though we haven’t literally been snowed in (with the exception of one day last week), these past couple of weeks have dropped so much snow in our area, that we’ve felt like calling ourselves snowed in. with a lack of dashing about has come an immense ammount of productive time at home. outdoor explorations, baking, cooking, knitting, sewing…you know the things we love to do. and the beginning of this week has been no different.

we took some time to make home-made ravioli. the only downside was that when we were done, there was far less pasta than we’d hoped for compared to the work put in. but, oh, was it delicious!

we’ve also had to give the ladies (cris’s chickens) a lot of extra special attention these last few weeks. the snow is so deep that it’s really quite difficult for them to get around. we’ve shoveled paths all over the yard so they can get in and out of the coop, have some bare patches to wander around and mingle, made a path to the compost bin for snack times and, of course, a path to the porch so they can crawl under and see the world witout being snowed on. we’ve also been a little extra generous with the “snacks” we give them, adding in an extra slice of bread or apple peelings. the other day i brought them some soup after we’d eaten lunch. i called and called to them from the front step, but they just wouldn’t come. it was so unusual, given that the sound of our voices or the front door opening makes them run to see what’s going on. i was scanning the horizon, looking for a bobbing red or black body running in my direction when i caught something moving out of the corner of my eye. ahh, the ladies, i thought. but when i turned to look down, there was a new friend:

not really a friend, as they EAT chickens, i couldn’t resist getting a picture of this guy. he took a couple bites of the soup and then wandered off. the ladies finally approached, quite gingerly. sweet ladies.

i do have some new knit news to share with you too. i picked up some amazing yarn after christmas, so excited to dive into a project for myself. but now the problem seems to be that i’ve put so much pressure on the project to stand up to the awesomeness of the yarn that i can’t settle on a pattern. i’ve started my THIRD pattern with this yarn. and last night i was searching ravelry, considering new patterns. ugh…i just don’t know….

regardless, i’ll get some info on the yarn and patterns by the end of the week. see you then!