June 9, 2014


                                             The Top Ten Things I Miss About Winter

                               





                                                       I'll bet no one ever expected this.
 

10. Sitting by the fire.


9. The first snowfall. All soft, white and sparkling.


8. The  bright red cardinals at my feeder with the fairyland white snowy background.


7. Curling up under a blanket and watching a movie in the afternoon.


6. Using the cold, freezing temperatures as an excuse to stay home.


5. Baking cookies.


4. Cooking hearty, long simmering dishes.


3. Starting cocktail hour at 2PM when you're snowed in.


2.  Reading a book in the middle of the day.


1. Wearing pajamas at 4PM because its dark out already.

San Diego, Anyone?

February 5, 2014




This past weekend was a treat. Not so sunny, but warm and dry. By warm I mean 40's instead of teens. I wore my fleece jacket instead of the long down coat. No gloves or scarf. Just when I gave up the idea of leaving the house to Josh and trying to talk Hilary into moving to San Diego the nicer weather arrived. But not for long.



Snow on Monday, but just a little. It actually looked beautiful on my way to work. That soft heavy snow that clings to the trees and makes the whole scene look like a movie set. Quiet and serene. The perfect New England picture. (Also causes power outages but we won't mention that) This morning was different. So much snow out there when I woke up made me glad I did not have to work. Then sleet and freezing rain. Perfect trifecta of bad weather. I went outside to shovel near the garage door where the plow left a pile of snow. Just in case it gets frozen later. When I was done I was wet and cold. Love that!



So I will dream of the summer and my flip flops. Maybe I will look at jobs in San Diego or Santa Monica. I wonder if there are any nursing jobs in Turks and Caicos.





My cute little birds in the back yard.

The scene in my front yard this morning.

Ahhh, my happy place. Maybe I'll make a rum punch this afternoon.

Summertime Sadness

January 27, 2014




Let me just say that I missed the ENTIRE Grammy Awards last night because I got called into work. Just as I was putting up my feet at 8PM the call came. I did get to see Beyonce and JayZ putting on a performance that would have been best performed in their bedroom, but I missed Pink, Katy Perry and Madonna. I did see a small portion of it on the very tiny TV in the PACU lounge but not on my HDTV with surround sound! So I don't know if Lana Del Rey won any awards for her song, Summertime Sadness. But what I do know is that I have severe summertime sadness.



I'm tired of hearing about the polar vortex, arctic air mass, snow or black ice. I'm also tired of hearing about the projected weather forecast for the Super Bowl. They picked an outdoor stadium on the east coast. It snows here and gets cold in the winter. Didn't anyone think of that? As a born and bred New Englander I am used to the bleak frozen winter months between January and March. Months where the only thing I can think of to do is dress warmly, throw a log on the fire and cook comfort food. Months where even going out to dinner or a movie is predicated on how close I can park my car to a warm area.



Where are you, summer? I'm waiting patiently for you. Although I can't imagine not having a winter season, (are there really people who haven't experience snow and ice?!!) I am a summer girl. So I'll just have to wait for the first signs of spring....tulips and daffodils, robins and longer days. In the meantime I'll keep the fire going and the heat turned up.


                                                         "Summertime Sadness"

Kiss me hard before you go
Summertime sadness
I just wanted you to know
That, baby, you're the best

I got my red dress on tonight
Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
Done my hair up real big beauty queen style
High heels off, I'm feeling alive

Oh, my God, I feel it in the air
Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare
Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere
Nothing scares me anymore

Winter Sports?

January 8, 2013



I recently spent a  few days in Vermont. I went snow shoeing (under duress.) It was fun but I don't really have to ever do it again. Many years ago I went to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont where I went cross country skiing. I remember skiing up a hillside to what was billed as a restaurant. It took us most of the morning and when we got there it was a cabin in the woods that sold hummus sandwiches and sprouts. The kids were young and I recall using an outhouse in the freezing cold. You really haven't lived until you remove your garments outdoors in sub zero temperatures. On the way down I had to remove my skis because I was too scared to keep them on. I went a few more times after that, but I never really enjoyed being out in the cold.


On this trip I remembered all the reasons why I never "took" to skiing. The equipment ( boots, skis, head gear, googles), the clothes ( hats, gloves, scarves, neck warmers, ski pants and jackets), the logistics (being bussed from your car or hotel to the mountain) and the expense ( lift tickets, rentals, hotels.) After an ill fated attempt at having a drink at a near by lodge was thwarted by masses of people crowded in to the lounge I was grateful it was never a sport anyone in my life was interested in doing.


Now the sun and the sand and the ocean...that's another story altogether. I could spend a lifetime there. I thought I was going to become a California girl all those years ago when I went out there to work. Maybe there is still time. One thing I know for sure Vermont is not on my list of second homes!

Sundays in Winter

December 9, 2013



This is how I know that winter is truly here. Part of me wanted to call a friend and go to a movie but the other, the it's too cold out part, wanted to stay home and cook and get the house in some sort of order. Needless to say that part won.


I fed the birdies and the squirrels and vacuumed.  I made a chocolate bread from a recipe I found on the internet. I had zucchini in the fridge so I decided to make a frittata. Then I made dough for anginettes and finally tomato basil soup. As I said to Hilary this summer, "I don't really like to cook in the summer." She responded, "Don't worry, you haven't been." I wondered where that sarcasm came from and then I remembered. Oh yes, she is my daughter!


