Staying Warm when it’s Cold Outside

It is cold most days in Maryland this time of year - so all my strategies for staying warm are being applied.

Indoors

Our house is pretty well insulated and the windows are double paned….but we keep our thermostat adjusted for comfort assuming we are dressed for the season.

• Layers of clothing - My favorite clothes this time of year are pants with a long sleeved sweatshirt or tunic sweater….or a lighter weight top and a fleece vest/cardigan. I keep a cardigan in the coolest room of the house (first floor, vaulted ceiling, North West side of the house….it’s nippy in the early morning!).
• Socks or Slippers - I prefer not to wear shoes in the house so I wear thick socks…and sometimes Isotoner slippers. When my feet are comfortably warm, the rest of me feels warm too! (In the summer, I find that when I go barefoot so that my feet are cooler….I feel cooler overall…so it works both ways for me.)
• Hot tea or chocolate - Anything hot to drink is warming. My favorite I hot tea having never developed the taste for coffee and deciding that hot chocolate I too laden with calories to have more than a cup each day. I have a large mug that I take with me just about everywhere in the house on really cold days.
• Homemade Soup - Soup is the salad of winter. I make a homemade soup for at least one meal on every cold day. That means buying kale (I buy a large pre-washed bag of leaves and put it in the freezer, taking out just the amount I need for a meal. It tears very easily when it is frozen) instead of lettuce and getting creative about other ingredients from the produce section (onion, peppers, butternut squash, mushrooms, carrots), canned goods (beans, diced tomatoes) and frozen foods (cauliflower, broccoli, peas, corn). Sometimes I use bouillon and sometimes I simply stir in some water thinned roasted garlic hummus with stir fried veggies to make ‘chunky’ soup.
• Sunny windows - Take a lesson from cats - enjoy sitting in the sunshine coming through a window on a cold winter’s day. I have my favorite places to catch the sun and I have started opening drapery on sunny days to let the sun warm rooms. They become the warmest places in the house!
• Upper flours - The top floor of our house is always the warmest (warm air rises!) so I arrange my day to spend most of my day there - looking out from my office into the winter forest or in front of a sunny window.

Venturing outside

Getting outdoors when it is very cold is often unavoidable. The strategy is to dress appropriately and minimize the time exposed.

• Coat - I have two coats that I wear for different activities. One is large enough that I can put a heavy hooded fleece under it. I wear it for when I need to shovel the driveway. The other coat is longer - not as good for working but better for walking.
• Boots - My favorite shoes this winter have been my hiking boots. They have thick soles and lots of padding. They also are waterproof for those days when there is a cold rain or slush.
• Hat and scarf - Hats and scarves can give warmth and color. I tend to only wear them when I am not wearing my hooded fleece.
• Gloves  - Gloves are another story. I have a very warm pair of gloves, heavily padded, that I use or shoveling snow or other outside work. They are too cumbersome for driving so I have lined Isotoner gloves that I wear for errands. The challenge is to always take the time to put on gloves even when I am going to be out for a short period of time. It is surprising how fast the hands get cold and the skin becomes overly dry.

Here’s wishing you warmth on a winter’s day!

Christmas Stuff - Part 4 - 2013

Previous posts about Christmas stuff have included food, ornaments, and wrapping paper. Today, for the day before Christmas, the topic is cards.

I enjoy sending and receiving cards during the holidays. They are an opportunity to stay in touch once a year with acquaintances made throughout life. I display cards received in past years standing up on the mantle, under clear plastic on our breakfast area table, attached to all the metal doors (including the refrigerator) in the house with magnets, and clipped to door sized scrunchies with small clothes pins. Over the years, there has been quite an accumulation and I now have more cards than places to display them.

In the past I’ve always sent cards - occasionally with a letter inside or a short note on the white space inside the card. Next year I am considering a switch to a color-printer produced family picture with short message on paper with a border - sent out in business sized envelopes.

Cards also are ‘stuff’ in the sense that there are a lot of holiday cards that have come into the house as gifts from charities soliciting donations. I hadn’t quite noticed how many of them there were until the past week or so. I’m bundling them up to put in the pile of stuff to donate! 

