Birds of the Air. And also the Deck.

Well it’s snowing here today. Shocking I know. You’ll be happy to hear I did not eat the bunco coffee cake. Of course the day isn’t over yet.

The snow today is beautiful...big fluffy flakes. We have a lot of woods on our property and they are just gorgeous all dressed in white.

My backyard has become just a teensy bit like that Hitchcock movie The Birds this winter. Seriously, it’s crazy out there. We have a bird feeder hanging off of our deck and at any given time there are between 12 and 15 birds on and around it. They are spilling seed all over the ground below which is a small mess but the ground is too frozen to even think about relocating the feeder at this point. And yes I know you're not supposed to move a bird feeder mid-winter once the birds have zoned in on it. Besides, I'm pretty sure they might divebomb whoever tried...they are serious about their food. It's been a long winter folks...even the birds would agree.

We have some bushes growing along the boulders further back on our property and they are also filled with birds.

Try not to be overwhelmed by my mad photo skilz….I have been trying all winter to get some good pictures because I've loved standing at my kitchen sink watching them play as they flit back and forth between the feeder and the bushes. I have tried taking pictures thru the window but there is a glare. I've tried quietly opening the sliding door to the deck but hello, I have a bird dog in the house and the birds are wise to that. I've even tried sneaking up on them by going out the front door and coming around the side of the house. Wherever did that expression bird brained come from anyway? These birds are smart.

Are we sick of blog posts about snow yet? Here's how I compartmentalize when Old Man Winter comes a calling...

Things not to think about on a snow day-

1. The bill from my snow plow service

2. The bill from the gas company

3. Psychological thrillers involving bird attacks.

4. The fun I'm missing out on because my plans for today were cancelled.

5. The coffee cake sitting in my refrigerator just begging to be eaten.

Things to think about on a snow day-

1. Spring. As sure as the world turns spring is coming.

2. The beauty of creation.

It might be messy. It might wreak havoc with our plans. But it is beautiful.

3. Matthew 6:26

4. The miracle of the internet.

5. The coffee cake sitting in my refrigerator just begging to be eaten.

Ok. I can see that my plan might still need a little work.

These boots are made for walking

So what did you get for President's Day? I got clean floors. My husband vacuumed and polished all the hardwood floors in the house this morning and I cannot tell a lie..that is a huge job. He also brought home a dozen beautiful yellow roses for Valentine's Day on Friday night but if you ask me which gift I prefer I think I'm gonna say my sparkling clean floors.

Since he had the day off today we also went out to lunch and then took the dog for a nice long walk thru the snowy woods. Such a gorgeous day! Crystal clear bright blue skies and the temperature wasn't bad either...absolutely perfect for walking. It also gave Dixie a chance to try out her Valentine's Day gift...brand new snow booties. Our dog is not of the teacup variety...she's a big ole setter who prefers the coat she was born with so we don't typically dress her up. She does love a romp thru the woods however and when the snow freezes to the bottom of her paws she refuses to set her foot down which makes the whole walking in winter thing a little challenging. We thought the booties might help but we weren't sure if she would cooperate. And it was a little bit like fitting a 12 month old child with their first pair of shoes but eventually the hubs managed to get one strapped on her paw. Dixie did not know what to do with herself. She galloped thru the house and danced and spun and finally gave up and plopped in the chair.

Sorry girl...there are three more to go. I managed to remember to turn on the video today as we were loading her into the car...

And of course once we got to the woods she forgot all about the boots.

She loves to be outdoors...

She walks a few feet then sticks her whole head in the snow and has herself a snack.

Speaking of snacks...I'm hosting Bunco at my house in the morning so when we got home from our walk I baked a coffee cake for tomorrow.

It's called Sinful Sour Cream Coffee Cake and it is without question, the world's best coffee cake. And guess what John Q. Weatherman just said? He said it is supposed to snow another 4-6 inches tonite which means it is quite possible bunco will be cancelled in the morning. Do you know what that means? It means hubs and I would have to eat that whole cake ourselves.

Oh my.

That would be tragic.

My very own wonder years

"There was a time when the world was enormous...Spanning the vast, almost infinite boundaries of your neighborhood. The place where you grew up. Where you didn't think twice about playing on someone else's lawn. And the street was your territory that occasionally got invaded by a passing car. It was where you didn't get called home until after it was dark. And all the people, and all the houses that surrounded you were as familiar as the things in your own room. And you knew they would never change."

Kevin Arnold, The Wonder Years

I loved the television show The Wonder Years. It captured in words and music much of what it felt like to grow up in suburbia in the late 1960's and 70's. I've recently reconnected with some friends from my Elementary School days on facebook and its gotten me thinking. I will be honest and say we're going back more than a few years. Decades in fact. A childhood friend posted a class picture from our second grade year, another classmate left a comment and the memories of our own 'wonder years' rolled right into the present.

