A Fruitcake, Some Snow and a New Fridge

 

We have been living in a state of perpetual twilight ever since the snow started to fall a few days ago. As much as my Halloween loving heart hates to admit it, a little sunshine would be nice. Autumn is definitely over if the snow is deep enough to cover the big orange X on our magnolia.

It looks like it's going to be a long winter.

So, we are going to need plenty of dessert.

The day after Thanksgiving The Crew got started on making the Christmas treats. Burt and Ivy would rather spend hours following a long, complicated recipe than be out in the Black Friday frenzy. 

So, they chose to make the fruitcake first because it has to sit around for weeks marinating in brandy before it's edible. That process also keeps a certain individual from snacking on it before Christmas. 

It's wise to check for any leftover pecans.

His Madness was called upon to expend the physical force necessary to mix everything together.

It's always a team effort.

By the end of the day they managed to produce this lumpy stump. 

Luckily, all that unattractiveness doesn't matter because it got soaked in brandy and wrapped up to spend at least three weeks in the fridge. What better way to inaugurate a new appliance (delivered less than a week before Thanksgiving) than by abandoning a fruitcake in the bottom drawer? 

That was the original intention anyway, Ivy let go too soon.

Both Burt and the fruitcake are fine, although the cake does outweigh him.

Eventually it landed in a safe place completely intact, and the marination portion of the process could begin. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take an Instagram-type photo of the inside of the fridge while it's still pristine. There won't be anymore chances like that!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

See you soon!

It's Always Something, Part Two

 

In Part One, while in the middle of preparing for Halloween, Burt discovered our refrigerator had stopped working, for good. Normally, we would have just bought a new one but without a driveway or a sidewalk to maneuver a large appliance into our house, that wasn't possible. The only option left was to throw ourselves on the mercy of Target and beg them to deliver one of their small fridges. 

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem we had to deal with. This is how our street looked last year. All of these trees were cut down last March, along with nine others because the water pipes and storm sewer system had to be replaced. Ever since then we have been in a struggle with the contractor to save our magnolia, the last tree left on the boulevard.

The city forester and the project engineer had assured us that it did not have to be removed, then one day I overhead two men talking about how it needed to be cut down because it was in the way of their paving machine. A few days later some jackass spray painted that same message on the grass with an arrow pointing to the tree along with the day-glow orange X to drive his point home. Much to our surprise, the city forester and the project manager didn't give in and flatly refused to let that happen. HM and I were stunned and very happy but it still took quite a beating from all the machinery. Who knows if the poor thing will survive all the damage to its root system but we're hoping for the best. The X has to stay because trying to remove the paint will stress it even more. 

The constant threat of some crazy contractor cutting down our tree was way worse than being without a fridge but they were also continually digging up our internet. It's housed in that round object directly under the digger's blade. A sensible person would avoid looking at what was happening in the street. 

 

It was quite a show and everyone was wondering what would happen next. Would axe-wielding construction workers attack the magnolia or will the internet get dug up, again? 

On the morning of October 29th, the day before our little fridge was supposed to be delivered, construction began on the sidewalk and driveway aprons.

In the middle of all that chaos, a heroic Fed Ex driver managed to weave his way through the cement trucks and lift our temporary fridge over the sidewalk forms!

The final part of the reconstruction got done quickly and we were assured the sidewalk would be open for Trick or Treaters. (I had ninety candy bars!) The driveway was off limits until this week. Parking our cars in the next block for nearly two months was nothing compared to being without a refrigerator for a few days, but neither was really that bad.

Who knew all those curves in the cement that ties a driveway to the street are created with a piece of wood and a hand trowel? The things you don't learn while keeping watch over a tree.

  

The great outdoors has been remarkably good at providing cold storage for our perishable food. Apparently the squirrels and trash pandas were busy elsewhere, so all has been going well.

The little fridge is okay and doesn't take up a lot of space.

A full size one is scheduled for delivery this Friday.

 

Much to my amazement, enough Trick of Treaters showed up at our door on Halloween so there was only a few candy bars left! I wasn't sure anyone would come, especially after I didn't get the lights and garland put up. Our only decorations were four jack-'o-lanterns, which turned out looking very scary! It was cold too, 45 degrees F. and not a great night to be out, especially on a closed street with plenty of stuff to trip over. Luckily, no one fell in the gravel between the sidewalk and our front door! 

