Cold Time/Renewal Time 2026

Peaceful Pause

There's no arguing that it's been Cold Time! We haven't had too much snow, only about 8" on the ground. The constant cold and below zero wind chills have made outside activities less than alluring. I'll be very happy to resume our daily walks.

Oops! Almost empty

We've been using the woodstove daily during our waking hours. If the cold continues Bob will have to take his sled and bring in more wood from the pile outside. Not only will that chill the man, but it cools down the house with all of the opening and closing of the cellar door.

An inviting place to read

It is also Renewal Time, so we've spent much time reading in front of the stove.

We finished the Slabsides Book and are now reading Burroughs' book, A Year in the Fields. 

Between these two books we read Desert Exile by Yoshiko Uchida.

A very good read

This book I highly recommend. It is a first-hand account of life in Japanese Internment camps during World War II. The author, in her twenties at the time, her sister and parents we uprooted with thousands of other Japanese (both American born citizens and Japanese born) and dropped into unfinished containment camps in the American desert. No Due Process, no nothing. It's very timely reading for today.

Project is moving along

 I've been making very good progress on stage 2 of my hardanger piece. I hope to finish this stage in the next couple of weeks.

Fresh out of the pans

I bake bread biweekly the year round, but it seems extra pleasant to raise the loaves on the hearth and bake during this cold weather. I thought that you might enjoy a peak too. Try to imagine the wonderful fragrance. That can be part of renewal, too.

Bread for another two weeks

Bob's been relaxing but volunteering as well.

Off to the Capital, Albany

He went with a busload of climate activists to Albany in an effort to remind our Governor of the legal commitments that she has already made on New York's behalf.

Oh yes, another step we've taken in this Renewal Time is that we've turned off our morning alarm for the season. We still haven't settled into a regular wake up time. Some days it's 30 minutes past our normal time; others it's 90 minutes! Once warm weather comes, we can't sleep so late. Our outside exercise and work must be finished at least by noon (preferably 10 am). I think the late sleeping is related to stress.

Taking action

  
Perhaps some of you, especially who we've met since returning to New York, are unaware that we lived in Minnesota for 21 years. The last 17 of those, we lived in a northern suburb of Minneapolis. 

Our food coops where we shopped were in Minneapolis. The ethnic markets we patronized were in Minneapolis. Every Saturday night we ate at a variety of ethnic restaurants there. The Mennonite Fellowship and Quaker Meeting we attended were there.

To witness the terrorization of this community is extremely upsetting to us.

These updates are getting more and more difficult to write. 

When I read posts by some of the people that I know, I think, "Are they just oblivious to what's happening out there?". 

I don't know the answer to this question. But I want you to know that, while I write of reading and relaxing by the fire, we are not emotionally hiding. Things are not fine. We deeply feel this moment and are acting as we are able to respond. 

Protests, phone calls and boycotts. Another important part of the response is to have that cup of tea. Read a book. Recharge to Resume.

Holding all of you, in our hearts and in accountability.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Snowing again

Darkest Depths/Long Nights Time 2025

The Wolf Moon 

 
The time of Long Nights is slipping away. Now we enter the time of cold. Remember the old adage, "As the days lengthen, the nights strengthen.".

We'll address the weather first since many of you have heard reports about New York and may be wondering. 

At our house, we've only had about 3" of snow. We have had many days of strong winds (sometimes gusting to 50 mph), and below zero windchills. Those subzero wind chills have interfered with our daily walks. Our route is far too exposed to be safe in this weather.

My hometown at the eastern edge of Lake Ontario has gotten hammered. Some of you are sitting amid the snowbanks right now. Try to stay warm and enjoy the forced confinement.

Holiday trees

We enjoyed a quiet and restful Solstice and Yuletide. Evening fires in the woodstove to counteract the cold winds, reading and a few special treats to eat.

Projects have kept us busy this month.

