Christmas in Virginia part two

My sister, Lea, her husband, Tim, and their twins, Raymond and Kathy, came over to Mom's on Christmas Day. Carol also joined us. It was fun and there was lots of laughing.

Mom and I went over to my friend Lance's later that evening. Lance decorates his condo to the nine's for Christmas. More Department 56 village scenes than you have ever seen. A beautiful tree covered in ornaments. Lighted garlands. More and More.

Wednesday night was dinner with my friend Judy. Judy and I worked together at my very first job out of college. We have tried to keep in touch through all the years.

Wednesday day Mom and I drove over the new Woodrow Wilson bridge then past the new Nationals' baseball stadium. We went to the American Indian museum. It is made from limestone from Minnesota. It is quite beautiful inside and the food at the restaurant was fabulous. And you can't have a trip to DC with Mom without seeing The Awakening on Haines Point. It is being moved to another site at some time so may not be as easy to get to.

We went to Mount Vernon. There is a new museum on the site that I had not seen. Tons of information about George Washington and his life. A movie narrated by Glenn Close about George and Martha together.

There's also a sensoround kind of theatre where you get to feel and experience our War of Independence. It includes a real indoor snow storm as George is crossing the Delaware River!

Christmas in Virginia part one

Spent Christmas in Virginia this year. My sister, Carol, hosted the Alspaugh Christmas Eve dinner of potato soup and eye-of-round. My brother, Spade, and his wife, Bev, were there. Also Spade and Bev's two daughters, Kim and Jamie.

Jamie and her husband came with their new born (Dec. 19), Duncan Aaron Patrick and their 2 year old, Douglas. Kim's daughter Anika was there and Todd and Julia's daughter, Kaila, was also there. Todd and Julia were not there as there new born, Megan, was not well.

Carol's son, Kenny and his wife, Watchara, were also there with their two daughters, Jasmine and Lotus. Add me, my Mom and co-worker Venkat and you have the whole list...plus Carol's two dogs and one cat.

It was great to see everyone. The kids all got along and had lots of fun. Carol went big and made all kinds of things to eat.

Old fashion winter

We're having a pretty good snow storm here today. Not actually a lot of snow as inches go but cold and wind and snow combining to make a dramatic show.

December has been cold with snow on the ground since Thanksgiving. It is actually nice to have the snow and you get used to the cold.

The crunch of the snow. The trees wrapped in white. The sparkle of fresh snow and ice crystals in the street lights or moon. All this makes the winter so wonderful.

Don't know that I'll still be saying this come March and it is still cold and snowy but for now, I love it!

Saturn Ion

Basically I hated the Saturn Ion. It looks nice from the outside but once in the finishes are cheap.

The first thing to get used to is the gauges are not in front of you behind the steering wheel. They are in the center on top of the dashboard. So you have to glance to your right to see the speed. And when you turn on the blinker both of them are to your right. When you turn on the left blinker, the flashing light comes from your right and it seems like you've made a mistake.

At night without the gauges behind the steering wheel, it is very dark right in front of you which is just more disconcerting.

The engine is noisy and not very powerful. The seats were comfortable enough but not great.

I would not recommend a Saturn Ion.

Billy Bob's

Touting itself as the biggest honky tonk bar in the world, I finally got the team, or at least part of it, to go to Billy Bob's bar in Fort Worth.

This enormous bar, club, restaurant, concert venue, games and arcade AND live professional bull riding establishment (that is the rink in the photo to the left) is in the Stockyards...an urban renewal kind of thing of the actual Fort Worth stockyards.

It was a long drive from Irving to Fort Worth. Thank goodness I had a navigator with me. Sam used is browser-enabled phone and Google maps to guide us. What can I say? It is Texas and things are separated by lots of miles and the signage is weak to say the least.

Billy Bob's really is huge. Unfortunately there wasn't anything going on and the place was virtually empty. The restaurant is nothing to write about. The most amazing feature is a real live bull riding rink is inside the bar. There are professional bull riding on Fridays and Saturdays.

Venkat, Sam, Veejay and I did get a couple of rounds of pool in. I can say I've been to Billy Bob's in Fort Worth.

Holidazzle

Downtown Minneapolis has a parade on Thursday through Sunday nights from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It is to promote shopping in the downtown district. The parade is at night and all the floats and people in the parade are lit up. It has become a big event.

Here is our group having a really fun time.

Here's the Nutcracker. Everyone shouts out, "Spin! Spin!" to get the floats to twirl.




And on of my favorites...the walking Christmas Light Bulbs.

cold, cold, cold

It has been extraordinarily cold here. They said it got up to 34 the other day. It felt nice but not that nice. It has been below freezing since Thanksgiving. This morning we were down to zero again.

Looking forward to going to Dallas next week for a few days. It has gotta be warmer there.

Hoar frost

On walk to gym this morning the trees were covered in hoar frost. So pretty....not like the ice storms in Kansas and Oklahoma.

If you have never seen hoar frost, it is water like dew or fog that freezes on tree branches. The street lights or morning sun makes it shine and sparkle. It looks magical.

Six degrees this morning. Supposed to get into mid 20's today. Warmest since Thanksgiving.

Another week home

Working from home again this week. Been super cold but you really do get used to it. No melting of the snow but we also didn't get anymore.

Frankie's balls

Frankie has really been in to playing fetch these days. We found his favorite old red fuzzy ball that gets lost for months at a time. Up and down the stairs he goes. Or in and out of the dining room.

Then I'll found a ball in the middle of the upstairs bathroom. Just waiting for me to throw it. Tonight he find a dirty, hair covered purple one in the basement under the paint can board. Don't know how he found that.

Uno doesn't know how to play fetch. She'll run after one of the balls when it is thrown but doesn't pick it up or even bat it around. Frankie seems to try to encourage her but she really isn't interested. It always discourages him from continuing to play.

20,000

After 2 years and 7 months I finally have 20,000 miles on my Ford Escape Hybrid (FEH - is what they call it on the yahoo user group).

Goes to show how much I don't drive. Parking for four days out of the week most weeks. Not driving it for 3 1/2 months while in England. Only one big trip... to Kansas and back. It all adds up...or better...doesn't add up.

I do love it though. Not getting as good of mileage now that it is winter time. Takes longer to warm up and the electric motor doesn't kick in when the engine is cold. Engine doesn't stay warm so gas motor kicks on easily. But it is all-wheel-drive which is fantastic in the snow.

Winter Wonderland II

Another 4+ inches of snow! Staying pretty cold (high teens) so it is the really light kind. Very sparkle y.

Winter Wonderland

We got about 6 inches of snow on Saturday and it is cold cold cold. I'm home for two weeks (at least definitely this week) so get to enjoy the winter scenery.

Spiderwoman

Almost forgot to share this picture with the world.

Can everyone guess who it is?