"Once More To The Lake" - E. B. White

The Beauty Of A Snow Fall (if it weren't March 5th)

Snowy Morning 

We are up early because we are not as organized as we would like, wanted to take our time saying good by to the Albarrans, especially Mitchell and Marisa before they headed off to school. It's 7:00 at the moment, everyone is up and it's a frigid 5º outside, clear skies, sun beginning to rise. Chautauqua, weather permitting, should be about a seven hour drive; the forecast seems to be fine, cold but some sun.  I will take Marisa to the bus, Ramiro to the train, then we will be off, after a great four weeks with the Albarran family.

Yesterday was a snow day, a genuine snow day as it snowed most of the day, as we received a total of eight inches in the past twenty four hours.  It made for a pretty day, every surface coated with white.  We took a leisurely morning, sitting around doing little.  The kids and Rami devoured the rest of Evie's sticky buns, and Mitchell made his father and himself omelets with home fries, a good boy.  I took Cody for a walk in the snow and, fortunately, the road was still snow covered so it was not slippery.  As always, it was 'marvelous' to be out for a walk as it was snowing, Cody seemed to like it as well.

Walking Cody

Before lunch, Evie made up a list of goodies we wanted to take home to Chautauqua, things we cannot get a Wegman's, as well as groceries for tonight's dinner of ribs.  The roads were snow covered, wet, and slippery, so I kept it at about twenty miles an hour on the side streets.  Trader Joe's was practically empty, as was the parking lot, so despite the weather, it was a good time to shop. Rami and Marisa were off to Starbuck's for a coffee when I returned, Evie was in the shower and Beth was working out on the treadmill.  So, I heated up some left over Chinese and went into the sun room to watch some Sports Center. Later, Rami showed me the new Photo program from Apple, which debuts this spring.  It saves all your photos on the cloud, so you can access them anywhere, on any of your devices and has a terabyte of memory...the rub, it costs twenty dollars a month for storage.  I think I will stick with Aperture and my external hard drive. Apple also is offering a free six months of the new version of Microsoft's Office for the Mac, so I downloaded a copy and it looks really neat. Too bad I don't have much of a need for it anymore. And I upgraded my Sonos application, so I hope it works when I get home.

Mitchell Frozen

Father and Daughter

I also did some shoveling of snow, just clearing a path to our cars though Cody was out as well, wanting me to take him for a walk.  We decided on ribs for dinner, so Beth got them ready and put them in the oven by 3:30 because they take a couple of hours.  It was, obviously, a  semi relaxing afternoon for most of us, Evie and I organizing and packing for our ride home tomorrow, Beth working out, doing some yoga, Rami working on his computer, Marisa off sledding with a friend, a good day for school to be called off.  I am not sure why but we always seem to leave with more than we bring when visiting our kids.  Perhaps it has to do with the proximity of a Trader Joe's, Costco, and IKEA.

Computer and Wine Make Me Feel Fine

Pam and Jim From The Office

Around 4:00, the four adults overcame our sense of guilt, commandeered the TV room and watched another episode of House of Cards while the ribs cooked, an excellent way to spend a snow day with the grandchildren, Mitch in the other room watching his show, Marisa off with friends, still.  I can't stop comparing the Underwoods, Francis and Claire , to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.  I will google the two as I am sure others have commented on this comparison. Just as  dusk fell, I packed the car with a couple of our Ikea suitcases, leaving the rest until tomorrow morning.  By then, it was wine time, also time to watch The Office with Marisa, our nightly routine.

A Crazy Granny, A Mad Granddaughter

We ate dinner at 6:30, all the ribs we could eat, cole slaw and corn bread, really good.  The kids and Rami had fun throwing bones out into the snow and watching Cody try to make his way through it to find them.  Poor Cody. And Marisa tortured Evie, by doing her hair, after dinner until it was time to go to bed.  No dessert tonight as we all seemed tired out from our rigorous snow day. We watched some more House of Cards before going to be at 10:00.  I was really tired as well, not sure why.

Mitch and Me, Finishing Our Rib Dinner