Tag Archives: Winter

November 11, 2025 · 10:03 pm

A Bit Nostalgic – 2 and 1

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Stephen Powers – @stephenpowersphoto.bsky.social

These photos of fall and winter make me a bit sad because I realize that I will never enjoy these sights in person again here in Thailand.

(1) Spring and Fall were my favorite seasons. I loved planting flowers and veggies every year in the spring. Fall in Arkansas wasn’t like the absolutely glorious images in Maine or surroundings, but I enjoyed the color we had, always trying to preserve leaves to use in art projects, my heart bursting from all the beautiful colors!

(2) Arkansas doesn’t ‘do’ winter well. We tended to have ice and then some snow. My favorite snows were ones with huge pretty flakes – that made you feel you were living in a snow globe someone had just shaken – that covered everything in fantasy, and then the sun came out and took it all away before I had to drive in it. We had a 650+ foot STEEP driveway on our 8 acres. Each year, no matter what we did, the trees on either side of our driveway would fall INTO the driveway, requiring us to use chainsaws to cut and haul our way down to the road. We had definitely gotten too old for this, but couldn’t afford (or find) someone to come do it for us.

In Thailand, depending on who you ask, we either have 3 or 4 summers that make up our year. We just finished “The Rainy Season” – June through October where it’s hot and rains almost every day, with huge hard rains and then remnants of typhoons coming our way from Vietnam – all of which caused my windows to leak.

“The Cool Season,” – from November until mid-February – it’s mid 80s for highs, 50 for a low, lots of sunshine and little rain. (Hooray!) “The Hot Season” is from March through May. Temperatures are above 95 degrees with scorching sunshine requiring umbrellas. Brian also adds “The Smoky Season” as a separate season, where it’s still really hot and farmers are burning off the residue in their fields making air purifiers mandatory. (Officially, this season is lumped in with “The Hot Season” for everyone except Brian).

No “Spring,” “Fall,” or “Winter” anymore. That makes me nostalgic.

What I’ve given up in seasons, though, I have more than gained in the delight of a new life here in Chiang Mai. I’m looking forward to buying some new clothes when I finally hit my weight goal (I’m about 9 pounds away now). I’m going to study up on the best clothes for a “mature woman” – who looks a bit like a Shar Pei now –

should wear in the year of summers I will learn to embrace now. My place is comfortable with lots of windows (some openable), a/c, fans, shades, air purifiers, and lots of water to drink. I carry an umbrella (for rain still now, but also for sun shade especially in the “Hot Season.”

I titled this post “A Bit Nostalgic – 2 and 1” because I’m nostalgic about the loss of fall and winter, but I just received something ELSE to remind me how very lucky I am to be here. My son just went to donate some clothes and texted me to unlock my door. He fought it open to bring me a doughnut! The first I have had in over 3 years. It was absolutely wonderful, but the best part was that he thought of me while doing other chores and brought me something he thought might ‘make me happy.’

Color me one happy, lucky mom.

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January 13, 2025 · 1:18 pm

Steamed

Vine Pair

As much as I love my husband, from time to time I have to threaten him with calling our tractor guy on speed dial to ask him to dig a huge hole I can throw my husband in.

Today is a prime example. I’ve told you that we are snowed in. The schools are open, though there is limited bus service. Our long steep driveway on the north side of our property still looks like a ski slope.

All of a sudden this morning my husband put on his jacket and announced he was taking a walk. He refused to wear a hat, though it was on the shelf right above his jacket. He had on tennis shoes and we still have about 8 inches of snow on the ground. Out he went.

I went to check on him 5 minutes later and the truck was gone out of the garage! He had driven down to get the cable that was delivered to the bottom of the driveway yesterday.

I was gathering trash, telling him that we should leave it in the garage to put down for pickup next week. He refused that, too, saying we should go ahead and drive it down. He wouldn’t wait for me to get boots and a hat. I had regular shoes on, too. He was out in the garage.

We made it almost down to the road. He stopped for me to get out and drag the trash can down to the road. I inched my way down, the snow falling into my shoes immediately. I almost went down a couple of times, but finally turned the can on its side so I could inch it down using my grip on the can for balance. I made it to the road, we filled it up, got our mail and drove carefully down the street to turn around. We made it back up the driveway, but it was really scary a couple of times.

