MLK Weekend 2024 - Saturday

Saturday, January 13, 2024

MLK weekend is here. Enjoying not having anyplace to be but home. It's cold and there's a light coating of snow on the ground. Dale and I are lounging on the couch and Sylvester is on Dale's lap. It's very cozy in here. We're contemplating shoveling the snow but we're not moving too fast to make that happen.

It's cold. Dale and I just got in from shoveling the little bit of snow that's on the ground. Glad we're not just south of us in Iowa which is also frigid but getting HAMMERED with snow. 

For us it's notable because we've been way warmer than usual this season and we haven't had enough snow at any given time to shovel any more that what we got overnight. We've been spoiled but we're bracing ourselves. Who knows when but the monster snowstorm WILL come.

I've come to regard MLK weekend as something of an extension of winter break. As a teacher I've always gotten a 2 week break around the holidays. Every other teacher I talk to says the two week mark is just when they feel they're starting to really relax. That's the case for me with summer break too. Anyway, the two weeks I've been back in school have been productive albeit tiring. There's some good stuff going on at work but I'll just leave that there for now as I need to give myself a mental break from thinking and talking about my job. 

I'm sitting down now with a Fresca and listening to Christmas with Ed Ames, one of my favorite Christmas albums from childhood. Hearing these songs brings me right back to the living room in the house on Stevens at Christmastime. 

We had Fran, Charlie, and Christine from Gethsemane over for dinner tonight and it was really delightful seeing all of them. Dale and I made a lasagna that went over very well. Fran brought over lychee martinis which she's been telling me about for a while. I loved 'em. They're one part lime rum, 1 part lemon run, 1 part vanilla rum, and 1 part lychee liqueur. 

                 

Christmas Season 2023/2024 - 7th Day of Christmas Part 2: New Year's Eve Day

Sunday, December 31, 2023

The 7th Day of Christmas

The overnight snow accumulated a little bit. It's not that it hasn't felt like Christmas this season but now it actually looks more like Christmas. 

Dale and I went to brunch at Creekside today. After that we went to Lunds to pick up food for dinner. 

                          

Had a couple Macanudos this afternoon while Dale took a nice walk. 

Came inside for cocktails with Dale (but first changed into my velvety blue blazer) and we listened to more of my Christmas playlists. 

Christmas Season 2023/2024 - 6th Day of Christmas: Dinner with Mike and Charisse

Saturday, December 30, 2023

The 6th Day of Christmas

Mike and Charisse invited us over for dinner tonight. 

For the drive over we were getting a little rain that was trying to turn to snow.  Very slippery conditions. 

We brought over a bottle of white wine to share and a nice red velvet roulade from Lunds for dessert. 

We started with cocktails. Mike had martini makings set out for me.

They had quite a lovely smorgasbord set out for dinner with lots of tasty options. We had a good three hours to talk about all our surgeries, troubles at work, looking ahead and preparing for retirement, and of course our funny cats. I think we came to the conclusion that despite the trials that occur at this stage of life we're at least gaining a level of wisdom we didn't have before to help counter it all. 

While getting ready to leave we discovered the rain had indeed turned to snow and that there was a light dusting covering the ground. We said our goodbyes and were careful walking to the car and driving home because the rain had left a thin layer of ice under the snow. I can't remember the last time I had to brush snow off the car. Too bad this all didn't happen a week ago allowing us a bit of a white Christmas. Oh well, no matter. This holiday season has been quite wonderful even without the typical winter optics. 

Holiday Season 2023 - 3 Days to Go

 Friday, December 22, 2023

Countdown to Christmas - 3 Days

Decorated my Swedish themed tree with straw ornaments I picked up yesterday at ASI.

Gloomy day but mild enough temperatures to make taking a walk quite pleasant. 

Afternoon cigar. 

Sylvester checks out the tree. 

Late afternoon walk. Lots of pretty lights. 

Dale and I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas tonight. It's been a few years since we've seen it. Always fun and it brings me back to being a kid. 

Found this chart on Facebook recently. Dale and I are bracing for a brown (and rainy) Christmas. It's predicted to be 51 degrees on Christmas Eve. I'd be willing to bet that the snowless Christmases noted above were not that warm. 

Holiday Season 2023 - A Cozy Day

 Saturday, December 9, 2023

Gloomy day today. We got a dusting of snow. 

