Happy New Year and an Introduction

Christmas Eve 2016

I hope you had a lovely Christmas.  Mine was even quieter than usual as I dealt with sorrow but it was also good as I enjoyed the music of the season, favorite Christmas movies, as well as a couple of books I reread during that time each year.  The weather kept me pretty much inside as we had snow and ice until just before Christmas Day when we had... rain!  At least it melted the ice on the gravel lane.

The photo above is from our Christmas Eve dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Christopher and Piper.  Christopher says this is his favorite meal of the year and while it is the same as our Easter menu, I think it is the magical feeling of it as there is light from the tree, the candles on the table, and the candles on the sideboard.

With the start of a new year comes the end to my semi-annual blog break.  It never ceases to surprise me how much I accomplish around the house on blog breaks.  My thinking concentrates entirely on decluttering and reorganizing.  This time the Study had quite the redo and now that I'm beginning to get used to it... I like it.

As you know, the changes began with switching the cabinet to another window so more heat can enter the room.  Which, believe me, has been welcome.  Since it is a corner room with two window and farthest away from the furnace, it will always be cooler than the other rooms but I notice a difference.

Part of the redo was brought about by the purchase of what I believe is a reproduction pie safe from Goodwill.  For only $6.00 plus change!  I love it!  The bottom shelf has a couple of Bibles, my two favorite devotionals, and all of my Edith Schaeffer books.  Sitting on the top shelf are cooking and crafting books that I mostly read as though they were novels for inspiration. Should I want to try a recipe, it will be easy to transfer a book to kitchen.

The pillow on the rocking chair was purchased with Christmas gift money this year and the bear was a Christmas gift money purchase last year.  I use birthday and Christmas gifts to add to my collection of primitive or Early American accessories or artwork.  My husband tells me there is no more room on our walls for any more artwork so he ummm... encouraged me on when I asked what he thought of the pillow.

Meet Florentine

The biggest news has to do with the results of our trips to meet kitties at the kitty shelter.  We had planned on adopting an older cat but we were adopted by a kitty approximately twelve months old.  Yep, we brought home a girl just leaving her kitten years! 

Meet Florentine, a name given to her by her foster mom that we liked and she was used to already.  Florentine needs a lot of care and love for she has obviously had a hard life so far.  If there is any quick movement or a loud noise, she heads for a place to hide. 

She is beginning to trust us more and last night finally made her way to the kitchen and finished a small bowl of kibble.  She also let me show her the water container.  Her favorite place is on our bed and fortunately we already were using our old quilt as our other quilt needs to be repaired.  The old one will stay in place for awhile now since Florentine comes with... front claws.

She looks similar to our kitty, Storm, and appears to have as much energy and attitude as Storm did.  However, we look forward to proving to Florentine that there are humans that take good care of animals and even spoil them.  The woman who runs the kitty shelter said we are the perfect adoptive parents for a cat that needs a little quiet and a lot of love to overcome past abuse.

I'm sure you will be hearing more about her in future posts.  Later this week, I hope to have a list of favorite books from 2016 and then on Sunday I'll share the phrase that keeps going through my thinking and how it will anchor 2017.  Which means now that blogging has resumed, so must... pondering.