Swedish Town

Arianna is writing a research paper. (Can you image that! In 5th grade?) She and her fellow classmates are tasked with writing about a foreign country. Arianna chose Sweden.

She's been busily researching Sweden for a few weeks now. To add a bit of twist to the research I suggested we drive into Chicago and visit Andersonville - a traditionally Swedish-American and home of the Swedish-American Museum.

Yesterday was lovely. Brisk. Sunny. The kind of day that makes you yearn for Spring.




What would a trip to Andersonville be without a bite of lunch at Ann Sather's restaurant?

Arianna wanted everybody to see what we had for lunch. So she took a dew pictures.

Arianna ordered Swedish pancakes with lingon berries . . .



Mommy ordered Swedish Meatball . . .



And Daddy sampled the Swedish Platter - duckling, meatballs, potato sausage, noodles, beans, and kraut . . . .



After our hearty lunch, we hit the museum. Note Arianna came prepared -- notebook in hand.



Famine, an outdated method of passing land to heirs, and a general sense of hopelessness urged people to pack up and sail to the United States.



The Swedish-American Museum immigration tells the story of life left behind . . .



. . . as well as life discovered in the new world.



A very interesting exhibit.

Arianna got a lot of information for her research paper -- about which the information about Swedes in America is above and beyond the assigned topics.

A memorable day with the family.

Ice Rink . . . No More

Up and at 'em!

Brisk late Winter morning with lots of sunshine.

Upon my return from Mass, I snapped this picture . . .



It was a challenging project, for which I was abundantly rewarded. Although the ice is history, the memories linger on.

We are planning to spend the day in the city today.

Sharon spilled another puzzle out onto the dinning room table. Something for Bruno to occupy his time with.

Unit test

I'd let the kids know that I planned a unit test for weeks and weeks. "Pay attention," I said, "this'll be on the test."

"Test?!?"

Exactly.

So last night, without any fanfare, I distributed 12 questions to be completed with the use of the text book.

The expressions on the children's faces were priceless.

Slush Pond

It is not easy to watch the forces of nature overcome my wintry efforts. But there you have it . . .



. . . next year, perhaps?

Valentine's Day

Dreary Monday with lots of homework to do.

Luckily somebody has a jar of sweets ready at hand.



What a contrast from yesterday evening!

Arianna spent part of Saturday and Sunday preparing for the festivities. Her preparations included decorating the house . . .






And then of course there were the confections to prepare . . .



. . . for enjoying after supper.



Activities included a variety of games, but charades is always a lot of fun.



Arianna always enjoys a holiday.

I wonder if she's really doing her homework. Or, is she thinking about our next celebration?

Slow ice

Given the amount of work it took to make an ice rink, I couldn't let this weekend pass without putting on the skates.

The ice is slow. And, if I had to guess, today might very well be the last of it.

I spent about an hour outside. Arianna joined me and skated for about 30 minutes. She really enjoyed learning this way, she said, but would like me to take her to an indoor rink. Understandable.

Fears of flood

Even though we recently had a large amount of snow fall, the calendar can't be ignored. Temperatures rose steadily throughout the week. I'm afraid of water in the house, in the basement. So, I spent time today shoveling snow away from the house. Was the work sufficient? What if it rains? I'm not alone in my concern. It's openly voiced be colleagues at the office. It's a topic for conversation on the radio. Nothing to do but wait I guess.

Shovel weary

Woke to steady falling snow. When I went outside for the newspaper, an inch or so had already fallen.

What a week!

It started with my having carried 2400 pounds of wood pellets from the garage to the basement and continued with what seemed like endless shoveling of snow.

Endless? Let's think . . . Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Saturday. Sunday.

Seemingly endless.

And of course my employer had a few expectations for me to fulfill too.

Thankfully, I'm healthy and maintained a positive attitude.

Nevertheless I'm tired . . . .

But so tired that I couldn't play with Arianna this afternoon.

Sliding

Cold, but sunny.

I spent three hours tossing snow away from the house. Hopefully, by moving the snow away from the basement windows, the basement won't fill up with water when it begins to warm up.

After I finished, Sharon and I took Arianna to Randall Oaks park, where folks sled/slide.

Not too surprisingly, there were a fair number of people at the hill. Families predominated. Few teens -- if any. And, parents enjoyed themselves as much as their children.

We weren't at the park long, but we had fun. Sharon and I each went down the hill with Arianna on our lap. But, most of the time she went solo. The climb back up was a bit more strenuous than our typical hill. Still, Arianna's first time at Randall Oaks proved a success. I'm sure we'll be back.

I. Arianna on Sharon's lap

II. Off they go!

III. Arianna trudges back up the hill

IV. Arianna catches her breath before another run down the hill

Blizzard

The snow started falling around 2 o'clock on Tuesday. By 3 PM nearly everybody at the office had left. Of course, most of my colleagues had opted to work from home in anticipation of the what was being called a "generational snowfall."

The commute home wasn't as bad as many other snowfalls: door-to-door in two hours.

After supper I went outside and started shoveling. Although it was a steady snowfall, the wind had yet to really pick up, the sense of we're being in the midst of a "generational snow" wasn't yet upon us.

And so I cleared the driveway. Sharon pitched in. Even Arianna came outside to experience the blizzard. Which, by the time we finished up, was starting to deliver.

When I went to bed, my concern was power. Lights had been flickering throughout the night. It would get cold in the house fast.

I woke up three, maybe four times during the night. Power was on. But, you could barely see across the street. I think we were lucky.

Up to 24" had been predicted. I shoveled 3" - 4" Tuesday night.

"Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as predicted," I thought.

No such luck.

When I woke this morning, the snow plow hadn't come through. Not a good sign. Since I knew that my day would consist of one activity -- digging out -- I put the kettle on to boil and started my PC. Rather than communicate to colleagues that I would be working remotely, I decided to take the day off.

I opened the garage door at 6:40 AM. 8" of snow was piled in front of it. Initially, I thought, "This is manageable." But, then I stepped away from the garage. In the middle of the driveway, was 19" of snow.

I. View west - sidewalk leading to front door

II. Drift as high as the yews in front of the porch

So, I set to work. It took me less than 4 hours to clear the driveway.

When I was done. I ate breakfast and took a nap.

After lunch, I had to locate the ice rink and shovel it off. That took 3 hours.

III. Der alte Hund propped up on his snow shovel




IV. Snow day!




V. A garden trellis in a raised bed. (But where's the bed?)




VI. Bench at ice rink's edge.




VII. Three hickory trees




VIII. Milk container