The Big Drip

7:09

7:54

7:59

8:05

I slept in some, till 6:40, after a restless night.  It was surprisingly mild when I walked outside and the drip, drip of melting snow continues, the worst part of winter in our area.  It's 39º at the moment and we should have some sunshine later today.  The roads already are cleared, the dirty snow edging the them.  And at the moment, 8:00, we got our first view of a sunrise in a couple of weeks.

I decided to pass on yoga classes until I get back from Xmas with our daughter Jill's family.  So we had a long morning, with little we had to do.  Evie wanted to get more cookies made but I talked her into making the dough, letting it sit, so we could go for a walk at the Chautauqua Institution.  We left about 10:30 and both of us were wearing our stabilizers, literally short spikes to make walking on ice safer.  The temperature was in the 30's and we immediately got a high from the fresh air.  We were lucky in that the roads were not icy and we took our usual walk, through the snow-covered, empty streets, house roofs frosted with white.  We walked for just forty-five minutes, but it was enough to wake us up and energize our psyches.

When we got home, it was cookie making time and Evie heated up a couple of slices of pizza in a frying pan for my lunch.  I had forgotten that I had not kept up with the series Ray Donovan.  So I started watching it but was totally lost, having no idea what was going on, what had happened at the end of last season.  So I went back and watched the last episode from the previous season but it seemed totally disconnected to this season.  It must be me.  So I read some, took a nice nap and got ready to drive off to the Subaru dealer, for an oil change, tire rotation, and new key.  I left just before 3:00 and did not get back till almost 4:45.  It always takes longer than you think.  The fancy new key was tres expensive, as was the oil change with synthetic oil.  The tire rotation was free only because I reminded them that since I bought my tires from them, all tire rotations were free.  They forgot!

The Kitchen Sisters

When I got home, the cookies were done and packed.  Around 6:00, we drove on a nasty, wet evening to our good friends, Linda and Ron's house, for dinner, a welcome respite for Evie who has been cooking for me for over ten days, no eating out.  Their new house is spacious and welcoming, decorated for Christmas, cozy with a nice fire.  We enjoyed a few beers and appetizers, caught up on what has been happening over the past two weeks (not much for us), and had a great dinner of lamb chops, with Hasselback potatoes, salad, and peas with bacon.  Ron grilled the lamb chops perfectly so they were medium rare.

Christmas Selfie

It was good to be back with them, in their new home, as they are finally beginning to relax and enjoy life after a tough year of building a house.  We did not get home until almost 10:00, briefly watched some TV before going up to bed.