Grandma's delight

I had a conversation with Owen today- I can't believe he is so grown up, and talking in sentences- all strung together!

He told me about the good time he had sledding in the snow. Good thing he is still speaking in English!

Fire place

Did I mention windchill to 10 below? No worries!

Margaritas by the fire cures all! Tom is practicing so that he can tend bar at the Czech Inn- he has found this website to help him create

perfect drinks- this one is the Cadillac Margarita.

http://www.webtender.com

Bird Feeder

I watched a little girl walking up the street with her Mom the other day. When she got to our house, she stopped on the sidewalk and pointed toward the window where I was sitting. At first I thought she was pointing at me, then I realized she was probably wondering what in the world those bright red things were!








This is Tom's way of keeping the squirrels from tightrope walking their way to our feeder! There is one on the other side as well, although it's out of the picture! All that plastic seems to be doing the trick, because not one squirrel has gotten any seeds so far this winter.






Our feathered friends have though......

The relativity of South

Today I feel as though I am sitting in the middle of a snow globe. I am looking out my office windows at a winter wonderland- the kind of scene that you expect in Central New York during the winter. There is a blanket of snow on the ground- about 8 inches of the white fluffy stuff. The skies are grey with heavily-laden snow clouds that are supposed to dump more snow all day today. This is what White Christmas is all about- and since it is the first real snowfall we've had all winter, it is not unappreciated. Our winter to date has been extraordinarily warm, although the paper this morning reported that the winter of 1891 was actually warmer.

Anyway, imagine my reaction, then, when Tom called to say that Cayuga Lake was a beautiful blue today - reminiscent of spring. He mentioned sparkling waves, blue water, and I said Huh? Where's the snow?

It seems that 50 miles does make a difference- there is no snow that far south!

Spring?

If this is global warming, I'm all for it. Who needs a white Christmas? I just had to record that the temperature was 58 this AM when I walked to the bank! The grass is really green, just like in spring, and I saw little flowers in the grass as I was walking. The only thing we lack is the song birds, oh and the boat- it's still in winter covers. A little over three months to go - but who's counting?

Pictures

At long last, here are some pictures of our gathering at Diane and Rich's. Rich is making his tasty stuffed clams.


















Notice everyone hangs out in the kitchen - this seems to happen no matter whose house is involved. No matter how well the rest of the house is "dressed", people seem to enjoy the kitchen best.

















Here's Susan, thinking of a good Wal-Mart riposte.


















And the pretty table.....

MILESTONE - CHANDLER IS 16!!!!!

and he has been since December 21.

I cannot believe that I FORGOT to post on this important day!

We did celebrate his birthday early at our gathering on December 17, where we met his girlfriend, her parents, and other family friends. No driving for awhile though, as Chandler is recovering from surgery on his hand and cannot drive until his hand heals.

Photos of this young man alone were hard to find - hopefully we'll do better next year!

Christmas festivities

Ok-so it's New Year's Day already, and I haven't said a word about Christmas- or other monumental events- which we'll get to in the next post.

We have had the pleasure of many small celebrations leading up to Christmas Day. On December 16, we went next door for a holiday event. Our neighbor, Beth, is some sort of forensic scientist at the Cornell vet school, so we had the opportunity to meet and greet other Cornellians as well as our neighbors up the street. It was a very pleasant evening - no photos.

On December 17, we went to nephew Rich and Diane's beautiful little house in New Hartford to celebrate the Hollister side of Christmas. I do have photos of the elegant table setting (and some of the folks too) but I saved them on my computer at work. We thought Tom had them too, but we can't find them, so we will post them later. AND - we celebrated Chandler's 16th birthday. more on that later.

On December 20, we attended Tom's office Christmas party at the Ithaca Country Club. Great hors d'oeuvres, pasta with made- to- order toppings, drinks, and conversation made for another enjoyable evening. No pictures.

On Christmas Eve, we entertained my sister Judy and nephew Alex, and niece Susan, Rob & Ian. I made chicken riggies, which is a regional Italian dish from the Utica/Rome area, although many Syracuse restaurants (and even one in Lansing) has this on the menu. Candlelight services at our church ended the day for us, but it just wasn't the same without snow.

Christmas Day we visited with Tom's sister Shirley and niece Karen, Denny and Jimmy in Cortland, and stuffed more food and coffee in our already overfed bodies. Yummy pie!

The rest of the week leading up to New Year's has been quiet and uneventful. No travel, no parties, no work. We've been eating, reading, cleaning the attic, going to the gym, and in general being bums. But tomorrow will be back to workfor both of us!