January Begone! & Belfast Pattern Grows

January

Yes, even I, one who loves winter is this January glad to see it ending.  You see, it started out with a big challenge.  On Christmas Eve, our wedding anniversary too, our electrical power to our well house began to sputter and eventually failed.  Living where we do it isn't possible to just pick up a phone and call for a service person or for that matter to run out to a store for parts.  Add to it the fact that it was a big holiday weekend (two big holiday weekends in fact ) and I knew we were going to be without water for some time.

I didn't know it would be two weeks till the problem was solved!  Thanks to neighbors we were able to fill up containers of water to see us through, but Mr. B spent a lot of hours in a freezing cold well house to put in new wiring and a new pump that took extra days to be sent to us.  So all holiday cooking was postponed since all water had to be heated on the stove and daily chores became a lot more difficult when that precious water wasn't flowing out of the taps!

Now I didn't think I needed anything to make me appreciate running water more than I already do, but I can guarantee that I do indeed say my daily,' thank you, Lord', for it even more frequently after two weeks in the midst of winter without it, lol

Belfast Pattern

One might think I had extra time to stitch since all holiday 'merrymaking' came to a halt, however, it seemed as if everything necessary for daily living became vastly more difficult without running water and by the time they were accomplished I had no desire to do anything but collapse on the couch.

But February is around the corner and hopefully I'll regain momentum and get to stitching like I should and get Belfast's model completed - btw, this may be one of my very favorites!

However, I will have a bit of a pause since Just Cross Stitch has asked for another Christmas Ornament for the 2016 special edition.  Yes, they do that this far ahead!  I've made a design but need to lay Belfast aside till I can stitch the ornament and get it off to the magazine soon.

Orphaned fawn known as 'Baby'

One lovely 'gift' we had this season was an orphaned fawn that has got to be the cutest fawn we've ever seen.  We've named her 'Baby' and though she trails along behind the herd that makes Gracewood their home, she is most often found on her own up under the trees by our bird feeding station.  She comes right up to the back porch and blinks those big eyes at us and waits for the inevitable apple or pear, or her favorite celery or carrot.

Hoping your January was a good one!