My mother made a scrapbook for me a while back which included, among other things, all my class photos. She also saved this-

Miss McGee was my second grade teacher and I loved her. Obviously. Even though she did correct my grammar on the note I wrote her.

I loved pretty much all of elementary school. I grew up in a fairly big neighborhood and we traveled around more or less as a group. Kids of all ages would meet in the middle of our street for huge games of kick the can and hide and seek. We played at the duck pond, even skating on it when it froze. We rode our bicycles everywhere. We felt free. We walked to school...it was about seven blocks for my sister and I but there were bunches of us so it felt perfectly safe. And I think it was. We even walked home for an hour at lunch.

We had block parties and cook outs, sleep overs and birthday parties at home. We disagreed but we settled those things amongst ourselves. As kids. We hung out at the pool, caught fireflies in jars and watched Saturday morning cartoons. We built forts and wore bell bottoms and played dodge ball at recess. A war raged a world away yet for us it was still a time of innocence. We knew each other well..knew parents and siblings and family pets...knew whose mom was always up for a houseful of kids and whose mom would shoo us outdoors. We knew strength and weakness. We argued and loved and defended each other. And we learned from one another lessons that we carried out of the neighborhood and on into life.

I haven't talked to some of these friends in close to 30 years. Something very 21st century has brought the neighborhood full circle. We're older (definitely) and wiser (hopefully) but underneath it all we're still the kids from Barclay.

'Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back, with wonder.'

Kevin Arnold, The Wonder Years

Check out more Flashback Friday posts at Mylestones

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be ski jumpers

Who else loves watching the Olympics? I admire the skill and discipline of the athletes and I love the beauty of the winter setting. The 2010 Winter Olympics begin tomorrow night and we'll be tuning in for alot of the games. One of the first events is ski jumping and I'm for sure going to watch that. Because they are crazy.

In 2005 we took a family ski holiday to a little town in Austria called Seefeld. It is a storybook village plunked down in the Alps and we all say this was one of our very favorite trips.

We flew to Munich and drove a couple of hours over to Seefeld...a small avalanche had closed the main road so we had to come in on a more circuitous route and it was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a quaint little hotel and woke up every morning to this view from our window.

Everyone was so friendly, the food was wonderful, and the weather was perfect. It snowed about a foot half way through our trip which made for great skiing.

About mid week we took a day off from the slopes and drove about 10 miles up the road to the town of Innsbruck. Innsbruck hosted the Winter Olympics a couple of times, once in 1964 and again in 1976. I remember the 1976 games...that was the year Dorothy Hamill won a gold medal in figure skating and drummed up business for hair salons all across America. Everyone wanted her haircut in 1976. She was the Jennifer Anniston of the Winter Games.

While in Innsbruck we went out to the ski jump venue known as Bergisel. You come in to the stadium and ride a cable car up to the bottom of the ski jump. Even writing that doesn't sound right.

There is a cafe here and we had some lunch and then rode the lift up to the visitors platform. The tower at Bergisel is about 165 feet high and they take off going about 60 mph. There is a small balcony on the visitors platform and you can stand just above the speeding lane of the jump. It looked scary enough from the ground.

But from the top?

The word steep does not do it justice.

Do you notice the cemetery just on the other side of the stadium? Hmmm....

As we stood there I had to wonder about the first person to try this. I was sure it was a man. Sorry, I know that is terribly sexist but I can imagine some guys sitting around saying, 'hey, I have an idea..." In fact it was a man, a Norwegian lieutenant named Olaf Rye back in 1809. He flew just over 30 feet in front of an audience (of course). I guess this started that one upmanship thing because in 1862 another Norwegian jumped almost 100 feet over a rock without the benefit of poles. It would never occur to me to jump 100 feet over a rock, with or without poles. And it was 1862 so I'm pretty certain the gear was not anything even remotely close to what they have today. Today they can go over 600 feet.

Not always successfully though. Remember the video footage from the Wide World of Sports that was played back in the 1970's as they ran the opening credits....'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat'...yeah...the agony of defeat was a ski jumper who miscalculated and went tumbling out of control while we watched. There is a building at Bergisel you can walk through to read some of the history of the sport. They also have a continuously running video clip of ski jump disasters. It is almost too hard to watch. You have to look away.

Did you know there is an Olympic sport called skeleton racing? The racers go head first down a bobsled track while their chin and toes are just millimeters from the ice all while balancing on a steel and fiberglass sled going approximately 80 miles an hour. They must have the same DNA as the ski jumpers.

