A new day has dawned, sunshine prevails. It was cold last night, and the morning fire is a welcome ritual. Mist supervises, sitting beside me as I place the firewood in the fireplace, watching me carefully until the fire is lit, the door is closed, and the flames begin to blaze. Then she wanders off to find a place to sleep, to return when the heat begins to slowly emanate from the charged masonry.
Mist is happiest when Attila and I are together. She prefers to lie or sit between us, watching us interact, soaking up the atmosphere, purring loudly. She has been with us since 2001, and continues to be a source of company and joy.
My knee has healed completely, no more pain, or impacted movement. It took its sweet time getting better, since I hurt it back in July! Better late than never though. I am also completely recovered from my recent infection, which is a real relief. The antibiotics that I was given worked wonders. I am thinking it is far better to avoid these injuries and infections if at all possible, and so will pay more attention to my physicality in future. I am a person who is often “lost in thought”, quite literally. Physical pain can become invisible to me, until it reaches a danger level.
Both Attila and I are fighting mild colds, which goes hand in hand with having the time of our lives with the Grandbabies. They all had the sniffles, but we paid no attention, and took every opportunity to hug, cuddle, kiss, and just plain adore them.
The much bigger than me world.
Two disturbing things evolving in the world at this point in time, that I want to acknowledge as real. One, the Ebola Virus. Two, the soldier shot and killed at the War Memorial in Ottawa. Very sad.
Back at the country house, I was surprised to see Attila at lunch time! Since no one where he works can take any vacation time from the first of April until the first of September, the busy season. As a result the staff try to take their vacations during the early autumn, while the weather is still nice. That means that they are a bit short staffed during the autumn, usually until the snow flies. That means that Attila works a lot of overtime and seldom is able to come home for lunch. Mist and I were very glad of his company.
Today my family history book captured a lot of my time. I have a first draft! It needs some additional tweaking, but the major decisions have been made. I have included one generation more than I had intended, and worked around the fact that some members of that generation are still alive by replacing their name and other personal information with one word: living. More proofreading is needed, and a selection of images to include, then editing the images for publication. Still, progress is being made!
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Worldly Distractions
Weather
-1°C
Date: 9:00 AM EDT Friday 24 October 2014
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -0.6°C
Dewpoint: -0.6°C
Humidity: 100%
Wind: NE 5 km/h
Wind Chill: -2
Quote
“Compassion is the basis of all morality.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
1788 – 1860
Thursday night was our cold night, we made it down to -4. When I look at the radar now when weather is coming in I can see the signature is that of snow, not rain. So, I know the snow is out there but just hasn’t made it down to this level yet.
Glad to hear both your knee and infection have heeled. My knee is also better, though I fear I could easily run into more knee problems in the future.
It’s so nice that Attila could join you for lunch again! Once in a while DH will come and have lunch with me too, though not as often as we’d like. It’s about a 15 minute drive but it’s troublesome getting out of the parking lot and through the city traffic.
Congrats on finishing the first draft of your book!
“…Mist is happiest when Attila and I are together. She prefers to lie or sit between us, watching us interact, soaking up the atmosphere, purring loudly. She has been with us since 2001, and continues to be a source of company and joy.”
It seems our dogs like to sit between the two of us, as well. They like to be about equidistant, keeping a collie-eye on both of us at all times, in case one of use makes a move toward the cookie jar!
Teri, glad your knee is better. One thing about knee problems is that the present state of medical knowledge can fix them if worst comes to worst. My Grandpa has both his knees replaced when he was in his eighties.
Hope your having a great time at your family wedding this weekend.
Bex, lol, you have their number, those furry family members! One thing I love about the pets I have lived with, their agendas are right up front and centre, no messing about with head games.
Maggie,
Congratulations on renewed health and a healed knee! I have heard that knees do take time to heal. Also congrats on your first draft! Woo Woo.
It is starting to cool here in NC but no where near as cool as you are experiencing. Hubby said the folks at his job said that for it to be this cool early on is unusual. We’ve been here about 7 years and still can not figure out the weather. It’s just a lot milder than N.Y.!
I think most animals do like to snuggle. Perhaps it is healing for all involved. I love a cat’s purr.
Nice to have another unexpected lunch with Attila. I hope you are both recovered from the slight cold you mentioned.
Liked the silence of the photo you posted. Keep warm.
I just discovered your recipes!!!! Thank you. x0x0x0x
Nora, I visited North Carolina one February. It was a field course focused on the geomorphology of the sea islands. We drove motor homes down from Ontario, Canada. I was one of two drivers, and had to learn fast how to manage a big motorhome! It was like driving into spring, that is what I remember most, leaving Ontario in a snow storm, which continued right down into Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful trip, and I thougth North Carolina quite “tropical”.
I love snuggling with animals, although I will say that Mist is not into it, never was. Bim, Luna’s Jack Russell, would sleep with me, so comforting. He was also a great dog for sitting on my lap, in his younger years, a Jack Russell, so small enough to do that comfortably.
We are keeping very warm. It is a challenge to warm the house after it has cooled down, as it did while we were away overnight. Once the thermal mass charges, in the heater and in the house, a daily firing will keep it toasty. Until of course the temperatures begin to seriously drop. Two firings will keep us comfortable up to about -15C to -17C with no wind, but if the winds are high we need a third firing. Three firings will keep us warm until the temperature goes down to around -30, then we augment the masonry heater with the little wood stove downstairs. It is very “organic”, we have to keep attuned to what is going with the weather.
I hope you enjoy the recipes!
I’m glad the infection is gone and the knee is better. I’d send you some heat if I could. Unseasonably hot weather here, 97F (36C) yesterday. Screen capture:
http://joanannlansberry.com/journal/arch2014/oct-2hot.png
Joan, I am melting just looking at that weather report! Wouldn’t it be lovely to send excess weather to areas where it is needed!