It's that kind of weather: cold, damp, icy, drippy, snowy. The kind where you want to just stay in by the fire, eat starchy food, read books and generally hibernate until the skies clear.

Even this wintry mix has a beauty of its own, however. Like ice-coated pine needles on the little tree in the moss garden on the porch:

and the small tree that huddles in a corner of the deck:

while along Joe's Run, the water runs beneath ice-laden trees

and sparkle in the morning light,

as do the drops along the porch rail.

Now the sun is shining, the air has warmed to light-jacket temperatures and we got so settled into working inside that we're missing it! Winter is a capricious season this year. My English granny once wrote to my mother about a time in England when the weather could not seem to make up its mind about what it was doing. Granny wrote, "I wish we could just put up our umbrellas and put on our galoshes and know where we are." I think that sums up this winter too, doesn't it?

So we are in the house today; Larry rerouted water lines so the spigots for the washing machine are where they should be. The washing machine wheezed its last on Friday so when we moved it out we decided to get those water lines fixed. Now I'm searching for another (but not new) washer; no luck finding a good used one yet. When he finished with the plumbing work, he moved on stripping the varnish on that couch project we started last February (Shhh! Yes it's been that long ago). He's almost finished; next step will be buying some trim wood and figuring out how to make it look right since we kinda got the cart before the horse on some of this project. When he's done with the stripping today he has a whole BIG bunch of John Wayne movies to watch, thanks to our son Derek. Larry is a huge John Wayne fan so a film festival is in the offing, I believe.

And me, I am slaving away on eBay, getting things listed. It's slow going. If you have satellite internet you know how slow it can be. Those of you on high-speed, rejoice in your quick internet. But I am working along steadily and should have a good bit done by the time I quit.

Not the most fascinating of days, but not the worst either. Progress is being made, Mountain Stage is on the radio, I have good coffee in my cup and all is right in my world at this moment. And that in itself makes it a good day.