Blogmas Day 19: Light!

The sun was peeking out now and again this morning, so cheerful.  I enjoyed listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons this morning, it is very uplifting.

We have two Instant Pots, a 6 quart and a 3 quart.  This morning they were both pressed into service.  The 3 quart cooked Red Kidney Beans, and the 6 quart cooked Pinto Beans.  This was in preparation for cooking Taco Soup, a recipe I cannot share because the online poster requested it not be shared.  Fair enough.  It has ground beef, onion, tomatoes, corn, beef broth, and taco seasoning, you get the picture.  After cleaning the 6 quart Instant Pot, it was used to cook the soup.  I need healthy lunches, which are comprised primarily of vegetables, and this soup hits the mark.

I need to make bread this weekend, at Attila’s request.  He wants to use homemade bread to make the stuffing for the turkey, for Christmas dinner.  He will prepare a feast, and then we will eat leftover turkey dinners for most of the rest of 2018.  We both love leftovers, so this is something to look forward to.  I don’t eat very much bread, even in the machine it takes about three hours, so it is not really something I want to tackle when the hydro is least expensive, after 7:00 p.m.  Bread baking is a weekend indulgence, when the hydro is least expensive all day and all night long.

It looks like the weather will turn cloudy later today, and stay that way right through to Christmas Day.  This, combined with the shortest day of year coming up on Friday, will be well mediated by brightly coloured lights, the Christmas Tree is a most welcome addition to the living room this time of year. 

One of the things I would like to look into at Mist Cottage is good lighting.  Our lighting is supplied by a collection of lamps, and ceiling lights.  The ceiling lights are stark, providing excellent light for times when visual acuity is important.  The lamps are of varying ages, collected over the last three or four decades, some used, some purchased new because the price was marked down to next to nothing, which reflects their appeal. 

One of my lamps, that I purchased during my years living in downtown Toronto, was found at a yard sale on Brunswick Avenue.  The base is hand turned pottery, and shade is hand crafted, consisting of various plant snippets pressed between two pieces of opaque material.  I like it as much today as I did the day I bought it.  I have no idea who made it, but whoever it was, their creative vision resides comfortably in my home.  That lamp will not be replaced, and it does accommodate an LED bulb.

Another lamp I bought for next to nothing, because the price was right, is a floor lamp.  It is functional, but neither Attila or I care for the light it throws out, an it takes up floor space, as it is a “big house” lamp.  The bedroom lamps are old, from yard sales, and will probably not make the cut.  There are two lamps that we bought new decades ago, and although we like them I don’t know that they will accommodate LED bulbs; in addition there are no tables to put them on, as the living room is too small for tables, actually there are no tables as such anywhere in the house except the kitchen table. These two lamps are “big house” lamps. 

I think new lighting will have to wait until the “big house” furniture is replaced with something more appropriately sized for a house as small as Mist Cottage.  I will be thinking about an interim addition though, to add some lighting to the living area, for reading and for atmosphere during the long winter nights.

Lighting is just something interesting to think about, to research, to contemplate.

Today I thought I’d turn the computer off for the day.  Well, it was a good intention, but today wasn’t a day for success.  I turned it off, remembered something I wanted, turned it on again, then turned it off again, then wanted something else, like a recipe, so turned it on again, and so it went all day long, on, off, on, off.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll do a little better, worth a try anyway.

Worldly

Weather

2°C
Date:9:00 AM EST Wednesday 19 December 2018
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.8 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 1.6°C
Dew point: -1.2°C
Humidity: 82%
Wind: SW 20 gust 31 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Never learn to do anything: if you don’t learn, you’ll always find someone else to do it for you.”
Mark Twain
1835 – 1910

Sounds lazy and manipulative to me.