Monday before Christmas

On this day, I wanted to finalize my final grocery shopping list. Gettin' there!
I needed to go to the post office.
I finally began the task of making tortelli in the style of Parma.
And I played with Snowdrop!

You'll see me in more of the photos and I apologize for that, but Ed took the camera away from me more than once and as a result, I'm ever present.

Including at breakfast.






Outside, we're experiencing those mild days that had been in the forecast, with not a small amount of fog. These are the fields to the east and north of the farmette:






But that's okay! My job is to stay indoors most of the day and the weather outside is only of slight interest.

I do start in on the pasta dough.






As I had predicted, the elasticity doesn't come out absolutely perfect this first time around. Ricarda eyeballed ingredients and by the time I felt her perfectly plump ball of dough, she'd made not a small amount of adjustments to the original recipe.

Still, I'm determined to stay away from books and go by what we did together in that kitchen in Parma. I persevere.






And then Snowdrop is here and I put aside my kitchen work and watch her get reacquainted with everything and everyone. Starting, of course with Penguin. It's not easy to move around with him in hand, but she wont let go!






Add to it books about penguins and the girl is happy.






I'm clueless as to why this particular animal is her favorite. She has one at home and she has another at the farmhouse and my best guess is that the softness of the fur draws her to it. But honestly, there's lots of other soft stuff in her environment and she likes it, yes she does, and yet penguin is never far from her side.


Our own Christmas tree went up yesterday: meaning we moved the Norfolk Pine from the front room to the living room, strung some lights on it and put up three ornaments. You'll always see this one in my Christmas posts:





I started using the Norfolk for Christmas some half dozen years ago when the official family Christmas was moved to a daughter's house. The quaint thing about our plant is that it has grown and especially out rather than up. It is now no longer just a Christmas tree, it is a Christmas forest and Snowdrop seems slightly taken aback by the whole thing. Still, we all do love the color it brings to this month, especially on a day like this gray one.

Snowdrop continues to favor her familiar books -- here she is, explaining to Ed that this book is about an "at" -- her word for all feline creatures.






She moves around now freely and mostly in an upright fashion. (Here, she has that "what next?" contemplative pose)...






...but when the world seems suddenly complicated, she wont hesitate to raise her hands, asking to be put in that comfortable position in grandma's arms.






Then, back down she goes -- to study intently the peculiarities of life...






(At her own home now, mastering the Russian nesting dolls.)






See, grandma?






Evening comes. So quickly! But here's the good part -- tomorrow, the days start getting longer.





I return to my pasta making. Ricarda would be proud. I hope.