Earlier Noel and I went to lunch at Heather's. Since my stomach's been feeling better I've really been craving a burger and fries which is what I got and it really hit the spot. We stopped by Bachman's to see their Christmas stuff. There were a good number of people about and it all had an air of holiday bustle which has been missing from my Christmas shopping experiences of late. The Christmas tree area had a strong and wonderful scent of pine. 

Dale and I had cocktails and listened to Christmas music before dinner. I was still really full from my heavy lunch so I just had some tomato soup. Dale had some sushi we picked up at the store. 

Flurries into the evening and the wind was whistling outside; very cozy. Watched Only Murders in the Building and called it a night. 

Epiphany 2023 - Summary

Friday, January 6, 2023

The kids next door, Ada and Bran, have been having a lot of fun with the snow. This photo doesn't very well show what they've done. There's a couple of snow people and a fort. 

Christmas Season 2022/2023 - 11th Day of Christmas: Snow Day!

Wednesday, January 4, 2022

Well, not quite a traditional snow day. The new normal with remote learning is that there are no more days off from school when the snowfall makes travel impossible. It's now distance learning. Anyway, it was a break from the routine. 

Anyway, it's been snowing since yesterday so it was nice to be able to gradually keep up with the shoveling. 

Also had time to keep up with the news of Republicans embarrassing themselves trying to elect a House Speaker. 

Along with shoveling I got the roof raked. 

Dale and I had a nice roulade for dessert tonight. 

Christmastide 2021/2022 - 3rd Day of Christmas: Waking Up to a Blanket of Snow

Monday, December 27, 2021

The snow that began last evening continued overnight somewhat. I'd say Dale and I woke up to a couple of inches. Didn't take long to shovel it especially with both of us helping out. 

Holiday Season 2021 - Holiday Wedding

Saturday, December 19, 2021

Just got home tonight from our friend Alyn's wedding to her new husband Bill. They had a lovely still, clear, peaceful, cold but at least not windy, evening for the wedding which was held at the conservatory in St. Paul. A nice blanket of snow covered the ground. It was nice running into some old acquaintances and friends including Eric V.

Oh, and the moon was full. The December full moon is often referred to as the Cold Moon. Since it's the only full moon in December and pretty close to the big day I'll call it the Christmas moon. 

Holiday Season 2021 - Snow

Sunday, December 12, 2021

The snow from the recent storm still looks clean and fresh. We'll have to enjoy it while it lasts. It's supposed to be in the 40s tomorrow and Tuesday and then up to 50 degrees with rain by Wednesday. Looks to be a mess. We'll see where we're at by Christmas. Will there be snow or no?

Holiday Season 2021 - Snow! It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Saturday, December 11, 2021

The snowstorm began yesterday afternoon and we knew this had the potential to be a big one. Dale shoveled after he picked me up from work. I had had a particularly exhausting day and he encouraged me to rest. I took him up on the offer and promised to help in the morning as it was expected to snow throughout the rest of the evening and overnight. He said there were about 5 inches on the ground at the time he began. Good thing he thinned it out because when we woke up this morning we discovered that, all totaled, we got about 12 inches.  

After a particularly good night of sleep I was rip, roarin', and ready to go this morning to tackle clearing the additional snow that fell overnight. I helped with the walks and raked the roof. We also got a little unexpected help...

From Dale's blog:

"Snow handled like a boss!  Great synchronicity too:  our neighbor across the alley was getting out his new snowblower just as the city plowed the alley.  Whenever someone gets a new snowblower, they are absolutely gung-ho to use it, so just after the plow passed, my neighbor looked expectantly at me.  He asked if I’d like him to snow blow the windrow the plow left, and also do our driveway.  Yes please!  He was like a kid in a candy store and I felt like the winner in the whole deal."

"Still plenty of shoveling sidewalks, etc.  And one of the things a wet storm like this one that will be followed by a warm week, is the threat of ice dams.  So here, for your viewing pleasure, is Joe raking the roof.  If you turn up the sound you can kind of hear the snow hitting the ground.  And Joe grunting.  LOL"

Also from Dale's blog:

 "I just wish the weather outlook for this week was for colder weather.  It’s going to warm up significantly and will turn a lot of this into slush followed by rain on Wednesday, followed by sharply colder weather resulting in ice everywhere.  Ice underfoot is the one thing about winter I detest."