Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 10:30 p.m. in "The City."

Christmas day was great! I didn't really enjoy moving the snow, especially since the gale force winds seemed to put much of it back from whence it came. But the good news is that with the aid of my trusty yak brace, I came away none the worse for wear.

I've included a few pictures to give the flavor of what I was up against. The city plowed the street, but that meant that the snow landed in the driveway. Tomorrow sometime, the city sidewalk plow will be by to make the sidewalks less passable too.

The front porch of the manse before I started

Likewise, the deck and our shared driveway.

While I was out, Mary was preparing our breakfast/brunch. The raisin toast with vegan margarine was a nice opener. She then prepared a great tasting tofu noodle soup, not unlike chicken noodle soup. The base can also be used with other ingredients such as beans or seitan. Suffice it to say that this one is a keeper.

Excellent!

We spent part of the afternoon listening to Christmas music and jazz as we read our respective books.

Finally, it was time for Mary to get started on the Christmas dinner that I chose, vegan shepherd's pie. I'm not sure if Mary liked it as much as I did, but that may be because she was in the kitchen bringing it all together. According to her description, she had to double the number/amount of portabello mushrooms called for in the recipe, but I liked it a lot and I also pronounce this dish a keeper. I've added a few pictures to showcase her efforts.

In the beginning.

Fresh out of the oven.

On my plate and ready to eat.

We have leftovers from both meals, but that's okay with me.

Earlier in the day, I gave the fur-children their morning repast. topped with a special treat for each of them.

These chew bones came from Ginger's daycare center which is also the groomer for both of the fur-children.

Worthy of note is the arrangement of branches from our own back-forty that Mary placed in a vase that she had gotten at the 7th Street Gallery, where I took my drawing lessons. I think Mary did an excellent job of interpreting of the display they had in their window.

A nice touch of the outdoors on a cold winter's day.

Otherwise, we watched a couple of Hallmark Channel romances and Mary just finished watching a movie downstairs. I am taking a break from watching Dirty Dancing to write this blog.

Tomorrow, after my scheduled P/T appointment, we may travel to Holland to get our car looked at regarding a possible recall concern. Other than that, we have to get some things at the big-box home center. That is enough for one day.

We have a current temperature of 13° that feels like 0°. Tomorrow, the sun will rise @ 8:15 a.m. and set @  5:15 p.m. In between, one to two inches of additional snowfall is possible and the driving conditions will be hazardous. That may preclude my P/T appointment and our trip to Holland etc. Ciao.