Apologies to those of you still getting pounded with snow in Buffalo, but ye gods, that’s awful up there. I thought it was tragic when we got three feet here, and you’re over six feet now. So glad I’m not in Buffalo. Also happy for electric blankets and really good air cleaners. It’s just that kind of week: Practical Happiness.
So how were you practically happy this week?
Happiness is getting closer to readiness. I am chipping away at the list of things I want to make for my upcoming show and yesterday I went to the bakery early in the morning and the grocery store late at night and stocked up, so I think that I am good for Thanksgiving this weekend. The house hasn’t been cleaned at all, so I need to knuckle down there, but I haven’t been procrastinating, not really. So I am not panicking. Not really. Progress.
Happiness is breakfast in a nice café along the river near where I live with my son and husband.
A crisp sunny perfect morning (no snow in Devon).
Happiness and contentment in all the little things that make up life – the purring of cats as they knead my lap, the thrill of seeing something I created coming out as I wanted, the joy of making music – there are too many to list! We’ve had a bit of a cold spell this week, and I enjoyed snuggling deeper under the covers this morning, since I didn’t have any early appointments.
I am happy that right now the sun is shining. We are supposed to get some of the lake effect snow Buffalo and Watertown have been getting pounded with, but here we’re only supposed to get 5-7 inches. It’s cold out but I am going to force myself to go for a walk before the snow hits; I need the exercise. Since I got home from Spain, I’ve gained back 2 of the 3 lbs I lost while walking the Camino!
I discovered Mum’s convection heater is quite efficient, especially when I wrap myself in a spare duvet I remembered I had. I’m just putting the central heating on for a couple of hours in the evening once or twice a week – whenever the house gets too chilly. It’s great to have all these options.
I’ve been happy sorting out the garden and allotment ready for winter. And we’ve just booked a cottage for a week in Kirkudbright next September (same two friends I went to Derbyshire with), so I’m going to have a holiday next year as well.
Did you know you pronounce it Kicoobrae? It was a lovely place when we visited many years age they had a place that sold unique ceramic cows. My DD got one as a late birthday present from her DB. Thank for the memories.🥰🥰🥰
I’d have said ‘Kurkoobree’, but I’ll have to wait & see!
I’d go with a slight amendment: “Kur-kood-bree” (as someone born and raised in Scotland who used to holiday in Dumfries & Galloway, lol). But I never actually lived there, so the locals may say it differently!
As a sidebar: at primary school (in Scotland) we learned a comedy song called “The Wee Kirkudbright Centipede” and I can remember the words to this day (it’s a fairly lengthy song about a dancing centipede). When I sing it to my son (with a stronger Scottish accent than is my usual) my husband rolls his eyes, lol. If you’re interested it’s here (not sung by me, ha) on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAFqFAWwteA
That is extremely silly. Will listen out for the d; though I daresay they won’t expect a Sassenach to get it right,
Happiness is a relaxing day watching college football yesterday whilst creating Christmas decorations for the house. Chipping away a little at a time.
I’m going on a big Asia trip in January — Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Taiwan, and I’ve just started going through all the relevant lonely planet books! It’s a lot of work, but it’s exciting to read about all the things I’ll be seeing and to choose where to go!
Enjoy the trip, we were 5 months in SE Asia a few years ago: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and Japan (not SE). It is a beautiful place and I found it to be safe. We tried to stay a week or two in a place before moving on to somewhere new. We would do day trips around the place we picked but we were sleeping in the same place each night. I found that a more peaceful way to travel than a new place each night (unless a tour group is arranging it all for you, then it’s easy).
Thanks so much for the advice! When did you go to Indonesia? I’ll be there late January, and I’m trying to figure out which part to go to since I heard that the more common tourists destinations in the west will be in their rainy season. Also, how did you counteract the travel fatigue? I’m only going for 6-7 weeks or so, but it’ll still be the longest trip I’ve ever gone on!