When we had both calmed down a bit, he admitted that he shouldn’t have driven down the driveway today. Once a hard-headed Marine, always one, no matter what the cost… GRRRRR!

I’m seriously considering having the hole in the back dug…

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January 10, 2025 · 9:02 am

Friday 1-10-2025

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Writing to you on my blog is one of my greatest joys. If I’m not writing a post to you, much of the day I’m trying to find wonderful things to share. I love the communication, the feedback, and the friends I make through doing this. Thank you very much for reading my posts, telling me you like things (or wish I would stop doing others) and staying with me. You are truly one of my blessings.

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We are well and truly snowed in now. It started around 11a.m. yesterday and is still snowing. This picture is of our deck, which is covered with a roof. We have about 6 inches on the ground now with more due before it stops. Adding insult to injury, the temps aren’t going to help much, merely making some liquid on top that will melt a bit, then refreeze over the coming days.

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Of COURSE my husband got an email yesterday, just after the snow started, saying part of the computer equipment he had ordered had been ‘delivered,’ (meaning left at the bottom of the driveway) and he INSISTED we go down and get it. We managed to get one large heavy box and two smaller ones into the back of the truck and were able to get back up the driveway to our house, but it was a close thing. I think if we had tried it a half hour later, we wouldn’t have been able to get back up. We agreed (I THINK) that we won’t go down the driveway for anything else until things are much safer. (I didn’t have to remind him that his insistence last year before it was ‘safe’ resulted in his broken collarbone and 10 weeks of recovery.)

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I did a first session of cleaning out my closet yesterday. I lasted a reasonable amount of time – for me, with my lack of patience for trying on clothes – and made some progress, bringing down a pretty large stack of things to be included in our next donation to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith. I’ll do another session today.

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WikiHow

In my work in my closet, I found another tee that had a stain that didn’t come out in the laundry, so I’m painting it. I’ll share the results when it’s finished. It’s funny how my sad behavior of spilling food on plain tees results in fun painting sessions. :0)

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I hope that you’re well this morning and that your day is filled with light and laughter.

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January 21, 2024 · 4:03 pm

Oops!

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Well, it got above freezing. We drove the trash down to the place in the driveway where we have the trash can. I got out and started to roll the trash can down. I immediately started slipping badly. My husband drove on down to get the mail, then stopped to get out to help me, when he saw I was having trouble.

I waited, but he didn’t come. I kept creeping down, inches at a time with the trash can. I finally got down to the street and left the trash can. He had fallen and was trying to get into the truck. He made it back inside the truck just as I made my way over. His left foot had gone out from under him and he fell backwards, hitting his shoulder. He almost couldn’t get into the truck. He insisted he could drive, so we drove down to the church, turned around with lots of pain for his left shoulder, then made it back up the driveway and to the house.

I had him take some aspirin and got him settled in his chair with the heating pad wrapped all around it. I got him a drink. He’s watching TV and I just checked on him. He was holding the heat pad close to his shoulder. He says it feels a bit better.

We should have driven all the way down to the road, then he could have gotten the mail while I tried to walk up for the trash can. Shoulda – woulda – coulda. Now we’re supposed to get an ice storm starting tonight-into-tomorrow. We’ll just stay up here until further notice – until we can get wherever we need to go without getting out of the truck on ice, assuming we can get down the driveway in the first place.

Did I tell you I’m ready for spring?

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January 18, 2024 · 9:55 am

Thawing a Bit

Montana Roots – @MontanaRoots on X – GEC-YtoakAAMPNl

We’re finally getting a bit of thawing! The schools are still closed, showing our roads are still bad, but we have another good day where we’re above freezing before we have another round of colder tonight and more snow on Monday.

Paul Willson – “Winter Oaks” – @PaulWillson on X

My husband actually drove down the driveway yesterday to get our mail. He said our Blizzaks (snow tires) worked well. I will wait until the driveway looks a bit less like a ski slope and the schools are open before I try it.

Tim Scanlan – “On a Cold and Frosty Morning” – @TScanlanPhoto on X

I pride myself on always showing up – usually a bit early – for appointments. Suffice to say I HATE not being able to get to ones I’ve scheduled because of the weather. I really don’t like to disrupt other people’s schedules because I can’t get down my own driveway – and up again. The fact that the local schools are still closed this time helps a bit.

Paul Willson – “Winters Wonderland” – @PaulWillson on X

I’m ready for spring.

