Lots of Snow

We had such a sunny, spring-like winter, I was beginning to think that we'd missed winter, but February made up for it big time!!!  Our neighbour cleans all the driveways in the neighbourhood, which is very much appreciated.  One day his tractor slid into the ditch.  He hooked his truck to it but couldn't tow it out.  Next thing we know Quiring Towing is there.  It was so neat how they got it out, but then, they are true professionals.  They are a local company but you may have seen them in action on "Highway to Hell", a series on TV that shows them clearing all sorts of wrecks off major B.C. highways.

Winter

Winter Finally Came

This morning a friend of ours had to take her husband to the local airport so she stopped in here after she dropped him off and went to church with us.  It was cold and snowing very lightly when we left.  During the service it had snowed a bit, but after we had lunch it really started to come down.  About 2:00pm our friend thought she should head for home before it got too bad.  Would have loved it if she could have stayed longer, but it was good she left when she did.  It had been quite breezy all morning, but after she left it really started to blow hard.  The snow was so light and powdery the wind whipped it off the roofs and everywhere else and created total white-out conditions...I couldn't even see our neighbours' house across the road!

It was -7 degrees Celsius and the wind continued to howl, our lights flickered several times then went out just before we went to bed.  By next morning the electricity was back on and you could see the grass and roads were fairly clear but had icy spots on them and it was still windy but nice and sunny.

It had been so spring-like the past couple of weeks but winter did come and leave rather quickly!  Yeah!!! Snow is nice when it falls on the mountains! 

Orchid

I've never been known to have very much luck growing house plants, but 2 years ago a friend bought us an orchid plant.  I put it on the kitchen island and it flowered, grew a couple more leaves and was really looking healthy.  I told everyone that I WASN'T going to move it or it might die on me!!  Just before Christmas a different type of shoot was growing out of it...could it actually be a flower???? I talked to it, put it aside when people were in, so it wouldn't get bumped and put it right back when everyone left, and lo and behold look what happened!!!!

A Short Getaway

The weather has been so nice it's hard to not go camping in our trailer, but instead we decided to go away for a couple of days.  Swinomish Casino had a deal on that you could get a room for Canadian dollar at par.  They also had a stay and play package for $10US per day extra, which gave us a bunch more perks, so we booked it for 2 days.

This was the breakfast we got each day.  Could have your eggs whatever way you like then, ham, sausage or bacon and choice of toast...I like the rye bread toasted. 

There was also another promotion where you buy 1 meal and get 1 free, so we ordered the "burger of the month" with sweet potato fries and you get a pickle and dipping sauce with it.  The meals are so huge there's no way we can eat it all so we got "boxes".  Good thing there was a fridge in our room!

On our way home we stopped at another casino and swiped our cards...got to spin a wheel on the computer and I won a $15 food credit, my husband won a $5 food credit.  We definitely weren't hungry so went to one of the cafes and asked if we could use the coupons for take out...they said we could and their lunch menu was $10 each so we got 2 lunches to go and brought them home.  I didn't have to cook for a couple more days!!!

Finally Getting to Use my Christmas Present

My husband and I don't usually buy Christmas presents for each other...we don't need that much and if we do want or need something we just go buy it, BUT this year he got the idea that I needed an Instant Pot....I didn't think I needed one but to appease him I started to investigate them and determined that IF I was going to get one it had to be the 8 quart, because I like to make a lot of soup and it often entails cooking down a bunch of bones...so...I need the big one!!!

Found one on sale at Canadian Tire, so decided to go out and see it.  That day was sooo windy there were branches coming down all over the place...a couple of times we just missed being hit by a flying branch, but we got there and got the pot.  A guy and his 2 daughters must have thought I knew what I was buying because he said he would buy the same one as we did.  They were getting it for Mommy and the girls were so excited!  Any way, we got home safe but the power was out and stayed out for a couple of days!

I didn't open it till Christmas, then started reading the instructions and looking up recipes.  I am not known for following recipes, so I winged it.  Put a bit of water, a chopped up onion, some pineapple/guava juice, pork cubes and some plum sauce in the pot and set it.  When it was done I thickened the sauce and added some frozen peppers.

Turned out good.  I served it over some steamed rice and some cauliflower and one of the two cherry tomatoes that were left.

I've used it several times now and so glad I didn't say "NO" to it.  Thank you for the Christmas Present!!!

The New Year of 2019....Happy....Sad

New Year's Eve we had four couples in to welcome in the New Year. Three of the couples were here last year, one of the couples had the flu so couldn't come...so glad they could come this year!  We had such a good time laughing and talking and telling stories. The island in the kitchen was filled with all kinds of goodies that I'd made plus everyone brought something to contribute, so there was lots of  fantastic food!   We'd bought a bottle of  "bubbly", some noisemakers and had the iPad counting down minutes and seconds. Everyone stayed till after midnight and had such a good time, they said, "This is becoming a tradition...are we doing it again next year?"  Our reply was "You bet!!, God willing!!!", so looks like New Years Eve 2019 is already booked!!!

Unfortunately New Years Day wasn't much fun.  A lady from our church passed away on Dec. 30 and our nephew passed away early in the morning of Dec. 31.  May they rest in peace.

Fortunately on the Saturday after New Years a friend of ours had a retirement party.  She'd been a nurse for many years, but it was time for her to retire.  A friend of hers made this "nurse's cake" for her.  Apparently everything including the pills and needle was edible.  Some people are soooo talented!!

It was good to be at a party and have fun...especially because a couple days later we got an email telling us that friends of ours lost their 11 year old Granddaughter on Jan. 3.  This little girl was so special.  She wasn't supposed to be born alive, wasn't supposed to suck, and wasn't supposed to live.   We and many people in our former church had been praying for her since before she was born and since she had to have a couple of surgeries and was very prone to life threatening colds we've continued to pray for her.  It was a hard funeral to go to, but so glad we went.  They told the story of her life and she was always so happy, despite her disabilities and brought so much joy to her parents, brothers, Grandparents, friends and the nurses that helped care for her.  When they were showing pictures of her with her family and caregivers, I recognized one of the nurses (not the nurse that just retired)...she and her husband attend the church we now attend.  It was so nice to see people from our old church and from the church we now attend.  The Grandmother called a week or so later and thanked us for being there to support them.

Not a real good way to start the New Year, but these are the facts of life and life goes on......