The Farm Apartment On Christmas Evening

The dogs and I had traveled up to the farm on Christmas morning. We'd hiked across the north hay field and into the woods. But evening's darkness was arriving and it was time to settle in for the night. I had some house cleaning to do. I put clean sheets on the bed and vacuumed the floor. Then I began opening some purchases I'd made, beginning with a new shower curtain and a drape to cover the door in the bathroom which connects it to the main house. On my last visit, I'd noticed that the dark green shower curtain allowed too little light into the shower and the flimsy door allowed too much sound from my apartment into the main house:

So I hung a clear shower curtain to let through the light and a heavy green cloth drape to muffle the transmission of sound. I could only hope that the drape's wrinkles would smooth out in time as it hung there:

In addition to the big chainsaw carved bear, my sister had given me four tiny glass animals for Christmas. So I'd purchased a doll house bookcase in which to put them and hung it on the wall above my sink where I'd see it close-up and often:

Inside you can see the four tiny blown glass animals: a bird, a dragonfly, a seal and a snake. The bottom two are a lamb and a lion, remnants of the previous owners of the farm. I recognized them as the bonus gifts which used to come in every box of Red Rose Tea:

It was Christmas afternoon, slipping into Christmas evening. It was cold and snowy outdoors, but warm and comfortable inside. Wally wanted no part of my cleaning and redecorating, so he curled up and took a nap:

My sister had also given me a giant pine cone, another reminder of our childhoods when we collected them in Oregon forests. I pinned it to a place mat on my wall:

Darkness came early, but by then I was finished with everything I had to do and was ready to cook myself dinner. The dogs and I were all ready to get comfortable and settle in for the night:

It was just me, six dogs and one chainsaw bear for Christmas:

I began cooking myself a healthy dinner and turned on North Country Public Radio: