it's saturday, once again, and i feel worn down to my bony bits. we went two very cold days without kerosene for our monitor heater and two of the coldest nights this Winter (the first night was down to 10 degrees and the second one was down to 11 degrees; the highs for both days were below freezing). so we did the best we could: we shut off the rooms without water pipes, ran the small ceramic heater non-stop near the bathroom and had the oven on for nearly 48 hrs on warm. i DO NOT recommend heating the house with an oven; it is VERY dangerous and a FIRE HAZARD. but, with no other source of heat, what were we to do? sleeping under so many covers/quilts reminded me of staying over with my mamaw as a girl. in her house, many quilts were the norm, even in the Summer (though not as many as in the Winter).
on a very happy note, we had kerosene delivered yesterday (hoorah!) and today is near 60 degrees outside (!). i also noticed our daffodils beginning to peak out of the ground by the st. francis statue outside the kitchen door. there are several spring/summer birds beginning to return to the feeders. slowly the season is changing from Winter to Spring. i'm pouring over seed catalogs again, trying to choose a good variety of vegetables and herbs that i know we'll eat and use. pictures of sunflowers go a long way to cheer one up.
this evening is dinner with our neighbor, with perhaps a game of cards or a board game over after-dinner tea. right now i'm taking a break from house cleaning for tomorrow's Sabbath. my prayer is that all would enjoy a peaceful day of rest and worship. let us not forget to count our blessings!
this a type of spine fungus, whose Latin name i don't know. some fungi have gills, some have pores (and look spongy on their undersides) and some have spines. the diversity is fascinating!
almost the entire patch of spine fungi growing on an old maple tree.
this is mountain laurel, Kalmia latifiolia. i'm uncertain if it's a cultivatar of some sort. this was the first good picture i took with my camera; i was pleasantly surprised at how well it came out.
more of the kalmia shrub.
