Brutal Cold

Painful stuff, cold as it is tonight. 7 degrees at supper time with a mighty wind blowing. I went out to drag the trash to the end of the driveway for morning pick up and to clear the ridge of snow left by last night's plow truck after having myself cleared the driveway with the snowthrower. So I'm out there tonight fully covered, heavy coat, lined pants, thick socks in LL Bean boots, woolly mittens and a felt face mask and still managed to come in with numbed fingers and toes that still tingled 45 minutes after coming in the house. Still, it's a bright clear star filled night. It would have been foolish not to gaze up at the brightly lit sky made even more stunning by the light of an almost full moon that reflects off the fresh snowfall from the previous evening. The forecast for New Years Day is for a huge snowstorm with accumulation measured in feet. I won't be able to sit this one out.

Flash photo from last night's snowfall.

sharp white lines abound
lonely tree grazed by winter
later more will come

Holiday Greetings

Happy Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas tomorrow everyone. We'll be making pancakes for breakfast before the three of us and the critters gather by our Christmas tree and exchange gifts. A little later we'll begin a "Lord of the Rings" Trilogyfest interrupted by a late lunch/early ham dinner. So grab your hobbits and avoid the cave trolls, it's off to Middle Earth we go.

Festive tree sparkling
Three kings approach the manger
Peace on Earth for all

Christmas Eve Day day off

An open ended day off here on Ledge Hill. Not much specific planned, I'll tagged along with Carol for some grocery shopping and pick up a few things at Walmart. That may be interesting as it would be naive to think that will be a calm venue. I can see it now, 20 items or fewer line with 20 people lined up and an average of 20 items or more waiting their turn. Can't wait to make some friends in that queue. Aside from that I'm sure I'll putter from one thing to another during the course of the day.

Queue for gifts enough
Echos through cavernous aisles
Debit cards reign now

Take a day off and you just want another

It must be the "I have to use up my vacation before the end of the year" syndrome. After taking two-week long vacations and a day here and there I came into December with five days of vacation left and the "use it or lose it" policy in effect. Does that sound like a bad thing? In the old days people use to hold over vacation and build up months worth of time off which hung over the employer's payroll like a day of reckoning was about to become a cataleptic event if half the staff decided to take a six month sabbatical at the same time. Those days are over and a lot of companies are working harder than ever to contain their expenses. So here I am almost scrambling to stay out of the office in spite of the expectations of co-workers needing some work from me. Then they take off for a couple of days?!? I just threw that in, common gripe among the bottom of the food chain in any industry. Yesterday's day off had me thinking about more of the same so I am eager to sprinkle a few more nuggets of off time through the last couple of weeks of the year. My plan, Thursday and Monday for a four-day Christmas weekend, then next Thursday for a three-day New Years weekend followed by the depression of having no vacation to begin the new year. All part of the work life routine.

Clocks count the minutes

Fortune are the days away

Returning rested

The Christmas Season

We officially kicked-off Christmas week at our household today. Ian and I set up our Christmas tree then I added the lights and Ian finished it by putting on the ornaments. Carol was busy finishing off the Christmas cards and some gift wrapping. Tomorrow we go to Elaine's to celebrate the holiday on Carol's side of the family. Carol's mother will be there, Monday she'll take a flight to Texas to spent the winter with Greg's family.

Patches, Ian and E'owyn getting

into the Christmas spirit.

______________________________

Ornaments abound

Graceful against evergreen sky

Crystal lights within

Another winter begins

As recently as last Wednesday the noontime temperature in Portland was 68 degrees, today I'm looking at 5 inches of snow. Well it is December, the streak of mild weather had to end sometime. Though the forecast calls for more snow on this Wednesday I'm hoping for a repeat of higher temps just through another weekend to finish up a few more outdoor tasks.

Cold front beckons change

Winter blanket has arrived

Moonlight spreads a chill