Christmas Stuff - Part 3 - 2013

Wrapping paper has accumulated in the Christmas stuff over the years. It's as much a part of Christmas as food and ornaments.

There was a stash of wrapping paper a previous owner had left in a house we moved into 30 years ago. I bought paper from fund raisers when my daughter was in elementary school about 15 years ago. Sometimes I couldn’t resist paper on sale after Christmas. My willpower has improved in the past 5 years so I have NOT bought more paper - but the number of rolls has not gone down either. I have tended to use gift bags - recycled year after year - rather than wrapping boxes. This year I am determined to use up paper….and maybe box up some or all that is left to donate to charity.

Aside from wrapping larger boxes rather than using a gift bag - I have a few other ideas for the paper.

• I have started using the smaller pieces of paper to wrap very small boxes (that are empty) and stash them in a small sleigh that sits by the tree. There is some nostalgia about wrapping paper and bows that this satisfies and it can be packed away for years to come as part of our normal decorations for the holiday rather than actual gifts.
• The island in the kitchen would look good with a runner of paper down the center.
• The mantle could be decorated with a cut paper garland - maybe a snowflake pattern.

Or maybe I can just wait until we move from the house and leave the stash of paper for the next owner.

Snow Day - December 2013

Yesterday was a snow day! I didn’t go sledding or make snow ice cream like we did years ago when my daughter was in elementary school. But I savored the serendipity of an unanticipated day at home.

The snow started falling in the early morning and made a beautiful wintery scene by the time it was light enough to see the neighborhood. The snow and the cold was just the incentive I needed to stay indoors and make progress on the ‘to do’ list for the house.

Writing notes for the Christmas cards

Re-caulking the base of the shower

Reorganizing the freezer

Emptying, cleaning and reorganizing the cabinet of plastic containers

I rationalized that shoveling the driveway made no sense while it was still snowing but it stopped shortly afternoon and I ventured out. It didn’t take long to do the shoveling but I realized when I went indoors that I was exhausted. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and cheering my accomplishments.

Christmas Stuff - Part 1

My strategy for decorating the Christmas tree had always been the same: 

• Arrange the ornaments evenly around the tree so that no part of the tree looks ‘undecorated’ and
• Try not to put similar ornaments next to each other. 

This year I decided to ignore the second part of the strategy and to intentionally group like ornaments. Some are grouped by shape or color. Others are full of family history:

Inherited from my mother-in-law more than 20 years ago.

Ornaments my mother gave to me when she decided she had way too many ornaments. I remembered when she bought them when I was in elementary school.

Dough ornaments my sister made. She wrote the year on the back - 1988.

Grouping the ornaments has made the important ones stand out more - and the trees is still decorated all over.

The Busy-ness of December

Here we are in the early part of December - the prospect for a flurry of activity looming with a higher probability than a flurry of snow. Here’s a list of things for the month (so far): 

• Decorating the house.
• Writing an annual Christmas note to include with our Christmas cards (a general one for most….individual note for a few).
• Volunteering at a local non-profit’s holiday sale.
• Taking my husband to the airport for an early morning flight….then picking him up five days later from a late flight back.
• Deciding on gifts for family and friends…buying…wrapping…sending/delivering.
• Re-caulking the shower base in the master bathroom.
• Donate boxes of used books and VHS tapes.
• Finishing all Coursera courses I’ve started.
• Preparing the house for company.
• Shopping for holiday foods - red velvet cake is at the top of my list right now.
• Viewing the holiday light display at a local garden.
• Seeing the new Hobbit movie. 

Does it all have to happen in December? Not all of it….but I’m so jazzed by the holiday season that I always get more done in December than just about any month of the year!

Around our (Maryland) Yard in November 2013

The November highlights in our yard are seed pods and leaves. Last year the blazing stars were very popular with gold finches but the birds have not found them yet this year.

The onion flowers have ripened and the seeds rattle in the pods - spilling into the garden.

The cone flower petals have dried and fallen away leaving the spikey seeds. They’ll be more of them next year. (Although the zinnias will be some competition…I put the zinnia stalks I cut from the pots on the deck into the same garden area and their seed pods were quite numerous too.)

