Is that a new term? Because I'm pretty sure we had some super cold weather when I was a kid, but we just called it cold. I think not having the vocabulary made it a lot less scary.
Is a polar vortex scary?
It sounds like something you should pay attention to, but perhaps it's just another way of saying super cold weather. Either way we've got it, and it's not leaving anytime soon.
It snowed here all day long on Saturday. Hubs suggested we go out to lunch, to the movies, anywhere...he wanted to get out of the house. I looked at the falling snow, the icy road, and the thermometer, and declared I would be staying put.
One thing I love about snow on the yard is seeing where the animals have been. There are three deer in our yard on a regular basis and I like to see where they roam.
Super close to the house it would seem.
We also have bird city happening in our back hedge. I don't know what it is about these bare branches, but the birds love them. Hmmm...they must not be completely bare. The big fat cardinal hung around all weekend too, and I love him. He doesn't appear to be having any trouble at all finding food this winter. Look at that belly!
Hubs just throws seed on the ground below the hedge, and they find it. We used to have a bird feeder there, but after hubs came almost face to face with a bear on a mission to get to the seed inside the feeder, we had to rethink the whole bird feeder thing.
In hubs defense, it was dark.
In the bear's defense, he was hungry!
I finished my book club book this weekend, Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, by Bill Dedman. Really interesting! A true story about not only Huguette, but the whole Clark family. Her father was at one time the wealthiest man in America, and made his money mostly in copper and the railroads. He also helped establish the city of Los Angeles, owned land that became what is now Las Vegas, and some pretty significant real estate on Fifth Avenue too. Huguette died under somewhat mysterious circumstances in 2011.
I made a big pot of chicken soup on Saturday, because it felt like a homemade chicken soup kind of day. I will just add here that the smell of chicken soup simmering has to be one of the best smells in the entire world. Maybe the entire universe.
We ended up going to a movie Sunday afternoon, still cold but not snowing. We saw Lone Survivor, and a whole day later I'm still not sure I have words. I left the movie with a proud, grateful, aching heart. That old adage 'war is hell' is brought to life in this film, and it matters not whether you're a highly trained Navy Seal, or a young Afghan child living in a remote desert village. While there is unimaginable brutality and horror in the middle of the nightmare, there is also extraordinary kindness, and courage on a level that truly defies description.
I honestly couldn't watch some of the scenes...it's a picture of war we don't really like to think about in living color. We prefer to keep war 'over there', but these men were somebody's husband, father, brother, son and the film helps us remember that.
I do think there are things in this world worth fighting for, and I'm grateful there are men and women willing to do just that. I'm in awe of the bravery of our military men and women, particularly our special forces.
Hard to segue from that, but it's Monday and I've got a Monday morning kind of to do list here in front of me, so I best get to gettin'. Enjoy your day everyone!
