New Year's Eve lunch

It is cold but the sun draws us to the river as if it were summer; the blue skies mirrored in the water as geese and ducks float by. Just as we finish our Cowboy lunch, we catch sight of the white of the eagle in the tree and elegant white of the swans across the river.

Before and after

We were gifted this homemade pine box a few Christmases ago; it was filled with scratchies so it was a big hit with a certain person. But it had been gathering dust on my studio shelves until this past month. First I painted it all white except the inside.

The first side was done with some of my favourite buttons.

Pennies were my choice for the second side.

Seashells, driftwood, and a tiny bit of sea glass for the third side.

My favourite childhood game, pick-up sticks, for the fourth side.

On the lid I decoupaged some of my most colourful stamps and added an empty thread spool from England.

On the inside of the lid I glued down one of my favourite prints. 
The inside of the box is left as is except for a square of cork on the bottom.
I used over-sized dice for the feet of the box.
This now sits on our coffee table filled with all sorts of paraphernalia that would otherwise litter the table.

Work tree

Martha's rolls

Yes, this is one great yeast-dough recipe but a lot of work. Once it is mixed together the instructions seem never-ending; cover, let rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour, chill one hour, punch down, refrigerate covered one hour or overnight. But once these come out of the oven and you bite into the lemon-butter goodness, you instantly forget about all the hand-numbing mixing, punching down, and rolling out.

Little Cooper

Cooper came back yesterday and spent quite a bit of time on the cedar hedge. His steely-eyed presence kept the magpies away from the birdfeeder but our tiny-feathered friends stayed away also. As soon as he flew off, the line-ups for food were quite long.

Bird-watching

A walk along the river in the sunshine, small flocks of geese in the park and at the water's edge. But we could not miss the white head and white tail of the bald eagle sitting in the bare trees across the river. Wish I had a better zoom lens.

Back home this Cooper's Hawk (I think) settles on our cedar hedge just long enough for me to take his picture.

Scandi style

We decided to put up our dowel tree again this year. It takes up much less room and I can see each ornament without anything artificial getting in the way.

Bazaar memories

This is the highlight of the Christmas Craft Fair and Tea; a plate of tiny bread triangles filled with all sorts of tasty fillings plus mini cookies and tons of fruit and veggies accompanied by dark coffee with lots of cream or English tea with lots of milk. Brings back lots of memories.

Weather watch

One minute it's like this...

and then you look out to see this. Love winter except for all the snow.

Our favourite Christmas cake

A friend gave me the recipe quite a few years ago and it's the cake I make for the holidays. What makes this cake so good is the sour cream  and eggs and butter plus a big spoonful of orange zest. The house smells so good after baking these beauties.

Recycling

With the help of Mr. Cowboy, I finished the necklaces for the auction. They are both a combination of strips of old magazines, sea glass, and found baubles.

Peaches and cream

Outside it was snowing but inside it was summertime. I mashed up some peaches that we had frozen in August, mixed it with cream and eggs, and added it to a bowl of flour, sugar, ginger and cinnamon.

Chocolate Kugelhopf

Tried something I had never made before. The recipe was not complicated and I had all the ingredients in the pantry. It just seemed like a different version of Cinnamon Rolls.

It only took about 40 minutes to bake. I followed the directions and made it in my 10-inch tube pan. It looks impressive, good enough for a brunch.

I tested it before I took it out of the oven; I was pretty sure it was done. After cooling it completely it slipped right out of the pan; a little extra butter does the trick.

The Kugelhopf looks good but it was doughy and the combination of bittersweet chocolate (plus one square of unsweetened because I did not have enough bittersweet) and raisins was not very tasty at all. Sometimes you win and sometimes you kugelhopf.

Early morning fog

We sit and watch the fog roll and swirl and glide above the water; we don't know where it's going but it's on it's way.