Of leaf angels and London Bridge

The Arctic Plunge weather has arrived. We had a low of 26°F and a high of 48°F. Tonight is supposed to be colder. It's unusual that the daytime temps don't rebound. The strong sun and length of time the sun is usually out tends to make a warmish daytime even in the middle of winter. Brr, we're in for a chilly night.

It was a very good week at school, and at home. I'm very blessed to have creature comforts, a good job, friends, and my church.

This week at school there were several fun events. It's a fun time of year where there are several things going on. Next Wednesday the cafeteria ladies put on a Thanksgiving feast for lunch, with all the fixins. It is always a delicious meal. The kindergartners wear their Indian or Pilgrim hats and outfits they'd made and we make a parade around the school as we go to the cafeteria.

Sleigh Ride. EPrata photo via JAdams

In December there is a Christmas program. This week our event was we had photographs with Santa. A man dressed as Santa comes in and the children can have a portrait taken, and the parents can choose to buy it or not. The day that Santa comes is a very exciting day in the kindergarten-grade 2 wing of the school. I was on hall duty by the door and I heard the excitement in the pitter-patter of running footsteps, all hurrying, one after another as they entered, to tell of the news that Santa is coming.

One boy came to tell me that Santa was HERE. He'd arrived! He said, "And he didn't come in a sleigh! He came in a Silver Ford F-150 with a front license plate that says SANTA!"

A truck is even better than a sleigh, I'm guessing by the excitement in his voice, lol.

On the playground we ended the week with a sweet moment. I sometimes despair of the life ahead of the children as the movie and television entertainment gets darker and darker with each passing season. Their impressionable minds are so drenched with dark visions and thoughts. The kids play vampire games and play zombies, and even mimic the eating habits of zombis, which of course is cannibalism. Zombies eat flesh. Sometimes the games get rough as the zombie or vampire chases after a victim and tries to catch him. The teachers always put an end to the rough play right away. In past times, I remember on the playground playing Red Rover and Foursquare and jumping rope. Where were those games? Why did they die? Where was simple innocence?

My private cry was heard...because on the last recess of the week one of the boys lining up looked up at me. All red-cheeked, happy and flushed, he said, "We played London Bridge and made leaf angels!"

Awww. Thanks for the sweetness!

Tower Bridge, London, AKA London Bridge. EPrata photo

Brrr it's cold

Well I can't complain, I'll complain a little. It was a wind-chill/real feel of ten degrees this morning. It was cold, cold cold. I had to bang against the front door to get out, it had iced up all around.

The midwest and north got a worse dose though so that is why I can't complain. It will be warm here in a few days, and up north it will be warm there in a few months.

My Christmas vacation is winding down. I will head back to school Monday for an in-service day (no kids) and then on Tuesday it will all start back up. Routine, kids, headaches, laughs, business...everything.

Church will wind up too. We have not had a Wednesday night prayer meeting for two weeks because of the holiday and many people have been traveling so attendance has been low, and our SS teacher was traveling so we have had subs. All the routines will ramp back up for the new year, which for me is like the second half of the old year because I go from May to May. ) School out to school out :)

I finished When Crickets Cry which was a good book. A heart surgeon confronts his past via the illness of a little girl. Well written, and absorbing, if a tiny bit slow. It was a bit sentimental but not overly so. I give it a B+. I started an Anne Rivers Siddons book so we'll see how that goes. So far it is OK. A jilted wife rebuilds her life.

I watched many good movies on snagfilms. City of Gold, about the Yukon Gold Rush and followed that up with The Fatal Glass of Beer, an early WC Fields short, a spoof on Yukon Gold Rush movies. City of Gold is a great documentary about the city of Dawson during the Klondike Gold Rush. The narrator uses photos in a realistic way, a method Ken Burns said he copied in his Civil War documentary. Anyway, after that, I watched WCFields in the 1933 short, "A Fatal Glass of Beer" spoofing all the early movies about the Klondike Gold Rush. In the short, WC Fields would constantly open the door and say "T'aint a night fit for man or beast!" and an obviously fake bucket of snow would hit him in the face. It was funny, and even funnier *after* watching it. Like, I chuckled when I remember WC Fields had a dachshund in his dog sled line. "Mush!" Or he went outside to the well and pumped and ice cubes came out. Or he announced to his wife, "Bessie, I'm a-goin to milk the elk!" The fatal glass of beer is a spoof temperance song he played for a Canadian Mountie, off key, on a zither, in mittens...It was very Monty Python-esque movie. Seeing the 'City of Gold' and then 'Fatal Glass' was a hoot.

I had coffee with a friend yesterday at the local yuppie cafe. Our coffee turned into breakfast, then three hours of chat. Girls!

I made a kickin' slaw this week. Cabbage slaw, roasted broccoli, raisins, and hummus-mayo sauce. And wrapped in a flour tortilla. Yum!! I also made roasted veggies, and penne with veggies. I baked a pumpkin-angel food cake with chocolate chips too. That was delicious and- light.

