We are enjoying this very cold winter by doing things that people all over the word do during real winters like ice skate! Ben took the girls out on the pond today and I even took a spin. Looks like those skates my mother held onto for years in California are finally being put to use. I bought a new boning knife this past week as we are gearing up for the pig slaughtering. Lots of blood and guts but lucky for me no problems there. ( I just can't take needles. . . shudder)
The girls and I have been spending lots of time reading books and Angelica is really into dinosaurs. I even found a website that makes wooden ones that are so sweet. They are made by a company called Holtziger and the girls each got one in their stocking this past Christmas. Latley they have been living in the castle sent by their grandparents.
Two winter experiments so far have been sucsessful. One is wintering my geraniums indoors. They are not growing huge but they haven't died yet and one even has a blossom. I may not be Carl Larsson's wife but window geraniums is something I have always dreamed of.
Second I have been seeing how long I can go without a dryer. I have been drying clothes by the line on and off since Angelica was in diapers but living over in Italy made me a diehard fan. Now that Julia is going on the potty and I am not washing diapers it isn't that big of a deal. Check out Project Laundryline at www.laundrylist.org for diehard activism regarding your line. For me it is more all about the art. A well hung washline in the bright sunshine is a sight to behold. Of course drying in the winter is a bit more of a pain but we have made it this far into the winter. I did finally give up and put in an indoor launrdy line. It is too cold for me to go outside and the stuff dries faster inside now anyway. I do fall asleep dreaming of woodstoves every night because laundry dries even faster by the woodstove.