Rainy season sounds bad but when we were in Indonesia in late October (years ago) it was more fun than anything, if you get the timing right. The rain was warm so not that bad even if you don’t. And there’s this huge clue. When the street vendors start closing up it’s time to find shelter. Not, for instance, time to walk back to your accommodation. They closed, we thought, “huh, time to go back.” Two blocks later – completely soaked. But not cold.
Can’t suggest where, we spent most of it near the conference hotel. Followed some volcano climbing…
I spent December and January in Bali, 35 years ago: it rained at 2 o’clock most days, as I remember, but as Clancy says, it was warm rain, and you dried pretty quickly once it was over.
Thank you for that! All good info
We went to Indonesia 33 years ago… our big trip before our first child. Thanks for the memories …
I’m sure it’s all really different now but I bet it still is more interesting in the hills in Bali rather than the beach.
wow that must have been amazing!
It was. We had good friends living in Jakarta so we got their advice and insight into the country and then went south on Java to Yogyakarta and saw Borobudur and then spent a week or so in the Bali mountains.
It was all great but it was a long time ago and I don’t have any way of comparing it to the other options.
That sounds amazing!
I remember visiting my eldest brother at Fort Drum in Watertown, NY. In Buffalo, they were touting “I Survived the Blizzard” tee-shirts. Watertown’s snow was six feet deeper, but they just plowed and plowed and didn’t bother selling any shirts.
I remember being stationed on the RadCon barge the winter the Thames River froze all the way across, so you could walk from the submaring base on the Groton side to the Coast Guard Academy on the New London side. We were issued arctic weather gear and needed it.
I remember last month, when I considered plugging my air conditioner back in. Now this month, I’ve bought three hoodie sweatshirts of varying weights. It was in the teens overnight. I live in Southeast Virginia, and while I wouldn’t mind a white Christmas, this state closes for snow.
Here in my garage man cave, the heaters have managed to keep the climate around 70F, which the plant life mostly enjoys. I’ve had to edit the Mid November Farm Report a few times, but that’s normal.
Memories of snow far, far away, but not here makes me happy. Is that schadenfreude?
Gary, What year did the Thames completely freeze between New London and Groton? That’s a real shocker.
The other Thames, in London, UK, froze in Shakespeare’s days. One night in 1599, one playhouse’s owners disassembled the entire Theater, lugged the pieces across the frozen Thames, and reassembled it as the Globe. (Only the removal from its site was accomplished that night.) That’s an example of why I think of Elizabethans as tougher than I am.
The Elizabethans were also great spinners of yarns. According to a website I just checked for verification, the ice wasn’t frozen thoroughly in 1599: the real freeze came in 1607. (No theaters moved across the river that winter.) Who knows?
The Thames River (in Connecticut) froze in 1979-1980. The blizzard that Buffalonians survived was “The Blizzard of ’76.”
The Weather Channel 10-day forecast says cold and colder at night for the rest on November.
Another memory: I graduated Navy Boot Camp in Orlando, FL in October of ’70. The Black Flag (signifier of ‘No March. No Physical Exercise’ due to heat) had flown most of my 11 weeks. I reported to my next station, Great Lakes Naval Training Center, on Halloween. It was snowing, heavily. There was snow on the ground there until I left in February. My next stop was San Diego, CA, another no-snow location. They bounced me between extremes for years.
That’s the reverse of my father’s experience of leaving New London after graduation in November 1942, when it was so cold he slept in his greatcoat on the train (under the blankets; he had a berth), and getting off the train in Savannah the next day, where it was warm! with blooming camellias!
(And he managed to spend the entire war warm. Savannah, Miami, Mobile, New Orleans, the Pacific, New Orleans again.)
After reading about other people’s snow, I am thankful that our 2″ will be melting on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to the weather reports.
