We had mild weather the days before the new year, so Puss and I got outside for a stroll around the property.

We went just a little way into the woods where Puss imagines herself to be a wild vicious jungle beast.

I wish she was a huge jungle cat...then she could prey on the deer that are determined to tear up my trees.

Here's where they have peeled the back off a branch of my small Paperbark Maple.

It could have been deer that girdled this little Ginkgo tree trunk or it could have been a rabbit eating the bark.

I see this plant sometimes in the weeds. It looks like little yellow tomatoes, but nope, it's Horse Nettle.  Poisonous fruits and leaves.

This bright spot of green caught my attention! A little patch of moss in the driveway.

Such a lovely color and so soft looking.

I started off the new year with a healthy batch of soup...turkey, cabbage, and vegetable.

Then I wanted to do so something with the bread that we didn't eat at Christmas, so I diced it up and baked some croutons.  They're good in the soup or tempting just to eat as a snack.

New year - new broom! I ordered this one on Amazon. The handle came in sections that screwed together.  The dustpan has "teeth" that you can use to comb hair and fluff out of the broom bristles.  Ooooo, fancy!

My quilt group, Crazy Quilters, is going to switch to daytime meetings this year.

 I'm so glad because it's easier to dig into working on a project early in the day.

A lot of us like to avoid driving after dark too, so that's another good thing about switching to daytime meetings.

I decided to cut fabric for some quilt patterns so I would have something ready to work on at each monthly meeting.

This quilt will be just simple squares.

I'm cutting at the kitchen counter because my sewing room table is piled up with stuff, as usual.

 I'll get this set cut and bagged up and then cut enough for maybe 3 more quilt tops..That will last awhile!