Candy time

I started making candy today for gift giving. Most years I put together small packages of homemade fudge and other candies to give to our neighbors. Normally I use dark chocolate and make two or three kinds of fudge -- plain; with walnuts; and maybe one with a touch of peppermint. I add a couple of other things for color and variety. Today I experimented with almond cashew clusters, which taste pretty good, but not as good as I had hoped. And they don't look all that different from fudge, which is what Tom thought they were.

I also made cherry almond bark, which is colorful as well as tasty. That's it in the photo. I want to get these done, packed and distributed this weekend. Friday (December 6) is the feast of St. Nicholas, which would be perfect, but I work Thursday and have appointments on Friday. So it will probably be the weekend before I get it done.

Who was that White Squirrel?

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when ...

Okay, this has nothing to do with the thrilling days of yesteryear. But our neighbor Rich has reported seeing one of the local white squirrels on our property. There are small colonies/communities of white squirrels at each end of our road, but this is the first time anyone has reported seeing one on our property. So far it is an isolated sighting, but hope springs eternal. And, no, that photo is not one of the local squirrels.

We also have coal black squirrels living down the road. Someday the stars will align and I will be able to get a photo that contains a black one and a white one in our yard.

Pretty cool

I tutor a young woman in the Dells in English. She grew up in Mexico, but she and her husband have lived here for about ten years. Besides English, I help her with other things, like learning to e-mail and recently how to use Skype. This morning I had an e-mail from her telling me that last night she was able to use Skype to see her family in Mexico for the first time in years. She is very happy.

Pretty cool.