Chores and Holiday Cheer

Oh, my goodness it is cold here today.  It was below freezing this morning, but the sun came out for a beautiful day even if the temperature was in the low 40s.  This is making me anxious to head south.

My morning was filled with baking and cleaning up after baking.  I made another buttermilk custard pie—this one to take to Doug and Dianna’s tonight.  I tried the apricot scone recipe which I found in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine, holiday recipe edition.  I bought it a couple years ago and have tried many of the recipes.  Of course there are some that I didn’t care for and a few that are just more complicated than I care to get, but for the most part, I have liked most that I have tried.  The scones were excellent and not hard to make.  I also made the Devonshire cream to spread on them, but we like them as well without it.  I took some over to Doug and Dianna and the rest we will have with our mid-morning coffee this week.

Gene spent his morning getting the truck inspected and purchasing tags.  We had forgotten all about that little item and didn’t have it on our chore list.  I don’t know what made me think of it Sunday as we were driving down the road.  It was a revelation, I guess.  God taking care of us again.  Anyway, Gene said it was the easiest time ever.  He went about mid morning after the AM rush hour and since it is early in the month, there were no lines at the inspection station and no line at the county clerk’s office.

Now that that little item is taken care of, I think I can truthfully say that all our winter chores are done and the only thing left to do while we are here is to play (and eat) with our friends and family.

Speaking of friends and eating, we were invited to the home of our good friends Doug and Dianna for dinner tonight.  You may remember they are the couple that got married in April.  We came back to Nashville for their wedding.  Doug and Dianna, like us, met in the hiking club.  Dianna is a relatively new member of the club, but Doug has been hiking with Tennessee Trails for many years.  Doug has been one of our best hiking buddies and we have done some fantastic trips with him, including California’s Mt. Whitney.  Doug and Dianna are special friends and we were glad to have the opportunity to visit with them tonight.