Ski jumping begins on Day 1 in Vancouver...the qualifying round is at 10 am Friday morning and the individual final rounds on Saturday morning. I'll be watching. I admire their guts and their coordination and their skill. And their mamas, who I'm sure hold their breath until the skis are planted firmly back on solid ground.

The random in which I may overuse the phrase "it depends"

Join the weekly random hosted by Linda every Wednesday at 2^nd cup of coffee. The more the merrier…answer the questions on your blog and link here to share. Here are mine this week-

1. Are you pleasant when you're ill, or are you a grumpy, fussy patient?

It depends…do I have a cold or the stomach flu? I’m not fussy but I don’t think pleasant is the right word either. If I have the stomach flu just please go away. Otherwise I'm happy to accept your tlc.

2. When you find out that school is canceled (due to inclement weather) what is your gut reaction?

It depends…am I a kid? Then I’m ecstatic. Am I the parent of a kid in school? Then I’m ecstatic the first couple of days and alrighty, time to go back to school so I can tackle the laundry mountain and restock the frig. Am I an empty nester? Hey hubs... remember skiing in the back yard with daughter1 standing on your skis? Remember when the girls would do a snow dance and go to bed with their pjs inside out hoping for a snow day? Remember building snow forts? Remember the cul de sac snow party? Remember...

3. What is one domestic skill you wish you could improve?

Ironing. My husband excels at this particular task so he's the designated ironer I don’t feel an urgent need to improve.

4. Do you decorate your home for Valentine's Day?

No.

5. What song is on your mind today?

By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North

6. Do you prefer contemporary movies or classic?

It depends…I like both. I choose movies based on my mood and who might be watching with me.

7. How well do you "compartmentalize" your feelings? For example, how well can you put aside a really trying moment to deal with the immediate situation which is not related to the trying moment, e.g., putting aside a tiff with your spouse in order to finish wallpapering a room.

Compartmentalizing is my middle name.

8. What is the first thing that attracted you to your spouse? (Or if you're single, to your best friend.)

He made me laugh. He had a twinkle in his eye. He was oh so very preppy.

9. When was the last time your heart raced?

Uh, that would be yesterday morning…just as the door closed behind me and I realized my keys were locked in the house. Good thing I blogged about patience yesterday or the day could have turned ugly pretty fast.

10. What are your memories of Valentine's Day at school?

Bringing in a shoebox decorated to serve as a ‘mailbox’, choosing valentine cards, delivering cards to friends ‘shoeboxes’, and trying to read meaning into conversation hearts.

11. If you were going to receive candy for Valentine's Day, which would you prefer?

Chocolate. Very good chocolate. It can be combined with coconut or peanut butter or nuts but the chocolate has to be good.

12. Red or pink?

It depends. If we’re talking paint then I like red. My kitchen is painted a dark red and I love it. If we’re talking peonies or lingerie I like soft pink. I like red and pink both when it comes to my wardrobe. And if we’re talking Gerbera daisies then hot pink makes me smile.

When Daddy let me drive

Today's post is part of the One Word Blog Carnival...hop over to Bridget's to read more posts on this weeks word-patience.

I like to think I’m a patient person and I think most people who know me would characterize me as such. It takes a lot to get me upset and I tend to see life’s glass as always half full. My daughter will say however, that I lacked patience when she was learning to drive and she may be more than a little bit right.

"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you but not in the one ahead." Bill McGlashen

Let me back up and say that my kids did not drive at 16 like most American teenagers. We were living in the UK during their highschool years and they walked into town or rode trains or I drove them around. The roads were narrow, the car parks and spaces scary small, and the insurance costs astronomical. Consequently both of my girls were in college before they had a US license and for that I am grateful.

When Daughter1 started university her American friends could not believe that she didn’t drive or even have a license. Nor did she have a license her sophomore year. How she managed to reach the ripe old age of 20 without a license was beyond comprehension. She lived on campus and had friends with cars and she sometimes didn’t do whatever it was she wanted at that moment because she didn’t have a car at her disposal and it was sometimes a pain but she managed. In fact, we liked to say it helped grow patience. She might not agree.

The summer before Daughter1’s junior year of college we made the executive decision to spend some concentrated time getting her road ready. And making ourselves road ready too because that’s a key component in the process of successfully launching a kid driver. We flew to the states that August, rented a house for two weeks and bought the child without a license a car. Sounds crazy I know but she couldn’t practice on a rental so yeah, we did a few things out of order.

Daughter1 is pure sweetness. She has been easy from day one and has a sense of calm about her that I love and admire. And as I said I have a fairly deep well of patience…husband maybe not so much but he tries and he does love this child to pieces, which goes a long way in making him extra patient with her.

