Morning White Out, Six Inches of Snow and Cold

Marisa on the Hill

7:25

Missing the Bissells

Up at 6:45 to a snow filled yard, trees frosted, the lake mostly white, and I cannot make out the Long Point shore.  It's 14º, quite a difference from yesterday's drizzle.  A heavy wind was forecast but I am not sure it happened though a huge gust just blew snow off of roofs and trees, so maybe I wrote too soon.

A sad beginning to yesterday morning as the Bissell's had to jump in their car and drive home to Virginia after a wonderful four days of fun.  Halle, especially, was upset with leaving but they had an easy trip home fortunately, rain but no snow or ice.  After they left, Beth and I went to  classical yoga in Lakewood, a good class, with emphasis on the lower back, my favorite area to work.  Beth enjoyed it as well and we left feeling good.  We stopped at Ryder's Cup for coffee, called Evie and finalized our shopping list for Wegman's.  We first stopped at Walmart, to pick up a couple of new sleds, as the one's we had were destroyed from use on the hill.  We then shopped at Wegman's for our next two dinners, then came home to a quiet house, or so it seemed with the Bissell's gone.  Evie and the boys had made a pumpkin pie while we were gone, so we had dessert for this evening.

Fat Boy

On the Ice

The weather was miserable most of the day, overcast, warming, slushy, with some rain so it discouraged our going outside.  The boys started watching Freaks and Geeks, a series about high school in the 1980's, still funny and real.  We did venture out around 4:00 to try sledding on the Woodlawn hill and both Marisa and Mitch had fun, mostly rolling down the hill, or doing somersaults through the snow, as it was not great for sledding.

Beth's Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

Around 5:30, Beth put together her newest chicken dish, two small organic chickens, splayed, and set on top of a bed of potatoes, all having been salted and peppered.  Cook it at 450º for about forty five minutes and it's done, nice and crispy.  Before serving, squeeze a lemon over the top and serve.  It was great, moist on the inside, crisp on the outside, and surprisingly, we had quite a bit left, enough for another dinner for Evie and me, if it lasts through the lunch's.

Our neighbors,  The Fox's, Walking Their Dog

After Marisa went to bed, we watched one of my favorite movies, Departures, about a young Japanese cellist who, having lost his job in Tokyo, returns to his village and  discovers his avocation, as a professional casketer, the individual who prepares a body (in the presence of the family and friends) for cremation.  It was a bit slow moving for the boys, lasting over two hours, but they stuck with it, for my sake, I think.  It sounds lugubrious but it's not, uplifting and moving for the most part.  We went to bed around 11:00 though the boys stayed up to watch  more TV.