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January 12, 2024 · 10:46 am

Ooooh!

Down East Magazine

We’re having what is considered by many (myself included) to be ‘uncivilized’ weather here in Arkansas today – and until further notice.

It’s 24 degrees F. right now. I don’t know what the low was this morning, and it MAY get above freezing today. In fact, we’re supposed to get snow Sunday and Monday, with lows down to -2 one day next week, and only breaking above freezing for highs starting Wednesday or so.

We’re snowed in right now. I had to call my friends and tell them we weren’t coming to Lunch Bunch. Thankfully, we were all in agreement about the insanity of risking falling on our heads. Hopefully, we can meet NEXT Friday. David, the owner of The Pizza Barn where we meet, opens early just for my friend Kay. I called him to let him know we wouldn’t meet today. He said he was glad we weren’t going to risk it.

We’ll stay home in our cozy home, dripping water nightly in the hope that our pipes don’t freeze, and wait this out. I’m more than ready for spring.

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January 2, 2024 · 11:08 am

Snow People Community 14

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December 29, 2023 · 10:00 am

Snow People Community 13

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December 26, 2023 · 11:17 am

Snow People Community 12

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December 22, 2023 · 10:08 am

Snow People Community 11

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January 30, 2023 · 5:03 pm

Fleezing Dizzle

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It’s not this bad yet, but we have teeny, tiny sleet pellets falling now. The temperature is 22 degrees F., and the “feels like” temperature is 12. Mostly, it LOOKS like just a really cold rain right now, but the pest control guy just called me to ask how it was here. I suggested he go home and be safe, rather than try to come to us until all this is past and we thaw out again.

We still have public power, but looking at the weather website, we really won’t get above freezing until Wednesday afternoon, and the STUFF doesn’t quit coming, really until Thursday morning. Should be interesting.

The “fleezing dizzle” title comes from a party my parents were having a hundred years or so ago. My dad had his own one-man advertising agency, and a lot of the people at the party were in the media. A topic of conversation came up where someone started to laugh helplessly as he tried to talk about a weatherman who got his tongue tied, saying “Fleezing Dizzle,” rather than freezing drizzle. Everyone started to laugh, with the exception of one man, who said, “Oh, God. That was ME!”

Meanwhile, we’re warm and cozy inside. I’m making spaghetti for dinner, and my husband wanted some hot chocolate earlier. Full comfort mode.

I’m enjoy book #30 of 55 of the In Death series by J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts, fully into her world of amazing characters in a future world. I love being rich in paperback books – able to snuggle down under my throw, coffee cup beside me on the warmer, escaping to another world, engaged in other concerns. A nice relief.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. On the way back up the driveway this morning, we stopped and I hoisted our ‘flying pig’ into the back of the truck. One of the huge limbs that came down with the last snow storm was the limb from which the sweet pig was flying and he had crashed head first into the driveway. I had forgotten how heavy he is. We took him out to the shop. I plan to refurbish him, since he’s been flying for several years now, and then I’m HOPING to convince my husband that securing him to a boulder at the top of the driveway, wings flying, would look just as good as him flying from a line in a tree….

I hope you are enjoying your day.

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January 30, 2023 · 11:35 am

Adventurous Trip

We got the trash set up for pickup tomorrow. I really had trouble dragging the can down to where we leave it for emptying, due to the really skid-y gravel. I would do better, I think, if I had CLEATS on my shoes. Anyway, I got it down there and we filled it up. We also got the mailbox Snow-Goon decoration up. It was interesting, in that in the time it took to put the Happy New Year decoration in the truck and put the Snow-Goon on the bolts that attach it to the mailbox, the nuts we put on top of the mailbox FROZE to the top of the mailbox! That’s the first time we’ve had THAT happen. We drove carefully down the road where we could turn the truck around to drive back up the driveway. We didn’t have any trouble with that, happily. There is a thin glaze of ice on everything. The schools are closed today. There were 91 ‘closings’ on the weather website today – I don’t ever remember seeing that many before. We may be in for it.

Truegrid Pavers

This gives you an IDEA of what our driveway is like. We don’t have NEAR as much pretty gravel as this picture. We have LOTS more trees. And you have to add at LEAST the length you see here, if not MORE, to get as long as our driveway is, but the steepness here is comparable. We also have branches down all over, particularly on the left side of the driveway. The other side has woods, but it also has a ditch where water goes down to the street. We don’t want that to get clogged, so I drag whatever we cut down to the other side.

