While a bit early, we celebrated our Christmas on Thursday (Winter Solstice). We wanted to have Becky join us; one of her daughters, Caitlin, will be visiting Becky near Christmas so early timing works for all. Another event was the sale of the RAV4. Details and photos below!

Becky joined us for gift opening. Gifts for all were specially selected items, from the shirts and socks to the markers and seed packets — and everything in between.

Table loaded with packages
Becky getting started on a gift
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20502-1024x964.jpg
Pam with gift of colored markers

Earlier I had posted a video of our outside lights but had not included any still shots. Here is Heart House outside holiday lighting.

Entwined hearts
Horse and sleigh are new this year
Heart House, December 22, 2023

I had listed the Toyota RAV4 on Facebook Marketplace and had a buyer within 24 hours. Facebook reported 547 “clicks” on the listing during that time. Priced in the lower part of the price range for a 2004 with 217K miles, it proved to be a good value for the buyer who came up from Des Moines to pick it up.

2004 Toyota RAV4 as sold

NE Iowa experienced a couple of very windy days this past week that blew quite a large number of leaves onto our lawn, so I took advantage of the mild weather to do yet another lawn pickup. One of the neighbor ladies, who was walking by as I was finishing, stopped to compliment me on the appearance of the house and yard. I try to keep the place clean and tidy and it is good to know the neighbors do notice.

If the mild weather holds, and new “high temps for the date” are expected this weekend, we should have good conditions to take down the holiday lights after the first of the year. It would be good if the lights, wreaths, and other decorations were dry and fingers would not get frostbitten taking them down. We shall see!

The next few weeks will end one year and start another. There are projects to work on, such as updating my Galleries. A second coat of paint in the upstairs bathroom is on the agenda, as well as moldings up there I need to complete. Pam has plans for some paint changes in the downstairs parlour, to be accomplished during winter months. It will be excellent to enjoy a bit more daylight every day, now that the Winter Solstice has been celebrated.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

The little catio female stray, Storm, was spayed this week. Mild weather aided in keeping the catio interior warm during the 24 hours after her operation. (I plug in heaters out there as needed, one bed heater and one space heater.) With Reese and Storm altered, two down and two to go (AJ and Snickers).

Cards: I’m catching up with folks via the annual holiday card news exchange. Must be our age group — more than usual [negative] health updates. Interesting I settled on a snowman theme for our card when NE Iowa is experiencing a “brown” Christmas. Actually, the romance of snow is long past for me…

Happy Trails.