Late Silk and Sunday Post

As I posted earlier, we actually had weather on Friday! It rained, real rain vs. drizzle which masquerades as rain here. It was great, but the weather has been so heavenly prior to this that I was totally unprepared for the temperature dip that hit! Brrr! (Note:  this was written throughout the day so hopefully it makes sense.)

I'd been wearing t-shirts, shorts and sandals. At night, no more than a sheet was needed. Thus I totally forgot to call and have the pilot light lit on the tiny, ancient gravity furnace. Let me just say, that lighting a pilot is no big deal.

I've done it in other houses but I have a great respect for natural gas and I don't feel comfortable playing around with a 60+ year old furnace that is in a box below the floor. It also requires a long rod to reach in and actually turn the gas knob, so the idea of reaching down (past my elbow) into a gassy little pit with my bare hand holding a lit match is simply a "no-go".

So I sit here at my computer freezing. Still wearing sweat pants, sweatshirt with turtleneck, big socks, furry (fake) slippers, a shawl, fingerless gloves. My hair is down for added warmth, it's usually up, off my neck. Nothing I'm wearing matches. Of course I wouldn't go out in public looking like this, luckily, Mr. Blue isn't picky. Food, not looks, that's his priority.

Attractive, no?

This morning I looked for my electric blanket, but have yet to find it. I managed to get through the last two nights piling pashmina shawls and my robe on top of the sheet, but I also wore sweats with socks and fingerless gloves to bed.

The temperature reading in the house is 55F (12.7C) which is as cold as outside! I'll have to go out to the garage and find the tiny electric heater before it gets dark. The night time temps will be down in the 40-45F range for the next 6-7 days. Daytime will be in the 50-65 range. I repeat...brrrrrr! Supposed to rain again tonight.

When I called the gas company for an appointment, there was nothing available till next Friday. Seems I'm not the only one who forgot. For this service you have to be home from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. It's going to be a chilly week. I did put an old red blanket on the bed for tonight. Followed by an oversized cotton quilt which was rounded out with a handmade silk quilt. A friend of Valborg's made it for her.

When Valborg (our childhood, adopted grandmother) died, I inherited the quilt. Story goes that back in the 20's and 30's, she had a friend who worked in a silk tie factory in the Midwest. The seamstresses were allowed to take the scraps home for quilts, etc. With the Depression, everyone was focused on not wasting a thing.

This is the back!

It's an amazing piece of craftsmanship. Since it's all silk, and even though it has no batting, it's very warm and quite heavy. I crawled in and tested it...I'll sleep like a baby tonight, all snuggled under the covers. Still have no clue where the electric blanket is.

On the right is the top of the quilt, on far left is the back again. All silk tie scraps!

Just looked at the clock on the computer. It read 4:25 p.m. which is not the time indicated by the light. So I checked on when DST ends and it ended already, at 2 a.m. this morning! This just ticks me off for some reason, maybe it's because I thought it changed tonight. Anyhow, in protest, I turned my computer ahead by one hour and it feels much better. I know, I'm weird, what can I say?

Yes, it's sitting on my desk. If I could get any closer, I would!

Yay! Found my little heater in the garage when tossing the trash out. Oh warmth, here I come!

Blue just scared the heck out of me with an extremely loud, sharp bark. Holy cow! The rain is here with thunder! Real weather! Of course every time it bangs, he barks like a little crazy dog, running around the house to find the "culprit". He really gets disturbed by thunder, helicopters, loud motorcycles and skateboards whizzing by on the front sidewalk. This could be a long night.