A Few Weather Days, Pear Cake, and a Finished Painting.....

We have stayed home ever since Monday night and have watched the weather through our windows and on TV. We didn't lose power and we had plenty of food so it not really a hardship for us - unlike many who have been without power and have struggled with being cold. 

Photo from a local meteorologist on Facebook

Louis Dean has kept the bird feeders full and spent a good bit of time organizing his room and working on his music.

I've been cleaning house and fluffing things up.

There's no door on my bathroom so I use curtains - and decided to change out the white ones for these.

Since I have four panels.....I used two for the door.....

and one for the cupboards......

and the last one for my dressing table.

I like changing things up!

I've also been exercising every day to Miranda Esmond-White's Classical Stretch that I record from PBS.

We seldom eat three meals a day - it's usually two meals and a snack.

For the most part, we eat a healthy diet and we both stay physically active.

He has his music as well as his projects and I have my art and reading and sewing.

Neither of us is ever bored and we never run out of ideas of things we want to do.

We had an appointment this morning with Louis Dean's neurologist, but with the weather situation, I called yesterday and re-scheduled a video visit instead.

I love that modern technology works for us in some really helpful ways.

We both dressed up just like we were going in person and were sitting in the living room with our coffee waiting just as we would have been doing in her office.

She was right on time and went over the diagnosis with us as well as the treatment suggestions.

We were not surprised by anything she said and will be starting on the new medication that will slow down his dementia. She recommended a healthy diet, social activities and good physical exercise as well as keeping his brain active.

That's not a problem for him!

Louis Dean not only sings and plays his guitar - he also arranges music and does the chord notations.

He's very good at it and does a good deal of research on his music. He has a multitude of notebooks in which he has organized according to favorites, artists, and/or alphabetically.

He can spend hours at a time in his music room - which he has designed especially for him.

I'm encouraged that life will pretty much continue for us as usual with some adjusting and compensating for changes as we come to them.

To celebrate I made a fresh pear cake!

I don't remember where I got this recipe but I know I made it for the first time back in 2003.

I remember because Charlie and Nita's Mike came over to repair my shower for me.

I didn't have any money as I was in the process of divorcing - so I baked them a cake!

Our neighbor, Ilene, gave us the pears and they were really good!

This recipe works well for the pear trees in neighborhoods - you know the kind that are hard?

You can cook, peel and chop them and they make a great cake!

Instead of baking one big cake - I made the batter into several small ones.

This makes it easier to gift.

Louis Dean and I split one after our salad supper tonight and it was delicious.

Instead of glazing them - we just spread a little butter on top.

I've had the art table set up for weeks now and have been painting a little bit every day, but tonight I cleaned all my brushes, put all the papers and palette in the trash and stored it all away for awhile as I finish cleaning the house.

It all looks a bit 'vacant' without all the 'debris!'

I've pretty much finished this landscape of the Texas hill country during bluebonnet season.

After it's dry, I think I'll add some more details on the flowers and path, then let it dry again before glazing it with Liquin. THEN it will be done!

All my Santas are still hanging on the walls but I'll be taking them down soon.

It will be nice to have this new painting to put up!

I hear the sun's going to shine tomorrow!!!!