A cold blustery evening

Some days the walls get a little close inside. So the only way to venture out is to have a big puffy warm coat with big pockets for extra lenses. And then bundle up the rest of the way. All for 20 minutes, which is all about you can take from the cutting wind.

Some shots of the yard and sky and grass. Notice how the grass is bent to the right? This is the way the grass grows naturally, bent from the wind.

Just an interesting line of crooked old fence posts against a beautiful sky. For some reason fences here fascinate me. I think it's because you can see them disappear into the horizon, something I've never seen.

One of my favorite type of photos- silhouette against the sky.

A view of our house from the back in the setting sun. Which is West. And I'm still trying to make it West in my mind. Yes I know the sun sets in the west. Yes, I know that's natural, but in my brain, west here is still dead east....

Christmas

We're not a big family on Christmas, unless the occasional family gift swap which usually constituted of chocolate. I'm a big believer of chocolate, gift wise or not!  I never remembering there being a real Santa Claus and besides that, in lieu of presents, we voted for trips! And we took some great ones. I never remember a Christmas present I ever got, but I do remember staying at Bellows Beach in Hawaii, surfing with cousins in Oahu, going back to Alaska and seeing where I was born, watching the Silvers run in the Kenai River. Going to Banff National Park and staying in the resort, going to the Edmonton Mall where my youngest sister got lost, and all 6 adults and 10 kids panicked wondering where she went. We found her, staring at the roller coasters. I think she was 3 years old. She was totally chill.

We went back to Hawaii and stayed on the top floor of the condo, watching the whales jump while we watched the evening sunset, and attended a luau, flirted with the bus boys and got to snorkel at Hanama Bay. We crewed and sailed up to Desolation Sound from Bellingham and ate like kings off the fish and shrimp and oysters we caught. I can still see my dad getting excited about seeing fresh jumbo oysters and taking the skiff to shore before the boat had stopped! We sunned, slept, played, swam and found an old raft most likely lashed together by a modern day Huck Finn. We were much obliged because we had more fun diving off of it trying to touch bottom that was inky, creepy black! And we never could.

We went to Phoenix, stayed in the middle of winter, lounged in the pools and it was 75 degrees. Oh we loved that. And took a day trip down to Mexico where 12 of us slept the night in a two bedroom trailer. The bonus? The boys walked down the beach and purchased fresh salsa for 3 pesos.

We sisters stalked grocery stores looking for Hawaii Sweet Bread and Guava Jam, hiking through bamboo forests and seeing waterfalls. Then going up at night to Mt. Haleakala and seeing the moon rise behind while the sun set before you. Truly an amazing sight to do again. Having my swim suit come off in the ocean- oh the embarrassment!! Seeing my brother nap under palm trees and nearly fall out of the hammock. Watching mom and dad walk down the beach hand in hand.  Helping dad and my siblings build a sand castle. Seeing mom read an entire book in one day sitting ocean side. Nothing short of amazing since she's always up, going and doing and 90% of the time, cooking.

We also went to Seattle. There is nothing sweeter than being on Bainbridge Island, with my second set of parents. (I have a lot of 2nd sets) Watching air craft carriers float buy, picking sea shells, digging for gooey ducks and then us girls thrift shopping in Seattle and watching the fish fly at Pike's Market. We had such fun! What's even more fun was meeting up with our Rimbey, AB parents, Bainbridge parents and seeing our dad's and mom's chat, laugh, discuss, and reminisce fireside is sweeter than any candy and more of a security blanket than any gift could ever be. No, none of us will ever be rich but I can attest that all of us kids felt love, security, kindness and humor.

Those are just a few of the trips, some with friends, some not. I realize that what mom and dad were teaching us was money and presents weren't important. They know that what all kids crave is their parents' time. Certainly it wasn't easy getting a hotel for them and four kids and eating out, but it was time spent with us that we learned how to relax, how to have fun and most of all, appreciate each other. We didn't get ice cream on every street corner, and the souvenirs we coveted, didn't come home with us. I mean really, what are you going to do with 5 mini boxes that fit one piece of candy?! But fun we had. And memories we still talk about.

We're pretty lucky. Incidentally, we're taking trips in the D. Frasch Family instead of 'doing' Christmas. Our first started with Mexico, on our honeymoon. The man actually had to specifically go apply for a passport. But he loved it. And can't wait to go again. We will, but we've other places to explore first. For Christmas we joined my family in Fairmont HotSprings in Butte, MT. This is not the flashiest place, but we've spent many years coming to soak in the pools. Alas, I didn't get many photos because we were either water logged or full in the belly! But the few I did, will trigger memories.

Merry Christmas!

Frost days, but not frosty company!

I have never been aware of the sunshine in winter in my life. I am used to not seeing the sun for 50-60 days at a time, but out here where the sun always shines, I start wondering where on earth it went if it's "out of sight" for more than a day.

We had wonderful company this last week. Dustin P and Heidi H came to see me for lunch and it was JUST what the Dr. ordered. Dustin brought me Huckleberry Jam to get through the winter. He has no idea that this is an actual Cure! And Heidi is hopefully planning a nervous breakdown here soon. Devin L came to stay with us for the night and we had a wonderful, wonderful 24 hours. The Dr. sure was giving out healthy doses of curatives all around. It came just in time for me too. Devin came inside and showed me this photo on his phone, so I had to sneak out and get one myself!

This is what we woke up to the other morning. A 1/2 inch of frost covered everything! It was so humid the temperature dropped towards zero and was that way for 2 days.