Footstool project begins

Bob bought an old footstool at a charity garage sale. The top fabric and cushioning needed to be replaced.

New padding goes on

He removed the old materials and cut out new padding from some old wool blankets.

New padding all on

After securing the padding, he cut a new top out of some heavy duck fabric.

New fabric all on

The recovered top was reattached to the base and now we have a footstool large enough for both of us to share. All of these materials were in my stash.

Finished product

Last year's beans have all been threshed out. There are fewer beans than usual, but I'm sure we'll get by with all of the leftovers from last year.

Total 2025 crop

Yesterday I ordered the seeds we need for this year's garden. We didn't need too many.

Choosing seeds

This year I'm going to try another pole habit drying bean. It's a black bean reportedly from the Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island. I'm excited to see how this one turns out.

Last year's trial bean, 5,000-Year-Old Cave Bean, turned out to be quite good. I'll plant that one again this year.

Bob's annual sweater was finished this morning!

Model strikes a pose

 

I often knit this pattern for him, varying the colors and patterns, because it fits his slim build very well.

In our season of rest, we've spent a good deal of time reading, each having finished several books already.

Generally, our evenings are spent reading aloud while sitting in front of the fire. We recently finished The Outermost House by Henry Beston.

A good read

Mr. Beston wrote of the year that he spent living on the Outer Beach of Cape Cod. He sought the seclusion of the beach in an effort to recover from the trauma of his World War I service. We found it to be very interesting.

Now we are reading The Slabsides Book . This book is about the woodland cabin of naturalist John Burroughs. We found this, as well as four volumes of Burroughs nature writings at the local library book sale. We plan to read all of them soon.

Who's at the feeder?

Our reading area looks out on our bird feeders, so we get great opportunities for watching the birds from the comfort of our living room.

Phase 1 complete

Work continues (slowly) on my hardanger piece. The project has three distinct phases: surface embroidery, cutting and lacework and counted cross stitch embellishments.

This week I finished phase 1. Now I begin with phase 2, which involves cutting into the piece and stitching in lacework. There's a ton of that to do.

A great find

 
On an unrelated note, we found this queen sized, handmade quilt in the thrift shop for $5.99. Yes, the decimal point is in the correct place! The craftsmanship, or perhaps craftspersons-ship, is very good. I brought it home to recognize and honor the creator's effort and spirit.

We hope that you have enjoyed any holiday which you may celebrate, and that you have eluded the flu and other illnesses. There's still time to relax and renew before the season of rebirth and growth. We hope you will take advantage of the time.

We'll be here; by the fire reading, or crafting, or playing games. Continuing to enjoy this golden period.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Warming the kitty-cicle

"Whose woods these are..."

Frost Time 2025

Last night's Cold Moon

 
Winter has found us here. We're a little colder than normal and there is snow on the ground.

A scene along our daily walk

We were able to harvest some "free lettuce" from the garden in mid-November. Now we'll depend on our frozen greens and the fresh sprouts which I grow.

Our final harvest

I've begun threshing out beans. I hope to be finished close to the end of December. Time will tell.

Threshing Aduki beans

Our Thanksgiving Day was low key. We both had colds and kept things simple. We did enjoy playing one of our favorite games: Anagrams. That evening we watched Miracle on 34th Street.

Thanksgiving game - I whooped him!

We did have a visitor (of sorts) on Thanksgiving; a Piliated Woodpecker dined on bugs in our nectarine tree.

 A hungry guest

We took another real vacation in November. We took a very special trip.

On our way - Syracuse airport

We flew to Oregon to visit family, some of which we met for the first time. It was a very enjoyable visit. Everyone was very welcoming and accommodating of our quirks. 

In addition to great family dinners and visiting, we made a special trip into California to see the coastal Redwoods.

First trail we walked

We walked with family members through a couple of different sections of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

TALL trees!

The huge trees were almost unbelievable! Coastal Redwoods are even taller than Sequoias.