Made a cookie recipe that I hadn’t done for years. They were as good as I remembered and my regular Saturday night movie guests were very complimentary. Also happy to see a friend I hadn’t seen in years – he works with my BIL and his wife has been out of town a lot, so he finally got the urge to be social. It was weird to see him looking so much older, as I am sure he thought about us, but just delightful to talk about 15 years worth of books and movies worth recommending!
Can’t believe Thursday is Thanksgiving. Fortunately, all I have to do is cook the turkey and do the round trip of transporting MIL. Well, I should clean my house to a higher standard than usual, but not placing any large bets on that one.
Happy that I will be working on Thursday and not at my sister’s house for Thanksgiving with 21 people. 🙂
I will not be working Thursday for the first time in over ten years. I’m guessing my boss would rather pay cheaper people holiday pay.
I learned two new techniques* (one for embroidery, one for knitting) that made two of my favorite crafts easier without requiring me to buy anything new. And my little guy keeps asking to borrow my iPad, not for screen time, but to read his library book. Both of these are making me very happy this weekend.
*Not earth-shattering techniques, but just things I hadn’t done before (magic loop for knitting and starting the stitch in a different place for embroidery).
I went to a craft fair this week and seriously contemplated buying a shirt that said “let it snow, let it snow, somewhere else” I saw a few flurries last weekend while visiting my brother in Kentucky and that’s enough for me.
I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to cook this year. It will all be good though. I got some quilting time. We started planning our next big trip, which will be to Argentina. It will be a new continent for me and I am very excited. I want to take a tango lesson while there.
I totally agree, Jennie, not being in Buffalo is definitely a plus! The photos are unbelievable.
Here is the latest, and best, Weighted Blanket Report (tapping of typewriters in the background). I used the 15 pound one twice and sent it back. I used a ten pound one once, and sent it back. Both were too heavy and unwieldy. I ordered a three pound one that is for children, and is only three feet by four feet. It was just right!! I’ve slept with it every night for a week, and it really helps. I also eat two sleep CBD non-THC gummies before bed, too. I get them from a place in Portland. THC sends me up the wall, but hemp CBD is great for relaxation.
It will be in the mid-forties this afternoon! I have been walking in IKEA because of the teens and twenties weather. Outdoors is better.
I agreed to attend Thanksgiving at my son and DIL’s, when I haven’t been since the pandemic. One of her nephews isn’t coming, since his wife just had a baby. That meant two less adults, one less toddler and one less dog. I thought that would be endurable. But there will still be eleven people, two of them toddlers, and three dogs. I am cringing already at the noise level, since the TV will no doubt be on. I talked myself into this because I have been such a hermit. I have lost social skills these past few years. That is not good. So, time to put on the extravert act. It’s only a few hours.
We went to see live music – a folk artist named James Keelaghan – and it was grand. The venue asked people to mask up since our hospital ICUs are over capacity right now and the tridemic is here in force. And miracle of miracle, everyone masked up.
I also made a perfect apple pie, using Barbara Samuel/O’Neal’s recipe — found it on instagram. (@barbaraonealauthor)
Enjoying the snow here and delighted that it was mere inches rather than feet.
I am happy that all I have to whine about is that even though it was down to freezing, the days have been sunny and bright. And I am happy that I had the sense to realize 54 years ago that the quiet nice guy I had just met was going to make some woman a wonderful husband and then thinking it might as well be me. Yesterday he cleaned bricks for me, set up my new water fountain then racked and mulched leaves for me. Then took me to a concert. Lots of happiness.
That was excellent sense!
Happy for a long visit from old friends (that I’ve known since 9th grade) this week. And my mom gave me her engagement ring. And my older son (who teaches English) is making progress on his job search — he’s hoping for Ecuador, but is also talking to reps from Colombia and Thailand.
Happiness is yesterday’s first rehearsal for a performance 12/10–details got scrambled, so we’re late. Fortunately, it’s the score for “Home Alone,” written by John Williams, so it’s not impossible. It’s SO good to be singing with a chorus again!
