The Day that Got Away

Good morning, my friends. It's snowing lightly outside. We've had several days of snow over the past couple of weeks, but almost no accumulation. I think that might be coming to an end. There's a "winter weather advisory" for our area, and I have an idea the snow will stick this time. Fine with me. I have plenty of food and nowhere to go. Sounds like a sewing day.

Aside from slow stitching, there was no sewing yesterday. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I needed to make a run into town for some mushrooms. It was the first sunny day in at least a week, and the mountains were crystal clear off in the distance. That's Mt. Rainier on the left and Mt. St. Helens on the right. 

As long as I was making a run into town, it seemed like a good day to walk the main street of Newberg while I was there. Mike went with me, and so it was a nice little outing. I like our downtown area with its historic buildings. I might have done more snooping in some of the stores, but...see "Mike went with me" above. How is it that men are able to resist those shop windows?

I'm going to show you some of what we saw, but first, let's get the rules straight. 

There is absolutely no having fun while walking the streets of Newberg. Got it? So, take off those roller blades, put away those skateboards and bicycles, straighten up, and fly right.  What were you thinking anyway?  And no gum-chewing either!

The first old building we saw was our Newberg post office. 

I like our post office. It's a historic building, built in 1935. Below is a picture of its cornerstone. It was built when Henry Morgenthau, Jr., was Secretary of the Treasury, and James A. Farley was Postmaster General.

Walking on, I spotted this cat on a sandwich board outside a tattoo parlor. The tattoo parlor used to be called "Bad Kitty." Now it's called "Gilded Heart." One wonders about the name change when the sign outside still displays the same image. I can't say I've ever visited the tattoo parlor.

We passed by our City Hall building. I imagine this building is designated as "historic" as well, but I couldn't find any information about it. Also, you can see the main street Christmas decorations on the left side of the image below.

This area, known as "Francis Square," is a kind of community gathering place. Often, I see folks posing for pictures against those peeling brick walls. It's a nice background for certain photography, such as wedding and engagement announcements.

At the extreme left of the image above was this blooming shrub. 

There isn't much blooming this time of year, but walking on, we found these:

The walk to and from the grocery store was about 1-1/2 miles. When we returned to the grocery store parking lot, we picked up our groceries and this pretty poinsettia. I haven't seen a lot of poinsettias for sale so far, which is kind of surprising.

Arriving home, I found my new light therapy box waiting at the door. I had one of these some time ago. Winter is dark here, and many people are bothered by seasonal affective disorder. I used my old lightbox every winter, but when Mike retired, we started going south for the winter. When I stopped using it, I gave it away. We're staying home this winter, and I've already noticed I'm having trouble falling asleep at night. I decided to look into getting another one. Happily, the price has come down significantly. Also, they're much smaller than the one I had before. So, as I'm writing this post this morning, I'm sitting in front of my new light therapy box.

When folks first started talking about light therapy some years back, I was skeptical. Then, a psychiatrist friend of mine showed me some good science coming out of the University of Washington in Seattle. I was convinced. As for the sleep issue, the article stated that for people affected by darkness, it was like being jet-lagged all the time during winter. I was convinced after reading the article, and personal experience has convinced me that it is effective for the sleep issue. If something like this interests you, look for one that emits at least 10,000 LUX of brightness and is also UV-free.

When I turned around just now, I spotted Sadie sleeping on this huge dog bed we purchased years ago. The kitties have never liked it much, and maybe have never used it. I suppose its being a bed designated for stupid woofies probably turned them off. 

Nevertheless, in our cleaning out and donating of unused items, I decided to give this dog bed one more try by putting it behind the quilting machine in my office. I'm hopeful the kitties will be inspired to lie there while I'm quilting, rather than jumping up on the quilt as I'm trying to do free motion. Cats on my quilt slow my free motion progress pretty quickly.

When we got home from our walk yesterday, I went straight to work making turkey pot pies, and that was when the day got away from me. My recipe for pot pies makes enough for four meals, and so it's worth the effort I put into it. It's been a while since I made it last time, and I'd forgotten what a production it is. It took up most of the rest of the afternoon, and I was tired by the time I was finished. That was last night's dinner, but meals for three more nights are now safely stashed in our freezer for future use. I like having plenty of heat-and-eat options when the weather is iffy.

Today I'll get back to sewing. I left the quilt here having just started quilting the inner border. 

I'd like to finish the quilting on this today, and I'll get back to my challenge quilt too. It's a good day for staying inside where it's warm and dry.