Wednesday, January 14, 2026
It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time to answer some questions with Joyce!
1. What kind of winter person are you-snow lover, fireplace snuggler, winter adventurer, or indoor hibernator? Elaborate.
A little bit of each. I love watching snow come down during daylight hours. When all of my people were in my house with me and it was snowing, it was just sublime. Those snow days when Tom left for work and the twins and I were left home were wonderful, too!
I love a fire – indoor or outdoor. I love finding restaurants or bars with a fireplace. I love going out in the snow and in winter when it’s not super cold. When it’s really cold, I am happy to hibernate, but I know it’s not healthy to stay inside too long. I think I’ve decided I’m a 30 degrees and up winter person!
I have been seeing lots of things about letting babies sleep outside in my IG feed. I had heard of this – leaving a baby in a stroller outside in Scandinavian countries. I saw a daycare in Holland maybe with outdoor sleeping compartments for kids! I do think all humans need to get outside in the winter!
2. The Pantone color of the year is cloud dancer, described as a gentle, billowy off white shade. The color symbolizes ‘peace, clarity, quiet reflection, renewal, and a soft reset’. Of the terms just listed which do you need most in your life this winter?
Are the Pantone employees on psychedelic drugs? What is a cloud dancer? How can I get that job? I often wonder if they are laughing their butts off at the thought of everyone jumping to their “color of the year”. I feel that I have come to a place of peace and I have clarity after quite a bit of quiet reflection. I have been reflecting on the lives of my parents, the stage of my adult children, my life’s (paid) work from which I recently retired, and a bunch of other things. I am ready for renewal and soft reset.
3. Every cloud has a silver lining, on cloud nine, head in the clouds, storm clouds gathering, or cloud of suspicion...which ‘cloud’ idiom do you most relate to currently? Explain.
Man, Joyce, this is a tough one. I guess the silver lining and on cloud nine right now. right now. It relates to my answers to the last question. I am seeing some silver linings in my life with my kids being older and the stage where I am. I am on cloud nine especially on Monday mornings!
4. coconut, cauliflower, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, onions, ranch dressing…of the white foods listed, which would be the hardest for you to give up? Do you like all or any of the foods on the list?
I like everything except coconut. I would have to say mayo because it is the chef’s kiss to a perfect sandwich and it makes good sauces and dips.
5. Thomas Wentworth Higginson is credited with this quote-
“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year.”
Agree or disagree? Tell us why.
I agree with this. I think winter is a time to slow down, reflect, rejuvenate, and refresh. Nature goes to sleep and is dormant and we wouldn’t appreciate spring so much without winter. This is why I am deeply grateful to have a four distinct season place of residence. But I have never lived in a place that doesn’t have four seasons so maybe it’s wonderful, too.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
This will always be one of my favorite verses…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
Agreed-one of the greatest scriptures of all time 🙂 Cracking up at your answer to the paint color- ha!! Sounds like a dream job!
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I often wonder where ANY of the people who come up with color names get them from. But I also find it so odd that the color of the year rarely makes into popularity in the stores and the clothes that are being made… You’d think the color of the year would be everywhere but that is rarely the case so who are they setting this color for? Coconut is probably the only one from the “white” list that I would really miss. I mean I eat them all but none are a favorite. I do, however, use coconut and coconut oil in my granola and granola bars and love most coconut flavored things.
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