Snowed In

If you have been watching the news lately, you might have heard about the big blizzards and snow storms and ice storms that hit the Midwest plains.   In the late afternoon of Christmas Day, the ice storm hit us, followed by plenty of snow and wind.   The ice sounded like needles of hail hitting the windows and was quite loud.  We were so glad to be inside where it was warm and cozy!   The plows are gradually getting around to the roads, but out here in the remote countryside we are last on the list.   We live on a township gravel road, and so even the county roads get plowed out  before we do, and they aren't plowed yet, either!   I don't expect to get plowed out until perhaps late tonight or even tomorrow.   That's OK!  We have plenty to eat, plenty of wood, plenty to occupy our time, and of course - the internet!   Thankfully we never lost power.    But it IS very pretty outside, and after all, this IS Minnesota and this IS winter!
     Today I will make a pot of potato vegetable soup, and some biscuits, and an orange pound cake.   And I will read a box of 22 new cookbooks I bought for $2 total at an auction (what a deal, eh?!)  And I will play around with my new Christmas gift from my husband - a new sewing machine!

Check out this great heavy duty new sewing machine that Harold bought for me!   I do lots of sewing and quilting and this new Janome HD3000 machine will be wonderful to sew with!

Here are a couple of snow scenes I took a few minutes ago.   It's beautiful to look at, especially from inside where it's warm!

The woods is a winter wonderland again

Our outdoor wood burning stove keeps us all toasty inside the house!

And in my spare time, I can play around with the new Baldwin organ I wrote about in my last post!
     Cabin Fever???  No way!!

Some Things In Life ARE Free!

Earlier this year, the home organ that I have been playing for 33 years bit the dust.  I have had it repaired several times in the past, each time it cost well over $400 or more to repair.  This time nothing worked on the organ - no sound, no lights, just a faint hum.   I knew it would be costly.   And I wasn't going to put any more money into it.  So I was unable to play my favorite music anymore.   I feared that I would soon lose all the organ playing skills I ever had.   I still had a piano to play, and of course my accordion, but I did miss playing the organ.  I especially always enjoyed playing Christmas music and hymns on the organ, but I certainly had to put that aside this holiday.
     Well, my husband felt very sorry for me and tried to think about what might be done.  He searched the classified ads and finally found an ad on Craigslist for a free organ!   A give-away!!   It was in Hillsboro ND, a bit of a long drive away, but not too bad.  He rounded up a few guys plus our pastor to help him, and we drove to the home where the organ was located.  We discovered the organ was in the lady's basement and down the hall in a back room!  She had a lovely finished basement, carpeted, so it wasn't too bad.  But maneuvering a 400 lb plus organ through doorways, and up a flight of carpeted stairs was truly a challenge!  We even had to turn the organ on end, sideways, to get through doorways.  Then there was the challenge of getting the organ into our pickup truck, and then the final challenge of getting the organ off the truck and into my house in the living room.   There were a couple steps to go up at my house, but that was it.  With all of us helping, the aid of an appliance dolly and a piano dolly, and the help of the family we were getting the organ from, we finally got the organ loaded!   It was definitely a struggle to get the organ up those carpeted stairs!
     So now this organ is in my living room, and it sounds great and looks great!  Thanks to my husband I can now play my favorite Christmas music and hymns.   And thanks to the generosity of the family to give away this organ for free.   Free is good!   Here is what the freebie looks like:

My new free full size, church style organ!  It is a Baldwin and sounds very nice.   It's also in very good condition.   It's an older organ, but I don't think it was used very much.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of my theatrical Gulbransen organ, but it does have a nice variety of sounds, plus chimes.

I was feeling a little depressed this Christmas because of my own health issues, and family members also going through various troubles and cancer treatments, but getting a new organ to play has helped greatly!  I suppose technically this wasn't "free" because I had to rent a $34 piano dolly and spend half a tank of gas to drive there and back, but this organ was just about 'free'!   And so I say, some things in life really are (more or less) "free"............

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Cold Enough?

This morning we woke up to 35 below zero temperature!  That's pretty cold!  And that's the air temperature, not the wind chill.   My outdoor cats were fine, as they have plenty of winter fur and a good layer of fat on them, and a big  insulated box to sleep in.  My car started up OK, as we prepared to go to church, but we had it plugged in.   Some folks may not know what "plugging in " a car is.   Up here in the north country, cars and trucks have a special heater by the engine that a person can plug in for the night to warm up the engine area.   It is something you must have installed by a mechanic.   Sure helps a lot, though!    This morning the topic of conversation around here was all about the cold weather, of course, and lots of Minnesotans were saying :  "Cold enough for ya?"  That's the typical Minnesota talk, don't ya know..............
     We actually love the cold weather.  Nobody should ever feel sorry for us Minnesotans - we live here by choice, "for the quality of life" !  Ha!

Lefsa Time!

Today I made a batch of that great Norwegian favorite - lefsa!  Here in Minnesota, especially around Christmas, a plate of lefsa is a must.   It is made with potatoes and flour and cream and butter, with a dash of salt and sugar.  Warm lefsa is usually spread with butter, and sprinkled with sugar (either white or brown) and then rolled up and eaten.  Here is a sample of today's lefsa:

A close up of the lefsa

Another view

A few years ago I had a tutorial on this blog about making lefsa.   If you go to 2013 posts, and check out the December entry for making lefsa you will see all the steps.  To go to an older post, click on the arrow to the left of the year, then click on the arrow to the left of the month.  You will see all the older posts for that month listed, then click on the one you want to see. 
     I am of Polish heritage, but when I moved to Minnesota and tasted the Norwegian specialty, I knew I had to learn how to make it!  Lefsa is just plain delicious.   Up here in the north country, just about everyone loves it.  It does require a bit of technique, and I've gotten better at making it nice and thin.  Of course, the stores up here carry shelves full of it around the holidays, but the best lefsa is still made at home!