Some days it is less comfortable out here in the sunporch. It is, afterall an add-on to the house and is not a "four season room", although we treat it like one. There is one little heat vent that I had added a couple of years ago but it doesn't really stand a chance because of the soffits from the roof line . Most of the time, we'll leave the sliding glass door open at least partially at night to let some heat in here because we also put the potted patio plants in here for the winter. Last night we (maybe I) forgot to partially open the slider and it was 45 degrees out here this morning when I came out. That's a tad more chilly than even I like it to be. But. --- it is up to 58 out here now and with my lap blanket, I'm good to go. I'm sure glad we decided to add this on to the house. I can't count the number of hours of enjoyment I have had just sitting out here watching the birds and looking at the flowers. We were able to add this on thanks to an inheritance from my mother-in-law. But --- I can't help but think about how much she woud have loved to sit out here too. This would have been just her kind of place. Thanks Mom; --- I miss ya'.

Ms. Kate and I did a "day trip" yesterday for lunch. We like to find new places to eat and I happened to see an article about allegedly great places to eat over in southern Illinois. One such place is the Twin Rivers Restuarant over in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. It is only about 35 or 40 miles from our house so we decided to check it out. It has great reviews on the Trip Advisor. It sits at the junction of the Wabash River and the White River so I was a little worried that the roads to it might be under water since the rivers are up now; but I called and found out they were open and the lady told me the best way to get there. The food was good, the service was friendly and if we are over that way again, I'd go back to eat there. I have a list of three or four more places I want us to try sometime. We like to take our little day trips simply because we enjoy doing things together.

While we might like to stay in the house today, unfortunately we need to go to the grocery store. There are a couple of things that we are out of like milk for my cereal and half and half for Ms. Kate's  coffee. I love to have my bowl of cereal at night and last night I got the milk out and sniffed it, and it wrinkled my nose. And we are down to one case of Dasani water for Ms. Kate so I guess we'll do our shopping at Target.

The backyard buffet was busy for awhile but now they have all left. One fat squirrel is eating sunflower seeds from the ground. There is a breeze this morning which doesn't make the 32 degree temperature out there feel a bit better. But --- God has given us another day full of blessings and opportunities to do something for someone else. Once again I look around at my surrounding and my life and I can't help but be amazed at how blesssed I am. I can only give God all of the credit and praise for that.

Have a great weekend. Peace.