What I'm Doing During the Cold

 Hi friends,

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been very cold where I live. Actually it seems to be very cold everywhere but we aren't used to these low temperatures in my city and I can't get it warm enough inside. 

So during the cold days of winter, I usually don't do a lot besides sit under warm blankets with a hot drink and read.

I hope to reduce my reading this year soI can work on projects.  But having a good book handy when you need one is a wonderful thing.

I just completed Barbra Streisand's very long autobiography, My Name is Barbra. It's a very detailed account of her life in theatres, movies and in song. She tells us everything we might want to know. She intersperses these details with snippets about her family and personal life, her activism and her love relationships and marriages.

Having finished the autobiography, I am now reading this debut novel A Grandmother Begins the Story by Métis author, Michelle Porter. I haven't gotten too far but don't you just love the cover design? It's beautiful Métis beadwork.

The next book I'll read is called The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.  I read his novel, Cutting for Stone a few years ago and absolutely fell in love with his story telling. I'm very much looking forward to starting it in a few days once the hold arrives at the local library.

In an earlier post I mentioned that my theme word for 2024 is "Create". I hope to make or bring new things into existence more frequently this year. It can mean new dishes in cooking but more likely in my case, it will mean new things I've sewed or crafted. I've been giving some thought to a few projects I'd like to make and have collected a few supplies. Some of what I hope to create is new to me so I'm just learning what I'll need. It seems I'm not quite ready to get started on one of my projects because I need more materials. It's okay because it's too cold for me to sit and make things right at this moment.  I have time to collect what I need.  Here are some of the materials I've been collecting.

I've already sewn these strips of fabric together.

I bought the fabric strips (bubble bees, daisies and solid yellow fabric) at the dollar store just before Christmas and sewed them together before the new year.  There isn't a lot of fabric but I have an idea for what I'll make with it.  The Star Wars fabric will likely be for a cushion or two for my niece.  I'm always looking for items for here with a theme I know she will enjoy. The items in the top photo are for surprise projects which I'll unveil along the way. I've got lots more I want to make but these are some of the projects I have in the top of my mind.

Speaking of cooking, I did in fact make one new to me dish during these cold days. It's my version of a a rice noodle and prawn soup with broccoli. It was quite good and warming but the noodles took forever to cook and soften. Next time I'll probably use a different brand of rice noodles.

These are just some of the activities I'm trying to keep myself busy during the cold days. I've been reading on line about how cold it is elsewhere and I  hope you are keeping warm enough wherever you live. 

My "baby" brother has been away in Thailand and Japan. I'm looking forward to him returning tomorrow. When my loved ones travel, it's hard for me to relax until they are safely home even though I do pray for them. On this journey there was the large earthquake off the west coast of northern Japan just before my brother was expected to arrive there. Of course I was praying a lot and all has gone well with his journey this far. He seems to really be enjoying his time in Tokyo despite the fact it is winter there too.