The temperature got up to 60° today, so Charlie and I went outside and hung our Christmas lights. Charlie wasn't a whole lot of help, especially since it was around lunch time. Every year I struggle with how to put the lights up, mostly because of the opening between the railings going down the stairs. Last year I just ran the lights across the gap, but every time I wanted to go into the back yard, I had to duck under the wires - a little dangerous when there's 6" of snow on the steps. This time, I came up with the bright idea of running the lights under the steps. It worked brilliantly, plus it will add a little color to the porch underneath.
This has been a busy week. I took a Holiday Porch Pot class at the garden center. We started out with these tall pots full of potting soil and a huge bunch of evergreens. We had to stick them down into the soil in different ways to make the pot look really full (there was an instructor demonstrating how to do it). Then we got to "go shopping" for bows, berries, twigs, pinecones, etc to embellish our pots.
Charlie had his last class in Pack Walking. Truthfully, I think he flunked the class. He's just too social, always wanting to play or jump up on the other dogs and their owners. But at least he isn't afraid of big dogs anymore. That big black dog in the background had the personality of a giant teddy bear, but he weighed over 100 pounds.
Courtney and I did some online painting. We were trying to practice painting shop windows - trickier than you think to paint food behind glass. Courtney isn't coming home for Thanksgiving this year. Instead, she and her college roommate are going to Denmark and having their Thanksgiving dinner in a medieval castle. It's probably a good time to travel overseas, because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Europe (fewer tourists).
Our clubhouse sponsored a Fashion Show and English Tea. It really was very nice with tiny tea sandwiches, macaroons, and scones with lemon curd. The only strange thing was that they didn't serve any tea. Instead, they gave us some kind of sparkling wine (that's it in the pink glasses). The clothes were very nice, but mostly all I wear these days are bike shirts and sweats.
I'm taking an online class in Fabric Books. That's actually my November topic for Something Old, Something New. The lessons are spread out over 30 days, so it's kind of fun to get up every morning and watch that day's video. So far all we've been doing is making the pages for our books by painting, staining, stamping, stenciling, and embroidering on muslin squares. The teacher is a bit more ambitious than I am, because she makes her own dyes by boiling pinecones and putting rusty nails in vinegar. I've just been watering down some acrylic paint - much easier.
We had a Social Committee meeting this week - our last one before the Holly Jolly Jamboree. That's where Santa and Mrs Claus ride around the neighborhood in a horse and carriage collecting letters to Santa from all the kids. It's mostly a giant photo op for all the parents - probably easier than standing in line at the mall, though nowadays I hear you have to make a reservation if you want to get your picture taken with a mall Santa.
The deer have been using our front yard like a salad bar, which is weird because the yards on our side of the street are still covered in snow (you can see how there's hardly any snow on the other side of the street). Maybe the snow makes the vegetation taste fresher, though the deer will be in for a shock in our yard, because there's mostly rock and dead perennials underneath our snow.
And no week would be complete without a bike ride, even if it's a short one. Luckily the snow has melted off all the trails.
