Oooooh,
the weather outside is
TOTALLY FUCKED UP!!!!
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| From our front door two weekends ago. Winds, rain, bye bye, Snow. Wish I had tried to capture the wind with my camera. Trees bending horizontal. Weeeeeeeeeeee. |
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| Last weekend as I drove down the mountain. Snowing at the top, raining at the bottom. |
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| Wind blasted snow turning the house white. |
The last three weekends have seen the most insane winds we've experienced up here. 100+MPH. Just, NASTY! Rain and grey and yuckily warm out.....ECK! and, MEH!!!! The 12+ new inches of snow we got LAST weekend...ruined. 2 Lantern Walks cancelled, my December First Friday art show opener cancelled, a second show cut short, birthday dinner cancelled (and well, I won't complain about missing a day of work-didn't have to deal with the Client From Hell) all due to hazardous conditions.
Scattered about between this month's meteorologic fiascoes there have been a few respites where we've enjoyed good old winter in Alaska. Willa has been enjoying her twice a week Junior Nordic skiing class(me, too. One night I volunteer with her group and the other I just ski off into the dark by myself or with Miles when he can join us- skiing at night is so friggin' awesome! Quiet, beautiful....). Willa's school FINALLY got that Lantern Walk in, although abridged. We held it on the play yard grounds of the school right smack in downtown Anchorage instead of out in the woods of Goose Lake. And it was first thing in the morning as opposed to in the evening. And sans hot cider and cookies....
:( But the kids still enjoyed it very much-all proud of their beautiful lanterns and full of song.
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| Willa's class made goose "G" lanterns |
It really goes to show you how easily pleased kids can still be with the minimum. Speaking of, a post or three ago I mentioned my
dilemma in buying our usual little Holiday tree to put on the Advent table from the Advent faeries. I wound up doing the note and pine branch in a vase thing. Next morning the kid was thrilled! She thought it was so pretty and even kissed it. Why bother getting the store bought tree?!?! Well....the faeries did promise it in their note.... Point is, she would have been just FINE with the branch and vase! No great expectations there. ...And then there is the sword. A gorgeous leather play sword that I saw on
A Small Tribe's blog. A perfect Santa gift for a kid who is very into LOTR! So I ordered it on ETSY. In the meantime, Willa found a stick that appeared on the porch during on our the recent thaws. That kid is a stick MAGNET. Sticks everywhere in this house. And god forbid you try to chuck one outside.....have to do THAT when she's not lookin'. So she takes the stick and lays it on a towel by the front door and starts scraping away at the bark with a rock like a little Neanderthal. 3o minutes later she is the proud brandisher of the Worlds Most AWESOME Sword! A stick. I just spent $ on a handmade, killer(and I mean that NOT literally), leather sword resplendent with dragon embellishment and handle wrapped in pink cord. A stick will do just fine , thanks. Haven't I always said,"BEST toys EVER: Sticks, rocks, boxes and silkies"?!??! WHY don't I listen to myself?!?! Sometimes we parents still go overboard even while we think we're going minimal. Sometimes our kids will surprise us with their simple desires. Refreshing in a world of entitlement and greed. A stick and a pine branch....and the imaginations SOAR.
Off on a tangent there...back to the holidays. We have a house guest and he's WONDERFUL. His name is Rocket and he's a handsome polite fella.
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| Dog and cat dig each other. Took this shot from my perch on the couch. |
A malamute?/sled dog?/golden lab? type. Most low maintenance dog EVER! And it's just so nice to have some doggie-ness around the house again. Had to kick him out of bed twice...and he'd sit right on our laps if we let him, but he's a BIG dude and the rule is no dogs on the furniture. So we totally succumbed to his cuteness and let him sleep on the ottoman while we watch TV. He has the amazing ability to curl up in a wee ball. A delicate flower he is. We have him through Christmas while his people are in Mexico.
Tangent number 2 scratched off the list. It's an ADD day for me. Holidays.....tree is up and half decorated....working on handmade prezzies...watching Christmas movies.....makin' fudge....rescued a bird from our new addition today....baking cookies...wrapping, wrapping, wrapping....looking forward to king crab, skiing with and visiting friends, and skiing out to a cabin we rented for 3 days...and a WEEK OFF WORK HOME WITH MY FAM.
This just in:
High wind warning remains in effect from 3 pm this afternoon to midnight akst tonight for turnagain arm and the hillside... 100MPH winds expected
Sigh......... We better get today's skiing and shopping in before the winds hit. Again.
