Oh goodie... another rainy day....

The rain clouds seem to have taken up residence over this part of the state... it's been raining on and off (mostly on) for days now. The temperatures are a little warmer (in the 50s) but it still isn't warm enough. However, being that the thermometer was reading 39 degrees a few days ago, I'll take the 50. Jeez.... will this never end?

I've been doing things in the house, trying to stay out of the rain and the cold. Still reading... now I'm up to a book I had bought on our trip to Maine last summer-- "The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife," by Connie Scovill Small. Very nicely written, it's an account of her 28 years of lighthouse-keeping with her husband. The book has photographs of their winters in Maine... lots of snow, certainly... makes me wonder how people get around in the winter up in that state. It was beautiful during the summer (we were there in July) but it isn't where I'd want to be for the winter months.

I've also been making more Valentine cards... I have a pile of finished ones next to my desk, waiting to be mailed as it gets closer to February 14th. Each one is different, keeping the recipient in mind.... I can't make them all Victorian-looking, since not everyone likes that "busy busy" style, as my sister would call it. I made one for my sister also, a bit more stream-lined than the others, given her more modern style. When my sister gets hers in the mail, she will call me up on her cell phone and tell me that I've got too much time on my hands. Not true--- just too many rainy days.

I've decided that the laundry is like the U.S. mail--- it is just never-ending. No wonder post office workers "go postal." What do women do? Go laundral? I mean honestly... just when you think it's all done (and it was this morning) you find two towels and a shirt in the laundry hamper. And so it begins once again.

Rainy days.... I made crawfish bisque soup yesterday.... I made raisin/cranberry scones this morning. "Comfort foods" for cold and rainy days. The scones came out extra-nice.... I've discovered that the trick is to use very cold butter, cut up into tiny pieces, and not mix the dough too much. This way, the butter melts into the dough in the hot oven and you get very tender scones. I don't like to use butter, but there's no substitute for it. And margarine is the pits... just one molecule away from plastic, so I don't even think about using that anymore.

Dentist tomorrow.... another "oh goodie" moment.