THE VERY LAST 24 HOURS OF 2012! HOW WILL YOU SPEND IT?

Its 8:30 in the morning here on Prince Edward Island. We've had a dump of snow over the weekend and have a few feet now. The island is under a wind warning with winds coming from the west at 21 mph; a change from 7 am this morning from, northwest 19 mph. To step outside is to get blown off your feet by a cold, snowy blast!

My lonely little mailbox is out there ~ somewhere ~ in that vast expanse of newly dumped snow

In less than 24 hours, this day and the year of 2012, will become extinct! You will retire to bed in one year and wake in the next. What will you remember about this passing year? I have kept personal diaries for years and its fascinating to look back, years ago, on what was happening in my life on this date. 

What earth-shattering, life changing events will you perform on this last day of 2012...

Mine are humble and in preparation for 2013. Inventory all groceries in the house and rearrange my cupboards to make them more 'user-friendly', order a tank of oil and clean the house; after that its cleaning out the fridge and putting the washing away. Course the biggest thing will be taking down the tree and storing all that stuff for the end of the new year, in about 365 days. 

Putting things in order and planning for January; working on my budget... seems like a sensible way to spend the last day of this year.

Catspaw   


  

GOOD MORNING DEAR READERS, WELCOME TO THE FIRST DAY OF WINTER

This time last year we had to shovel the snow away from the door just to be able to leave the house! 
Today there's just a slight covering of snow and its warm and calling for rain on Saturday. My cats want to be outside despite the snow.

Of course, there's always that 'one' who refuses to set paw outside and wants the door to stay open just so she can enjoy the sunshine from the dry environment of the porch. Right, Molly?

Then Again...

Maybe its better to just sit in a sunny, warm window and 'look' at the wintry day outside.

Today is very special. Its the Winter Solstice, its four days before Christmas and its Doomsday all rolled into one! Now, if that ain't special, I don't know what is. The tree is decorated, the gifts are waiting and the 25th is coming - for me and my family, anyway. For 95% of the rest of the world, who knows. OH, YES, the Mayans do.

See you all here tomorrow... Hope that guy has another use for his Ark! No life savings are left....
Hmmm, there's a topic of conversation ~ what did you spend your time doing on doomsday?


Have a GRREEAT DOOMSDAY!!!

Catspaw

HANDS UP ~ ANYONE WHO CAN AFFORD TO THROW OUT FOOD!

What! There's no-one!

I went through my fridge this morning in my usual monthly purge and came across some still recognizable vegetables. 'Soup' ~ they screamed at me! Soup it was.

Presenting -- The vegetables that were crying 'SOUP' ~~~

Ok, so everyone has vegetables that have seen better days lurking in their refrigerator bins but, what the heck do you do with them after they reach this stage? If you are anything like me and are loth to throw anything that is still useable out, you will appreciate this little maneuver to avoid burning a $20 dollar bill !

Because after peeling and discarding what can't be used, these worn out veggies take on another appearance - a usable one.

And the parsnip that you'd likely throw out; take another look:

under the skin is a parsnip begging not to be tossed, but chopped and added to a soup or stew.

So, lets get going here...

Here are my  prepped, seen-better-days vegetables looking pretty good and ready for use.

Saute using spray vegetable oil, spices, garlic, onion and frozen tomato paste (more on that in a later blog).

My helpful husband pouring in the prepared broth; I prepare this in a different way as well, more in a later blog.

Here I've added slightly wilted onion greens 

Presto! Vegetable Soup for dinner on a cold and snowy evening; in from work from the blast of winter! 

Enjoy.

Catspaw

??? HOW'S WINTER TREATING YOU ???

2012 Winter on Prince Edward Island, Canada so far...

This was the scene on the morning of December 10th, 2012; there are 4 cats in this picture and none were impressed with Mother Nature's indecision!

Same day, a few hours later. I brightened the pic above and ...

left this one the way the great outdoors 'really' looked.

Then it rained all night!

Imagine waking to this scene this morning...

 It looks like Spring!

 and the sun is out and about;

Blacky, taking in the 'new' scenery... from the inside.

Ain't it amazing what a ton of overnight rain can do for an inch and a half of fresh snow.

Its up in the air, literally, whether this island will see a green or white Christmas this year.

Catspaw