Vacation Wrap-up

I saw this Asian lady beetle crawling on a cup and figured I would take advantage of the situation and see how good a video I could make on my phone. Then I made these GIFs. I want to get up much tighter for bug videos. I have to practice my skills for summer. I enjoy watching those little legs with their flat feet pumping along.

I've been reading, but not enough. TV has gotten in my way. What a bad habit! But the kids and I had a couple of watch parties with movies and a baking show. And we cooked and baked, too. 

Shells and sauce with sweet Italian sausage

I made a lot of bread, but only simple sandwich loaves.

Amy and I made apricot bars:
I did the puree and Amy did the shortbread crust.

And of course, it snowed. It snowed for 8 out of 10 days. But if you count light snow showers, it snowed 10 out of 10 days. I have not left the house once. Amy did, though, and often.

Amy's house after shoveling the roof.

Dori keeps an eye on the village sidewalk plow.

Dori watches over all activity on her road.

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I did my taxes and re-organized and re-created my iTunes library on Apple Music. Lucy has been happy I'm home. But the cats? Just trouble with the plants, their food, their toys, their nonsense. That's just how cats are.

Happy Poppy says "Oh, hai!"

Basically, it was a boring week. I think I needed that—time to catch my breath. 

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Oh, Poppy!

Today's drive to school behind the plow on my road.

I'm not going to spend much time on the weather. It's a bore at this point and only going to get worse. But next week is vacation week! And in Vermont, we get extra days because of Town Meeting Day on the first Tuesday of March. Ten calendar days free! But I have earned it. It has been very difficult since the holidays. I've had two bad colds, my car almost fell apart. Literally. But the men at school drove it carefully to be fixed in town. For $1,200, I think you can get anything fixed; and fixed well. Wheel bearing, brakes, and stabilization bar all broke at once. Every single engine light went off within two miles of school. But all of that is over. Spring may come. The crows are showing up sporadically from the village where they spend the winter. I heard either sparrows or swallows yesterday. Because of the many problems I have had, I have not been too chipper. But I'm digging out of the hole and coming back slowly. 👌

This post is about Poppy. Oh, Poppy. She is a character. And that character is blooming. She is spending as much time with me as possible getting scratches. She sleeps on the left side at night (Nelly and Lucy have always been my right side). I have two hands busy scratching necks as we all fall asleep every night. 

But wait! She gets cuter!

There are downsides, though. She seems to enjoy sleeping on my wireless charger, as you can see. Will it affect the charger? We shall see.

She has learned that she can drag out towels and construct nest-type beds out of them on the floor.

We know how she loves to knock over plants. She also loves to eat my once-luxurious clover plants that are no longer luxurious. 

She also loves to bring her cellar-dirtied feet to the bathroom sink. And if I have left water in a cup, she can play in it and decorate the entire bathroom.

I love that kitty. She has been a great match. Have I told you how she is a silent purr-er? You can never hear her purr unless you put your ear to her chest. Well, I did hear the purr once. But just the once. But now I know she does purr. Before I thought she never did. Now I know she purrs more than most cats I have known. She is very quiet and unassuming cat. She is quite the character.

💕

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Annual Holiday Portraits

Poppy
Woken from her nap.

See here to learn why her name was changed.

Nelly
At the breakfast table.

Lucy
Happy all the time.

I am exhausted after corralling them and editing the photos for the holidays. I have no decorations in the house so after I cropped, I took the images to remove.bg, the best background remover I've seen. It is used by entomologists for their insect photos. They also have backgrounds that I like, both photos and colors with a custom color selector. Christmas is still very difficult for me. I made more bread and I'm glad it's almost over.

Sunday Selfies at
The Cat on My Head

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Poppy's iPhone Video

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💗💗

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