The seeds from the tulip poplar are also flying everywhere. They tend to get caught at the edges of our driveway and the corners of the deck.

The seed pods are interesting in structure….the colors in the yard come from the leaves. The green chlorophyll dies first and the pigments in the leaves show through.

I love the sequence of colors in the sycamore leaves in the slide show below.

The maple behind our house was one of the last in the neighborhood to change colors…but it turned its usual glorious red. I enjoy the color on the tree and then as a mass of leaves on the grass. That tree necessitates the most concentrated raking of the season because the leaves all fall at once and are too heavy for the wind to blow them away.

The oak tree often seems to go from green to brown but this year the leaves have displayed more color variety. Each leaf has a unique pattern of rust, yellow, and green.

Clouds - November 2013

Clouds ---- I’ve been noticing them more this month and trying to get images of them. I have discovered that I like the pictures that include some anchor to the ground -

Part of a tree,

The silhouette of leaves,

Or the rolling hills of a farm.

The images that don’t include any linkage to the ground seem not quite right psychologically. When we look at the sky and clouds we take for granted the earth where we stand; we miss it when it is not in the image.

Clearing away ‘Stuff’ - November 2013

The theme for this month is intentionally using up items from around that house - that have been around way too long and will be around forever without conscious effort to use them. Here’s my list.

Picnic supplies. I have paper plates that are over 10 years old! And there is a box of plastic spoons that is over 5 years old. There are multiple reasons they have been around so long; the primary ones are: 1) I forget that I have them and 2) recently I’ve started taking reusable plastic containers and packing food in a way that I don’t need utensils at all. On the next vacation, I plan to use the plates and the spoons.

Pads of paper. I have accumulated quite a few pads of paper in various sizes. They come from a variety of sources: charities as a ‘gift’ in the mail, goodies handed out at meetings or conferences, or hotels. I have several on my desk with different kinds of reminders…and it thrills me every time I use one enough to tear off a sheet to go into the recycle….and it’s even better when a whole pad has been consumed. At the rate I am going it will still take several years to reduce the pile (and it seems like more come in all too frequently.

The wrong kind of paper towels. A few months ago I bought a less expensive brand of paper towels. They are less absorbent - so much so that my husband refuses to use them! I’m taking them to use as napkins on our next road trip. It may still take a long time to finally use them up.

Do you have things in your house that will take conscious effort to use up?

Morning Sounds in the Neighborhood

I have been a morning person my whole life. It appeals to me that there are others in the world that are like me - not that I necessarily want to interact with them (the best morning times are solitary ones). Hearing the sounds they make is enough. These are the waking up in the morning sounds of my neighborhood:

The rumble and clanging of trucks and bins happen twice a week: recycle day is Wednesday and trash is Friday. They come right around 6:30 AM. In the summer they have full light but most of the year it is dark or the very beginning of the day. Our neighborhood must be one of the first on their route.

The school buses start about 7:30. The buses come through three times - matching the levels of schools: high school, middle and elementary with the high schools being the ones that have to get to the stop the earliest. The students are usually quiet. If there are sounds - they are happy ones: chatter of school friends, barks of dogs enjoying the walk to the bus stop, morning greetings between parents, goodbyes as the bus loads.

There is the quiet hum of cars leaving - people leaving for work. It happens slowly…the earliest is around 6. It seems like the time has broadened over the years with more people having flex time and working at home some days.

Bird noises crescendo in the early morning just around dawn. Our neighborhood is at the edge of a forested area and has mature trees in yards….and bird feeders. It is unusual to not hear birds in the morning.

What do you hear in your neighborhood on a November morning?

Before Frost

We’ve already had a few mornings with temperatures in the 30s at our house in Maryland and have completed the outdoor chores that prepare us for winter this past week: 

• Bringing in the hoses
• Turning off the and draining the water lines on the outside
• Removing the solar sunflower and glass butterfly stakes from the outdoor pots - they will last longer without being in the outdoors during the freezes and thaws of winter
• Cleaning the glass birdbath bowl and brining it indoors for the winter (it is turning into the centerpiece on the dining room table) 

Of course, we still have the raking of leaves left to do. The maple tree that is usually the one that makes the thickest carpet on our lawn still has most of its leaves!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 2, 2013

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Pumpkin and Ginger Scones - New York Times Recipes for Health - Yum! The prospect of the melding flavor of pumpkin, ginger, and maple syrup seems to suit my mood for this season. Since I cooked a whole pumpkin this past week, I have plenty of pumpkin to make these scones.

