Sunday Letter: 02.06.22

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Good morning to you! With coffee in hand, I’m ready to tackle another week. How about you?

Last week was a good one for several reasons.

First of all, we had a fabulous snowfall in Fayetteville. Everything unfolded just as our local weather guy predicted, starting with freezing rain on Wednesday afternoon which quickly changed to sleet. While we slept, the snow began falling in earnest. We woke to a quiet magical world with several inches. Then, the snow continued to fall the entire day into night.

For our area, it was a lot of snow.

Nearly eight inches in our backyard the last time I checked.

It was so sparkly and blindingly white it seemed to glow blue.

You know, only hours before on Groundhog’s Day, Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. I have a feeling in my bones that he may be right. For some reason, I think we will have another big snow this winter.

But honestly, I’m beginning to dream of spring…

Garden Tour

Our garden will be part of this spring’s Arkansas Master Gardener Garden Tour. It’s hard to imagine bees buzzing through rose-scented monarda when everything is buried in snow. I know my peony is tucked deep beneath the cold and hope its roots are drawing energy for another season’s show.

On Friday I spent several hours doing garden tour homework—making a list of all the plants in our garden along with scientific names. Thank goodness I wasn’t starting from scratch—I already had a list of plants with common names (although it hadn’t been updated in several seasons and didn’t include scientific names). When I finished, our list included 96 different plants. By the time we plant annuals this spring, our plantings will top 100 varieties, many of which are natives.

You see, you don’t need a lot of land to grow a garden for the bees and birds and butterflies (and schnauzers and humans). You simply have to believe more is better in the garden world.

Okay, I really hope the groundhog is wrong.

New Sofa!

You might recall we purchased a new sofa on Halloween. It was delivered last week just before the weather turned. (We were promised a 12-16 week delivery time and it came in exactly 12 weeks.)

It’s blue velvet, and we love it. It fits the space much better than our old sectional. (Y’all, we loved our old sectional. It was one of the first things John and I bought when we married. The comfy thing endured 20+ years, 2 kids, 1 father-in-law, 4 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds, 3 moves in 2 states, and lots and lots of teenagers. I wrote portions of three books and hundreds of blog posts sitting on it.)

The truth is, with Gracie it met its demise. If Gracie sees a weak spot or a frayed edge on a toy or piece of furniture, she claims it, making the spot weaker, the edge more frayed…

We don’t blame her though. It was definitely time for an upgrade.

And I’ve always wanted a velvet sofa.

The girls think having a velvet dog bed is cozy!

Annabelle, who doesn’t like new things, seems to be okay with this particular change. So far, Gracie and Miss Blue are coexisting nicely. (And Miss Blue came with an impressive fabric warranty for replacement.)

Snow Day Fun!

I didn’t make a snowman, but I made a snow angel.

I can’t remember the last time I made one. Probably, my kids were little.

It’s such a simple thing, and yay for still being able to do it!

Things I noticed while I lay there moving my arms and legs through the snow: The soft snow was very cold on the back of my head through my woolen cap. And, it took me longer to get back on my feet than the last time I made a snow angel. I probably wasn’t very graceful either.

John had walked down to the grocery store, so he missed my snow angel fun. But when he came home he said, “There’s a snow angel in our side yard. A neighborhood kid must have made it.”

That neighborhood kid was me.

I also made a small batch of snow cream. That’s a snow day requirement.

My basic snow cream recipe HERE.

What Else?

A couple of not-so-good things happened this week that I feel I should mention.

We had been looking forward to seeing our daughter and son-in-law this weekend, but their flight from Austin was cancelled because of the weather. Oh, disappointment sometimes comes with the good, I suppose.

They’ve rescheduled though. Hopefully when they visit at the end of the month, we will enjoy warmer weather. If they had come this weekend as planned, I imagine we would have played lots of Scrabble. So maybe things turned out for the best.

Also, in the category of bad news——my mother has a fractured foot.

No, she didn’t fall in the snowy weather. She fell two weeks ago, and I only persuaded her to get an X-ray this week. She’s wearing a splint until the orthopedist looks at it tomorrow.

Send her some well wishes, please. Momma’s doing good, all things considered, and she always has a positive attitude. The Olympics and Netflix keep her occupied, and her kitties provide entertaining company. I stayed with her at first, but she’s rather skilled with her rented wheelchair. I go by to get her mail in, help with kitchen duty and litter box scooping. I might bake her some cookies today.

I bet she’ll be back on two feet in no time.

Things Momma Says:

It’s hell to get old.

Things Momma Asked the Doctor at Walk-in Clinic:

Do you do pedicures?

***

Cheers to thawing out this week. I’m looking forward to warmer weather and brilliant blue skies. How about you?

Coming later this week—look for a Grace Grits and Gardening Newsletter in your email with information on my Gracie Lee notecards! They are sooooo cute.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.