Weekend Edition Sunday

It's now almost 10:00, it's gray outside and very cold, in the low teens, though tonight it's going down close to zero.  A dusting of snow overnight, a few flakes in the air at the moment.  A typical Sunday, as I catch up on email, check out the various newspapers, Facebook, and start my blog entry.  Evie has been busy, as I sit here reading and typing.  So far, she's made a spinach borek, eggplant puree, and started our tas kebab which we are having for dinner.  I usually go into the kitchen now and then, wash and/or dry what ever dishes she has used, keeping up with things. We are going to walk the CI in a bit, so it's time to put on my silk long johns and wind pants for the walk.

I finished Ken Follette's FALL OF GIANTS last night, all 985 pages.  It was an easy read, set between 1914 and 1925, pivotal periods in the history of Europe and the States.  He follows families in Russia, mostly plebeian, in Great Britain, both aristocratic and coal miner, Germany, the upper ruling class, and the States, mostly blue bloods, Woodrow Wilson, and an immigrant Russian family.  It piqued my interest in this period enough to want to read more about it.  He was an easy read, as he wrote short chapters, moving from one family to another, with most of them having some kind of connection.  For example, Maud, the rebellious daughter of the British aristocrat married Walter Von Ulrich just as the war begins.  We see what's happening in all four countries during the war, watch Lenin come to power in Russia, the rise of Labor in Great Britain, and the beginning of American power with Wilson.  It's not a great book,  but I read it quickly so I must have liked it enough to keep reading.  I don't think I will read any more of his epics, but who knows.  I just started a young adult novel mentioned on NPR as a great book called IF I STAY by Gayle Forman.  It's very readable, told first person by 18 year old Mia; my sense of foreboding was realized early on,  but there are interesting flashbacks, and it seems very real, set in Oregon.  I like it.

Back from the walk, took a couple of pictures (above) but it's a gray day, so the CI did not look very good, just gray and white, with little new snow on trees and houses.  It was a good walk, though Evie developed a blister.  It's Currier and Ives Sunday, with lots of sleighs but it was just getting started as we left.  There must have been 20 sleighs, mostly wagons with hay, though there were a few of the classic sleighs that one would expect.  I would say there were between 50-75 people, with more entering as we left.  Right now, as I sit waiting for our typical breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, there is a gentle snow coming from the west.