Many months have past

I have to apologize for my absence. So many things have happened. I suppose other than my trip to Europe with my Mom the most notable is that I was diagnosed with cancer in August. I know some jaws will drop over this but please understand that it was a huge blow (how could it not be!) and D~ and I have had to come to grips with it. The long and the short of it is that it was very, very early uterine cancer. I have a hysterectomy 7 weeks ago. I have a wonderful Oncologist (he was the surgeon too), the cancer was confined to the uterus. The lymph nodes were totally clear and he has not recommend any sort of chemo. I am now in to full blow menopause--which has challenges of its own. I am totally healthy and will remain. There is no reason to think that I will have anything else.

I think that was enough to chew on, don't you think?

I'll leave you with a few pictures from my trip to Europe. It was a cruise on the Danube, from Budapest, Hungary to Nuremberg, Germany.

We got snow last week!

Can you believe it? Check these out!





This is the dwarf rhododendron that is blooming. Didn't I say it has been covered in snow before? Hmmm.

Now it is almost March - WOW!!

I have been so bad at keeping this up. I'm sorry. I am going to try very hard to do a better job.

I do have to get you all up to date though. I would like to start off with our first sign that Spring is coming.
This is our dwarf rhododendron. We have even had years when the bush was covered in snow and blooming.

Here are the goodies I made last year.
This is the hat and scarf set I made for my Mother-in-Law Lotus. She lives in Central Oregon and it gets cold there, so she needs to be warm. I am very happy on how this turned out. The wool is natural colored Wenslydale, dark and light grey

This was a 'Montana Scarf' for D~'s Uncle in Montana. Another colder climate so he needed to be warm too! I used the dark grey Wenslydale. This was a very cool scarf to make, turned out great.
This is little iPod sweater I made for new iPod I got for Christmas. Don't want to brag but, all the yarn used was hand spun and the teal I also dyed myself. I'm very proud of that little sweater.
Then I made this tea cozy. I always wanted one so when I finished the little sweater, I made this. A good use of those 2 weeks off. I loved those snow days!

I have never shared any pictures of my trip to France last year. So I thought I would end with a few of my favorites.

A wing of the Louvre seen from the Tuileri Gardens.

Beautiful french backyard.
A Street in Honfleur.
Palace of Versailles.
A very cool house in Honfleur.

How much more this morning?

We have over 2 feet now and we still have power, which is great. I think it snowed all night . I don't think we'll make it in to town this week 'till after Christmas so our Christmas cards won't get out let alone the gifts we have to UPS out. I hope all stay warm and safe.

More Pictures!!

It has now gotten down to the freezing rain. I went down to the barn to feed Cyndi (our 4 hoofer) and almost didn't make it back up the hill. The only mode of transportation is our quad we call Herc. It is beautiful if you don't have to go out in it. We have been snowed in for almost a week and it looks like it will be another week. I do love the idea of a white Christmas though. Before I ramble too much, here are the pictures from storm #3, or is it 4?

I braved it for more pictures!

Here is what it looks like right now! By the way, that is not fog, that's snow!

We might even get a white Christmas!!

Christmas projects & SNOW!

Well it is almost Christmas and I've been finishing up on the presents. I can't show you the actual gifts until after Christmas--sorry. But I can give you a bunch of snow pictures!! I hope you enjoy them. Today (Saturday) it has been snowing non-stop since before 8AM. I wanted to go out to take more pictures but it will have to wait 'till it slows down bit. These pictures were from Tuesday & Wednesday. The first ones are from our house and the others are from my Brother's house and the huge drifts they had. I wanted to get some pictures up before the freezing rain hits just in case we loose power, which does happen a lot out here.