On the Monday after Halloween a crew showed up to make a temporary walkway to our front door with some lovely black asphalt. The last of the water pipes that have to be replaced are directly beneath it, and that work can't begin until spring. There is also no way to bring a major appliance into a house with a gravel moat. The bare ground got a thin layer of topsoil and sprayed an unnatural shade of green. We're hoping for an early snow, anytime after Friday.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

See you soon and a belated Happy Halloween!

It's Always Something - Part One

 

Ivy and Kib were putting the finishing touches on the Halloween decor. Not knowing whether we would have sidewalks before the Trick or Treaters started to arrive was getting on everyone's nerves.

The candles had fresh batteries, in case the electricity was suddenly cut off.

Burt just needed to hang the garland.

He had been dreaming about ice cream, so when he woke up from his nap he headed straight for the refrigerator and discovered the ice cream bars had melted!

The refrigerator had stopped!

Panic ensued. After a thorough cleaning of all the vents and fans, following all the directions for what to do when your fridge stops, it was declared a goner. Somehow we overlooked the fact that it's at least fifteen years old.

There's no way a refrigerator could be delivered through this. All the repairmen contacted have refused to even take a look at it. Apparently the equipment and parts needed to repair it are too heavy to carry from even the closest street.

So, it's the beer cooler on the patio. It won't keep anything frozen but we are just a few minutes from the best ice cream in town, so Burt will be ok. I guess it's not always a disadvantage to live up here in the frozen north. Let's just hope the raccoons are busy elsewhere until we find a better solution.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon for Part Two

A Few Night Pictures

 

I'm always trying to take photos of the moon and sky in the evening but they rarely work out, unless there's an aurora or I bother to use a tripod. At least this one looks like a dark and stormy night. The weather associated with these clouds never turned into anything dramatic but for a while it did look they had the potential for some angry godlike thunder and lightning.

Since August, there's actually been something interesting to photograph at night, in our neck of the woods. The Nature of Light, an immersive experience, has been on display in the evenings at our local art center, which was illuminated on both the inside and out. 

The weather has been perfect for taking pictures in the dark. Sadly, the event is closing after tonight but it was fun while it lasted.

The HYBYCOZO + Lightswitch production first came to our town in 2022 and my post on that visit can be seen here. We were really happy to hear they were returning.

This year they added a special interactive piece in the main gallery and my son, Andy did the honors. 

It's amazing that the source of the pattern on the ceiling is cleverly sitting on the table.

Everyone definitely needs one of these for their dining table.

 

The gardens got an upgrade too. The colors washing the building and trees were particularly vibrant.  

On cue, the moon decided to steal the show.

Even without any color the projections looked amazing.

The garden tour ends with spotlights sweep across the sky creating patterns over the formal garden. We've been watching these lights dance on the clouds from our patio most evenings. They must be visible from nearly everywhere in town.

Our backyard lights are no comparison to The Paine's, but they're festive. As long as the evenings are warm enough to enjoy (sometimes with a coat, or hat and gloves, or all three), we can pretend the Paine's spotlights are part of our display and maybe the raccoons will be entertained, too. 

The Crew even have treats that are easy to find in the dark.

Thanks for dropping in, see you soon!

A Pinhole Photography Ghost Story

One rainy day in late October, Ivy and Burt decided to make some Rice Krispie Treats and watch a spooky movie. Little did they know how that afternoon would really turn out. Suddenly, Kib flew onto the counter, and with a trembling squawk, insisting that they were being watched.

Ivy tried to calm him down but few minutes later, she admitted she felt something unearthly, too.

Burt thought he heard shuffling in the stairway but when he looked, no one was there.

Suddenly they heard heavy breathing and a rattling noise coming from right behind them!

Slowly, a specter began to materialize right before their eyes. He was cloaked in black and carrying a large box of  . . .  cereal! Count Chocula to be exact. 

Growing less and less transparent, a being materialized before their eyes and implored Ivy to substitute Count Chocula cereal for the Rice Krispies in her recipe. Would this end up being be a sacrilege or a moment in discovery of the power of chocolate?  

A mountain of Count Chocula treats were produced in no time.

They watched in silence as the specter took the first bite. Then eagerly joined him in an orgy of sticky cereal mixed with chocolate chips.

It was a transformative experience. Who could ever go back to plain Rice Krispie Treats? They might start to crave something with less sugar and more iron next time though. 

His Madness loves building pinhole cameras and he makes one for me every so often. Since they use film  and the image is created through a hole in a cardboard box, the results can look a little ghostly. I'm always amazed that it works at all, but then the photos we take everyday with our phones seem like magic to me, too. 

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!