January is hard. After a blessed vacation like this, in fleece jammies, drinking steaming tea, cooking, reading, and watching movies, who wouldn't be loathe to have it all end? But work is good too. It does me good to get back. But not yet. Monday is still three days away ;)

How it is around here

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over we sadly must return to regular schedules. Schedules that include paying bills, doing laundry, and eating right. However, while the holidays were on, some folks around here had a really good time as evidenced by the police blotter blurb below. I wonder what they are regretting now that the cold light of day has come upon them? ;) No Christmas party stock room dalliance that can be kept secret, these folks awoke to their name in the news.

"Three arrested after riding on horses while drinking Three people were arrested recently in an unusual case of DUI, after a deputy reportedly found them riding horses on the road at night while drinking. According to the sheriff’s office and the incident report, Deputy Dennis Harbison found the trio riding their horses on James Adams Road after dark Saturday night with no reflective gear on. Harbison asked them to get off their horses and noticed the smell of alcohol and that they were unstable on their feet. He also found several cans of Bud Light both open and unopened in their saddle bags. They were arrested and taken to the Madison County Jail."

We awoke today to a cold morning here in peachy Georgia. Bright, but very cold.No, the photo isn't of Georgia, it's from Maine, but the sun was that bright, glinting off the hard grown trees and icy patches in the yard.

Wunderground reports this morning "Gusty winds will persist across north and central Georgia this morning...creating wind chill values in the single digits above zero. Strong gusty winds from 15 to 25 mph can be expected. Wind chill values will be between 0 and 10 degrees above zero generally along and north of a line from Franklin to McDonough to Danielsville...through 9 am EST. Anyone going outdoors should dress in layers. Those especially sensitive to cold temperatures should remain indoors until temperatures rise later this morning." Hmmm, OK!

The news says "Winter cold dominates country's eastern half""Brutally cold temperatures continue in the Eastern U.S., with snow near the Great Lakes."

Frozen pipes are a concern. Most houses around here don't have them well insulated or protected, there rarely being a long spell of below freezing weather. I don't remember it being this cold at any time in the four winters I've lived here. Mid-teens for an overnight low is pretty cold for anywhere, but especially cold for the people around here who think 45 degrees is a temperature assault on the bones. Above, Drudge Report home page today.

Yet, charmingly, the birds are back. I have heard more birds the last few days than I have in the previous two months. I think some of them are making their way back, or are-emerging with vigor. Anyway, it's good to hear them. They're active in the scuppernine fence at the back of the yard. They are swooping, playing, and chirping to their heart's content. It's great to hear. See the fat one in the middle of the brown foliage? They swoop across the yard and land there and then continue on to the next door guy's roof.

Yesterday I spent in one of my favorite ways, worshiping at church for the majority of the morning, and home cooking for the majority of the afternoon. The cooking and washing dishes after gives my hands a chance to be busy while I think and ponder the truths related to me from the sermon. I spent a long time considering what the Holy Spirit might want me to do to serve Jesus this year. As to the cooking part, I made brownies, baked a bunch of sweet potatoes, and made sweet potato casserole. Obviously I had a lot of potatoes to get rid of! I get them for free from an organic farm and I love them! Just love them. The casserole was a take on southern sweet potato casserole but I modified it for northern tastes. The recipe I was given was simple enough, steam or boil the taters as they are referred to here, mash, add salt, pepper, vanilla, sugar and butter. I omitted the sugar. I mean, they're sweet potatoes, they don't need more sweetening. The ladies of the south love their sugar. And I halved the butter. You just don't need that much with an organic product that has fantastic taste all its own.

These red berries are about the only thing that has color in the yard these days. Except for the occasional cardinal, the colors out back are brown and more brown. I can't wait for spring, which blessedly comes in March here in north Georgia, and not in May as in my former home of Maine. Then the yard bursts into color of all kinds as well as a chorus of noise from the returning birds.

I settled in for the final episode of Cranford last night on Masterpiece Theatre. Oh, what a joy to view great acting, sumptuous scenes, and stellar writing. It was wonderful, all snuggled up on my couch under a blankie and my two cats on either side of me, purring and stretching and kneading. Best of all, though things got pretty sad there in the middle of the run, all ended happily. I love Judy Dench...and Masterpiece. I can't wait for the series to continue with its sequel next week. And after that several of Jane Austen's books are made into series. It looks to be some nice Sunday night for the next few weeks.

So ends my vacation. Today I'm readying the apartment, the car, and myself for the hectic work-week. I'm making soup, vacuuming, doing laundry and bagging up 3 old canvas bags teachers seem to tote around, two with their ministry materials for Good News Club and Pioneer Club, which begin again, and the third for school for my lunch and subbing needs. I'm ready for the onslaught again! The question is, is it ready for me?