You can see the freeway to the left of the trees. It was pretty quiet and traffic moved slow. It seems that weather here shuts people down. I cannot understand it but people do not drive when it starts to look like bad weather. Then again I've never been in a true white-out blizzard either, but for now I humor my husband when he says, "We are staying put tonight!" and I agree although I think he's crazy!

 
And then like magic, the sun came out and the starkness of the snow against the brilliant blue sky encouraged us on again!

To the tune of.....

Wednesday is the day Dustin has the day off. Usually. That's what his schedule says, not always what happens. My husband doesn't know what to do with himself because he hasn't had two days off in a week for over five years. He thinks he's getting 'special privileges' where I argue that that is his 'right!' Right?! Right.

I tell him to never fear how to act, because no matter how much has been done, there will always be a "honey-do" list. And I supply it with frequency and relish. It's not that I can't do it, but past history with a level and myself has proven several times that my picture hanging abilities will never make him happy.

It's okay. Plus, he's very handy when he applies his mind and time and I appreciate it.

But. I'm not really sure how to account for his actions below. I had downloaded some songs to the ipad that he had requested and he took ipad and pencil into his den which is also furnished with a computer and bags and bags of deWalt tools.

He wanders out to find the level.
Wanders out again to find a tape measure.
(tedious isn't it?)
Hollers out wondering if I've got a calculator... What? Why!? You're only finishing up a shelf....
And then Music suddenly comes blaring out of den. I look up through the window and this is the sight I beheld:

I laughed so hard! This is definitely a one time show, free of charge, to the tune of 2Pac. I will never listen to California Dreamin' quite the same way again.

He's a funny guy and makes me laugh because most people don't know this side of him.

On to demoralizing!

Reflections

When I got up today, I noticed the icicles hanging off the eves from the kitchen window. The morning sun was glinting on it and they were so sparkly! I tried to snatch a few photos of it, but even though i could see about a quarter of my nose in it, I couldn't quite catch it. But it made me reflect on life, people rather.

More specifically my family.

Ughhh I miss them. It has been a good long while since I've encountered homesickness. But here I am, wallowing in the grief of it. It's ridiculous. I'm 30 years old for the love of pete and there is no reason why I should be given it's only been 3 months since I saw the lot of them.

But there is something about living with my sisters and fighting with them or joking and getting an a-HA moment at 10pm that it's a good idea to rearrange the pantry. Or having a brother drop in to clean out your refrigerator and around a mouthful of chicken ask if you're going to make him a pie. Just cuz. I miss them a lot. I miss sunday dinners with mom and dad helping get the meal on the table and the afternoons being lazy and picking on my brother as he tries to duck out of three sisters opinions of how to snag a wife for him. We never were popular with our insight. Poor guy. He'll be the stronger for it! I'm just getting back from him always scaring me as kids.

And my mom. You know there is something about having your own mother 3 miles away knowing that you can duck in for a cup of sugar or dive into her hug because still, as yet, apparently at 30 I can't navigate life on my own (even happily married) without my mom. Only a mother can dry tears of doldrums and offer comfort in her hugs and with a cookie. My mother has the best kind of love for her kids. All sympathy until she gets tired of us wallering in our own soup and then it is the toughest kind of love. I feel sorry for the child who hasn't a mother like that. And she is fun. No one can have a good laugh like mom and make her kid feel better.

Or being out and about with my daddy, fixing on something. I miss my father's quirky sense of humor and laughing til my sides ache when he gets in one of his tirades. He has lately become boss of the kitchen and I can't tell you how many times he's told me how proud he is of his messed up venison and potato roast. And "mom even liked it!"

I remember a week that mom went to her uncles funeral when I was about 10. Dad was the cook and I can remember 4 pairs of eyes that were around the kitchen table eying dad as he made none other than a Huckleberry Pie. We were slightly shocked as I didn't remember dad puttering in the kitchen so much. But make a pie he did. Shuffled around, found a recipe, rolled out the dough and all of us had our input of, "but dad, mom does it THIS way....." and so on. He took out a gallon of hucks, poured them in the pie shell, poured more in, and a little more, then took the sugar bag and heaped cups of sugar on the hucks. I informed him that, "mom puts butter on top before the top shell" and he popped it in the oven. I remember it being the BEST pie ever. With lots of ice cream, even more than mom would have allowed.....

With mom being gone a week, we ran out of bread. So he called grandma, got a potato bread recipe and we peeled potatoes like you'd expect to have for convention stew. We mixed the dough up, left for Wednesday night meeting and by the time we returned, the dough had oozed out of the pan, the towel kind of suspended in the air and had started it's decent on the way down the cupboard, floor-wards. We rescued it in time, but neither of us were really prepared for the result of adding too much yeast. We made 3 loaves of bread, and a pan of cinnamon rolls- the carmel-y kind that oozes around, but we didn't know that you must immediately upend the baked rolls and goo onto platter after taking them out of the oven. We didn't and the result was something that would have made JB Weld proud. We pried out the rolls, and were happy as clams about it. I have no idea how many days mom had to soak that pan upon her return!

I even miss the dog. And I'm pretty sure that Little Whiski misses her aunty the most. Because she is soooo cute. And she has the best cuddles.

And the way the air is still. Not a puff of air. It's amazing.

I miss the comfort of trees. And the way the ice moans and pops at night from the lake.

I miss the wood heat of the fireplace. 90 degrees inside and wearing a summer dress while it is 20 below outside.

I miss the comfort of that old lake house which architecturally makes no sense and is designed exactly opposite of 'having a view in mind.' But there is a lot of memories there.

I miss the garden there and the flowers. Talk about a labor of love, but I enjoyed it.

And, I honestly miss the snow. I'm so cold now it's ridiculous to admit, but I miss how it stacks up! In inches and feet.

Okay, that's enough homesickness.