When I opened the shutters this morning I was greeted by five white tail deer.Between the deer and squirrels, I wonder how much seed the birds eat.
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Somebody broke out the puzzles! Puzzlemania begins . . . .
Between 4 and 5" of snow fell earlier this week. But, if has been warmer than weather forecasters initially predicted. So, no work on the skating rink this week.We had been surprised by the promise of a post-Christmas visit from Bruce and the children next Monday. However, no sooner had we begun to plan for the visit, than another phone call resulted in a change of plans. Unreliable transportation. Arianna is especially disappointed; she had so looked forward to having her cousins at the house -- if only for a couple days.When I returned from Mass this morning, Sharon was already in the throes of baking her last cookies ("Grandma's Walnut Date Bars"). Then, after a light breakfast, I ventured down to the basement to finish tidying (cleaning), while Arianna completed a couple chores upstairs. While we cleaned house, Sharon and Bruno went to Woodman's to shop for the last of the groceries.As I write (5 PM CST), Sharon and Arianna have delivered the annual plate of cookies to our neighbor and Bruno has chopped all the ingredients for the birds' stuffing. The house is clean, the gifts are wrapped, and Arianna is as excited as ever.
Today, Arianna and I started our Christmas vacation. Nothing extraordinary here, actually. A day of tidying and wrapping Christmas gifts. A bit more cookie baking, er, dough preparation - the kolacky dough needs to be chilled before you work with it.This evening it started to snow. A help for the ice rink? Perhaps. But only if the temperatures drop considerably. (Is it any wonder why I can't get rid of this cold? Standing outside on a sheet of ice at 11 o'clock at night! Who says I'm kook!)
Outside, the cold has returned.Were I not feeling as lousy as I do . . . .Now it's my turn. Even though I had a cold three weeks ago. There ought-ta be a rule . . . no do overs!
Anyway, Arianna is better but Sharon and I are sick.
Christmas tree is up. As always, Sharon and her Dad went through all the lights to ensure "maximum luminosity". It was a quiet, peaceful tree trimming this year. But, no arguments . . . no drama. Just holiday music in the background and a lot of amiable chatter.Oh . . . The rink is down. The temperature rose to the upper 30's today. And, it rained. Although an arctic blast is forecast for Monday, I'm afraid my base turned to slush.
Arianna was home with a cold most of the the week. She even missed her Christmas recital Thursday.This evening I cooked dinner. (Yes, I still remember how; although the look on Bruno's face leads me to believe otherwise.) Why did I cook dinner? Because Sharon caught Arianna's cold.
This week's has been cold. I've been outside working on the ice rink every night since Sunday. Yesterday, I let a sprinkler run throughout the day. Although the ice is bumpy, I've got a solid base from which to work and refine.Sharon is happy with the insert. The basement is evenly heated and she doesn't need to run a space heater 3 inches from her to feel comfortable.
Heat has returned to the basement! In late November we bought a fireplace insert. Today it was installed. It took more than six hours for the men to install it. But, by supper time, a glowing fire was beginning to heat the more than 1800 square feet of our basement.We're burning wood pellets. --A ton of which (really,a ton!) is stacked up in the hallway that leads upstairs to the garage.
This'll be a learning experience. Setting the temperature, monitoring our burn rate, experimenting with different kinds of pellets. Thankfully, the unit itself is fairly sophisticated. The insert includes a programmable thermostat that once setup will initiate a burn at whatever time we set. All we have to do is ensure there's fuel in the hopper. --And maintain the unit. That is, vacuum the ash and clean the soot off the glass on a weekly basis.This was a considerable investment, but after last Winter's attempt to burn wood in the fireplace proved to be a waste of time, we needed a solution Arianna had no place to play throughout the Winter. And, Sharon and I shivered, whenever we spent time computing.When we lost the radiant heating pipes two years ago, I was at wits end. We knew we could never afford to dig out the basement floor, replace the old copper tubing (which had begun to leak due to a chemical reaction with the concrete), and pour a new floor. Since we had a large masonry fireplace, an insert was a viable option.Hopefully, this will prove to be a cost effective and easy solution.
I want to make an ice rink in the backyard this Winter. So, late this afternoon I piled up enough snow to make the side of the rink. After Sharon and I put Arianna to bed, I went outside and "watered the lawn".
Woke this morning @ ~ 5 am to the sound of the snow plow. Snow had been forecast, but who knew it would require the snow plow . . . or the shoveling of the driveway?Here we go . . . .
I got a telephone call at work this afternoon from Arianna:"Daddy!""Oh, hello Arianna. What's up?""It's snowing!""It's snowing?""Yeah! Big fluffy cotton balls of snow! But, it's not piling up yet."I stood up and looked out the office window and didn't see any snow falling in Northbrook. Later that evening, Arianna was adamant: I had to mark the calendar to indicate that on December 1 it snowed.
A day away from the office and a bit of time to spend offloading pictures from the camera.I'm surprised they go back to October. But, I supposed I shouldn't be.
This past week has been tense. When Lester and Myra brought the lilac bush, an argument ensued, which resulted in Bruno becoming crazed. Before storming away to his room, he bellowed that all he wanted was to "Get out of here!" and made some choice remarks directed to me. It was all very embarrassing and all very sad. Nobody had every witnessed Bruno in one of his crazed moments.As a result of the confrontation, Bruno emphatically said he would not spend Thanksgiving with the family. Since, I was sympathetic to his point of view, I said we'd spend Thanksgiving with Bruno. So, Sharon bought a turkey and this and that. But, Lester and Myra felt bad for Bruno and wanted to make it up to him.So, in the end -- with some help from Sharon and Aunt Myra -- Bruno relented and we enjoyed a quiet day at Linda and Michael's house.
