Dark and cold have been the themes for the past several weeks. Both Michael and I notice that we move less and want to eat more. I think it has something to do with 20° below and wind: the perfect time to become creative!

My mother has gifted my girls baby blankets made from odds and ends of leftover sock yarn. She gets to the end of a project and knits squares out of the leftovers, thus having a ready supply to crochet together into a blanket. I haven’t knit anything in ages (except hats…I love hats) and so decided to try the same to clear out a bit of my yarn stash. I also cannibalized some socks with holes in them. I made different shapes to keep boredom at bay. I then sent the blanket to a woman who might appreciate a blanket “that doesn’t have colors usual for a baby.” I hope her baby likes it as much as the Grand Girl loves hers.

Michael moved a brush pile onto our garden, stacked the deer carcasses on top and then added more brush. I cleared the farolito bags and candle ends and added them to the mix. It made for a hot and fast burn. Ashes to ashes. Dust to carrots and cabbage.

The eastern windows catch more and more light, whenever the sun does come out. I haven’t tumbled more rocks, as cleaning them of grit must be done outside to preserve the plumbing. I like to save those types of projects for above freezing weather.

Michael unearthed my jewelry supplies, allowing me to experiment with wrapping the agates I tumbled last year. I hope to crochet valences to support wrapped rocks, so I will have time and space to admire them daily…and not have to worry about the cat knocking them around.

Dusty grows huge in the dark days. He sees no reason to do anything more than eat, sleep, and harass Zeke.

Zeke will go out in all weather. He did cut short a walk in the wind one day, but mostly revels in being out and about. Here he found a drift of oak leaves. This, he says, means springtime.

Irene improved her hearing to the point where she can appreciate music again. She reclaimed her keyboard, but the music stand got lost in the shuffle. Michael created a new one from a broken flag holder from my trike. We hope she will have honed her skills enough to play herself “Happy Birthday” (ala Grisman?) by her 90th in May.

The turkeys high tailed it for the woods a few moments after I snapped this photo this morning. I took the snowmobile trail, confident that the snowmobiles wouldn’t be using it yet. I trekked across the field to rescue the heater from the stand: the last task to clean up from hunting season. Now to start spring cleaning! We need space to incubate chicks and ducklings.

Did I mention my love of hats?

Hats: a fun way to make the dark days brighter!