Early Morning

There was no particular reason for this, but I awakened at 3:30 a.m. Weirdly, I was tracing quilt designs with my finger, and in my mind. It kept me from getting back to sleep. At 4:30 a.m., I decided to get up. I did my usual online check-ins, and then got to work stitching on the latest Hocuspocusville block. Stitching away, I filled in most of the hoop and then moved it to the next position before quitting for the morning.

Morgana's Apothecary is well under way.

We're having dinner with a friend this evening, and I'm contributing dessert. I started on this yesterday, making the cranberry topping and the mascarpone filling. This morning, I made a chocolate cookie crust and then filled in the rest. It's chilling in the fridge right now. The recipe is right here, if you're interested.

While I was waiting for the crust to cool, I made a pan of fudge too. Half of this will go with us tonight. When it comes to Christmas candy, everyone is required to eat their fair share. This is the Classic Fantasy Fudge, just like my mom used to make.

So you can see that a lot has been accomplished already this morning. When you get up at 4:30, it isn't hard to get a lot done. Now, I'm ready for a morning nap.

Yesterday morning, Sue and I walked out by my place. Our usual Fanno Creek haunt is flooded from all the rain. We're still expecting another big storm on Monday. Here's the picture I took of this area a couple of weeks ago:

Here it is yesterday. There was water extending out across the road where we walked, but not so deep we couldn't cross over.

This afternoon, we're going to see a display of 400 nativity sets being shown this weekend at one of our local churches. (You can read about it right here.) I'm a fan of nativity sets. My grandmother made a beautiful ceramic set for me. She made it in parts and gave me more pieces each Christmas until I had the whole set. She started with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in 1965...so a full 50 years ago. It isn't set up this year. I worry with the naughty cat we have living with us right now. Maybe when he mellows a little, I can set it up again. I wrote a blog post about it last time I set it up. You can see some pictures right here. 

All of that to say that if I can take pictures at the nativity display, I will, and I'll have some to show you tomorrow. For today, I'm going to lie down and see if I can get some more sleep before it's time to take off again.