London’s Health - There is a new website that organizes historical ‘Medical Officer of Health’ reports for London from 1848 and 1972. There are several ways to search. I looked for ‘smallpox’ references as my first search.  

Inside the American Kitchen - An infographic about kitchens. Did you know that the three most popular features for kitchen projects are: islands, roll-outs/pull-outs, and drawers?

Cornell Lab FeederWatch - If you get the urge to enjoy birds at a feeder but don’t have one of your own - enjoy the one at Sapsucker Woods near Ithaca NY. There are almost always birds around (and if they aren’t at the feeder there are bird noises that indicate they are nearby).

Massive 80-Room Tree House Stands Almost 100-Feet-Tall - I enjoyed visiting this Tennessee tree house in summer of 2012….and took some very similar pictures (the one below is mine). It is so large that it is hard to capture the entire structure!

Thawing Permafrost: The Speed of Coastal Erosion in Eastern Siberia Has Nearly Doubled - Coastal erosion in areas there permafrost and sea ice were the norm for large parts of the year until recently is increasing rapidly. The materials used for the article include more graphics about how it occurs.

Take a trip over the surface of Mars - A 4 minute video presentation of images from Europe’s Mars Express that has been orbiting Mars since 2004.

The World's Strangest and Most Magnificent Gardens - I love gardens so couldn’t resist including this on the ‘gleanings’ list for the week.

Message From a 50-Year-Old Flamingo - A conservation success story - for now….but there is a lot that could still go wrong for the flamingos left in this world.

Restoration: Another Layer of History - Some examples of industrial/military areas that are repurposed into more public spaces.

Around our (Maryland) Yard in October 2013

Our Maryland fall has been muted this year. Most of the trees have not achieved the brilliant colors of years past; the few that do are flashes of brilliance that provide a splash of color for a few day and then drop all their leaves to the ground. I find myself appreciating the play of light through oak leaves this year and the splotches of color on maple leaves that fill a tree that looks ‘green’ from a distance.

The front flower bed is mostly gone to seed. I haven’t seen the birds easting the seeds of the blazing stars but the bare rib of some of the seed plums is evidence that the feast is not going totally unnoticed. We’ve had freezing temperatures for the past few mornings but there is still a dahlia blooming - resting on the sidewalk that probably retains enough heat to keep it warm.

The tulip poplars are losing their leaves and their seeds without becoming the blaze of yellow. They tower over our yard and their leaves wave in the wind….and whirl away.

Last but not least - the onion seeds are scattering as the wind shakes them like at rattle out of their cases. I hope some of them come up next spring as new plants.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - October 2013

Over a year ago I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for October 2013.

Everything fit into the suitcases. Once the packing is done….the realization that everything needed for a vacation actually fit into the suitcases is worth a celebration.

Utah. Actually this celebration lasted for 8 days. Even though the national parks were closed there was still a lot to enjoy: the aspens in the Abejo Mountains, Edge of Cedars State Park, Monument Valley, Dead Horse Point State Park, Wilson’s Arch, La Sal Mountains, Needles Overlook and Valley of the Gods. Travel expands horizons - in more than just the physical sense - and provides a myriad of opportunities for celebration.

Home again. Much as I enjoy traveling, coming home is always savored.

Rainy day. I’m not sure why - but a rainy day that keeps be indoors after days away from home is just perfect. I celebrated with a good book and hot tea….while moving the loads of laundry from suitcases to baskets to washer to drier.

Caught up with Coursera courses. There were 4 courses that were ongoing while I was in Utah which meant there was a lot of lecture and resource review once I got back. I felt a real sense of accomplishment once I caught up - and celebrated with some dark chocolate.

