart and incorporate into my new creations. I can be busy at this stuff all day, and then I discovered blogging. Now I don't have enough time for everything....my God! Who's going to make dinner? Do the laundry?

Through all this my dogs keep me very busy, Siskiyou thinks that she should be apart of what ever I'm doing so she jumps up on my desk to examine what is going on. Her front paws sit at the keyboard, her ears are back and I swear she is smiling. She really wants to be one of the girls. When my youngest is brushing her teeth or putting on makeup, Sis is there paws on the sink trying to look beautiful too. When my daughters visit she must sit in the middle of us, touching us and letting out friendly little growls that tell us to include her. She's quite adorable. Her brother, Gunnar is very lackadaisical, huge, but wonderfully cuddly. I will try to post pictures, I say try because I have not yet mastered this skill.

The sun is getting high, it casts a yellow light on everything. The large pines I see from my window are all slanted facing east. The strong wind off the ocean makes sure of this. I am safely sheltered from this wind because of a large hedge of blackberry bushes, and scrub brush.

Out front there is a little round herb garden that someone must have planted years ago. It's probably around 5 ft' in diameter. There is parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme growing there. Hmm, sound familiar? This is enclosed by a border of small rocks and shells. In the center I have anchored my mother's birdbath that I've carried from Oregon to Minnesota and back again. In the spring I will work on making this more presentable as it is strewn about with weeds, rocks and mole holes. My husband is a Landscaper by trade, not working at it at present though.

The puppies are sleeping again, laying on the couch basking in the sun. My feet are still cold despite the socks and slippers and my hands are a little numb, makes typing difficult. I have hit the backspace frequently in this post and have had to look up the spelling of words as my mind seems to be unable to spell today. We have plenty of kindling but I don't want to waste this to keep warm. Randy will bring home firewood tonight after work and we will be warm again. I think I will take a hot shower and try to do something else productive for awhile. Good day....  ¶ 1/04/2005 11:57:00 AM