Cold but cozy

Winter has definitely arrived, but clear sunny skies make it seem much warmer than it is. Plus we're snuggled up inside with the wood stove keeping things cozy warm on our little anniversary vacation. Games of Hand-And-Foot and downloaded episodes of BBC Stephen Fry in America have kept us entertained. Long walks around town with an eye out for interesting architectural details or exceptionally lovely fences. Comfort food like creamed chicken over cornbread or smoked pork chops with cooked cabbage and garlic mashed potatoes.

Oh, and the inevitable plumbing problem.

Yep, this vacation -- for Ivan anyway -- has meant a few trips to the hardware store and hours of fiddling with leaky pipes. *sigh*  The latest leak he traced back to the connection at the tub in the main bath. Traced by knocking out the wall from the kitchen to the bath. It stems from a lead pipe that was buried in the cement which I guess is a no-no because of the chemical interaction of the lime with the lead. He was able to do a temporary fix (so we could still have hot water) while he contemplates the best way to handle it permanently. And then, of course, we'll have the patching and re-tiling to do. He also spent all afternoon yesterday on the roof working on the tank, with more yet to come. Poor guy just can't get away from it.

I, however, am in total vacation mode. Other than fixing and cleaning up after meals, I'm not doing much at all. I downloaded some free Kindle books before we came but have skipped around. There's a LOT of drivel out there, I'm sorry to say, and life is too short to waste on drivel. I might have to break down and actually buy a good book. Just thought it was worth a try with the free stuff. I've found a couple of good ones that way, but sadly they seem to be few and far between. I guess there's a reason they're free.

Looking forward to a couple more days like this before heading back home. Sunny skies, good food, beautiful country, wonderful companion...but sketchy internet, so I won't be online much. We're doing well to check e-mail and some days we can't keep a connection long enough to even do that. Did receive e-mails from dear friends in Kampala letting us know they were okay, which was great news (even though we had not heard about the bombings since we don't have a t.v. or radio out here). One of our friends knew several who had been killed, including the one American. So sad! I hate to think about lovely Uganda being a target like this. Praying for those families touched by this tragedy.