Thanksgiving Eve

The first significant accumulation of snow has graced Canterbury this Thanksgiving Eve! After so long in Florida, it's so good to experience the cozy contentment of a snowy day.

The pipes, as you can see in the picture, are still above ground, but they've been pretty good about not freezing, thankfully. All things considered, I'm surprised they're doing so well.

Tomorrow the family will gather at my parents' house to celebrate Thanksgiving, and the trail of boot-prints bridging their house and mine is proof of the bustling excitement as we work together to prepare for the festivities. I'm getting ready to let my Sparkling Cranberries soak overnight, and I plan to wake up early and whip up some 30 - Minute Yeast Rolls. (Click either one to find its recipe.)  I haven't tried them before, so I'm trusting Pinterest not to let me down! I'm especially intrigued by the idea of yeast rolls rising in a mere 30 minutes...



"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." (W. A. Ward)

It's traditional, in the quiet moments of Thanksgiving Day, to reflect individually on what we're grateful for. But less commonly suggested is the importance of expressing that thankfulness to the ones who have blessed us. Take some time to personally thank those who have blessed you, as well as the Almighty Giver, who supplies such an incredible abundance of all things good!

Happy Thanksgiving from Canterbury!

Renovating The Hobbit-Hole: An Update

A few months have passed since I've moved into my new home... and I have neglected to publish a single post about its progress! Life has been busy - full of new home-owner responsibilities as well as the challenges of several jobs (lots of new bills to pay, after all) and time slipped by faster than I realized.

The renovation is a huge work in progress, so every now and then I need to take some steps back and keep everything in perspective. The shiny new laminate flooring will get completed one of these days, and in the meantime, I'm enjoying the first-things-first, not-so-visually-appealing necessities of a functioning kitchen and bathroom. Things like insulation, pipe trenching, and plugging up holes in the roof add a whole new appreciation for the adage "comfort before beauty"!

And yet, even while the holes are plugged with aluminum foil and the clapboard walls beg for a coat of paint, it's transformed from a trailer to a home. Despite the hiccups in reno, it's become quite a cozy little hobbit-hole, and I've done my best to furnish and arrange things in a pleasant, welcoming sort of way. So many helpful things have been supplied by kindly friends and family, excited to usher me in to this new adventure: towels and soap, eggs and vegetables, afghans and tablecloths each add a unique touch to my "patchwork house" - little reminders here and there of the support and generosity I've been blessed to experience.

Trailers are hard to photograph, as I have discovered, but I will do my best to post some as well as posting about the various adventures here at Canterbury.

Because, of course, there are many to be had! :D