The New Year came in with a bang, and a horrible flu that, for my husband, turned into walking pneumonia, but we are officially in the quiet time now. Time to visit the horses, barn cats, friends, family, music, plays, and all here at home. No trips planned. Yay!
If we want flowers, we visit the garage patio.
If we want sunshine, we visit the sunroom, where we can read and listen to our favorite classical music.
When we’re in the sunroom at night, we pretend we are in a Tuscan villa.
I’m slowly adding things to the room, one-by-one, as we sit in it and get a feel for what it needs. I’ve added more candles (photo above) to give it a feel of a fire pit, and one tree. We will add a second tree this week.
When we first built this sunroom, we moved in our extra leather recliners, but they were a bit bulky. In 2020, we changed it to more of a patio feel. Now, I’m thinking something in-between. I’ll be on the lookout for low-profile, comfy chairs. The ones we have now aren’t horrible, but they’re not great reading chairs either.
As I thought about the New Year, I felt this need to do something different that would excite my soul. I wasn’t sure what. I don’t want to travel, so it needed to be something at home.
Last night, it came to me:
Outside yoga.
I have a basic set of poses I have done for many years, that help with balance and strength. I found them recommended for equestrians, and usually do them in my bedroom.
But the question hit me, why not do them outside in the sun, snow, rain, barn, and even the pasture with the horses? Why have I been confining myself to the indoors.
Today, I put on some comfy shoes, a cardigan, and a hat, and headed for the snow. It was gloriously fun! I am excited for where tomorrow’s yoga will take me.
Oh, another winter treat: SOUP season! This one is Zuppa Toscana. (Speaking of Tuscany).
I want to try a new soup every week. Today’s soup is going to be Sausage Tortellini. (The photo below is not mine. It is from the recipe page at Julia’s Album.)
The packaging on these furs!
Sitting in those chairs now feels like a super warm hug.
What are you all doing to magic up your New Year?
Last year, I tried out sword yoga. It was so much fun! However, my house is far too small for me to be swinging a sword around, and the classes were live-streamed, so I couldn't really take my laptop outside to do it because then I'd lose a good connection.
ReplyDeleteI love a good soup. Zuppa Toscana and spicy sausage tortellini are two of my favorites. Jay also makes an amazing chicken enchilada soup, and a lasagna soup. I think you've given me ideas for next week's menu - thanks!
I’ve never heard of sword yoga, but it sounds fierce. I’ll stick to snow yoga. Haha.
DeleteSoup is great to have around in winter. I like to double recipes and have lots of leftovers. We ate that Tuscan soup for a week and it was always yummy, especially since we were sick. I’m always happy to learn new recipes!
You have such a lovely place with lots of different aspects. Flowers in winter- whats not to love!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that your husband got so sick, hope he is truly on the mend. Ted isn't out of the woods yet but he is getting there. I made him chicken soup of course!
Mike isn’t out of it yet either. With this virus, it’s one step forward, two steps back. He had the worst of it last weekend, and I hope he is now on the mend. I hope Ted beats it soon, too.
DeleteFlowers in January are certainly magical! Your fluers are blooming happy in your garage.
ReplyDeleteFlu season is never fun, but it seems extra wicked this year. My Dr daughter says the ER has been full of cases night after night. Of course, not of the flu shot strain. Truly hope Mike (I did not know your hubbies name!) and Shirley's Ted, get out of the woods. At least it sounds like they can both see the clearing. Sure makes a person appreciate healthier days, even more.
Your soup/s sound delicious! I've heard of them. Now that Brad is more willing to try new foods, I am going to add these to my list to try. I almost have him fully trained ;) We both make different soups. Instead of half batches, we have been freezing a meals worth for days no one wants to cook. Oh wait, that is every day for me LOL!!
I like the perspective on the Tweed art. Very nice! It belongs with you. Just saying.
My last post was about magic~ing up *^* We also are in planning stages to finish our basement. Never a dull moment.
I read that this is the worst year for flu in 20 years. He definitely got a wicked one, but he was also unable to rest, which seemed to make it worse. The version I got was more like a minor cold. He does seem to be doing better now, and is out plowing the snow as I write this. But he fainted once and coughed himself into not breathing another time, at the worst of it. Scared me to death.
DeleteMy sister-in-law is building up her portfolio for a show, so I hesitate to ask her for this painting yet. I’m sure she knows I will want it when the time is right. When she used to housesit for us, she spent a lot of time in the barn drying the horses and taking photos of them for later. She has become quite good at capturing them. She paints a lot of other things, a lot of other subjects, but there is a unique quality to all of them.
That is funny about not liking to cook. I feel the same way, since there are only two of us. We eat a lot of leftovers, but I should start freezing them. That tortellini soup I made was interesting. It turned out like the photo, but after sitting for a day, the tortellini absorbed all the broth. I don’t know if I will make that one again. The Tuscan soup, however, was excellent. The thing that got me on soups was my sister who joined a mail-order soup club and has them shipped to her, 10 at a time. But when I saw the cost, I decided to make them from scratch, which is much cheaper.
Finishing up a basement? That is a big project. When we first bought our home here, it was a completely unfinished basement, concrete only. We had to set about finishing it immediately, because we needed rooms for all the kids. One of our neighbors stopped by during that time and asked why we weren’t working on the landscaping. He told us we should have waited on the basement until winter. Ha ha. He was a bit of a know it all. We went into winter with weeds and mud, but we had a functioning basement.
Seeing flowers during winter, makes us happy. The grow lights we got, broadcast out more light than our original ones, and it seems that the plants are flourishing under them.
You have snow? No fair! We are under a flood watch from predicted heavy rain. In WI. In January...blows my mind. Our snow is already gone. Mike's flu reactions sound very frightening. I hope he takes it easy until he is 100%.
DeleteThat is so cool about your sister-in-law and Tumbleweed being part of her show! I've only done one art show, back in the day. It was part of graduating college. Maybe some day I will be part of another one.
Good to know about the Tortellini soup. I had that problem with my Chicken Soup. Resolved with smaller noodles, measured to a fraction of the recipe. Also, a lot more broth. Brad swears my Chicken Noodle Soup has healing powers. Cooking is a lot of work, but homemade is worth it. We bought a sealing machine a few years back and it was such a game changer! However, it takes two of us to seal soup.
Enjoy your gorgeous flowers!
Sorry that your husband got sick. But everything else seems great. But I don’t think I’ll be doing outside yoga lol
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