Animals

A couple weekends ago we went to Portland, Maine to visit my college roommate, whom we hadn't seen since Becky's college days. She and her significant other have two cats and a dog, so we got a good pet fix while we were there. Below you see Annie, who is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met. She and Ollie need to get together to see who can run the fastest and the furthest.

Then there was Jack and Quinn. Jack is the redhead, Quinn the grey and peach one. I've never seen such a color combination, and I was quite taken with Ms. Quinn. If we hadn't been flying, Quinn might have been taken too.

We do miss having pets - sometimes. On dark, wet, or icey mornings, we don't miss it at all. Most of the time we're glad we can just pick up and leave without having to worry about making arrangements. But still, there's something uniquely comforting about stroking a loving pet. Sigh.

As Promised

Porch furniture yet to come...

Stay Tuned!

I was going to post this yesterday, and the title was going to be "Almost, But Not Quite". That is, the porch was almost, but not quite finished. They'd put up the lattice, installed the lights and fan, and smoothed out the big piles of dirt in the front yard. All we lacked was reinstalling the two shutters they took down and removing the lock box from the front door (for some warranty-related inside work they were also doing). Unfortunately I got called to dinner before I could post. Fortunately, however, the guys came back today and hung the shutters. So - one of these days - and soon, I hope - we'll take a pictures of our brand spankin' new front porch and post it. Maybe we'll even get around to getting furniture for it...

Oui, on peut! Ja, we kunnen!

Yes, we can. Since the raging Belgian political crisis (no government for 230 days and counting) may be sliding by under your radar, I call your attention to an article on the crisis and what some Belgians are doing to protest the failure of their elected officials to actually…well, do what they were elected to do: govern. I appeal to all the leftover campus radicals and the never-had-a-chance-to-be-a campus radicals to join the protest and grow a beard for Belgium. It may not make much of a difference to the politicians who refuse to step up to the plate, but at least you can sleep the extra few minutes you would otherwise spend shaving every morning.

Winter Wonderland

Hooray! We finally got some snow. We've had a series of teasers over the last several weeks, with minimal snow and some ice. Yesterday morning we awoke to a couple inches of snow and slogged our way into work on unplowed roads. Then it rained throughout most of the day, with the rain turning suddenly to snow around 4:00, and boy, did it come down! We hunkered down in the house with a fire to enjoy it.

Views of the backyard, which is far prettier than the front yard these days - although the Porta-Pot has a lovely mantle of snow draped elegantly over its rounded roof.

Take that, old man!

My father is so proud of the port-a-pot they had across the street from their new house for a couple of weeks. But they never had one in their front yard like we do. At least it's out there during a cold spell. Imagine if we hadn't dawdled about getting the new porch under construction. So we see, once again, that procrastination pays.

Christmas Minus One

Better late than never - and since we heard in church this morning that the feast of Jesus' baptism marks the end of the Christmas season for Catholics, this one is gonna just squeak in under the not-to-late-to-post-about-Christmas rule.

Christmas 2010 was the first year we have celebrated without our intact nuclear family. Even though Rachel moved out long ago, she's always been with us or we with her for Christmas, whether in Columbia or Hautrage or Rochester. This year was different, with Rachel and Stephan staying in Rochester, and Becky and Sarah didn't like it. They decided that, since our family order is now immutably different, we also needed new traditions. So instead of waiting at the top of the stairs for the parental go-ahead to check out what Santa left, they came downstairs on their own. Instead of the ritual "open presents, pause for breakfast and to make monkey bread, and then open some more gifts," and in view of the smaller, more adult Christmases we'll now be having, they opted for opening all the gifts before preparing a big Christmas brunch - with no monkey bread. (We saved that for Repeat Christmas a couple days later with Rachel and Steve in Rochester.) It was a little sad for all of us to realize that life changes as the girls grow up and establish their own families. It made me think about how our parents must have felt the first time we didn't "go home" for Christmas because we'd realized it was time to start our own family traditions.

Life changes, but if we're lucky, it goes on. We hope that, as our girls move on to new phases of their lives, we will have the opportunity to share in the rituals and traditions they and their families establish.

And we wish all of you a happy and blessed 2011.