Tea, actually, this morning. I am tempted by coffee, but making it at this time of the morning would wake the puppies, and I am not ready for that, yet. Although I am happy that you’ve made it here for a visit. And supplying virtual coffee is not a problem!

If we were having coffee/tea together, this weekend, I would apologize for having missed so many weeks in a row. While I have put together pages for Photo Challenges and occasional poetry prompts, I haven’t gotten much done that involves verbal output. I spent too much time around people during the holiday season, and ended up with an irritation of the lungs. My husband and I both came down with lingering colds (perhaps the flu?) that slowed us down a lot. Four weeks later, I still am tired, although  I am grateful that my blood sugar numbers are finally down, again, and the coughing has eased.

If we were having a visit together, this morning, I would tell you that the work on the workshop in the back yard has picked up, again, with the addition of wall boards applied to the wall between the two rooms of the workshop. Outside temperatures during January have been miserable, and our electric bill has quite skyrocketed, heating the (for most of the time uninsulated) building with electric heat. Insulation, inner wall boards, and adding a ceiling and attic insulation should help ongoing. January is the coldest month, here. The outside temperature here, right now, is minus 3 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 C) with a forecast high of 5 degrees above 0.

I would mention that I was able to put together photos for two weeks’ worth of WP weekly photo challenges, only one of which is on the Stray Coffee blog: Variations on a Theme: Hoarfrost. At The Art of Disorder, there is another current challenge: Blue Wild Flax: Flowers and Variations, and one of insects in the wildflower garden at The Moments Between.

On Tuesday I had a get-together (one of the last, I expect) with the bereavement counselor. I had, since their last visit, learned of another death in the family. With the older generation gone, the lines of communication have broken down, and so I learned of that death, which occurred in the last days of October, by chance, since that aunt’s death notice did not include our family name. Only one of my father’s 11 siblings is still alive, now. An aunt who is a handful of years older than I am. She and I never spent much time together, once we had graduated from high school. One of my husband’s aunts celebrated her 100th birthday, this month, though. That extended family is much more tightly connected through the generations, thanks to frequent (annual?) family get-togethers and FB contacts.

And on Saturday the 20th, my college advisor died. We visited often for the first decade or so after I graduated from college, and every few years after that until I got married in the early 90s. Did some work for him later on; I believe he’d retired by then. I hope that the memorial service at the college will be at a time and date when I can attend.

I find that in spite of getting a solid night’s sleep, I have run out of energy, and so must take a nap before confronting the rest of the day. Thanks for the visit, and I offer best wishes for this new week!

Best regards,
Lizl

P.S. My poem for Ronovan Writes Haiku is on my Quilted Poetry site: Singing Sentinels. The #WeekendCoffeeShare folks and #DSFWeeklyRewind folks can be found at https://eclecticali.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/weekendcoffeeshare-empty-weekend/ and https://daisysmileyface.com/2018/01/27/dsfweeklyrewind-on-the-bayou/.