That's a downed trunk on my left

It was difficult to capture their immensity in a photo. You had to experience it, and I'm glad we did.

Second trail we walked

 

We also saw Bigleaf Maples. These leaves measured 10-12" across!

Bigleaf Maple leaf

It was sad to see entire mountain sides of dead trees, a result of the wildfires of a couple of years ago.

In other places, we saw Ponderosa Pines, Oregon White Oaks, and watched Acorn Woodpeckers going about their business of fitting acorns into holes they had excavated in tree trunks. A real treat for eastern birders!

Now that we're back home, we're in our winter pattern of living. Each of us do small, odd tasks during the day and relax in the evening.

I have raveled one of Bob's sweaters. To make the yarn reusable, you form it into skeins, which you soak and hang to dry.

Hanging to dry

Once dry, you wind it into balls for easier use.

Use a swift for winding

Bob's been doing some digital "housekeeping" tasks, little home repairs and tending to the social needs of our porch cat.

Essential work

Although he no longer works at Cornell, he's still an essential worker, in the cat's opinion.

Quiet evenings

Our evenings have primarily been spent reading. Sometimes I knit and Bob reads, either to himself or aloud so we both can enjoy a book. There's a fire if it's chilly. Usually a cup of tea, and perhaps a little treat. This will be our pattern for the next couple of months.

We hope you will all take some time to rest your bodies and your minds. In architecture, there is a quote, "Less is More". I believe this principle applies to more than architectural design.

Till next time, 

Kathleen and Bob

Royal command - warm me up!

    

Seed Fall 2025

 

Welcome Autumn

The moon is full tonight, I trust, somewhere up above the rain clouds and high winds that we're experiencing.

It's been a very busy month finishing the garden season.

All of the harvests are done.

Carrot harvesting

Beets and carrots are in the root cellar.

Beet greens

The beet greens were removed and we're still eating these.

Moving trellises

All of the dried beans have been harvested. We had to carry the last four trellises into the garage so they could finish maturing safe from the frost.

I have 12 bushels of beans in the cellar waiting to be threshed out.

Surprise harvest

We got a very late harvest of shiitakes. This was totally unexpected. They were small but made a great soup.

Rainbow chard, the last harvest

The last thing we pulled from the garden was Swiss Chard.

Applesauce for the freezer

We have had to purchase apples this year. I have put 12 pints of applesauce into the freezer.

Zinnias saved from the frost

I picked the last of the zinnias the evening before our hard frost.

Once the harvests were done, we began closing down the garden in earnest.

Bob tackling the weeds

We had a huge amount of weeding to do, making up for last summer when I was unable to work in the garden.

We spent several long days but finished the job (in spite of the "help" we received from our porch cat).

Demanding attention

Now the beds are cleaned and all mulched!

A job well done

We also did some other chores.

More firewood

Bob had to get the chainsaw out and cut up some large branches blown down from the trees next to the garden.

Planting garlic & shallots

I got the garlic and shallots planted for next year.

See that striped tail!

Bob got four winter cat shelters in place. You can see this one in use just about a half hour after being set up. This is his favorite shelter.

We were too busy to get away this month, except for the No Kings 2.0 rally.

Making Good Trouble

We travelled to Oswego to join family members (and 1000 others) for the event.

We also went to the huge Ithaca book sale two times. We scored 22 books and 3 CDs. Since the garden has been finished, we've been reading a lot.

We finished the garden on October 30th. This is right on schedule, for we try to be done by Samhain (Oct 31st).

For us Samhain marks the time when we shift our focus from providing for our physical needs, to providing for our inner needs. It's the start of our serious rest period. Now we're reading, thinking and re-creating ourselves. I'm knitting and Bob's catching up on little jobs.

We hope that you too, can begin to see late fall and winter as times to relax and rebuild. Our culture insists on seeing this season in a negative light. A burden and distasteful. Try to break free from that prejudice. It really can be such a nourishing season. Embrace it as such.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Lovely Autumn