Dear Sunday Letter friends,
Happy December!
December?
Crazy how that happened.
I plan to devote much of today to stringing Christmas lights and decorating my house. Best laid plans, anyway.
Sweater Weather
Something else that’s crazy? Our weather. At the beginning of the week we had sweater weather for sure—cold temperatures with a biting wind. Five days later, a spring-like storm rolled through bringing an unbelievable lightning storm, rain, and thunder. Mother Nature really knows how to put on a show.
Maybe Lucy and Annabelle should ask Santa for raincoats for Christmas. Not that they would dare go outside in the rain.
I do love a good storm. And it wasn’t all that unexpected. The weatherman forecasted it well before the humid afternoon escorted it over from Oklahoma.
Now, with December, sweater weather has returned. This morning the skies are gray, and we have snow in our extended forecast. I love a good snow, too.
Pot Pies
The downside of not hosting Thanksgiving is not having the leftovers I need to make my traditional day-after-Thanksgiving turkey pot pies. So ingrained is this tradition, I made a special trip to the grocery store on the day-after-Thanksgiving (no one is there, by the way) for roasted carrots and parsnips. I rooted around in the freezer until I found a container of shredded chicken John smoked last summer.
Chicken pot pies instead of turkey. One for this past week, one to freeze for later.
My Aunt Lavern’s recipe is no fail, y’all.
P.S. I’m pretty proud of the design I made on the crimped edge of my pies. Dots made with the end of a wooden spoon. LOL.
Smart Cookies
Shout out to the Smart Cookies Book Club who invited me to discuss Gracie Lee last week. What a fun bunch of ladies! And I have to say, they received a treat, too, because Momma went with me. Momma illuminated The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee from Ann Abbott’s POV. Not everyone gets that entertaining insight.
When I began this writing journey, I never imagined I would be invited to so many book clubs. I think I could write an engaging book about the inner workings of book clubs. They are all uniquely different!
Just don’t expect me to take a decent group selfie. My skills are sorely lacking.
Chasing Fall
Even though we still have nineteen days until the official beginning of winter, fall disappeared from our landscape seemingly overnight. An early hard freeze zapped all the flowers. The wind took many of the leaves. Those still clinging to limbs are faded and tired.
But.
A few days ago while walking Lucy and Annabelle, we noticed the last red leaf. So bright against the dull I considered it might be a Harry Potter-style portkey to somewhere else. I didn’t touch it, just in case. I only took a picture because I knew you’d want to see it.
Things Momma Says
(Re: Garden Club Silent Auction)
The last time I went to one of these things, I left with a quilt. Don’t let me buy a quilt today.
Bye for now, Sunday Letter friends. Stay warm and play nice.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Musical Pairing:
The Smart Cookies Book Club was so much fun. As to the Garden Club Silent Auction, I didn’t buy a quilt; I got a red bowl of pretty PaperWhites.
Yes better than another quilt LOL.
I want the pot pies! Might have to do some cooking! This morning was cold. Happy December.
Happy December! We have colder weather coming.
What fun! I really need to join a fun book club. We have possible good news. We lost out 12 year old English Springer Spaniel this fall. We have been on the hunt for a wee girl puppy and have not been able to find that little girl until this weekend. We found a 2 year old little lady named Chloe last night. Her mommy is deathly allergic to her, Mom has gone for treatments with no improvement and the family has decided to surrender her to a family that will love her as much as they do. We are going down to Alabama next weekend to meet her and perhaps bring her home if she and our Huckleberry get along.No razor sharp teething bites and nips, No housebreaking, no having to deal with awkward puppy teenage behavior issues. Only one thing to be concerned about. She currently lives on a 4 acre farm and we only have a generous 1/2 acres. Wish us luck. Oh, you spoke of PaperWhites. I have 3 pots of them in my kitchen window. They are beginning to open and make my kitchen smell like heaven. The baking has begun and the cookie jars are lined up to receive the bounty.
Merry Christmas
Oh how fun. Fingers crossed that Chloe works out! I’m going to have to get some paperwhites. I love the smell!
Love the blackbirds!
[I pictured you rolling up tiny balls of dough for your crust edge decorations. I’m glad to hear you used a spoon end instead!]