Hot tea laced with apple cider. Some beverages seem to go with fall. Apple cider is one of them for me. It’s too sweet at full strength so I use it as sweetener for hot tea. It’s another way to celebrate the season.

Out and about. The fall is one of my favorite times to be out and about the local neighborhood. This year the trees seem to reach peak color and then drop their leaves very quickly. I celebrate when I see a tree full of yellows and reds - knowing the vision is a transitory one.

Vicarious celebration. My daughter achieved a milestone in graduate school. The celebration was hers….but I celebrated vicariously.

Cranberry orange relish. This is another fall favorite. I use the recipe from Wegmans with some modification: two oranges instead of one and stevia instead of sugar.

Finding a dental discount plan. My dental insurance expired…but my dentist suggested a discount plan available from the dentalplans.com site....and I had a good checkup too!

‘Stuff’ Project for October 2013

It is very satisfying to combine items that have been languishing as ‘stuff’ in my house for years into something useful. This month the project is a bag to hold ‘hand wash’ items when I put them into the washing machine (I never ‘hand wash’ any other way these days).

The items I combined were the zipper end of an old satin pillow case (it was something I thought I wanted over 20 years ago but quickly decided was too slick to actually use) and a piece of gauzy fabric that I’ve had for so long I don’t remember its origin. The whole project took less than 30 minutes because the zipper was already in place. 

Projects of my Own

I am savoring projects that are my own these days after years when most of my projects were assignments or done to benefit someone else. I’m not totally done with those projects-directed-by-others but these days the majority of projects are my own - conceived, done, and enjoyed just for me.

What do I mean by ‘projects’?

Projects are a series of activities that lead to a specific goal and, for the purposes of this post, they have a beginning and end.

I have four main project areas right now:

Classes. Each Coursera class is a project for me. I decide what I will do beyond the watching of videos. Usually I follow up on the reference material. Sometimes I buy the book and read it. And finally - I write notes about the class…what I think about the subject, if I agree or disagree with the instructor, how my perception of the school offering the course is changed by the course, what the course has changed about the way I think…or act.

Sewing. Each garment I make is a mini-project. Sometimes I make a series of similar items (like the Two T-shirt dresses); others are one of a kind. I spend calm time before sleep planning the project, then do a lot of measuring. I sometimes challenge myself with ‘rules’ like 

• No hand sewing
• Minimize scraps
• Avoid buying any new supplies 

Blog themes. I sometimes have multi-post themes for my blog and consider each a project. Some of them are monthly - like the 3 Free eBooks picks - and they are on the planning calendar I do for the year. Some are over a shorter time - 2 or 3 months; the Becoming 60 theme is an example of that. Those too go on the calendar with notes of the main points to be included in that post.

 I’m sure there will be other kinds of projects that will come and go….but I’m enjoying these this fall!

Becoming 60 - Part II

Part I of this series on becoming 60 was posted almost a month ago. I was prompted to write about what I was thinking as I approached by 60th birthday this year after reading May Sarton’s book about the same time period in her life. In this second post on the topic - I am focusing on how I see this time as the staging for the rest of my life in a similar way that my early 20s were the staging time for my career. The new staging was initiated by leaving a 40 year career behind and beginning to make choices about the future I wanted rather than simply proceeding the same way my career decisions of 40 years ago directed. There are similarities between now and when I was in my early 20s: 

• Lots of decisions in a short period of time
• Perceiving an abundance of opportunities
• Good health 

There are some differences too: 

• Decisions made early in my life (like college major, when/who to marry, when/if to have children) tended to be narrowing while now the decisions tend to be broadening.
• Financial considerations were high on the list for most decisions in my 20s; now they are still a consideration but they are not major and often not limiting.
• Now I am more aware that the elders that have known me my whole life will not be there for my whole lifetime and that awareness influences my decisions about spending time with them. 

I’m not nearly at the end of the bevy of decisions but there are themes that are emerging.

Getting rid of excess baggage. The initial aspects have been in terms of my weight and the years of accumulated stuff filling up the house. But I see this theme continuing - moving to a house that is better suited to our needs (and not as large), thinking about the number and kind of vehicles we need, etc.

