Darlin' man shovels the driveway

This morning's goodbye.

A week in letters

A sea turtle card send to a dear friend in Italy.

An Alaskana northern lights postcard sent to a Postcrossing pen pal in Germany.

Discovering that I do, indeed, have home mail pickup.  Well, not quite 'home' as the mailbox is two miles down the road - but its on the way home and I stop by it every few days.  I have lived so long with only a PO Box, and having to remember to bring things to be mailed to the post office.  It is so nice to realize the mailman will pick it up at home!  Even if I get nothing else out of this whole letter challenge, I'll have gotten this.

A long letter to a good friend from highschool Shakespeare who is now living in New York after recently reconnecting.

Thank you to my breda's mothers for vintage cookbooks.

Hand made valentine to a dear friend in Seattle.

Imbolc

Last fall, my darlin' man burnt down the pile of rubbish the former owners had piled up on a spot the previous owners had done so.  It had some plastics and treated wood, and metal scraps and bits of who knows what piled up.  So, definately not a spot that I would think of growing veggies on, no idea what's leached into that spot of soil.

At the bottom of the pile, once it was burnt down, he found a bunch of feildstones.  So he made a ring around the fire pit.  Then he added found - railroad ties for benches.  So now I have the large ritual fire pit I've always wanted, and he has a spot in which he can safely build the ginormous bonfires we so enjoy. 

So, for Imbloc -coincidentally, also his cousin's birthday - we ate salmon and spinach salad and german chocolate cake.  Friends drove out to the homestead, and the darlin' man built a pyre.  He layered downed birchlogs with pallets, log cabin style, and then stuck the christmas tree on the top.  The initial flames were at least 30 feet high.  The moon was out, though the rest of the sky was cloudy, framed by the two tall spruce.  As the evening moved towards morning, the stars came out.  And much wine was drunk, and stories told.

*disclaimer: these photos are actually from the solstice bonfire, which I never got around to posting.  But my camera was dead, and we were out of batteries this weekend.  So, in reality, the snow was about 2 feet higher.

Keepin' Warm

The temperature is now back up in the zero to 5 below range, and it feels so warm!  We had a about a week where cars and generators froze, with temps of 35 to 55 below. 

Way to cold.

The house did pretty well, considering.  The woodstove kept the downstairs warm, and under covers even the upstairs was lovely.  The back rooms were freezing, and I didn't even attempt to sit still at the loom, but when its that cold, kitchen and hearth are all you really need.

The generator froze twice and wouldn't start, but each time, darlin' man was able to get it running again with help from the propane heater.

There was alot of this:

and of this:

going on!

Weeks like this with temperatures so cold really and really remind you just how dependant you are on energy, whether from wood burning, or the generator and monitor and cars that run on fossil fuels.

Weeks like this make me want to stay home with the fire, and not leave.

Last weekend, along with the ridculous cold, we had ice fog so intense you couldn't see headlights across an intersection.  The radio was giving periodic warnings about how air quality is not advised for the young, pregnant or elderly.  Ice fog is something that only happens at super cold temps, when the moisture in the air crystalizes into fog.  It is compounded by pollution - car exhaust, power plant emissions, woodstove and heater exhausts - it all gets trapped by the cold density of the air and the fog and gets worse.  It is like breathing soup.

Sometimes when I've driving the 40 minutes home from work, I wonder if we wouldn't have made a better choice by finding somewhere closer into town.  If the commuter gas makes up for the eventual food production.  But then a week of ice fog I would NEVER want my future children breathing reminds me that that is another, super potent reason why we live outside of the populated areas.  There was no ice fog at our house, only crystal clear air that burned with chill as you breathed it, and made the stars shine brighter and look both closer and farther away.



Homestead eating: Moose

Dinner was moose steaks pan fried with a honey mustard garlic basil thyme sauce/marinade.

Garnished with carmelized onions.

With french style-inspired baked "frites" - sliced potatoes tossed in olive oild, salt and pepper and baked.

and steamed spinach over leftover pasta in truffle butter.

SO. Good.

The moose had been sitting in the freezer for a couple of winters waiting for a "special time," but now that we have more moose, (and the potential for a regular supply of it! - future thanks to the mountain men); I decided to just make it.  And I was very pleased with how it had held up flavor wise to being frozen so long.  It was originally recieved as a barter gift for use of a sauna and some of our wood at the Haven cabin my breda was renting, and then was our studio for a while.

Letter Writing Month Challenge

I have never done one of these challenge type deals.  I've seen them going on, and sometimes watched the blog land circles doing them, but I've never committed to one. 
I found this one through a friend on facebook - oh the internets!  And it is right up my alley. 

Basically, you write and send a letter every day that there is postal service in the month of February.  Thanks to Mary Robinette Kowal for the lovely lovely idea!

There are handful of people, in Connecticut, Rome Italy, New York City, Texas, and Seattle who I keep a fairly regular correspondence with, but the idea of expanding it, and for a month sending out randomities of love and beauty to folks all over the place just sounds like a lovely idea.  Perfect for this February month of evenings by the roaring woodstove with a glass of wine.

So if you want to recieve a note or picture or peice of yarn from me, email me or leave your address in the comments section...