Southern Porch Extension

[Green Leaves]

Have a question for you, Carole. I think you said you have had a lot of fun with your family on the Wii. Would it be suitable for two old coders, especially the sport pkg with bowling, badminton, tennis etc? Is there brain games where we could compete and things like that. Can't see us playing the games are grandchildren play. Just wondered if it would help us get our e ER use and still have fun at the same time. I'm getting desperate.

[ready2go]

Y'all are invited to my house today to enjoy some hot chocolate and snacks while we sit around a nice, cozy fireplace. The logs will snap and crackle as the flames dance around them in random patterns sending warmth into the room. Soft music will be playing in the background too, and will fill the air with heart warming sounds.

We will occasionally gaze out through the windows to watch the cold, wind-blown snow filling the landscape with its new layer of white. You see, the weather outside is frightful...and not fit for man or beast. Winter's chill is here to stay.

Yep, that fireplace feels mighty good today. Please pass the hot chocolate.

Don

[Edy]

Y'all are invited to my house today to enjoy some hot chocolate and snacks while we sit around a nice, cozy fireplace. The logs will snap and crackle as the flames dance around them in random patterns sending warmth into the room. Soft music will be playing in the background too, and will fill the air with heart warming sounds.

We will occasionally gaze out through the windows to watch the cold, wind-blown snow filling the landscape with its new layer of white. You see, the weather outside is frightful...and not fit for man or beast. Winter's chill is here to stay.

Yep, that fireplace feels mighty good today. Please pass the hot chocolate.

Don

Thank you, so much, for the lovely invitation, Don. If only we had a horse and sleigh, this would be a wonderfully beautiful Sunday afternoon for visiting friends' cozy fireside. Or, as our pastor suggested this morning (to those of us foolhardy folk who braved the weather), if we just had a dog sled and team! You did neglect to mention that travel is not advised, however.

Folks in warmer states would be awe-struck to see the beauty of our winter wonderland, today. (It's one reason Minnesota will always be my home away from Home!) As today's adult class leader mentioned, the snow-cover reminds us of the love of God in Christ Jesus, constantly covering over the dead, gray world with His cleansing Water of Life.

I shoveled our walk and our neighbor lady's (who also, like Howard, had heart surgery earlier this year) before leaving for church, and somebody must have shoveled a second time before we got home. I expect to shovel again before the day is over, maybe twice. The fun begins; getting my arms in shape!

[Green Leaves]

The beauty of a winter wonderland! Here in southern Indiana we have seen no snow yet this winter. In fact I went to church in shirt sleeves, no coat at all. I think the temp is in the 60s but very overcast. It rained earlier this morning.

You paint a beautiful landscape filled with many nostalgic thoughts.

[ready2go]

Thank you, so much, for the lovely invitation, Don. If only we had a horse and sleigh, this would be a wonderfully beautiful Sunday afternoon for visiting friends' cozy fireside. Or, as our pastor suggested this morning (to those of us foolhardy folk who braved the weather), if we just had a dog sled and team! You did neglect to mention that travel is not advised, however.

But, aren't one horse open sleighs available for rent on days like this? They might even toss the horse in the deal for free.

Was your Pastor implying that he was also foolhardy for being there? But then, maybe he lives in the basement, so the weather won't bother him.

Don

[Edy]

Actually, our members cover a 40-mile radius (when they moved to the suburbs, they didn't abandon our inner-city ministry congregation). Our pastor lives in Vadnais Heights vicinity, other members come from the Medicine Lake area, Maple Grove, I forget whereall, but once upon a time, we posted a map showing the dispersion of our members! Anyway, Pastor arrives so early, he probably beat the snowflakes. You should have seen the mounds of snow covering our vehicles in the parking lot when it came time to depart, however!

Did I post this treat, here? You can listen to carols while typing away on the keyboard!
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~sorem002/xmas_midi.html

[Edy]

Forgot to clarify - I'm the one who used the word "foolhardy." Pastor was more inclined to indicate we are brave souls for making the effort. Further north and west, in Ramsey, which is scheduled for double our snowfall, my sister said it took them two hours of trying to get to their church. They made it about a third of the way and turned back as a futile effort.

No wonder this computer is so pokey - I forgot about the weekly AVG scan which is running. TTYL!

[Verna]

Laurie, I'm sorry for all the trials you must go through to get some help, and you suffer while you seek it. Praying for things to work out for you with disability.

Don, your invitation sounded wonderful. It was about 70 here today and dreary--doesn't feel like Christmas.

I have been "buried" in some Christmas gift projects with pictures--Just coming up for air to greet my porch pals.

[Edy]

This is an earlier photo of my mailbox, today!

[Edy]

Howard took this shot out our front door this evening.

