Off to New York City For the Day

Darien Morning

Marisa

Granny with the Boys

Making Maple Candy from Snow

Up at 6:40 here in Darien, the first one up, made the coffee, went outside to see the snow on the trees, and it's partly cloudy, though I could see some clear skies, even the moon, the last full moon of the year.  About four or five inches fell last night, still remains on the tree limbs, though the plow has already been in to clear the drive, no doubt anxious to make a little extra cash.  It's a chilly 28º here, high in the mid thirties later though quite windy.

Yesterday, I was determined to ignore my sniffles, so I went to Dew Yoga with Beth and her friend Nancy in Stamford, about a fifteen minute drive.  We were a few minutes late but we squeezed ourselves into the yoga room and as usual, I was the only dude there.  The teacher is supposed to be very knowledgeable, has written books, knows her stuff, but she went too quickly for me, did not come around and help anyone with their poses, and cut class short because she was in a hurry.  Not my kind of teacher.  O, yea, she split her pants before we got there so she was unable to demonstrate most poses because I was there!  It felt good though and the yoga breathing, the concentration of various poses, either made me forget about my stuffiness or it helped get rid of it for that hour.

We did not do a lot during the rest of the day, other than a few trips to the store.  Beth and Tyler went off to Sean's, the family hair salon, for hair cuts and trims.  The rest of us took the 'must do' Costco run to pick up food for dinner though we decided to hold off on the prime rib until tomorrow.  I have been looking for a compact camera with a powerful telephoto lens and just as I walked in, there was a Sony on sale (if there is such a thing) with an amazing 16X telephoto lens, lots of pixels, for two hundred dollars.  Amazon was selling it for 300.00 and B & H Camera was selling it for 250,00.  So, how could I pass up a deal. It's a little heavier than the compact camera I now have which is two years old, same price two years ago, but has lots more bells and whistles.  I think I am going to like it quite a bit.

It started to snow heavily around 5:30, so Mitch and I donned our heavy weather gear, got out the flashlights because it was dark, and took Cody for a walk up the hill in the wet snow.  It was great to be outside, to feel the snow flakes on your face.  Cody loved it as well, and Mitch worked on his snowboard skills with just his boots, sliding up and down the hill.

We came home from shopping and Beth made a spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage for dinner and along with garlic bread and salad, we had a great meal.  It always amazes me how full we get after, let's say a lunch or a hot dog at Costco's, but a couple of hours later we are starving, ready for another big meal.  It tasted good to all of us.  We put Marisa to bed early, as we are going in to the city today, and I told her a 'bad boy' story before Evie came up and read some with her. The boys watched Men in Black III with  Rami.  I watched it for about forty five minutes, but then went up to read.  I think Evie stuck it out but she did not like it much either.  Tastes are sure fickle from one family member to another, from one generation to another.

Today, about 10:30, we are off via the train to the city for the day, to do some shopping, eat at Katz's Deli for lunch, and see an exhibition at the Armory.