Solstice Cookie Day!

We once again geared up and made the big batch of Great-Grandmother Annie McTavish's date-filled oatmeal cookies... well, Melissa actually did most of the work.

We actually had to put a piece of plywood on the bed for the cooling. Maybe next year we'll have a table.





















I did most of the quality checking... Scout tried as well.

Hail Hail, on the Yurt!

wow, we thought rain made a lot of noise on the yurt roof.

This is the hail piling up on the deck. Not a great photo, but you can see a leaf on the side of the picture, for comparison.

Getting ready for the holidays


Now that the rains are coming more often, and we're spending more time indoors; well, getting in earlier now that it gets dark so soon, we've managed to put up a handful of evergreen cuttings with a nice ribbon and some red berries from the Andres' pepper tree. We've got them up around the yurt, and they look pretty festive. Here's the one closest to where we're hanging the holiday cards we receive.



you can also see the Central American (?) native cloth hanging that we have up, which we took from my father's art studio when we were packing up the house. I can remember that mask thing being up in his studio from when I was just a little kid. We still have all his paintings we had in SF packed up at Melissa's parents house... as well as the dozens stored in WI.

man, that's going to be a trip to go get all that stuff... after the 'real' house is built.