Happiness is London Christmas Lights are now on, they are so pretty, also the Big shop display windows
Made two kinds of cranberry sauce. The first one is with slivers of an orange and a taste of leftover jalapeno pepper. The other is cranberry, orange slivers and chunky apples. The pepper one has a bit of a bite to it, but so good. The other one with apple is for sissies.
Recipes, please?
If you follow the instructions on the package of cranberries just split the mixture between two pans adding orange peel to both then cut an Apple into chunks for one and the jalapeno to taste for the second. Orange peel is also to taste. Be sure to wear kitchen gloves for the pepper, slice and discard the seeds. The gloves are to protect you from accidentally rubbing your eyes. But I’m sure you knew that.
Sorry, past midnight here I forgot to tell you to mince the pepper and add a little to start.
Happiness is successful pancakes with fresh blueberries and no burned sides, cooked all the way through. Delicious! My grandbabies who live on the other side of the country always have pancakes Sunday mornings and when we had our weekly Sunday zoom call I was tickled to share that Nana had pancakes too! Also, happiness has been an unusual period of personal energy and lightness. Not always achievable and often a challenge in colder weather with holidays approaching. Fingers crossed there are no crashes and this can be maintained.
I agree about Buffalo. I was born there. We moved away when I was about 10 and I decided that I thought the snow was high because I was a kid. But when I came back in college, and realized that the things under the snow with the tops of cars, I reassessed my thought. Happiness is my children away for Thanksgiving. I don’t have to cook. I love them dearly, but I know they are having a good time and so am I. I may actually finish this book. Let me take that back. I will finish the book. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Now I wanna go to London and see the London lights.
Even when I lived In Minneapolis, during a period when they were getting LOTS of snow, I used to look at the conditions in Buffalo and be grateful I didn’t live there. I remember when I was in London in the 70s Buffalo got slammed with a snow storm that made the news in England. When I went to the fish and chips shop the next week, the owner said she was happy to see me and she had been worried that I had been caught in the storm on my way home. I had to explain that I lived at least 800 miles away and that my family had no more than the average winter shoveling to deal with.
I am also grateful that I live on the west side of Lake Michigan where the winds usually blow from west to east and dump lake effect snow on Indiana and Michigan instead of me.
Cautiously happy about the plans for the first Thanksgiving gathering with the usual folks in about five years, partly on hiatus due to covid, partly due to other things before covid. Not too big a gathering and all sane people, so it should be reasonably safe.
And I’m happy that I met my (extremely modest) goals for sales of my Christmas novella this week, and readers seem to be enjoying it, which is all that really matters.
And finally I’m happy that Amazon delivery drivers love to claim packages for my house (on a main route, so easy to find, not far from other deliveries, and there are often multiiple packages coming to my house, since my tenant is something of an Amazon-shopping addict), so I often get things well ahead of the original delivery date. Not sure if it’s done by algorithm (efficiency, since I’m in the middle of deliveries) or if the drivers get some say in which packages to deliver (easier to make quota if there are multiple packages in a single stop), but it makes for really speedy deliveries! And as a result, I got the space heater I’d ordered just in time for what’s shaping up to be the coldest day/night of the year so far, instead of later in the week when it will be milder weather. The cats are happy about that too, hanging out near it, since I keep the house fairly cool generally. (I’ll save my rant for later about how I swear there’s a fossil fuel conspiracy behind the number of articles I’ve seen lately that essentially say, with really garbage logic, OMG, you’ll die on the spot if you keep your house at less than 65 degrees (18 celsius) 24/7.)
