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The Northern Lights were visible in my part of the world recently.
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And even though we had a little too much cloud cover to make them spectacular….
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This was only the second time in my life I’ve experienced them so I stood out in the cold in my pajamas taking pictures like a fool anyway.
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Pure magic.
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No matter how faint the glow.
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❤️
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I’m still here, and the news is still useless.
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To cat owners, this is not news.
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I can’t say I’ve ever burped my house, but I’m willing to try.
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If aliens are flying Doritos shaped ships? Surely they can’t be all bad…
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More like a nightmare I’d say.
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I would think a zombie tree would be able to resurrect itself. Geesh, what a slacker.
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People are absolute idiots.
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She’s blonde. Clearly she thought there were lamp posts in the middle of the ocean lighting the way…
🥴
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Have you heard of Becorns?
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I stumbled across them recently and couldn’t help but be charmed.
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A Rhode Island artist crafts these little creatures from twigs and acorns and then photographs them in nature.
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Never knowing what will happen.
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They made me smile, so I had to share.
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Our snow melted for a while this month and it made a nice background for portraits of our resident buck.
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He’s a big fella with a nice size and shape.
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Though his rack is a little squirrelly.
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It’s hard to tell if he’s an 8 or 9 pointer as his angles are all over the place.
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But I love his little white striped feet.
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And his smile of course.
We can all use more of those these days.
😊
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And this time… bring your appetite.
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Would you choose a rich and creamy clam chowder?
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A traditional lobster roll?
(Chilled with mayonnaise or warm with butter on a grilled hot dog bun are the only acceptable choices. No celery, no lettuce, and god forbid no garlic aioli. It’s simple and delicious the way it is, don’t mess with perfection.)
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A full lobster dinner with drawn butter, corn and steamed clams?
(Beer optional, but highly recommended)
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A scrumptious slice of wild blueberry pie?
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Or a perfectly decadent homemade Whoopie pie?
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What’s first on your list?
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The husband and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary recently… and there were flowers.
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We’re lucky to have a wonderful local florist just a few miles from our house.
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Or should I say I’m lucky, as the husband is rarely able to forget special occasions.
Our florist posts pictures of the arrangements she makes every week on Facebook and this recent customized request for a chef made me smile.
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How clever is that?
👍
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As seen at the grocery store.
Makes me wonder how spicy this product has to be to warrant such a violent response.
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Enough said.
🤣
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We’ve been having a strange influx of evening gtosbeaks recently. They visit in large groups and are quite a dramatic sight.
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Cold?
Yes, it’s been cold.
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Though you wouldn’t know it by the Juncos. The snow doesn’t seem to bother them at all.
Brr!
❄️
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If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know I blew my knee out in 2020. After staining our back deck on my hands and knees, I walked down a step and bam… it felt like a rubber band snapped. Excruciating pain made me scream and it’s been a five year nightmare ever since.
The diagnosis was a deep root radial meniscus tear (the kind that never heals) and damage to my ACL.
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Swollen? Just a bit.
😳
I saw a doctor. Who gave me an X-ray and sent me to an orthopedist. Who scheduled an MRI.
After reading the MRI the orthopedist told me, and I quote..
“It will either heal or it won’t” (which was very helpful, Not!) shot me full of cortisone and sent me on my way.
I iced, I elevated, I compressed and after a while my pain dropped to a manageable level. Never gone, but I sucked it up and carried on. I tried to stay active though there were times my knee screamed uncle.
In early 2023 the pain was becoming a problem again so I saw another doctor, who sent me to another orthopedist, who shot me full of more cortisone and scheduled 8 weeks of physical therapy.
The deep tissue massage felt great, the exercises helped stretch a tendon which had shrunk a bit from inactivity, but it didn’t address the underlying problem.
By late 2023 I still had considerable pain and decided to try acupuncture.
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It immediately reduced the swelling and dropped my pain level back to manageable. But it’s not covered by insurance and gets expensive quite quickly, so I took a few months of treatments and called it good.
2024 saw good knee days and bad knee days… with me never knowing what triggered increased pain.
By 2025 I had given up the treadmill, push mowing the lawn and started dreading stairs. At this point walking down a flight took twice as long as it should and made me feel 100 years old. Swelling had returned and I experienced serious stiffness whenever I got up after sitting. I moaned, I groaned, I limped.
Which sent me back to acupuncture a few months ago. Again, the swelling was quickly reduced, the stiffness was gone and pain returned to a manageable level.
But then, I went to sleep.
In case you were wondering? Yes… it’s entirely possible to tweak a torn meniscus when rolling over in bed because I did it and woke up gasping in pain.
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Now I can’t bend my knee without cringing. Walking hurts. Sleeping hurts. Stairs? No can do. So I made another appointment with my doctor who will no doubt send me to another orthopedist and I’m guessing the knee replacement surgery I’ve been dreading is in my future.
Has anyone out there had it?
And if so, what was your experience?
If you have any advice or suggestions… I think I’m ready to listen.
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We headed back down to Windham recently because my husband was craving the world’s best pork chop.
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Christmas decorations were still up.
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And the chickens were still watching me drink.
This cocktail was called Hibernation and was delicious. Simple, fresh… and probably worth spending the winter in a cave.
Vodka, cardamom simple, lime, blackberry puree.
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The husband started with carrot ginger soup and loved it.
Bumbleroot Farm carrots, onion, garlic, ginger, coconut milk, maple syrup, pepitas.
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My next cocktail was a spiced clementine margarita. Ooh la la!.. that was tasty.
Reposado, spiced clementine syrup, lime, Cointreau.
My appetizer of corn and spicy chicken egg rolls were equally as good.
Maine Family Farms chicken, roasted corn, cumin, Monterey jack cheese, chili powder, egg roll wrapper, chipotle aioli, pico-slaw.
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And there it is. Unassuming to view… but this cider brined chop is next level good and perfectly grilled. You’ve never had pork like this, it’s melt in your mouth tender.
Prime center cut chop, French green beans, butternut puree, Ricker Hill Honeycrisp apple, caramelized onion.
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I went with the chicken cordon bleu which was wonderful as well.
Maine Family Farms chicken breast, egg, flour, Bumbleroot Farm spinach, Pineland Farms Swiss cheese, Canadian bacon, cream, parmesan, Waxwing Bakery breadcrumbs.
We’ve come to the realization it’s impossible to have a bad meal at Yolked. Oh, you’ll pay for the privilege… but what’s life without a little splurging?
😊
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We woke up to some snow this morning in Maine.
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And the husband got busy digging us out first thing.
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It was light and relatively fluffy.
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But still a lot to move.
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It’s hard to tell how much fell, as the wind was blowing last night and there were significant drifts.
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But I’d say it was over a foot.
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And if you’re wondering what I was doing while the husband was out there hard at work?
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I was making use of the leftover ham I baked yesterday by making a split pea soup (which I hate but the husband adores)…
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And some ham salad for sandwiches. Which doesn’t look appetizing but is quite tasty.
😊
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Starting the week off uselessly.
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Right.
Because that’s what every man looks for in a sex toy… meaningful conversation.
🤣
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Okay, you got a great deal on the room. But how much will the rental car cost…
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The only thing I would learn at this point is that I can’t get back up off the floor.
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And you thought your air guitar was cool.
Pfft.
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Considering I can’t comprehend quantum entanglement, that’s not a stretch.
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River's world..... 