Grabbed my camera yesterday to document yesterday’s rare weather event—ICE! My friends and family living in northern regions experience winter’s wonders with nonchalance, but for those of us in the south, we pause to marvel at the beauty of frost, snow or ice.
Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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| Last night's ice tore through the cover |
The experiment with our hot tub conversion to greenhouse ended this
morning. Since we built the covering, it’s withstood rain and several days with
high winds. After one storm, we added a layer of plastic and tightened down the
lid. When temperatures outside dropped below freezing, the inside steadily
remained at least ten degrees warmer. All of the plants thrived.
Freezing rain and ice coated the plastic shell sometime last night or early this morning. We woke up to find the structure collapsed with near freezing water drowning the plants. David began hauling the larger pots out and into the house while I followed with the ferns, spider plants and Pothos. The living room and family room now serve as a temporary home until this weather system passes. The first dry and sunny day will find us rebuilding.
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| Icy water filled the tub |
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| Temperature just above freezing |
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| Koi watching us work |
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| Optimistic for the aloes's health |
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| Living room overflows |
Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
When we lived in
Dover, Delaware, Mom and her friends gathered most mornings for coffee and
gossip. Each woman served from lovely china sets that included coffee pots that
matched their cups and saucers. Mrs. Hurley, who was born and raised in Wales,
always steeped a cup of tea for me. Her hospitality warmed my five-year-old
soul as much as the savory brews.
By the time I was
nine, my mother purchased all kinds of teas for me to try. Her favorite,
Constant Comment, always resided in the pantry. Sometimes she prepared a black
tea as dark as coffee and laced with milk and sugar. She picked up different
mint teas and green teas that stayed light with gentle flavors. My love of
teapots sprouted when we moved to Illinois and became entwined with my passion
for tisanes.
My delight with teas
and teapots makes me an easy person to shop for when it comes to my birthdays,
Christmases or anniversaries. Finding teas from other countries to bring to me
became a quest for my husband and son. The internet and Amazon opened up a
plethora of options with them researching the health benefits of various
infusions. Their passion for all things Greek led them to discover their most
recent gift to me: Greek Mountain Tea, Diktamos, and a Greek herbal cocktail of
Marjoram, Sage and Diktamos. These ancient teas medicinal benefits include relieving
respiratory infections, easing stomach and digestive problems, and lessening
rheumatism. If you want antioxidants, just steep a cup each day. They’ve become
a family favorite already.
Copyright 2022 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
Koi ignoring his "pilow"
We thought we broke
Koi this weekend at the cabin.
He sauntered down the
ramp a little after 8 AM on Saturday morning and followed a safe distance
behind David’s weed-eating sweep. His single, sharp bark drew my attention from
stacking rocks to our driveway entrance.
“I’m taking Koi for a
walk!” I called to David before following our dog down the steep incline
towards the dry creek bed. In previous years, this section of road washed out
with every thunderstorm that traversed the hill country. Sometime over the last
few years, the county built up the entire section of road, possibly enough to
prevent water from damaging the area in the future. Still, it’s a precarious
walk for my recovering knee. For Pom-monster Koi’s little feet, it’s a
challenge he tackles slowly now that he’s over twelve-years-old.
This time, he walked
and sniffed, and sniffed and walked down the slope with ease while I clumped
along behind, careful to keep my weight even on each leg. At one point, he
wanted to leave the road to investigate, but a high berm prevented him from
crossing over. He yapped at me to help him up and over.
“No. We’re staying on
the road,” I instructed, and then suggested we return to the cabin.
Koi refused to follow
me when I pivoted to go back. We stood in stalemate for a few seconds, and then
I relented.
Our walk continued
for a few hundred feet more before I suggested, “Cabin? Water?”
The offer of water
stopped his forward push. It took us about ten minutes to reach the cabin door.
Both of us lapped cold water before heading back outside. To prevent Koi from
accidentally laying in prickly pear, David pulled out the mat all of our dogs
use at the cabin. Koi ignored it, though, and stretched out on the rock
hardened ground to watch me work.
When we broke work to
eat lunch, he drank a ton of water and nibbled at his bits. He trailed behind
us as David tried out our new saw on some cedar. He vanished when I feebly
attempted to organize our junk pile. David found him on the porch out of the
midday sun, and he resisted the suggestion to go inside on his own.
About 4:30, we headed
in to wash up for dinner with Koi leading the way. He signaled that he wanted
help onto the lower bunkbed. David lifted him onto its foot. His eyes closed
immediately as he sighed.
Koi didn’t move when
pork chops sizzled. He didn’t come to the table to beg for food. While we took
a sink bath, he remained silent and still. He ignored our offer for his evening
chicken.
By our bedtime, his
deep and motionless sleep made David nudge him awake to see if he wanted to go
potty. He closed his eyes again. One of us checked him periodically all night
as he slept the sleep of the dead. Sometime during the night, David moved into
the bed with him to keep better watch.
Then about 4:30 in
the morning, he stood up on the bed and yipped to go outside. The twelve hour
sleep restored him. He wasn’t broken after all.
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| Paul and Mom July 1992 |
Our cabin near Leakey, Texas rests within a remote area where the hills cup around, making cellphones unusable once we turn off of FM 337 onto Rim Rock Road. My parents purchased the land over thirty years ago, long before cell phones existed, when they were about the same age as we are now. I remember lecturing them to wait until we arrived before they unloaded the supplies from one of the many projects we tackled together during those first years. Without fail, they ignored my warnings. We’d pull up to find they’d maneuvered plywood out of the truck bed on their own. Dad often quipped that they weren’t invalids!
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| Mom and Dad July 1992 |
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| David and Dad July 1992 |
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| Finished porch-July 1992 |
For three years, the
cabin remained untouched. Last May, David’s cousin and her husband took us up
for a weekend. Someone had broken into the place and tossed things around searching
for valuables that didn’t exist. This same cousin took me back last November
for another quick visual check. Each short view left me determined to get a new
SUV, which we did at the end of December.
This weekend we carefully examined some areas of wood rot in the screened porch area. We tossed around ideas of making the repairs ourselves, but I know that’s unrealistic. We debated over the possibility of taking the area down and just having a huge deck. We discussed finding a local company to hire to do the repairs. At the moment, the damaged area doesn’t hold the danger of falling in on us. We have time to decide the best course. In the back of my mind, I hear my own voice warning my parents, “Wait until we get there. Don’t do anything stupid!”
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| Our hidden driveway January 29, 2022 |
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| One task accomplished! January 29, 2022 |
That past caution
reminded us to limit our visit to one major task. David focused on cutting the
knee-high grass that covered the driveway and cleared some cedar. I relined the
driveway with rocks.
Both of us used the sunshine
and hard labor to step back and away from work and world. We hit “reset” to return
home recharged and ready.