Building in variety. Change and life are so mingled; finding a comfortable amount of variety is probably one of the keys to happiness and, for me, I am happiest when I make choices about at least some of the changes coming my way. Continuing to taking Coursera courses - and looking for other similar learning opportunities - is one way to build in variety. Volunteering is a wonderful way to meet new people and ‘do good’ for the community at the same time. Taking classes and volunteering are probably going to be the pillars of change I choose over the next few years but  I also hope there are some happy surprises too. What if I become a grandmother?

Reducing waste. Over the past few years, I have become more conscious of waste related to lots of things - but food is the one I have done the most about. Being very aware of getting the most from the food I buy: 

• Eating food before it spoils and has to be thrown away. This requires that food is purchased in a way that it can be easily consumed within the time is fresh.
• Paying attention to food preparation so that there are few that are ‘failed’ (i.e. no burned toast, no muffins where a key ingredient was left out, etc.).
• Learning to freeze portions to eat much later if I won’t be eating it quickly enough otherwise. I’ve even learned to freeze sliced bananas if I buy too many to eat fresh (they make excellent additions to smoothies).
• Not buying non-foods (like soft drinks and other foods that have calories but no nutritional value otherwise). In my mind, these have become ‘waste’ because they have no value to my body but leave behind plastic (or aluminum). Yes - recycling is better than trash but it is still waste. Why should we even have items to recycle for non-foods? 

In the first post in the series I ended by saying that I perceived the future as bright. I’ll add to it this month: I am enthusiastic about becoming 60. It is a great age to be in 2013!

Kitchen Windows

This week it occurred to me that there is been a window over the sink in the kitchen in every house I’ve owned. I’ve always enjoyed the view to the outside from all four - 

• a newly planted peach tree,
• a yard shaded by large oaks where moss was more common than grass,
• a maple tree that shaded the window in the late afternoon while I prepared dinner, and
• now a deck with pots of zinnias, mint, basil, and cardinal flowers.   

Having a window over the sink is not something that I consciously required when I chose these houses, but now that I realize how much I've enjoyed them over the years, I am quite sure my next house will have one too.

Recently, I’ve been standing at the sink while I eat an orange for my morning snack…enjoying the view. Birds seem to show up frequently and sometimes I am fast enough to get the camera and take pictures. The chickadee and hummingbird are my favorites.

Fall Chores (before Leaf Raking)

There are not enough leaves on the ground yet to make raking worthwhile. My husband chopped up the few around when he mowed the grass - probably for the last time this year. This morning I did the other chores that had accumulated:  

• Trimmed the bush that always seems to need a trim - one last time before winter. Keeping it short enough to trim without a step-ladder is the goal. I can just barely reach the middle of the top with the pruners while standing on my toes.
• One of the bushes in the front of the house had some branches from the base that were leaning too far to the side and were almost covering an azalea. I cut them off as close to the base as I could. The whole area looks better now and I won’t have to worry about snow weighing them down enough to crush the azalea this winter.
• The last chore was trimming the pyracantha. This bush rarely gets trimmed; the thorns are quite effective in discouraging close contact. I was motivated by the idea that the orange berries would show more if the bush was trimmed so the heavy gloves were found and the long handled pruners were retrieved. It didn’t take long and one scraggly branch that needed to be cut had a lot of berries. It looks great on the mantle above the fireplace: my reward for getting the fall chores done! 

Are you done with your fall chores too?

Volunteering in the Community

As I’ve posted about earlier this month September is the time of year to get back to school and be energized at home; it is also a good time to take a look at opportunities to ‘do good’ close to home. This year I took a little more systematic approach than I have previously; I thought more about the value to the community and the elements of the activity that would be satisfying to me as well. I looked at the organizations requesting volunteers through my county government’s coordination center and picked several to investigate more closely by looking at their website and talking to the organization. Eventually, I picked two and filled out the volunteer application forms. The themes for my volunteer work for the next year or so are going to be: 

• Nature/conservation
• Nature and elementary age children
• Senior citizens independence 

I’m full of positive vibes about the volunteer opportunities - the needs are real, I’m confident that I can contribute, and that I’ll enjoy the whole experience. It's a matriarch thing to do.

Volunteering is another ‘start’ in September!