Even if the only rain we get is LIGHT, it doesn’t take much accumulation on the power lines to cause an outage. Again, we think our generator, which runs all except for heat and air conditioning, is worth its weight in gold. The extra money we spent on the electrical stuff for it to come on and go off by itself is worth everything not to have to go outside over and over to fight to get it to come on, or to turn it off.

Our cat, Abby, likes to sleep in the garage most nights. We have a big pile of firewood in there and put her sleeping ‘cube’ on a rectangle of wood on a holder that my husband made years ago attached to the wall . She really likes it, and the fact that she has a cat door so she can come and go as she pleases. (She also lets us know if she wants to stay inside, instead. We cater to her wishes.) She jumps up from the garage steps to the firewood holder pile in order to get up to her food, which we put on top of the firewood pile to keep our dog and other critters from getting it, and her bed. This is the only dry wood we have, though, and we used a bunch of it from the far side of the holder with the snow storm we just finished. If we have to make many fires during this ice storm, we’ll have to try to keep her end of the holder intact as much as possible. She’s getting old and can’t jump the way she used to. I can relate.

As I’m typing this, an icon popped up, saying, “Snow coming.” It says the “temp is 31 (feels like 21 – I can confirm THAT). “Scattered rain and snow showers expected. High will be 34”. The graphic of what to expect when shows rain/sleet/snow from 3pm until 9pm. :0(

I love to look at snow. I love snow globes. I even love to build a snowman or make snow angels. But then it’s supposed to go AWAY. NOT cause trees to break or hang down in the driveway, blocking our path. NOT cause power outages. I’m ready for spring and winter has hardly begun. Whine – gripe – moan – and generally be annoying. Sorry.

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January 26, 2023 · 10:01 am

Covered

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I wish our place looked as pretty as this, but we ARE as snow-covered.

We will be this way until further notice, although the melting has started just a bit. There is a good 8 inches on the deck cover, for example.

The public power was restored overnight. We were on the generator all of yesterday, with only a couple of short periods of public power before it would go off again. The poor power guys have been at work steadily now for three days trying to get power back to everyone. We went to bed around 1:30 this morning and still had no power. It was really nice to see we have some this morning.

Our generator has done a fantastic job during the past three days, but it deserves a good long rest now. It is propane powered and it’s really a luxury not to have to worry that we’ll run out of fuel for it right in the middle of a rough patch of weather. We’ve gone through a LOT of firewood, our only source of heat the past three days. When we built the house about 36 years ago, we insisted that we get a real wood-burning fireplace that was efficient, with doors on the front and a blower built in, so that we could use it as a source of heat when needed. It’s gotten a workout, too. It’s really nice to be able to start the day without having to build a fire, though.

Soon my husband will decide to walk around outside, and then he’ll see that we’ll have to chain-saw our way to the bottom of the driveway and the street before we can go anywhere, even after all the snow is gone. We are both to the point where we’re a bit long in the tooth for heavy work, particularly when the weather is really cold or hot. My husband uses the chain saw and I’m the ‘tugger/hauler’ of the stuff he cuts, moving the pieces off to the side of the driveway. A little bit of work like this goes a LONG way.

The problem is that no one can get UP the driveway, either, so we can’t really hire anyone to come help us. I’m hoping that we can do it a little at a time. We have supplies enough to last quite awhile and that if it takes us a week to get it done, it won’t make a bit of difference. My husband is like the Energizer Bunny, though, not wanting to stop until he almost collapses. We may have to have a ‘discussion’ about how much we do at each session….

It would be nice if the power stays on today, and we can simply enjoy it for awhile.

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December 19, 2022 · 9:12 am

The Monday Before Christmas 12-19-2022

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The coming weather has me a bit concerned, so I’m trying to arrange that we do everything needed before the rain/sleet/snow/flying hairballs event comes on Thursday. I’m trying to change Lunch Bunch from Friday to Wednesday – with our gift exchange. I’m hoping to hear today on that. If we’re a go, I’ll call and alert the restaurant, since they open early for us on Lunch Bunch days, and our much-loved waitress participates in our gift exchange.

If everyone agrees to do this, then we will go to Walmart and our local grocery afterwards to do a bit of stocking up, in case we’re stuck up on top of our ridge line for several days.