I was moderately disgruntled to read that they are coming to measure my windows sometime tomorrow and that I have to move everything away so that they have clear access. This is no problem in the bedroom or living room, but there is a window in my hall closet. Every thing that lived in my storage locker in previous apartments is piled on the floor in my living room closet and tonight I will have to move at least half of it out into the open. I can get to the window, but there certainly isn’t room to manipulate a steel rule. I hope they start at my end of the courtyard. Many times they start at the other end and run out of time before they get to my apartment. I don’t want to do this more than once. Maybe it will inspire a round of decluttering. I just wish it wasn’t the week before Thanksgiving. And maybe it means that they will replace the windows before next Spring. There is presently a 5-8 degree difference between the wall with the windows and the wall with the thermostat. Right now, the thermostat (inside wall) reads 72F and the thermometer next to the window reads 58.3F. This would bother me less if I didn’t pay the gas bill.
At least it is a start.
My daughter, a PhD student at the U of Buffalo, was supposed to come home by train (with her cat) on Friday; she called Thursday to change to Sunday. Sunday’s train was canceled. She’s scheduled now for 4:45 am train on Tuesday. But the way lake snow works, she only has about a foot of snow outside her door.
We’re past the point of no return on the house buying thing.
I’m happy, I’ve wanted a home without a landlord ever since I realised that was a thing that some people had (8 or 9?) but wow this is scary.
Good Luck
I’m always happy I don’t live in Buffalo. Here in my patch of upstate NY (close to Cooperstown, if anyone knows where that is, about an hour and a half southwest of Albany) we often get slammed by snow storms, but we only had about an inch this week. That’s just fine with me. And I was happy that my handyman finally built the small shelter over my back door (which is where I come in and out of the house, because I live in the country). When I had a metal roof put on the back of the house a few years ago, I didn’t realize that meant that piles of snow and gigantic chunks of ice were periodically going to thump down right where I walk out of the house. I’m happy not to have to worry about being killed, or murdering the UPS guy (I hear they won’t deliver to you if that happens).
Not so happy, one of my best friends testing positive for Covid yesterday (she’s really cautious, but had just visited her boyfriend in Boston and eaten out in crowded restaurants) and another today (she’d stopped wearing masks and was just considering starting again when she tested positive). Neither is horribly ill, though, just cold symptoms and one with a mild fever, so I’m happy about that. I know of a bunch of friends whose Thanksgiving plans have fallen through because of Covid, so I guess I’m also happy I don’t have plans to ruin?
I’m happy that while Mom had a cold last week, nobody else is sick, so Thxgiving in NC is a go for all six of us. DH and I take a redeye flight tomorrow night. He will sleep and I will read. Today was ‘prep for travel’ day since both of us are putting in a full day of work tomorrow.
Happy that my Betabrand ‘cat’s tooth’ pants arrived; fit; and look good. I hemmed them today so they go with me to NC where at least one person is guaranteed to laugh.
Very happy that I had good publishing news this week and that I had this place to share it. Thank you all so much for your kind words. <3
I was born in Buffalo but moved at about six months. Definitely happy that I’m where we catch only a bit of lake effect snow. Like Susan, I’ve found the snow to be less deep now that I’m older. Only thing we’ve gotten here is the barest ground cover.
Never a dull moment around here election-wise. Working very long days on the back end counting the vote. And people are absolutely nuts. And there’s been a lot of drama. There usually is.
Thanksgiving is going to be very quiet. I won’t be going to the usual gathering, just getting together with a couple cousins. I think I’ve convinced them not to go out to a restaurant but to order takeout. It’ll be so much less stressful!
Practically speaking, I haven’t been able to do much about raking leaves off the lawn. There’s been some wing and most of them have blown into the flower beds. I just have to do some touch up clearing. That makes me happy.
Happy to be watching the 5th season of The Crown. Elizabeth Debecki as Diana is outstanding.
After having Some Issues this week and last night, my performance in Christmas Carol today was smooth as buttah, just in time for my mom to see it. Huzzah!
Happiness was panettone French toast made by our guests. They left the building today.
