Cold and Cloudy with Gifts to Brighten the Day

Posted on by Julia

December 5, 2025

Today (Friday, December 5), we got up around 8:00 AM. After getting ready to face the day, we headed to the RV to put in the 40-gallon propane tank; the one filled at Ace yesterday. While Bruce put in the tank, I vacuumed the floors.

Once he had the tank in, connected, and tested, we headed home.

It was cold and cloudy all day. We walked around the yard but couldn’t bring ourselves to do any outside work. The high was 41°F and it felt colder.

I was expecting sunshine today and was disappointed that it was cloudy instead.

On one of the walks, we noticed a package waiting for us on the front porch table. It was from my lovely friend, Jeanne from ajeanneinthekitchen.com.

I opened the package and I was thrilled with the gifts she sent. Her homemade caramels are always delicious! The dragonfly glass thrilled me! It is just gorgeous!!! It was such a thoughtful gift since she knows I love dragonflies.

Jeanne, thank you so much!!! I love your idea of hanging it a window.

It was a good day to work on “Juneau in Wild Sunflowers”. I spent about six to eight hours on the picture and I made a lot of progress. I corrected the slope of her back and completed more of the sunflowers. Juneau’s fur now shows behind many of the sunflowers.

“Juneau in Wild Sunflowers“

I am not sure if her tail hairs should be longer. I might make them a little longer to see how that looks. Her tail does curl to the side, so it maybe okay. I’ll have to share all the pictures I used to come up with the picture when I completed it.

I sometimes wonder if the name should be “Juneau Trying to Hide in Wild Sunflowers”.

While I worked on the drawing, Bruce did the next puzzle from the Advent of Code. He didn’t get it right yet. He is so excited to be solving coding problems.

It sounds like we’ll be heading down to Jekyll Island, GA to help out his dad over Christmas.

16 thoughts on “Cold and Cloudy with Gifts to Brighten the Day”

  2. What a nice gift to arrive in the mail! I did receive a homemade Christmas card from my friend, the retired teacher, who is 84 and officially retired 2 years ago and moved to Texas to be with her daughter. Oh, and she bought a home there. Not everyone is made of her spice, but I sure did enjoy her company and miss her in Tampa Bay.

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    1. She is a delightful, thoughtful friend. It is fun to get Christmas cards. I used to send them, but with Bruce having time between contacts, I thought he should help. His help was just letting the Christmas card exchange drop. He is such a procrastinator!

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    1. They are beautiful, aren’t they? Did you know a dozen dragonflies is called a dazzle? I love how it fits them! I am excited to hang the glass in one of the south-facing windows. Well, none of the windows directly face south since the house is at an angle on the property. The windows face southeast.

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    1. Your present was a ray of sunshine in the cold and cloudy day. We’ve been eating them carmels faster than we should, they are so good. Thank you, I am pleased Juneau is coming out so well. I was surprised that she is five already!
      You are welcome! I hope dried basil will allow you to make some fun dishes.

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Published by Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We have a 12-pound dog, Nox, who we love dearly. She has been with us since 2009. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. We bought a ranch house on a hill in the middle of five acres. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist and I’ll share my current projects. Reading is my favorite hobby.