Twas the week after Christmas...

Twas the week after Christmas and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.


The cats were both back in their regular chairs,
assured that the child was no longer there.











Things were so different than just days ago,
youngest son and family flew in - in the snow.

Picked them up at the airport with snow falling fast,
shoved the bags in the car and headed home, home at last.










Five days they were here and not nearly enough,

but we packed all our time with such important stuff.




Cuddles and kisses and horsey back rides,
talking and laughing till we had pains in our sides.

The TV was tuned to cartoons quite a lot,
But princesses now, not a single robot.


The noise level rose to the rating of 'clatter',
not the least of which came from Miss Lily's chatter.

She has lots of words - like mo' canny pease,
which of course was the signal for a grandmother squeeze.






Fourteen inches of snow called for coats, gloves and hats,

the snowman was short and square and fat.














Because time passes quickly when we're having fun,
before we were ready the visit was done.

Back to the airport we took our three dears,
and got them checked in with hugs and a few tears.

Then Grandma and Grandad went home to the house,
where not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

The sheets are all washed the towels are put back,
the house is so quiet - I'm thinking maybe a nap!


Happy New Year to all!!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all the joys of the season to each and every one of you.  I hope you have friends and/or family to spend time with.  Our thoughts and prayers are especially with those who are dealing with tragedy at this most festive time of year.  We have several friends and relatives who are facing the first Christmas without a loved one and that is always difficult.  Of course we have that hope of seeing them again because of the birth of our Lord...there is hope in sorrow and in joy.

We went to the light show at the Boise River in Caldwell on Tuesday evening as we thought it might snow last night....

The park is alongside the river for several blocks and they had light strings and nets on every tree and bush, and silhouettes of deer and sleighs etc. in between!

Both of the bridges were decorated - the light reflecting on the rapids and small waterfalls were impossible to photograph with a point and shoot digital but lovely to see.  It was freezing (literally) with a bitter breeze, but we had a wonderful time.

We did not get snow last night, it waited until 8:30 this morning and has not let up since.  This photo was early, the blanket of snow is thick and the world is always muted and quiet in the snow.

Since I was a small child Christmas has always been that time when we prayed for snow, that 'white Christmas' was the ideal.  Sleds and snowballs and playing with the cousins, grandma making hot chocolate as much to warm our hands as our insides. I suspect my parents were not as thrilled as I was when the snow got there before they had to drive to Grandmas house!  (I do understand that now!)  Part of the magic of the snow is the way everything is beautiful in it!  Junkyards become works of art, fence posts wear little white hats, and the world is lovely.

Today, in our world, there is turmoil and fighting, loss and sorrow, fear and hate.  I will look out my window and remind myself that there is also peace and beauty, and that during this season, we celebrate the birth of the author of that peace.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

It is NOT winter yet!

So this week is Thanksgiving and we all think of things we are thankful for and we feel blessed and we gather with friends and family and it is a warm holiday for us.  I have decided this year I am thankful I don't live in BUFFALO, NY!  Yikes they got 7-8 feet of snow in 2 or 3 days, that is just frightening!  People there are worried about flooding and roof collapses!  Seriously we are praying for all of those in danger due to the freak weather system that moved through. 

That spider was really thinking positive yes?

We had 8 inches which is much easier to deal with!










 I got to hitch a ride to California with my friend Anita and we had a great time.  We got back the day after the big snow and the only place we had bad roads was between the freeway and our houses!

It seemed bigger when I was a kid!  :)

 We did the 'trip down memory lane' thing and went to our old schools.

Salute to WWII vets from the hometown!

We did the tourist thing in Exeter, CA.  They have around 30 murals all over the community and have been featured in several travel magazines.










We searched for family members in local cemeteries, we went on veterans day so we got to see the tail end of the ceremony and all the flags around the cemetery. (very moving)







And of course I got to see Miss Lily!!!, who is 6 months old now and just starting to crawl and ever so cute!

I got to babysit and spend lots of time with her.

It was a wonderful trip and much fun and we may do it again sometime!

Groundhog predictions....

So on February 2 every year a bunch of strange men with top hats gather in Pennsylvania to stare at a small marmot type creature and urge him to come out of his hole and then tell us how much of winter remains.  I did a little research (because with 6 more weeks of winter I have the time!) and the story is that the German settlers used to look at the ground on the 2nd and if small varmints could see their shadow it meant a late spring.  This sprung from the druids (who, by the way, left no written records so one wonders how we know what they thought) and the mid date of winter solstice and spring equinox, the Celts called it Imbolc, and then it became Candlemas.  I was curious - how often is the groundhog correct?  Turns out he has historically been correct 40% of the time.  Then I wondered how often the weather guys on the news are correct and was astonished to find that they are only correct about the same amount beyond 3-5 days!  Beyond 5 days they are no more accurate than climatology which is taking and averaging over 50 years of recorded weather patterns!

So what is the point of this information dump you ask - well there really is no point it was just something I was thinking of as we got another 6 inches of snow in the last 2 days! 

I'm really not complaining, I have a whole list of things I still hope to accomplish before the garden takes over my life and it is once again uncomfortable to have yarn on my lap!  I was just curious.  This probably should serve as a cautionary tale though - these little forays into the ethernet can just eat up an afternoon!

 So I am posting a picture of the cabbages in the ground as I plan my dinner of homemade sauerkraut and pork chops tonight and settle in in front of the fire with my baby afghan, watch the Olympics and thumb through seed catalogs.  Yes even a real winter lover can anticipate spring!