White World

Who could have predicted such an interesting winter?  It is 3 degrees outside tonight.  The snow is still piled up.  Neighborhoods are still struggling with icy, snowy roads.  The road in front of our house, however, is clear.  So here we sit, enjoying lovely white views, coming and going as we please, with no problems.  I like this winter.  In spite of the complaints of many of the locals, I think it is beautiful and interesting.  It is really not so bad outside, if you keep moving.

We've been moving all week.  We went to dinner with our California gang on Friday and they made a special anniversary cake for us.  We've been married 50 years in 2016, if you remember.  We did go on a cruise as a sort of anniversary celebration.  But there hasn't been much of a family celebration of our marriage milestone.  So the efforts of our dear friends here were sweet and so appreciated.  I find the friendships here to be exceptionally enjoyable.  Who knew, that at this time of life, we would be collecting so many new friendships.

Here is our anniversary cake, made by Lisa Young and topped with a wedding couple provided by Pat Green.  Such a sweet gift to us.

We have bustled about all week, doing errands and connecting with friends in spite of snow in all directions.  It has rained in between snowing, lowering the snow level and making it wetter and crunchier.  Walking out to our compost pile in the back yard has become a little bit of an adventure, as each step sits me on top of the ice crust and then sinks me down a foot to the ground beneath.  It took some time to walk in this manner to the compost pile at the back of the yard.  It was fun, in its way.  The birds love to check out the pile, so I feel inclined to keep up the food dumping.

Layne, and occasionally me, spend a bit of time shoveling the snow from the driveway, but mostly it is cleared by our neighbor and friend, Jim Wilkey, who has a 4 wheelers with a blade.  He travels the neighborhood clearing driveways and roadways.  What a sweet world it is when people help each other.  People here are like that.

I am happy to report that my annual exam has proven me to be a healthy woman, with no meds to make it so.  But I have shrunk a total of 1 1/2 inches!  I was shocked to learn that I'm getting so much shorter.  I don't feel any different.  I guess that is part of my old lady journey.  So far it isn't so bad.