[BeachGrandma]

Oh I would love that,Edy!!! So reminiscent of my growing-up years in upstate New York! But even though the snow was above my head in the first grade, never once did they call for a "snow day." All the fathers on Lincoln Street would get up very, very early in the morning and begin shoveling a snow path to Lincoln Street school only a block away from our house. You talk about a claustrophobic experience! I kept standing on my tip toes to see over the top (but then I was very small and short, anyway) But after school and on weekends we played every hour that we could out in the snow. Then when fathers got home from work, they'd use their trucks to carry us all to the top of Spring Street Hill, where we could enjoy a 1.5 mile long ride down. (The trucks took another route back to the bottom). Stories abound about those wonderful days. My sister Norma was sledding down that steep road when she went into a ditch, hit an exposed concrete pipe under someone's driveway, broke her jaw, knocked out several permanent front teeth and was really a mess. She still has terrible headaches from that accident. Another time, my oldest brother, Dick, came flying down Spring Street hill when a large truck went around the barriers that had been set up temporarily along the side streets to guarantee our safe passage. As he was slowly crossing Spring Street, he didn't see my brother who of course couldn't stop in time, so Dick just rode right under the truck and finished the run! He became an instant hero and played it to the hilt. Fortunately, the truck was tall enough that there was plenty of room for Dick to sail underneath. I was forever getting my feet frozen wherever we went sledding and I'd go to a relative's house or a friendly person who would take me in her kitchen, put my feet in tepid water, and keep changing it so as not to damage my feet. I literally couldn't walk on them. I have often wondered if the terrible problem I've had with my feet all my life might have originated from the near frostbite I regularly received as a young girl.

The pictures you posted were so nostalgic, as Carol said, and I keep looking at them. I am so glad you love the winters, Edy. It would be awful to have to live in that climate if you didn't. I so miss the snow, the icycles, the snow cones (when it was safe to eat them), the frozen, stiff snowsuits which stood by themselves next to the floor registers of our warm house. Mother always knew to have hot chocolate with marshmallows for us to drink when we came in. I remember she always kissed us over and over, saying "I love to kiss those cold, pink cheeks!" And of course she'd wrap blankets around us and we'd all pile on the couch together to get warm again.

Thanks, y'all. It's been 70-ish here, too, raining and boring. I look at Edy's pictures and a million memories parade through my mind.

Love you all!

[BeachGrandma]

http://pinterest.com/pin/53339576808270671/

Watch for the little boy who reverently kneels.

[deejay]

Mom used to say that snow in her hometown of York, PA would arrive around Thanksgiving, and wouldn't leave until Easter. There would be drifts three feet deep, and in her day, kids who lived in town had to walk to school; the ones living on the farms in the surrounding area got a school bus. She said that by New Year's you'd be so sick of seeing snow, it wasn't funny. When I was there for 3 years with her, I could see what she meant. I just clicked on a survey on MSN.com, saying that some areas were getting three times what Wisconsin got in snow, and asked what would you do with that snow. Most people, myself included, chose "Stay inside"; second was "Shovel it out of my way". I agree, snow looks pretty for the first few days, but after that, it gets to you.

[Joanney]

Don, is that invite good for today? I missed it yesterday as I was not online at all, but with a high temp of about 13 for the day, a fire sounds delightful.

DeeJay, your mom's description of winter sounds much more typical of MN than we have had the last few years, and also what I grew up with in northern Iowa. It is not unusual for MN to have snow in any month with the letter "r" (Sept - April), but usually the first snowfall is late October and the snow cover for the winter starts in November. We occasionally get flurries in May, but never enough to stay on the ground. Officially, July is the only month without snow on record in Minnesota, but many old-timers insist that there was snow on July 4th one year, it just never got officially in the record books. The official snowfall for the Mpls/St Paul metro area from yesterday's storm was 15 inches, but here in our section of the Metro, I don't think we got 1/2 of that.

I have been frantically trying to finish the last few projects for school and have to take my online tests before the term ends this week. But some days, I just decide that I need to sleep as well, especially days like today when I work the overnight shift both nights surrounding the day. And tonight Simon has his High School Choir Concert, so I won't get to sleep as late as I would like. Perhaps I should go to bed before the boys get home in 1/2 an hour.

[ready2go]

Well, it's 8:45pm and our outside temp is already approaching zero. I guess I'll probably need to throw on a light jacket when I go out in the morning to collect the newspaper.

Don, is that invite good for today? I missed it yesterday as I was not online at all, but with a high temp of about 13 for the day, a fire sounds delightful.

A long winter lies ahead...we have plenty of firewood to burn...the hot chocolate is in good supply...and there will be another day to put it all together.

Don