Winter break

Just what were the Powers That Be smoking and/drinking when they decided that children should have a week off from school in February? Even when we lived in that other state, the weather was lousy in February. Yes, there are some people who get to visit some warm climate for the week, but most of us stay home. With our chidren, in the house, for an entire week.

Yes, I am exaggerating, but it still seems like a ridiculous idea to me.

Aidan and I hung around the house on Monday. He slept in until almost 8 am - unusual for him - and then we just lazed around, watching television and playing games. We did shovel the driveway and Aidan was going to play outside, but came in after just fifteen minutes because he was cold. A peek at the thermometer revealed that it was just 14 degrees out so he had a good point.

Tuesday morning we loaded him up on fresh reading material from the library and on Tuesday afternoon, I took Aidan and his friend Ryan on a Cub Scout bowling outing. Bowling alleys are naturally loud and when you add fifteen or so shrill little boy voices to the mix, the decibel level is downright lethal. But the boys had a good time and I have regained most of my hearing.

We went out to lunch on Wednesday, then headed over to Barnes and Noble so Aidan could spend a gift card that he received at Christmas. He browsed and browsed, and then browsed some more. He finally chose a book, a Lego set and spent the last two dollars on a cookie from the cafe.

Thursday was a treat for both of us. Aidan had so much fun at Beaver Lake Nature Center's summer day camp that I signed him up for one day of winter camp. And did he ever have fun! They made snow caves, he helped cut ice from the lake, they went on a 2.2 mile snowshoe hike, they used the ice cut from the lake to make ice cream, he spilled hot chocolate on his hat and backpack, lost one glove, went through two pairs of socks and got to pet a red-tail hawk. His cheeks were rosy when I picked him up and he was so excited to tell me all that they had done.

We had plans yesterday to drive over to North Syracuse and have lunch with James, then go to our favorite bakery and visit an Italian grocery that we'd never visited before, but the weather was nasty. It snowed hard all day and the wind was blowing, so all we ended up doing was going out for Aidan's scheduled haircut and then sliding back home. The salon was quiet when we arrived; anyone who lived outside the village canceled their appointments. We spent the rest of the day eating popcorn and watching a movie, so we still had fun.

After we dug out the driveway this morning, we went to North Syracuse to do what we planned to do yesterday. First we went to Geddes Bakery, where we bought a loaf of crusty bread and a bakery treat for each of us (always baklava for me!). A fresh tomato pie came out of the oven as we were leaving and Aidan stopped to sniff and drool a little. The nice young counterperson earned his undying affection when she wrapped up a slice for him to try! Then we went to Vince's Gourmet Imports, where we happily wandered the aisles perusing the Italian specialties. We bought some of this, some of that, and got fresh made sandwiches to go. Thanks to Vince's, risotto allo zafferano is in our very near future.

All in all, not a bad week for February, but certainly no break from winter.

Chilling and grilling

One of the best parts of being reunited with our worldly possessions was making the acquaintance, once again, of our grill. Oh, how we missed that grill! Despite the fact that it is winter, James has already put the grill to good use.

As he did today:


That is a lovely boneless beef shoulder on the grill. I fully intended to buy London Broil, but a conversation with one of the meat department guys at the World's Greatest Grocery, aka Wegmans, convinced me to try the boneless shoulder. And that guy knows his beef; it was more tender and juicy than London Broil.

You might have noticed a beer bottle in the photo. Today we were enjoying Phin and Matt's Extraordinary Ale from Southern Tier, one of our favorite New York breweries:


Damn tasty beer.

The meal was rounded out with potatoes gratin, green beans sauteed with bacon and onions, and fresh artisan bread. And a good meal was had by all.

Go Orange and think pink

Today we went to our first Syracuse University women's basketball game and we had a marvelous time. It was a special Think Pink event for breast cancer awareness and anyone wearing a pink shirt received a discount on admission. Aidan is a member of the SU Kids' Club and got in free, I wore a pink breast cancer tee, so it was just $15 for all three of us to attend.

It was my first time being in the Carrier Dome for a basketball game, so I was a big intrigued by how it was configured. The basketball court is set up at one end, with temporary seating on one side in what is usually the middle of the football/lacrosse field. Here is the view of the Villanova team warming up, wearing pink t-shirts over their uniforms, and the temporary seating is on the right:


We chose great seats, just outside the seats on the right in the above photo. I have never sat that close to any sporting event and it was a great view. Seeing a basketball game live is NOTHING like watching it on television; I saw nuances of the game that I never knew existed. I like watching women's basketball, because they play a different game than men: more teamwork, far less showboating. And I was very surprised that the squeaking of the shoes on the court is not as noticeable as it is when watching on television.

The Orange wore special pink uniforms while 'Nova sported very cool pink shoes. Here is an SU player getting ready to shoot a foul shot:


What a fun game, especially since the Orange won. While Villanova had an amazingly three point game, Syracuse beat them in rebounds, lay ups and kept their fouls to a minimum. At least one SU basketball team won today:

Merry weather

February is a brutal month and our weather the first eight days of the month has been particularly lousy. If you have not already heard, Syracuse is on track to set a new winter snowfall record. Yippee ki-yay.

Today has been sunny, bright and beautiful - cold, yes, but seeing the sun lifts the spirits. My spirits also received a lift from a surprise gift of knitting goodies from my dear friend Kelli. What a box! It arrived from Knit Picks with the words "Happy February! Love from Kelli" on the label, and the box was packed with awesomeness (sorry, but my glee makes me channel my inner fifteen year old):


Kelli gave me a ball winder, a Namaste buddy case in a rich eggplant color, some flexible stitch markers, tapestry needles and three skeins of Andean Silk yarn in a pretty dusty blue green color. Andean Silk yarn is a luxurious blend of 55% Super Fine Alpaca, 23% Silk and 22% Merino Wool; I knit a scarf for my Uncle Vernon out of Andean Silk and it was gorgeous.

What riches! And what a lovely surprise from a wonderful friend. And whether she deliberately chose the colorway because of the name, I don't know, but look closely:


Merryweather!

Before and after

Aidan asked me to make some felted heart coasters for his teachers for Valentine's Day. How could I say no?

Using bulky yarn and big needles, these hearts knit up fast. I bought one skein each of red and pink, and each skein yielded four hearts. Once knitted, the hearts needed to felt, which I do in the washer. I like felting, because there is a little bit of magic in the way the item changes.

Here is a before shot of one heart:


You can see that it measured 8.5 inches wide.

Here is the same heart after felting:


Magic - it shrunk to just 6 inches wide!

Aidan now has eight heart coasters, one each for his classroom teacher, the "specials" teachers (art, PE, music, library, computers), his classroom teacher from last year and a special family friend.