Covid Journal, Day 326: This and That

Cold again this morning, about 20 degrees, or -6.66 Celsius--which should make me worried, right? Fortunately, that number doesn't bother me. Warmed up during the day to above freezing, but snow expected tonight, probably another light dusting.

Today was housework and bread-baking day, and I even took time out to start the Maeve Binchy book that came in the mail, A Week in Winter. I made a pot of PG Tips tea, and sat back and read for an hour or so. I also started a book in the kitchen while I was eating lunch, this one called The Hills ofTuscany by Ferenc Mate. This one is a true-life story, about a writer and his artist wife buying a small farm in Tuscany. It's an older book, published in 1998, that I picked up at a thrift this weekend. We shall see if it delivers the escape it promises. The Maeve Binchy book I love already. I do like her no-nonsense way of writing.

I made more fire-starters this afternoon, melting old candles and pouring the wax into cupcake liners and over dryer lint I've been saving. I ended up with 30 of them. These things work so well, and are a good way to use dryer lint. I've also made them in cardboard egg cartons, but like the cupcake liners better. This is good weather to do little jobs, and I continue to clean the odd corners and sort out drawer contents. It's amazing what gets tossed into a handy drawer, isn't it. I started painting another piece today; this one is a large 3-drawer end table. I have about 3 projects lined up and waiting for me, so it was time, after almost a week's break, to pick up the paintbrushes again.

I wanted to post a few favorite photos that I never got around to last week. There were some pretty scenes around here. Some I posted on Facebook, but wanted to share here too.

Mr. Blue Jay hogging the feeder. These are such noisy birds, but so comical. 

Our biggest snowfall of the week about 3".

The sunset one evening promised a pretty day to follow, and it did not disappoint.

Pink icicles! My camera was having trouble focusing in the near-dark and with the zoom I wanted.

One of the not-so-nice days. We certainly had a mix of weather, now that I look back. Some rain, some sleet, some snow, some sun...and plenty of gray clouds.

I took this Saturday on our way home from Ohio, as we crossed over the Ohio River into our home county. That river really belongs to West Virginia, you know, a fact that I always find amusing. Larry laughs at me because I always greet the river with, "Hello, River!" I also say good-bye to it. The river seems to have personhood to me, a living thing, and I think of it as a friend. You can go ahead and laugh, but I also greet the trees around here, talk to the plants, and sometimes cuss them when they don't come up to expectations. Maybe I need to get out more?

And over the bridge, on this side of the river. Mr. Sunball was putting on quite a show that evening.

There are a couple of storytelling things perking right now. One is a request to co-write a play with a friend--I've never written a play except for puppet plays, so feel out of my depth but I'm game to try if he really wants me to. The other is a project to bring together West Virginia and Welsh coal mining heritage in a set of performances in souther West Virginia with a storyteller from Wales, and two other artists. I'm excited about this, even though I had about decided to get out of storytelling. But I am finding that there are some things I might still want to do, and this will be one of them. 

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