Tag: winter

Maple Hot Cocoa

Anya and I made hot chocolate to warm up after spending a day shoveling snow — it’s a quick recipe. For each serving, add a cup of almond milk, 2 Tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder. Put the milk in a pan.  Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Once warmed, whisk in cocoa powder. Serve. Ideally with some homemade marshmallows — I need to make some honey marshmallows, we ate all of the homemade marshmallows I made last year.

Winter Wonderland

It was warm over the weekend, rained Monday — and, as the temperature dropped, it changed over to ice and snow. The tree branches are all covered in a bit of ice with a lot of snow sticking to the ice. With saplings drooping over and tree boughs pulled down, we have a winter wonderland.

Winter Gear

I think I finally have enough cold-weather clothing to enjoy winter. Not just the usual hat/gloves/scarf — that’s a good way to hate winter. Layers are a good start – heavy weight silk base layer under any type of regular shirt/slacks. Top that all with Berne insulated bib overalls along with the matching coat. Thick wool socks from Carhartt and regular waterproof hiking boots. Gloves with insulation even in the fingers; and a lightweight, breathable balaclava under the hat/scarf.

Shoveling the driveway at eight degrees isn’t the most fun I’ve ever had, but I was perfectly warm. Well, right up until my nose got drippy … that’s a heap of unpleasant and time to go back inside. Luckily I was 98% through with shoveling at that point … figure I’ll toss the shovel in the car and get the last little bit at the bottom as we head out.