All that to say, holy moly was this process ever awful. The child dug her heels in and the parents dug their heels in and there was yelling and crying and did I mention there was yelling? Daughter2 put her headphones in, closed her eyes and slunk down in the back seat pretending she didn’t know any of us. She said she’d find someone else to teach her to drive when the time came. Where was patience? Well, all I can say is it flew out the window with the first turn of the key.

It’s funny that when I saw the word for this week’s blog carnival the whole ugly learning to drive fiasco was my first thought. And as I’ve been thinking about that nightmare two weeks I recognize a few mistakes in our thinking.

We were all excited about the process at first. We never thought it would be anything less than a couple of weeks of happy driving. Daughter is smart. She’s coordinated. She did take a few lessons in England where she had learned to maneuver without difficulty a manual car whose steering wheel sat on the right while driving on the left hand side of the road so how hard could this be? We thought we would be encouraging her with great job! and way to go! while she did exactly as we instructed and in the end she would pass her test with flying colors.

Right. It didn’t start off well and went downhill fast. Thinking back I’m still a little bit amazed (and ashamed) at the speed and depth of my impatience. We were giving instructions and she seemed to be ignoring us. And of course the fact that we were in a moving vehicle contributed to our sense of anxiety but I was surprised at my impatience. And my anger. Because often one leads to the other.

"A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel."

Proverbs 15:18

There’s a bit of wisdom I wish we had tapped into on those hot August days. I allowed someone else to define my behavior. Oh what parent hasn’t had that thought and a feeling of regret to go with it? Actually what person hasn’t had that thought? My ability to feel patience was completely dependent on my daughter behaving exactly as I expected her to behave. She didn’t. If you ask her I’m sure she’ll say I didn’t behave exactly as expected either.

"Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength." Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Most of us have heard it said you should be careful when praying for patience...that when you pray for patience God will throw difficulties your way to help make you more patient. I don’t think that’s quite how He operates. Life is full of big and small challenges for everyone on a fairly regular basis. I don’t think we necessarily learn patience while sitting smack in the middle of difficult, aggravating or just plain annoying situations but I do know that's when we need it. Once I started down the path of impatience it seemed nearly impossible to change direction. But that wasn't so.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control….”Galatians 5:22-23

My daughter did pass her driving test. And she forgave me. Her sister passed too one year later...with much cooler tempers and far more encouragement I might add. God in His goodness has given me everything I need to respond to life’s circumstances in a way that honors Him. Why wouldn't I ask for a heaping measure when I need it the most?

My Highlight Reel

In honor of the big game I thought I'd be all NFL- like and give you my weekend highlight reel. It was pretty quiet here ...we were supposed to be snowed in on Saturday but not a flake fell. Not a single solitary flake. None. The hubs flew to South Carolina Friday evening to buy a car for Daughter 2. Let's take a moment and look at this from another angle...

hubs got to spend the weekend with the daughters

daughter2 took possession of her very first car

hubs and daughters 1 and 2 had a lovely meal in an Indian restaurant

and me?

I was home in my pajamas cleaning and organizing my pantry, kitchen cabinets, refrigerator and freezer.

Something is very very wrong with that picture.

Back to my highlight reel...husband got lucky and was put on an earlier flight Sunday so he arrived home before the pre-game pre-game pre-game show. I made yummy pulled pork bbq and peanut butter heath bar cookies so it felt superbowlish even though it was just the two of us in our pjs on the couch rooting for the Colts who did not win btw.

Who thought there were too many commercials in the Superbowl?

Who was not impressed with said commercials?

Who did not see the big deal about the Tim Tebow ad?

Who thought Carrie Underwood belted out the National Anthem without so much as a hiccup?

Who thought she was completely in touch with her Country Western Singer self in that outfit?

Who felt proud to see the troops standing at attention on a military base half a world away?

Who thought if they heard the words Dorito and Bud Light one more time they might scream?

Who wished they were in warm and sunny Miami?

Who thought Pete and Roger were showing their age just a wee bit?

Who thought the halftime light show and lasers were very cool?

Who thought it was ironic that a British band who doesn't really love American football was playing the halftime show at the Superbowl?

Who thought the drummer looked young enough to be Pete's grandson?

Who has a husband who wants to play the drums?

Who still loves the song Teenage Wasteland?

Who wanted to yell do-over when the Saints pulled off that crazy onside kick?

Who wanted to cry when Peyton threw that interception?

Who appreciated the tone and the polite comments made by the Colts coach after the game?

Who thought Drew Brees standing teary eyed holding his positively adorable baby boy was one of the sweetest moments on tv in recent memory?

Who is sorry to say goodbye to the NFL for the season?

Who hates the fact that she has to go to the dentist today?

oh wait...

that'll be next weeks reel.