A half foot of snow on the ground and more sifting down…and we’re missing ingredients. Well, she rules the kitchen during Christmas baking, but I *could* go after the needful stuff, and I rather enjoy winter driving (a novelty where I grew up)…so off I went. The Safeway was predictably screwball—of the three stores I frequent, this one was on a clear plowed road, and oh, my, it is a bit less upscale than the one I usually use. As in—they don’t restock. They’re the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to their parent company sending them food, and the quality of stuff is often, well, I don’t buy meat in this particular store—the other one yes, but well, this one…could I find baking chocolate? The baking aisle was decimated. I finally found some that would do. And the kitchen smells of peanut butter and cereal Nuts n’ Bolts, it’s called, a chex mix delicacy. Tomorrow, chocolate crinkles and Russian tea cakes, my own all-too-favorite. Our neighbor, bless him, came over to offer to bring our garbage cans up from the street, and I was glad of that.

The pond ice is melting, sign of warmer weather. It has until tomorrow morning to melt off the roof so we can get the vent installed. But our drawer pulls came, so there is something for Scott to do.