I think I've more than made up for my lack of summertime cuisine. I love to go out when it's warm. But when the days start to get shorter and it is FREEZING out there is nothing like some comfort food and a fire. Christmas carols playing on Pandora, my "Christmas at the Beach" candle burning, the twinkling of the Christmas lights on my mantle and the greenery outside. OMG Margo, am I getting sentimental????


I'm not sure there will be many more weekends to have a marathon day like today at home. The season is busy with long weekends away, cookie swaps and happy hours. But this became I day I thoroughly enjoyed.

 So much for cleaning as you go.

My reward after a long day. The newspaper, a fire and then my new show "Orange is the New Black"

Frost Advisory

October 25, 2013



Summer is really over. I am still wearing my flip flops but my feet are freezing. I finally turned on the heat and took my plants in from the porch. I'm going to have to bring the shovel into the garage because last year I couldn't get to it in the shed with all the snow. I used the small car shovel to try to make a path outside for days while we were snowed in. I still have lots of ice melt for the driveway but maybe I should check to see if its still useable.


The leaves are falling like crazy. I love walking down the driveway and feeling them crunch beneath my feet. Remembering when I used to rake them into piles for the kids to jump into. Although maybe I'm not remembering that exactly like it happened. I raked them into piles to pick up and they would jump into them and mess them up again. What was I doing raking anyway? Now I have someone pick them up and cart them away. And the acorns are all over the driveway. Does that mean a brutal winter? I thought I heard that once. I can't imagine it being worse than last year.


Yesterday I lit the first fire of the season. We ate in the family room in front of it. Okay so it was the "fake" logs but they are perfect. I can light one when I come home from work and it is out by bedtime. Not mess with he kindling and dragging logs into the house. I can go upstairs to sleep and not worry about embers setting the house on fire. Some concessions have to be made and that is one of them. I'm good with that.


So another summer down. Holidays are right around the corner. I seem to be in a better place. Hope I don't have a crying attack in Target like I did last year when I got to the Christmas display. But if I do I know I have a lot of people to talk me through it.

Happy Spring?

March 20, 2013



The calendar says its the first day of spring but the cold and snow outside tells a different story. I was just able to see my grass and the upcoming daffodils when it snowed again. Come on Margo, even YOU have to be tired of it by now.


Looking forward to daffodils and tulips, robins and open windows. Winter be gone!!! This is the time of year I dream about moving to a warmer climate. Not down south but west. Southern California or Arizona. What am I doing here? But the grass is always greener. Maybe I would actually miss the four seasons. Each with their own special attributes. The fireplace on a cold night, the rainy springs, the first real beach day and the crunch of leaves under foot. Maybe the anticipation is part of being a New Englander.

Hats,Scarves, Gloves

February 25, 2013



I'm sick of winter clothes! Sweaters, long pants, boots and long sleeve tops. But I'm really starting to hate the two long down coats one of which I wear everyday. The same ones I was so glad to have at the beginning of the winter because they are so warm. I can't stand looking at them or wearing them anymore. When will it end? I know, I know. I spent two weeks in a warm climate but after being snowed in for 4 days and the bitter cold that followed it seems like ages ago that I was laying by the pool.


I just want to be warm. I want to wear capris and sandals. I want to turn off the heat and open the windows. I'm even tired of the fireplace. I want to sit on my porch and eat dinner out there. I want to go to the beach. When I go to a restaurant I want them to ask, "Would you like to sit outside?"


It threatened to snow all weekend. I was on call this weekend so I paid particular attention to the weather. Although it didn't snow I worried about being unable to get to work. Or just being stressed by the thought of driving in unsafe conditions. And the cold!! There is nothing like getting called from your comfortable,warm bed in the middle of the night and going out in the cold, dark night. If George Clooney were waiting for me that would be a different story but most people cannot even begin to imagine what I am likely to encounter. And yes, George wouldn't even have to pick me up, buy me dinner or be conversant. I will lower my standards for a rendezvous with him. Of course if given a choice I would prefer to be at the Lake Como house but who am I to complain?


And as it happened I did get called to work. Not in the middle of the night, although 7PM COULD be considered the middle of the night for me sometimes! Yes, I wore the down coat BUT I got to see George on TV while waiting for my patient to come out of surgery. And you know what? Although he is looking older he is still a gorgeous man. But still, when will it get warm?

There's Frost on Your Pumpkins

October 15, 2012



Margo, if we hadn't gone away last week I would never have remembered that line. And it is priceless!

We had the first frost this past Friday. I had to go to work Saturday morning and it was SOOOO cold. I wanted gloves but didn't have time to look for them. I used the seat warmers in my car. I finally turned the heat on in the house this week but wasn't happy about it. I will really miss the summer. I have so much more energy. Now it will get dark early. Some days I feel like I leave for work in the dark and come home in the dark. (Sunset last night at 6:10 PM. )  Then I really feel like hunkering down under the covers.

But this winter I am going to try not to succumb to that outlook. I don't think it will be good for my mood. I am going to try to FORCE myself to go out in spite of the cold, dark nights. Or maybe, I can have people here in my warm cozy house. Then I don't have to worry about going out!

But I am still hoping for a few days of Indian Summer. I haven't put away all my sandals or taken my sweaters out of storage. There may still be some balmy days ahead.