Christmas Eve 2018

This was as close as it gets to a perfect day!  Sunshine without frost to start, and time to work on a garden project.  I could have cleaned my house, but as a native Washingtonian, when the sun shines, I can't stay inside.

So it seemed a perfect day to tackle my grape arbor/garden fence. Nothing puts out more vines than grapes and when they are covered with leaves and grapes, and even the netting I put over them to keep birds out, they are impossible to contain.  Even now, they are  a bit daunting.....but since I only use them to have leaves for my pickles, I figured I couldn't go too far wrong.  My main goal was to keep them from covering the driveway and the garden.  So when I prune them, I am pretty ruthless.

So after the first step of cutting back all the vines to the fence line, I used the tractor to pick up all the downed vines.

So my burn pile is maxed out and the next step is to burn it.

I have winter rye planted in all the tilled garden areas except for my little garlic patch.  You can see the garlic is coming up nicely.

The swans are back on the lake.

We've collected a pile of rocks for the children to toss in the lake this summer, the grass is coming up, 

We have a new carport with a view,

a few trees came down in the wind storm, but missed all the buildings,

and my two week old Christmas bouquet is still bringing me joy!
We made it past the shortest day of the year, so every day gets lighter and brighter.  New Year's resolutions are in place, and we're looking forward to 2019!

Maggie's Cookies

 Every family has traditions.  Sixty-five years ago, a beautiful lady where we bought chickens and eggs, gave my Mom a cookie at Christmas when she made her weekly chicken trip.  The cookie was so good, that my Mom asked for the recipe, and the kind lady shared.  So Maggie's Cookies have become a family tradition.  Not a great great grandmother kind of thing, but a special tradition and a favorite Christmas cookie for my family.

To start, in a medium size mixing bowl, place 3 cups of flour, one tablespoon of dry yeast (original recipe calls for a yeast cake, but those are nearly impossible to find these days) and a pound of butter.

Work as for pie dough, until butter is in pea-size or smaller bits.

Crack 3 eggs into a measuring cup, and add enough milk to fill to the one cup line.  Add that to the flour mix, and mix well.

 

Cover and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.  (Can be stored in the fridge for several days).  Dough is ready -I'm going to have to do a new post for the actual cookie making as I can't seem to get Blogger to put the pictures in the right place - to be continued!

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Winter in Washington

One thing that I had forgotten after many years in the south in the winter:  Even when we get cold weather - even when we get snow, there is still a greenness underneath, and it pops right back when a day or two of cold is gone.

We see a lot of birds in the winter as a lot of migrating birds only come this far on their journey south.

Of course, these guys never leave - there were over a hundred on the lake the other day.

We had our first "real" snow yesterday - but it's pretty drippy out there this morning, so doubtful any will last to greet

Christmas tomorrow.
Christmas Morning Update:
We did wake up to a white Christmas - not much snow in the areas that get sun, but about 2" in the open areas of the woods.  Here's my boot print

in the deep area.

A nature decorated Christmas tree.

I wonder who's out on this beautiful sunny morning walking with me.  I don't think it's a neighbor's kitten.

These lead right to the garden gate.

Looks like the Great Blue Heron has been on the dock!

The ice has been creeping further down the lake.  All the water fowl are congregated in a smaller and smaller area.