I don't mind admitting, Mondays can knock the stuffing out of me. That is, cleaning days do, and since they fall on Monday, Monday's to blame. This is a large house for two adults and two little dogs to knock about it, but over the years Irving has done so much to this house to make it our home we've no thought of leaving it any time soon for a smaller dwelling. We're pretty attached to it. Not to mention a lifetime of gathering objects that please us to litter the house with, all of it needing to be tended to.

 

There's three floors, since many years ago Irving finished the bottom level, so there's a large room one might call a recreation room, a much smaller one that's a study, and there's a sizeable powder room. There's the furnace room of course, that's separate, and so it the much larger area that is Irving's workshop. I don't clean the bottom level every week, just every-other. And today was the 'every-other'.

 

 

Altogether, cleaning the house takes me a minimum of four hours. And that's minus the vacuuming, since Irving does that. By the time I've finished washing the floors I'm ready to call it quits, and that's one of those 'just-in-time things, because by then it's all done. Jackie knows when the floors have been washed, the doors leading to the kitchen, breakfast room, powder room, laundry room are all closed to entry for them until the floors dry. When he hears me flush the sudsy-water pail down the toilet he knows and he sneaks through the dining room floor to congratulate me on a job well done.

 

Jillie's more laid back and sensible. She knows the routine, and it doesn't bother her. She'll often leave the family room on the first floor adjacent the kitchen and go upstairs to bed until I'm ready to change out of my work clothes. The point at which they know we'll all be going out finally for our ravine hike. A perfect day for it today, too. The sun's been out all day and the temperature struggled up to a balmy -4C.

 

Irving had earlier been down in his workshop puttying the latest stained glass he's been working on; an insert for another upstairs door. So we've both been busy. And we're both a bit fatigued. Miss our afternoon hike? Not likely! The funny thing about feeling tired and dragging ourselves out anyway, is that as the cool, fresh air hits our faces and our eyes clamp on the landscape, our feet take over and carry us through the trails, and we feel invigorated.

 

We're back to normal February temperatures now, after last week's Arctic blast. We're right on the button now; -4C for daytime highs, -10C for nighttime lows. Give or take a degree here or there. But it's still winter, and it's still cold. So we really appreciate the kind of comfort food that warms us and suits our expectations for these cold evenings.

 

Before we left for our afternoon expedition in the forest yesterday I put on a mixed-bean soup to begin cooking; tomato base, with leeks garlic, herbs and spices and sliced celery with small squares of sweet potato. When we returned from our walk I put together croissants, the yeast dough this time made with milk, butter and eggs. And Irving had sliced smoked salmon with his; yoghurt and blueberries for dessert. We felt pretty warmed up after dinner.

 

Before we left the house this afternoon since it was already half-past four, I slipped a Cornish game hen into the oven. When we returned I made preparations for a noodle-egg-raisin pudding to accompany it, with sliced green beans on the side. And, for the first time this season, scandalously-priced cherries. Jackie and Jillie will appreciate any leftover poultry; in fact they wouldn't mind sharing any of the other servings as well.