New England's Narrow Road

Christmas Dinner

My two kids and I were invited to a friends house for dinner. They don’t understand how hard it is for me to do something like that- go to a great home and spend time with a normal family – but my son likes to play with their kids and we weren’t doing much Christmas day, so we went for a nice dinner.

We had a good time, and I remembered last year when they invited us to eat when the ice storm had come through. They had a generator and a wood stove (and a man who takes good care of his family- which always amazes me) so were comfortable, and they graciously let me and my little dog spend the night in a warm house.
When I see families in their own homes it is a reminder of all I have lost, but I am getting much better which means that God is changing my heart. After all… “the Lord is my shepherd – I shall not want”. I am learning to be grateful for kind friends, and no longer jealous and sad.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Newly Adopted Cats in Our House

Lately the kids have really been after me to get some sort of pet. We lost our little dog Rolly almost a year ago but I don’t feel ready to have another dog. It’s been nice to not be tied down with a dog and Rolly was old- 16- and very needy and tempermental.
I have never gone this long without a pet, so we talked about having a cat.
Well, it ended up being two cats and we adopted them from the “Friends of Manchester Animal Shelter”.

My daughter went by the FMAS (shelter) and of course wanted every animal there – mostly they had cats, but she settled on “Richie” because he was so friendly. Then my son wanted one too and I thought, what’s the difference as long as they get along.
So we put Richie and Fontana (their shelter names) in a closed room together and they didn’t fight so we thought they would be fine together and it has worked out very well. They sleep together on the front window ledge, eat side by side, and have recently begun to roughhouse play together too.

For $75 we got two nice cats who are spayed and neutered and have had all their shots. A friend of ours recently found a stray kitten and after taking it to the vet – one cat- the cost was over $200.
So Fontana and Richie have a new home and I think they are pretty happy.

Wooden Santa Count Down Calendar

Each year my son loves to open the little drawers to this wooden Santa calendar. And I always have trouble finding little things to fill all 24 draws with! They are tiny and not much will fit inside so I usually put coins, chocolate bits, and other small pieces of some kind of candy in there. A couple of them will hold a note with a message like “I love You” or something. But I am always at a loss for adding items and don’t get around to finish filling it until the month is just about over!

Santa advent calendar — Santa Advent Calendar

Knitting a Hat With Painted Yarn

It’s always difficult to visualize the outcome when buying painted or dyed yarn in varying colors and shades. I loved the colors in this wool yarn and wanted to knit another hat using one of my favorite hat patterns.

So here is the result. It took me a little over a skein and this yarn doesn’t come in matching dye lots so the colors in the second skein (shown) were a little different than the one I used for the main portion of the hat. But no one would notice.

I’ll use the rest of the skein for part of a scarf or mittens.