View from my window, Dec. 28

Snow on the oaks.

Mother love...

...grilling bratwurst outside in teen-degree weather just to satisfy your home-from-college son's craving.

My babies are home!!!

Friday Steve and I headed to the airport to pick up Joe and Liz from college. It was so foggy we worried that they wouldn't get in or that they'd be really, really late. The fog hid everything but the road immediately ahead. Amazingly, they were right on time and even beat us to the airport.





Joseph. See how he wore his new suit to impress his best gal? (Me...for the moment anyhow.) And he got a fresh haircut, too, but I think that was a preemptive move since he can't stand to let it get longer than a quarter inch and nobody here knows how to do a Marine cut quite "right".

Elizabeth. How I've missed that beautiful smile!

The price of a white Christmas...

...lots of snow to shovel. Ben and the other boys are pretty good about getting the job done when Steve isn't home. I have to shovel snow so rarely that I actually enjoy it when I do...sort of...unless there's a foot of it.

Making a Christmas present

I didn't take many pictures this past week, but at least I can catch up with the few I did take.

Here are Susannah and Matthew making a present for their baby cousin Seren.

Meeting at the end. Mission accomplished.

Ice-coated trees

Wish I could've better captured how the ice and sun turned these trees into sparkling crystal.

Ice World

No school today--there's a layer of ice on EVERYTHING.Tree in the front yard.


Barberry shrub in the back yard.

For the 84th time, "How about this one?"

"Nope, sorry, too scrawny." The search continues....

Why I love my sunroom....

Roses in December!!! And these even smell like roses are supposed to smell--heaven on earth!

Winter color

We're into winter with a vengeance here. The snow is pretty, but it brings with it one of my biggest problems with winter--the monochromatic color scheme. White ground, gray skies, in various shades, forever and ever amen till April. It gets depressing and sometimes I just want to take a big old paintbrush and splotch bright color all over the place. These bits of brightness help, especially since these plants can't compete in summertime with showier cousins:
Berries on snow. Looks almost like drops of blood, especially with those thorny branches.

More berries, on a junk shrub I should really tear out.


Raspberry cane rainbows in raspberry red.

The first of many

I've started my Christmas baking. Only a dozen or so more batches to go.

More Boar's Head

This is what young men do when they're backstage waiting for their turn in the Christmas pageant:

Aaron picks up chicks--older chicks at that, but at least they're angelic older chicks.


Ben then steals said chicks from his older brother--and looks mighty proud of himself for pulling it off.

Here the guys are with Susannah--somehow a sister doesn't inspire in Ben and Aaron the same sort of spontaneous animation that those older angelic chicks do.

Lego Robotics

Aaron and his friend Hunter get ready to send the Lego robot on a mission at the regional robotics competition.

Boar's Head Dress Rehearsal

My church's annual Boar's Head Festival was this weekend. In case you didn't know, Boar's Head is a medieval Christmas pageant including lords, ladies, jesters, wassailers, King Wenceslaus, pages, peasants, and a whole host of other medieval characters, plus the full-blown nativity story, orchestra, and two choirs. The production involves hundreds of volunteers; our family contributed a peasant, a shepherd, a banner-bearer and a cookie baker/backstage kid supervisor (me). My favorite moment of the pageant is when the whole company bows in homage to the Christ child.

This photo was taken during dress rehearsal Friday since cameras aren't allowed during the actual pageant since it's a worship service. Aaron is the tall shepherd on the far left.