A quiet day . . . today was my Father's birthday. I recall that his 50th birthday fell on Thanksgiving too. It was the only Thanksgiving I can remember we spent with family. We went to the Kobe's. Aunt Marion cooked a wonderful dinner. My Dad and Uncle Fabian had a few drinks and enjoyed each other's company.
What a world of difference our childhood is.
The weather continues to amaze. I thought I wouldn't have an opportunity to harvest the horse radish, but I was wrong. This stuff was so potent, I was in tears.
As I prepared to leave the house for Mass, I peeked into Arianna's bedroom. Usually she doesn't sleep past 8 o'clock on a Saturday.
Were I only able to feel confident that she'll always be as safe and snug.
On Monday evening Uncle Lester and Aunt Myra dropped by to deliver gifts: a dwarf lilac, and some art supplies for Arianna.Although I'd already hung up the spade, this morning, before I started work . . . I set to work.In the wee hours of the morning, planted the bush under Sharon's and my bedroom window. Since it's a dwarf lilac (Miss Kim?), I don't anticipate it will over shadow the yews.I'd been entertaining the idea of putting an Oakleaf Hydrangea in this location. Then, of course, I planted the daylillies. So, I'll be curious to see how this works out. Assuming it does . . . after all, it's awfully late to be planting shrubs.
Birthdays midweek can get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day goings on.Typically, I work from home on Wednesday. And, Sharon is home too. It's a peculiar situation: she spends most of the day in the basement, grading papers or fussing with her Performing Art's column for the Epoch Times; I spend the day in our bedroom, working.Today, however, was a bit different. We'd planned to run an errand for Sharon's Dad. Bruno bought a new mattress and in order to save a little money, he opted to pick up the mattress (instead of having it delivered). I offered to pick it up for him. Afterward, I surprised Sharon by telling her I was going to take out to lunch. Nothing fancy. Just a quick bite at a Thai restaurant in South Elgin.I couldn't let her birthday pass without commemorating it -- even if only in a small way.
You know you're getting old when you can't get up after an unusually late night. The IL governor's race remains undecided. But, Mr. Kirk won the IL Senate seat. In fact, a number of IL Republicans will be going to Washington to conduct the people's business. --We'll see.CA astonishes. NV disappoints. AK mystifies.These kinds of "interesting times" I could live without.Took a stroll in the yard this evening. Everything is tidy. More or less. I'm not one to dispose of every leaf that falls to the ground. After all, I can turn those leaves over in the Spring. Makes for a nice tonic in the flower beds. 
I. A triangle of fallen limbs in the northeast corner of the yard
II. Arianna's swing is stored for Winter
I voted after work this evening. And, I was surprised by how long it took. Never in my life have I seen such a line at the polls. Less a consequence of voter sentiment than a consolidation of precincts in one location, the buzz in the Sleepy Hollow Elementary School gym was still one of anticipation.It was interesting to see and hear neighbors' expressions of hope, incredulity, and frustration with our elected officials.Although I'm sensitive to the Tea Party agenda, I'm not a zealot. Increasingly, social justice concerns -- especially as they are presented by the Roman Catholic Church -- weigh on my conscience.But, I am also a realist when it comes to exercising my vote. Republicrats and Demicans seldom govern in a manner that's wholly advantageous to any one constituency -- unless of course that constituency is the wealthy advocates of this or that lobby. The political class needs a good shaking up. They're employed to be of service to the citizens of this country.It's been a long time since I stayed up late to watch and listen to election returns, but tonight I was curious to know whether the hype would be realized. Although at this hour, Illinois' governor's race is undecided. R.B.'s Senate seat appears to have been lost to the Republicans. Well, let's see what changes in 2011. Personally, I'm anticipating an even more difficult (anxious) year.
When Arianna was 2 years old, Bruno took her trick-or treating. By the time I got home from the office, they were done. They went to four houses -- maybe.In subsequent years we've gone as a family. Although four years ago, Sharon escorted Bruno home after we visited our neighbors. And, three years ago, neither Sharon nor Bruno accompanied us at all.I have issues with Halloween. Were it not for the opportunity to have some Daddy-Daughter time, I'd ignore it altogether. (Too creepy.)Imagine my surprise when Arianna told me she'd been invited to go trick-or-treating with classmates. As disappointed as I was, I encouraged her (and Sharon) to accept the invitation. After all, Arianna seldom has opportunities to "play" with other kids.As luck would have it, the Dundee neighborhood where she and her classmates trolled for candy celebrated the ritual, beginning at 3 pm. (In broad daylight . . . who'd have imagined such a thing back in the day?) Sleepy Hollow, in contrast, allowed tricks-or-treats beginning at 5 pm.
I. Arianna carves her first pumpkin
II. Arianna wielding a knife . . . under supervision
III. Arianna's first pumpkinAnd so after she returned from her initial "grab fest", we went out together too . . . one more time.
IV. Another creative success -- Arianna masquerades as an "Autumn Fairy"
V. Arianna and scarecrow friends before heading out for Halloween, Pt 1
