O Winter!

Hello Again!  How quickly these weeks are flying by!

Jai had the afternoon off today, so we went for a walk around the neighbourhood.  There's not a lot of signs of Spring anywhere just yet, but we did manage to spot a few little shoots poking up in the warmest part of our backyard.  Most of it is still covered in snow, but you can feel a change in the air, and the sun seems a little closer these days.  Plus, now that I am home most of the time, I can keep the fire stoked up, and it's nice and cozy in here.  Here's a pic that I took this afternoon of our little space by the fire:

There's still some work to do, but it's already a wonderful spot to sit.  I finally finished building our couch - it only took me two years, but who's counting?  It still needs to be painted, but we are going to wait and see what the fabrics look like when it's all together and covered in cushions before we commit to a colour.  Jai's Mom is sewing up the cushions for us, and sent us some fabric choices in the mail, so that was very exciting.  I can't wait to see it all finished, after having it exist mostly in my head and as a couple of glued-up slabs of wood for so long.  

I did get a little more sewing done this week.  I made two more elephants:

I had to go into Middleton for a doctor's appointment last week, so I stopped in to the Frenchy's and found some great sweaters.  What am I going to do with all these elephants, you ask?  Yeah, I don't know yet.  I'm open to suggestions.  My friend Katie suggested having elephants on every surface as one form of baby-proofing.  Hmmmm...  Of course, she was feeding this addiction by bringing me more sweaters as she said it.  

And I also made a patchwork blanket from old cashmere sweaters.  I love how it turned out, and it's super warm.  I also think it would look pretty cute wrapped around a little baby.  All this sewing seems kind of odd, but it makes me realize how deeply this need to be creating things runs in my blood.  If it's too cold to be out in the shop, then I will substitute it with just about anything else.  And I'm enjoying the sewing.  It's a nice, quiet, relaxing way to work, after the noise of the saws.  Having said that, it has been four days since I stopped working at the cabinet shop, and I'm already jonesing to get out in the shop.
Pretty soon I will have to go into Middleton once a week to see a Doctor.  I don't know how it is if you have a baby in the city, but I imagine it's pretty similar.  Here, you have a family doctor and an obstetrician, and it could be some doctor that you've never met who actually ends up delivering your baby.  I think it's kind of weird that they ask you to discuss all your options and everything with your obstetrician, and then he might not even be there.  It will definitely be a vast improvement when they finally cover the cost of a midwife.  It seems crazy to me that they don't, when there's such a shortage of doctors and medical facilities in the rural areas.  We will have to drive 45-50 minutes to reach the hospital, but there are people in the Valley who have to go even further.  Some would have a 1-1/2 hour drive!  There's closer hospitals, but only one in the whole Valley with a neonatal unit.  Anyway, it could be worse, I'm sure, and the doctors we have are great, so I am grateful for that.  And grateful for friends who have been there before, and don't mind when I ask them a million questions!

Oh well, I hope you all have an excellent week, and find a multitude of ways to stay warm, and dream of Spring.

O Winter! ruler of the inverted year, . . . I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd Retirement, and the hours Of long uninterrupted evening, know.

William Cowper, Task (bk. IV, l. 120)
English poet & translator (1731 - 1800)