I have a massage at 2pm – with another gift exchange. If we haven’t managed to change Lunch Bunch, I’ll shop on the way home from my massage. Either way, we should be able to tuck ourselves in to being house-bound if the weather gets as bad as they say. It’s VERY unusual for us to get below 0 in Arkansas, but it is forecast we’ll be -4 on Friday morning with a wind chill of -25. We’re concentrating on making sure our faucets are all protected outside and that heaters are working in the well house, and that we leave cabinet doors open in one bathroom and under my husband’s sink upstairs.That’s all we can do, and we’ll just hope it’s enough.

We have some ceramic planters on the deck that I’m planning to cover with trash bags this afternoon. I’ll put something in the top of each so as much water as possible runs off and turn over saucers so they won’t catch water.

I love the LOOK of snow, but I don’t like to be out IN it much. I remember sledding down our driveway one winter with our son when he was about 7, I guess. He was sitting in front of me and my legs were straight on each side of him. About half way down the driveway, the snow started coming up the legs of my jeans. By the time we got to the bottom (we didn’t shoot straight out into the road and across into the field across from us, thank goodness), my jeans were so full of packed snow I looked like the Pillsbury Dough “woman.” Our son thought that was hilarious, laughed like a loon and wanted to do it again. That was the last time I sledded. His opinion was that snow angels were ‘lame,’ though kind of pretty. I left the snow fights to our son and my husband.

Be careful in the coming days. Stay safe, warm, and dry. Great snuggling weather.

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February 23, 2022 · 11:04 am

It’s Still Winter

Paulo-@Paulo_paulh-twitter.com

Although winter is not my favorite season, there are things I love about it –

Snow people and critters are one of my favorite things. Again, the creativity shown by people amazes me.

  • I love snowball fights (though not HARD snowballs in my face),
  • making snow angels,
  • walking around while it’s snowing trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue,
  • appreciating fresh snow blanketing everything,
  • the QUIET after a snow,
  • riding on a sled
  • I also love making hot chocolate and other comfort foods to enjoy when people come in from the cold.

All the acorn images are by Petr Vaclavek – Dubanci,cz

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February 9, 2021 · 9:46 am

Middle of Winter

Canon Europe

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” – Victor Hugo

NY1

“Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.” ~ Verna M. Kelly

Frommer’s

“Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” ~ Victor Hugo

The Cork Eye Clinic

“The problem with winter sports is that – follow me closely here – they generally take place in winter.” ~Dave Barry

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December 22, 2018 · 1:33 pm

Celebrating Winter

 

I don’t enjoy the cold of winter much, and I really don’t like being trapped up on top of our ridge line when Arkansas does winter badly, bringing us lots of ice and THEN snow, bringing trees down into our 650+ foot steep driveway from both sides, making us have to chainsaw our way out. Happily, this doesn’t happen often, so I can concentrate on the things I DO like about winter, like snowmen!

Amber, our 94 pound yellow lab PUPPY just helped me find, fill, and hang our ‘snowman’ bird feeder on the deck. Actually, I don’t think Amber gives a fig about hanging birdfeeders, but she’s very companionable, wanting to accompany me on whatever I want to do outside.

Snowmen and other snow people and animals are one of my favorite things about winter. I love the originality and creativity people bring to the idea of ‘building a snowman.’

I have several different kinds of snowmen that I keep up as decorations – once I decorate for Christmas – until the 1st of March, when ‘I’ declare an end to the snow season – although it HAS snowed on my birthday in March before. By then, I’m more than ready to think ahead to spring, planting seeds in my greenhouse and trying to make it warm enough in there for the seeds to sprout and thrive until they are transplanted into my raised bed, square foot garden.

This snowman is quite tall. You pull up his head and shake him out and then let him sit on a table. When you’re finished, he squashes almost completely flat.

This one is made of resin.

This is a new snowman to my collection, given to me this year by a good friend. It’s the cutest thing. You squeeze his hand and talk to him. He parrots back what you said in a squeaky voice, mimicking you when you laugh, make other noises, etc. I can’t stop laughing with this guy.

 

This one is made of wood.

 

Crocheted

Painted Gourd

Resin

I’m not really sure what this one is made of.

This is another new one this year. He’s a cup! I’m using him now for coffee, though he and another, similar, snowman, came in a cute ‘S’More’s kit, complete with cups, marshmallows, cocoa mix and a chocolate bar.

 

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