I live in the moderate Pacific NW, no snow down here, but the ski slopes are opening early! I appreciate well-behaved weather. I like rain, but no ice/snow/sleet!
I’m happy to have had my youngest home for 2 1/2 weeks, though sad for the reason (my 92-year-old Mother-Outlaw passed, so son came home to help his dad. Passing was expected, she was on hospice, but it still was a shock.)
I’m happy my younger sister tested negative for Covid, and will join us for Thanksgiving!
And Elton John’s concert is making me very happy!
Glad you are having some happy to help handle the world shift of your mother-in-law’s death.
My house smells like baking Christmas cake, which makes me happy, even if I can’t eat it for a looong time.
I’m happy not to live in snow country—I prefer to admire it from afar.
Also happy that my old family home, that I have been preparing for sale the last few months, finally made it to market and (if all goes through) has sold in just two weeks. It’s a little bittersweet though as the house is the last connection we had to our parents/time as a family.
I am happy that the anthology Fresh Voices and Visions by Rebel Anthologies is almost done. I suspect we will be shown the finished copy at a Zoom meeting I was invited to Friday night. That’s about a week later than originally planned but I was skeptical about it being done on the original planned date anyway so not disappointed.
I have 6 pages of poetry in the anthology.
My happiness this past week centered around writing mostly because nanowrimo is going on so I am writing more than usual.
Also contributing to my happiness was a long phone chat with an internet friend whom I have connected with online only for fifteen years. Sunday night was the first time I heard her voice. We had an amazing talk which was affirming though not surprising since we have been in contact so consistently over the years. We originally met on Shelfari before Amazon bought it in 2007.
It’s cold season here in Florida so high 40’s overnight, mid 50’s during the days. We drug the space heaters out. Soooo grateful I am no longer living where there is winter. My sympathies to everyone who lives where weather goes beyond the ocassional light, pretty dusting of snow.
I’m a bit sad that our usual source of loose leaf Scottish Breakfast tea has discontinued all but tea bags. The search for a new source is ongoing. That said, I am about to settle for a cup of coffee.
Hope everyone has a good day!!!
Happiness is not being in the path of a blizzard, nor the path of a hurricane, nor the path of a tornado. Happiness is also preparing to cook for Thanksgiving, which I will be eating by myself in the mancave. I have so far baked boneless, skinless chicken thighs with potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and green peppers. I have baked boneless pork chops with potatoes, onions, garlic, and green beans and a panko/parmesan crust. I have crab cakes standing by, and I looked up recipes for tuna fish cakes made with canned tuna. I downloaded three recipes, and I’ll try one of them tomorrow (the one with minced jalapeño peppers). I still have chili left. My game hen is thawed. I have four slices of Apple Spice Cake. I have sugar-free Jello. I have diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Caf-free Coke. And coffee. And tea.
I am not a cook, but I can cook, so I do, and I enjoy it. I will freely admit that I like to reheat leftovers, so most of my cooking takes place on the same day (like today.) Happy!
I’m happily anticipating The Drifters later this week.
We had a lovely day at Jodrell Bank with unexpectedly lovely weather.
DS sat quite happily through the entire 45 minutes of the Dome light show about the solar system, and also apparently enjoyed the half-hour of explanation about Mr Lovell, how his telescope came to be built, and a selection of science experiments demonstrated by one of the scientists who works at the site. He later declared that that was his favourite bit of the whole day (to be fair, she did set things on fire to demonstrate the chemical reactions for a fuelled rocket launch). An astrophysics enthusiast at the age of 4. This amuses me greatly. It pleases too, but it definitely amuses.
Currently I now have tonsillitis (unrelated to the above, lol) and have lost my voice. However, a slightly bizarre happy from this is that, as DS now attends school (and is well), for the bit in between drop-off and collection I can actually rest and recuperate, and I suppose be ill, in peace. Which is a bit of a revelation (this is my first illness since he started full-time school).