Those Winter Days of January

 I'd like to apologize to the Detroit area residents who aren't enjoying the traditional winter weather this year. I'm afraid that the snow and cold might be my fault. You see, I wished for a real snowy Michigan winter like I enjoyed as a child! We haven't seen the ground since Christmas, with frequent snow, and bitterly cold temps. I find it cozy, but it can be difficult to get around in it. You see, I don't yet have a winter worthy car to drive, so I'm forced to drive the bulky SUV, or to ride along with hubs. I miss my sporty little car, but she does not like to go out sliding around the roads. So she can sit in the garage all cozy until it warms up a bit. 

January is traditionally the Cozy Month. We tend to stay home, and pursue our home based hobbies. I'm a reader, so I've been reading and listening to audiobooks, which are well suited to my other hobby, crochet. I recently finished this denim blue blanket for use in our bedroom. I also make various types of soup, which pleases our soup loving souls. You'll see pictured below the ingredients for Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Rice, a vegan favorite of ours, and the finished product under that. You can find the recipe here. Also pictured is my own recipe for Cozy Chicken Soup. Sorry, I haven't written it down, but basically, you cook various veggies and potatoes in chicken broth, then add in rotisserie chicken. Thicken and season as desired. You'll also find me baking cookies. This month's choices were Tahini Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin. 

I taught preschool for 15 years, and in my mind, I often channel those years, especially when it comes to decorating for holidays. Yes, I decorate my home for Valentine's Day. It's one of my favorite holidays actually, even if some people call it a made up celebration. All holidays are made up, but one dedicated specifically to love is just right for me. We'll go out to eat, I'll bake something, and we'll probably indulge in some treats, but no gifts are exchanged otherwise. 

We were called away suddenly for a death in the family, and hopped in the car for a long car ride to Florida. You know what they say, the funerals may be awful, but it sure is nice to have family together, allowing us to process our grief together. We did spend some time sightseeing around the area, as we always do. Even in Florida, it was clear that it was winter. Some trees are actually bare, and some even had fall type colors on the leaves. On our return drive north, we witnessed the effects of the big winter storm that we missed, as Kentucky was just covered in ice. The freeway was clear and dry, but I'm sure they struggled with the snow and ice, which became evident every time we had to get off the freeway. I took a lot of photos out the windows of the car, trying to capture how beautiful it was, despite the ill effects. 

And so, it's time to close with sky watching, as usual. Thank you for stopping by my Nest. In winter, of course nothing is blooming outside, so I have to turn my focus indoors. I'm not sure what spring will bring here in the new house. I did plant a few daffodils and tulips, so that will be nice. And I do have my front window boxes to plant, and I can fill container plantings. But my garden is still in the dreaming stage. I think I've said that whatever garden I come up with will be considerably smaller than we had. But I still need growing things, with the possibility of butterflies passing through. We'll see what I come up with. See you here again next month! 

A Michigan December

 I must admit, I was looking forward to a White Christmas this year, now that we're back home. But I didn't get my wish. However, it was a white December for the most part, and I sure enjoyed it! It all melted by the holidays though. 

The first thing I attend to for the holiday season is to decorate outdoors. Our entrance way is an alcove, and it took me awhile to figure out how to make it all work. My window boxes and planter are usually stuffed full of greenery, pine cones and such, which I leave up until March. I'll remove the red berries and shiny balls after the holiday though, so it has an everyday look. 

Decorating for holidays indoors is always fun for me, but in a new place, it's even better. Back in Ohio, I would usually put the same decorations in the same place each year. But here, I had to really think about each item. Not to mention, it's a unique space, and it did require different decorations, and even a new color scheme. 

As much as I enjoy my Christmas decorations, I'm always ready to take them down just as soon as we celebrate for the last time. After a few weeks, I start to get clutter vibes from it all. Then I need to set it all to rights again, cleaning and straightening, to meet the new year fresh. 

As I said, I enjoyed the snow early in the month, and took several trips around town to take pix. It's nice to take hubs along these days, with him retired now. This isn't to say that he likes snow or winter, but he's willing to go along and wait for me. Honestly, once January comes, I'm hoping that we see some more snow and winter weather. Right now, it's snowing sideways, so maybe I'll get my wish. 

The other enjoyable part of winter is to hunker down and do cozy things at home, like cooking, baking, reading, and crafts.  Of course it starts with Christmas baking! I also invented this enchilada soup one night, which was warm and filling. We are dairy free eaters, so of course you could sprinkle cheese on yours. There were many other festive holiday meals prepared, but I always forget to photograph the goodies. We are still eating leftovers here, and will be for a few more days. 

I also finished up a new blanket to match my craft room. I started this one back in June, in the old house, so the move delayed it quite a bit. Also, years ago when we had a bitter cold Christmas in Michigan, I made ice lanterns, so I tried again this year. It took some effort to get it right, but I finally did. They looked so festive on my front porch for about a week until the warm weather moved in and destroyed my efforts. Finally, you see my collage art project. My granddaughters always expect to do crafts when they visit, so this year I gathered up pretty paper, glue and canvas so we could make collages. The creativity was half the fun!

One night this month, we went to see a concert downtown Detroit, and afterwards we drove around to the see the holiday lights. It was late, and bitter cold, so this was all I could see from the windows. Next year I hope to make a special trip to enjoy them fully. 

I'll close here with my usual sky watching. I often think there are too many gray skies in the winter, but my photos tell a different story. All I have to do is point my camera out the back door, and get a clear view of the sky. Love it! 

 

Thanks for stopping by my little blog. I keep thinking that I should follow the crowd and move to Substack instead of blogging. But for now, I'll keep it up. See you again next month!